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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: Nancy Gardner (206) 543-2580
nancylou@u.washington.edu
DATE:
March 27, 2006
Students who want to know what employers should do for
their employees from both economic and moral perspectives
will have the chance to learn from some of the region's most
respected employers this quarter in a new class co-taught
through the University of Washington's School of Social Work
and the Business School.
The class, Contemporary U.S. Workplace: Social Welfare and
Efficiency in Firm-Employee Relations, is the brainchild
of Howard Behar, former president of Starbuck's North America
operations, and his wife, Lynn, a UW social work graduate.
Behar said the idea for a class has been brewing for years,
when he realized many business school job recruits showed
more interest in bean counting than in distributing those
beans to employees in a socially responsible manner.
"Human beings don't really understand each other very
well," Behar
said. "We need to make a better effort to learn to work
together and understand our respective disciplines, whether
it's business, social work, public policy or engineering.
In the end, it's about human relationships – getting
students to understand our commonalities instead of our differences
is what will help make companies treat their employees with
respect and care."
Course instructors said the prevailing notion of contemporary
American for-profit workplaces – maximizing profits
on behalf of company owners – is fundamentally incompatible
with concerns of social justice and the advancement of individual
and social welfare. This kind of mentality, they say, needs
to be changed.
Anna Haley-Lock, assistant professor of social work and co-instructor,
said the class is geared toward students who eventually might
help set employment policies. It has drawn graduate students
from the business and social work schools as well as from
the Evans School of Public Affairs.
"The class is multi-disciplinary and draws upon the
fields of ethics, psychology, sociology, social work, public
policy
and economics," she said. "We'll study work-life
balance and conflict, human resource management and address
social welfare and efficiency concerns in the modern workplace."
Tom Jones, co-instructor and professor of management and
organization in the business school, says a goal of the course
is to help future leaders balance people management and organizational
performance skills.
"We hope students will see the benefits of paying attention
to how they will relate to their key stakeholders – their
employees," he said. "Studies have shown that,
despite conventional corporate wisdom, treating employees
well can be good for a company's bottom line. It's not just
about making money – your work life is also important
to your well-being. We'll figure out how and why firms make
decisions around human resource management and how that affects
their bottom line."
He said that Costco, REI and Starbucks and are consistently
recognized for their responsible corporate behavior.
"Showing students how these companies can sustain solid
profits while keeping employees happy will encourage them
in their
careers to carry out similarly strong, moral business practices," he
said.
Guest speakers will include Jim Sinegal, Jim Donald, Sally
Jewell, and Craig Ueland, chief executive officers of Costco,
Starbucks, REI and Russell Investment Group, respectively.
They will detail how they've balanced profit-making and good
employee relations.
Other guests are Marilyn Watkins, policy director of the
Economic Opportunity Institute, and David Rolf, president
of Service Employees International Union Local 775.
The UW Business School also offers joint classes with the
law, pharmacy and education schools and colleges. The class,
funded through a $250,000 grant by Behar, will be offered
as an elective each spring for the next three years.
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