The Corporation Comment...

In any business class the dreaded "C" word is always brought up. Without fail, the topic of corporations evokes so much heated conversation and debate, as everyone has mixed feelings on these business moguls. While some of you may agree with what I say, others will cringe and be ready for an argument.. I think corporations are good.

Over the last few years, I have tried working for various sized companies in hopes of trying to find out what I want to do after I graduate, and have come to the conclusion that the corporation route is right for me. With that being said, I don't wholeheartedly agree that everything in a corporation is run perfectly. I will be the first to admit that there are corporations that are stupid and need to be reworked. But for the most part, corporations are good.

Now what do these thoughts have anything to do with blogging? In Naked Conversations, the issue of breaking down the "evil", dreaded, view of corporations can be achieved or lessened through blogging, as indicated by the Microsoft case. Since I do have a bias on this issue, I can't say that me reading corporate blogs will help make me think of another corporation as being any better, since I already have a favorable view..

While I do agree with the authors point (about blogging improving the public image ) to a certain extent, I believe a lot of the people who are against corporations will not change their minds whether or not a corporation blogs. It will help to a certain extent show the personal soft side of the employees. However, most of the problem with the public view towards corporations is the whole entity itself, rather than the employees. So by having the employees blog, it will help personalize or create common ground with outsides, but for the most part the individuals against corporations will continue their views as they will look more so from the outside perspective...

Therefore, it will interesting to see if any other corporations can slightly change their image or gain more customers through the use of blogging. I guess the future will help answer these questions...

Have a little extra time....

Do you like the topics I talk about? Interested in hearing more of my classmates thoughts? Take a look at a few other blogs...

Every 3 seconds a child dies needlessly...

Not to start off on a morbid or sad tone, but its always interesting to think about how quickly changes in the world can happen. Sitting on the couch for 15 minutes, so much outside in the world can be turned inside out. Just as with births, deaths, marriages, crimes, etc society is advancing at such a rapid pace there is no idle time. Anything can happen.

In Naked Conversations, it was said that "between yesterday and today a new blog will start at a rate of nearly one per second". While that statistic is quite staggering in that there can be that many blogs, it also is unsurprising at the same time. Last week, I had 2 meetings and my first day at my internship and in all of those circumstances blogging was brought up. It was not that blogging was just acknowledged, but rather that blogging was one of the action items or deliverables. For work, I need to update the company's blog, and for one of my clubs, we collectively add to a blog seen by perspective students. These blogs are not just the personal blogs or ranting blogs that were quite common in the past (and still are), but are necessities in the business world.

Having seen blogging becoming such a large phenomenon in the last few years, it is also interesting to see if there are going to be any long term changes from the importance or rapid growth rate of blogs. Blogging is a different way of communicating as noted. The book pointed out that sometimes the occasional spelling errors can be taken less lightly than before as they personalize or "humanize" the page. However, in the business world so much emphasis is placed on being professional and polished. How then can we have a page that may have an error and pass it off as being alright? Simple items such as grammar and professionalism may be compromised to a smaller extent, but still create change in the way that we operate.

Not only are the blogs rapidly affecting the way that we interpret the company, but I see it as being much more of a networking opportunity in terms of the business world. If management and or other employees are regularly updating the blogs with the latest company news or even personal information about the jobs, employees are communicating outside of the company. These actions can involve the outsiders and can increase the marketability and reachability of the company who is blogging- all of which is realized by both parties.

In general, blogs are redefining the business world. Having appeared and changed how we operate in such a sort amount of time, it is imperative to think about what the future will hold for the blogging and the effect on our society.
It only takes a second for things to change...

In my Consumer Behavior class we are reading a book called The Culture Code. The basis of the book is to look beyond each products, consumer, and try to figure out the reason or groups that can help us understand or market the products.

It got me thinking about social networks. While we can map out the networks to the best of our ability, there are always going to be connections that we don't see. That isn't a surprise to anyone. Clearly there are going to be people outside of the network that can be connected- ie. six degrees. But I wonder how strong those ties are. Is there a way to illustrate the strength of the ties? Are the closer ties really stronger than the ones that are say three or four degree away?

It is important to map out the networks, but I think that they can't show the real meaning of social networks. The network is influenced by so many variables. Variables for each individual and variables and pressures that affect the network as a whole. ...

A Cookbook?

When I was looking through the articles to see if there was anything that seemed to catch my eye at first glance, I was brought to the article by Rob Cross. UTC is the parent company of Pratt and Whitney, a company that I’ve interned at for the last 2 summers. Through the intern program, I learned the history of Pratt and UTC and the other business units that comprise the rest of the corporation.

One of the most common stories or comments that I heard was that UTC used to be nicknamed “Un-tied Technologies” because they focused too much on each separate unit, rather than look for some commonalities and shared values. When the CEO took time to look at how to improve the communication between the units he figured out how to collaborate, as the article mentioned, and subsequently improved the communication between companies. Nowadays, UTC prides itself on their diversified portfolio of products, but maintains the communication and “connected” overall company.

With the article recanting the story that I had come to hear over and over again throughout my internship, it made me think about balance. Balance in terms of collaboration and diversification. While it is important to collaborate with coworkers and create the networks, it is also necessary to have a separate identify and diversity amongst the organization and or other business units.

Balance in general is the key to any organization. Organizations need to be willing to try out different ways of managing their resources. In addition to balance, the organizations need to recognize that learning through failure is not actually failure, but rather a learning experience. Management therefore, in the new age of social networking need to be willing to balance and allow their employees time to go out and communicate and build those social networks while still maintaining a healthy balance with actual work. It may be hard to know the exact mixture or recipe of work-communicating, but is absolutely something that needs to be figured out for each company...

More Talk, More Money....

Rewarding the most successful connectors help better the company. In "The People Who Make Organizations Go or Stop" article, the authors state “the most successful connectors (those who greatly improved employee communications for instance) were awarded bigger bonuses than other managers were- a major departure from the schemes most investment banks follow, in which the managers who create the most profits get the biggest bonuses”

Many of the top firms cite “soft skills” (i.e. communication) as areas in which their employees can improve. Through the development and reinforcement from top management, these social networking tools and rewards can help build and foster more communication and involvement from their employees, all leading to a better corporate environment. In addition to the higher productivity rates, the creation of the social networks can also prove to boost retention rates and employee satisfaction.

With results such as increased productivity, higher employee retention, satisfaction, and involvement, and a more closely tied company, what CEO or COO wouldn't push for more social networks? Is it feasible for CEO compensation to be tied to increases in the number of established communication channels and the amount of company time and resources spent on improving these factors? Or would this compensation reward or bonus be abused when put into practice?