rjlawton Author

After reviewing the Hawthorne studies video, for this week’s class discussion, what, if any, has even your experience with the Hawthorne effect on the job?

In my past work experiences, I have definitely seen the Hawthorne effect in action. The Hawthorne effect can be either positive or negative depending on the context of your work environment. I have experienced both the positive and negative effects in my past jobs. I remember at a previous job our management was monitoring us very closely and ultimately decided to take our chairs away in an attempt to boost productivity with the expectation of increased sales. This negatively impacted the team to the point where people were considering leaving. Morale was down and the exact opposite result was yielded. People just weren’t as inclined to push sales since they were forced to stand all day with minimal breaks.

 

2) Describe a supervisor who was a poor supervisor (un-motivating, indecisive, uncaring, etc.) — what were their characteristics or actions that made you feel that way?  

I used to work for the Food & Beverage department of a catering company. This was literally the worst experience I have ever had with a manager/supervisor. My manager was always in such a mood and could never tone her voice down so she was always yelling at her employees. She never understood that employees have limits and would constantly be putting the pressure on you to work faster and harder even though there was no incentive to do so. It was obvious that she let her feelings and personal matters affect her behavior at work. There were times where it was clear she had been drinking which put her into an even worse state. Upper management never did anything to address her since she was there for so long. She was un-motivating, uncaring, reckless, and above all rude. I am glad to no longer be apart of that destructive environment.

 

 

Research and find an alternative/opposing point of view to Climate Change as proposed in the Introduction.

According to an article by Matt Ridley titled “Why Climate Change is Good for the World”, there are both positive and negative affects of climate change. He claims that “if you aggregate them all, the overall effect is positive today – and likely to stay positive until around 2080.” The article goes on to say that the past century improved human welfare by 1.4 per cent of global economic output, and expecting to rise to 1.5 percent by 2025. I find this data hard to believe given the current situation of the world. For example, the rising sea levels due to polar ice caps melting is only causing problems to human welfare. Climate change is also affecting populations of many different species such as bees. Bees are crucial to the environment as they are directly responsible for pollinating 1/3 of the world’s food.

What environmental responsibilities do we have to the rest of the world?

We are responsible for taking care of the environment and ensuring that future generations are left with a depleted and struggling planet. Humans affect the environment more than any other species on earth. We need to be held accountable for cleaning up the messes that we create. We also are responsible for finding cleaner and more environmentally safe alternatives to the daily tasks we that we enjoy (plastic items, greenhouse gasses, etc.)

Does nature have value in itself?

Nature has tremendous value in itself as it can keep itself self-sustained. Aside from the resilience of nature, it also provides much value to us humans. It provides the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the resources necessary for our daily lives. So yes, Nature has value in itself.

Who should pay the cost for protecting the environment?

While everyone benefits by protecting the environment, the people who have the harshest impacts on it should be paying a majority of the cost. Companies & organizations who pollute and cause damage to the environment need to be held accountable. The governments who allow those companies & organizations to operate as such need to be held accountable as well.

Ridley, Matt. “Why Climate Change Is Good for the World.’ The Spectator, 19 Oct. 2013, www.spectator.co.uk/2013/10/carry-on-warming/.

 

When it comes to a large corporation dropping the ball and negatively impacting consumers, I immediately go back to the recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. I used to work retail for a large cellular company here in town. During the time of the Galaxy Note 7 launch, consumers were eager to get their hands on the latest phone from Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy S series was 1 generation ahead at the time (Note 5 came out during the Galaxy s6). So samsung decided to ultimately skip the Note 6 and named their next Note product the Note 7 to be within the timeframe of the Galaxy S7.

Shortly after the release, there were reports around the globe of the battery overheating leading to the phone exploding. I distinctly remember reading reports on phones abruptly exploding in people’s pockets leading to second degree burns. I also recall seeing footage of a Jeep that was set ablaze and completely destroyed due to a Galaxy Note 7 that was left in the vehicle. Luckily there were no reports of anyone dying in relation to the Galaxy Note 7 battery issues, but there was definitely potential for casualties. i have to give props to my former employer’s quality assurance team for keeping the phones in warehouse (eventually sending back to Samsung) during that controversial period. Our company was able to avoid potential disasters.

This was a huge deal for Samsung given that they were releasing one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year. The rush to release resulted in a manufacturer defect in the battery resulting in phones being set ablaze. There were even reports of replacement phones catching fire. Eventually Samsung discontinued production of the Galaxy Note 7. It just goes show that Samsung was so eager to hit the marketplace before the competitors (Apple in this instance), that they rushed their product resulting in lawsuits, consumer injuries, and a distrust between consumer and seller. While Samsung is still a relevant entity and his since regained trust in its products, there was a time where people were wary of purchasing anything samsung.

 

I’ve attached video compilation of the Galaxy Note 7 which also shows some of the reports that I mentioned above.