The documentary we watched in class, “The Corporation”, dove into the corruption and malpractices committed by these well known institutions. I had always heard, or skimmed the headlines of articles detailing corporations’ harmful activities, but I assumed those corporations would be shut down over continued abuse. It was surprising to see so many well known, fairly respected companies accumulating millions in losses from malpractice fines. Understanding the extent to which corporations are built on an infrastructure that promotes financial gain over anything else is the first step in advocating for change. Specific note was in the documentary to separate the corporation from its owners, and while I agree with some sentiment, reconstruction requires massive backing from these head directors.
This class this week we discussed how the Italian contemporary dilemmas play a role in the workplace culture. Italy has a long history of governmental turnover and constant change; the only real constant in the country’s history is continued chaos. This has led to a now fierce untrust of higher up leaders, which caused a lot of Italian workers to over advocate for themselves in a sense. Some of these principles can be seen through workplace culture, like Italian employee first mindset versus the American phrase of “the customer is always right”. Unfortunately, this has also caused the Italian economy to slow down immensely, leaving a large economy incredibly vulnerable.
After I completed my first project, my boss, Giuseppe, is now more comfortable having me take on assignments that deal with external clients! I was recently given access to our clients website data from Google Analytics, a platform that tracks website hits, conversion rates, referral links, etc. This year the tool was upgraded to a new version, GA4, but all of the old data does not convert to the new platform automatically. I have the task of finding a way to store this data so clients can still look back at it when reviewing performances. This upgrading process has been occurring for about a year now, so all the old data is deleted by the end of June, making the stakes of this project much, much higher than my previous.
On Sunday, I woke up in Introbio in the hiker retreat from Saturday. The night rain had created a fresh dew over the mountain, making the air smell so clean, a refreshing difference from Milan’s city air. We got to explore the grounds near the cabin in the morning, which included a field of cows and a small cheese making company. Then we all went on a hike to both a church and a small village of old houses. The views were breathtaking, with small waterfalls coming down from the surrounding peaks. Inside the church was a connected bar that had the most delicious hot chocolate; it practically tasted like straight melted chocolate, so it was extremely rich, but warmed the hands!
