...Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 52-66, 2000 © 2000 Elsevier Science, Inc. ISSN 0090-2616/00/$--see frontmatter PII 50090-2616(00)00005-X When Ethics Collide: Managing Conflicts Across Cultures PAUL F. BUllER JOHN J. KOHLS KENNETH S. ANDERSON Nike-one of the fastest-growing companies in the world-has been stymied recently due in part to consumer reaction to conflicts involving management practices in its suppliers' factories in the Far East. Among the accusations-poor working conditions, low wages, enforced over time, and harsh, sometimes brutal, discipline and corporal punishment. Levi Strauss & Co. was recently confronted with the challenge of how to deal with contractors in Bangladesh that employed young children, a legal practice in Bangladesh, but one contrary to Levi's company policy. The fact that these chil dren were often a sole or significant source of their family income further complicated the mat ter. Tony Anderson, Chairman and CEO of H. B. Fuller Company, was faced with a decision re garding the company's responsibility for illegiti mate use of one of its products. Resistol, a tolu ene-based glue, has become an addictive drug of choice for many Central American street chil dren. These "Resistoleros" inhale the glue and often experience violent reactions and serious health problems, including kidney failure and brain damage. ness practices. Ethical conflicts may involve a variety of issues: • bribery and extortion, as in the highly publicized...
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...subsequently spread to Russia and Brazil, is one of the most pressing challenges facing countries and businesses in today's global business environment. Globalization represents the structural making of the world characterized by the free flow of technology and human resources across national boundaries as well as the spread of Information Technology (IT) and mass media presenting an ever-changing and competitive business environment. Two major limitations are observed in the treatment of the twin issues of the responses to the East Asian economic crisis and the coverage of the literature on globalization. While the response to the crisis has focused on macroeconomic aspects, the issue of globalization has been addressed predominantly in and with respect to the developed economies of Western Europe, North America and Japan. This paper is an attempt to address these two limitations. Since the human factor is the key in the new era of globalization (Hassan, 1992; Sims & Sims, 1995), the primary objective of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for effective management of human resources as a response to the growing interaction of globalization and business performance. Three central arguments are made in this paper. (1) That a growing body of evidence converge to suggest that changes taking place in the global business environment often are not accompanied by complementary changes in human resource management practices leading to a situation whereby the failure of some firms...
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... Executive summary Whenever people talk of conflict or say that a conflict has developed, the usual impression is that there is something frightening. This notion prevails despite the fact that people know there is no organization which is altogether free from conflicts. Even non-profit and service organizations such as educational institutions and hospitals are not devoid of conflicts. Which is inevitably is recognized by an individual only when individual is faced with a conflict situation. In all other cases, one refers to it as bad and avoidable and regards it as a failure of parties in conflict. But productively engaging in conflict is always valuable. Most people are willing and interested in resolving their conflicts; they just need the appropriate skill set and opportunities in which to practice this skill set. Without a conflict skill set, people want to avoid conflict, hoping it will go away or not wanting to make a “big deal out of nothing.” Research and personal experiences show us that, when we avoid conflict, the conflict actually escalates and our thoughts and feelings become more negative. Through conflict self-awareness we can more effectively manage our conflicts and therefore our professional and personal relationships. Furthermore, by...
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...Fundamentals of Management General Introduction..........................................................................................................3 An Introduction to Management .......................................................................................4 Kinds of Managers ...........................................................................................................4 Levels of Management.............................................................................................................. 4 Areas of Management ......................................................................................................5 Basic Management Functions ..........................................................................................5 Planning and Decision Making ................................................................................................. 5 Organizing............................................................................................................................. 6 Leading ................................................................................................................................. 6 Controlling ............................................................................................................................. 6 Fundamental Management Skills .....................................................................................6 Technical Skills .............................
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...University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 The authors identify the key challenges facing strategic human resource management (SHRM) going forward and discuss several new directions in both the scholarship and practice of SHRM. They focus on a clearer articulation of the “black box” between HR and firm performance, emphasizing the integration of strategy implementation as the central mediating variable in this relationship. There are direct implications for the nature of fit and contingencies in SHRM. They also highlight the significance of a differentiated HR architecture not just across firms but also within firms. Keywords: strategy; human resources; black box; implementation; differentiation The field of strategic human resources management (SHRM) has enjoyed a remarkable ascendancy during the past two decades, as both an academic literature and focus of management practice. The parallel growth in both the research literature and interest among practicing managers is a notable departure from the more common experience, where managers are either unaware or simply uninterested in scholarly developments in our field. As the field of HR strategy begins to mature, we believe that it is time to take stock of where it stands as both a field of inquiry and management practice. Although drawing on nearly two decades of † We are grateful to Steve Frenkel, Dave Lepak, and seminar participants at Monash University for comments on an earlier version of this article. *Corresponding...
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...University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 The authors identify the key challenges facing strategic human resource management (SHRM) going forward and discuss several new directions in both the scholarship and practice of SHRM. They focus on a clearer articulation of the “black box” between HR and firm performance, emphasizing the integration of strategy implementation as the central mediating variable in this relationship. There are direct implications for the nature of fit and contingencies in SHRM. They also highlight the significance of a differentiated HR architecture not just across firms but also within firms. Keywords: strategy; human resources; black box; implementation; differentiation The field of strategic human resources management (SHRM) has enjoyed a remarkable ascendancy during the past two decades, as both an academic literature and focus of management practice. The parallel growth in both the research literature and interest among practicing managers is a notable departure from the more common experience, where managers are either unaware or simply uninterested in scholarly developments in our field. As the field of HR strategy begins to mature, we believe that it is time to take stock of where it stands as both a field of inquiry and management practice. Although drawing on nearly two decades of † We are grateful to Steve Frenkel, Dave Lepak, and seminar participants at Monash University for comments on an earlier version of this article. *Corresponding...
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...been faced with many issues. The organization has been forced to expand at a rapid rate to meet the organizational goals of becoming one of the leading organizations in the biotech industry. In order to compete with the ever increasing biotech industry, the CEO and the board of directors believe that going public within the next three years would be beneficial for the organization. By making the appropriate choices of becoming a publically traded organization, Gene One will bark upon a journey that will help them to revolutionize and to use cutting edge technology of eliminating pesticides on tomatoes and potatoes to meet the organizational goals. The rapid growth rate took the organization from a small $2 million start-up company to more than a $400 million in annual sales. Therefore, by implementing an IPO strategy and implementing other strategic goals will help fulfill the organizations growth target and prove the organization is worthy of its capabilities. In addition, the method of benchmarking can help Gene One to succeed and enable the organization to find the necessary solutions to the most pressing and immediate issues. According to The Benchmarking Exchange (2010), “Benchmarking is the process of measuring an organization's internal processes then identifying, understanding, and adapting outstanding practices from other organizations considered to be best-in-class.” Therefore, Gene One can use benchmarking to help the organization solve the issues of poor networking...
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...Prabesh Timilsina, HBD3173.E1, Exercise5 5.1 Study the Learning from Experience Case on p. 445. What is the significance of the organizational design of the company? The basis for any successful organization is for people to work together and understand how their behaviors support the organization’s strategy. Yet, talented people in even the best managed organizations are sometimes left trying to understand how their own activities contribute to their organization’s success. An organization’s design is crucial in clarifying the roles of the leaders and employees who hold the organization together. Organization design is the process of selecting a structure for the tasks, responsibilities, and authority relationships within an organization. An organization’s design influences communication patterns among individuals and teams and determines which person or department has the political power to get things done. The structure of an organization influences the behavior of employees. Therefore, an organization’s design plays a critical role in the success of an organization. Every organization’s design decision solves one set of problems but creates others. Organization design decisions often involve the diagnosis of multiple factors, including an organization’s culture, power and political behaviors, and job design. Organization design represents the outcomes of a decision-making process that includes environmental factors, strategic choices, and technological factors. Specifically...
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...Administration Program Assignment for Couse: BUS 583 Contemporary Issues in Business Submitted to: Dr. Kossuth M. Mitchell Submitted by: Devon Akers, Jan Hunt, Kandi Justice and Ray Justice Date of the Submission: April 10, 2013 Title of Assignment: Case Decision Making Paper- Red Cross CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: We certify that we are the authors of this assignment and that any assistance we received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed herein. We have also cited any sources from which we used data, ideas or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. We also certify that this assignment was prepared by us specifically for this course. Student’s Signatures ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Table of Contents Definition of Problems 3 The Lack of Ethical Culture and Stakeholder Orientation 4 Low Board’s Professionalism 5 Poor Trust and Excessive Emphasis on Marketing 5 Identification of Possible Action Alternatives 6 Analysis of Each Alternative 7 Doing Nothing 7 Hiring a New Board of Directors 7 Developing a New Code of Conduct 8 Developing a New Organizational Strategy to Reconstruct the Ethical Climate 10 Decision 10 Implementation...
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...remedy. Although, by nature, I seek for ideal performance and maximum adherence to standards, I’m convinced that, ironically, we had sometimes to shake the floor or even overthrow the table to beat the traditional, unworthy and effete practices that had accumulated around and above the standards and had consequently dimmed their effectiveness. Having the chance to be the CEO for three months, unleash the ringing bell for me to begin framing my skills in top management, and the optimal chance to express my vision about successful leadership, and the innovation of strategic plan, structure make-over, culture re-formulating, adaptive challenges and perpetual change. The mission is extremely difficult, delicate and challenging; it’s obvious that I will not have the enough time to accomplish all my goals, overwhelmed by management stress and change pressure. However, three months could be enough to inculcate the trend for change amid the employees and equally implement this trend in the system. What is more harmful then failure is to ignore it and continue in practicing the same mistaken activities. Change must be integral, and actions have to be implemented effectively in processes, employees’ assumptions, company’s culture, management’s behaviors and hierarchical design, it must rationally inspire the company’s vision. Two major mottos will prevail my plan for change: fighting the violation of the rules and build a complete system of “skills discovery” and resources’ relocation...
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...Portfolio In a modern day organization’s behavior, employees and suppliers have as much impact on the organization structure as customers and competitors have had in the past. Organizations are viewed as open systems, continually interacting with their environment and in dynamic state of temporary equilibrium as they adapt to environmental changes. Successful organizations are in constant state of flux in response to their environment, many companies are looking at media technologies as way to market their product and learn about their competitors. This presence could produce a large following depending on the interest in the content created and information shared. The change stemmed from the speed at which information travel in the media arena. In most cases, the information environment outside the organization is changing far more rapidly than the information environment internally. Customers, partners, prospects, and employees can find, access, and share information in a way that corporate infrastructure, security, culture, and policies inhibit. Organizations are having a difficult time responding to or taking advantage of – these new environments. The path of information regarding the organization is no longer just the role of the marketing department. Employees talk to customers, colleagues, and suppliers. They share their experiences, impressions and expectations regarding their jobs, the organization and management. The speed at which the information travels is beyond...
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...Implementation of Total Quality Management in Construction Industry: A Pakistan Perspective ABSTRACT Purpose - The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the issue of suitability, acceptability and degree of implementation of Quality Management (QM) practices in the construction industry of Pakistan. Currently the status of adoption of QM principles particularly in this industry and more specifically in the prevailing culture and context of Pakistani environment is overwhelmingly poor which led the researcher to go for this study. Methodology/sampling - The study entails questionnaire development and the analysis of its responses from seventeen leading construction organizations operating in Pakistan during year 2012. The study also incorporates data from various secondary sources. The analysis was carried out using basic statistical tools such as mean, median and standard deviation and bar chart was employed to represent the data. Findings - The findings revealed that the concept and meaning of quality is not understood and interpreted in its true sense. The conformance to standard specifications (SOPs) is considered to be equivalent to implementation of Quality Management which is far from truth. It was also determined that general lack of awareness and untrained employees that are mostly uneducated labor is one of the major causes towards this dismal. Practical Implications - It is hoped that the outcomes of this study may provide a guideline to the owners of the...
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...Mashell Chapeyama Institution: University of the People Short essays on Organizational Behavior This is a compilation of essays on Organizational behavior. The essays vary in their length and scope but they are all essential. Those essays entitled Reflections are based on the writer’s evaluations of material learned during the particular period. The essays were written as assignments to meet the requirements of the course: Organizational Behavior, at the University of the People. The University of the People is a new initiative on the global scene. It is the first tuition free University in the world, yet it has high quality education. It has various levels of assignments. Some of the questions require shorter answers, whereas the others require longer ones. Organizational Behavior is one of the courses at University of the People, in the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. The inadequacies in the answers must be attributed to the writer and not to the institution. This publication has nothing to do with the requirements of the university. It is my personal interest to preserve my assignments and that these may assist other learners. Any comments must be sent to the writer at the email: mchapeyama@gmail.com Diversity Program Most modern organizations have knowledge on how to tap on diversity to get a competitive business advantage. Managing of diversity is now put alongside issues such as corporate social responsibility and ethics as an appeal to many consumers...
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... I. The Pre-Analysis: A. Perspective: 1. Author’s Perspective. Describe the perspective of the author(s) of the case study and possible biases of the author(s): ¶ The case was wrote by Kirsten E. Martin, the Assistant Professor of Business Administration at George Washington University, School of Business. She has her Ph.D. from Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia. Her main research interests are business ethics, privacy, technology and stakeholder theory. It might be possible that she is biased towards China for their privacy restrictions and ethical values. Based on her previous research work, she probably values ethical behavior highly and technology innovations. 2. Analyst’s Perspective. Describe your perspective as the analyst: ¶ My perspective is that of a college student majoring in Marketing and Advertising Management. I am a strong believer in ethics and moral behavior. I have worked for an entertainment company for 8 years and my boss taught me to always do the right thing. I don’t know much about China and the details of their privacy laws or their government regulations. I do know that they block social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube but that's about it. I am an avid Google user though, I probably use Google almost every single day, or at least every time I’m on a computer. I am a fan of the company, everything they offer and how they continually innovate. They’re always coming...
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...Session 2: Organizations over time Explaining Development and Change in Organizations * Van de Ven &Poole (1995) * Change: empirical observation of difference in form, quality, or state over time in an organisational entity (may be an individual’s job, a work group, an organisational strategy, a program, a product, or the overall organisation). * Development: change process * Process theory: how and why an organisational entity changes and develops * 4 basic theories explaining change processes in organisations: *Imminent=bevorstehend Teleology: * assumes that the entity in purposeful and adaptive * needs creativity Dialectical: * e.g. acquisitions: two firms have different “theses” and need to find antithesis * e.g. multinational firm: international and national HQ “compete” * there is no assurance that dialectical conflicts produce creative syntheses * the desired synthesis creates win-win situation * either the maintenance of actual thesis or its replacement with the antithesis creates win-lose * in terms of organisational change: * maintenance of status quo stability * replacement with antithesis or synthesis change Evolution: * Variation: Change from current routines and competencies (intentional & blind) * Selection: Elimination of certain types of variations (external & internal selection) * Retention: Selected variations are preserved, duplicated, reproduced * e.g....
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