M9 (Avise)

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What, if any, has been your experience with the Hawthorne effect on a job?

My experience the Hawthorne effect is mostly positive. I have a job that allows me to work from home and I do go into our call center once a month. During that time, there is multiple supervisors in the call center observing agents. I find that when I know I’m being watched I tend to be more distracted with what the supervisor is thinking about me. I may feel this way because I’m used to be secluded in my office with no distractions. I think I work better in an environment where I’m not being observed.

Describe a supervisor who inspired and motivated you — what were their characteristics or actions that made such a positive impact?

A supervisor that has inspired me is the supervisor I currently have. This supervisor is someone who genuinely cares about her team. She consistently shows empathy and compassion when tough situations arise. She asks questions about her teams’ personal life like what vacations they have planned or if they’ve done anything fun recently. She makes it a point that every month she has a meeting with each employee on her team to do a progress check and see if they have any questions. The way she coaches her team isn’t in a condescending tone like previous supervisors have been. She gives constructive criticism in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you’re in trouble. Overall, I think these are some characteristics that make up a good supervisor.

M4Thornton

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From the perspective of being in favor of ‘sweatshops’, I understand how they support and influence these countries by providing options for better employment. Author Nicholas Kristof, New York Times (online), states he lived in “East Asia, watching as living standards soared- “. This relates to the Benjamin Powell reading and how people hope to gain employment with these factories. Providing jobs to third world countries is better than digging through garbage (Kristof) or having to resort to prostitution (Powell). This closely relates to the “profit motive’ (Pg. 123) in the chapter reading supporting that ‘sweatshop’ workers have a self-interest for their choice in working long hours and in harsh working conditions.

Large conglomerates should continue to have sweatshops to encourage growth and development for third world countries. At the same time, the business approach needs some improvement, so not to take away jobs from these poorer countries. Sweatshops are an investment and part of that investment should be securing a safe and adequate factory for production. In doing so, it could save reputations, provide less chances of interruptions to production, and who knows it could be a tax write off.

 

 

Shaw, Willam H. Business Ethics: The Nature of Capitalism.Cengage Learning, 2017.

 

Powell, Benjamin. “In Defense of “Sweatshops”. The Library of Economics and Liberty. June 2, 2008. https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2008/Powellsweatshops.html

 

Kristof, Nicholas. “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream’. Opinion, OP-ED Columnist, The New York Times. Jan. 14, 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?searchResultPosition=8

M2 ( Wade)

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Last summer I was at a grocery buying a few snacks. As I was walking to the exit, the cashier that rang me up ran quickly to me and gave me the Razzles candy that I purchased. He said he must have forgotten to put them in the bag. I said thank you, as the cashier hurried back to help customers. As I looked inside my paper bag, I saw that my Razzles were in fact there and the one I had in my hand was not purchased for. I quickly walked back to the same cashier and got in line again. I explained that he did put the candy I purchased in the bag and that I wanted to buy the packet of Razzles that he handed to me. I could have walked out of the store with two packets of Razzles and called it my lucky day, but inside me, I knew that was not the right thing to do. I felt a sense of happiness knowing that the cashier wanted to return something to me that he thought I left behind and had paid for. I hope going back to purchase the item gave the cashier a sense of happiness in someone doing the right thing.

Kant’s theory is an individual’s measure of their ethics based on goodwill and using the categorical imperative (Shaw, 2017). Kant held that only when we act from duty does our action have moral worth. Goodwill is the only thing that is good in itself. The categorical imperative describes that we should always act in such a way that we can will the maxim of our action to a universal law. My action of going back and purchasing what the cashier thought he forgot to bag, is an act Kant’s categorical imperative theory.

 

Shaw, William H.. Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases Cengage Learning.