Are employees assets or commodities?; Why India anti-corruption party is making waves; Syrian refugees top 3 million; Girls grapple with low self-esteem

1 Are employees assets or commodities? (James Adonis in Sydney Morning Herald) ‘Employees are our greatest asset’ is one of the most worn-out clichés in the management lexicon. It’s also not true. Some of them, as any experienced leader would know, are liabilities. And unlike traditional assets such as property and cars, people have the liberty to walk away from their employer.

The concept of employees as assets – as commodities – was brought to light by Turning Left or Right, a new Australian book edited by Carlo Carli, Paul Collits and Tim Wilson. The book has serious errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation, but if you can get past the lazy editing, it’s quite a good read. The book poses twenty political questions with three different writers penning an essay in response to each one. Some put forward the views of the Left (which curiously contain the most typographical errors), others defend the Conservatives, and then there are those who advocate the classical liberal perspective.

So, are they just a commodity? According to the Left, yes. When 40 per cent of people can’t pursue a career or depend on a reliable income because of the uncertainty of their ongoing employment, they are merely commodities able to be disposed of by employers and businesspeople who happily take advantage. The viewpoint of the conservative is that workers cannot be commodities because they willingly choose that lifestyle for themselves. The majority of people prefer to be employees because they can't bear the pressure of being business owners or making big decisions as a leader of a large corporation. They are therefore content being employed by someone else.

The liberal, similar to the conservative, doesn’t think workers are commodities. A commodity, by definition, is an object that can be bought and sold, and so to extend that practice to humans would be tantamount to slavery. But labour, on the other hand, as a service offered by humans, can be legitimately seen as a commodity. And this provision of labour is best facilitated not by the unequal relationship that exists between an employer and an employee but by the one that exists between sole traders and their clients. 

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/blogs/work-in-progress/employees-are-our-greatest-asset-20131129-2yes1.html

2 Why India anti-corruption party is making waves (Sanjoy Majumder on BBC) An upstart political party led by a leading anti-corruption crusader is creating waves in India by posing a threat to the country's mainstream parties, the Congress and the BJP. The Aam Admi or (Common Man's Party) is led by Arvind Kejriwal - a former civil servant. The party was born out of a strong anti-corruption movement that swept India two years ago. 

Pre-election surveys suggest that it could upset the calculations of the major contenders, the governing Congress Party and India's main opposition BJP, which see Delhi as critical to its ambitions of winning next year's national elections. The party's campaign runs on a shoestring budget. A cavalcade of tuk-tuks and scooters follow Mr Kejriwal's open jeep as it drives through some of Delhi's poorest neighbourhoods. Party workers emulate their leader and wear white caps with the words "I am a common person," emblazoned on the side.

"We've seen so many politicians who've promised so much and delivered so little," says one man. “I'm willing to give him [Arvind Kejriwal] a chance." Lawyers, students, journalists and housewives form its base - middle class Indians disillusioned with the country's politicians, stirred into action by the mass anti-corruption protests two years ago. Some believe it is the start of a massive change in Indian politics. "It's the early Facebook or Google of Indian democracy," says Rajan Makhija, a management consultant from Singapore.

But the party is not short of controversy. There are questions over the party's ability to transfer its idealism into sound policies. "They are political greenhorns, with no administrative or political experience," says political commentator Neerja Chowdhury. "It'll be a challenge for them to deliver."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25135338

3 Syrian refugees top 3 million (Johannesburg Times) The number of Syrians who have fled their country has surpassed three million, the UN said, appealing for "massive" support to help host countries cope with the growing influx. UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) High Commissioner Antonio Guterres said that the agency had registered more than three million Syrian refugees across the Middle East in addition to thousands more who have fled Syria and have gone unregistered.

The donor-reliant UN agency has received $850 million from the international community to extend assistance to Syrian refugees across the region. Jordan alone needs $1.8 billion this year to assist the 600 000 refugees it hosts. There have been reports that host countries have begun restricting entry to the estimated 7,000 Syrians fleeing their homeland each day.

Syria's crisis started in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests, which soon developed into a devastating war after al-Assad's regime attempted to quell the demonstrations. The United Nations estimate that more than 100 000 people have been killed in the conflict.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2013/11/29/syrian-refugees-top-three-million-mark-un

4 Girls grapple with low self-esteem (James Meikle in The Guardian) A growing number of girls and young women say they are unhappy with the way they look and more 16- to 18-year-olds feel less positive about life generally, a report by the charity Girlguiding has suggested. Sexual harassment is commonplace, while young women are judged harshly for sexual behaviour that is seen as acceptable in boys and under media pressure to conform to stereotyped versions of beauty, the report says.

In an era of burgeoning social media use, online bullying and abuse is also widespread, though most girls deal with this on their own rather than telling their parents or someone in authority, according to the Girls' Attitude Survey. The overall proportion of those surveyed who were not happy with their looks rose to 33% this year, from 29% last year and 26% two years ago. At ages 14 to 16, 51% of girls are unhappy with their appearance, and even after that age, 52% are still unhappy.

The report says that some girls, influenced by the media and advertising, are spending substantial sums on beauty products. Among 11- to 16-year-olds, nearly eight in 10 say they shave or wax their legs, more than six in 10 wear make-up to school and four in 10 shave or wax their bikini line and/or wear a padded bra. Nearly two-thirds of 7- to 11-year-olds use nail polish, half wear makeup and one in three wears high heels, although they see this as just "being a girl" rather than trying look older.

Despite the overall bleakness of the findings, 55% of respondents would like to be a leader in their chosen job, 88% say both parents should be able to share time off after their baby is born and 70% want to combine having children and a career. The government's Body Confidence Campaign has been working with the media, advertising, retail and fashion industries to encourage diversity and reduce the harmful effects of gender stereotyping and objectification."

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/29/girls-low-self-esteem-rising-girlguiding-report