WEEK 6

(Image from: http://www.beoffices.com/our-company/best-companies-3-star-accreditation)

        For this week, we learned about companies measuring themselves CSR continuum wherein there would be a rate from 0 to the highest level. We also talked about Human Right and watched a video about it.  Knowing and being aware about the human rights is important because we need to understand others. We need to understand that we are all human beings and have the same needs. The three-dimension model was also further explained. One of the statements that struck me was "It should not be State for People, but it should be People for State." This shows that that we should not rely on the state but we need to do our part as people of the State.

       Next was the topic about Employer and Employee/s relationship. The class started discussing the best companies to work with and today, Google would be top on the list. In 2012, Google was ranked No. 1 in Fortune's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For." According to an article, Google has good corporate culture. Leaders make sure that everybody has great opportunities and they feel that they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society. I think this is important because people look for work because they want to earn but at the same time, they also want to help and make a change in peoples lives. For Google employees, they need to Work hard, Play hard. The employees enjoy the on-site perks and this makes the employees happy. Google is a great workplace because the company believes that treating people well is more important than making a lot of money. This should be case with the other companies because employees or the people working for the company would have better output and this would be an advantage because the company could have fewer turnovers. Another company that is similar with Google is SAS. It basically has the same set-up as Google and based on the video we watched, the employees are very happy and satisfied with their work. The company also has a low turnover rate which helps save money. The owner of SAS said that if you make the employees happy, they make the customers happy, the customer then makes him happy. This simple process is very effective and it would be very effective for the company, the employees and the customers.

       If there are good companies, there would also be companies that do not treat their people well. An example of this would be Foxxcon, a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturing company. Most of the workers are reported to work at least 35 hours, and a lot of suicide incidents have happened. Some of the employees say that it was because of the stress in work and this affected a lot of Foxxcon employees. I think that Foxxcon should be aware and do something about this because they are liable for their employees. Their employees should be given a chance to unwind and tell them what the company needs to improve so that there would be lower turnover and could maintain it's image as the company that produces quality products and has good employee benefits.

       Marketing and Advertising are fields that convince people to buy or try a certain brand or product. However, advertisements today tend to be creative and tends to be inappropriate. As an advertising major, I think that it is important to know the limitations of making or doing an ad. We could be creative but not to the point that the ad or the message could offend or mislead the consumers. An example that miss shared was a whiskey ad wherein the message was: "Nakatikim ka na ba ng 15 anyos?" The ad was asking and at the same time encouraging the consumers if they already tasted the certain brand of whisky which is already 15 years in the market.  But it also has a negative connotation for some consumers because others would think that it would refer to a 15-year old girl. Also, the ad needs to be placed appropriately. For example, an ad of a girl in a bikini holding a bottle of alcohol should not be exposed in EDSA. It would be inappropriate because many people pass by EDSA including children, but if it was in a men's magazine it would be fine because this would be the target market of the certain ad or product. 

       Another topic that we discussed was about product liability. An example would be the McDonald's coffee case and the hot coffee lawsuit. It was between Liebeck vs. McDonald's restaurants. It was a very unfortunate incident when Liebeck purchased hot coffee from McDonald's that she accidentally spilled in her lap. She suffered burns, underwent skin grafting and needed medical treatment. She won the lawsuit and received a money for damages from McDonald's. Today, we can observe that the coffee that are sold in the stores already have warnings such as warning: hot coffee. This serves as a precautionary measure for both the company and the customer, which make it easier to handle. Another example are the warnings in children's toys. Wherein it says not suitable for 3 years old below, etc. These warnings are important not only for the company but most especially for consumers because they need to know the limitations of the product.

       For this week's lesson I am happy that I was able to learn a lot about CSR and relate it to my course. I think that I would my best to become a good advertiser and apply the things I learned from this class. Balance is the key with the things we do. For example, when making an ad it needs to be creative but at the same time it also needs to be appropriate for a certain audience and place. I appreciate all the things that we have discussed in class because it is a real-life experience and this shows us that as future business people we should not only care for the welfare of the company but we also need to think about our employees and especially our customers.

Source:

http://www.ibtimes.com/top-5-reasons-why-google-best-company-work-553844