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The Disneyfication of a University

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Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#151

Post by jedberg »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #120
jedberg wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I calculated how much that cost the company and made a presentation to my boss about how much more we could have done by hiring minimum wage workers to perform the same manual labor for the same $ they paid us. This is funny and very self-aware of you, but you bring up a good point. Would people feel worse/better/the same if the company said "you can take a day off today and we're going to give your day's salary to…

If it was a team building exercise, the altruism was not the point, but a vehicle for social cohesion. Sending people home defeats the purpose.

If team building, then yes. But charity work doesn't really sound like team building. It sounds more like "look how good our company is we do charity work on company time" culture building.

In which case the goal is to make people feel good about the company.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#153

Post by Consultant32452 »

notyourday wrote: post #147
Consultant32452 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found the opposite for me. I'm not the feelings guy, but these days I seek more of the kinds of compensation that generally are not tracked and taxed by the state. So I care more about flexible schedules, vacation time, etc. I need to make a certain amount of $ to maintain my lifestyle, but otherwise I'm trying to maximize those other things. I can imagine for many people, their feelings is another kind of com…

> So I care more about flexible schedules, vacation time, etc. Would you still care about it if you were paid 3x or would you work for a couple of years and peace out?

Unlikely. I'm a single parent. No amount of money can purchase my kid's childhood back for them, or me. I've already declined offers to double my salary, because I'd have had to travel for work regularly. That being said, there is surely some threshold of income past which I would be willing to change at least some things up.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#154

Post by DavidVoid »

riyadparvez wrote: post #48

As someone who is not from North America, this positive/good vibe culture really baffles me. You are a human being. Negative emotions are part of life. World is full of pain and sufferings. You are supposed to feel empathy for other people and feel bad for their misfortune even if you have the good luck of not going through suffering. I just don't understand this obsession of feeling good all the time. I don't know h…

You might enjoy this little article (and associated HN discussion) about toxic positivity that was posted here last year.

https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/toxic-positivity

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19692895

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#155

Post by xsmasher »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #152

American universities lost that which used to make them special. There won't be much to miss when they no longer exist, especially the debt.

I immediately thought of Pirsig's "two universities."

“The real University, he said, has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It's a state of mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing body of reason itself.

In addition to this state of mind, 'reason,' there's a legal entity which is unfortunately called by the same name but which is quite another thing. This is a nonprofit corporation, a branch of the state with a specific address. It owns property, is capable of paying salaries, of receiving money and of responding to legislative pressures in the process.

But this second university, the legal corporation, cannot teach, does not generate new knowledge or evaluate ideas. It is not the real University at all. It is just a church building, the setting, the location at which conditions have been made favorable for the real church to exist.” ― Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#156

Post by ACow_Adonis »

riyadparvez wrote: post #48

As someone who is not from North America, this positive/good vibe culture really baffles me. You are a human being. Negative emotions are part of life. World is full of pain and sufferings. You are supposed to feel empathy for other people and feel bad for their misfortune even if you have the good luck of not going through suffering. I just don't understand this obsession of feeling good all the time. I don't know h…

I'm not American, nor do I live in America, but I feel compelled to post because this aspect of American culture is both absolutely infuriating, AND its one that I actually have to engage with (though i try to avoid it as much as possible) because it's commonly exported with corporate training/culture, and a huge part of corporate culture is either fundamentally American or heavily influenced by American culture.

It's a nightmare, and I have barely even touched on what it does for the negative reputation of Americans...(reinforces a reputation as superficial, idiots, two-faced, liars, etc). Other Americans, please find a way to stop this madness!

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#157

Post by secabeen »

cs702 wrote: post #127
jonas21 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps the most salient example of this ever-expanding bureaucracy is Stanford's shiny new 35-acre campus in Redwood City, which houses only non-academic administrative staff Is this really a good example of administrative bureaucracy growing out of control? I mean, if you had to pick a group of people to move off your university campus due to space constraints, it seems like administrative staff would be the logi…

I couldn't tell you if it's "out of control" (your words), but it sure is a salient -- i.e., prominent, noticeable -- example of bureaucratic growth. Whether the "corporatization" of US high education will prove a good or a bad thing in the long run, it remains to be seen.

A big driver of the bureaucratic growth is the growth in federal funding, and the significant documentation requirements that the federal government puts on recipients of Grant Funding. (This is things like effort reporting, overhead allocations, purchase applicability and allocability, etc. You can read many of the specific details in OMB Circular A-110: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Circul...)

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#158

Post by Aperocky »

nabla9 wrote: post #138
Seenso wrote: post #25

Several years ago, I had to attend a full day "culture training" session given by Senn Delaney (a division of Heidrick & Struggles) [1]. It was also a massive waste of time. Our company actually has a really great culture, and what I remember of the training amounted to a somewhat subtle attempt to indoctrinate employees to be more blindly obedient to management change initiatives. There was some other stuff, but I h…

When Japanese companies came to the West some of them tried to push the Japanese company culture into their subsidiaries without any modifications. Starting workday with everyone standing in attention outside and singing company song when company flag was hoisted did not go well.

You need to tell us what happened

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#159

Post by kthejoker2 »

whatshisface wrote: post #33
kthejoker2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good rule of thumb: if you can't imagine a company adopting the opposite position of a "core value", it's not a value at all. "Honesty" is not a value. "Move fast and break things" is a value.

The opposite position of honesty is lying pathologically and constantly, which some leaders do, so honesty passes your test.

Lol well fair enough but I guess I mean "Pathological lying" isn't emblazoned on the front door ... The #1 "value" at Koch Industries is "Integrity".

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#160

Post by kthejoker2 »

Johnny555 wrote: post #57
kthejoker2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good rule of thumb: if you can't imagine a company adopting the opposite position of a "core value", it's not a value at all. "Honesty" is not a value. "Move fast and break things" is a value.

There are plenty of companies that have embraced the opposite of "honesty" (Enron, Arthur Anderson, and Theranos are a few that come to mind).

Arthur Andersen's value statement began "We believe in integrity."

Enron's core value statement included " Integrity – We work with customers and prospects openly, honestly, and sincerely."

So my point stands.

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