MODULE 2: HUMANITY AND ENTERPRISE
Wessel, D. 2003, ‘The Economy -- Capital: Fear of Bias Suits May Be Affecting Hiring Decisions’, Wall Street Journal, [Online] Sept. 11, Eastern Edition, p. A2, Available from: Proquest / ABI/Inform [19 September 2003]
‘In his article, the author questions the reason why most employers in the US are prone to choose white job applicants over equally or more qualified blacks. One of the replies he received stated that whenever a manager fires an employee for whatever reasons either right or wrong, there is a perception that non-whites may make a legal issue out of it more often than the white. Therefore, by not engaging any non-whites in the organisation, it will reduce their possibilities of getting accused of racism. A sociologist from Northwestern University agrees with it by stating that besides employing a white is less risky, issues such as ‘racial hatred’ or deep feelings of prejudice was also one of the possibilities albeit many are based on exaggerated or incorrect assumptions. In contrast, the available facts suggest that most black workers never file formal complaints! It was clear that in the US, the only way to fight back besides through union is by claiming discrimination. But nearly most of the complaints were of sexual harassment and discrimination against people with difficulties, not from blacks. Perhaps the employers in the US want to play safe. Fearing the target of discrimination complaint even if the chances are small, they are better off not to employ them at all. If nothing is done to prevent this trend to prolong, we would question what would happen to all the blacks in the US. There may be a chance they would seek jobs from other countries in the future. Therefore, this stereotyping needs to be changed soon.’
Buford, S. C. & Mackavey, M. 2003, ‘New Directions for Human Resources in 2002 and Beyond’, Journal of American Academy Business, [Online]. vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 600-601, Available from: Proquest / ABI/Inform [19 September 2003]
‘The authors examined the HR roles against Ulrich’s model to understand the current Human Resources environment and propose some ways to work effectively within the present environment. The model defines the roles of successful HR professionals as Strategic Business Partner, Administrative Expert, Employee Champion, and Change Agent. It is undeniable that each of these four roles is competent to the successfulness of HR practice. HR profession has gone through tremendous changes such as technological advancements, mergers and acquisitions and restructuring that facilitate the transformation of HR’s role from bureaucratic to more strategic. Both authors concluded that due to these changes, HR professionals are being forced to do more with less. Despite the shortcomings, HR professionals should continue to find ways to promote employee advocacy, employee development, strategic partnerships across the organisation, and human resources planning. As technologies become more sophisticated, HR professionals must also be more fluent in assisting organisations to manage work, performance and changes through the use of technology. A relatively short article but reveals the importance of HR professionals in an organisation. The suggestions discussed in the article are practical and perhaps would change people’s perception on HR professionals. Besides employing or removing employees, they also work with management to align organisational structure with business goals and ever-changing priorities.’
MODULE 3: DIVERSITY AND DIFFERENCE
Begley, S. 2003, ‘East vs. West: One Sees the Big Picture, the Other is Focused’, Wall Street Journal, [Online]. Mar. 28, Eastern Edition, p. B1, Available from: Proquest / ABI/Inform [18 September 2003]
‘In an attempt to contrast human cognition between Westerners and Asians, the author directly quotes from R. E. Nisbett’s book that clearly states “the characteristic thought process of Asians and Westerners differs greatly”. This has challenged the number of studies assuming that everyone perceives, thinks and reasons the same way. From the article, one major difference the author has found is that the Westerners typically sees categories directly while Asians typically sees relationships and attending more indirectly to the overall surroundings. The author concludes that cognitive differences are likely to have originated from the growing up process as well as social practices. One often finds that their cognitive style is interconnected to the place where one was born and lived for years. Nonetheless, study has shown that those from Hong Kong have a more intermediate thinking pattern between the East and West due to its British and Chinese history. Although this model shows that diversity can enhance a team’s ability to solve problems creatively because of different ways of looking at a problem and finding a solution; creativity may also heighten conflicts within a team causing more problems instead of providing solutions.’
Govindarajan, Vijay, Gupta & Anil, K. 2001, ‘Building an Effective Global Business Team’, MIT Sloan Management Review, [Online]. vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 63-71, Available from: EBSCOhost / Business Source Elite [21 September 2003]
‘The authors claim that to successfully integrate dispersed operations is through global business team. There are obstacles for such global business teams such as differences in geography, language and culture. The key to a successful global business team is to tackle and understand the obstacles. Therefore, it is essentially important to have a mutual understanding and a solid framework to steer them towards their intended goals. Next, take concrete steps to avoid any pitfalls and build efficient and effective teams. The authors critically evaluate that trust, good communication, a clearly defined and structured charter, choosing the right team members, and skilfully managing process are the foundations of an effective global business team. With a solid foundation, teams are unlikely to fail in accomplishing its objectives. This article is useful in explaining that it is not easy for multinational corporations to manage their cross-border team if those obstacles were not handled seriously. Although the authors only touched the differences in geography, culture diversity and communication barriers, it could be more helpful if they have studied in a wider perspective such as whether gender differences would relatively affect the success to global business teams.’
MODULE 4: MORAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN ORGANISATIONS
Guvenli, T. & Sanyal, R. 2002, ‘Ethical Concerns in International Business: Are Some Issues More Important Than Others?’, Business and Society Review, [Online]. vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 195-206, Available from: EBSCOhost / World Magazine Bank [19 September 2003]
‘The authors conducted a study on the increasing concern expressed over the inappropriate ethical practices in various countries and the role of Multinational Companies (MNCs) in making profits among the US citizens. Due to the removal of trade barriers, many MNCs see this as an opportunity to locate their firms at developing countries and utilising the low labour costs and the nonexistent or non enforcement of regulations. The authors’ research focuses on three main topics which are employment condition, politics and laws, and environmental protection. From their findings, it indicates that MNCs would face severe critics if they are attached to a country where labour standards were brushed aside. There is a huge concern in various jurisdictions on the use of child labour, violation of human rights and the existence of poor working conditions. The article is useful for MNCs to focus on what issues to give immediate and higher attention and where to source their products or locate their manufacturing warehouse prior doing business in a foreign country to avoid them from being criticised or sabotaged by various NGOs who are against MNCs which is found supporting such activity. Perhaps this study could be expanded into a wider multicountry perspective and not only in the US that would allow for a fuller understanding of ethical concerns in individual societies.’
Bagley, C.E. (2003), ‘The Ethical Leader’s Decision Tree’, Harvard Business Review, February, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 18-19.
‘According to the author, there is little practical guidance given as how to apply ethical manner in organisations. In many instances, there is a possibility for the directors to maximize shareholder value and behave ethically. This could be achieved by using the decision tree proposed by the author to provide the corporate leader with a helpful tool to evaluate the legal and ethical aspects of their decisions. Corporate leaders should first ask themselves “What’s the right thing to do?” and “Is it legal?”. Although there is no universal standard of ethical behaviour, these questions would give an idea to them that legal compliance is a baseline standard. Similarly, the author claims that corporate leaders could always turn to their good old value statement as guidance about what constitutes ethical business behaviour. Bagley concluded that it is the corporate leader’s responsibility to exercise their own fundamental sense of what is right and wrong when making decisions on behalf of the corporation and its shareholders. This article is relevant to the corporate that ethical issues should not be only concerning the shareholders’ value when deciding but also the effect on its stakeholders.’
MODULE 5: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Personnel Today, (27 May 2003), Blowing Your Own Credibility, [Online], Available from http://www.personneltoday.com/Article19062.htm [20 September 2003].
‘The article tries to justify the difference between one who thinks honesty is the best policy and one who is just simply honest. It is purely believed that the difference between the two is what is done from the heart or just trying to be impressive which is interrelated to our responsibility to act ethically. Ethics is classically classified as a concerned with human character and conduct; the principles of moral behaviour. The article criticised that business world today are lack of business ethics but is more concerned on self interest. Numerous debates among the English thinkers on the idea of the ethical as a self justifying, motivating principle could not justify the ethical life in terms of its beneficial effects. Therefore, it is in fact not surprising to see a tumbling decline in the number of UK business ethics to a spectacular new level of stupidity. The article was inconclusive whether there is any contradiction between an organisation that tries to behave ethically and a successful one; but questioning the material self interest to it. Honesty and integrity holds in the eye of the beholder! Although the article is short and succinct but the message is clear that responsibility, honesty, duty, morality, and concern for the stakeholders are all very well, but businesses cannot be expected to take them seriously without a bottom line imperative.’
MODULE 5: ECOLOGICAL ISSUES & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Preston, L. 2001, ‘Sustainability at Hewlett-Packard: From theory to practice’, California Management Review, [Online]. vol. 43, no. 3, p.26, Available from: Proquest / Mulitple databases [19 September 2003]
‘Sustainability has become a strategic imperative for all businesses in the 21st century. So much so that it has become a fundamental market force affecting long-term financial viability and success. The article looks at how Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been moving along a continuum towards environmental sustainability over the past two decades; the processes currently underway at HP as well as the challenges ahead. During the 1980s, HP made great strides in pollution control and prevention, risk management, and facility improvements such as reducing toxic materials and emissions. In the 1990s, the focus shifted to product stewardship, which focuses on earlier intervention to minimize environmental impacts associated with the full life cycle of a product. HP established a Product Stewardship function which focused on developing global processes for tracking and managing regulatory compliance issues, customer inquiry response systems, information management, public policy shaping, product take-back programs, green packaging, and integrating "design for the environment" and life cycle analysis into product development processes. Today, sustainability is about developing technologies that actually contribute a positive impact to environmental challenges. To be an environmental leader in the 21st century, HP needs to integrate environmental sustainability into its fundamental business strategy.’
CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, I have come to an understanding that as a manager or a leader of an organisation, one must have an in-depth understanding on issues such as global integration, humanity and enterprise, diversification and differences, ethics, corporate social responsibility, and ecological issues. Consequently, as a manager or a leader in future, it is essential for me and my organisation to be conscious and cautious to these issues in order to be more resourceful and more humane to our surroundings in surviving the 21st century and thereafter.
