There was a debate in my mgmt and society class about whether or not sweatshops are evil.  Most of us came to the conclusion that no, they’re not.  The working conditions are pretty horrible, the salary doesn’t exactly match the risk, and they often use child or forced labor to run them.  But that doesn’t make them “evil.” See, the way we look at it, every “modern” country went through it’s period of sweatshops.  America’s ended not even 200 years ago.  It’s a “rite of passage” some might say, from an agricultural society to an industrialized one.  We also need to keep in mind the differences in standards of living.  We would never accept sweatshop-type conditions in this country, but in many third world countries the salaries are 5-10 times the national average, and it gives the people jobs and skills.  And while $1 a day can’t buy anything here, it can buy a lot in other nations.

One of the pointes that the people arguing that sweatshops were evil made was that since we Western countries already went through this, we should help developing countries skip it.  I disagree.  I touched on this in an earlier post, but I’m very against America imposing itself on other nations.  It’s not our place or our duty to “help” these nations through economic trials.  We are not “Big Brother.”  Yes, we went through this and yes, looking back it seems deplorable, but if we hadn’t gone through it, we wouldn’t be where we are today, so these nations need to grit their teeth and work through it too if they ever want to stop relying on welfare from wealthy nations.

Another question often asked is in regards to the work-family conflict.  Can you have a successful career and a happy family life, or are they mutually exclusive? i.e. do you have to give up a little success for a little more happiness or vice versa?

I found the answers of several of my classmates to be naive.  This question was posed in a management class, so it’s a safe assumption that we’re all studying management.  Yet many of the students felt that it would be “easy.  You just work 9 to 5 and spend the evenings and weekends with your family.”  Many of them seemed so sure of this answer, but I didn’t buy it.  People who work Monday-Friday 9-5 probably aren’t “successful” from a management standpoint.  If you just want a job that pays the bills, fine, but if you want to move up in management, it’s going to take a lot more than that.  You’re going to have to work overtime and maybe on the weekends.  You’re going to have to travel.  You’re going to have to give 150%.  So what does this mean for your family life?  Well, it can all be summed up with two words: opportunity cost.

Economics, by definition, is the study of choice under conditions of scarcity.  The work-family conflict fits into this model perfectly.  The scarce resource is time, and the choice is how you use it.  If you want that corner office, you might have to miss that baseball game.  If you want that huge project, it might mean weeks of seeing your coworkers more than you see your spouse.

A couple years ago, I was determined that I was going to be the CEO of a major MNC in NYC.  I didn’t care how long and hard I would have to work, I didn’t care if I only got to see my family twice a year, and I wasn’t interested in getting married or having kids.  But that was the fantasy–the reality forced me to re-evaluate my values.  What I found is that I don’t have what it takes to be that big shot CEO.  I’m moving back to the STL area after I graduate because I want to be close to my family.  I want to spend time with them and maybe start one of my own in the future.  I’m not willing to sacrifice the time I would spend with them in my pursuit for money.  Do I want to be successful? Yes, of course.  But am I willing to use up all of my scarce resource (time) to make it happen? No.  It’s all about opportunity cost; and each person has to figure out exactly how much they’re willing to give up.  You can’t have your cake and eat it to, after all.

My answer is that yes, I would go for it, so long as the project was profitable.  The way I see it, ethics are relative.  Of course there are things that are universally wrong (killing comes to mind…) but the way a society looks at women is particular to that society.  Just because we Americans are very vocal about equality doesn’t mean the rest of the world is going to follow that model.  If you want to do business in a country with very different social values than your own, you need to be willing to make compromises.   If the country in question wanted to open up a firm in America but refused to hire women managers–as is their cultural norm–we would never accept it, so why do so many Americans think that we should get special treatment?  What right do we have to impose our way of doing business?  In my mind, no right at all.

Networking is such a vital skill in today’s world, and so easy too with the popularity of sites like MySpace, Facebook, and  Twitter.  But, I must confess, networking is one of my weaknesses.  I deleted MySpace years ago, deactivated Facebook in January, and never joined the Twitter bandwagon. In the eyes of many of my contemporaries, I’m hopelessly disconnected.  I joined LinkedIn today to try to get back in the game.  What I like about LinkedIn is that it’s geared towards your professional image, not your personal one.  Images and posts on Facebook can keep you from getting the job; LinkedIn is all about avoiding sticky situations like that.

Don’t get me wrong when I say I’m not too good at networking. I’m not a mean person who can’t develop relationships– I’m still on good terms with most of my former managers and fellow employees–it’s just that I prefer a small group of friends to a large one, so learning to cultivate a large garden of acquaintances is a little uncomfortable for me.  And, while I’m not lacking in confidence in my abilities, I dread sounding like a salesperson.  I’m sure it’ll get easier as I grow older and gain more experience, but that doesn’t mean it’s not intimidating at the moment.  I’ve read pages upon pages of what to do and what not to do, but as I often tell the employees I train, you’re not going to learn how to swim by reading about it.

As the title says, I’m no expert on economics, management, and HR, so many of my insights about the markets or new policies or just about anything else might be flat out wrong, but I’m going to try my hardest to make well-researched, well thought-out arguments supporting what I think.  I hope any readers who disagree will be thoughtful enough to do the same