Portraying values

Watch the two videos from business ethics speakers and discuss how your organization portrays its values. Share any examples where behaviors were portrayed positively by your leaders or an instance where someone was unethical in your work environment.

            Portraying values, this is how a company shows their employees, investors, and the rest of the world how they work and what they are all about. This is an important task as companies want others to believe in them and they want people to be a part of their organization. The company which I work for is trying hard to modernize how they do business and what their values are, I work for one of the oldest companies in America, and there is a lot to work on with an organization this old.

I work for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, this company first started in the 1850’s when there were not many big companies at all and things were much simpler. The problem with working for a company that is this old is that it takes a lot of time to modernize technology and also our way of thinking. Many times when I read about the history of my company I have found that not much changed from the beginning until the 1970’s. During the 1970’s the company understood that they would have to compete, and become innovative if they were to adapt to the changing times.

In our organization I believe that one of the biggest changes was that they have gone from a good ol’ boy system of hiring friends and family, to hiring many more college graduates with fresh ideas. I believe that this makes a huge difference because the railroad knows that they cannot stay the same, they have to come up with new and innovative ways to remain current. Hiring individuals who are trained in business allows the company to find individuals who know what to look for in a business that needs to continuously improve.

Another important value which BNSF holds dear is safety. Working for the railroad is one of the most dangerous jobs which people can do, safety is paramount. To portray that they are focused on safety in 2013 they rolled out a safety program called approaching others.” Approaching others represents a fundamental change in BNSF’s safety culture and mindset, while building on the strong safety commitment and processes of the past two decades. It is the single largest training program in BNSF's history” (BNSF, 2015). This is a movement towards portraying values at BNSF which has had thousands of employees awarded for their commitment to approaching people when they see that something is unsafe.

Values are extremely important to an organization, BNSF has shown that they are extremely committed to letting their investors know that they are committed towards the growth, talent, and safety improvements which are needed in this modern era which we live in today. Not having values to stick by and showcase to the rest of the business world can be detrimental to growth and success. I can see that it is obvious that the organization which I work for will continue to improve and showcase their improvement.

Reference:

BNSF: Building for the future (2010-2015). (2015, September 20). Retrieved September 26, 2015, from http://employee.bnsf.com/communications/Pages/BNSF-Building-for-the-future-2010-2015.aspx

Ben's Virtues

Select three of Franklin's virtues and reflect upon them in your blog. Ask yourself, how can I include them in my daily life?

            Well according to Mr. Franklin, I am apparently not the model citizen that I thought I was. This is very understanding, I believe that no human is perfect, but fortunately it is a possibility that I can improve myself. At the end of this test I found that there were three things which Ben Franklin would have found wrong with me.

I can admit that there are some things which need improvement, although due to my current circumstances, my life has felt chaotic for almost a year now. Because I am a full time student, a full time employee, and a full time dad with three kids; yes my life has been chaotic and I will admit that I need to restore order. There is no worst feeling than the fact that you have let go of yourself and your focus is getting by day to day. I know that this sounds like one big excuse, and excuses are something which I despise. So to make matters right, perhaps I need better personal planning, or maybe I have just overwhelmed myself with work. My guiding light at the end of the tunnel and what continues to push me is the fact that I will be done with the MSLD program by the end of November. Once I finish with school I fully intend to restore order to my life, hit the gym, and spend more time with my family instead of heading to my home office as soon as work is done. When an individual does not have order in their life, everything feels chaotic and I constantly feel stressed, this pattern cannot continue for much longer.

It seems to me that all of Mr. Franklin’s virtues are all intertwined, apparently I also have a problem with temperance and I can see how it relates to the lack of order in my life. “Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation” (Benjamin Franklin), over this last month I have gone on an eating craze and I have definitely been eating until the food has become dull, I think I am eating to assure that I am full rather than because of need or I am on a certain schedule. I am eating enough to survive all day at work since I am so busy and I might not get a chance to at again, for someone who has been so focused on fitness since I was sixteen, I know how horrible this is for me. As of late I have been addicted to unhealthy food, this is a path which I have never been down before and I need temperance and order in my life very soon.

The third virtue which I truly feel that I have to keep in mind for my daily life is cleanliness, now of course I take care of my body on the outside, but over the last two months I have not treated my body as if it were a temple. Benjamin Franklin states that we should “tolerate no uncleanness in the body”, two months of eating unhealthy and fast has taken its toll on my body and I can feel it. Since I have doubled up on classes for the MSLD program in an attempt to finish school prior to my military benefits expiring, my body has taken the brunt of the hit. Yes I will accomplish my goal but it has been at a heavy price, I have never felt so slow and low on energy in my life. I constantly have a headache and I feel sick, I keep telling myself that I am almost at the finish line, but perhaps I need to take Benjamin Franklins’ advice on this issue. Maintaining a clean body is essential to a virtuous person, I cannot be myself unless I make a change very quickly. If I take control of my life I am sure that I will be able to find myself once again.

Reference:

Franklin, B. (n.d.). Ben's 13 Virtues. Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_virtues_list.html

    

Leadership

Chapter 1 of the Obolensky text begins with a reflective exercise. Create a reflection blog that responds to the questions asked in this exercise.

leaders and how do you think we can close this gap?Additionally, while we live in a world with more information about leadership and leadership practices why is it that we have an apparent gap in the quality of our leaders and how do you think we can close this gap?

            So the word is out and leadership has taken on new meaning over time, we can see the change when we think about how our parents were brought up, how they raised us, and how the younger kids will view the world that we live in. Why is it that every generation seems so different from the last? Sometimes it feels like we are running away from the ideas which many of our parents tried to makes us believe in. 

I fully believe that there is a large and constant changing trend, if we go back just to the end of World War II, we can see how every generation was almost the complete opposite from the prior generation. After WW II we had many parents who came back from the war and raised their families in a very strict manor, these kids eventually took part in the hippie/Woodstock generation of the 70’s. The next generation went in the opposite direction and took to the family oriented, well educated, business minded individual which we saw well into the 80’s, 90’s, and until recently. I think that this newer generation will eventually get back to the hippie/ Woodstock, rebellious mentality of peace and love in which money is not as important. I see a growing trend with this new generation and I also believe that religion will take a back seat for a while, times are changing fast and leadership always goes hand in hand with these trends.

Since I am technically a part of one of the younger generations, I guess that I am supposed to fall into this hippie mentality, but I have found it difficult. I notice that there are certain leaders which are making their voices heard through social media. I see a growing hate for law enforcement, and I sadly see more people stepping on our American flag along with other rebellious activities. I could never follow this trend, in fact it hurts me to see this type of leadership. It seems that these leaders would like to tear apart something which has given them better lives than the majority of the world gets to experience.

As a child I grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods, I lived in the south Bronx of NYC. Most children that come from these neighborhoods pretty much stay in the same situation when they grow up, there is very little upward mobility. Luckily I was able to join the military as I got older and it opened my eyes to how amazing this country is and everything it has to offer me. Joining the military helped me learn to appreciate authority and respect my leaders, it gave me an appreciation for the hard work of people that put their lives on the line. True leadership lies in those that put their lives on the line everyday so that people like me can continue to live prosperously. When individuals step on the flag of the United States and try to hurt officers of the law, they are insulting the hard work of those people that put their life at risk.

Leadership is very powerful, it can make people do amazing and also harmful things; I guess it all depends on which side you are with. There is no more powerful tool than an effective leader that can rally the hearts and minds of individuals, a leader like this can harness great power. Leadership is powerful and requires someone that knows how to use that power for good, we have seen what can happen when powerful leaders with bad intentions assume a position like that. The gap between good and bad leaders continues to expand with time because perhaps we are not as prepared as we should be. Leadership education is essential, we need to learn about how to be a leader and having strong ethics. "“Leadership in any form cannot produce results without a context within which to exist” (Oblinsky, 2014), this is essential when we look at leadership; powerful leaders exist by playing to their constituency. Good leaders push the agenda of their masses, this can create powerful results.

 If we are to bring the gap closer to eliminate bad leaders, I believe that we need to focus on leadership education. Most people learn leadership skills from their elders, instead of learning leadership in this manor, we need to treat it as a science. Many Universities across the world have taken on this task and we can now learn about how to lead the correct way. This is a much needed science to learn in a world which is changing so rapidly. Every day we are advancing at alarming rates, along with that advancement comes responsibility; I fully believe that the race of mankind will rest in the hands of our future leader.

Reference:

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.

Is Marketing Evil?

             It is Sunday night and I am watching my daily dose of Mets baseball, the game is coming to an end and during the commercial break a McDonalds commercial runs at 10:30PM. For some reason my mouth starts to water, and I crave a midnight run. I get mad at myself because I had a great workout earlier in the day, I laid off of unhealthy food over the weekend, and I have seen some great progress towards my goal. At the same time it has been weeks since I have had something unhealthy, the next thing I know my baseball game has finished and I find myself heading towards the golden arches which are only a five minute drive away.

            Some can say that this is marketing at its best, but some might say that marketing is evil because of this. McDonalds fully understands that their food is not healthy yet they are making millions of Americans crave their food right before bed time. So should there be guidelines by which a marketing department lives by? Or should they be doing their job by making their company money? I believe that this is a non-ethical decision, ultimately it is not the company’s fault that Americans cannot resist a “big mac”, McDonalds is by no means shoving a burger and fries in the consumers mouth. The responsibility should lay on the consumer, we all decide what goes in our bodies, I am fully conscious of the mistakes I make and I am the one that will eventually pay for them. I believe that this argument is another way in which people blame large corporations for their faults, perhaps it is the consumer which has made the unethical decision.

            A marketing department’s job is to “know what the consumer needs, and through the 4Ps - product, price, place and promotion - develop a strategy to satisfy the consumer is what marketing is all about” (El Sayed and El Ghazaly, n.d). Although there are instances where marketing can go too far, I believe that marketing can hold their ethical standing by not taking advantage of minors. Controlling the minds of minors is definitely a place where a company can win on ethical standings, the minds of children are easily influenced and should not be taken advantage of.

            Aside from the protection of minors and children I believe everything else is fair game. We need to realize that as a society we are adults who are in charge of our own decisions, far too many times people are censored from the truth, and governments have a long history of stepping into censor and control thoughts and beliefs. In Russia it is known that “Everything had to be run though “official channels” to make sure it corroborated the state’s version of reality” (nearly somebody, 2013), the Russian media is able to control the thoughts of citizens through the news. Mind control through the media is a truly evil marketing scheme which takes advantage of those who cannot even inform themselves.

            I believe that for the most part marketing is fair and people can decide for themselves rather or not to be controlled by marketing. As a leader I would make sure that any marketing team I would ever have control over would do their job to the best of their ability. On the other hand I would make sure that my media team would never take advantage of those which are incapable of understanding the truth. Controlling those which do not have any choice is the worst manor of mind control. It is unethical to control those who are not capable of finding the truth for themselves, aside from that it is all fair game.

References:

-       Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.

-       Sayed, H. (n.d.). Is Marketing Evil?Marketing Viewed as a too. Retrieved September 13, 2015, from http://www.ethicsbasedmarketing.net/2.html

-       Dougherty, J. (2015, April 21). How the Media Became One of Putin’s Most Powerful Weapons. Retrieved September 13, 2015, from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/how-the-media-became-putins-most-powerful-weapon/391062/

            

Affirmative Action

Use Chapters 5 and 6 (LaFollette, 2007) as the foundation for your reflections regarding if affirmative action is ethical. Be sure to include external sourced content. Present your opinion, support your opinion, and opposing viewpoints.

            Affirmative action and my internal conflict with it, if you ask me if affirmative action has helped minorities in a tremendous way? My answer would be yes, it is very apparent that affirmative action has helped minorities strive and make great leaps within our civilization. Perhaps I myself have benefited from it in many ways, I have to think that at some point in my life I have benefitted from a program such as this one. Although I have reaped the benefits from a program such as this one, my internal conflict comes from the question of rather it is fair or not. “Affirmative action is the practice of giving special consideration to minorities and women in hiring and school placements” (La Folette, 2007, pg. 87).

            The mere definition of affirmative action bothers me and makes me think that, no matter what one race or another is getting the short end of the stick here. I believe that this is not fair because there are Caucasians who grew up with the same sort of poverty that I did, yet they would not fall under these same benefits as I would. Even now as an adult, even though my family is in the top 10 percentile of America as far as income comes, my children would still have an advantage over a Caucasian child who might have grown up in extreme poverty.

            We need to ask ourselves the question of why modern day Caucasians should be penalized for behavior which they did not take part in. The “practice of affirmative action hurts white applicants who are in no way responsible for past harms to minorities” (La Folette, 2007, pg. 87). In many ways this program does discriminate against whites, why should two wrongs make a right. In fact it should be noted that the group with the largest amount of poverty in the United States are Caucasians. It seems that we are punishing one race because of something which they took no part in. In my book this is extremely unethical, these type of programs should no longer exist in my opinion.

            I am a firm believer in the thought that affirmative action has served its purpose for those who wanted to take advantage of the program. No matter where you come from in the United States, there is an opportunity to get a great education and succeed in life. Affirmative action is not necessary in today’s world, we should actually be focused more so on race relations and bring healing to a country which underwent many horrible acts of discrimination to many different races. We cannot ignore what happened in the past, we should actually be learning from these mistakes.

            Working on making this country the land of opportunity and giving everyone an equal opportunity is what we need to focus on to create a much more ethical environment. Ethical behavior would be to give everyone a fair shot at equal employment and education. I hope that one day people will recognize me for my talents and my hard work not because they are forced to but because I am well respected. Sometimes I feel like affirmative action might be an insult to someone of color, it makes me feel like the rest of the country thinks that I need assistance to get ahead in life. I hope to bring a diverse atmosphere into a business because they benefit from it and not just because they are seeking a quota which they need to meet. I do recognize that sometimes minorities are at a disadvantage because of poverty, language barriers, very few amounts of family wealth, and living in communities with a higher crime rate. Even though people are faced with these challenges, we cannot discriminate against anyone because of the color of their skin or else we will never truly progress in this country. Establishing strong ethical policies against the discrimination of any race in this country will make us stronger in the long run. I believe that it is time that we develop a new system in which we reward those who will strive for excellence and work the hardest, we need citizens that want to contribute to our civilization, not weaken it.

References:

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.