Strategic Management and Ethical Issues
Leadership role
Every organization requires good
managers to manage its day to day business transaction. The manager must
possess a good character that is worthy of a manager. While seemingly
amorphous, character and leadership often make the difference between good
performance and great performance (Kaplan, 2008. P. 47). A manager must have
good characters that include honesty, diligence, good morals and good
communication. All these characters help an organization to reach its financial
goal.
Leadership
is the process of social impact in which an individual can support others for
the achievement of a joint objective (Golman, 2000, p. 83). Motivation should
be the primary goal of a leader not bullying. Every leader must find a way to
create a workplace environment that is free of bullying; this will increase
efficiency and productivity.
A
great example of abuse of power characterized by bad leadership can be found in
the Milgram experiment where participants were forced to take electric shock
without their good consent but Hitler gave order to John Williams as seen in
the You tube video.
The importance of certain desirable qualities in a
manager can not be overemphasized. Managers must communicate effectively and
delegate tasks to employees in a timely manner. It is the responsibility of the
managers to ensure that the tasks are completed. They must also understand
personal difference from issues at workplace by dealing with employees in a
professional manner that is not intimating.
Ethical issues
Ethics is about doing the right
thing and showing good behaviour to fellow human being. A good leader must
follow the code of ethics at workplace by showing respect to other employees. A
manager who can influence the attitude and behaviour of labours positively is
to be taken as a model of a just and earnest executive implementing the ethical
standards (Golman & Ozturk, 2012, p.82). All organizations have ethical
standards that the employees must abide with in order to maintain respect and
dignity at workplace.
Ethical issues include sexual harassment, bullying,
perjury, dishonesty, lateness and workplace violence. A good employee must
avoid all ethical problems at workplace in order to stay protective.
Formulating strategies that benefits
organizational performance using leadership skills
A good manager must understand SWOT analysis at which the
company operates. It involves Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. Once
a manager can understand competitors in the same industry, it will be easier
for the managers to formulate strategies that will benefit organizational
performance. Many companies that create blue oceans attract customers from
other industries who use a product or service that performs the same functions
or bears the same core utility as the new one but takes a very different
physical form (Kim & Maurbogne, 2005. p. 125). Managers must create a strategy
that will help the organization to stay in blue-ocean. A good strategy that
will increase organizational performance must be long term and economical to
implement.
Strategies that will benefit organizational performance
include price of products, good attitude to work, low cost of production, good
communication and good wages & salary.
Price of product is a
very important factor in attracting customers and staying competitive in the
industry. More sales of product will increase the revenues of a company.
Good attitude to work is
also an important factor to be considered in creating a strategy. A good leader
must show respect and dignity to employees and that will boost the morale of
workers and increase productivity.
Low cost production is
another important factor; managers must find a way to source for cheap raw
materials that will save money by reducing the cost of production.
Good communication cuts
across the organization; information must be dispensed in a very effective
manner that will increase productivity.
Good wages and salary is
another great way to encourage employees to work hard and be loyal to the
organization.
Integrating Ethical and Social
Global Consideration into Strategic Decisions
Most organizations have social
responsibility or obligation not to pollute the environment with their waste
products. Corporate social responsibility(CSR),concerned with better aligning a
company’s activities with the social, economic, and environmental expectations
of its stakeholders, has become a strategic issue for most companies.(Dekluyer
& Pearce,2012, p.44). Managers must find a way to accomplish a task without
harming employees by not providing necessary safety gadget to work in a
chemical hazardous environment.
Safety of employees is a great strategy for
any managers to implement in a workplace. Managers must not force employees to
complete a dangerous task because of the safety concern.
Cultural Difference
My chosen cultural difference will focus on
Arab Emirates that is totally different from my country. As a Canadian born in
Nigeria, l did observe a lot of cultural differences from Arab Emirate because
the country is located in the Middle East and the majority of the population
are Muslim. Arab Emirates is investigated in five cultural dimensions which
include power distance, individualism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty
avoidance and long term orientation.
Power distance in the Arab Emirates
is totally different from my own culture. Some people believe that it is their
birth right to rule the country or certain communities. It suggests that a
society’s level of inequality is endorsed by followers as much as by leaders (Hofstede,
2013). In the power distance, no person challenges the authority; everyone
agrees that certain group of family should rule their life and country. Arab
Emirate scores high in this dimension that is approximately 90.
Individualism is the process by which
people are independent in the society but in the case of Arab Emirate, it is a
collectivist society where people depend on government for income and general
welfare. Arab Emirates, with a score of 25, is considered a collectivistic
society (Hofstede, 2013).
A clear difference is also observed in Masculinity
/Femininity in the Arab Emirates. Most women are suppressed by men. The only people
that dominate workplace and business environment are men because they consider
women as second class citizen. Arab Emirates scores 50 on this dimension and
can be considered as a masculine society (Hofstede, 2013).
Uncertainty avoidance is a way that Arab
Emirates deals with uncertainty in their future and they tend to work hard to
provide for the future. Arab Emirate scores 80 on this dimension and thus has a
high preference for avoiding uncertainty (Hofstede, 2013).
Long term orientation is the process by
which people in Arab Emirates plan for the future and view business prospect
that will generate future incomes. No score on this dimension.
MBTI TYPE
The completed Jung Typology test reveals my
personal traits in the following areas which include sensing, intuition, thinking
and feeling. The Jung Typology test has helped me to identify my MBTI type as
INTJ that represents Introvert, Intuitive, Thinking and Judging.
I got the following
scores in the four categories below
Introvert =11%
Intuitive=25%
Thinking=1%
Judging=33%
I have slight preference of Introversion over
Extraversion by 11%, moderate preference of Intuition over Sensing by 25%, marginal
or no preference of thinking over feeling by 1% and I have moderate preference
of Judging over Perceiving by 33%.
My MBTI type, INTJ, has greatly helped me
to resolve ethical issues in many perspectives. It has a great attribute and
idea that propel me to work hard and independently to achieve my goals. I
posses a great sense of competence to accomplish a task and be a team player
that can motivate the team.
Furthermore
my MBTI type, INTJ, allows me to identify ethical problem at workplace and also
find a way to resolve it through mediation that is viable to the success of the
organization. My personal quality has helped me not to rush to judgement in any
ethical issues such as sexual harassment and dishonesty facing employees at
workplace but to thoroughly investigate matters and critically analyze crucial
matters without being biased or favouring either party involved.
Conclusion
The importance of ethics at
workplace has been fully discussed. Employees are faced with ethical issues
everyday but a good manager will find a way to resolve matter in an amicable
manner that is not threatening or intimidating.
Leadership skills enable managers to work
as a team not as a superior to others. Managers need to show positive attitude
to other employees and that will boost their morale. Strategic management is a
great tool for managers to create Blue Ocean that will make organization
competitive.
References
De kluyver, C., & Pearce, J. (2012). Strategy,
a view from the top. (4th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
French,S.E. (2013). Ethics
workshop part 3 - Applied ethics and ethical research. Retrieved on January
19,2013 from
http://youtu.be/uwnM8yc0s8U
Goleman, D. (2000). LEADERSHIP
THAT GETS RESULTS. Retrieved January 19,2013 from http://kucampus.kaplan.edu/library
Gokman,
A. (2012). Issues of Business Ethics in Domestic and International Businesses:
A Critical Study.Internatonal Journal of Business Administration.Vol. 3, No. 5.
Retrieved January 19,2013 from http://kucampus.kaplan.edu/library
Gokman, A. & Ozturk, A.T.
(2012). Issues of Business of Ethics in Domestic and International Businesses:
A Critical Study.International Journal of Business Administration. Retrieved
January 19,2013 from http://kucampus.kaplan.edu/library
Humanmentrics.(2013).Jung
Typology Test.Retrieved on January 19,2013 from http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm
Hofstede, G. (2013). The HOFSTEDE
CENTRE(index.php).Retrieved on January 20,2013 from http://geert-hofstede.com/arab-emirates.html
Hofstede,G. (2013).Dimensions of
national Cultures.Retrieved on January 18,2013 from
Kaplan, R.S. (2008). Reaching
Your Potential.Harvard Business Review. Retrieved January 19,2013 from http://kucampus.kaplan.edu/library
Kim,W., & Mauborgne, R (2005).
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the
Competition Irrelevant. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
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