1. Ethical Issues in My Profession:
The goal in business is ultimately to make a profit; not only that, but to make as big of a profit as possible. In the United States, we have laws defining who can work in certain industries for how many hours a day and how many days a week. In the last 20 to 30 years, we have seen many businesses, in a wide range of industries, have been shipping their manufacturing jobs overseas where they don’t have these laws to try to increase their company’s bottom line. In China, I witnessed a lot of workers who I thought looked to be very young, or at least too young to work in the United States. China itself is not very ethnically diverse. By this I mean diversity as we know it in the US, because China has many different ethnic backgrounds within the Chinese culture. This process has had astounding results in the United States. We’ve seen a millions of people lose jobs because of a company shipping jobs overseas, specifically in manufacturing and IT Help Desk jobs.
2. Educational Breadth as Professional Development:
In this day and age of technology and its advancement, it is easier than ever to contact and converse with people halfway across the globe. Because of this it is more important to learn about the business and engineering ethics of countries around the globe and to maintain good business relations with them. This can be achieved by taking classes in school that focus on global business ethics as well as basic introductions to histories of different areas and focusing on cultural relations between the U.S. and other countries. These courses will help prepare future businesspeople in the effort to bridge the cultural gap and strengthen business relations. Even without dealing with another country, the classes can help build a more rounded foundation of cultural and ethical diversity that business sometimes look for when they are hiring new employees. In the coming days of the global economy, taking classes and going on cultural immersion experiences like Plus3 will help any future businessperson in their future career.
3. Lifelong Learning, Continuing Education as Professional Development:
On most of these company visits the employees were very knowledgeable in their respective fields. This was one of my first impressions of the employees as they presented the basics of their respective businesses to our group. Not all of this knowledge however was learned at school. They learned a lot while at school, although it seems like only enough to start at an entry level position at their current job. The rest they learned on-the-job, gathering knowledge of the product and the company while working there. The employees seemed to know a lot about the product when the first started and then as they moved up the ladder, learned more about the business side of the company and how the company is maintaining their success with an eye on moving forward. Based on these visits, I’ve learned that it is very important to keep learning even once I am out of school because technology doesn’t stop advancing and ethics don’t stop changing. In order to compete in the future I will have to maintain knowledge from school and continue to attain knowledge while on the job and at future jobs.
4. The Social Environment of Professional Life:
In China, I noticed that many people were focused on the task at hand and didn’t worry about leisure time. I thought this was especially prominent during the commute to and from work. Chinese businessmen are direct and to the point, not worried about things on the side of the road or what other people were doing until it directly impacted them. Similar to the Chinese businessmen, I don’t think many people, Chinese or American, know much about the other country’s politics until it directly affect them and requires their attention. In America, we don’t worry about the sweatshops in China until they stop making our favorite shoes or technology. However, I think it’s important to know the basics of global politics and how it affects me or my interests directly or indirectly. Some issues that are involved in the business world such as the economic and social issue like maximizing profits at the cost of living and working conditions of people in other countries, also there are political issues like working with other countries that may not be allies with my country but still being able to work out a deal to allow my company to work in the other country.
5. Functioning on Multi-Disciplinary Teams:
I think that it is very important to be able to work on a multi-disciplinary team in my profession, both with members from different fields of study and members of different cultural backgrounds. It is very important, when working as a part of a team like this, to voice all opinions and allow everyone their fair say. This is important because no one person knows everything there is to know about that subject. Also, members of other disciplines may be able to provide insight into how efficient or possible the idea can be. There are many challenges that arise while working in a multi-disciplinary team. One such challenge is that members from each discipline may not trust one another. A second issue is that communication may be lacking between the group as a whole. This can be fixed by establishing an effective way to communicate before the group starts working on any projects assigned to it. As problems continue to arise during the time that the group is working together, the members from different disciplines must try to solve the problems before they become too big and stop the group from working effectively.
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