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Reflective Paper- City Hall Visit

Reflective Paper

Chicago Day 2

City Hall Visit

International College of the Cayman Islands
GR 509

Tutor: Dr. Marshall

By: Suzette Charlery

Date: May 18, 2016

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Reflective Paper- City Hall Visit

City Hall Visit

The visit to Chicago City Hall today was very interesting and informative. Today, I learned that
the Chicago City Hall is the official seat of government for the City of Chicago in the Illinois
United States and is owned by Chicago City Council (Wikipedia, 2016). A clear observation that
grabbed my attention the minute I walked in the building was the amazing neoclassical
architecture of the 11-story structure. The Chicago City Hall houses the mayor, city clerk, and
city treasurers of Chicago as well as some departments such as the Chicago City Council.
Our tour began with a brief encounter with the Mayor of Chicago Mr. Rahm Emmanuel as we
took a group photo, shortly after, we visited with Roxanne Nava, who is the Chief Small
Business Officer of Chicago. Her lecture was very inspiring, and I left there feeling as I have the
knowledge and the information I needed to start a small business. She seemed very passionate
about her job, and it was intrigued by the support and guidance that her department offered to
entrepreneurs starting up a business. She explained the nine steps to consider when starting a
small business. I found it very interesting that a large part of her role include advising and
encouraging people to engage in business ventures that they are passionate about, are willing to
commit their time to, and prepared to keep the connection with the people of the community. Ms.
Roxanne shared her experience of seeing one business idea evolved into other business ideas
simple when people commit to doing what they love to do and are connecting with the needs of
the community (R. Navi, personal communication, May 18, 2016).
This service reminds me of the Department of Commerce and Investments in the Cayman Islands
which offer guidance and support to the diverse, robust economy of many small and medium
operation in areas such as water sports, hotels, restaurant, retail and construction companies

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(DCI, n.d). Also, Ministry of Finance Services, Commerce, and Environment together with the
Cayman Islands Small Business Association (CISBA), will be hosting a Small Business Expo
on May 28, 2016, and give Caymans business community an opportunity to support local
entrepreneurship (CNS Business, 2016).
Ms. Roxanne explained that 70% of the business license granted were issued online. However,
sometimes a background check, public notification, fingerprinting, ID, or a local visit to the
business site were requirements. I must say I was pleasantly surprised and impressed to learn that
the department was interesting in promoting small business in the music industry throughout
Chicago. Our group was invited by Ms. Roxanne Navi to attend this meeting, with a well-known
acapella group called The Remedy. They proved their talents and showed a sample of what they
contribute to the performing arts. They enlightened the room with a selection of classical music
which they described as feel good music at the meeting.
In regards to Organizational Behavior, this visit with Ms. Roxanne helped to enhance my
understanding as it relates to Organizational Culture. According to Robbins and Judge (2014), an
organization that has a strong culture is one where employees have the same opinions about the
organizations mission and values. The core values are both intensely held and widely shared. As
a new business starting up, this singing group showed they have a strong culture which will
contribute to reduced employee turnover because it demonstrate high agreement about what their
organization represents. Individuals are qualified singers and range in the type of musical voice
abilities, tone and rhythm techniques they can sing. Employees are flexible as their
performances are based mostly out in the field. Across the board, the singers are highly qualified
and very committed to their job (The Remedy, personal communication, 2016). This strong

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culture makes a significant influence on members behavior because the high degree of
sharedness and intensity create a climate of high behavior control (Robbins and Judges, 2014).
Shortly after the meeting with Ms. Roxanne, I felt privileged to have the opportunity to sit in on
City Council session for a few minutes. According to City of Chicago (2016), The City Council
is the legislative body of the city which house scheduled meeting every month to exercise
general and specific powers delegated by the state statute. A variety of issues are usually voted
on such as proposed loans, grants, bond issues and financial appropriations. Today, we observed
the large group of Airbnb representatives who were there to push for regulations for online home
rental platforms. Although we didnt hear the details of the outcome, I was excited to read about
it in the Chicago Tribune (2016) which states the Mayor Rahm Emanuel made some changes to
the complicated rules with the intention of rounding up the votes he needed (Chicago Tribune,
2016). In my opinion, the culture at Airbnb has to be the glue that holds the organization together
because it provides the standards for what employees are required to achieve. The function of the
culture contributes to the success of the organization as it set boundary-defined goals, conveys a
sense of identity for the organization, facilitates commitment to something larger than selfinterest and it enhances the stability of the social system (Robbins and Judge, 2014).

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Reference:
Cayman News Service (2016). Key Workshops Available at Small Businesses Expo. Retrieved
from https://cnsbusiness.com/tag/cayman-islands-small-business-association/

Chicago Tribune (2016). Emanuel Airbnb rules stall as alderman say they wont be rushed.
Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-airbnb-citycouncil-emanuel-met-20160518-story.html

City of Chicago (2016). City Council, Your ward & Alderman. City Council. Retrieved from
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/about/council.html

Department of Commerce & Investment (n.d). Welcome to the Cayman Islands. Retrieved from
http://www.investcayman.gov.ky/portal/page/portal/ivbhome

Robbins, S., and Judge, T. (2014). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. 12th Edition.
16.

Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia (2016). Chicago City Hall. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_City_Hall

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