SESSION 12 | ORGANIZATIONS

How do we understand what we mean when we say "organization"?

Think about thinking within organizations while watching this video

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>Did you ever think about how much the structure of organizations is driven by philosophical belief systems?

Back in the 1960s, Friedman envisaged a society in which we’d all be wealthy, thriving entrepreneurs. What we got in reality was a pay cut, reduced holiday or sick leave, a chronic skills deficit, credit-card debt and endless hours of pointless work. If anything, the story of human capital theory in Western economies has been about divesting in people, not the opposite.

What is human capital? | Peter Fleming

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We'll have no additional readings, but there is something for you to do

prepare a definition of an organization for us to discuss

what counts as an organization?
what are some types and varieties of organizations?
what organizations do we have experience with?

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things we'll talk about

plan to share your definitions of organizations
plan to discuss the organizations we have in common? what are they? what are our connections? how are we connected?
examples might include school and all its variants (student life, student organizations, etc.) or life in general (sports, hobbies, social or religious identification, etc.)

If the session will include an in-class exercise, it will be noted here.

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something to take away

Smart

Girl in a Coma is a trio of young women from San Antonio. A comment from an NPR story on them.

Girl in a Coma is a trio of young women from San Antonio who play rock music - loud rock music - in both English and Spanish. Lead singer and songwriter Nina Diaz, 23, is the youngest member of the band. Her sister Phannie plays drums, while their longtime friend Jenn Alva slaps the bass. Girl in a Coma is signed to Blackheart Records - a label owned by rocker Joan Jett - and takes its name from the song "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths.
While the members take pride in their Latino heritage, there is another thing they have in common: None of them is actually fluent in Spanish. They aren't alone: According to a national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C., 23 percent of adult Latinos in the U.S. are English-dominant. Nina Diaz says that growing up, she often felt left out in her family.