Anita M. SupersonThe Employer-Employee Relationship and the Right to Know

“If an employee is to have any say in what happens to his person, what needs to be established- at least more firmly than it is currently- is an employee’s right to know about the presence of health and safety hazards in the workplace.”

“If the employer has this attitude toward his employee, it becomes easier for him not to inform the employee of hazards in the workplace.”

My ResponseI don’t know any person who wouldn’t agree with what this article is saying. But that don’t mean that I don’t believe that there are people who don’t follow the laws and who wouldn’t agree.Last year I was doing some cleaning in a ware house and one day I had come in and the men were different that night. One of the guys the night before had died cleaning out a machine and had fallen on top of him. I think if this place was shocked but then became aware that the safety and health hazards were not explained and really pushed to understand. It has all changed now but why does something so bad have to happen before a company to realize. My thoughts are that a company shouldn’t only have to disclose information that is/are life threating but to periodically teach and preach.

The comment where he is talking about the employer’s attitude is about how the employee is there solely for the purpose of making money. I truly believe that a person should never be treated in such a way that you basically don’t matter because your only here to do one thing and that’s to make money. I think that every person has the right to make their own choices if there would be hazards in the workplace you should be able to make your own choice if that’s a risk you would make for yourself, it does not mean someone else would risk it.

Norman E. Bowie

“If the average American has a second

moral principle to supplement the golden

rule, it is probably a principle that says we

should respect people.”

“The First issue to be decided was whether

we treated the sales person as a thing.”

My Response

One thing that I have learned it that respect is

always given but what about the ones that don’t

give respect do they deserve it? Should we always

give respect to those who don’t earn it? How can

we get past that a person has disrespected you

and still give them respect. Working in retail for

the last 10 years you get disrespected. For some

they think it alright to treat you a certain way. I

guess that I can disagree when he says that it’s

interwoven into the American life.

For me I saw this and thought of all the times I felt

like I was treated as a “thing” and just today I felt

this way. This is what some people can argue that

it’s not an issue or it is an issue. I believe that it

can be an issue and I believe that as a person who

gives respect I learn to deal with is in my own

way. You can get customers who are disrespectful

by demanding help before even asking if you work

there. I believe there are two different sides.

There are respectful people and there are the

ones who are not. I do not believe that you

categorize the ones who are not as mentally ill or

children. I think that there are more people who

are respectful but I wonder in the business world

how can we get more to be respectful.

Sissela BokDefining Secrecy- Some Crucial Distinctions“Lies are part of the arsenal used to guard to invade secrecy; and secrecy allows lies to go undiscovered and to build up.”

“It is equally important to keep the distinction between secrecy and privacy from being engulfed at the definition stage.”

“Against every claim to secrecy stands, however, the awareness of its dangers.”

My ResponseI have never thought of secrecy in a way that Sissela Bok describes. It does make since to me that a person’s lies are described to be arsenal to guard secrecy. I would think that someone’s lies are like a domino and they just build and build until one falls they all fall.Then she describes that lies and secrecy are different well yes but one I don’t think can be there without the other. It’s for example one is not keeping a lie or secret without protecting it we must lie and when we lie it is to protect the secret.

I have never thought of secrecy and privacy as really two different things but the way the Bok describes got me thinking about it more. I always though you keep certain things a secret to be private but this was the way I thought about personal things in my life. As I started thinking I keep things secret at work probably shouldn’t always keep it secrecy and then marriage and life stuff is okay to keep private. I guess it can get confusing in certain areas wither it should be about being private or secrecy.

I believe that with secrecy now after reading this there is dangers with what you are trying to keep secret. I guess this put in perspective how I can decide what is a secret and private. With being private about personal things it shouldn’t have a danger but when you keeping something in secrecy that’s when the dangers can arrive.

Paul Ekman and Mark G. FrankLies That Fail“Lies fail for many reasons. Some of these reasons have to do with circumstances surrounding the lie, and not with the liar’s behavior.”

“Liars do not always anticipate when they will need to lie.”

“When the decision to lie is first made, people do not always accurately anticipate how much they may later suffer from deception guilt….. Shame is closely related to guilt, but there is a key qualitative difference.”

My ResponseI always wonder when people are telling me things if they are a lie because you can see certain things are different when they normally talk to you. For example not looking you in the eye or when they talk so fast. I won’t pretend that I have never lied before but I can say I am a horrible liar that you can read right though me. When I was younger my dad could always tell when I was lying I think that you can become better but it was just always easier for me to tell the truth. As my niece was over this last weekend she has become the biggest blamer I ever met and you can see when she was lying. She would always smile and look away at my sister and you just knew when she gets older she is going to get good at this. As I read about Paul Ekman implications on how to tell someone is not telling the truth it makes me curious to see if I can tell more often now if someone’s lying and not telling the truth.

You see in kids when they tell you a lie and you ask them questions following up, they will hesitate before they will answer. I think that this in interesting that there are actual people who can find clues to when they think someone is lying. I also wonder if they are as accurate as they think they are. I know sometimes when I get nervous I can hesitate in my answer or even act different and maybe come off as I am lying.

This brought back a memory when I was in high school and lied to my dad about who I was with all night and he knew I was lying but there was no way I was going to get into trouble for telling the truth. The shame I felt then and still now for lying about just one night brings shame and guilt for my father really knowing that I lied. I wonder if others feel this way also about a lie they told.

Work and Life- Joanne B. Ciulla“Aesop’s ant, grasshopper, and bee give us three ways of approaching life. Frugal, acquisitive, and hardworking, the ant worker values security above all else.”

“There are four values that essentially shape how we make choices about work. They are (1) meaningful work, or work that is interesting and/or important to you or to others in society: (2) leisure or free time to do the things you want: (3) money: and (4) security.”

My ResponseI’ve always seen thru my eyes how there is different workers but I guess really never expressed it. I think the way that Ciulla puts it in this article is very interesting. As I was reading I could only picture what one am I. I have always been the ant but would like to be more like the bee. As I was reading I could see some of my families face as a read about the grass hopper but I was also thinking that there is another category. There has to be the people who don’t really work at all who don’t have something that they are passionate about like music. I know too many people that live off others because they can and not because they have to. I think they grasshopper is like someone who does at least something to survive sometimes. I can’t judge any of these to be better than the other but I do see myself judging those who don’t try to be one of them.

I think I agree with this author that these are some of the values that we look for when we are looking for work. With me I would love a job with meaning but I have chosen money instead of having a job with meaningful work. Most of my jobs are secure and that brings me security in keeping my jobs but there was a time I was working for a company that went away and I did not stay till the end because of security. I think that I don’t I use to choose a job with leisure for time but sense I work Monday thru Friday 5- 1:30 every day I could not imagine taking a job for the same pay to work weekends. I have got job offers from people but they need you to work weekends and I wouldn’t unless there comes more money with the job. Overall my number one is money, second security, third leisure and forth meaningful work.

Soloman Schimmel- Greed“The premise is that unrestrained pursuit of wealth will eventually make us happier, because the more money we accrue the happier we will be.”

“Basically, greed is the inordinate love of money and of material possessions and the dedication of oneself to their pursuit.

My ResponseI think we all have this idea in our minds that money does get us the things that we do want. I don’t think all of us think it will make us happier it would just make life easier. We could by the things that we want and need instead of putting on a credit card or saving up for it yes it would be easier just to buy right then and there. For example if your car breaks down or your furnace goes out it would be great to just have that money that you worked hard for or not worked hard for just to be able to pay for it right there. I think that most Americans would agree with it does not always mean it will make you happy just easier.

I am worried that if I even became rich I would buy to my material things but going up learning to work for what I have and not really had all the material things that my friends did I believe made me a better person. If I was to have a lot of money I think that I would beable to say I would be frugal with my money and maybe to some it would be greedy. My friends and I have talked about what we would do if we won the lottery and all of them said buy and house car and shared. I said I would pay off my house and car and save the rest I don’t think I would share any of it with friends I think I would help my grandmother out or my nieces and nephews for college but I would never just give it to friends so they could buy things because let’s be honest we all buy a lot of stuff we don’t need and if they needed something I would be willing to help if they did.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Managed Earnings by Carol J. Loomis“Someplace right now, in the layers of a Fortune 500 Company, an employee- probably high up and probably helped by people who work for him- is perpetrating an accounting fraud.”

“One well-regarded fortune 500 CEO said recently that he probably spends 35% of his time talking to analysts and big shareholders, and otherwise worrying about the concerns or the street.”

My ResponseI worry about sometimes that to be really successful in the big companies that you would have to lie or cheat. I think just reading this article that there is more then we hear. I think that it is not only in accounting but in other parts of the business. So I wonder how it can be changed. As I read I realized that it has and still is. People are finally realizing that they could possibly loose more money and even part of their life with jail time. If I was in a position where I had to choose to lie or keep a lie and know there is some serious consequences I would have to take a look at who I work for. Because in my eyes I don’t think I could live with myself if I was doing something that was against my own ethics.

As I was taught if you’re not good at something then hire someone who is better at then you. I think this CEO is not as educated to do his own analysts so spending time with them might be worthy of his time to spend with one. But then you think that 35% of his time is a lot and what could he accomplish if he was spending it in his own company doing things that would make him more successful. Then I think about what if he just gets to know how the stock prices are affected and not worry about what others are thinking cause what if when he can conclude on his own would be better for his company.

Arthur Andersen Refugees Reflect on What

Went Wrong- Ed Cohen

“Before being implicated in scandal, Arthur

Andersen enjoyed a reputation for high

ethical standards and quality work…”

“Accountants used to be the part of

business that stood up and said, “This is not

right, this doesn’t make sense.” Fischer

says. He says he hopes the profession will

one day “stand up and be the backbone and

the moral compass of the business world

that it used to be and is not today”

My Response

I don’t know the whole story about Arthur is what

I kept thinking what if he didn’t really know what

was going on but then again how couldn’t he not.

I wonder what and why made him choose to keep

working for a company who was hiding a scandal

especially when his ethical standards were high. I

think about what if it was money or that if they

had something on him on was going to put the

blame on him if he said anything. Why are not

more people realizing what could happen when

others have been caught what it can do to their

own lives.

I wonder these days if it’s more like a group think

and not what is right and what should be said. I

think that we need to get back to that place

where we can trust a company. I would not say

just to trust the accountants but even a company

and realize that morals and ethics should be what

Americas can stand for. I am sure we have great

companies out there who are in the top 500 who

are doing it ethically but when can we say we

trust them? I am concerned that we will always

have problems but not just that but that we won’t

be able to tell when there are problems.

A Latin Viewpoint: The Bentonville Menace – Latin Trade“Taking screw-the workers capitalism to new depths, this modern-day robber baron has pushed its Latin American suppliers to cut cost to bone or lose their contracts to china. They are even trying to force down labor cost in emerging Asia.”

“Consumers should think twice about patronizing any business that perpetuates economic injustice. Everyday social justice is more important than low prices at any cost.”

My ResponseThis article makes me concerned that businesses all around the world are taking some kind of hit for the riches for somewhere else. I see that Wal-Mart is always trying to be the lost price of all it competitors but what if more people knew where they got the stuff that they are buying is basically made buy a person for free just so they could get it cheaper. I think that we are taking advantage of other countries and this makes me what to research more about the products I like and where they come from. Not saying that I wouldn’t buy from stuff made in china or another country that gets paid way under pretty much poverty but it might make me think about do I really need this at all because I know it would help to keep buying certain things but they am I agreeing with what is going on with the way that it was made. I feel conflicted.

I agree with this and think that being a consumer we need to be more educated in where and how a business is ran. I think that a lot of people would agree that as a consumer we don’t like to think about the injustice of a product because of the lower price. I think that a lot of people are self-absorbed and that social justice is not important to them unless it’s directed at them.

Rich and Poor- Peter Singer“The poverty we are familiar with in industrialized nations is relative poverty- meaning that some citizens are poor, relative to the wealth enjoyed by their neighbors. People living in relative poverty in Australia might be quite comfortably off by comparison with pensioners in Britain, and British pensioners are not poor in comparison with the poverty that exists in Mali or Ethiopia.”

“A plausible principle that would support the judgment that I ought to pull the child out is this: if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance, we ought to do it.”

My ResponseWhen I hear the word poverty I don’t think of the woman and children on welfare or people living in a shelter. I think of the people in other countries who actually don’t have shelter or hardly ever anything to actually eat. I get the picture in my head of the people on those commercials who want you to donate money to people in other countries. I never thought of that there can be two ways to describe poverty like it talks about in the book. I don’t think we need to really think about that there is two different ways I think we just need to get people to think that there is people out there starving and nowhere to sleep for the night and what can we as a whole do about it.

I love what he is saying here and going to remember this and save it somewhere I can read once in a while to remind myself to do more good. Just the other day I told my husband (because he was only thinking about himself) that he was being selfish. And he tells me I think about others to much. This just reminded me of that because I do a lot for others but not in a way that I can say it helped them I can say I just try to make it easier with no problems. I might not be the person who jumped in the pond to pull the kid out but I would be the person on the side making sure that someone went and jumped in or got them a towel to dry off when they got out. If no one else was around I would say that I would jump in but I guess what I am trying to say Is that I want to be the one who would just jump in even if someone else was going to do it too.

The Bribed Soul- Leslie Savan

“Virtually all of modern experience now has a

sponsor or at least a sponsored accessory and

there is no human emotion or concern- love,

lust, war, childhood innocence, social

rebellion, spiritual enlightenment, even

disgust with advertising- that cannot be

reworked into a sales pitch.”

“When Monty Python’s mistaken messiah in

the life of brain exhort the crowd of devotees

to “Don’t follow me! Don’t follow anyone!

Think for yourselves!.... you are all

individuals!” they reply in unison, “we are all

individuals!” that is advertising in a nutshell.”

My Response

You always wonder what some of the commercials

you see are really about till it gets to the end just to

see that it was really nothing to really do about the

product it was really about trying to relate to the

people. This has always concerns me to think if

really people buy into the advertisements when it

had nothing to do about the product itself. It makes

me more aware of advertisements knowing when

you found out that they are just trying to make a

sale on the product based on certain emotions and

not what the product is about.

This is probably what I am most mistaken for when

it comes to buying something. I have always wanted

to be the person who wants to be different and then

come to find out more people have the same idea

and then everyone has the same things. I mean who

don’t want to be unique and different? But then you

think that’s not really the end of the idea. To be

unique that makes people want to be more like you.

I came to the conclusion around graduating high

school that my friends started to be more unique

and that in some ways still was trying to be more

like others. From not just buying clothes but seeing

other around you buying houses to having kids they

all seem to go one right after another and the

influence of ones likes can also make you want

certain things.

Woo with Integrity- G.Richard Shell and

Mario Moussa

“Jack had found the secret of doing well

by doing good- and it had all come about

through his remarkable powers to

leverage relationships, address interests

and implement his simple insight: people

give more to causes when other people

are matching their gifts.”

“As the years passed,” he told the court, “

the desire became a dream, the dream

became a fantasy and the fantasy became

a delusion,”

“But even this test will leave you with

unanswered question in many

circumstances. For example, suppose you

are promoting a strategy idea that

requires the organization to close an

existing business unit and lay off

hundreds of employees- but would also

result in a big promotion and raise for

you.”

My Response

Jack had done really well and makes me wonder

if he didn’t say he there was really was a match

when there wasn’t that he still would have done

well and maybe just not as well. I will always

think when I am donating now when I hear

there is a match if there really is a match.

I don’t think that he could be taking all that

money and not feel guilty and think it all

became a delusion. I believe he knew he was

taking from the more successful people and

think it was okay for him to take some for

himself and that it just made excuses in his own

mind to believe it was a fantasy but I think he

thought of this from the beginning.

This example made me think about when I was

cut hours at work for almost two years because

we didn’t want to lay anyone off. All I could

think about was I need to get another job. And

at times I was glad I still had a job and that I

was glad we didn’t have to lay anyone off either.

I think my company was in a situation where

they had to lay off people and they decided that

they should try to keep everyone on and cut

hours. I am grateful and happy to say I think

they made more of a better ethical decision.

Values in Tension: Ethics Away from

Home Tomas Donaldson

“Some activities are wrong no matter

where they take place. But some practices

that are unethical in one setting may be

acceptable in another.”

“A company’s leaders need to refer often

to their organization’s credo and code and

must themselves be credible, committed

and consistent.”

“Without a company’s commitment,

statements of values and codes of ethics

end up as empty platitudes that provide

managers with no foundation for

behaving ethically.”

My Response

I think about the countries that are still building

there education and wonder if that can be some

of the cause for their judgments on some ethical

issues. I know that one should not judge

another cultures ethics but when I think about

some of the ethics that they have they could be

fixed. I am concerned that I am the only person

who is thinking this way. I think some of the

ethics that other countries have are the same

but then they don’t enforce it like we do in the

USA. For example the safety of employees.

I agree with the writer that leaders should

follow and even practice what a company’s

credo and code. I have seen too often managers

who are not credible and who are not

consistent. I think the manager I have now

could be more committed and consistent. He

expects certain things from the employees that

he does not do himself. And this is one of the

things that I get frustrated at work all the time.

I don’t think that the codes of ethics can only be

for managers I think that as a person with good

ethics I have found myself being more ethical

then a lot of managers that I have had. Even

when there was a code of ethics in place.

Ethics and Value Chains Robert Phillips

and Craig B. Caldwell

“According to the tradition

understanding, the various nodes in the

value chain are independent of one

another. Their borders and rigid and it is

easy to distinguish among organizations.”

“While pressure from media, activist

groups, and lawyers is enough to keep

executives up at night, sources of

pressure are also likely to arise from

sources much nearer to the hearts (and

bottom lines) of many firms: customers

and suppliers.”

My Response

I think that various nodes in a value chain are

independent of one another. They are also a lot

similar to each other’s companies that are

similar in careers. I think that like retail has a

lot of similar values while teachers have some

different ones.

I could only imagine what would keep a

manager up at night when so much is relied on

one individual. I think that would be what

would worry me the most if I ever was to

because I big business owner. I think about this

actually all the time. If I was to hire people for

my business could I trust them enough to keep

my customers happy and want to continue to

work with me. Since I work for a company now

that is a supplier for a major store chain I am

always thinking about keeping my customer

happy even if I am at the bottom of my chain. I

think that is something that I need to work on

as I start working on growing my own business

or starting another one.

What is Good Leadership? Joanne B. Ciulla

“When you really think about it, the issue is

not that leaders should be held to a higher

moral standard, but that they should be

held to the same standards as the rest of

us.”

“There are some areas, such as moral

consistency, where leaders have to be more

meticulous than ordinary people- first,

because a leader’s moral inconsistencies

are public and more noticeable than other

peoples, and second, because a leader’s

credibility actions do not match their

espoused values, they lose the trust they

need to be effective with various

stakeholders.”

My Response

I think that I don’t ever expect someone to have

higher moral standards than me but I would

expect some standards to be the same but I guess

depends on what the standards are. When I think

about some managers I had in the past I seem to

notice more that they didn’t have standards that

everyone I think should have. I think it is okay to

have different standards but when it comes to job

duties and honesty to the company I think that is

something that all needs to be the same. This

reminds me of a company I worked for that it was

okay to go to lunch with my support manager and

still be clocked in to be working, I understood was

wrong and a lot of occasions would say I got to get

back.

I think that a leader’s credibility and trust is not

just in the stakeholders but also the associates. I

think that within my company when someone

does wrong we seem to always remember it and if

it is management they are even more noticeable

and become less trust worthy.

Servant Leadership: A journey into the

Nature of Legitimate Power and

Greatness. Robert Greenleaf

“The servant-leader is servant first- as

Leo was portrayed. It begins with the

natural feeling that one wants to serve, to

serve first. The conscious choice brings

one to aspire to lead. That person is

sharply different from one who is leader

first, perhaps because of the need to

assuage an unusual power drive or to

acquire material possessions.”

“My Hope for the future rests in part on

my beliefs that among the legions of

deprived and unsophisticated people are

many true servants who will lead, and

that most of them can learn to

discriminate among those who presume

to serve them and identify the true

servants whom they will follow.

My Response

When I think about servant I think about myself

who has the lowest job title at my work of

employment and trying to become a leader all

the time. I think from having jobs that are the

lowest and working my way up has giving me a

different perspective on what kind of person I

was to be at work and in the home. I was

working in a retail store right after high school

and after a year was asked to become

supervisor and department head. There was a

lot of people I thought who was there longer

and older that would get the job but I asked the

manager why he wanted me to do it and he

replied that I worked hard and that he thinks

people will follow me.

I know has I get older and have had more

experiences with my jobs that I also learn more

about my behaviors. I think that more people

who start at the bottom will be better leaders

because they understand the way we should be

treated. I mean I know that this is not always

the case and I think that some people with get a

different state of mind and even acquire a

power trip and because horrible leaders or ones

who think they are better because they got the

managing position.