GlaxoSmithKline - Management - Assignment Example

GlaxoSmithKline Name Date Course Executive summary GlaxoSmithKline is a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry and its products are consumed worldwide. The company is profitable due to the high sales that it registers annually. However, the company has been faced with legal action due to its unethical practices with regards to some of its drugs. The failure of the company to disclose the harmful side effects of Avandia and Paxil was an indication that the company had serious ethical problems as the side effects of the drugs were quite harmful. The ethical lapse within the company has also been perpetrated by the leadership in some of the instances which includes sacking an employee for whistle blowing. The competitive environment within the industry as well as the merger contributed to the failure of the company to deal with the ethical issues. This is because the mergers meant that the employees and management were used to different organizational cultures. The leadership of the company was also unable to adequately address the issues of ethics due to lack of oversight. However, the company can improve its operation and it can also enhance its reputation by coming up with policies that encourages the staff to be ethical. On the other hand, the company may also review its codes of conduct for the purposes of improving on ethics. Introduction GlaxoSmithKline is a pharmaceutical company that is well known over the world due to its products. The company collects about $ 25 billion every year from the sale of its pharmaceutical products. The company is also considered as a global leader in the industry due to the success that it has experienced. It is also important to note that the company was as a result of a merger of several small pharmaceutical companies. The company has its headquarters based in the United States of America although its products are sold worldwide. It has business divisions that have been distributed in all the continents. The pharmaceutical industry is considered crucial due to the role that it plays in the world. The products of the company have the potential of saving lives and hence its importance. Most countries have laws and regulations that govern the operations of the industry. This is for the purposes of ensuring that the consumers are not affected. On the other hand, ethical issues play an important role in terms of regulating the industry (Seibold, 2012). GlaxoSmithKline has been maintaining high standards of ethics and it also participates in the corporate social responsibilities. However, the company has been faced with ethical issue that has impacted negatively on its reputation. The company also places a lot of emphasis on good leadership for the purposes of ensuring that the company is able to maintain high standards of ethic as well as fulfill its goals and objectives. The paper thus discusses the issues of ethics and leadership in relation to the company. Discussion Question 1 The company has been faced with several ethical lapses that have impacted negatively on the quality of the products of the company. Paxil is one of the products of the company that is used as an antidepressant. However, during the manufacture of the drug, the company was aware that it had harmful side effects to the patients under the age of 18. The company also failed to disclose that the drug was not suitable to children and it allowed the children to use it. The failure of the company to disclose such sensitive information is considered as a medical lapse. The action of the company also endangered the lives of the patients and children who used the drug. This is also an indication that the company was not ethical as its actions were done knowingly. On the other hand, the company also committed research fraud through a psychiatrist who was on the payroll of the company. The psychiatrist named Palazzo involved the children in the research and yet the children did not have any history of depression. The failure of the company to disclose all the information concerning the drugs that it manufactures is considered unethical. The incidence was an embarrassment to the company and it impacted negatively on its reputation. The ethical lapse also impacted negatively on the products of the company. The customers will always stop purchasing such products after it has been discovered that it is harmful to their health (Brody, 2010). It is thus important to note that the actions of the company raise serious ethical concerns although it paid for the fines that were imposed on it. Inflation of the process of the company is also a lapse of ethics. This is because it amounts to the exploitation of the customers. The company was accused of this ethical problem in relation to a diabetic drug called Avandia. Rising the price of the drugs is not only against the policy of the company but also unethical. This raises questions on the commitment of the company towards maintaining high ethical standards considering that the drug is required by thousands of people. It is also important to note that the drug had serious side effects that exposed the patients to more risks. The company was also promoting the drug despite the harmful side effects that it had on the patients. The actions of the company are not only unethical but it shows that the company does not care about the well being of the patients. It is also important to note that the unethical lapse led to the ban of the drug by the European Union. Unethical lapse can impact negatively on the operations of the company together with its profitability as it may be imposed heavy penalties. Most of the patients may end up being affected by the unethical conduct of the pharmaceutical companies. This is because the patients do not bother to find out the effects of the drugs once it has been prescribed to them by the doctors. The conduct of the pharmaceutical companies should thus be regulated for the purposes of protecting the consumers (Ide, 2012). Off label drugs in the United States of America are among the most abused drugs by the patients. This is because of the various uses that it has. Promoting such drugs therefore raises serious ethical questions. The company had the knowledge of this but it still continued to promote such drugs. One of the drugs that were in question is the Wellbutrin which is usually used as a form of antidepressant. The company promoted the use of the drug while it knew the negative impacts that it had on the patients. This means that the company was more concerned with the profit making process as opposed to the wellbeing of the patients. Misleading the public towards using a certain drug amounts to an ethical lapse which lowers the quality of the company’s products (Steen, 2011). The process of sponsoring the students is an important process. This is because it contributes positively towards raising the medical standards. However, the company was using huge amount of money to promote its drugs in the name of sponsoring the students. The cover up by the company amounts to ethical lapse and hence the negative impacts that it has in terms of its public image. The illegal use of drugs to promote drugs is not ethical in the pharmaceutical industry as it indicates that the company is not acting in good faith. GlaxoSmithKline therefore has serious ethical issues that lead to the misleading of the customers in terms of using its products. Committing fraud in the market in terms of placing high prices amounts to the violation of the Federal laws in the United States of America. However, the consequences of the fraud are serious and this also indicates that the company intended to benefit on fraudulent activities. Benefiting from fraudulent activities leads to ethical lapse which the company has been accused of. It is thus important for a pharmaceutical company to ensure that it does not engage in fraudulent activities which also lowers its reputation. The quality control issues of the company also amounted to the ethical lapse which impacted negatively on the operations and reputations of the company. The process that was being used by the company led to the wrong labeling of the drugs. The company was aware of the situation but was not ready to act. This is an indication that the company did not value the ethical issues. Wrong labeling of the drugs may lead to the patients consuming drugs that are either too strong or too weak for them and hence impacting negatively on their health. On the other hand, the company violated the whistle blower policies by sacking the manger who had raised concerns about the issue. Sacking the manger who had raised concern about the quality issues is an indication that the company was not willing to take action and hence the continuous compromise on the quality of the drugs. The actions of the company therefore indicate that it is not keen on tackling the issues of ethics. Poor ethics within a pharmaceutical company may hider the production of high quality drugs (Sismondo, 2010). Question 2 The leadership of the company failed to prevent the ethical issues related to integrity failures as it was involved directly in some of the instances. The company was also interested in remaining flexible in order to grasp new opportunities. This led to the development of some of the policies regarding the clinical trials and the operations of the company. The leaders were therefore unable to control the ethical failures as some of the unethical practices contributed towards the attainment of the goals and objectives of the company in relation to the manufacture and sale of the pharmaceutical drugs. On the other hand, ii is also important to note that the company was as a result of mergers. This means that the employees from the different companies were used to different organizational cultures. Changing the organizational culture is a difficult process as it requires the behavior change of the employees. This presented more challenges to the leadership of the company and hence the difficulties that it had it terms of dealing with the ethical issues within the company. On the other hand, it is also important to note that the leadership of the company was more concerned in making the company profitable. This impacted negatively on the company as the focus on profitability led to the issues of ethics being overlooked. The failure of the leadership to deal with the ethical issues may lead to serious damage on the reputation of the company (Evans, 2012). The leadership of the company was also keen on ensuring that the company remained competitive in the market. This means that the leadership had to ensure that the company enhances its performance and also beat the competitors. Beating the competitors in the market led to the unethical failures which the leadership overlooked. Addressing the ethical failures would have lowered the competitiveness of the company at the time and hence resulting to poor performance of the company. Revealing of some of the information to the public would have also been harmful to the company in terms of competition and reputation. This therefore forced the leadership of the company not to respond and hence leading to the continuity of the unethical practices within the company. Revealing of some of the information regarding the practices of the company would also have meant that the company would self incriminate itself and hence affecting its operations. This is also considering the heavy fines that are imposed on the pharmaceutical companies incase of evidence against its malpractices (Kominski, 2011). It is thus important to ensure that company receives the support of all the stakeholders in order to deal with the issues that are related to ethics. The leadership of the company must also act without fear and favor in order to end all the malpractices within an organization. The approach taken by the leaders towards dealing with the ethical issues is also important to an organization in terms of enhancing its operations. The leadership of the company was also unable to end the ethical failures within the company as it was aware of the negative publicity that would have resulted. Pother leaders within the company were also involved directly in the issues of low levels of ethics. This therefore hindered the leadership from adequately addressing the ethical problems. The conflicts between the management styles of the leaders within the company also had a negative impact on the company in terms of dealing with the ethical issues. This is because the company mergers brought together leaders from different companies. The conflicts meant that the leaders had little time to deal with the ethical issue. Little attention was also given to the ethical issues buy the company and hence resulting to the ethical failures within the company. It is important t to note that the employees may be responsible for some of the ethical failures without the knowledge of the leaders. However, this is not an excuse as the leaders are supposed to know about all the activities taking place within the organization. The issues of goodwill are also evident in the leadership of the company. Some of the leaders may have lacked goodwill to deal with the ethical issues that was affecting the company. It is for this reason that a whistle blower was sacked in the company for raising the questions regarding standards. It is therefore important to note that the company has to ensure that it has high levels of transparency in order to adequately address the issue of ethics (Eichler, 2010). Question 3 The future ethical dilemma can be prevented by the company and it will play an important role in terms of ensuring that the product failure of the company together with its reputation does not occur. It is important for the company to come up with policies that will ensure that ethical issues are strictly adhered to during its operations. The policies should guide the managers as well as the employees of the company during their operations. This will play an import ant role in terms of dealing with the issues of ethics. On the other hand, the company should come up with penalties that should be imposed on the employees who participate in the unethical issues. This is considering that some of the unethical issues are conducted without the knowledge of the management. Stiff penalties will deter the employees from carrying out rogue clinical trials in a bid to produce drugs. It is also important to note that the operations of a company are dependant on the organizational culture. Since the company is a result of a merger, a new organizational culture should be developed for the purposes of ensuring that the company. The organizational culture should put more emphasis on the ethical issues and promotion of transparency. This will play an important role in terms of ensuring that the company is more open to the public regarding its products. The efficiency of a pharmaceutical company can be enhanced through the promotion of transparency (Jacqz-Aigrain, 2011). The method of disclosure of information regarding the drugs that have been developed by the company should also be changed. This is because the current method does not lead to the disclosure of all the information. This will put the company in a better position to deal with the negative side effects of the drugs by increasing its quality and hence impacting positively on its reputation. A full disclosure of the information regarding the drugs will also ensure that the company is more responsible and it will prevent the entry of harmful drugs in the market. The employees of the company should also be empowered in order to increase their efficiency. Empowering the employees of the company will ensure that they are able to confidently report any activities that are harmful during the production process. This is without the fear of being sacked or sidelined. Through the empowerment of the employees, the company will also be in a position to identify the leaders who are engaged in the unethical standards. This is because the employees will be able to report the leaders who are contributing to the unethical behavior that compromises the quality of the drugs being produced by the company. It is also important for the company to ensure that all the trials are conducted in an open manner. The doctors involved in the trials should be informed of the ethical policies of the company and the consequences of breaching the ethics. The doctors carrying out clinical trials in the pharmaceutical companies can contribute positively towards the enhancement of the ethical standards (Carpenter, 2010). The leadership of the company should also be involved in campaigns that build the reputation of the company. It is thus important t for the organization to adequately compensate those who have been directly affected by the products of the company in order to build its reputation among the customers. It is also important for the company to ensure that the leaders are responsible for the failures of the products of the company. This will ensure that the leaders are more proactive in their operations and hence ensuring that the products meet the required standards without violating the ethical rules. Personal responsibilities should be imposed on the employees or any other personnel of the company who willingly violates the policies of the company regarding ethics and standards of operations. The oversight mechanism of the company should also be enhanced for the purposes of ensuring supervision of all the operations of the company. This will ensure that all the activities being carried out are known to the company. On the other hand, it is also important for the company to revise its codes of conduct in order to strengthen the ethical concepts within the organization. A new code of conduct will also play an important role in terms of ensuring that the company is able to meet its goals and objectives with regards to the quality of its products. On the other hand, it is also important for the company to ensure that its compliance procedures are transformed in order to ensure full compliance with the law. The procedures and polices within a pharmaceutical company plays an important role in terms of influencing ethics and compliance (Sampat, 2011). Conclusion In conclusion, GlaxoSmithKline plays an important role in the pharmaceutical industry as it produces major drugs. The company is successful due to the revenue that it generates from the sale of its products. However, it is also evident that the company faces serious problems in terms of ethics. The failure of the company to disclose information regarding its drugs raises a serious ethical question. It is evident that the company withheld the information due to the harmful effects that the information would have on the company in terms of its reputation and legal implications. It is also evident that the leadership of the company has contributed to the ethical problems that face the company. The direct involvement of the leaders in the ethical breach is an indication that the company has issues regarding its leadership. The company needs to put in place measures that will ensure that its reputation is restored. The solution to the ethical problem facing the company lies in the revision of the code of conduct as well, as developing mechanism that will ensure that all the activities of the employees are accounted for. It is also evident that the empowerment of the employees will contribute positively towards the improvement of the ethical standards within the company. The operations of the company will also be improved through the enhancement of the ethical standards as it has suffered major setbacks due to the fines that have been imposed on it. References Seibold, J, 2012, Patterns and predictors of change in outcome measures in clinical trials in scleroderma: An individual patient meta‐analysis of 629 subjects with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, Arthritis & Rheumatism, 64(10), 3420-3429. Brody, H, 2010, Professional medical organizations and commercial conflicts of interest: ethical issues, The Annals of Family Medicine, 8(4), 354-358. Ide, N, 2011, The ClinicalTrials. gov results database—update and key issues, New England Journal of Medicine, 364(9), 852-860. Steen, R, 2011, Retractions in the scientific literature: is the incidence of research fraud increasing?, Journal of Medical Ethics, 37(4), 249-253. Sismondo, S, 2010, Publication ethics and the ghost management of medical publication, Bioethics, 24(6), 273-283. 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