Trustworthiness in the White House

In Chapter 11 (no moral/ethical bankruptcy pun intended) of Mark Leibovich’s novel, This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral--Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!--in America's Gilded Capital, President Barack Obama’s highly publicized policy of banning lobbyists from the White House comes under fire once again in Leibovich’s typical sarcastic, yet entertaining tone (2014, p.261).  Obama’s pledge as a candidate for the presidency was that he would not allow lobbyists to hold any sway of the dealings of the White House.  However, it has since become common knowledge that his closed-door policy toward the lobbyist community has transformed into a revolving door.  With a quick glance at the presidential approval ratings, one can easily see the President’s loss of credibility amongst the American people.  “Credibility is mostly about the consistency between words and deeds.  People listen to the words and look at the deeds.  Then they measure the congruence.  A judgement of “credible” is handed down when the two are consonant” (Kouzes & Posner, 2011, p.33).  The breach of ethical standards here boils-down to the trustworthiness of a public official.  Some may say that other members of the President’s cabinet also had a hand in permitting lobbyists to permeate White House transactions.  Nevertheless, the leader should set the precedence and retaliate against those who would undermine his policy.  “The more seriously you treat your own commitments, the more seriously others will treat them; if you take your promises lightly, others will also” (p.80). 

Cited

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2011). Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it (2nd ed., p. 33). San Francisco, CA.: Jossey-Bass.

Leibovich, M. (2014). This town: Two parties and a funeral--plus, plenty of valet parking!--in America's gilded capital (1st ed., pp. 261-293). New York, NY: Penguin Group, LLC.

Outsourced: I to We

The motion picture, Outsourced (Pine, Hamilton, Dharker, & Jeffcoat, 2009), contains some excellent examples of the Bordas’ “Nine Principles of Multicultural Leadership” (Bordas, 2007, p.17).  In order to better understand some of the cultural differences encountered in the movie, Kwintessential.com provides a great primer prior to watching the movie ("India - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette", 2014).  Another good source is the book Kiss, bow, or shake hands: The bestselling guide to doing business in more than 60 countries (Morrison, & Conaway, 2006).

At one point in the film, Josh Hamilton’s character, Todd Anderson, comes to the realization that he should stop operating the Indian call-center like an American office and asks the employees “what would make a more positive work experience” (Pine, Hamilton, Dharker, & Jeffcoat, 2009).  This scene both exemplifies (in spirit) and then immediately contradicts (with good intentions) Bordas’ second principle of Multicultural Leadership: “I to We” (Bordas, 2007, p.18).  For the first time, Anderson’s thoughts begin to transform from individualism to a collective identity.  However, shortly thereafter as an incentive, Anderson offers company products as a reward for improving individual employee MPI numbers.  This is where he contradicts his altruistic intentions.  Here, we see Anderson unknowingly introducing a western concept of inter-office competition for individualistic gains.  According to Bordas, individualism and competition tend to fashion “a society in which people have a greater orientation toward their individual needs and desires than to the collective good” (p.23).  Kwintessential.com notes that Indian’s “typically define themselves by the groups to which they belong rather than by their status as individuals.  […] This group orientation stems from the close personal ties Indians maintain with their family, including the extended family” (2014).

Cited

Bordas, J. (2007). Salsa, soul, and spirit: Leadership for a multicultural age. San Francisco:            Berrett-Koehler.

India - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette. (2014, January 1). Retrieved December 9,       2014, from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/india-country-   profile.html

Morrison, T., & Conaway, W. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands: The bestselling guide to doing    business in more than 60 countries (2nd ed.). Avon, Mass.: Adams Media.

Pine, L., Hamilton, J., Dharker, A., & Jeffcoat, J. (2009). Outsourced. Toronto: Distributed in       Canada by Cinemavault.

Payne's Framework Under Fire

Ruby Payne’s rubric for assessing resources; the Krabill/Payne Resource Quotient (2004), is interesting.  However, I feel that employing multiple scoring items in each cell will cause problems for many people as some, but not all items in each cell will apply.  Therefore, people will need to choose which cell most applies to them.  If this is the case, then how does one weigh each item?  As an example, numbers 3 & 4 under the Integrity Resource read: 

3. Decisions are moral, ethical, and legal;   Avoids difficult issues;   Is responsible for self but blames others.
4. Decisions are moral, ethical, and legal; Tough issues are addressed;   Accepts responsibility for self and is accountable to others.

Here, we see that in each column, there are two items that differ.  Suppose someone feels that they “avoid difficult issues”, but also “accept responsibility for self and [are] accountable to others”.  Which is more accurate?  Which is weighted more in the assessment?  The answer may be that they are both equally accurate. 

To correct this issue, I would suggest changing only one item in each column in order to alleviate confusion.  Once the issues with the rubric have been corrected, I feel that Payne’s work may have some utility.  An additional section that the author may wish to include could instruct businesses as to how a program such as this would be implemented and sustained in an organization.

Paul Gorski’s paper, “Peddling Poverty for Profit: Elements of Oppression in Ruby Payne’s Framework” (2008) was an eye-opener.  Gorski pointed out something that I missed when reading Payne’s work: That Payne was self-published.  This is very interesting as any claims in her work may not have been examined. 

I found many of his Gorski’s points to be well thought-out and would be interested to hear Payne’s rebuttal.  Gorski noted that Payne’s research was performed through casual observations and had no statistical relevancy.  I would like to hear Payne address where and how she obtained the data she employed in her study.

Cited

Payne, R. (2004, January 1). The Role of Economic Diversity in Employee Retention, Promotion, and Training. Retrieved December 3, 2014.

Gorski, P. (2008, January 1). Peddling Poverty for Profit: Elements of Oppression in Ruby Payne’s Framework. Retrieved June 26, 2008, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10665680701761854

Relations of Power: The Pursuit of Happyness

Michael Foucault’s concept of power is interesting.  In Brenda Allen’s book, “Difference Matters”, she relays Foucault’s term, “Relations of power” (Allen, 2011, p.25).  This implies that power is derived through and defined by interpersonal networks.  Foucault further wrote that, “We define our relationships and how we should behave in relation to each other in terms of power differences and similarities” (p.25).  

  

Gabriele Muccino’s film, “The Pursuit of Happyness” was inspired by the life story of Christopher Gardner, a homeless single father whose intelligence, likability, and perseverance lead him to become a CEO at a prominent financial institution.  It was also these attributes that were the foundation of Gardner’s network that he builds throughout the movie.  This network becomes his “relations of power” which, ultimately, leads to his success story.  This powerful movie has many great quotes, of which one of my favorites is: “You got a dream, you gotta protect it.  People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it.  You want something?  Go get it.  Period” (Muccino, “The Pursuit of Happyness”).

Cited

Allen, B. (2011). Difference matters: Communicating social identity (2nd ed.). Long Grove, Ill.: Waveland Press.

The Pursuit of Happyness [Motion picture on DVD]. (2006). USA: Overbrook Entertainment.

Persepolis - The Search for Cultural Identity

In the movie Persepolis, a young Iranian girl manes Marji tells her life’s story about growing up in a very cosmopolitan family in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.  I feel that her story depicted her inner struggle to define her cultural identity.  Luckily, Marji’s family was very intellectual and allowed her to explore her own path in life.  While many of her fellow countrymen were being conditioned and programmed by a ruthless dictatorship, Marji found her own voice (unfortunately, this also got her into trouble several times throughout the film). 

The Islamic Party came into power and began systematically exterminating any opposition.  Sadly, even the women began to adopt the hegemonic ideals of female oppression.  Eventually, Marji’s parents sent her abroad to study in Vienna.  She had difficulty integrating into European culture, but never lost herself.  Ultimately, not being able to successfully assimilate into western the ethos, Marji returned to her home country where the years of war and oppression had changed both the landscape and the people that she once knew.  Marji felt like a strange in Austria…and now in her home country.

Xiao-Dong Dai wrote in his paper, Intercultural Personhood and Identity Negotiation, that identity is often dichotomized into both individual identity and collective identity.  “Cultural identity belongs to […] the collective identity.  It is the identification with a perceived acceptance into a group that has shared systems of symbols and meanings as well as norms/rules for conduct” (2009, p. 1).  Marji had great difficulty coming to terms with her own cultural identity, sometimes straying off of her path.  However, her faith and family were always her true north and guided her back to a path of open-mindedness.

Seeking Happiness

I have grown to appreciate the wisdom in Victor Frankl’s novel, Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning, when he writes, “Happiness must ensue.  It cannot be pursued.  It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.  The more one makes happiness the aim, the more he misses the aim” (Frankl, 1948, p.90).  It seems to me that many people, myself included, go about seeking happiness in their daily lives.  However, happiness itself cannot be obtained in and of itself.  It is derived as a secondary effect from having served a greater purpose (i.e. self-transcendence, selflessness, spirituality, love).  

Cited

Frankl, V. E. (2000). Man's search for ultimate meaning. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Pub.

A few years back I had the privilege of travelling to Honduras for a business trip.  I have travelled to many places in my life; most of them developed European countries.  I knew that Honduras was a poor country, but what I expected to see paled in comparison to what I actually witnessed.  The conditions of human life in this country were terrible.  There was an extreme division of classes (upper and lower).  The rich, mostly government employees and drug cartels, lived in guarded compounds with pools and beautiful houses, and the poor lived in huts with old billboards and corrugated tin for roofs. 

What amazed me though, was the prideful and hardworking nature of the Honduran people.  Clean drinking water was scarce and many houses had dirt floors, yet those that inhabited them were very clean and kempt in appearance.  I rarely saw beggars.  Most people were busy working their trades to selling goods by the roadside.  There was a story that I read in Shann Ray’s book, American Masculine, where a boy is pulled between two world perspectives.  His mother was able to find the good in the world and his father saw the world as a dark place, “and people darker still”.  This seemed to cause a duality of perception in the boy…a struggle to see the light in the dark.  

In Honduras, I didn't see sadness, as I would have expected.  Rather, I saw a people who thrived in the love of God and their families. This trip was a wake-up call to my consciousness.  My first-world problems now seem trivial in comparison to those of the average Honduran.