Corporation: Friend or Foe?

Last week in class (October 11), we watched a bit of the Documentary "The Coporation" by Marck Achbat and Jennifer Abbott. What we got to see was really interesting. For the activity, we are going to respond a couple of questions abot the documentary:

1. Should corporations be entitled to the same legal rights as individuals? Where should the line be drawn?

Never should the corporations be given the same legal rights as individuals. The documentary said that corporations have enormous power over society, and that enough is a great threat. Plus, when corporations are given similar rights, I do not think they would respond to the same type of obligations and duties that individuals as citizens have. So, for a corporation as a Limited Liability Company, its rights should also be limited at great extent, drawing the line at the point where if a company grows any bigger, it would endanger the public good.

2. How can we ensure corporations are held accountable for their actions?

Today, it seems like Corporations do not have a face, and that makes it difficult to held someone responsible for actions that harm the general public. Modifying the law, building the proper systems where the actor marginalized by corporations can have a voice, and preventing corporations from becoming uncontrollable forces; could be possible to make corporations accountable for their actions.

In particular, the case of the US is interesting because they allow lobbying in their system, and that has given almost-unlimited power to corporations which can get away with their actions (their corporate agenda) with the hidden support of politicians. Only when corporations stop being the “invisible hand” that controls the government, could they be held responsible.

3. Should individuals (directors, employees, shareholders) bear any responsibility for the actions of a corporation? If so, to what degree?

Yes. At the end, they are the decision-makers and so they should respond for the actions taken on their lead. There should be a shift towards a corporation that puts the interest of the stakeholders around it at the same level of those of shareholders. That only calls for transparency inside the corporation, and so the lead managers should be open to be scrutinized for their actions if they are a threat to society.

4. What are the benefits of the corporate form? Could an alternative model offer these as well?

It has to be acknowledged that many big enterprises have helped to change the world, and sometimes in a good way: Microsoft, General Electric, etc. Since they are really big, they have the resources to produce cheaply and at great amounts which allow more people to afford these products. The question here is whether people could enjoy those same benefits if the products offered today by corporations would be provided by smaller companies which were closer to the public, more “humane” and more aware of its needs. My opinion is that not only would costumers be happy with this alternative, but it would turn them into market-setters and not just conformists, as it is nowadays. Plus, in this case all the environmental damages, the shady worker conditions, and the lack of accountability would probably disappear.

In a similar vein to that of the Corporation, i would like to recommend another Documentary: Food, Inc.

The documentary deals with similar issues to those of The Corporation but focused on the food industry. It shows how powerful corporations endager the public with food products with faulty ingredients and made under so-so practices, and yet the government does not take proper action because those companies are extremely well connected. Also, it proposes ad idea for change similar to my proposal on the last answer.

The Hands-on Approach of the IOM

In the very important task of improving the conditions of women migrant workers, the OIM takes the issue in a very hands-on manner. First of all, they have recognized that the only way for migrant workers-specially women because they are more vulnerable to being mistreated, to receive to proper protection of their rights when working abroad is to go the path of regime construction and gather all the international legislation around migrant’s rights. The IOM identifies itself as one of the international organizations with the responsibility to look forward for the ratification and the implementation within every state of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. The organization also works closely with other countries in the introduction of national legislation and mechanism that protect not only the migrants who enter a country, but also those who leave a country. That has been the case in Asian Countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, African countries like Ethiopiaand European Countries like the UK, and some others in Eastern Europe. Since 1995 and the adoption of the IOM’s gender policy, the results in protection of migrant women have been more noticeable.

The organization has identified that the situation for women in their host countries is sometimes worrying, especially because they are often the target of violence and all kinds of abuses. The IOM has since many years organizing groups and reunions at the local level to give counseling to battered women so they can find a way to reach governmental help and a release from the abuse they put up with as migrant, disadvantaged women. From a more intergovernmental perspective, the organization is always seeking to influence national policymakers to change national legislation that better protect women migrant workers especially regarding human rights. Publications such as Working to Prevent and Address Violence against Women Migrant Workers, and Gender and Labour Migration in Asia seek to do that. This is quite important because the economic sectors employing migrant women are usually highly unregulated and so it is easy for women to be the targets of many types of abuse.

Source: International Organization for Migration (Southern Africa) Avaliable at: http://iom.org.za/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=43

Also, the organization works very actively to discourage the use of illegal migration channels since these often lead to human trafficking. The IOM has been very useful in the implementation of projects at national levels to provide training and assistance for the authorities in order to avoid this problem, and it has also worker hand-in-hand with civil society actors to prevent this issue. Furthermore, it has also created projects to work closely with the victims of human trafficking in their reintegration to normal life and in the dealing of the consequences left by the abuse (diseases, psychological problems, etc)

One aspect that diverges a lot from the general idea of migrant women is that they are only unskilled labor, but the organization recognizes the broad spectrum of the role of migrant women workers and that sometimes they are professionally trained. According to the Official document of the 18^th Summit of the Organization in 2003, they are also working to assure that not only skilled women are given fair treatment in the foreign countries they migrate to, but also that their expertise does not translate as a threat for the local labor markets.

References

International Organization for Migration, n.d. Taking Action Against Violence and Discrimination Affecting Migrant Women and Girls. Ginebra, Suiza. Available at: www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/published_docs/brochures_and_info_sheets/violence_against_migrant_women_factsheet.pdf

Understanding Culture Beyond the books

For cross-cultural managers it is important to be aware of the cultural philosophies of the different places where the engage in managerial activities. Not only in the case of South Africa and the Ubuntu Philosophy, but also everywhere else.

Taken from: Kanhyisela Scholarship Program Website, n.d. Ubuntu: The Legacy of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Whiting, A. (Image). Available at: http://khanyisela.org/khanyisela-blog/south-africa-khanyisela-blog/ubuntu-the-legacy-of-south-african-archbishop-desmond-tutu/

The first thing that managers can do is to develop a great cultural sensitivity. As in the case explained in the essay of Mangaliso, M. (2001), managers cannot pretend that their culture will fit in every aspect with the culture of the host country. Taking a position based on ethnocentrism and stereotypes will never turn in results that benefit the organizations and its employees. Besides, culture can never be understood as a static feature of people within a group, so the tasks of managers in understanding foreign cultural philosophies is a never-ending one.

For starters, some degree of cultural dimension is a great first step to understand a different culture, and in cases like this where managerial teams are “imported”, it is difficult to make them interact with the host culture, especially since they are provided with all the facilities to “make them feel like home”, as in sort of a “bubble” that acts as an obstacle for a better understanding of the other. In the particular case of South Africa, the cultural learning of ubuntu cannot be learned just through books or through cultural analysis like those of G. Hofstede or of E.T Hall, but they are quite useful nonetheless. I would think, that since the document says they are a high-context culture (one of Mr. T. Hall’s features), a face-to-face interaction is crucial to understand that society in general terms. Therefore, communication and mutual understanding are key.

After that step is executed, the following would be to identify how the general understanding of a culture diverges or stays true to the core of a particular organizational culture. It might had been that the ubuntu characteristics call for a respect of authority from hierarchical figures, but in the case of the mining company it seemed like the employees wanted a more one-on-one contact with the management, and a more horizontal relation within the organization. The use of the “Onion” metaphor would certainly apply here, where after getting in touch with the superficial characteristics, the managerial teams would have to dive in to “the core” where main values are, in order to understand cultural philosophy.

One thing that has to be taken into account in that process of understanding is that, between cultures, some values just do not translate. In the case of the mining company, managers were pretending to use an indirect communication system and that went in complete contradiction of what the locals had accustomed. Also, the managers –who had a very western idea of management, had ignored the ideas of kinship, humaneness, welfare, consensus and harmony which were cornerstones of the ubuntu philosophy, while trying to impose their values.

In conclusion, understanding different cultures from the other’s shoes, and having an ongoing process of adaptation to managerial practices “exported” to other countries have to be founded in an open attitude towards change, suggestions, communication and comprehension.

NOTE: Sorry i had been away for so long, but between the midterm, and the two class activities that made up for the blog activities (Plus, plenty of things to do in other courses), a month has passed by sice my last post. I will try to make it up.