nora akins

January 4, 2013

Indiana’s Legislative Year in Review

Four new employment laws went into effect in Indiana in 2012; Right-to-Work, Smoking Ban, Criminal History Restrictions and redefining the Blacklisting Statute. A well-publicized two-year struggle ended when Governor Daniels signed the Right-To- Work Law (RTW) in February. The law became effective for union contracts created, renewed or altered on or after March 14, 2012. As a result, employees are free to join or not join a union. Employees cannot be required to pay union dues or assessments of any kind, in any amount to a labor organization, a charity or any third party as a condition of employment. RTW […]
December 4, 2012

Ghost Stories

Rumors can be true, or based in fact or be completely fictitious. In any case, the more these stories are repeated, the more powerful they become. Some rumors linger on for years and become ghost stories. Ghost stories, repeated over time are conveyed as if they are current. These stories can cause a great deal of harm to the individuals in starring roles, as well as the organization. Ghost stories can shape your work environment even after the main characters leave the company. Repetition of the story hard wires our thinking about the person and the company that permitted the […]
October 24, 2012

Got Culture?

Social psychologists and business theorists have used the concept of culture to analyze organizations since the 1940s. In 1982, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman brought the concept into the spotlight with In Search of Excellence. The concept of corporate culture is now widely recognized. Google corporate culture and a quarter of a billion hits describe the concept, use of understanding and methods to change culture. Two distinct views of culture emerged in the 1980s; adaptationist and ideational. Peters and Waterman, among others are proponents of the adaptationist view, defining culture by customs, ceremonies and patterns which can be observed by […]
September 27, 2012

Too Focused To See

People continue fill each day to its maximum. As the world appears to get smaller and move faster, lack of time to relax, think and plan may lead to poor choices, anxiety and incivility. There is a myth that the Indians didn’t see Columbus’ ships because they couldn’t relate to such a large object on the water. It’s believed the myth is based on Captain Cook traveling to Australia. The aborigines didn’t acknowledge the ship until men approached the shore by canoe. Was it that the aborigines couldn’t see the big ship? Social scientists exploring this phenomenon of perceptual blindness […]