Reflecting on Work, Professional, and Sustainability in Terms of Business and Society - Coursework Example

Meaning of Work, Sustainability, professional Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date Meaning of Work, Sustainability, professional Today, I believe that a business has a significant relationship with society in terms of being professional, the nature of work, as well as sustainability. In order for one to be successful and achieve their goals, one must be willing to take into account the idea of business and society. As a hopeful graduate, I believe that for my goals and objectives to be accomplished, I require reflecting on the idea of business and society. This is in terms of developing my professional skills to match my career, increasing my skills, knowledge, and experience in sustainability and adapting to different cultures in the globalized world. The following paper aims at reflecting on work, professional, and sustainability in terms of business and society. I will rely on my course content, readings and personal experience to develop increased awareness on my professional life. Job Crafting Reflection Job crafting is a critical element is my professional life. I believe that the current world does not often offer a fulfilling job where one can find their satisfaction in. Most people take up jobs that do not fit their passion or interest, which can lead to increased lack of motivation and lack of job satisfaction. For instance, Wrzesniewski, et al. (2010, p. 114) indicates that out of 5000 families surveyed, only 45% cited being satisfied with their employment, which was down from sixty percentage. This illustrates how most people do not find satisfaction in their current areas of employment, thus the need for job crafting. Wrzesniewski, et al. (2010, p. 114) describes job crafting as the process of re-imagining, restructuring, and visualizing one’s current job through the professional and individual needs. It involves redefining the one’s professional roles to include or incorporate individual passions, interests, strengths, and passions (Petrou, et al. 2012, p. 1120). Job crafting has the ability to help me integrate my personal refinements on how I view my profession as well as how I do my job, thereby developing a sense of control and ultimately finding satisfaction. So far, I have not had an experience where I was required to apply job crafting, but through Wrzesniewski, et al. (2010, p. 114) reading, I can reflect on Fatima’s experience and relate it my situation in future. Fatima is performers effectively in her work as a middle-level manager in the marketing department. Nonetheless, in her on views, she feels unsatisfied and trapped between the daily demands and her passions and interests. In terms of interests and passions, Fatima believes she should be exploring how the company could use social media in its marketing strategies as well as mobile gadgets. Through job crafting, Fatima relies on three main steps or phases including tasks, relationships, and perceptions. In terms of tasks, Wrzesniewski, et al. (2010, p. 114) argues that one can alter their scope of work or extend the boundaries as well as how they are performed. In this case, Fatima identified how the company would use social media in its promotional and adverting campaigns. Similarly, I believe that if faced with a similar challenge, I can be able to integrate my interest in my scope or changing how they are performed. The second step involves developing relationships that is directed towards generating value for others, developing trust, and recognizing people who are willing to accommodate you. This is a critical step in winning support for the initiative of job crafting because job crafting is a personal initiative and works best when driven by the individual. In Fatima’s experience, she relied on technology savvy manager to develop relationships and develop her hob crafting support. In my case, I believe that in a similar situation, I will have to develop relationships and focus on developing value for others while looking for people who can accommodate me in terms of job crafting. The last phase focuses on changing perceptions. Fatima passes this phase by re-imagining her job as an innovator or change agent rather than the usual marketing manager. I also believe that in future situation, I will have the knowledge and ability to visualize my profession in a new way where I take time to recognize the value I generate for other rather than the values I get from other or the business. Sustainability Reflection The idea of sustainability has gained increased interest in the past few decades. Sustainability is almost a critical factor in many of the business worldwide (Maruffi, et al. 2013, 123). I believe that sustainability covers the areas of economic, environmental, and social sustainability (Kuei & Lu 2013, p. 56). Sustainability focuses on ensuring strategic business processes and practices that seek to reduce harm or problems in society, the environment, and economic system. Business have always been perceived to hold one primary goal, which is maximizing or increasing their profits. According to Mackey (2013, p. 34) business exist to maximize shareholder profits, but business leadership extends to making positive impacts. Mackey (2013, p. 34) also suggests that businesses operate in a wider system characterized by profound interdependencies between the economy, environment, and society. I personally believe that businesses should be able to offer value as well as positive impacts not just for the shareholders, but also consumers, employees, communities, and the environment. In my educational life, I have always had the interest to work in logistics especially as a logistic manager. This is because I have encountered family members who are in the same profession, which has enabled me to gain increased interest and passion for the job. I believe that I would want a company where they value and act on environmentalism as well as corporate social responsibility. This means ensuring strategies are aligned to ensure include environmental concerns such as pollution, conservation of natural resources, and climate change. Moreover, the company should also make positive contributions to the community such as charities and empowerment. In my case, working in logistics requires increased knowledge and skills in sustainability. I personally have a passion in sustainability in ensuring practices and processes that reduce harm to the environment while making positive contribution to society. By being a logistics manager, I believe that i can impact the business to develop and implement sustainable strategies. This includes adopting renewable energies to reduce use of fossil fuels that are part of the natural resources as well as contributors of increased pollution and climate change (Zaabi, et al. 2013, 88). Moreover, I believe that sustainability can help me in developing cost-effective strategies such as use of electric transport systems that reduce pollution and energy expenses. Sustainability also has the potential to promote social responsibility by empowering suppliers in the local level by ensuring that their products are bought at the recommended price (Kiran & Sharma 2011, p. 56). Moreover, I believe that this can also involve empowering suppliers such as farmers with knowledge and capital for organic food production in the case of a food or clothing business (Prajogo & Olhager 2011, 44). I believe that knowledge and skills in sustainability will be a critical part in my professional life as a logistics manager. I endeavour to enhance my knowledge and skills in the area of sustainability to be recognized in terms of my quality work as well as the reputation of the company. Code-Switching between Cultures Reflection In my view, the world has increasingly become globalized with people migrating to different countries all over the world. This trend has produced numerous cultural challenges in the area of business and society (De Leon 2014, p. 14). Employees working in foreign countries face numerous challenges in adapting to different cultures in terms of professional life. According to Molinsky (2012, p. 140) employees in foreign countries struggling with adapting to different cultures suffer from the lack of skills in cultural code-switching. According to Molinsky (2012, p. 140) cultural code-switching is the ability to shift and adjust to different cultures in an effective and efficient fashion. Moreover, I believe that cultural code-switching is the ability to regulate behaviour in certain circumstances to house divergent cultural norms. This necessitates more than the correct mind-set, motivation, and material. In my view, cultural code-switching calls for the competency to manage and adjust to psychological encounters that appear when one attempts to read cultural awareness into understanding (Molinsky 2012, p. 140). I believe that cultural code-switching can support me in evolving my profession in a globalized world. In my future professional life, I have always wanted to work in foreign countries suc as the U.S.A and China. This means that I have to reflect on how I can apply cultural code-switching skills in future to enable me achieve my career goals. According to Molinsky (2012, p. 140) the first step in cultural code-switching is spotting the challenges that I face. I believe that the main step in my case is recognizing my challenges in terms of adjusting to different cultures. I believe that in future I need to analyse the differing cultural values between my own culture and the main culture in the country I will be working in. The second step in adjusting to a new culture is adjusting my behaviour to shrink my distress (Molinsky 2012, p. 140). In this case, I that people who work in foreign countries have different behaviours towards their new culture or values and norms that they find different or unacceptable. In today’s world, this would necessitate me to develop behaviour that backs both cultures. This means adopting behaviours that reflect both cultures. The third process of cultural code-switching is entirely appreciating the value of cultural modification and reworking (Molinsky 2012, p. 140). I believe by matching my personal goals and values to my desired outcomes are an effective way of appreciating the value of cultural regulation. For instance, if employed in America, my aptitude to communicate directly will ensure that I will become operative and successful in my profession. I am a meticulous and ambitious individual, who considers that achievement and competence are significant as individual goals. Moreover, I believe in the significance of team work and diversity, implying that having the talent to work with Americans would be a good experience. I also believe that cultural code-switching can help me in terms of ensuring that I view my adjustment through other cultures. This means that I take time to appreciate what other cultures value in my personal culture. Through this perspective, a new viewpoint can be established to ensure an integrated and appealing environment of effectiveness. In conclusion, business and society have significant relationships and interdependencies. The necessity for me to mature into a dynamic and skilled professional demands the understanding of how business and society co-exist. I believe that my reflection in the context of business and society has developed a new chapter my career development and life development. I am now able to plan new goals, alterations, and abilities that will empower me to become an effective and global business leader. References De Leon, O 2014, 'how management can improve corporate culture in order to have an effective work environment', Supervision, vol. 75, no. 8, pp. 14-16. Kiran, R., & Sharma, A 2011, “Corporate Social Responsibility: A Corporate Strategy For New Business Opportunities,” Journal Of International Business Ethics, vol. 4 no. 1, pp. 10-17. Kuei, C. H., & Lu, M. H 2013, “Integrating quality management principles into sustainability management,” Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, vol. 24 no. (1-2), pp. 62-78. Mackey, J 2013, 'The Kind of Capitalist You Want to Be', Harvard Business Review, vol. 91, no. 1/2, p. 34. Maruffi, B. L., Petri, W. R., & Malindretos, J 2013, “Corporate Social Responsibility and the Competitive Advantage of Multinational Corporations: What is the right Balance?. Journal of Global Business Issues, vol. 7 no. 2, pp. 69-81. Molinsky, AL 2012, 'Code switching between cultures', Harvard Business Review, vol. 90, no. 1-2, pp. 140-141. Petrou, P, Demerouti, E, Peeters, MW, Schaufeli, WB, & Hetland, J 2012, 'Crafting a job on a daily basis: Contextual correlates and the link to work engagement', Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 33, no. 8, pp. 1120-1141. Prajogo, D & Olhager, J 2012, “Supply chain integration and performance: the effects of long-term relationships, information technology and sharing, and logistics integration”, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 135 No. 1, pp. 514-522. Wrzesniewski, A, Berg, JM, & Dutton, JE 2010, 'Turn the Job You Have into the Job You Want', Harvard Business Review, vol. 88, no. 6, pp. 114-117. Zaabi, S, Dhaheri, N, & Diabat, A 2013, 'Analysis of interaction between the barriers for the implementation of sustainable supply chain management', International Journal Of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 68, no. 1-4, pp. 895-905. Read More