Monitoring Meetings
Once the doors to company meetings are closed, the fibbing begins.
That’s what Prof. Peter Monge, a USC communications instructor, has found in a survey on company meetings, based on responses from 903 employees at 36 different-sized companies.
More than a third of the respondents said they felt psychological or group pressure to give an opinion they didn’t agree with, he said.
In addition, about two-thirds said meetings were influenced by hidden agendas.
Meanwhile, the average meeting begins at 11 a.m. in firms’ conference rooms, lasting for 90 minutes with nine people present.
Monge said, “the larger the company, the longer the meeting.”
The study was done as “an attempt to identify what meetings are like on the average in corporate America,” he said.
Leasing Light Bulbs
If you like leasing a car, try leasing your light bulbs.
Philips Lighting has begun nationwide marketing of its energy-thrifty compact florescent bulb--called, of course, the Earth Light.
It gives off the light of a 75-watt bulb but uses only 18 watts of electricity and lasts up to 13 times longer than ordinary incandescent lights. It also costs as much as $20 retail.
Which brings us to leasing. For the past two years, Philips Lighting and the Taunton, Mass., Municipal Lighting Plant have leased bulbs to electrical customers for 20 cents each per month, payable as part of the electric bill. The bulbs are shipped through the mail and replaced free when they burn out.
And, Philips says, over the life of the florescent bulb, customers still save $57 a bulb in the average U.S. home and more than $91 in metropolitan areas.
Meanwhile, utility companies save because they reduce demand on their systems without reducing income.
And the planet’s atmosphere is spared, over the life of each bulb, 20 pounds of sulfur dioxide, held responsible for acid rain, and 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to Philips.Petty Crime Only
An ad in The Times real estate section Sunday touted new luxury homes in Seal Beach. In addition to calling the $625,000 homes “A Dream Come True,” the ad, by Louise Marsh & Associates, described the homes as “Almost Crime Free.” Is that like being a little bit pregnant?
