A Business Design Studio: Poetic Inquiry

Assessment 2: Portfolio- Business Design Studio Tools for Making Decisions Student name: Student number: Portfolio piece 1: “Understand Old One” Portfolio piece 2: “Municipal Gum” Portfolio piece 3: “Return to Nature” Part A - Poetic Inquiry and Time ("Understand Old One") Wilkie uses cold but vivid adjectives to express a passion and treasure of experience and history in the story. Its rhythm is solemn and grave, and it has a steady pace at several places as if the world and its wisdom are ponderous. The main storyline focuses on a conversation with an old man who shares wisdom that he obtained through accrued years and gained from life. Antagonists: They consist of the elder, who is a representative of the traditional Maasai, and the narrator, who is of the younger generation. This poem can be acknowledged as a member of wisdom poetry, which is disinterested in questions of wisdom, longevity, and the role of the elder. This is the role of wisdom poetry, which hails from ancient traditions and acts as an avenue for facilitating the passing down of cultural and moral lessons. It sometimes employs comparison, that is, using figures of speech of persons, less frequently things, to express the experience of something else. This method makes it an effective means for self-reflection and reflection on society. Accordingly, Noonuccal (n.d.), the author of "Understand Old One," is a living contemporary poet who focuses on cultural memory and intergenerational transitional knowledge. This poem is representative of other works by the poet, who often uses time, memory, and the act of passing on knowledge as motifs in several poems. This is evident in how the poet’s experience of growing up in a multiracial country contributes to the depth of his or her vision and presents the subject within history and context (Waithe & Dykeman, 2023, p. 381). Some of them are: Older people's knowledge should be appreciated, and the Introduction of historical background contributes to the enhancement of intergenerational knowledge transfer. These themes cut against the assumption that business possesses a wholly rational, supply-side, utility-maximizing orientation by insisting that business decision-making requires careful consideration of the distant future and that all business should be undertaken with an eye toward morality (Wright et al., 2020). The analyses indicate that it can be helpful to recognize that enterprises as persons could learn from generational knowledge. In the same manner, businesses could effectively use a reflective holistic approach. Applying these themes to the Walmart case during Sam Walton's era of leadership is the story of how Walton was inculcating in a team whose experience matters and how wise old persons who have worked with him for a long time were the company's most valuable asset. For instance, Walton's scheme of going around stores and seeking feedback from the employees is indicative of valuing elder wisdom (Wells & Ellsworth, 2016, p. 383). Friday morning meeting, during which Walton explained every minute operational aspect, starting from driver uniform costs, represented his quintessential 'analysis-paralysis.' This approach fostered a culture of respect for the old and long-term employees' experience that was essential in enhancing the sustainability of Walmart. By preserving the organizational culture that values the knowledge of experienced workers, Walmart could guarantee that certain decisions entail equally valuable long-term consequences and be authentically aimed at creating a more sustainable and ethically-driven Walmart model (Wright et al., 2020). Part A - Poetic Inquiry and Place ("Municipal Gum") "Municipal Gum" also presents a gum tree planted in a stark urban environment devoid of greenery, conveying the never-say-die spirit and the fight between the natural world and urbanization. It is fast and consistent with suspense and parallel structures of nature and technology. The plot revolves around the gum tree to bring out the scenario of an unnatural environment due to man's interference with the environment. About the gum tree, the poem personifies it, and in doing so, it symbolizes nature fighting to survive despite the evading city's advances. This poem falls under that class of environmental poems, where the works elaborate on man's relationship with nature. Environmental poetry is usually centered on themes like the degradation of the environment, environmental preservation, and the natural world (Waithe & Dykeman, 2023). Specifically, it incorporates imagery and metaphor to draw attention to the secondary effects of human activities on the environment. The author of "Municipal Gum" is quite conscious of matters concerning the conservation of the environment and is critical of the trend towards the growth of cities. Their portfolio specifically popularly deals with concepts of civilization and how human interference impacts ecosystems. The author of the poem and the emphasized personality is also an activist in protecting the environment; this is reflected in the poem through revelation on the topic of sustainable development (Storm et al., 2024, p. 28). Some of the general concepts or assumptions that can be derived from this analysis include the environmental and ethical concern of stewardship, appropriate urbanism as a sustainability theme, and the story of the resiliency of the natural world. Such themes directly contrast the emphasis on reason and profitability typical for business; they imply that economic development should not necessarily come at the cost of ecological system degradation (Storm et al., 2024, p. 22). When these themes are applied to the Walmart case study during David Glass's era, when Walmart was rapidly opening facilities in other countries, a story could explain how Walmart came to appreciate that it needed to avoid causing harm to the environment in foreign facilities. During this period, Walmart could have stepped up its green policies and ensured that its supply chains were green and friendly to the environment, which would have made it one of the green manufacturing and distributing companies (Wells & Ellsworth, 2016). For example, policies such as attempting to display the values of energy ...