When Workplace Bullying Leads to Death: A Captivating True Case Study

I became engrossed at work today in a productivity-sapping tale of workplace bullying at an esteemed non-profit literary magazine, the Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR), and I figure the least I can do is share it.  Theodore H. “Ted” Genoways is the famous and quite successful editor of VQR - he built the magazine from a sleepy campus publication to an award-winner and a must-read for academics and literary agents.  On Friday, July 30, the managing editor of VQR and a former close friend of Genoways,  Kevin Morrissey, took his own life at the age of 52.  Rumor has it that office bullying by Genoways was to blame.

This story would make a great case study:  Genoways was often out of the office but yielded a lot of power - this was one of Mintzberg's "simple structures."  Interestingly, the trouble began when Genoways hired a young master's program grad to help raise money for the magazine (who also happened to be a wealthy heiress whose father Genoways was cultivating to raise money for the magazine).  Staff resented the power this young hotshot had, and tensions escalated.  Soon, Morrissey was dead.

This is some very fascinating reading.  Slate has an overview of the story here and the Chronicle of Higher Education has the story that started it all.  I also recommend this local publication's story.  

Slate points out some questions that may be relevant to class:

What does it mean to be a workplace bully? For kids, bullying is defined as repeated acts of verbal or physical abuse in a situation where there's a power imbalance between the bully and the bullied. But in the workplace, there is almost always a hierarchy; power imbalances are necessarily part of the equation. That doesn't mean bad behavior can't be policed. Sexual harassment suits do just that. But bosses and employees aren't peers the way school kids are. The leaders of companies and departments have to dictate rules and give orders and occasionally reprimand employees who are falling short on the job—they have to be bossy. It's possible to imagine a scenario in which a boss (or a group of co-workers) deliberately persecutes an employee—sabotaging his work, playing nasty pranks. But is every demanding, gruff boss a bully? Where is the line between mismanagement and harassment? And can a boss ever be held responsible for an employee's decision to kill himself?

I also wonder:  how can this staff pick of the pieces after this tragedy?  Maybe this is a problem we can discuss when we get to the human resources frame.  

-Sean

Difference Without A Distinction?

To continue with our discussion of the case study, I’m beginning to feel that the idea there is a bright-line distinction between a “leader” and a “manager” is largely a fallacy.  Following our discussion of the case study, it became apparent fairly quickly we were not going to agree that  Jane needed to be a “leader” or a “manager.”  The characteristics of both a leader and of a manager that we discussed will be needed in her situation.

So, she needs to be both a leader and a manager?  She needs to “inspire” her workers to do more work and effectively “manage” them to perform as expected?  My gut reaction to this distinction is that is a merely an argument of semantics.  We have similar expectations for what we've categorized as leaders and managers.  We expect them to convince those underneath them to perform as expected, be it through “leading” or “managing.”  

I’m still wrestling with the best way to express my gut reaction, but the best way I’ve come up with so far, is to pose the question.  Would you expect a leader to be unable to manage?

-Brandon

Advice for those Working for Nonprofits

I highly recommend the Corner Office section of the Sunday New York Times. The article “Before Making a Big Splash, Learn to Swim”, which we discussed in class last week is definitely worth reading. I think that it will be of especial interest to anyone in the nonprofit sector or those who are looking to go into it. The president and CEO of the Children’s Aid Society, Richard R. Buery, Jr., gives advice on interviewing:

      “The most important thing to me, really, at the end of a day, is passion. Why are you doing this work? I can tell you why I do this work. I believe this country does not live up to the standard it sets toward children. What we say we do and what we actually do are completely different. And it angers me, and I couldn’t be happy unless I was doing something about it, and that makes me very ambitious.

I need people who are equally ambitious and driven and angry, and don’t like the way the world works, and want to make a fundamental change about it.

The skills are important, too, obviously. You’ve got to be able to do your job. But skills, at least, can be taught. I’ve found that you can’t teach passion.”

Mr. Buery also advises getting a mentor:

“ I have been very intentional about recruiting mentors in my careers, and I think a lot of it has to do with the work that I’ve been doing. I’ve started two other nonprofits; now I’m leading a new one. There are lots of great things about being the boss. But because I’ve been in charge for most of my career, I’ve always been envious of friends and colleagues who would talk about the great bosses they had and what they were learning. I never had that, and people were looking to me, and I’m looking behind myself, but there’s no one there. So I have had to, out of necessity, find people I could ask for advice.

Some mentors have been with me for a long time. Others sort of come in and come out. But my approach to mentoring is that I come with specific questions. “How should I do this? I’m experiencing this challenge,” and it’s been tremendously important to me.”

And as Professor Casey pointed out he discusses his thought on leadership.

Here’s the link to the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/business/12corner.html

Catherine Crawford

More on the discussion of Women Managers

I was looking for more articles on the topic and came across this one - http://www.usatoday.com/careers/news/newsusa2.htm.  What's interesting is that the article focuses on how women are perceived as less experienced managers essentially because of certain natural female traits. Since women are more "nurturing, supportive and mothering," employees are less apt to take their female bosses seriously.

In my opinion, this is yet another useless argument which does nothing to elevate the conversation about the lack of female leadership in the workplace. The ultimate paradox of the female boss is that while she is blessed with a more natural inclination to be "nurturing, supportive and mothering," she is also cursed by the struggle of having to constantly prove her worth in the workplace in order to move up. That struggle, whether caused by external forces or simply perceived, can push the female boss in an another direction.  Instead of being "nurturing" and "supportive" as she is naturally inclined,  she becomes aggressive and competitive. The urge to be recognized as serious and competent results in a management style that draws a clear divide between manager and staff. I've seen this create a lot of tension in the office, something that is illustrated in the "goodbye happy hour" case study.

But the article highlights one good point. ''Training in most management settings thinks that the same thing works for men and women. That is not the case.'' If women can find a unique management style, perhaps they can better overcome the obstacles that ail and prevent them from moving up in the workplace.

-Conchita Campos

http://www.economist.com/node/17090697?story_id=17090697

An incredibly interesting survey of the research into the genetic basis of "good" management:

http://www.economist.com/node/17090697?story_id=17090697

Some quotes:

"Salary also depends on DNA. Around 40% of the variation between people's incomes is attributable to genetics."

"[Arvey et al's] study suggests that genes help explain extroversion only in women. In men, this trait is instilled environmentally. Businesswomen, it seems, are born. But businessmen are made."

"Surprisingly [in another study], a group member's testosterone did not predict his or her status within the group. What the researchers did discover, though, is that the greater the mismatch between testosterone and status, the less effectively a group's members cooperate."

I confess to choosing some particularly provocative thoughts out of a quite balanced survey, but these three ideas get to the specific question quite quickly: is there an aspect of biological study that might lead to more intense insight into fields previously left to the study of psychology? When we examine the interactions of organizations, where we used to look at personalities and relationships, should we instead be looking at gene profiles, hormones and pheromones?

The article notes that genetic expression is regulated by environmental factors but wonders nonetheless about the potential worth of this information for those who must make management decisions--if we already try to look for personalities that fit and benefit the organization, could/should/can we look at something more?

No, I don't know what I think.

Russell West Jr.

Ten Things I Learned About Leadership from Women Executives of Color

While we are on the topic of diversity in leadership/management (See Amanda's post that follows up our conversation on Do Women Make Better Managers...), see this great article I just found on blueavocado.org:

Ten Things I Learned About Leadership from Women Executives of Color
http://www.blueavocado.org/content/ten-things-i-learned-about-leadership-women-executives-color

Apart from the discussion on diversity, it also touches on many of the issues we spoke about the other night, such as the mix of "soft" (leadership) skills and technical skills, the applicability of leadership theories, the need to know the jargon, etc.

Also note the book that the article is extracted from.  The Leader of the Future II, edited by Frances Hesselbein and Marshall Goldsmith is one of the classics.

But remember, your popular media review doesn't just have to be about a book. You can use a blog, web site (e.g. see blueavocado.org), film, play ....

John

Workplace Politics

I came to my organization just over two years ago, fresh out of college. The organization has about 25 full-time staff + interns. Shortly after starting, I noticed there was tension between several colleagues due to personality clashes and conflict over projects and what department they actually fit into. It was rather disheartening, as I expected a small organization to not have as much office politics and that we should more so work together as a team and support one another. I spoke with a colleague on this who felt that much of this environment is due to poor management at a higher level, which made sense to me. We never have staff meetings where we openly discuss what is going on each department. In fact, I am not even fully certain what some other departments do. The only time we come together are for office-wide related events or parties. If the CEO fostered more departmental dialogue, maybe this could cut back on tension and competition between departments. Personality clashes may always be a challenge, but we shouldn't feel competiton over whose project should be whose.

- Monica

Do Women make better managers continued....

I was intrigued by the article we discussed in last nights class and began looking to see if there was more information available on the topic.  In my web travels I came across this article http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/do-women-make-better-bosses/ in which various people from different industries weigh in on Carol Smiths interview.  I hope you enjoy reading the different perspectives on the issue.

Amanda Talty

Book Zilch

I began reading Zilch and I recommend it

Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-Year High

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17poverty.html?pagewanted=2&src=un&feedurl=http://json8.nytimes.com/pages/national/index.jsonp

 This article discusses the impact the recession is having on US citizens. Frankly, the statistics are frightening.  There is striking amount of extreme poverty, with 1 in every 7 adults in America eligible to for food stamps. Worst still, the immense disparity of poverty is worrisome.  With 9% of Whites in Poverty, while  Blacks and Hispanics are at rates of 25% or more. Not only do I see the fragility of these communities, but I also see the political will to help these communities dissipating. After tax credits and unemployment extensions end, will the President, Congress, and local governments just ignore the growing problem of unemployment experienced predominantly by brown people? With weak schools, slowing job markets (with continually more layoffs), and especially high cost of living in urban areas, a federal executive order or act such as the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 need to arise to combat compounding problems.


Helga Nyanffor

Privatizing Communism

Good Morning All:

I came across this article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4cd17af4-bf5e-11df-965a-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss which discusses Cuba's move to cut 500,000 workers from the state payroll which represents the biggest shift to private enterprise since 1968.  I find it a fascinating juxtaposition to the United States' efforts to nationalize health care and increase government control over the automobile and financial industries.  Particularly when our government pay czar agrees to a $9 million pay package for the new CEO of General Motors http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/general-motors-ceo-9-million-pay-package/ 

Many European nations and now even Cuba are venturing into privatization and moving away from nationalized enterprise while we follow a reverse trajectory.  Is the United States leading or are we following?  What should we make of these global economic transitions? 

Amanda Talty

Bloomberg's Management Style Offers Some Surprises

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/finance/20100825/8/3343


This is an interesting article I read, that reviews The NYC Mayor's offices yearly assessment reports. The reports put out by his administration surprisingly left room for improvement. The results essentially explain some of the ineffienciencies that exist in City agencies due to lack of centralization and oversight. This a huge surprise, becasue it was always assumed that Mayor Bloomberg lead a highly centralized administration where all the shots were called from Mayor Bloomberg and his close team of Commisioners.  Some of the strongest criticisms came from Mayor Bloomberg's own Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, who allegedly found 500 milliion dollars  per year in lost public funds that could be gained from cuts and consolidations in the social services and agencies.

I am on the fence with these new assessments and proposed administrative cuts, because of previous experiences with "consolidated agencies". I have come to realize that most administrative cuts that occur take away interaction with the public at hand. Citizens pay the price, in further delayed services, or worse, automated systems. For example, the 311 phone number that is is supposed to be the city's hot-line to all necessary agencies and services, but it  has done anything but better connect people to services and centralize control. Rather 311, has put a new barrier between citizens and public services. I feel that this is what will soon happen to more services under the advice of Stephen Goldsmith, the cold-hearted, numbers crunching public servant


There was also particular attention brought out about the Mayors management and reorganization of the City's school system. Bloomberg, fought long and hard to gain control of city schools and has achieved a great level of centralization  through smaller city zones and through more accountability and power given to principals. But the author brings up the problems of centralization, such as the loss of the community voice! I believe that  revamping and consolidating city bureaucracy through tools such as technology would be great, but I hope they don't go too far. Unfortunately, I have no say in the Mayor's Management style, your boy Stephen does.

Helga Nyanffor

Update on Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi

It may not be directly related to our course, but it’s such a good story I have to post it. One of our “personalities of the week” from last week, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi made the finals of  the US Open in both the mixed doubles and men's doubles. Unfortunately he lost in both (to the top seeded teams), but it’s still been quite a tournament for him. He is the only Pakistani tennis player ever to reach the final of a Grand Slam.

Even more importantly, he and men's doubles partner Rohan Bopanna, from India have used their sporting prowess to make a political statement. As a New Times article notes: “Bopanna and Qureshi, whose countries have engaged in three major wars and remain in dispute over the Kashmir region, have spent much of 2010 using their doubles partnership to try to improve relations between their countries … [They] first played together in 2003 but did not become devoted teammates until this year, when they played under the slogan ‘Stop War, Start Tennis’. They are each 30 years old and are working to promote understanding and tolerance in their countries.” 

See the rest of the article at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/sports/tennis/09straightsets.html

Maybe we could consider them an example of the “Fish Philosophy”. The have taken their lives as journeymen tennis professionals and given it a whole new meaning.

John

Wage Gaps in the Public and Private Sectors

I was surprised to hear last class that pay for public-sector executives has been on the rise relative to that of private-sector executives, so I did some more reading on the subject.  I was surprised to discover that not only has executive compensation in the public sector been rising, but that there has also been a general rise in public sector pay relative to the private sector pay since 2001.  This is most likely due to better educated and older public-sector workforces (as Prof. Casey mentions in his last post) and the skyrocketing costs of generous public benefits and pensions.  See this chart: 

From Mandel on Innovation and Growth

In fact, as I dug deeper, I found that studies on public-sector wage trends actually tend to be in slight opposition to what we discussed:  though the average public-sector worker is more highly paid than the average private-sector worker, private-sector employees do out-earn public sector employees at the high-end executive level.  See this:

From the New York Times 

Notice that the private-sector "wins" here only at the low end and the $150k+ end.  Here's a study by Harvard economist George Borjas showing how significantly top private executives out-earn top public executives.

So this may be bad news for us aspiring public-sector execs, but I would consider it a "plus" for the public-sector in general:  there is much less of the stratification that has plagued our society within public institutions.  In fact, in something of a Swiftian proposal, conservative columnist Ross Douthat has suggested that, if liberals want to reduce income inequality, they should simply grow the public sector:

"This is the lesson of Western Europe, where the public sector is larger and the income distribution much more egalitarian. The European experience suggests that specific policy interventions— the shape of the tax code, the design of the education system — may matter less in the long run than the sheer size of the state. If you funnel enough of a nation’s gross domestic product through a bureaucracy, the gap between the upper class and everybody else usually compresses."  

Of course, the implicit danger here is that a larger public sector would result in a slower economy, but I'm not sure that is a fair implication.  After all, a huge private sector economy has proven to create bubbles and our recent economic disaster.  But I don't know.  Is "less stratification" a legitimate "plus" for the public sector (do those of you in the public sector see it affecting how your organizations are run)?  And is "key driver of statewide economic growth" a legitimate "plus" for the private sector?

Sean  

Guidestar - Ethics: Transparency vs. Privacy

We discussed Guidestar last night.
If anyone is unfamiliar with Guidestar (although with a class of 20 something non profit folks I imagine not many - but just in case) it is a website where you can obtain non profit reorts and the 990 tax forms they are required to file with the IRS.  If you are unfamililiar with a 990 then one important note is that it requires that the top 5 (maybe 10 now??) compensated individuals working for the organization be listed - with their salary and benefit pay listed.  This in and of itself creates an HR challenge - want to know how much your boss makes?  If they are listed as one of the top earners his/her total compensation would be listed as salary and benefits.  Is that ethical?

Here are two scenarios for us to ponder:

Case #1 - As the economic downturn loomed an organization told it's employees that there needed to be tight fiscal controls in place and in an open staff meeting asked the employees if there were ways to cut the budget, and if people preferred to all take small salary cuts, or freeze raises for the next year.  It was explained there would be a hiring freeze and that everything was being done to avoid any layoffs, and potential fundraising dollars were grouped into three categories: Highly Likely, Somewhat Likely, or Low. 

The staff opted for raise freezes and found some additional ways to save.

As the budget planning process for the following year continued it was announced that enough savings were captured and factoring highly and somewhat likely fundraising dollars to bring the organization into the following year in the black, salaries and hiring were frozen, but $20,000 had been reserved for equity adjustments because some recent hires were brought on at a lower salary than their previous positions and compared to their equals in the organization they were not were they should be.

Three months later there were layoffs.

A year later when the 990 became available after filing with the IRS it was discovered that the $20,000 that had been reserved went to one person, an executive previously making less than other manager counterparts.  This person had not been hired recently, but had been promoted to the role the previous year.

Case # 2 - During an economic downturn an organization told it's staff that it could not afford to provide raises greater than 4% to anyone.  So after merit increases ranging from zero to 4%, and maybe some case 5% for high performers everyone went about their work.

A year later, after the 990 was filed, it was discovered that the highest level earners had received raises of between 10% and 20%.

What do you think the staffs did in this case or the previous case?  Did the management of these orgs act ethically?

-Ken

Philanthropy - Economy - Shifts in Priorities?

Hi,

In class last night a couple of pressing question came to mind that I wish to pose to all of you.

Quite a few years ago someone said to me that philanthropy was both a leading and a lagging economic indicator. If you are unfamiliar with the terms - basically, philanthropy slows well before an economic downtown, and then is one one of the last things to start up again after the economy recovers. Also, for definitions of terms look here: http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/177.asp

With this latest deep recession (depression?) I observed my organization to see if this idea held true, and tried to talk to other colleagues at other organizations to get their perspectives. In my opinion it is an accurate description. Although, when dealing with high net worth philanthropists they tend to recover more quickly than others, so my observations may be slightly skewed. First questions - do you agree, or what has been your observation? And, how does this effect management priorities as fundraising drops or rebounds? Is it different from how private company management would respond to economic downturns and recoveries?

One thing that I have also found in the non profit sector is that many donations and grants are made as restricted funds - in other words specifically designated for a purpose to be used as the donor intended. Unrestricted funds can be used as the organization sees fit, and often go towards funding overhead costs. Many people do not wish to subsidize the salaries of people, but rather prefer to provide "help" directly to a cause. As fiscal years draw to a close what I have seen and heard described is that in order to ensure spending of restricted funds organizations will actually find ways to spend the money down in compliance with donor intentions, or in extreme cases, go back through and falsify documentation to make it appear that money was spent as donor intended. Have any of you seen or heard of these things happening?

After considering these questions and responses, are non profits and private sector organizations extrememely different? Does it change the way you thought about it last night after class?

In my opinion both are inherently similar, even after considering the nuances - at the end of the day it is about the money. Whether it be profit or fundraising dollar, management is about maximizing the generation of and most effecient use of the dollar. Do you agree or disagree?

-Ken

New Report on Unionization

The topic of unions and their role in workplace will continue to appear throughout this course, so I though you might be interested in this new report on unionization in New York. New York has a higher unionization rate than the rest of the country. Other key findings include:

·  Public sector employees are older, more highly paid, and more educated than workers generally.  Women, African Americans, and workers born in Puerto Rico are all overrepresented in the public sector, and largely for this reason have high unionization rates relative to other demographic groups.

·  In New York City, the unionized workforce differs from that of the nation in that non-college educated, traditional blue-collar workers remain highly unionized, especially in industries like transit and home health care.

·  A majority of New York City's union members are female, reflecting high union membership in teaching and other educational services, as well as in fields like health care that typically employ women in higher numbers.

·  Although recent immigrants have low unionization rates, immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before 1990 have unionization rates as high, or higher than U.S.-born workers.

 The full report is available at:
The State of the Unions
http://www.urbanresearch.org/news/new-cuny-study-on-nyc-and-states-high-unionization-and-unique-patterns-of-union-membership


John

Reform in the education sector… should teacher accountability and measurement be a part of the future of education?

I found this NYTimes article from the Sunday magazine (9/5/10) very interesting and case-study-relevant to yesterday’s lecture. The article discusses “back-to-school-time” and how parents often fight to get their children into classes with the best-rated teachers. In the past, the most highly-regarded teachers have been talked about by word-of-mouth… however, the article discusses a new approach taken in Los Angeles where an economist analyzed seven years of student scores in a local school district and then used statistics to reveal trends. This information was then used to form a public “ranking” of all teachers based on scores… and was later published in a local newspaper. You can only imagine the media’s domino effect on parents’ opinions and their subsequent reactions to the enrollment of students in certain classrooms…

With the introduction of the No Child Left Behind policy (NCLB), it seems to me that measuring student performance is very much a part of the education movement to ensure that our nation is reaching yearly milestones by testing student’s ability, thereby rating a schools’ ability to have students meet state and national goals. (It is to my knowledge that school districts typically report on grade level progress toward these goals and do not specifically tie this information back to individual teacher names).

In true essence of the public sector, I think this ranking-structure is a reactionary response to the introduction of the NCLB policy. I think the articles’ economist example makes a good point that during a time where students’ test-scores are important, ranking teachers by score-achievement is not a completely unreasonable consideration. However, it does leave out many variables (e.g. students’ social skills, slower learners, etc.) that suggest that solely relying on quantitative data will not give us sufficient information to judge a teacher based on a test ranking…

I’d like to pose a question to the class: As the education sector evolves, should more specific teacher accountability and measurement structures be place? What might they look like and how might this affect the future of education?

Shikha Dalal

The Ultimate Secret Sauce to Effective Leadership?

As I was reading through the first chapter of both textbooks over the labor day weekend, I couldn't help but recognize the "eerily" similar concept of multiframe thinking despite the differing focus on individual behavior versus organizational behavior.  In Bolman and Deal's book, the authors refers to the idea of multifram thinking for understanding organizations and introduces the overview of the four-frame model, which includes structural, human resource, political and symbolic frames.  Suprisingly, in DDA's texbook, the authors also praise the ability to uitilize more different angles and lenses to assess organizational behavior and specifically cite psychological, sociological, anthropological, or political standpoint (pg. 12). These four lenses can be almost readily aligned with the frame models shared by Bolman and Dean.  I htought it was interesting how two different starting points on a study of leadership and management may actually lead us into the same direction.   Lastly, I really aprpeciated the "artistry" aspect of leadership in Bolman and Dean's book.  This was a very refreshing perspective: How we can incorporate the artist's ability to engage with reality in a new and innovative way into our management and leadership environment.  I actually tried attending the "free" MOMA showing last Friday afternoon, only to be discouraged by a winding line of tourists around the block.  Perhaps I should have stuck around to improve my leadership of all things.  Hope the rest of class enjoyed an excellent three day weekend.

Angry employees hold managers hostage.

Passion, fairness, being fed up with the current systems in place, or lack their of led to enraged employees in Ghana holding managers hostage in their offices. This article stuck out to me for several reasons. Some of the things I highlighted while reading this article were management styles, conflicts in the work place, and knowing your role. Although holding a manager hostage is illegal, what are some of the ways to get management's attention to meet the needs of employees. Also as an aspiring manager how to develop problem solving strategies to avoid a hostage take over. In all seriousness these workers complained of unhealthy working conditions, unfair wages, special treatment of management, and managers not knowing their role in the organization. "management crisis as the managing director, instead of executing his day-to-day activities and seeing to the overall management of the company, he prefers to take over the responsibilities of the Human Resource Manager."

The article also touched on a very common issue that I've recognized in the non-profit sector, promotional policies and compensation. In the non-profit arena that I've been in, promotions are few and far between and compensation for the long hours, and dedication is non existent. In these instances managers must find other ways to encourage work productivity. Many people are passionate about what they do but often realize they receive the short end of the stick so to speak. As a manager how would you deal with this down fall before a hostage take over happens. How do you relate to your employees that they are appreciated; that their work is valued, and that their are other benefits for the work they do.



http://www.modernghana.com/news/78021/1/irate-workers-take-management-hostage.html



Shawnta Washington

PPPs

Partnering Up: Public-Private Partnerships

Partnering for value can be great for a state or city, but the devil is in the details.

Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene | August 2010 

Interesting note of "warning" in reference to PPPs (from Governing.com), particularly in light of the Warner article's mention of PPPs (Local Gov't Infrastructure and the False Promise of Privatization):

http://www.governing.com/columns/smart-mgmt/partnering-up-public-private-partnerships.html

What Warner notes in his piece is similar to what Barrett & Greene point out - that is the general lack of confidence when it comes to PPPs to begin with.  Whether it's a lack of trust or a potential "conflict of interest" the fact remains that public-private partnerships are in fact the wave of the future and are intended to strengthen areas of weakness for both sides.

How can the details best be ironed out so that PPPs remain the transparent and viable especially in light of the democratic principles through which they should be regulated?  What exactly should these "accountability" rules be that Warner deems as necessary to implement?

Just a question to the class, considering the fact that many of us might have come across PPPs in our work.

Valeria Bonanome

Ramadan Case Study

I thought we had a great first class. It was nice to meet you all. I’m glad to see that we have such a diversified group.


I’d like to make a comment on the case study Ramadan that we discussed in class. Someone suggested that Jamal might just let it go and not report the “harassment”. I disagree. I think that Jamal should consider the way he is being treated, in regard to his religious practices, as the equivalent of being sexually harassed. Based on my experience in investment banking, which is a male-dominated field and therefore sexual harassment is taken very seriously, the employer needs to see that the employee demonstrated that the behavior was not acceptable to them and was not to be tolerated. If Jamal does nothing and waits to see if the action continues it may be construed by management that this was not such a serious offense after all. They may not believe that it even happened at all.

I think that Jamal should confront Sonia and explain to her that he does not like the way she is treating him. If her behavior continues he should report her to their supervisor. If Jamal feels like his supervisor did not handle it properly then he should take it up with Human Resources.

Catherine Crawford

Millenium Campus Conference at Columbia University

Hi everyone,

I thought most of us might be interested in this 3-day workshop on sustainable international development. Speakers from UNICEF USA, UNESCO, IRC and some other nonprofit/public organizations participate in this event. It will take place on 17-18-19 September.

http://www.mcc2010.com/index.php?page=homepage

Isil Nart

MBAs are for wusses

On Tuesday we talked about leadership and our reading touched on the issue of what sort of education make the best leaders (managers??). Here is a interesting take on the issue:

MBAs are for wusses: 

Traditional armies drill unquestioning obedience into their grunts. Israel’s encourages creativity. An IDF spokesman says it is “highly acceptable” for soldiers to point out problems and pitch ideas to superiors. That is why veterans are snapped up by start-ups, says Alan Baker, president of the Israel-Canada Chamber of Commerce in Tel Aviv. They also do well raising money, he says, because investors assume the IDF has already weeded out the dishonest and irresponsible. In other countries, employers rely on the college-entry obstacle course to select the brightest and best. In Israel, thanks to conscription, most job applicants have tackled real obstacle courses.

See the whole article at:

http://www.economist.com/node/16892040?story_id=16892040 

While the article may be half-satirical, it is true that military service in any country is usually considered a plus in the labor market.  Ex-military are considered to be more disciplined, more resilient, more capable for taking on leadership roles.

Would you agree?

Has anyone in class had military experience? 

John