THE CORPORATION AND ITS SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY

Many debates have arisen from the fact that corporations should be treated as natural persons, meaning by this that they may enter into contracts, buy and sell land, commit torts, sue and be sued, and particularly important that they also have legal rights such as, equal protection, due process, freedom of press[1], and as incredible as it might sound the right to participate in political activities either making contributions or spending money to influence voters. One of the most controversial aspect is clearly the one regarding rights ,” Corporations, then, are arguing that they have rights, in particular the rights to autonomy and economic freedom. Although they may be demanding only legal rights to autonomy, legal rights, must have a moral basis if they are to be justified claims. So if corporations claim legal rights to freedom and autonomy, they must claim these are moral rights as well. If corporations have moral rights, then they have the obligations connected with such rights, and they can be held accountable, morally accountable.”[2].

So now we have clear that by being granted some rights , corporations also have obligations which are often refer to as “corporate social responsibility” that implies the implementation of corporate initiatives to support social causes and to counteract what at some extent has been caused by their actions, pollution, layoffs ,industrial accidents and economic crisis just to name a few[3]. Even though many corporations seem to make little or no efforts to become “socially responsible “, plenty of examples can be listed to illustrate how corporations fulfill their social obligations as “moral persons” and simultaneously benefit from them. Green peace implemented “the guide to greener electronics “ the goal of this guide is to get companies to clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances, to take back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete. And to reduce the climate impacts of their operations and products. According to this guide ,Nokia, Sony Ericson, Phillips ,Motorola and Apple were ranked this year as the five most eco friendly[4] .

I personally think that corporations should not be entitled to the same legal rights as individuals but two things must be taken into consideration , first, as long as corporations comply with the moral obligations that carry out such legal rights this status is not negative since they have the power to make a change that will have a huge impact in the world, and secondly, even if corporations have the right to be treated as natural persons, There is distinction legally speaking and some of the rights that humans have are not extended to corporations, they don't have the same but similar treatment, as Peter French states in his article "the corporation as a moral person" :

"If future generations develop laws governing the activities of robots, laws similar to the ones governing persons, this will not make robots people".

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greenpeace. (2010, may). Retrieved 10 24, 2010``, from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/Guide-to-Greener-Electronics/

Marck Achbar, J. A. (2009, summer). The corporation. Retrieved 10 24, 2010, from http://www.thecorporation.com/index.cfm?page_id=314

Werhane, P. H. (1985). Persons, Rights,. chicago: prentice hall inc.

William B Werther, J. D. (2011). strategic corporate social responsability, stakeholders in a global environment. california: SAGE publications.

Peter French, "The Corporation as a Moral Person," American Philosophical Quarterly,16 (1979), p. 210.

Image source :http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/Guide-to-Greener-Electronics/

WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS AND THE IOM.

Migration is considered one of the defining global issues of the early twenty-first century, as more and more people are on the move today than at any other point in human history. There are now about 192 million people living outside their place of birth, which is about three per cent of the world's population. IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.[1]

One of the main concerns of this organization is the role that gender plays in the international arena regading migrant issues since women are seen as more vulnerable and easy to take advantage of . Many attempts to improve female situation have been made by the IOM including :

· The convention No.100 concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value which has as main purpose to avoid any remuneration discrimination based on sex.

· The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which has the purpose of prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children and to protect and assist the victims of such trafficking.

· The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

· The implementation of training programs such as:

o “ Backs Training for Bangladesh’s women migrant workers”, which was based on a standardize training manual on domestic work for women in Bangladesh in 2007 in an attempt to improve professional and social skills and therefore the marketability of Bangladeshi womens abroad,

o “The migrant women for development in Africa” which has main purpose of engaging African women migrants residing in Italy in the development of their countries..

· The creation of some cooperation agreements with regional institutions such as INMUJERES the Mexican National Women's Institute in order to to implement technical cooperation and assistance programs, develop projects for migrant women at national, state and local level, organize research and studies and exchange experts.

As those just named many other efforts and actions are being developed by the IOM to protect and improve the conditions of migrant women all around the world as they often work in gender-segregated and unregulated sectors of the economy and they are at a much higher risk of gender discrimination, human trafficking and violence.

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[1] INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION LAW DATA BASE . (2010). Retrieved 10 22, 2010, from INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS: http://www.imldb.iom.int/browseDocumentPager.do?page=3

2 international organization for migration. (2010). Retrieved 10 22, 2020, from http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/lang/en/pid/1

Image source :http://esperit-lliure.blogspot.com/2008/10/el-calentamiento-obliga-plantas-y.html

CULTURAL PHILOSOPHIES APPLIED IN MANAGEMENT

Well prepared managers acknowledge the important role that employees play in the organization success process and therefore they are constantly exploring and implementing methods and strategies aimed to achieve employee’s motivation and consequently an effective and better performance as they consider that if the job is satisfying then the result will be a stronger commitment.

This is not an easy task since every culture and company has its own way of operating. Take for instance the southern Africa Ubuntu philosophy which is mainly based on human interdependence and is driven by reciprocity and suppression of self interest as everyone understands that together the team can accomplish more than if each individual worked alone and as a result rewards and punishments are shared , they consider that decisions must be taken by consensus and they don’t see time as a finite commodity[1]. As in the African culture Japanese have a similar perception of the organizational environment, they don’t see the company as a entity trying to take advantage of its employees but as a provider of individual security and welfare, there is a strong sense of “us” versus “them”, decision making process also reflects this emphasis on the group, when a proposal arise , each person who reviews it must provide a personal seal of approval , this requiring a lot of time to reach a consensus but generally being implemented easily and faster than for example U.S companies which generally make decisions quickly but spend a great amount of time implementing them.[2]

Even thought this feeling of “belonging” is a positive alternative to achieve organizational success, it might no always work, as I said before it depends on each culture, for example a person that comes from a really individualistic culture would rather prefer to be flattered and reward as an individual rather than as a team and might see as intolerable being punished for other’s faults and mistakes.

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[1] Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu . (2001, 08). Retrieved 10 22, 2010, from academy of management executive: http://www.aomonline.org/aom.asp?id=95

[2} Gannon, M. J. (2010). understanding global cultures. san marcos california : SAGE Publications.

IMAGE SOURCE https://peccataminuta.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/

METAPHOR

A metaphor is a kind of simile, where dissimilar things are made to appear alike, but where the word "as" or "like" are omitted 1. Metaphors are used for many purposes, marketing is one of them , through a metaphor a company is able to captivate consumer’s attention while increasing product identity. If I had the possibility I would create a company to provide educational and health services , based on Sophrology , and trying to promote it I would use a metaphor that might sound like this :

“If you are still asleep, it means you haven’t discovered Sophrology ”

Sophrology is aimed to the development and training of conscience in an attempt to get positive effects in the whole human system. Sophrology seeks for harmony between conscience, body and environment 2. It is generally used to reduce stress and promote mental and physical wellbeing. What I mean by saying ‘‘asleep’’ is being overwhelmed by stressful situations without finding a way to get balance and harmony , therefore if you want to“wake up” you need to adapt a series of practices to your daily life , make a conscience's switch that will change the way you live and see life, after experiencing Sophrology you will enjoy life by itself without thinking that much about achieving objectives or goals.

1 Baake, K. ( 2003). Metaphor and knowledge: the challenges of writing science. State university of N.Y

2 Sofrologia : Ciencia del positivo , http://sofrologiacolombia.net/sofrologia_conceptos.htm, retrieved 06/09/2010/

These are the three blogs i like the most at the BOB'S :

http://www.talkmorocco.net/about

Islam is a common cause of cultural conflict, that’s why I find this blog really interesting because it gives us a different perspective of the Muslim world , this blog is the opportunity for thousands of Moroccans that have presence in many places around the world to share their experiences but it is also serves as a debate forum to discuss issues related to Morocco.

http://www.imobileone.blogspot.com/

Have you ever heard this phrase ? a picture is worth a thousand words, well this is how Julio Gallo an Italian/Brazilian man who loves London tries to show cultural and daily common aspects of the life in London.

http://www.dankennedy.net/little-people/

This blog is a special one because the author takes the dwarf condition as a subculture and tries to explain what it means to be different. I like specially this phrase : “There is a cultural value to preserving differences and eliminating them may harm society in unpredictable ways”.

COMMENTS

I made comments in 5 of my mates blogs :

1) Sabrina Finger http://sabrinaeafit.blogspot.com/
2)Luz Maria Fernandez http://cultureandorganization2010.blogspot.com/
3)Juan Sebastian Cuenca http://orgsandcultures.blogspot.com/
4)Carlos Andres Roldan http://croldanv.blogspot.com/
5)Maria Camila Osorio Mesa http://organizationsandculturescourse.blogspot.com

THE PYGMALION EFFECT

The Pygmalion effect ….. Probably some of you have experienced it , for those who don’t know its meaning I will try to explain it with an example , it is my personal point of view , so I don’t have an expert to support what I’m saying .

The octopus paul became famous worldwide for predicting the winners of matches in world cup 2010, after the world cup finished many theories trying to explain his behavior arose, some saying that paul has the ability to know future events, others arguing that was chance what guided his choices, and some others saying that potential bias such as spatial preference or related factors for example light intensity influenced his decisions(1) .Although trying to figure out what made him choose a particular team instead of the other is not the question here, I would like to give a personal explanation of why this particular team won . Well I would say that it is quite likely that teams such as Germany or Spain had won because octopus paul said they were going to win , and this generated a greater expectation upon them, expectation enhanced by media influence and this expectation gave them enough confidence that finally made them win. This is a perfect example to explain :" how the perceivers positive expectation may enhance the target's performance, a phenomenon often referred to as The Pygmalion effect"2.

1. http://mentesana.suite101.net/article.cfm/el-pulpo-paul-el-poder-de-las-expectativas

2. Tkao Inamori, Farhad Analui/ nov 26 2009/Beyond Pygmalion effect: the role of managerial perception.

3.http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/0707-paul-the-octopus.jpg/8274790-1-eng-US/0707-paul-the-octopus.jpg_full_600.jpg