Post by rmarks1 on Aug 5, 2019 21:23:25 GMT -5
Every July, I draw inspiration from some of the best and brightest high school students. They come with big dreams to the two-week residential Snider Enterprise & Leadership Fellows (SELF) program at the University of Maryland.
At the cusp of adulthood, each participant is armed with a vision of making the world a better place by solving problems they find personally meaningful.
Quentin, a senior from Amherst, Ma., loves math and aspires to provide useful information through a career in analytics.
Emem, a senior from Beltsville, Md., prefers design. She recently switched her professional ambitions from medicine to visual marketing to align better with her abilities.
Priya, a senior from Laurel, Md., is drawn to science. She dreams of becoming a pediatrician, and watching happy, healthy kids playing in a park.
Former executives of France Télécom, previously a state-owned company that now operates privately as Orange, have more modest goals. As they await the verdict in a high-profile criminal trial, they just want to stay out of jail.
An ocean of difference separates the Maryland classroom and Paris courtroom. But the concurrent events illustrate important lessons about human dignity and the principle of trade....
Following the trade activity, I left the classroom personally fueled by the focused energy and attention of all 35 students.
The very next day, I read about the French case. The article depicted the same dystopia I had just described to my students as hypothetical, and I experienced the same visceral reaction as them.
The former executives of Orange stood trial for “moral harassment” following allegations that they willfully made employees’ lives as miserable as possible in a scheme to drive resignations and reduce labor costs.
Feeling unbearably stuck in the hostile environment, 35 employees committed suicide.
I do not condone the actions of the former executives. As someone who studies enterprise and markets, however, my reaction stems from something not on trial in France: An underlying system that thwarts mobility.
Rather than allowing people to move freely, France sets up its state workers as employees for life.
The idea is to protect workers from unemployment and preserve their dignity. Unfortunately, efforts to enforce stability of current jobs cut both ways. Rules against firing also mean less hiring because positions rarely come open.
My research with Evan Starr at Maryland and Justin Frake at Michigan shows that in labor markets with higher levels of constrained workers, even those who are unconstrained receive lower job offers, are less likely to move, and have lower wages.
People cling to their positions whether they like them or not because they have nowhere to go.
Executives with limited power to restructure their organizations also grow frantic. As market conditions change, they need the ability to hire, fire and reassign workers to keep pace with evolving customer demand.
In the case of Orange, laws against layoffs contributed to $50 billion in debt as sales lagged. The former executives got desperate, and now they face charges of corporate murder.
www.forbes.com/sites/rajshreeagarwal/2019/07/29/human-dignity-and-the-principle-of-trade/#4b73a3c758fb
At the cusp of adulthood, each participant is armed with a vision of making the world a better place by solving problems they find personally meaningful.
Quentin, a senior from Amherst, Ma., loves math and aspires to provide useful information through a career in analytics.
Emem, a senior from Beltsville, Md., prefers design. She recently switched her professional ambitions from medicine to visual marketing to align better with her abilities.
Priya, a senior from Laurel, Md., is drawn to science. She dreams of becoming a pediatrician, and watching happy, healthy kids playing in a park.
Former executives of France Télécom, previously a state-owned company that now operates privately as Orange, have more modest goals. As they await the verdict in a high-profile criminal trial, they just want to stay out of jail.
An ocean of difference separates the Maryland classroom and Paris courtroom. But the concurrent events illustrate important lessons about human dignity and the principle of trade....
Following the trade activity, I left the classroom personally fueled by the focused energy and attention of all 35 students.
The very next day, I read about the French case. The article depicted the same dystopia I had just described to my students as hypothetical, and I experienced the same visceral reaction as them.
The former executives of Orange stood trial for “moral harassment” following allegations that they willfully made employees’ lives as miserable as possible in a scheme to drive resignations and reduce labor costs.
Feeling unbearably stuck in the hostile environment, 35 employees committed suicide.
I do not condone the actions of the former executives. As someone who studies enterprise and markets, however, my reaction stems from something not on trial in France: An underlying system that thwarts mobility.
Rather than allowing people to move freely, France sets up its state workers as employees for life.
The idea is to protect workers from unemployment and preserve their dignity. Unfortunately, efforts to enforce stability of current jobs cut both ways. Rules against firing also mean less hiring because positions rarely come open.
My research with Evan Starr at Maryland and Justin Frake at Michigan shows that in labor markets with higher levels of constrained workers, even those who are unconstrained receive lower job offers, are less likely to move, and have lower wages.
People cling to their positions whether they like them or not because they have nowhere to go.
Executives with limited power to restructure their organizations also grow frantic. As market conditions change, they need the ability to hire, fire and reassign workers to keep pace with evolving customer demand.
In the case of Orange, laws against layoffs contributed to $50 billion in debt as sales lagged. The former executives got desperate, and now they face charges of corporate murder.
www.forbes.com/sites/rajshreeagarwal/2019/07/29/human-dignity-and-the-principle-of-trade/#4b73a3c758fb
Bob