Week 6-Human behavior Discussion

Q1) 2-3 paragraphs

Beginning on page 171(Please see attached word doc)authors Mackey and Sisodia (2014) explain their use of cancer as “a metaphor for the lack of cooperation within a business and between a business and its stakeholders. … In any interdependent system, it is extremely damaging to continuously trade off the interests of one group for those of another.”  On the subsequent page, they describe three common stakeholder cancers.

For your initial post this week, identify which of the three stakeholder cancers you think has the potential to be the most egregious, and offer a supporting explanation for your answer.  Offer a description of the circumstances when you saw an example of that cancer.  What might the leaders in that organization have done as prevention against it?

Q2)Please reply to the two posts 1-2 paragraphs

Post 1:Taylor

 Today I am checking in at a +2. I am motivated to get through this week so I can go visit family in Wisconsin this weekend. 

"Cancer is a metaphor for the lack of cooperation within a business and between a business and its stakeholders" (Mackey & Sisodia, 2014, p. 171). The book explains that there are three most common types of stakeholder cancers which involve investors, senior management, and team members. The most common type of stakeholder cancer in business results from shareholders. Businesses that are motivated by the idea that they should maximize shareholder value and profits will be taken over by cancer. The second stakeholder cancer stemming from senior management seeks to maximize their own compensation without worrying about anyone else. This method can increase profits, stock prices, and management compensation. However, this is only sustainable for a small period of time and will eventually turn into a downfall. The third stakeholder cancer is team members. Team members are important to the success of every business. However, everyone is replaceable. This is seen a lot with labor unions. I think that team member cancer can be the most egregious because the mindset of my generation is that we know what we are worth and we aren't going to work for anything less. This is a good mindset to an extent. I think everyone is valuable and should be paid what they are worth. However, many times this goes straight to the team members' heads and they start making demands that only benefit them without thinking about the business as a whole. I see this cancer more often than you would think. There is one particular employee at one of my jobs who thinks she is worth way more than what she is getting compensated for. However, the business owner does not agree. The employee started making demands months ago. This employee's time at the business is quickly coming to an end because she is in pursuit of her own short-term interests and is ignoring the collective good of the other stakeholders. 

Post 2: Jasmine

 I am checking in as a +1.  Trying to stay positive this week.  My husband is out of town for work and I have to navigate dance practices and baseball games between 3 of my kids, plus school pick up.

I think out of the 3 stakeholders cancers, the one that is the worst is the second one.  Where the senior management teams seek to maximize their own compensation.  When doing this you are losing sight of what and who really keeps the company going and thriving.  There is little to no empathy or care for the subordinates creating a toxic work environment where the team no longer trusts you.  You have proven that the other stakeholders who might be damaged by your actions, their place does not matter.

An example of this would be the Director at my last job who was paid the most in the company, had little to no dealings with any of the other stakeholders.  Things that she should have been handling on her own, she ended up handing them off to other people but as long as she got paid she was okay.  She was supposed to visit the office atleast once a month but we only saw her quarterly.  She was supposed to be the person we go to for any problems internally, and when being comfronted with the issues she avoided the conversations making the team feel uneard.  There were times when myself and others requested raises and were denied from her due to the lack of funds from this private organization.  This felt demeaning because we were working 10+ hours a day and the paycheck did not reflect it and how is there no money when she was getting paid 100k a year to do nothing.  She was only in it for her personal gain and it showed.  Eventually myself and 5 others left leaving the business with a severe staffing issue.  I often think about this job and how toxic it was for this reason.  I had never worked at a job where the issues were strictly with leadership, but this one there were only problems up top but not within the stakeholders.