Running head: A CRITIQUE OF LOCKHEED MARTIN

A Critique of Lockheed Martin

Name

Institutional Affiliation
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A Critique of Lockheed Martin

1. What do you think about the notion presented by Terris that Lockheed's ethics program

does little to prevent ethical breaches at the highest level of the organization?
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In agreement with Daniel Terris view, Martin Lockheed’s ethics plan does not do enough

to prevent ethical violations at the top management of the company due to the program’s focus

on employee training that is directed by the top management panel. The only emphasis that the

plan has is the standards of the business conduct, and it also prepares its staff to acknowledge

and respond to circumstances that may need ethical decision-making. However, it does not

address the ethical issues at the top management of the organization. Besides, it does not offer

sufficient attention to specific challenges that the people who have power and authority in the

firm faces.

These limitations of the ethical plan make it more open to scandals and public outrage.

NaturallyObviously, most senior members of a corporation by nature of their power, have higher

chances of acting badly. Therefore, wrong decisions that the senior executives can make may

result in more harm to the company. The program does not advance the training of the top

management stuff, but only concentrates on driving the organization’s diversity and on the

inclusion strategy within to encourage an inclusive setting, business innovation, and the success

of the firm. It directs its efforts to the employees’ section and not the high-level management. For

this reason, it does not do enough to put a stop on the ethical breaches at the top organizational

level. Lockheed designed the system in a way that it believes the higher administrative panel in

the company reason that it is the duty of the employees, and the junior workforce’s responsibility

to uphold ethics and corporate social responsibility of the enterprise. This implies that the morals

and social obligation capacities have been left in the hands of the workers and junior staffs in the

association and not the top administration board.

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2. Are the efforts put forth - —such as making sure higher level executives participate in

training - —enough to help managers navigate what Terris calls the 'ethical minefield'

faced by leadership in such an organization?

The determinations that the company has set up are helpful but not sufficient in enabling

the executives to navigate the ethical minefield that the leadership operations of such an

organization face. These steps are supportive as they offer room for the administrative panel to

undergo training on proper social and moral responses. Besides, they allow the organization to

devolve its moral responsibility amongst the employees, and the stakeholders of the company.

Nevertheless, the training is not adequate for them, especially because of their level of

complexity in the ethical curriculum. For instance, the company lays emphasis on the fact that

the executives go through similar kind of modules, and training like as the employees and junior

staff undergo.

Additionally, as much as the awareness program of the corporation and training modules

at the executive level does a good job of triggering a sense of discussion among many

employees, they are not effective in undertaking ethical issues, and performing at a fairly low

level of complexity. Moreover, according to Terris (2005), the top management faces difficult

and challenging matters of values. That's That is why there is a need to apply right morals.

Lockheed has compliance and ethical modules suggestion sources of help, and declaring that

most circumstances might have more than one correct answer. Nevertheless, they do not offer a

deep, self-analysis that could assist individuals in the high administrative level of the

organization.
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Undoubtedly, Lockheed’s program teaches its workforce to acknowledge the existence of

complexity in applying rules and regulations in a firm. However, it does not explain to them the

intricacy present in the guidelines. A little experience with the ethical problems and modules

does not have enough assistance in developing a clear knowledge of them. Terris (2005) argues

that there is a need to take into account more considerations of the moral difficulties that are part

of power and leadership.

3. What are some things that could be done to address the issue related to ethics at higher

executive levels of the organization (Hint: reviewing p. 128 and the following pages of the

text might be helpful)?

There are several issues that the management panel can embark on in addressing the

matters related to ethics at the top administration of the organization. Terries (2005) notes that

the senior executives need to make sure that every employee is trained and educated on the

requirements and that one gains of from participating in ethical, social, and corporate roles of the

firm. Secondly, the top administrative level of the company should engage in all the social

happenings that it forms. Thirdly, there is a need to address equality among all the staff members

and the stakeholders in the corporation, particularly about ethical and social structure issues.

Fourthly, individuals who are already predisposed to thinking carefully about probable ethics

problems can be assisted through consultations. This, which will offer extra opportunities to

manage problems even before they happen.

Another step is that the top management should be persuaded to spend more time in

analyzing decision-making cases at their level, which would offer give them an insight into all

the lessons in future. The organization’s ethics office needs to be offered with a formal and
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powerful responsibility for them to perform the procedures of monitoring and advising the

managers’ actions at the high level of the organizational hierarchy (Terris, 2005). Also, Tthe

company should also exercise transparency and courage about openly undertaking and outlining

emerging issues associated with ethics, like such as compensation. The dependable features of

the policies of the enterprise about ethics can only occur through open discussions on the

concerned issues (Terris, 2005). Hence, openness will enhance the morale within the firm, and

step up confidence inon the company in among the community.

4. Terris points out that the company’s program is overly focused on individuals and that it

doesn’t address group dynamics that can impact ethical situations. For instance, there can

be a tendency for groups to ‘go with the flow’ of the group decision-making process and

overlook ethical issues in the process. What would you recommend that Lockheed Martin

does to address this situation?

Lockheed’s ethics plan is concerned with inspiring decision- making on a personal basis.

It's training modules, and code of ethics directs the workforce to shoulder their roles to enable

them to maintain the organizational values. Besides, Tthis method gives them a sense of personal

investment in the firm and disregards a crucial factor which that is the collective decision-

making dynamics. The ethics program’s content exclusively concentrates on the individual, but it

has borrowed the collective decision-making form. For the most part, Tthe programs associated

with ethics enable the employees to talk about the circumstances, facing individuals in teams;,

yet this does not encourage a sense of collective responsibility amongst the individualspeople

(Terris, 2005). Moreover, ethics officers spent spend a substantial amount of time concentrating
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on the personal problems instead of group problems. This current issue can be resolved by taking

various steps concerning the modules and training among others.

Some of the recommendations that the organization can put in place include ensuring that

the modules and training, that which the individuals are offered within the program, addresses in

a more direct manner the difficulties associated with group dynamics. Besides, the company

should not conduct the atomization of most of the training modules on personal computers as this

it results in more stress on personal decision- making. MoreoverApart from that, it should

provide more awareness regarding collective ruling to reduce reliance on individual efforts.

Lastly, the company’s business and ethics division can offer help to the need of group

dynamics. For instance, they can assist units in evaluating auditing weaknesses in the company’s

culture of the company. One way of approaching this can be through understanding the previous

cases of ethical misconduct in the firm, and making an explicit examination of the present

climate of within the firmorganization.

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References

Terris, D. (2005). Ethics at work: Creating virtue in an American corporation. Waltham,

Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press. Retrieved from

https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=_db7nijoQIUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Terris,

+Daniel.+(2005)+Ethics+at+Work:+Creating+Virtue+at+an+American+Corporation.

+Brandeis+University+Press.+Waltham,+MA.

+Retrieved+from+ProQuest+ebrary.&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://www.worldcat.org/title/ethics-at-work-creating-virtue-in-an-american-

corporation/oclc/828925759

Terris, D. (2005). Ethics at work: Creating virtue in an American corporation. Brandeis

University Press:. Waltham, MassA. Retrieved from ProQuest ebrary.