TEAM Project Ideas: CHOOSE EITHER BUSINESS OR SERVICE PROJECT:

 NOTE: Each Team does a SKIT for 20 minutes. This is followed by Commentary that relates the skit to the chapter and Web site material (another 20 minutes) and a hardy class discussion (20 more minutes). Use TIME MANAGEMENT skills to keep it to an hour.

Team presentations are less than an hour.

  • 20 minutes for SKIT
  • 20 Minutes of Solid points made about SKIT to the Readings/Web Documents by Commentators (team members).
  • 20 Minutes of Team interaction with Spectators (Spect-actors).

There are three types of THEATRE skits teams will do (Image, Invisibility, and Forum).

See http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/388/leadership_theatre_event.htm 

First Team does an IMAGE THEATRE SKIT

Second Team can do either IMAGE or INVISIBILITY THEATRE SKIT

Last Two Teams do FORUM THEATRE type of SKIT

 

The chapter connecting to the THEATRE SKIT, extends one of the managing topics (plan, organize, influence, lead or control). For better discussion segment, try some in-class discussion question handouts and divide spectators into small groups. Keep the commentary focused on connecting SKIT to readings and web text your team finds of interest.  

 

THE SECOND THING TEAMS DO:

 In addition to presenting, each team (or if you prefer you can work alone; that is OK) will do one of two project options using SEAM. Either a SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTATION or a NGO SERVICE PROJECT.

BOTH SHOULD APPLY THE SEAM METHOD and THE METATHEATRE INTERVENTION MANUAL. 

BOTH OPTIONS, USE THESE STEPS:  

  1. Every person has their own Composition style notebook to record field notes (yes, even at the same interview). Record verbatim notes (no tape recording) and record field observations. Divide up and talk to different people at different times. Note: Each team member responsible to have and enter their own field notes for SEAM into WEB CT (no free riders).

  2. Do a content analysis your notebooks for SEAM variables. Highlight segments of the notes and write in Variable Codes in the margin of each notebook. 

  3. Do a Root Cause and Story Chart (See SEAM web sites and METATHEATRE INTERVENTION MANUAL for details). Do an audit of root causes of hidden costs and untapped revenue potential.  

  4. Conduct a MIRROR-EFFECT Meeting - In the MIRROR-EFFECT, you mirror back your SEAM areas (Work organization FRAMES, Working Condition THEMES, 3Cs DIALOGS, Time RHYTHMS, and Strategic PLOTS), as well as your Root Cause and Story Chart, along with 10 to 15 field note examples of each variable  from your team mates' individual notebooks. 

RESOURCES FOR SEAM/METATHEATRE: Main Theatrics web site

 

NOTE: You are not expected to a SEAM expert. It is a brief excursion and report. to be a MASTER at SEAM, take the MGT548 class on it. Do what is doable for a reasonable non-workaholic term project (that is all). Also, if you want to go outside this SEAM box, make a proposal.

 

OPTION 1: BUSINESS CONSULTATION with SEAM

1. Organize a team trip to a maquiladora in Juarez. You will need to get the right paperwork, but that takes an extra hour.  You will need to get permission from factory and Mexico to enter. Take notes (photos could land you in jail) and bring back your analysis of SEAM

2. Analyze why 3 out of 4 golf courses, including NMSU do not recycle their water - we live in a dessert?

5. Pick some other business to study.  Make it one that you have access to, do not have to wait on permission form some bureaucrat at HQ, etc.

 

OPTION 2: SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT IDEAS

What is Service Learning?  Find a local non-business and  Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).  Spend some volunteer time with them that includes time to interview their staff members and manager about SEAM areas. 

some brainstorming ideas: 

WHAT FOLLOWS ARE IDEAS TO HELP YOU BRAINSTORM.  No need to read them all, just use as source of ideas.

Action - PSL at NMSU would like a team of MBAs to work on entrepreneurial startups. PSL has the ideas, your team supplies the business plan for them.

Try Don Birx
My name is Terra Van Dyke and I am the Community Relations Coordinator for Mesilla Valley Hospice here in Las Cruces, NM. I would love to come and speak with your organization or class about Mesilla Valley Hospice. Mesilla Valley Hospice is a wonderful organization that takes care on individuals with life limiting illnesses. We are currently looking for new and young volunteers. This is a great opportunity for your group to learn about the necessities of hospice and what each of you can do for your local community.
Presentations range from basic hospice information, grief and bereavement, and volunteering. I am able to speak for five minutes to twenty minutes both day and evening. If you are interested I would love to hear from you.
My number here at Mesilla Valley Hospice is 523-4700. I will be following up with all of you later this week. I look forward to speaking with all of you.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Terra Van Dyke
Community Relations Coordinator
Mesilla Valley Hospice
299 E. Montana
Las Cruces, NM 88005
505-523-4700

Action - Boje would like to experiment with virtual team web site designs.

Two "free" sites for MOOs already set up are LambdaMOO and MediaMOO.
You can visit LambdaMOO by going to http://www.lambdamoo.info/ and then
pressing the blue button. begin by typing

  • connect guest
  • @tutorial (is a good place to start to learn how to navigate)
  • @say Hello there (to say something in a room)
  • @emote smiles joyfully (and other non-verbal expression)
  • @page me I am here (sends page message to self)
  • @users (gives you list of who is logged in)
  • look (to look around and see what is in a room)
  • look box (e.g. shows you box that is in the room)
  • read note
  • examine note
  • describe me
  • rename .... etc.

 

 

Action - Women Workers From Bangladesh National Speaking Tour

What: Two young women garment workers from Bangladesh, the General Secretary of the National Garment Workers Federation, and a representative of the NGO community in Bangladesh will join the National Labor Committee on a speaking tour/campaign across the U.S.

When: October 25- through- November 8 (with the potential to extend the campaign an additional week)

If you can host this tour at your university, union, religious
congregation, or solidarity center contact us immediately at:
National Labor Committee
Phone: (212) 242- 3002
E-mail: nlc@nlcnet.org  (put TOUR in the subject)

New August 2003

To: dboje@nmsu.edu
Subject: green business prototype


David,


I spoke to you previously about my green business project. Possibly you have students that might be interested in working with me on this project. I feel I have a unique approach and I am looking for assistance in developing a website as a well as an organization to promote an integrated approach to sustainable development based on a human scale, decentralized, market based model. I consider myself a strategist, and based on my research I believe that a new business model can devised
that can link up sustainable and socially consious businesses to finance integrated live/work urban redevelopment as well as rural redevelopment projects that demonstrate to the mainstream society the viability of this new economic model. Such a process is necessary to shift away from the current unjust and unsustainable economic paradigm and towards a more sustainable, post-industrial one. These prototypes will show people how people can live well and be resource frugal at the same time. It is important that mainstream Americans see that one need not consume conspiciously to live the American dream.


I will be going through New Mexico on my way back to Missouri and if you are interested I would enjoy meeting you and exchanging ideas.


Sincerely,
Jeff Buderer
www.socialtransformation.org

jefbuder <jefbuder@earthlink.net>

1.Global sweatshop project - Example Ami Carpenter Service Learning Project - Home workers of Australia - "I think that there are companies operating and doing M/OB in the same countries as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, New Balance, Gap, Guess, Wal-Mart, Disney (and others) but with a more progressive approach. Can you help me find them?" See Boje's global sweatshop project. A Service Learning team could pick a country in the Globe project (e.g. Mexico or India, etc.) then identify as many Nike locations of factories as possible. Next, link up to students and student groups on campus with people from that country. See if there are people they know you could contact to discuss working conditions. Finally, as a comparison, identify a comparable company doing a better job. For example BATA shoe company (a Canadian firm) reportedly pays three times what Nike pays in its Indonesia factories.  The report could use SEAM categories to compare and contrast the sites you select.  This could be done either as a business or a service learning project. 

2. PROJECT IDEA: PICK a COUNTRY and AN INDUSTRY TO STUDY its sweatshop industry. http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/nike/nikewithmap.html 

3. PROJECT IDEA: Industry analysis See Landrum example

4. What would be an alternative model of Managing and Organizational Behavior in a Dynamic Global Economy? Here are some that relate to SEAM and Fathers and Mothers of Management. Mark Hillon has found a garment manufacturer here in New Mexico that treats workers fairly, does cross training, and it could be a model for the apparel industry worldwide (or not).

5. Does your association need a service project?  HOSTS needs mentors for our students at Sierra Middle School and University Hills Elementary School.  For as little as 45 minutes a week, you can make a difference in a child's life   Read the attachment for details.
 
Sincerely,
Debbie Rhinehart
527-9842

6. If you do not want to SEAM, then Try another perspective?  Economic Democracy Information Network (EDIN) - dedicated to bringing the voice of community, labor and environmental organizations to the "Information Superhighway."

Short Article 

Students for Economic Democracy (SED) Contact Students for Economic Democracy University of Washington Chapter We - students and youth from Seattle, across North America and around the world, in solidarity with all workers and citizens of the ...

Political and Economic Democracy and Freedom Interactive Exposés and Politics from Mother Jones The Scoop Progressive 



International Association for the Economics of Participation - explores employee ownership, cooperatives, labor-management decision-making, co-determination, profit-sharing, non-profit organizations, and economic democracy.

The Institute for Economic Democracy Economic democracy replacing economic history, world systems theory, dependency theory and Middle Ages
mercantilism currently impoverishing the Developed andDeveloping Worlds. 

Check out "Economic Democracy" by  Martin Carnoy. Professor of Education and Economics (press here) for bio. 

  • Article Are Black Diplomas worth less?
  • Video Tape Faded Dreams. 
  • Article on Issues of HRM and Higher Ed. 
  • BOOKS:
    • Faded Dreams : The Politics and Economics of Race in America  by Martin Carnoy. Hardcover (November 1994) 
    • Fathers of a Certain Age : The Joys and Problems of Middle-Aged Fatherhood  by Martin Carnoy, David Carnoy (Contributor). Paperback (May 1997) 
    • The New Global Economy in the Information Age Reflections on Our Changing World  by Martin Carnoy (Editor), et al. Paperback (May 1993) 
    • Education and Social Transition in the Third World 
      by Martin Carnoy, Joel Samoff. Paperback (February 14, 1990) 
    • International Encyclopedia of Economics of Education, Second Edition  by Martin Carnoy(Editor). Hardcover (December 1, 1995) 
    • Schooling and Work in the Democratic State  by Martin Carnoy, Henry M. Levin. Hardcover (June 1985)
    • Sustaining Flexibility : Work, Family, and Community in the Information Age  by Martin Carnoy. Hardcover (November 2000) 

6. What about an environmental project?  http://www.horseSenseAtWork.com/emec/  Also see Green Accounting Gameboard http://web.nmsu.edu/~dboje/TDgreenaccounting.html  This can be related to the Hidden Cost area of SEAM.

7. Sweatshops: How can they be defined? One thought to consider is how we might define a sweatshop, keeping the local conditions as the background. I was reading one report on factories in Puebla and if I was working there I might consider them all sweatshops. However, from the point of view of the local population compared to what they had before, they sounded like improvements. Obvious criteria would be basic sanitary conditions. Can I go to a clean bathroom and get a drink of clean water on a regular basis, is the wage at least a living wage for one person,  is the place safe, is there physical security, etc. Keeping in mind that no place is perfect, (I am sure that harassment of various forms takes place on NMSU) is the factory relatively free. Etc. Defining a "good " vs. a "bad" sweatshop might make a good subject. I think the term sweatshop is too loosely thrown around.

8. Former 503 members help start an NMSU branch of USAS, to see about making NMSU a WRC campus.  Guess what In May, 2002 the President of NMSU agreed to sign an WRC Code of Conduct agreement.  More info See http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/nmsu/nmsu_products.html Project would involve some research at campus books store to trace where garments are made, set up plan of organization, and an interesting team event could be a sweatshop fashion show.  Next push is for the Athletic Teams uniforms to be sweat-free. For Background see Paper on Carnival and Globalization.  The web site for NMSU USAS project is http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/usas/ I could use some help getting this off the ground at NMSU

9 . Liliana Vargas, a teacher from the Javeriana University, Bogotá - Colombia, two weeks ago I met you at the CMW in Washington. "LILIANA_ VARGAS MONROY" lv000388@javeriana.edu.co
 
"Here in our School of Psychology since 5 years ago, we have been trying
to work in organizations, from a critical perspective, your work is very important for us, after the CMW, I went to your e-page to find a lot of ideas that dialogue with ours. I invited you to come to Colombia, and the invitation is open for the next year.
 
You told me that you are interested in working women, I am sending my paper at the CMW, about women at the floricultural industry in Colombia. I hope you could read it, narrative and discourse are very important topics for us. Also, I'm doing my master's thesis on "Lyotard and Narrative". "

AUGUST 28th, 2001 -

To: David Boje <dboje@nmsu.edu>
Subject: Re: From Colombia.

Thank you for your answer!!
 
Last year we did an special event about organizations in our university, we are planning to do it again next year and we would like to have you as special guest (we are thinking about the second semester). We also will start looking for funds here, to help with the trip and other expenses for invited professors. We can look for government funds that help us last year.
 
Let us know about your agenda after July 02, we also can arrange your visits to a factories and organizations with working women, let me know if flower industry interest you.

After my trip to W. students and teachers here, are reading your work much more, while I tell them about Tamara and all things I heard in the
C.M.W.
   
I will stay in contact,

Liliana.

 

4. Please do introduce this matter to your class.
It is just on the cards there may soon be a political
breakthrough in Rangoon, but how much this will
be real change and how much cosmetic to permit
foreign businesses to invest with a "clear" conscience
remains to be seen.

For further information on conditions in the Karen state,
please see the detailed reports of the Karen Human Rights
Group at
CONTACT: Eric Bruce Johnston ericbj@club-internet.fr

Anyway the non-Burman ethnic peoples, including

the Karen, may still be subject to atrocities, as they were
under the old democracy (pre-'62).  The regions where
they live are out of bounds to visitors, so anything and
everything goes.

One of the currently most urgent problems is to alert
public opinion to the proposed forcible repatriation of
mainly Karen refugees.  See below.

Very best wishes,
ericbj

21st August 2001
 

For more on SERVICE Learning see http://www.horsesenseatwork.com/ then click Service Learning. http://www.horsesenseatwork.com/servicelearning/pages/svcpage.html