I. Please provide a 1-page reflection paper on why you feel integrity is an important value for a manager to have. Give an example of how a manager with integrity can help a team. Identify any issues that may occur if a manager lacks integrity.
I could probably cite a myriad of reasons why it is vital for a manager to have integrity. However, a few of these reasons include the fact that it’s a value that enables the manager to be able to resist the temptations to engage in unethical practices that may come with the job. In addition, it enables the manager to actively promote a culture of responsibility in the organization. Moreover, integrity enables the manager to carefully evaluate legitimate interests as well as the expectations associated with his or her decisions and/or actions. Further, a manager with integrity is in a better position to promote and nurture the value of integrity in his or her employees via communication as well as actively engaging in common search together with the employees for a moral opinion. Integrity also enables a manager to make considerate decisions in situations whereby the right moral choice is not obvious. The fact that managers with integrity accept accountability for their choices and actions is another reason why integrity is an important value for managers to have. Therefore, the value of integrity in a manager can never be over-accentuated regardless of the kind of organization he or she is a manager in.
In regard to how a manager with integrity can help a team, I will concur with Gorcum (2007, p.52) in his contention that employees are constantly on the search for what is important to their manager since the manager will more than often judge their individual and team performance based on what is most valuable to him. A manager can therefore help a team to behave with integrity by actively communicating his values to his employees. The message communicated to his employees should state clearly and concisely what the manager’s stand is as far as integrity is concerned. To avoid sending contradictory signals on this stand to the employees, the manager should ensure that his behavior is consistent to his words. At the same time, the manager should institute measures that promote, support as well as strengthen the integrity of his employees. Such measures include embodying integrity into performance appraisals as well as into compensation plans. Therefore, a manager can help a team to behave with integrity by providing clear communication, both verbally and non-verbally that is, via his actions on what he stands for as far integrity is concerned.
Managers who lack integrity therefore send a strong message to their employees that they can utilize any means moral or immoral in their quest to meet their objectives. Predicaments such as litigations emanating from serious violations of moral ethics will likely result and this could prove to be potentially debilitating for any organization in the long term.
II. Interpret the statement below and in your own words explain why this statement
What evidence do we have that "race" is socially constructed? What are the social justice implications of classifying people according to "race?" "Humans are 99.9% identical genetically. Of the tiny amount of difference that exists, 85% is found in any local group, be they Italians, Kurds, or Cherokees. For example, two random Koreans are likely to be genetically different as a Korean and Italian."
The first sentence in the statement is a question on what evidence we have to prove that classification of people according to their race is socially constructed. The second question in the statement on the other hand is about the social justice implications that emanate from classifying people on the basis of race. The subsequent sentences in the statement provide evidence as to why it makes no sense to classify people at a genetic level.
The statement goes ahead to further elaborate that of the 0.1% difference that exists, 85% is found in people living in the same locality and normally classified on the basis of genes as belonging to one race. The latter statement implies that it is not logical to classify people on a genetic basis into races since as the statement puts it; the 0.1% of genetic differences that exist among humans is as common among people traditionally genetically classified as belonging to the same race as they are common among those genetically classified as belonging to different races as exemplified in the Italians and the Kurds. Therefore, the former and latter statements provide evidence that it is inappropriate and at the same time it makes no sense to classify people into races at a genetic level.
References
1. Gorcum, V. (2007). Ethics and Business. Assen: Royal Van Gorcum.
