Podcast
The Busyness Paradox
Hosted by Frank and Paul · EN
The world of work is a world of paradox. In this podcast, we tackle your everyday workplace or office environment topics, challenges, or activities. We also discuss trends and strategy in business. Our end goal is to help managers stamp out bad practices and help employees deal with them. Drs. Frank Butler and Paul Harvey, two management professors, co-host this podcast. We encourage your participation in our podcast by asking questions or sharing your experiences with us.
14episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Who’s The Real Time Thief?
Mar 22, 202300:45:41Tap to summarizeIt’s that time of year when endless news reports about March Madness-related “time theft” bubble up to the surface (get it? like teams on the bubble? anyone?) They all bemoan the incalculable dollar amount, which dozens of studies nonetheless claim to calculate, lost to employees watching basketball instead of working. Our take: if your employees are doing what you pay them to do and you’re furious that they didn’t do more because they were watching basketball, you’re the time thief.Mentioned in this episode:Who’s The Real Time Thief?March Madness Underscores Cost of Workplace Time Theft Stealing time at work: Attitudes, social pressure, and perceived control as predictors of time theft. Journal of Business Ethics, 94, 53-67.Employee time theft: Conceptualization, measure development, and validation. Personnel Psychology, 75, 347-382.Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!
Transcribe →When Working Hard Looks Like Hardly Working
Mar 17, 202301:10:21Tap to summarizeJoin us as we pat ourselves on the back for reaching the fabled 52-episode milestone. Because 52 is way more exciting than 50. Not because we had already passed 50 episodes without realizing it. Why would you even think that? Anyways, publishing 52 episodes has taught us that podcasting shares a (wait for it…) paradox with many seemingly simple jobs: the more skill and effort you put into it, the less skill and effort the average consumer thinks it requires. This is a frustration well-known to car mechanics, tailors, and football kickers whose reward for making hard jobs look easy is to be told "anyone can do that!" by observers who endeavor to make easy jobs look hard. And so we dedicate this 52nd episode spectacular to them and to all of you who appreciate the value of legitimately “hard" work, even if your customers do not.Links to resources mentioned in this episode:07:20 Alabama football recruiting: Nick Saban turns down huge NIL request14:43 Electric Vehicles Battery Problem16:16 Leno: Appreciation for hard work is fading, and old cars aren’t easy29:50 Are You Entertained—Or Addicted?41:25 Episode #7: BS Jobs56:50 Bone Valley podcastCome visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!
Transcribe →Excessively Lean: When a Lack of Slack Bites You in the Back
Feb 20, 202300:49:14Tap to summarizeWe all know the story. After worshipping at the altar of "lean" for decades, we spent two years wondering where all the toilet paper and pickup trucks went. Covid reminded us that too much efficiency could be colossally inefficient, slack was back, hooray. Then you tried to board that Southwest flight a couple months ago and you realized the germ-like aversion to slack had taken root far beyond the manufacturing sector. In this episode, we discuss how keeping "slack in the system" in all aspects of our lives helps us stay happy, productive, and safe from the horrifying dystopia foretold by Garfield In Paradise. (chrome, chrome, chrome…bop bop a re-bop)Mentioned in this episode:1:40 - Episode #50: Unions, Strikes, and Your Rights with Dan Gilmore3:20 - FTC Holds Public Forum on Proposed Rule Banning Use of Non-Compete Agreements10:20 - The Employment Situation - December 202210:50 - Episode #48: Let’s Get Down(sized)!11:05 - The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy14:20 - Billionaire Charlie Munger says to stop complaining everyone is five times better off than they used to be15:00 - The 15-Hour Workweek15:40 - Episode #41: Time For Niksen (not that Nixon)20:15 - Why 2023 Could Finally Be the Year of the 4-Day Workweek20:15 - Episode #44: Charlotte Lockhart and the 4-Day Week25:20 - Southwest Airlines Has Fallen Apart39:00 - Garfield in Paradise Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!
Transcribe →Unions, Strikes, and Your Rights with Dan Gilmore
Jan 30, 202301:01:35Tap to summarizeIf you're like us, you grew up being told that American labor unions were a fading relic of the past. After a string of successful organizing drives and a stunning 406 strikes in 2022, we're beginning to question that assumption. Reflecting on the ongoing labor strife in the American railroad industry, we decided it was time to bring in an expert to discuss the current state of organized labor in the U.S. In this episode, Dan Gilmore, Attorney at Law and Founder of Squire Strategies, joins us to not only discuss the ins and outs of modern labor unions but he also teaches us about the rights of non-unionized workers that very few Americans are aware of. If you have a job - any job - you're going to want to listen to this episode.Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!
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