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Blog assignment 2 - C1

Dear Mr. Ramsay,

I have been around in one of your restaurant in the Netherlands for two months now. The emphasis on delivering high quality food around the globe intrigues me. I am not much of a cook myself, but I have a huge appreciation for anyone being excellent in what they do. Besides the astonishing quality of your food, I am very impressed by the way you run your company, and try to help other restaurants to improve. The way you confront restaurant owners who have been making a mess, and then continuing in order to help them is amazing.

In my view many people in the organization look op to you and your way of working. This I even experienced when working with the chefs I came to encounter in the office. They were result-driven, direct and delivered high-quality food. Because of this I learned to become focused even more on results myself.

However I wonder whether this approach to working is effective in all of your restaurants. Every restaurant in a different country brings its own culture. My own culture is familiar to your way of direct communication. This makes for a higher tolerance and acceptance of such a style of leadership. I would recommend Ramsay International to look into Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and doing culture research per country. This way the best fitting leadership style can be selected per restaurant, driving employee satisfaction and productivity.

I am looking forward hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Levi

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Blog assignment 1 - C1

Currently I’m in my last year of the study Human Resource Management. Looking back I can’t believe how fast these years have passed. In this time I gained friendships, learned about working in an professional organization and deepened my knowledge of the subject. But what stood out to me was the big emphasis on personal development. Within the Christian Highschool Ede it is usual to develop your own vision and mission. I feel that especially in an study like HRM, this item gets brought out even more.

Besides all of the experiences inside of the university, there were many opportunities to go outside. This I have done through doing one internship of about four months at Capgemini. This is an IT-consultant working business too business. Here I really enjoyed working in an international environment. Capgemini is a really innovative, but also ‘flat’ organization; meaning that there very little power distance. Because of this I felt that I was in a highly motivated organization in which I could speak to any high-level manager and learn from them. Besides this internship I did two half-year advisory projects in a team context. Because of this I learned how to communicate effectively and how to work together with other people.

At last I spend one semester abroad in South Korea. During this timeI learned more about other cultures, different countries and the way people communicate. This was an amazing experience in which I gained experiences and new friendships.

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New words

These are new words that I learned whilst making these blogs:

Divestment: the proces of selling off subsidiary business interest or investment.

A watershed moment: meaning that it is a key moment in which decisions are made.

Physiology: at first I thought the speaker was talking about ‘psychology’, but after a quick search I found out that physiology is a sub-discipline of biology, focusing more on functions and mechanisms which work in a living system.

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International Journey

In 2017 I went to South Africa from February till July. During this period I attended a Mission Discipleship Training from Operation Mobilization. I did this with a group of about 50 people from nine different nations. It was really interesting to spend so much time with such a large group getting to know a lot of different cultures and people. We woke up everyday too early. At 6:30 we were supposed to be ready to go for a half-hour run. Around 8:00 we’d have breakfast, followed by lectures till 14:00 with a lunch break around 12:00. Then three times a week we would have evening activities, besides doing practical work once a week. Besides this, we had a total of three outreaches which took two weeks each. This way we were able to put into practice what we’ve been learning when we were on the base.

The outreach to Lesotho affected me most. When we arrived at the place where we stayed I was amazed by the primitive living conditions in which they lived, yet our hostess was generous and friendly. We visited different homes from the locals in groups. These groups consisted of me, four other from MDT and a local translator. One thing I found frustrating was how slow this translator was, whilst I wanted to go and do the next thing. What I learned was that it’s better to first adapt to the local culture and be a bit more patient, instead of pushing through.

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Yale Lecture

A Person in the World of People: Morality

Summary

In this lecture Professor Bloom talks about the psychology of moral feelings. First he talks about empathy. People are hardwired to feel other people’s pain. This can even be seen in other animals who emphasis with each other. Yet, empathetical feelings aren’t logically related with morality. There are cases where people don’t mind doing others wrong, or even enjoyed it. Another case study goes more into depth into ingroup and outgroup. We care more about people we are close to, instead of strangers. Individuals are formed by the group they are in. What brought together a group that at first didn’t get along, was a common problem/enemy. Conclusion was that moral feelings are exquisitely attuned not necessarily only to individuals, but also to the psychology of groups.

Moral judgement is defining something as good or bad. Two hallmarks for moral judgement are sense of obligation and that it doesn’t carry a notion of sanctions. Most moral judgement happens unconsciously in everyday life. What we know of moral reasoning is that everyone on Earth agrees on some topics, but there are also a lot of point of disagreement. Schneider argues that there are three styles of thought that are ethics of autonomy, community and divinity. However in most cases it isn’t that easy to distinguish ethics and most individuals are more complex. Most of our moral judgement is motivated by factors that we aren’t even conscious of.

Relevance

Morality has become a hot topic recent decades. As mentioned before, I’m interested in Sustainable Development and business ethics. Morality is a keyword in both of these subjects. I found it interesting to learn more about why people want to have morals in the first place. I think when we understand more why people do the things they do, and why they have curtain morals, this will help individuals and groups to be more effective and efficient. Also for my personal studies and future career it will be helpful to be aware of these things. It will be helpful to focus on topics that most people agree upon and it is interesting to see that a common goal can unite people.

Consulted at 4-1-2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpmESnTeZP8&index=15&list=PL6A08EB4EEFF3E91F

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TED-Talk 3

The skill of humour

I really enjoyed the positive outlook of this speaker (Andrew Tarvin). He knows how to bring scientific facts about humour and having fun in an interesting way that gets you thinking. Whilst he does this he knows how to make fun out of himself. This keeps you entertained and interested into what he has to say.

The point he is making is that we are what we do, not necessarily what people or personality tests tell us who we are. Everyone has different perspectives and it is important to share these perspectives in order to make a point. Humour can be a way to adjust perspectives of people so that they can enjoy their work more, and everyone can learn to become more funny.

Quotes

“Humour is a must have in todays overworked, underappreciated, stress-filled, sleep-deprived culture, humour is a necessity.”

“The reality is that job satisfaction, your outlook, your way of managing stress is entirely your responsibility and is the choice that you make. “

Consulted at 28-12-2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdZAMSyn_As

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TED-Talk 2

Why veterans miss war

In this talk, Sebastian Junger gives an explanation as to why veterans miss war. I found the subject interesting because it talks about how people are connected to one another. The speaker pictures a situation where soldiers are willing to endure hardship in order to achieve meaningful results as a group. In this, brotherhood is one of the main reasons why soldiers miss war. I think these principles also apply to normal people, outside of combat. Many people are seeking for this kind off brotherhood or connection to other people. One quote from the talk illustrates this by saying that war is psychologically easy. In war soldiers are connected with a group of 20 people who all love each other, and when they get back home, they’re just back in a normal society again.

Quote

“Compared to that, war psychologically in is some ways is easy, compared to that kind of alienation..”

Consulted at 28-12-2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZMSmcuiXM&t=206s

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TED-Talk 1

Body language, the power is in the palm of your hands

In this talk Allan Pease explains how you can use your hands in order to communicate more effectively. He starts by explaining some history behind the handshake and how this translates to modern days. I found it really interesting how he was able to bring a subject that seems to basic, to be interesting in a manner that everyone can understand. Pease gives handy tips on how to effectively use the palm of your hands in order to connect to others, engage an audience or even to calm yourself. He says that body language and feelings are interdependent, although most of the time body language is the outward reflection of inner feelings. What I really enjoyed about the talk was that Pease looked at the subject from different points of view and gave interesting and practical information.

 Quotes

“Body language is an outward reflection of emotions. If you intentionally take certain positions and practice them, it suddenly changes how people perceive you and it changes your own physiology.”

Consulted at 2-1-2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZZ7k8cMA-4&t=82s

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Business article 3

Identifying Social Norms Makes for Better Business

The Creating Shared Value (CSV) framework has led hundred of companies to develop win-win initiatives that create social and economic value. Even detractors of CSV will admit that the framework shines when there’s an obvious win-win for business and society.

A safe path for managers faced with ethical issues is to adopt the norms that exist within a community. When these don’t exist, new and appropriate ones should be developed. However, economic communities often are bound by strong powerful norms that apply to everyone in that community. These norms should be well-established and fully accepted by the community.

But identifying relevant norms isn’t always easy, sometimes they even don’t exist. When managers are faced with difficult situations they may become a “norm maker” instead of a “norm taker”. Sometimes new norms are created when companies work together at industry level. We can see that by identifying existing norms or becoming a norm maker, firms can maintain their legitimacy, manage business profitably while contributing to the society.

I found this article interesting because legitimacy for organizations to exist is important and valuable. Often employees/managers in companies don’t even have a clue as to why the organization where they work in exist. In the article it is stated that even detractors of Creating Shared Value admit that the framework has it’s purposes and shines in curtain situations. This article is a nice addition to the other two articles because it describes how managers can implement shared values in their organization through creating norms or through defining them. These norms could lead towards an increased Corporate Social Responsibility, and one of those responsibilities being the willingness of an organization to tackle slavery in the global supply chain.

Consulted at 21-11-2018

https://knowledge.insead.edu/responsibility/identifying-social-norms-makes-for-better-business-6356

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Business article 2

Big Investors Call for Company Attention to Social Purpose: What Next?

According to Larry Fink (CEO BlackRock), companies need to make a positive contribution to society in order to prosper over time. CEOs should ensure that companies have transparent strategies so performance can be sustained. Most reactions from organizations to Larry Fink his statement have been favourable. Now also investors are getting more involved in questions of social purpose, this could be a watershed moment in corporate social responsibility (CSR).

However the next question is whether companies are going use is as an authentic business model or as a marketing trick. Fink says that CSR should align with attention to stakeholder value in order to be authentic. It’s difficult to come up with metrics that measure CSR, but companies like BlackRock can serve the community well with clearly defined goals and transparency. According to the author, BlackRock should:

-          Lead by example

-          Do more to define and measure CSR

-          Clearly communicate expectations on CSR

-          Divestment

-          Advocate board role

This article touches on a subject that I find extremely interesting myself. Again (like the first article) the article talks about CSR and combines this with actual business so that something can be done about it. I found it particularly interesting that it described how one of the largest investing company on a global market (BlackRock) motivated other companies to move towards a more sustainable manner in order to succeed on the long-term. Especially more traditional organizations have been focussing on short-term profits instead of long-term sustainability for a long time, and it seems like there’s finally a watershed movement going on where companies actually want to go for the long-term goals.

Consulted at 21-11-2018

https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/big-investors-call-for-company-attention-to-social-purpose-what-next-8451

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Business article 1

Modern-day slavery: motivating business to act

In 2013 there were about 27 million people enslaved into forced labour. 68% of these people were working in the commercial industry, it’s the ugly side of today’s global trade networks. Competitive organizations try to produce as many goods as possible for the lowest price. Globalization has enabled them to do this in foreign countries. Unfortunately these global supply chains lead to a lack of visibility. Combined with weak government regulation it forms the heart of human trafficking. The article presents a threefold case for organization to combat human trafficking in their supply chains:

1.       Pure values: slavery is dirty business

2.       Risk management: avoidance of slavery scandal on an organization

3.       Pure business: combatting inefficiencies in forced labour

However it is difficult to bring out the necessary data that proves the pure business case. Corporates, NGOs, governmental organizations and academics need to bring together pieces of the puzzle in making strong strides in tackling this issue.

In my opinion the article is really interesting and put’s together different aspects that make a lot of sense. I like that the author tries to present a profit-making business act to tackle human trafficking. The problem itself is huge and it will probably take a while before it is solved. It is also too big of a problem to describe in one article, but I thought it gave a nice overview and put things into perspective. Especially the intention to actually do something about the problem, instead of talking about facts and figures without acting upon it, interests me. I think most articles that address this issue fall seem to just merely talk about the problem.

Consulted at 21-11-2018

https://knowledge.insead.edu/ethics/modern-day-slavery-motivating-business-to-act-3368

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English Language CV

In this CV I will summarize the experience I have with the English language.

Abroad experience

In 2017 I spend 5 months in South-Africa in a group of about 50 people from different countries. During this period I exclusively spoke English which helped me to improve on speaking the language a lot.

Courses

In 2018 I followed an additional course about Organization Studies. During this course I gained more in-depth knowledge on English business technical jargon.

In the first year of my studies I followed the course ‘Business English’ which I completed with an avarage of 7,9.

Books

For the additional course I read the book ‘Organization Theory and Design’ by Richard Daft. As a hobby, I read the book ‘Desiring God’ by John Piper. 

Movies/Youtube/podcasts

I watch quite a few youtube video’s on different subjects of my interest (i.e. religion, sermons, sustainability, guitar video’s). When I’m commuting to school/work I also like to put on a podcast on any of these subjects.