Nickel and Dimed

I forgot what a quick read this book is. I am about halfway through it in one night. What I feel now is a unsettling sense of regression to the period in my life where I wasn't too far off from Barbara's experiences. I was 18 living on my own working three jobs living on $5 a week food money, best weight loss plan ever. Hot dogs, without those expensive buns, rolls, and cheese circles I stoled out of the fruit baskets I delivered at the flower shop I worked at.

I find this book a little condescending though. The author is fine but she talks about what anyone else would work worked in that environment. To read the "rewards" on the cover and the back of the book is ridiculously elite snobbery.

Im bummed

Critical Thinking Business ReDesign Homework 1

Deming CH 1-2 (Done review notes)
Punished by Rewards Ch 1-2 (Still need to read)
Blink Ch 1-3 (Done review)
Nickel & Dimed Ch 1-3 (Read once, need to read again)
Lives per Gallon Ch1 (Need to buy and read)

Writing assignment: Write 5pgs on the relationship how the perception and thinking habits/patterns/practices discussed in Blink (thin slicing, positive/negative sentiment overide for example) are evidence in the actions reported in Nickel and Dimed and Punished by Rewards

Notes from Punished by Rewards
"The ida is that the best way to get something done is to provide a reward to people when they act the way we want them to"
" To take what people want or need and offer it on a contingent basis in order to control how they act - this is where the trouble lies." p4 Misdirected attention not on what is desired but what we have to do to get that.

STOP: There is a quote here about compliance. I question how does this process fit in with business. Compliance and rewards have done wonders in improving the green business environment.

"This book is more concerned with operant conditioning" condescending ass

Thoughts as of Page 10. This ass. I want to see this author's grade in his high school biology class. My issue: first of all he is associating behaviorist Skinner, i.e. the soft science of psychology with the same sort of science that a neuroscientist would encounter. Wrong

He finished up the first chapter with "Rewards don't bring about the changs w are hoping for, but the point here is also that something else is going on: the more rewards are used the more they seem to be needed." Reminds me of the chicken and the egg which came first, the tendency toward good behavior or the constant need of the reward for the good behavior. eh he is warming up to me, maybe not sure.

ESSAY NOTE: Find that article about how my Generation Y needs to be patted on the head more often.

Critical Thinking and Business ReDesign Day 1

Clay? Giant Drawing Tablets that I will have to bring to class all the time?

I have some obvious reservations with this class, which have a basis in frustrations I find in rhetoric speak. I was reminded by a classmate that this is a REdesign course and is suppose to get people to think differently than the traditional business model. At the same time I feel the language is not different, it has its home in privilege Caucasian Northern California. The idea where now that they made their money and having their farms they can tell us how it is all wrong and we shouldn't pursue the same path they did.

I want to be more open minded than where I am at now but it is frusterating.

I do appreciate how it opens my mind up to my classmates. I find it fascinating that I now know more about my 20 cohorts in one day than I do my coworkers at a company I worked with for over a year.

Okay to go over what we did. I couldn't take class notes much, due to me trying to find some groundation

Goethe - Handness within Phenomenological Observation. The purpose of this exercise is to find new ways of introduction besides just a name and occupation. We took clay, went outside and collected pieces from nature to create who we were in the past, present, future. In retrospect this was a great way to get to know the important parts of my classmates. I know who has kids who are dear to them, I know who has totally shifted careers, and who is still trying to find their careers. I placed my clumps in the order of: dotcom kid, union activist, HR woman. This overall helped me to really understand a majority of my classmates.

Intro to SenseMaking Framework of Dave Snowden, systems game
This I found intriguing, a way to deal with problems/ issues by categorizing them as Simple, Complex, Complicated, and Chaotic.
Ways to Explain
Simple - Known Cause and Effect, know your way out: Sense, Act, Respond
Complicated - unknown cause: Sense, Analyze it, Respond
Complex - there is no solution, place in probes to find what works i.e. Climate Change
Probe, Sense, Respond
Chaotic - No pattern at all, create a path: Act, Sense, Respond

This practice I think really assist us when we are dealing with huge global issues like climate change and trying to assert the solutions to businesses. Great line from class, "When you got a problem, work out where it begins."

Systems Game : Our class split into two groups with two lead people and the rest of the two groups ran around in odd ways on the lawn and the two leads had to figure out what the group was doing. Recess Business School Style

The discussion then went towards Transformative experiences and we were to take one event in our life that changed us forever and create a graph showing the events. Within that we were also to come up with our Near Gifts and True Gifts. This one rung true for me because I placed my "maturity" factor in the column of Near Gifts.

Then we found our Trio partners, and talked.

1st Homework ! - Eco-Commerce Models

So I have homework before school has even started, got to love grad school... now here is the deal, trivia night at the pub is in 20mins and I want to go... hmmm so since i haven't started school yet I will copy n paste all the homework website info into this blog, go to trivia for just 30mins, and the come home, shower, and curl up in bed and review all of this. Deal? I know, bad.

1. to look up http://www.gemi.org/
What is GEMI: Global Environmental Management Initiative.
"Improving environmental performance and promoting corporate citizenship contribute to finacial success and shareholder value."

GEMI Value Flow Model
Economic Value pathway: direct, tangible, value divers, such as cos reductions.
Intangible Value Pathway: intangible drivers, such as supply chain efficency, that directly impact economic performance
Stakeholder Value Pathway: environmental and social value drivers that result indirectly in imporved business outcomes.

Noted companies: Abbot, Cabury, Anheuser Busch, CocaCol, 3M, freakin JohnsonDiversey!!

2. Environmental Management Systems: http://www.epa.gov/ems/
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a set of processes and practices that enable an organization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency. This Web site provides information and resources related to EMS for businesses, associations, the public, and state and federal agencies.

Basic Information

n EMS allows an organization to systematically manage its environmental and health safety matters. This page provides an overview of how to develop an EMS and why organizations should develop and EMS.

How to Develop an EMS

An EMS is a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the processes and actions that an organization undertakes to meet its business and environmental goals.

Plan, Do, Check, Act

Most EMS are built on the "Plan, Do, Check, Act" model. This model leads to continual improvement based upon:

Plan
Planning, including identifying environmental aspects and establishing goals

Do
Implementing, including training and operational controls

Check
Checking, including monitoring and corrective action

Act
Reviewing, including progress reviews and acting to make needed changes to the EMS.

Why Develop an EMS?

Benefits

EMS can result in both business and environmental benefits. For example, an EMS may help you:

• Improve environmental performance
• Enhance compliance
• Prevent pollution and conserve resources
• Reduce/mitigate risks
• Attract new customers and markets (or at least retain access to customers and markets with EMS requirements)
• Increase efficiency
• Reduce costs
• Enhance employee morale and possibly enhance recruitment of new employees
• Enhance image with public, regulators, lenders, investors
• Achieve/improve employee awareness of environmental issues and responsibilities
• Qualify for recognition/incentive programs such as the EPA Performance Track Program.

Costs

Developing and implementing an EMS may also have some associated costs, including:

• An investment of internal resources, including staff/employee time
• Costs for training of personnel
• Costs associated with hiring consulting assistance, if needed
• Costs for technical resources to analyze environmental impacts and improvement options, if needed.

Learn more about the costs and benefits of developing an EMS.

For more information about EMS, see the Frequently Asked Questions About EMS.

Elements for Improving Environmental Performance and
Compliance

This document lists 10 elements that are compatible with many EMS models in use,
including ISO 14001. This list is not meant to be a new or competing system. Instead, it is
intended to provide a simple way of checking whether existing or planned EMSs include
elements to help users meet public policy needs of regulatory compliance and environmental
performance that moves beyond compliance. Each user would make its own decision as to
the extent to which it needs to augment its existing or planned EMS by incorporating these
elements. However, users of this guidance document are encouraged to include all 10
elements in their EMSs to achieve maximum environmental benefit.

1. Environmental Policy. The EMS should be based upon a documented and clearly
communicated policy. This policy should set out the organization's commitment
towards a cleaner environment. It should include:
· provision for compliance with environmental requirements;
· commitment to continuous improvement in environmental performance,
including in areas not subject to regulation;
· commitment to pollution prevention that emphasizes source reduction;
· commitment to continuous reduction of environmental risks;
· commitment to sharing information with external stakeholders on
environmental performance against all EMS objectives and targets.

2. Environmental Requirements and Voluntary Undertakings. The EMS
should provide a means to identify, explain and communicate all environmental
requirements and voluntary undertakings to all employees, on-site service providers
and contractors, whose work could affect the organization's ability to meet those
requirements and undertakings. Environmental requirements include statutes,
regulations, permits, enforceable agreements. Voluntary undertakings include any
EMS Guidance Document
June 2000 3
environmental principles or industry norms that an organization may choose to adopt.
Examples include voluntary codes of practice for safety, risk management and energy
efficiency issues, where applicable, or sectoral and international environmental
principles such as the CERES principles or the International Chamber of Commerce
Charter for Sustainable Development, among others. The EMS should include
procedures for ensuring that the organization meets these environmental requirements
and voluntary undertakings. The EMS should also specify procedures for anticipating
changes to environmental requirements—including new requirements that may apply
as a result of changes in operations—and incorporating these changes into the EMS.

3. Objectives and Targets. Users of this guidance document should ensure that the
EMS establishes specific objectives and targets for:
· achieving and maintaining compliance with environmental requirements;
· environmental performance demonstrating continuous improvement in
regulated and non-regulated areas;
· pollution prevention that emphasizes source reduction;
· sharing information with external stakeholders on environmental
performance against all EMS objectives and targets.
The EMS should establish appropriate time frames to meet these objectives and
targets. These should be documented and updated as environmental requirements
change or as modifications occur in activities and structures within organizations in
a manner that affects environmental performance. The Enforcement Working Group
encourages organizations that are already performing or seeking to go “beyond
compliance” to report on their progress towards continued environmental
performance and leadership, including reporting on voluntary undertakings.

4. Structure, Responsibility and Resources. The organization should ensure that
it is equipped with sufficient personnel and other resources to meet its objectives and
targets. The EMS should spell out procedures and steps for achieving those objectives
and targets. For example it should define the compliance roles and responsibilities of
environmental protection personnel, specify how they and management will be held
accountable for achieving and maintaining compliance, and describe how
environmental performance and compliance information will be communicated to
relevant employees, on-site service providers, and contractors. The EMS should also
establish procedures for receiving and addressing concerns raised by these personnel
regarding environmental performance and compliance.

5. Operational Control. The EMS should identify and provide for the planning and
management of all the organization’s operations and activities with a view to
achieving the EMS objectives and targets. For example, facility maintenance may be
an important aspect in achieving and maintaining compliance and enhancing
environmental performance.

6. Corrective and Preventive Action and Emergency Procedures. The
organization, through its EMS, should establish and maintain documented procedures
for preventing, detecting, investigating, promptly initiating corrective action, and
reporting (both internally and externally, in accordance with the country’s applicable
laws) any occurrence that may affect the organization's ability to achieve the EMS
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
4 June 2000
objectives and targets. Such measures should pay particular attention to incidents that
may have an effect on compliance with environmental requirements as well as on
environmental performance in regulated and non-regulated areas. Examples of such
situations include equipment malfunctions, operator errors and accidental releases of
hazardous substances. The EMS should also establish documented procedures for
mitigating any adverse impacts on the environment that may be associated with
accidents or emergency situations and for ensuring that similar incidents are avoided.
The EMS should include procedures for tracking any preventive and corrective
actions that are taken. If the environmental violation or incident resulted from a
weakness in the system, the EMS should be updated and refined to minimize the
likelihood of such problems recurring in the future. The EMS should also, to the
extent possible, provide for the testing of emergency procedures.

7. Training, Awareness and Competence. The EMS should establish procedures
to ensure that all personnel (including employees, on-site service providers, and
contractors) whose job responsibilities affect the ability to achieve the EMS objectives
and targets, have been trained and are capable of carrying out these responsibilities.
In particular, the training should highlight means to enhance the ability of personnel
to ensure compliance with environmental requirements and voluntary undertakings
affecting the organization.

8. Organizational Decision-making and Planning. The EMS should describe
how these 10 elements will be integrated into the organization’s overall decisionmaking
and planning, in particular, decisions on capital improvements, product and
process design, training programs, and maintenance activities.

9. Document Control. The EMS should establish procedures to ensure maintenance
of appropriate documentation relating to its objectives and targets and should also
ensure that those records will be adequate for subsequent evaluation and improvement
of the operation of the EMS. For example, it should document the organization’s
state of compliance with environmental requirements as well as environmental
performance relating to non-regulated aspects. All records should be maintained in
accordance with relevant laws for document retention and protection.

10. Continuous Evaluation and Improvement. The EMS should require periodic,
documented and objective auditing of the organization’s performance in achieving
these objectives and targets and on how well the EMS assists the organization in
achieving those objectives and targets. The goal of the review should be to allow
management to bring about overall improvements. The scope and frequency of the
review should depend upon the size and complexity of the organization and other
factors that are determined relevant in each organization and country.

3. http://www.greenbiz.abag.ca.gov/,

The Bay Area Green Business Program verifies that businesses meet higher standards of environmental performance. Our partnership of government agencies and utilities helps local businesses comply with all environmental regulations and take actions to conserve resources, prevent pollution, and minimize waste. We offer motivated businesses and agencies an easy-to-use framework for improving environmental performance. Over 1,000 businesses and public agencies have been certified since 1997. The Program was developed by Bay Area local governments in collaboration with US EPA, Cal EPA Department of Toxic Substances Control and the business community. The Association of Bay Area Governments coordinates the Program, which is implemented by Green Business Coordinators in 9 participating counties. The regional and local programs are funded by their partners, including local and regional government agencies, utilities, special districts and nonprofit organizations that promote environmental compliance, pollution prevention and resource conservation. Some funding also comes from government and non-profit foundation grants.

Review Better: http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp

Dr. Deming - Chapter 1

As I mentioned before this storm has delayed my school from starting and so in the meantime I am reading up in an effort to be somewhat ahead. There are two books that, I believe, are the initial books to begin with: the obvious Cradle to Cradle and then this, Dr. Deming. The American Who Taught Japan About Quality.

Dr. Deming is (was?) a statistician during WWII who helped reform the US Census department into, what the book claims, is one of the most well run government departments. After the war he was invited to go to Japan and give a series of lectures to improve the quality of the Japanese product. Which, rumor has it they did. He then went on to work for Ford to do the same.

The first chapter dives into the essence of product quality. While I do have the latest version of this book, it is still very much dated (1990) and so I have to hold my "tongue" throughout some of it.

"One of the main reasons for the failure of quality consciousness to tae hold in this country was that management has never been taught its responsibility" (pg 4)

"As quality improves, costs go down and productivity increases. " (pg 6)

Demings Philosophy
* Calls for organizations to produce products and services that help people live better...By providing ever improving services and products, an organization develops loyal customers... Real profits are generated by loyal customers- not just satisfied customers. pg 8

Merit System
Deming is very much against the form of a merit system where employees are told to give 110%. He questions what happens when employees are already doing 110. "It is not physically possible for humans or machines operating in the same system to produce more with less. " (pg12)

The Price of Quality
"A simple response from too many managers is to make workers responsible for quality- if it's not right the first time, let the go. But the management by edict doesn't work. The belief that the work is responsible for the poor quality and low productivity of American firms is wrong......Workers don't determine 90 percent of the things responsible fo the quality of the product. Why hold the responsible for all the defects? Workers cannot change the system; only management can. " After that then " workers are a continual part of the improvement process. Toyota workers make on average 33 percent more suggestions per worker per year, 90 percent are implemented within weeks of submission." (pg 16) "People should be made to feel secure in their jobs."

I wanted to touch upon this last statement. As I read through this chapter I constantly think of my previous HR job at a manufacturing plant. I would refer to this plant as the slow sinking titanic. I jumped ship a year ago and word has it it is still going down. On the way down it is interesting to observe the dynamics of the personnel. On average I would say the majority of people do not like working there. They also know that they are coming to an end. But overall they stay. Why? Because this is all they know, holding on to the same job for over twenty years and with the constant pressure that they may be next on the chopping block, I think their self-esteem is weakening. They don't think they can do better elsewhere.

At the same time I'd like to comment that I think the company does work along the Deming lines of quality. I had witness often a factory worker who despite her soft knowlege of English will comment on how part of a product is weak. That message will be reviewed and passed on to the engineers next door. I always thought so highly of those factory workers, despite watching 6 of their coworkers get laid off suddenly, they still go into work dedicating themselves to a making a quality product, sure they talk enormous shit about the company, but when it comes to the product they put 110% into it.

That is it for now. I think this is working out. Much better than just underlining sentences in the book. I just hope I have the time to continue this.

The Ground Rules

Blogs have just celebrated their tenth year of existence, I believe. Since then, I have had numerous friends tell me the ups and down of writing one of these. The most striking story is a guy who put up a child for adoption when he was 18 and now at age 38 the kid is back in his life and now the guy is worried about what he wrote once on a blog... ek. I suppose the main thing to keep in mind is whatever I write here can fall into the hands of anyone especially future employers.

Once again though, the main purpose of these scribbles is to reiterate what I read as a way to remember better. At the same time I am human and so a bit of my life may slip into these post.

With that in mind the ground rule I am establishing for myself is whatever I write here must be safe enough for my grandmother to read.

First Post

I wish I could be writing about my first day of my Green MBA program but one of the worst storms to hit the bay area in years effectively canceled class.

Instead I am writing from my home couch, watching the last seconds of the Steelers/Jacksonville playoff game. 28 to 29! I have to type fast because I am going out to the bars with the girls after this game.

Purpose of this blog is to document my adventure into graduate school. I hope to write down aspects of my readings I find intriguing and pass on what they teach in my courses.

I recently had dinner with an ex of mine and I commented on how much harder it is to remember what I read after our relationship ended. I am sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that I always used to talk to him about my readings and we would discuss. So of course I remembered the information much better. My girls I go to the bars with don't have the same interest in my reading so I can't pass it to them. So I hope this will do the job.

Overall, I am completely thrilled to be a part of this Green MBA program at Dominican University. Now if the weather will allow me to begin class that would be excellent.