The Open Chair is a space generated from the University and Business Program, and its objective is to incorporate business associations so that they actively participate in the Academy, suggesting the theoretical and practical contents necessary for their direction and management.
This Open Chair program, and the different projects that arise in its framework, “takes into consideration the reciprocal need to find ourselves in common projects, in which both the University and the Company capitalize on their potential for the benefit of the Common Good”, expressed the rector, Mgter. Lic. Eugenio Martín De Palma.
The head of the Technological Linkage Unit, Dr. Armando De Feo affirmed hopefully that “it will undoubtedly bring benefits to the University, but also to the entire environment: it will be important for entrepreneurs to be able to approach the academy. I think it is essential that this academy-company, company-academy nexus can be sustained over time ”.
“Thank God it has been a very beautiful, very human day, very important for the participation of the speakers, but also for the participation of the companies that came and that began to be part of this new program that the University has assumed” De Feo, who is in charge of this project, remarked gratefully.
At the event, Enrique Shaw’s granddaughter, after whom the chair is named, recounted some personality traits, personal and work life of this model of Christian businessman, founder of the Christian Association of Business Leaders (ACDE).
Open Chair: A model of business ethics
Enrique Shaw had been converted from a very young age, reading a manual of the Social Doctrine of the Church, and saw there a concrete way to improve the conditions of the workers, to alleviate poverty, and to produce goods and services that the people need. “He saw the company as a human reality that should contribute to unite and develop people, and the Common Good of the society in which it is inserted.
He considered that profits and profits could not be maximized at any cost, but that the maximum benefit had to be sought in all dimensions of the company, also in human terms ”, highlighted Sara Critto Shaw from Eiras.
In business, Shaw focused on strengthening three values: service, technical progress, and human ascension. In this sense, an employee tells that when Enrique approached, it was to serve, and not to use him; He remembered the names of the more than 3000 workers who were under his coordination, and he was interested in their particular affairs, he went around the factory with a notebook, where he wrote down his orders.
It promoted technical progress, to multiply creative capacity, avoid all waste in the material and be at the forefront of technical advances, like any company. He invested in training his employees, sending them abroad, or bringing opportunities closer.
Under his leadership the first fluorescent tubes were made in Argentina.
Regarding human ascension, he considered that everyone should be able to develop their personality.
To do this, “in the company and in meetings, especially listening, he had proposed it like this: that the amount of time listening and then talking should be greater.”
In this way he gave rise to initiative, to the forging of ideas. He was looking for that climate where each person can fulfill himself, that each one could get the best of himself, and he continually examined whether they really thought more about people than about the company.
Shaw, moved by his Faith, expressed that the entrepreneur has to be like Christ in the company, be meek and humble, consider others as superior. His granddaughter explains that “he was very loved by the workers, and so much so that when he was about to die of cancer, he needed blood transfusions and more than 260 employees went to donate.”
“As soon as he could, he went to the factory to thank them, because almost all the blood that ran through his veins was workers’ blood, who felt more identified with them than ever, whom he had always loved, and whom he had always considered as executives, and not as mere executors ”.
The mutual need of the company and the academy
Hugo Daniel Krajnc, former president of Cargill and member of the Council of Economists of the Christian Association of Business Leaders (ACDE), also participated as a speaker in the presentation of the Open Chair. “The socio-economic process depends on the link between the university and the company, it really is how it is developing in the world and in our country,” he said.
“But in addition to being necessary, we consider that this connection is possible, it is not just a dream. There are 3 elements that have motorized humanity since ancient times: food, energy and knowledge. These three elements, both in the province of Santa Fe, and in what is the sphere of influence of the University, are available ”.
“Therefore, it is not a question so much of availability, but of knowing how to integrate and articulate the parts so that it is much deeper and more sustainable. From that point of view we consider from ACDE that this chair is a very good initiative, and an intelligent response to this type of challenge ”.
Sergio Dalmasso, manager of Banco Santander, Santa Fe branch, expressed with enthusiasm:
“I particularly insist on the attractiveness of a chair with this name, Enrique Shaw, who is an icon for Argentines, for his social development, for his business development, and for that desire to live well, for that desire to grow, to be the best and not forgetting the others. I invite you, from the business community, from the unions, from where we are interested in participating in the Open Chair to do something better, it seems to me that it is key, because this is going to feed on each one ”.
María Elena Ghietto, who was present on behalf of the Argentine Chamber of Construction, Santa Fe delegation, remarked that “the academic openness that the Catholic University has towards society is fantastic, it is precisely what is needed in this society. Only by working together is we going to achieve really effective ties, for changes that are really profound: uniting knowledge, with the possibility of management that the entrepreneurs involved have ”.
Alba Masso del Valle, Commercial Manager of Pilay SA, commented gratefully for the call that “the possibilities we see are enormous: with the talk we had, and the horizon of ACDE, we confirmed the expectations we had. For my part, as a teacher who was from the House, we felt from the company the need to connect with the academy early, not at the time when we were looking for talent to join the company, but when the young people were still in training. It is invaluable to us and to them as well. We are very willing to take on this
challenge, which we trust will serve us a lot and enrich both parties ”.
To learn more about the Open Chair:
About the University and Business Program visit www.ucsf.edu.ar. On the life and writings of Enrique Shaw: www.enriqueshaw.com; or in networks @EnriqueShawOficial.
