Critical Analysis

As my community mainly revolves around a business its current biggest challenge is finding a way to maintain itself during an economic hardship. Since about 2007 Cardinal Glass has been losing smaller customers due to businesses going “under” during this economic struggle. Cardinal however has maintained a stand against the economic strain all while still maintaining the things that matter most to its employees. Of these things, some include its healthcare coverage and its overall sense of family togetherness, and because Cardinal Glass lacks a bureaucratic undertone to its business; it is a lot easier for it to make decisions that benefit the people rather than the shareholders. Over the past few weeks I have attempted to get a better look at how this has affected the community; the following is what I have discovered.

For my first interview I decided to speak with the “head honcho” and get his take on how the economy has not only affected us as a community but also the company as a whole. Though he had more than a few good and bad things to discuss, I was faced with weeding out what was most important versus the not so important. The following is what I found to be most relevant to the topic at hand. I had asked how the loss of smaller business has affected us as a community as well as how it affected him on a more personal level. At first he discussed the financial aspects of how loss of business affects how well a company can thrive in this type of an economy and he mentioned how being a specialized type of company that is still needed throughout the world on a daily basis helps keep us from going “under”. In addition, not only did he discuss this but also that we are a specialized company that is considered the number one supplier due to its emphasis in the quality of its product. As for the financial aspect, he discussed how Cardinal Glass was more of a business that promotes morale within its employees. He also discussed how profit sharing works within the company and how even though the company is still making a positive profit it has not reached a point in which it would need to consider laying its employees off or cutting benefits like some other big companies have decided to do.

For my second interview I decided to speak with my supervisor, a 10 year employee who has been with the company long enough to know how it used to be versus how what it has become. I asked him how he viewed Cardinal then versus now and though he was mainly concerned with the lack of profit sharing the company has been able to reach he did maintain that the company for the most part is still thriving. With the introduction of new products such as it new storm resistant laminated glass and the perseverance of the community it has lead him to ultimately stay with the company despite other job offers. I also asked how he felt the community has benefited and suffered from the current economic struggle. He discussed how even though the company has suffered during the past few years it has not lost sight of where it is going. One thing he said that really stuck in my head was, “We all have to work to maintain a living, you know, some people work at a desk in offices and some people work out on production lines, but as long as we don’t keep secrets about how the business is doing we will continue to maintain a good morale throughout the plant, and that is a huge part of what is keeping this company moving forward through these tough times.”

For my third interview I decided to speak with a new employee to get a fresher outlook on how this community may or may not have a hindrance on people looking for employment in this current economic time. I asked him what he thought of the company so far and how the atmosphere felt to him as an individual. The following is what he had to share. As we spoke I got the feeling that he really felt comfortable in this community and he gave the impression that he really enjoyed the people he worked with. He told me that at a previous employer he was treated with no respect and eventually laid off due to higher ups wanting to get a higher pay raise. He spoke with great resentment toward the previous employer due to the fact that he spent 5 years working for the company and was hardly praised for any of the work he did as well as hardly recognized for any accomplishments he achieved. However, in the short time that he has been a part of our community he has learned a lot and I really think it has helped him get over being laid off by his previous employer.

All in all we are in n economic struggle but we are doing everything in our power to maintain what we as a community have always maintained, and that is our shared communal atmosphere. We truly do work together as one to maintain the best morale possible and with a great deal of personal effort on everyone’s part we will overcome this economic struggle together and hopefully in the end we will come out better than we did before the economy began to fall.