BUS W12 Study: Becoming a Change-Maker

 

This week we looked at the meaning and purpose of being in business, and how to become a change-maker. These were concepts that I had not thought about when thinking about the topic of business. To me the point of being in business was to earn money to care for the needs of the people that you cared for.  I had not thought that it could be used to benefit people, other than people in my immediate circle. As I have progressed through this course and others, I have begun to see that one could be used to help people all over the place and still be a financial success. Part of the reading and study material for this week was “What’s a Business For?” by Charles Handy for the Harvard Business Review in December of 2002.

While reading this article I began to see that virtue and integrity were important in running a business. These two virtues are used by business to attract investors, customers, clients, and vendors. They help a company to remain trustworthy in the eyes of many different people. If a company is seen by the employees, and customers, as being trustworthy and virtuous they will feel more like they are part of the company and want to spend their time, energy, and money at or with the company in question.

The way that people react to such business shows that the purpose of a business is not to simply make money or profit. The true purpose of a business is to earn a profit so that something better can be done by the business. Once a company has begun to do more with the profit that it makes than simply stockpiling it for the benefit of those that own, operate, and invest in it the true potential of the business can be realized.

It is an unfortunate truth that some businesses around the world have forgotten why they are in existence. The people running them are solely interested in making more and more money for themselves and often leave their employees, investors and customers behind during their mad grab for wealth. There are ways that this can be corrected. The first method that Handy suggests in found in Germany. “the right of the employees to have half, minus one, of the seats on the supervisory board.” (pg 6, par 2) This one allows for a certain amount of innovation and experimentation while supplying a sense of community and security for the staff members. Having members of their employees sit on supervisor boards can also help the employee build a loyal connection to the company that could help the business through rough times.

The second and most intriguing idea that Handy puts forward is that of dividends being paid to the people that contribute their skills and labor instead of just to those that have supplied the money to start the business in the first place.    

Looking at both of these ideas I feel that maybe they could be used to build and start a business that will allow people to truly feel successful in the business world.