Wednesday August 11th

At this class the teacher talk us about the corporate cultural diversity. It refers to the interaction between the cultures that coexist and participate in a company. We discuss about the concept of polarization, it is to think in a way that is different to another way of thinking, this polarization is created by any strong cultural manifestation, and it leads to a preferencial or discriminatory treatment in the company, but when time passes polarization tends to stablished.

We also talk about the cultural added value, the added value is an extra value when a product is made by a person from other country, these products are not only consuming products. The price of one product could change according to the perceptions we have of that particular product, for example is not the same to buy a mickey mouse hat made here in Colombia for the same price of that one that is from Disney.

Later we went to the coffee shop and we have to identify the different attitudes of the people that was there. With this activity we understand that we have to pay attention to details and people's behaviours because it help us to understand how an organization functions and how people interacts.

At the end of the class we discuss about the diversity appreciation, that we have to understand people attitudes and there must be an effective communication. We must avoid ethnocentrism and visual obstinacy.

Wednesday August 4th

In this class we saw a presentation about Organizational Culture. Organizational Culture generate human resources which are the key to be competitive and also generates cultural paradigms. A culture is a compound of habits, behaviours, customs and so many different ways to interact in order to have an identity.

Philosophy of the founders, selection criteria, top management and socilization (the way people talk to each other) contributes to organizational culture, because they allow to work in teams and to take good decisions.

Some of the characteristics of OC are:

- Members identity.

- Emphasis on group, not people.

- Indirect focus on people: consider implications and snowball effect.

- Integration of units: units work in a coordinated and integrated manner.

- Control: a compound of clear and low impact rules is stablished.

- Risk tolerance: permisiveness with employees.

- Reward criteria: Salaries, benefits, pecuniary and not pecuniary.

- Emphasis to ends or to means: the company could focus on its goals, techniques or processes.

- Open system approach: Degree the organization interacts with the outside.

The role of corporations in the actual context

A corporation can be defined as a group of individuals working together in order to achieve some objectives, they have a profit motivation, another definition:

"A corporation is defined as a legal entity or structure created under the authority of the laws of a state, consisting of a person or group of persons who become shareholders. The entity's existence is considered separate and distinct from that of its members."

Some time ago the corporation was an insignificant institute, but nowadays is very important in society. It means industrialization to create innovative products, it is today a dominant intitution, it inffluences people around the world. Thanks to the corporations, today commerce is crossing borders and this brings a lot of benefits to the society, like for example cheaper labour hand, great variety of products, major technologies, global communication, better life conditions, more opportunities to work because they provide employment, there is a great interdependence between countries, great advances in society and it also contributes to the economic development. Today the corporations are very powerful, but they also destroy the environment with so much chemicals and with so much carbón dioxide emissions. They make harm to human health with so much pollution, the human activity is destroying the animal´s habitats, the biosphere, and they don´t really know how much danger are they creating to the earth. So I can conclude that the corporation plays a very important role in the actual context because it contibrutes to industrialization and development, but it is also destroying the environment and that is the same as destroying ourselves.

Resources

- The Corporation, Joel Bakan, Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott.

- http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/contracts-agreements-incorporation/529-1.html

- http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/Rowe.htm

Wednesday July 28th

In this class we saw a movie call "The Corporation", it is a documentary film that talks about the modern day corporation and evaluates its behaviours toward society and the consequences it bring to us. It also show us the development of the contemporary corporations, its evolution, its impact and how it influences people in society. In class we conclude about five good things that brings the corporation:

1. They provide employment.

2. They provide a better quality of life.

3. Thay can reach any place of the world.

4. They are getting conscious of the damage they create.

5. They help to the development of the economy.