Hello, my name is Jarek Palmer. I am a senior Accounting major at ISU. I was elected the Student Trustee of my community college, served on the executive board of several student organizations and have held multiple internships.
Hello, my name is Mitchell Terry. I am a senior here at ISU studying business management and Entrepreneurship. In my free time I enjoy watching sports, as I am a huge Green Bay Packers and St. Louis Cardinals fan.
Hi, my name is Zach Seibel and I am a junior Business Administration Major who is also receiving a Minor in Economics. Before transferring to ISU I was a manager for three years at a restaurant in which I typically lead a group of 10-12 individuals per shift, as I ensured a quality product for customers. During this time I also earned my Associates of Science Degree with a Business emphasis over a two year span.Hello, I'm Jason Dangles from Naperville Illinois. I'm a junior Business Administration major with an Economics minor. When I'm not at school I enjoy playing sports and working out. My favorite sport is football and my favorite team is the Chicago Bears.
Hi, my name is Mike Magaruh and I am an International Business major with a minor in Eastern Asian Studies. I am a fifth year senior at ISU and will be graduating in May of this semester. I love to find out how anything and everything works. I also have a keen interest for discovering new things having to do with anything that even grabs my slightest interest.
Welcome! We are the Big Bang Bloggers. Throughout the semester, we will be searching for “agents of change.” These are people who challenge the traditional business model of lowering costs and viewing employees as factors of production. These new CEOs and managers are paving the way for the future of organizational behavior. In this future, employers genuinely care about employees, managers redefine diversity, and happiness is actually created at work. During our travels, we may also find a few controversial leaders who do not share this view.
In addition to briefly covering popular impact players, such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Steve Jobs of Apple, we will also be introducing a new cast of characters. These figures are not as widely recognized, but play a vital role in the progression of organizational behavior. Specifically, we will gain insights on how these leaders are influencing organizational behavior in terms of employee interaction, employer-employee relationships, and the employees’ personal lives outside the office. As a preview, Jim Goodnight of SAS and Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia are prime examples of leaders implementing change in the status quo.
We will seek your opinions concerning both categories of leaders, as we welcome all comments on both sides of each topic. For example, is it truly smart for a company to adopt policies such as shortened work weeks, employee-selected hours, high compensation to mid-level employees, and long vacations? Employee turnover will be low and moral may be high, but what does this cost the company when applied to a large scale. High salaries, low production, and time constraints could potentially cripple a company. Another moral dilemma is presented in the case of the dishonest CEO. We will examine CEOs who have lied, committed fraud, had affairs, and treated employees poorly. Yet despite these obvious character flaws, they have led extremely successful organizations. As a shareholder in any public company, would anyone be willing to overlook these actions if it translates into personal gain? These are the fun types of questions that will be posed for comment and criticism.
Hopefully in the process, we will become more appreciative of the leaders implementing change in the system. We have found shining examples of these leaders, and will bring them to your attention. They are creating a new system by using these groundbreaking changes. The Big Bang in business is occurring before our eyes, we need only to open them.
