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The Disneyfication of a University

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Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#161

Post by secabeen »

Loughla wrote: post #109
cs702 wrote: post #24

It's part of the ongoing "corporatization" and "MBA-ization" of US colleges and universities. GW's attempt to institute a "culture" using techniques developed at Disney is just one of many possible examples, although I will admit it is a particularly easy one to mock. (Quoting the OP: "The GW culture initiative can be summed up in two words: Mickey Mouse.") Much of higher education in the US is now controlled by an a…

> According to federal figures, as of a few years ago, the number of non-academic administrative and professional employees at US colleges and universities has more than doubled in the past quarter century, outpacing the growth in the number of students or faculty.[a] Just as an aside - this does include professional staff, which is advisors, academic support staff, and other student facing services. The problem with…

It also doesn't include the payroll and financial assistants to the department receiving $30 million in grant funding to hire researchers. The salaries of those staff come out of the $30mil in grant money, but in the aggregate data, it looks like the university is spending more.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#162

Post by ihumanable »

jkaptur wrote: post #137
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'd love the work of Barbara Ehrenreich, who has erudite, anthropological, book-length rants about this sort of thing (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Bright-sided-Relentless-Promotion-Pos... )

Speaking of Barbara Ehrenreich, her book Nickel and Dimed is a fascinating study on poverty in America. https://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0...

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#163

Post by cbm-vic-20 »

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.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_(film)

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#164

Post by aspaceman »

inviromentalist wrote: post #134
Consultant32452 wrote: post #65

The most common reason people leave companies is not compensation. It's usually about relationships, primarily with the boss but also coworkers. I'm on the spectrum, so I function a bit like an automaton which places little value on the social aspects of work, but most people aren't like that. This is how "on the spectrum" I am. One time I was on a team that did a team building exercise where we went to a local chari…

I used to have this mentality until I tried hiring minimum wage workers. Minimum wage workers are extremely low quality. They have 0 skills and require education on everything. Sure Engineers need to learn too, but there's a gigantic difference. Minimum wage workers are hard to find. Most people won't work for that little, so turnover is high. Minimum wage workers don't care. They know they can find another job easil…

You have to pay for quality work. If you pay the minimum you get the minimum quality of work.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#165

Post by hfdh434535 »

riazrizvi wrote: post #92

Unpopular opinion... you can make almost anything sound awful with the right tone of cynicism, and the intended substance of this article is just a cynical tone. Looking at the observations presented I'm inclined to side with the university president. 1. The university staff were mostly sullen at a culture workshop, enthusiasm was low. 2. Disney is an entertainment world leader. 3. Disney attributes its leadership po…

Disney is an entertainment world leader. There's no reason to think their approach would work well for a university.

Disney's corporate culture encompasses more than what the company believes. Rather, their culture encompasses everything about the company's approach. It doesn't sound like that's what's being discussed at these workshops. If the slogans aren't being matched with changes in leadership or changes in policy, they are just slogans.

You're right about a mission statement's intended purpose. But in practice, mission statements usually have no impact on a company.

You say the author must want something else that leadership is offering. That is not necessarily the case. It sounds to me like the author thinks the university's culture is already good, and doesn't need work.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#166

Post by secabeen »

tartuffe78 wrote: post #45
Mirioron wrote: post #28

How can universities afford things like this, when, at the same time, there seems to be a big student loan problem in the US?

Where do you think all that student loan money is going? Universities are flush.

Which universities are you talking about? State schools are not flush by any stretch. Yes, tuition money is up, but funds from state legislatures are down significantly. Some state universities get less than 10% of their revenues from the state government, down from 60+% in the 1950s through 70s. That is a fundamental change in the role of a university in the country, and in who it serves.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fancy-dorms-arent-the-m...

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#167

Post by wahern »

jedberg wrote: post #151
nothrabannosir wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

2 birds, 1 stone

(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kill_two_birds_with_one_stone)

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#168

Post by [deleted] »

inviromentalist wrote: post #134
Consultant32452 wrote: post #65

The most common reason people leave companies is not compensation. It's usually about relationships, primarily with the boss but also coworkers. I'm on the spectrum, so I function a bit like an automaton which places little value on the social aspects of work, but most people aren't like that. This is how "on the spectrum" I am. One time I was on a team that did a team building exercise where we went to a local chari…

I used to have this mentality until I tried hiring minimum wage workers. Minimum wage workers are extremely low quality. They have 0 skills and require education on everything. Sure Engineers need to learn too, but there's a gigantic difference. Minimum wage workers are hard to find. Most people won't work for that little, so turnover is high. Minimum wage workers don't care. They know they can find another job easil…

[deleted]

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#169

Post by An1ms »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #67
KineticLensman wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bureaucracy always pops up somewhere Sometimes expressed as the Iron law of oligarchy [0] or the The Iron Law of Bureaucracy [1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy [1] https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html

Interesting article. What I find the most interesting (and isn't explained) is how Michels justified then going to the fascist party. Did he conclude "Well, since oligarchy is inevitable, might as well try to join one I agree with"?

First you adopt an anti-democratic mindset, then you read accounts of classical antiquity, and then things kind of fall into place on their own.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#170

Post by ACow_Adonis »

alasdair_ wrote: post #125
Consultant32452 wrote: post #65

The most common reason people leave companies is not compensation. It's usually about relationships, primarily with the boss but also coworkers. I'm on the spectrum, so I function a bit like an automaton which places little value on the social aspects of work, but most people aren't like that. This is how "on the spectrum" I am. One time I was on a team that did a team building exercise where we went to a local chari…

Your story reminds me of an anecdote in The Economist where an econ professor wondered why it was socially unacceptable to hire someone to help his friends move house rather than helping directly himself, when he didn't want to.

As an economist, I've often wondered what would happen if i came to an agreement to split household chores in a certain way with my wife.

Then if I could automate or outsource all my chores, I would only have free time to spend around the house while still doing my share!

Surely marital bliss and mutual appreciation would follow! :p

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