Monday, August 13, 2012

Corporate Culture: Should I fit in or get out?

I had my mid-year performance review with my manager today. Overall, it went well. There was only 1 "Needs Focus" item: Improve knowledge and skills on corporate culture and work environment. "Sure thing, Boss"
  1. Understand the goal.
    • Improve knowledge -> research corporate culture
    • Improve skills -> implement knowledge gained from research
  2. Gather data and information.
    • Corporate culture is a term used to describe the collective beliefs, value systems, and processes that provide a company with its own unique flavor and attitude. (wiseGeek)
    • The different aspects of corporate culture are values, language, expectations, rituals and stories.  
      • Values are instilled into corporate culture by the decision and actions of the organization's leaders. This aspect of corporate culture influences the attitudes, motivation and decisions of employees. 
      • The understated values are just as influential as the stated values. These values include time management, cost savings, amount of space, and work performance.  
      • Expectations for employee behavior are an aspect of corporate culture that can either foster or hinder creativity and acceptance of new employees onto the team. 
      • Management should make clear to employees its expectations of how they should behave while at work to avoid confusion and create a positive working environment. 
      • It is especially important that new employees be briefed on office etiquette and general rules of the organization. (wiseGeek)
    • Above and beyond organizational and procedural factors, corporate culture is further informed by the attitude of everyone involved with the organization.
  3. Identify areas for further investigation.
    • Current culture - 
      • Stated: Acquire and retain talent, flexible work hours, autonomy, "open-door" communication policy across all levels of organization
      • Understated: Etiquette, working hours and environment, performance expectations, effects of using any "open-doors"
    • They say they want to emphasize creativity, flexibility, and innovation by being based less on control and organization than on freedom and creativity. However, the last few meetings with my manager included these statements:
      • "Do not compare yourself to those around you. You have not proven yourself."
      • "Do not [socialize] on breaks." 
      • "Do not get personal during meetings."
    • I'm pretty sure I've heard every variation of those sentiments since I started school. Some things are just part of who I am.....which is not a robot :-P  

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Grrrrr

Life makes less sense with each passing year.  It's getting harder and harder to want to keep going through the cycle of work-to-pay-bills-to-survive in the hopes of MAYBE someday actually being free before death.

I worked so hard to get the education that has gotten me a really good job, but, as usual, circumstances (involving other people being unwilling to work as hard as I did) prevent me from enjoying my accomplishments.  I guess it's my own fault.....why should they have to work as hard when they already reap the rewards?

When did not being able to provide, at least for oneself, stop being shameful?  What happened to having pride and honor in building one's own life?  When did it stop being rude to expect others to accommodate your needs...acceptable to expect someone else to come and "make it all better"?  Do people not understand the word "impose"?

LIFE IS NOT ABOUT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT WHEN YOU WANT EXACTLY HOW YOU WANT IT!!! 
IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EASY!!!!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Abortion Debate


I don't really even understand how this is even a debate. It seems rather simple to me: 
Abortion became illegal in the late 19th century. 

As quoted from an article on 19th century abortion in Women's Health Issues magazine, "There were plenty of agents and materials available to induce abortion... Yet many proprietary potions did not actually terminate pregnancies. Women often resorted to using SHARP INSTRUMENTS, WAX CANDLES, PENHOLDERS WITH ATTACHED WIRES, GLASS RODS, HAIR CURLING TONGUES, STICKS, SPOONS, KNIVES, and CATHETERS" (Spring 1992).  Many of the women who had to resort to the crude methods mentioned above inadvertently died in the process or not long after when infection set in. The fact is that these women could not bear the thought of carrying the pregnancy to term and were so determined to abort that they  risked serious injury, illness, and death (by unintentional suicide) to rid themselves of the parasite.

As a teenager in the mid-late 1990s, I heard about girls throwing themselves down stairs, punching themselves in the gut, and even starting a fight in the hopes of getting beaten badly enough to cause a miscarriage. All just so their parents wouldn't find out they were sexually active. 

A few questions to consider:

  • How does it make sense to provide medical treatment to an addict on illegal drugs (a problem caused by the person suffering from it) and NOT to a woman who has been raped (a problem caused by someone other than the person suffering from it)?
  • What about all of the unwanted children that are already here?
  • What about the men creating these children with no intentions of supporting or raising them? Shouldn't both parties involved in creating the person be held equally accountable for their actions?
It's like the "pro-lifers" seem to believe that making abortion and/or contraceptives illegal will accomplish all of the following:
  • stop the unmarried from having sex
  • make the world a better place with more children in it
  • end rape and violence
  • re-establish the traditional family unit of a Mother, Father, and 2.5 kids
  • unite all people under Christianity 

The FACTS: 

  1. Human beings have sex for pleasure, not just reproduction.
  2. Most animal species do, too.
  3. Regardless of how long the human lifespan is, the natural stages of development do not change. Puberty has always begun around age 12 and ended in the early 20s.  
  4. Our attempts to lengthen childhood by keeping children naive (often misrepresented as "innocent") only serves to create unprepared teenagers that inevitably become ill-equipped adults.
  5. If sex is only permissible between 2 adults joined by marriage, then the penalties for purchasing the services of a prostitute AND committing adultery need to reflect a zero tolerance policy for the extra-marital activities historically pursued by men.
  6. Equality is when everyone agrees to follow the same rules. 


Saturday, April 21, 2012

Saturday Cleaning


 Clean Puppies.
 Laundry.
 Rearrange bedroom.