Business Economics

Hello!!!
How are you doing? I hope you had a great week and looking forward to another?
Chai, this month is so sloowwwwwww. Sinceeeeeeeee, it's just mid January. If it was December, it would have been the end of the month already!

Anyway, I have progressed to the Business Economics module like I mentioned in last week's blog post. The module basically examines economic and strategic managerial decisions under various economic and market conditions. It is very interesting as I get to compare business environments of countries, including Nigeria of course. You know we live in interesting times right now in Nigeria. The business environment in Nigeria at the moment is kind of confusing and stifling if one is an investor. Often times I think this country is being run by another country :-(  We say we practice a mixed economy here, but government intervention and policies makes it come off as some clandestine socialist economy.

Not to be caught unawares, I'm just going straight off at the assignments. But then, I noticed the deadline dates weren't quite stated on this module. So I sent an email to the course tutor for clarifications on submission deadline dates. Besides responding to my question, I noticed he took his time to clarify how he would like to be addressed...

My email:

Dear William (not his real name)
.......................................................

Ada.


His reply:

Dear Ada
........................................................

Dr William Randle

I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me that 'the first-name basis' does not apply here...at least not with him. I had addressed tutors in my previous modules with their first names.
In my next email to him, I was sure to address him as:

Dear Dr William (I never wan carry over this course, abeg)

This reminds me of a former colleague in my former place of work. Despite the rule that we should address everyone on first-name basis, everyone in that establishment called a certain set of people 'aunty' or 'uncle' so and so. That colleague of mine refused to call his line manager 'aunty'. (This is what too much studying in the abroad can cause o). He would always refer me to the employee handbook and insist on first-name basis as it was stated there. I often reminded him that this is N-I-G-E-R-I-A. Our culture is pretty much immersed in everything. The guy no gree o. Well, that didn't go down well with his line manager, who made certain he never got above 35% in his appraisal, despite being a fantastic team member. The guy got frustrated and left the organisation. O ma se o. 

My people, please what do you think about this aunty this or uncle that in the work place? Personally, I don't have an issue with sir or ma, but all this aunty and uncle stuff, e use to do me somehow sha. I still address them in that manner if that is how they want to be addressed. I don't want wahala o.

Let me know what you think in the comment section!

Till next week Sunday, God willing...take that step, because