Ethical concepts management - Case Study Example

Ethical concepts management My is Teddy Martins a of Marylyn high school, Texas in California, USA. I am interested in advanced study of management skills for a successful organizational administration career in future. To find out the important management concepts, I carried out an oral interview from a manager to develop an insight into the critical aspects of corporate managerial assignments. This is a report of the oral interview of Mr. Olivia Akani, the founder and chief executive officer of Customs mobile catering company. This interview was undertaken on 5th November 2013 in the office of this Iconic entrepreneur who opened a closed door on a new approach towards service to humanity. This interview was based on business ethical dilemmas which is an aspect of management and is an emerging serious issue in the society. This topic was obtained from the chapter three on the nature of ethics from the given text. Theoretical concepts in this chapter and the case of coming across a person being mugged and pondering over helping will act as the guiding tool in the interview and conclusions. Introduction Ethics is a generally acceptable unwritten way of doing things which is consistent with the social order of any organization. The code of conduct is always defined by that given organization’s cultural beliefs (Trevino, Linda and Katherine 36). This cuts across various communities, corporate world, governments and individual behavior. In this case, an interview was conducted with the chief executive officer as the interviewee and the focus was on how to inculcate the concept of ethics within employees and ways of solving a situation of ethical dilemma like in the case study referred to in the text chapter. Management requires requisite critical analysis ability and in-depth assessment of consequences of any action. Managers may always find themselves in ethical dilemma either directly or through their juniors (Ko?ster 65). Top manager like a Chief executive officer is always bound to make difficult decisions that demands win-win outcome with an ethical concern. In an effort to make profit, there is always the code of ethics practiced by any organization that need to be adhered to every time in the course of production process (Garsten and Tor 125). This interview would serve as the basis of further analytical concepts of ethical dilemmas in management process. Summary of questions and corresponding responses from the interview Question Response The industry the company belong The company falls within the competitive food, beverages and events catering services industry Management levels in the company The company is headed by CEO, top brass managers, middle managers and supervisors in that order. The management position held Chief executive officer of the company Daily work and overall job description Being the CEO, the daily work entails overseeing the activities going on in the company through reports received from top management team and individual observation. The job description in this case can summarily be defined is act as the overall custodian of all management activities that are meant to propel the organization to greater heights. Personal management approaches and skills Participatory decision making is the best as it incorporate the diverse ideas of various stakeholders to the company hence ensuring that the decision made serves the interest of the company and its stakeholders in equal measure. Sound interpersonal communication skills are the best tools to apply in success focused management. Personal values and traits that helps in managing the organization Being a strict adherent to the company’s laws, regulations and codes of ethics is one trait that can has brought the company to where it is today. These values can be transmitted to other managers and the non-managerial employees through being a role model which has worked in the company. Interest in details is also a critical tool that has helped in exhaustive resolution of a challenges faced by the company. View on ethics Ethic is an integral part of any organization as all the activities the company undertakes revolves around serving humanity. In as much as the company works towards increased profits, ethical standards must always remain the guiding principle at personal and company level. This is a concept that human resource management to give much attention as it begins with individual employees before a cumulative tradition on the company. Ethical Dilemma as a management challenge Being a manager means that the goals of the company are achieved which is primarily profit maximization. However there is need of being human in the process of working towards this goal and this is where the idea of ethics comes in. There are situations where legal demands conflicts with ethical standards and this where management becomes tricky. The company upholds ethical standards in terms of fair remuneration of employees, equal pay for equal work and justice in case of any breach of contractual agreements. Personal experience of ethical dilemma in the company A proposal to bid for a contract to supply cutlery to the various market segments indicated an imminent business loss to friends and relatives of the employees and it proved difficult to advise them on what to do. Which ethical theories would be recommended in such a case of ethical dilemma from management perspective? Utilitarian theory should always prevail as the profit maximization is the primary interest of key stakeholders to the company. However, the virtue ethics and golden rule is always employee focused but need to be taken with care as it can compromise the goals of the company. Most important ethical standard of the company Since the company deals in food production and service in special events, the driving ethical standard is satisfactory measurement of foodstuffs and hygiene at all costs, all the time. Human resource efforts to balance productivity of the organization and ethical considerations The current business society requires a new managerial approach based on in-service training and motivational talks with the various stakeholders of the company to observe ethics as it also builds on the image of the company hence increased market size. Parting shot Management is an art that is a cumulative of the smaller parts to form a whole which leads to the success of the company. An overview of corporate social responsibility The company has this as a constituent of its ethical concerns. This ensures that the company also serves to provide positive externalities to the larger society. Summary and conclusion A critical analysis of the interview exposes the critical aspect of ethical standards in management and the company at large (Koontz, Harold, and Heinz 46). Various organizations tend to ignore the significance of this management aspect in the contemporary business society against its increasing popularity. The globalization effect has generated the debate of ethical concepts in any organization’s management policies and this can be seen from the emphasis the interviewee put in it. Ethical dilemma is a situation that is increasingly becoming common and is a test of management skills as the decisions made are bound to make or break the company (Eardley and Lorna 54). It is an idea that should be imparted into the stakeholders of any company as a recipe for success through improved image of the organization. Personal traits of a manager act as the point of reference by other employees and parties to the company and this defines success or failure in the attempts to attain set goals (Durai 67). Interpersonal skills and participatory approach in decision making stands out to be useful in any management endeavor and codes of ethics are not exceptional. Thank you letter From: Teddy Martins Marylyn high school, Texas City, California. USA. To: Mr. Olivia Akani Chief Executive Officer, Customs mobile catering company, Texas, California, USA Dear Sir, Re: word of thank you I wish to tender my word of thanks for the positive response I got from you during the thrilling interview. I must say that I learnt much about management and ethical concepts in it. I aspire to be a future manager and take up the responsibility with utmost care as I observed from your responses. There are challenges but your responses was in itself a better way of understanding the requisite techniques useful in managing an organization and observing ethical standards as way of serving the diverse interest of the larger society. I send my heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifice you made despite your busy schedule to give me audience and respond to my several questions. I look forward to further enquiry from you as I work towards becoming one of the best managers any organization ever had. Thanks for your co-operation Regards Works cited Durai, Pravin. Human Resource Management. Chennai: Pearson, 2010. Internet resource. 622 Eardley, Alan, and Lorna Uden. Innovative Knowledge Management: Concepts for Organizational Creativity and Collaborative Design. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2011. Print. Garsten, Christina, and Tor Hernes. Ethical Dilemmas in Management. London: Routledge, 2009. Print. Koontz, Harold, and Heinz Weihrich. Essentials of Management: An International Perspective. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print. Ko?ster, Marco. Ethics in Human Resource Management. Mu?nchen [etc.: GRIN, Verlag fu?r akademische Texte, 2002. Print. Trevin?o, Linda K, and Katherine A. Nelson. Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right. New York: John Wiley, 2011. Print. Read More