Part 1 Introduction
The paper provides reflection on four chapters from the book “Business and Society: Stakeholder, Ethics, Public Policy.” In the discussion, the terminologies provided at the end of the chapters will be defined through this book and an external source. The application of the terminologies is also addressed in the paper. In addition to it, the case studies in the chapters are discussed in this reflective paper, by providing brief about the case, the issue, and the decision of the case. One of the questions from the case study is also answered. Moreover, online survey will be conducted to find out about the character and where the students will be in the next 5 to 10 years. A personal vision statement and the potential will follow it in the future for oneself. The implications and limitations faced by students are also a part of this paper.
Part 2 Terms
Chapter 4
Ethics
“The conception of right and wrong conduct is termed as Ethics.”
A system of moral principles is known as Ethics. (External Source)
Work ethics and behavior of the employees are a crucial part of employment as both the factors can assist an organization in it’s strive to be profitable (Application).
Business Ethics
The use of general ethical designs to business behavior is termed as Business Ethics (Books).
Business ethics is the study of those business policies and practices that are related to bribery, discrimination, corporate governance, insider trading, corporate social responsibility, and the responsibility of fiduciary (External Source).
It is against the business ethics for the employees to use inside business information to develop a personal business (Application).
Human Rights
Basis for making ethical judgements is also referred as Human Rights (Book).
The rights that are inherent to all human beings regardless of who they are is known as human rights (External Source).
The organizations must make policies regarding to human rights, global warming, and environmental issues, as a part of their CSR responsibility to succeed in the long run (Application).
Chapter 5
Bribery
An unjust or questionable payment especially to a government official to make an easy business transaction. (Book)
The act of giving goods or money to a person to influence their behavior or decision. (External Source)
Many businessmen use bribery as a source to pass contracts from government officials. (Application)
Corporate Culture
The blend of ideas, traditional practices, customs, shared meanings, and company values which helps in defining the normal behavior for everyone that works in the company is called Corporate Culture. (Book)
The culture and behavior in an organization that determines the interaction between employees and management and the manner in which they operate the business transactions is termed as corporate culture. (External Source)
Every organization has a defined corporate culture which helps the employees and management to work effectively without any dispute with course of work.
White-Collar Crime
When individuals and business professionals commit illegal acts like fraud, computer crime, insider trading, and embezzlement, it is known as White-Collar Crime.
The financially motivated and non-violent crimes committed by the government or business professionals is referred to white-collar crime.
In the United States more than 330,000 individuals are arrested every year in the case of white-collar crime.
Chapter 16
Privacy Right 364
Protection of individual’s personal life from unjustified intrusion by the employer is called Privacy Right.
Privacy right is a human right which restrains private party actions from threatening the privacy of individuals.
Every employee has a privacy right which stops the employers to stop from intruding their privacy.
Social Contract 363
The implied understanding between organization and its stakeholders is referred to Social Contract.
An understood contract that is based on previous transactions between the stakeholders and the organization is called social contract.
After the elimination of the long-standing pension benefit, the social contract between the employers and the workers further weakened.
Whistle-Blowing 370
When an employee considers something harmful has been done to the public by the acts of the employer and they (employee) reports such misconduct to the government officials or high-level company officials, such thing is termed as whistle-blowing.
In current years, the US legislation has drawn-out new protection to whistle-blowers.
Chapter 17
Child Care
Child care has an enormous demand as working parent wants to make sure that their children are given proper care.
The daily day care facilities that a child need whose parents are at work is called child care.
A day care institution provides thee facilities of child care.
Diversity
The variation in the human characteristic is referred to Diversity.
Understanding the uniqueness of each individual is Diversity.
Every individual or a team is diverse in an organization.
Glass Ceilings
The invisible barriers that stop the promotions is called Glass Ceiling.
Glass ceiling is an unacknowledged hurdle to succeed in a profession.
In the US, women and minorities are competent but because of glass ceiling they are not able to achieve much in their profession.
Part 3 - Cases
The case mentioned in Chapter 4 relates to the payments demanded by the terrorist group for the protection of US Chiquita Brands. The payment was illegal but based on the past experience, the leaders decided to pay the amount for the protection of their valuable employees. The company intended to fulfill its social responsibility and provide security and safety to its workers.
Is there anything that Chiquita could have done to protect its employees adequately without paying the terrorists?
There was no other option because the company had suffered a loss in Colombia when it denied paying the amount. Furthermore, a case was registered against the company because of lacking to provide safety and security.
The case in Chapter 5 is about Pittsburgh Reduction Company that took necessary steps for ensuring the organizational ethics. The manager one of the subsidiaries of the company did not pay attention to the health and safety of workers. The leaders of the company decided to fire manager who was irresponsible in recordkeeping, reporting, and communicating to the upper management.
Can Alcoa’s “Values in practice” be adopted by other organizations as a universal set of ethical standards leading to ethical employee behavior?
Alcoa’s fulfill his ethical responsibility for the health and safety of his workers. The concept is beneficial for other organizations to mitigate the loss occurred due to the lack of leadership management.
The case in Chapter 16 is about the Pennsylvania’s Geisinger Health System that implemented new policy to refrain organization from hiring employees who are smokers. However, the policy was applicable on the fresh employees who cannot use tobacco even off the job. The policy was implemented due to the pressure of World Health Organization but it was limited to some countries.
Should the employers have the right to ban or restrict smoking by their employees at the workplace? Why do you think so?
The employers should have the right to ban or restrict smoking as the create health issues for other employees.
The case study of Chapter 17 is about the unauthorized immigrants workers at Chipotle Mexican Grill Restaurants. The main issue was to determine how many illegal immigrants were hired by the company which violates the US law. The burger chain dismissed around 450 workers who were not eligible to work .
Do you consider being an unauthorized immigrant a . discussed in this chapter?
No it is not a form of workplace diversity as it is against the laws.
Part 4 - Survey
On taking the online survey, it is noticed that I am more like the Experiencer consumer group, it is the primary VALS type. The secondary type of mine determined from the survey is that of strivers. From the online survey, it is also noted that I have a dominant approach towards life and completely emphasize with it . The category of experiencer makes me a person who wants everything in life and is the first to adopt and leave a trend. Always against the current mainstream, spontaneous, and love physical activities. I believe that friends are very important and consider myself as the social person that is characteristics of experiences.
As noticed from the survey, I am inclined towards the group of strivers; it means that I will have revolving employment. I am a person who is fun loving, imitative and uses videos and games as a form of fantasy. The characteristics of strivers suggest that such people are the focus of low-status street culture, use public transport to a great extent, and wear their wealth .
On considering the characteristics as obtained from the survey, in the next ten years, I see myself at a top management level of a reputable organization and leading an entire department or the organization towards success. I will be experiencing different jobs and quickly make my way through success .
I hope that I become a person with great leadership qualities, which can help me in becoming a great leader with a unique style. I want to lead my life in a very organized manner, which means that I would allocate equal time for work and some of personal life. By giving sufficient time to both work and personal life, it is easier for a person to focus on their current task and helps them in performing better. I want to lead a team by guiding and helping them so that they can perform effectively hence, increasing the efficiency of the company’s performance. If I follow these activities, I will be able to achieve what I want to be in the coming 5 to 10 years, as mentioned above .
Part 5 Implications
The cases provide a detail of different internal ethical procedures and responsibilities that must be supported by the companies. I would suggest the companies must consider the employees and other stakeholders as an important part of the business and must consider their safety, health, and security at the first priority. Employees must also be treated on the basis of equality and no discrimination must be done. The support of illegal immigrants as a part of the work force is also not acceptable, and therefore, the companies must develop policies and procedures to analyze the background of people who they employ.
Part 6 Conclusion
Before the course, my moral ethics were quite low and had no idea how the business world works and what rights are available to the employees. After this course, I think that I have a better understanding of laws of US and the rights that I have as an employee.
Works Cited
Lawrence, Anne and James Weber. Business and Society: Stakeholder, Ethics, Public Policy. 14th. New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2014. Print.
McConnon, Shay and Margaret McConnon. Conflict Management in the Workplace: How to Manage Disagreements and Develop Trust and Understanding. New York: How To Books, 2008. Print.
OHCHR. What are Human Rights. 2016. 7 January 2016 <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx>.
O'Leary, Anna Ochoa. Undocumented Immigrants in the United States: An Encyclopedia of Their Experience. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2014. Print.
Page, Scott E. Diversity and Complexity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. Print.
Parboteeah, K. Praveen and John B. Cullen. Business Ethics. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Raines, Susan S. Conflict Management for Managers: Resolving Workplace, Client, and Policy Disputes. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.
Riley-Johnson, Carrie C. Diversity: Poems about Life's Difference. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2006. Print.
Williams, Colin C. and Jan Windebank. Informal Employment in Advanced Economies: Implications for Work and Welfare. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.
Wood, Peter. Diversity: The Invention of a Concept. New York: Encunter Books, 2003. Print.
