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Corporate socialization
May. 2nd, 2004 04:27 pmThis is a small collection of thoughts about society and economy.
Over a century ago came the modern concept of the corporation: run by a very few, with limited legal and financial liability for those who run it. This prompted investors to want a larger return on investment and bascially encouraged sharks at the helm and more accountants.
A number of businesses have been run by sharks in the past. Their names are legend in their industries: J P Morgan and Rockefeller top my list. It takes a lot of nerve to run a large company, but it requires less nerve if you don't have as much responsibility for your actions.
The practical upshot of this is that the people we most encourage to run companies are the ones who will least regard their fellow humans as, well, human.
I believe people from across the political spectrum would agree that most crimes against others are the result of the criminal not respecting the inherent value of the person they are harming. For many people this may be a result of circumstances at the time - a crime of passion, if you will. For others, there is a simple lack of regard, and that's a more-or-less full time perception.
Most corporations don't care much about human cost. They care about bottom line. Some of them do look at bottom-lin as enlightened self-interest, and I can deal with that; but there are plenty of others that just don't care. And they don't care because they are run by people who don't care.
My cable company doesn't care, so long as I watch TV, play on the Internet and pay my cable bill.
My electric company doesn't care, so long as I run lots of electric stuff and pay my bill.
My car company doesn't care unless I buy more of their cars.
It's now pretty easy for people who don't care to get into business and to not care about their customers or their employees. I find this more than a little disturbing.
Enron, Worldcom, Microsoft, McDonalds, none of them operate in a corporate vacuum. Abuses of power which are called "deviations" and "not the status quo" are in fact normal and part of the status quo, to be fair on the harsher side of each. I am not saying that large companies can't be good citizens - Ben and Jerry's is still well run, as is Malden Mills and Trader Joe's - but I am saying that some changes need to be made to encourage more good citizens and fewer Kenneth Lay's. The worst excesses should be stopped, and stopped cold.
The real question, of course, is how? How can a change be made that is effective, fair, and legal?
Over a century ago came the modern concept of the corporation: run by a very few, with limited legal and financial liability for those who run it. This prompted investors to want a larger return on investment and bascially encouraged sharks at the helm and more accountants.
A number of businesses have been run by sharks in the past. Their names are legend in their industries: J P Morgan and Rockefeller top my list. It takes a lot of nerve to run a large company, but it requires less nerve if you don't have as much responsibility for your actions.
The practical upshot of this is that the people we most encourage to run companies are the ones who will least regard their fellow humans as, well, human.
I believe people from across the political spectrum would agree that most crimes against others are the result of the criminal not respecting the inherent value of the person they are harming. For many people this may be a result of circumstances at the time - a crime of passion, if you will. For others, there is a simple lack of regard, and that's a more-or-less full time perception.
Most corporations don't care much about human cost. They care about bottom line. Some of them do look at bottom-lin as enlightened self-interest, and I can deal with that; but there are plenty of others that just don't care. And they don't care because they are run by people who don't care.
My cable company doesn't care, so long as I watch TV, play on the Internet and pay my cable bill.
My electric company doesn't care, so long as I run lots of electric stuff and pay my bill.
My car company doesn't care unless I buy more of their cars.
It's now pretty easy for people who don't care to get into business and to not care about their customers or their employees. I find this more than a little disturbing.
Enron, Worldcom, Microsoft, McDonalds, none of them operate in a corporate vacuum. Abuses of power which are called "deviations" and "not the status quo" are in fact normal and part of the status quo, to be fair on the harsher side of each. I am not saying that large companies can't be good citizens - Ben and Jerry's is still well run, as is Malden Mills and Trader Joe's - but I am saying that some changes need to be made to encourage more good citizens and fewer Kenneth Lay's. The worst excesses should be stopped, and stopped cold.
The real question, of course, is how? How can a change be made that is effective, fair, and legal?
