Assignment 1A.
Most theologians and Bible studiers would point out that it is the love of money and not money itself that is the problemas reflected in our selected verses. Remember Jesus said Render unto Caesar so he was not going to get involved in petty stuff like taxes. Where Jesus had a problem was when someone put money over God and having money or the acquisition of money became more important. I dont see that it is wrong to be paid for your skills. Surely Jesus had no problem with his earthly father being paid to build a house, and there is no reason not to expect people to be paid today whether they are filling racks in a retail store or calculating taxes. We could argue that throwing a football is not worth 1300 times the value of carrying a rifle into harms way but that is another topic.
What is profit anyway? Profit is bringing in more than you spend and it has applications at home and at the office, both in for-profit entities and non-profit entities. If you are selling your product for less than it costs to make, you cannot support any charity. You also cant buy new equipment, or develop new products, or provide raises or employee benefits.
By the way, how did Jesus eat and clothe himself? He was called a carpenter, so we can relatively safely assume that he must have practiced that trade at some point in his life to earn a living. However, it does not appear that he worked later in life because there is no mention of it, so he must have lived off of donations and gifts. Can anyone or any company make a donation or gift without first making a profit? No.
Instructions
- You identified a company or industry of interest to use in your degree program. Until the world finds a way to not need charities, we need profitable organizations to pay good wages to generate the ability to personally donate. There is often public debate about reasonable profit. What is reasonable? Is it an after-tax rate of 3%? 6%? 13%? What about the years when profit is -4% or -11%, meaning a loss was incurred? Can a company then be allowed to make 18% the next year for an average of 7% if 7% is considered reasonable? Who and what determines reasonable profit?
- Consider these questions and post your thoughts on them:
- Is profit inherently evil or can it exist in the kingdom of God? Please explain.
- Is there such a thing as unreasonable profits in your company or industry of interest? If so, how do we determine that level where profits become unreasonable? If not, what do you say to those who feel there is?
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Assignment 2A.
Planning: Our Part of God’s Part?
Managers spend large parts of their lives planning and controlling, two of the four functions according to management theory. Yet we are told on Sunday and in our Bible study that God is in control and we should turn it all over to Him. Woody Allen is quoted as saying, If you want to hear God laugh, tell him about your plans. This makes us laugh until we realize how much time we spend making plans in our business and personal life. Is all that time wasted?
Instructions
- Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
- We are asked by our supervisors, peers, and work team to develop plans for success. We invest significant time and energy in finding and reviewing data, and manipulating spreadsheets and charts and graphs to forecast the future so we think we know what will happen. This course and many others train you on how to perform those analyses.
- The course author was once managing a sales team and asked a common question to one of its members, How much will you sell next year? The man, an openly devout Christian, quickly responded, Whatever God brings to me. While the author did not disagree that it could happen, he responded back, OK but God expects you to do your part, so how much are you going to try to sell? The salesperson was not prepared for that question and walked away with a strange look on his face.
- In this module, you submit the revised final draft of your internal and external marketing environments report. That report will or should include significant analysis of external elements, factors, and pressures that are outside of your clients control but may have a substantial impact on their plans. We say that analysis is art and science, that science is finding the numbers and art is interpreting them. If there is so much that we cannot control, and we believe that God is in control, can we expect our plans to be valid? We see in the Book of Job that Gods faithful servant lost it all through a series of unexpected and unforeseen events including two natural disasters (lightning and wind). In a few hours, these two unpredictable and indefensible calamities and two attacks by enemies erased all of Jobs success after many years of planning and implementation. Then we are told in Jeremiah that God has good plans for us, almost suggesting that since He has plans for us, we dont need any plans, that its already taken care of.
- You identified a company or industry of interest to use in your degree program. Consider these questions and post your thoughts on them:
- How much can and should a company in your industry of interest plan or how much should its management team rely on letting God do it all?
- What are some unpredictable and indefensible calamities that might affect your industry of interest?
- How is it our responsibility as a manager or leader in that industry of interest to do everything we can to plan when external events beyond our control can have such a significant negative impact on our plans?
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Assignment 2B.
The Bible has many passages about hard work, wealth, and success, and some of the greatest are found in the book of Proverbs. Here are a few of the many passages related to those themes.
- Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. ()
- Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. ()
- Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. ( NIV)
- The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good rewarded for theirs. ()
- All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. ( NIV)
- The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. ()
- Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ()
In , Jesus shares The Parable of the Bags of Gold also known as The Parable of the Talents.
Instructions
- Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
- There is certainly a theme in Proverbs that a hard-working righteous person will be rewarded more than the lazy slackard. Many of the mega-churches today preach what is sometimes called prosperity theology or the prosperity gospel in which blessings are expected by those who believe. Success in this world is the just reward of believing in God and supporting various ministries that are in need of financial support, the kind that can only be found from the donations of a large number of cheerful givers. There is a subtle message, and sometimes not so subtle, that if you are not successful, you are probably not working hard enough and are not faithful enough in supporting the church. This is certainly a popular message for those who are successful and want to minimize their possible feelings of guilt. Its also a popular message for those who wish to have success and hold out hope that hard work and faithful giving and service will lead to both temporal and everlasting rewards.
- But are those thoughts and feelings correct? Are they spiritually healthy?
- You identified a company or industry of interest for your degree program. Consider these questions and share your thoughts on them.
- What is the relationship between righteousness and success in business in that industry of interest?
- Are some industries more suited to righteous leadership and management? Why?
- What is inherently right or wrong about trying to grow a successful and therefore profitable business in your industry of interest?
- Is business growth a gift, a task, or a reward? Why?
