Module 1 : Business Ethics

Running Head: Business Ethics -Module#1

Module 1: Business Ethics

Kishore Kandalai

Aspen University
 Module 1 : Business Ethics

Abstract

The purpose of the abstract is to provide the reader with a brief overview of the overall paper

which in this case is “5” essay questions.

1) What is ethics, and what does it mean to “put business and ethics together”? What would

it mean for a company to do this well?

2) What are the three traditions of ethics, and how do they provide guidance to help inform

your managerial decision-making?

3) Why do your decisions matter, particularly as they relate to ethically charged issues?

Draw from both what the chapter suggests and your own ideas.

4) Before this class discussion in module 1, what was your sense of why organizational

ethics like Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom, happen?

5) What are the core factors identified in chapter 2 that indicate why bad things happen in

organizations? Which seem to be most prevalent in actual cases you have read about or

experienced in your own company?

6) Which factors seem to be most important in diagnosing why bad things happen? What

role does the individual, and individual conscience, play in making sure good things

happen organizations?
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Module 1 Deliverables

Assignments: Essay Questions

Essay Question 1

What is ethics, and what does it mean to “put business and ethics together”? What would it

mean for a company to do this well?

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about

morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice, etc.

Business ethics is the study of business situations, activities, and decisions where issues

of right and wrong are addresses. (Crane & Matten 2007), it is important clarified this concept

first, to get started whit some similar concepts later in this report.

Business ethicists ask, “What is right and wrong, good and bad, and harmful and

beneficial regarding decisions and actions in and around organizational activities?” ethical

“solutions” to business and organizational problems may have more than one right alternative,

and sometimes no right solution may seem available. Learning to think, reason, and act ethically

can enable to first be aware and recognize a potential ethical problem. Then evaluate values,

assumptions, and judgments regarding the problem before act. (Joseph W. Weiss 2003, p.7) there

are some situation where making a choice it is not just doing the right or the wrong thing, is also

thinking what are the best option for the employee or the company, however in some cases the

best option is not always are the correct thing to do, is in this situation when the ethics education

and training can help to understand what are the benefits of acting ethically.

“Doing the right thing” matters to employees, stakeholders, and the public. To

companies and employers, acting legally and ethically means saving billion of dollars each year

in lawsuit, settlements, and theft. Studies have shown that corporations also have paid significant
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financial penalties for acting unethically (Joseph W. Weiss 2003, p.9). Thus, acting ethically the

companies can avoid law and financial problems, in this way is easy to think acting ethically is

the best option for the companies to do, but in some cases close a good deal is more profitable

than pay for some compensation or dealing with lawsuit, for this reason companies prefer avoid

acting ethically because according to Friedman(1970) ‘there is one and only one social

responsibility of business, to increase its profits so long as it stay within the rules of game, which

is to say, engages in a open and free competition without deception and fraud’.

Other topic which need be discussed is the link between ethics and law, how this two

theories work together and if one can exist without the other. Law is essentially an

institutionalization or codification of ethics into specific social rules, regulations, and

proscriptions. Nevertheless, the two are no equivalent. Perhaps the best way of thinking about

ethics and the law is in terms of two intersecting domains. (Crane & Matten 2007, p.5)

Business ethics can be said to begin where the law ends, business ethics is primarily

concerned with those issues not covered by law, or where there is no definite consensus on

whether something is right or wrong(Crane & Matten 2007, p.7). Sometimes the law does not

offer enough guidance for those issues that ethics cannot manage, is for that reason that the

employee needs to be conscious what kind of deal it is work in and if this situation is ruled by

any law, ethics or both.

Ethical behavior is dependent more upon the ethical or unethical behavior of the

individual who form that company that upon any formal company policy also superiors are

important role models for socialization into the organization, with employees undoubtedly

evaluating ethical decision based on the example set by, and hence expectations of, superiors.

(Klaas Woldring 1996, p.94). In the company some ethical decision are made following the
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behavior of the superior, it is this person making the right decisions and every decision is

ethically correct, the manager behavior can affect the employees behavior as well, this can lead

to the employees start to behaving in a less ethical manners and use the justification of everyone

else is doing it. As a result in the company the people behavior, ethical or unethical is more

influential than a formal, written organizational guideline.

Temptations to harm in a workplace arise far more often than many people like to admit.

Even if people do not personally face temptations, they live in a global economy where their

efforts often intersect with those of others who do. (Howard & Korver 2008, p 146). Thus, some

people act to overcome this environment where the big fish eat the small fish, in the global

economy often companies make their employees act this way and goes against their own ethical

believes making an unpleasant working environment, however the final decision about following

the company rules and doing things right or doing wrong always the choices are going to be

made by the employee themselves.

Essay Question 2

What are the three traditions of ethics, and how do they provide guidance to help inform

your managerial decision-making?

The traditions of ethics are

• The actions or “means” people use to achieve their goals.

• The agents or “persons” who are acting in the situation.

• The ends or “goals” that are outcomes of actions.

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Actions: - The actions that people take and attempt to determine whether a given act is ethically

acceptable irrespective of the consequence it creates. In Moral Philosophy - the means or actions

we use to pursue goals – is called deontology.

Deontology maintains that there are certain standards of human decency and respect for the

worth of others that rule out treating them in certain ways (eg: lying to them, physically harming

them, or killing them) . Since actions are viewed as having inherently good or bad qualities, it is

important to understand how we make such determinations. The Criteria comes from various

influential religious and philosophical traditions.

Agents: - Ethics deal with more than right and wrong actions. It also addresses issues of

character the personal traits and qualities that define who we are as human’s agents. These traits

include habits, priorities, and idiosyncrasies. They can change overtime, usually through

conscious and considerable effort. This branch of ethics termed character ethics.

Ends:- Ethics is concerned with pursuing and achieving laudable ends. This includes the quest to

make something of one life’s, the search of personal success and happiness, as well as our

aspirations of our communities, such as prosperity, security and justice. This branch of ethical

thought knows as Consequentialism, focuses on the moral importance of the ends

Practical tools for analysis that have been developed from the three traditions of ethics.

Decision guides are frameworks for analyzing the moral dimensions of the given situation. They

help managers identify key issues, raise important questions, and provide a basis for making

informed and defensible decisions.

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Decision Guide #1 – From Deontology to standards of conduct

This first decision guide is standards of conflict, which refers to the principles and rules

governing a particular community. These standards determine what the community considers

morally appropriate and inappropriate actions and help community articulate its moral values.

Companies should seek to understand and respect the standards of conduct in various

communities beyond the local ones in which they operate, including the firm itself, the industry

and the larger national and international communities.

Decision Guide #2 – From Virtue Ethics to character and relationships

This decision guide is that firms have to “Walk the talk” and find ways of doing business that

enable them to embody the character traits to which they aspire, such as service, integrity, and

diversity.

Decision Guide #3 – From consequentialism to purpose and consequence

Purposes and Consequences are central both the managers and to a firm’s core stakeholders.

Selecting a set of defensible and then taking actions that help achieve those goals are at the core

of ethical behavior. This decision guides underscores the moral importance of managers

selecting the right goals and using the resources of the organization to realize them.

These Decision guides help managers in ethical decision making.

Essay Question 3

Why do your decisions matter, particularly as they relate to ethically charged issues? Draw

from both what the chapter suggests and your own ideas ?

Managerial effectiveness is defined as the management's uses of organizational resources

and the meetings of the organizational goals. Leadership, mentoring, effective communication,

proper planning, organization, control, possession of skills, and teamwork are all fundamentals
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of becoming an effective manager. In the process of striving for the most valuable ways to

become effective, a manager must obtain both, effectiveness along with efficiency. With all of

these qualities under one's belt, an effective manager will arise.

According to Certo, managerial effectiveness is defined as the management's uses of

organizational resources and the meetings of the organizational goals (2006). In the process of

striving for the most valuable ways to become effective, a manager must obtain both,

effectiveness along with efficiency. If a manager has achieved the organizational goals

established, the manager has said to be effective. Both of these characteristics will coincide with

the success of utilization of all resources available. In becoming this type of manager, there are

many different attributes that will lead to the success of the company, as well as the person

themselves (Certo, 2006).

One of the main attributes that will contribute to the managerial effectiveness is

leadership. Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others to

contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization and the organizational goals.

Leaders influence other by being an example and allowing others to create their own ideas to

accomplish a task. Individuals in leadership positions are always striving for a positive vision

and encouragement of other team players for the future success of the goals planned (Bleech,

1995).

When an individual is a leader, they must lead by example. One must guide or conduct

others by paving the way in the determination of success. Outstanding leaders display a high

degree of enthusiasm, persistence, determination, faith, and confidence in the obtainment of the

vision they articulate.

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The enthusiasm of an effective leader will mainly be seen as the attractive desire that

people enjoy following. Enthusiasm is infectious and is seen within people that generally take

the initiative and assume responsibility, who are proactive and typically on the move for the

desirable achievement of their goals. Enthusiastic managerial leaders are those who possess high

energy levels to motivate others. Energy is not just the speed at which people work, but the

length at which people work. Along with enthusiasm, these leaders typically have optimism,

high levels of self-confidence self- esteem that are portrayed as an asset in which they serve

(Bleech, 1995).

There are three effective leadership styles in which a manager uses authority to lead

others. The first leadership style can be described as the autocratic leader that makes decisions

without the consulting of others. This may lead to low moral with this bad communications.

The democratic leader delegates the authority and evolves the employees in the overall decision

making. They are also called the participative management that focuses on sharing the

information at all organizational levels. The laissez-faire leaders take the roll of the consultant

and encourage the ideas of the employees. No single leadership style work around the clock and

defective leaders must adapt their leadership style to current business circumstances (Nodell,

1989).

For the effectiveness of a quality manager, he or she must be able to coach and mentor

the skills at which they possess to their employees. They focus on helping all members perform

at their best and involve taking the time to meet with their employees, while offering them

suggestions and encouragement. It requires the ability to observe, judge sensibility, and take the

appropriate action needed. In mentoring, they guide employees through the corporate maze and

act a role model. They usually possess deep knowledge of the business and can explain the
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office politics, and provide valuable advice about the succeeding to the employees within the

organization. This function benefits the employee to gain knowledge from the mentors, along

with proper knowledge and ideas. As the mentor gains new networking contacts they gain

personal satisfaction.

The second attribute to identifying a managerial effective leader are that of possession of

skills. These skills include interpersonal skills, technical skills, and conceptual skills.

The interpersonal skills have to deal with effective communication and activities. These

activities must encourage the employees to work together, including interaction with other

managers, to obtain a common goal. They must also develop the employees trust and loyalty.

Effective communication increases the managers and the organizations productivity, shapes the

impressions made on colleagues, supervisors, employees, customers, and investors. This skill

also allows them to show consideration for the different needs, backgrounds, and experiences of

people in the workforce. It also allows the manager to perceive the needs of these stakeholders

and enables them to respond to those needs (Seward, 2007).

The next management skill needed is the technical skill. This is the ability and

knowledge to be able to perform the mechanics of a particular job. Some of the technical skills

necessary to manage an environment, such as the ability to gather information, organize, plan,

analyze data, and to make schedules (Seward, 2007).

Lastly, the conceptual skill needed is the skill required to see the organization as a whole

and to understand how the various parts interrelate. This skill is extremely important to the upper

level managers and Chief Executive Officers, CEO's. A key managerial activity requiring

conceptual skills is decision making. In decision making, the manager must recognize the need

for a decision, identify, analyze, and define the problem or opportunity. One must generate,
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select, and implement the alternative needed. Finally, one must evaluate the results and conclude

if this was the best course of action (Seward, 2007).

Planning is another primary function of managerial success. The manager, or

management team, must understand the strategic planning process to obtain its long and short

term goals. One of the major failures of planning is the lack of focus and/or consistency of all or

part of the team. In strategic planning, one must develop a clear vision of realistic, credible, and

obtainable views of the goals. These can be accomplished in meetings, where employees feel

welcomed to suggest ideas and goals, which are based on the shared vision of the group.

Sometimes the effectiveness of an outside organization maybe needed to obtain technological

and financial goals. Translate the vision into a meaningful mission statement and assess the

company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to develop a company forecast.

Depending on the company, some have to strategize over the competition. They must strive to

obtain a level of service, unique product feature, and image that distinguishes the company's

products better than that of the competitor. They must also aim to become a low cost leader by

producing or selling products more of an economically and efficiently. They must also try and

target specific consumer groups or regional markets (Jaffe, 1989).

Teamwork is very popular in today's organizations but as a manager it takes strategy,

discipline and practice to create. From company to company teamwork is always talked about

but sometimes never fallen through with. In today's society teamwork is more important than

ever. Teamwork is defined as a joint action by a group of people, in which each person

subordinates his or her individual interest in options to the unity and efficiency of the group. As

the years have past companies have began to cut jobs. An estimated three thousand people are let

go from their job every day in the United States of America. This trend of downsizing is to cut
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cost and also cut the middle management out of the organization. Without this middle

management there are fewer and fewer employees between the executive and lower levels of

employment. With this being said, managers use to manage two to five employees, now

managing twenty to forty employees on average. With the increase of the number of employees

per manager, interaction, supervision and direct communication is reduced amongst the

organization which results in teamwork becoming extremely important (Bleech, 1995).

In contrast, when companies collaborate different ideas amongst the employees they gain

information for decision making using the planning and technical skills. There is now an

increased amount of employees that have specific technical skill that can be brought to the table

as a role model to accomplish a task.

While manager are building effective teams the must keep in consideration the trust

factor of each member. If the trust factor is not prevalent, then the establishment of an effective

team might be impossible. A few strategies that help the manager are communication amongst

team members, respect amongst team members, conductions of fair performance, predictability,

and demonstration of competence (Certo, 2006).

Teams operate in all different tasks and situations. Each member of the group or team

must depend on one another to get his or her job completed, with many individuals contributing

expertise to a specific task. This is seen in companies today with bringing more specialized

individuals aboard, rather than having a more generalized knowledge of employees from the past

decades (Certo, 2006).

Communication is a huge part in establishing managerial effectiveness. Communication

is defined as the process of exchanging information with other individuals inside and out of the

company. With respect to communication within the company, it is here that manager want to
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share important information with other employees to achieve a task. Communication starts by

select individual initiating a message, verbal or nonverbal, to one or more persons that results in

common ground understanding of the message sent. For a manager to succeed they must uphold

the task of higher communication skills. To assist manager in improving their interpersonal

communications, there are new training techniques that are being developed and evaluated.

According to Certo, Communication is one strategy that managers can use to build trust within

groups and team members. He states,

Communicate often to team members- This is a fundamental strategy. Keeping team members

informed of organizational news, explaining why certain decisions have been made, and sharing

information about organizational operation are example how managers how should communicate

to team members (2006).'

With this being said a manager and his or her employees must develop a communication

path amongst each other to achieve the essential goal for effectiveness.

A manager must become a successful interpersonal communicator by understanding how

interpersonal communication works, and its relationship against feedback and the importance of

verbal with nonverbal interpersonal communication.

Interpersonal communication is the exchange of information amongst others. This

portion of communication is broken down into three basic elements. First being the source, then

the signal, and finally the decoder. The original message shared with other originates from the

source or the encoder, who puts information together that can be received and understood by

another individual. The second basic element is the signal which is the encoded information that

the source transmits. The decoder, or destination, is the person with whom the information is
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shared with by the source. The decoder decodes, or interprets, the message to determine its

meaning (Certo, 2006).

The relationship between feedback and interpersonal communication is a reaction from

the decoder to the source from the message sent. The source can determine if the message was

sent successfully or unsuccessfully based on the feedback and if needed may repeat the message

until the appropriate is established. In achieving effective communication managers may use

these steps for a good communication process. First the manager must seek to clarify their ideas

before communicating, then examine the true purpose of each communication, consider the

setting whenever they communicate, and consult with other when planning communication.

Also the source should keep in mind the tone of voice or expression while communicating rather

than the basic content of the message, consider the other persons interest and needs, follow up

your communication, and communicate tomorrow as well as today. Lastly, be sure that the

sources actions support their communication and be a good listener to make sure that the signal

was received properly (Certo, 2006)

Verbal interpersonal communication is communication that uses either written or spoken

words to exchange effective communication with its destination. In nonverbal communication is

communication that is exchanging of information without verbal context. Examples of

nonverbal communication may be vocal tones, expressions, gestures, gender and dress. The

managers that are aware of this nonverbal communication will influence their verbal

communication while using nonverbal message ingredients (Certo, 2006).

The next attribute to establishment of managerial effectiveness is the use of control.

Controlling is the process that managers go through to control. According to Roberto Mockler,
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controlling is a systematic effort by business management to compare performance to

predetermined standards, plans, objectives to determine whether performance is in line with

these standards and presumably to take any remedial action required to see that human and other

corporate resources are being used in the most effective and efficient way possible in achieving

corporate objectives (Certo, 2006).'

One system that can be used is the controlling subsystem. The purpose of this system is

to assist the success of the overall management system through effective controlling. The first

step in this controlling process is the measuring of current organizational performance. The next

step is to comparing measured performance to standards. A standard that they are comparing

could be anything from profitability, market position, productivity, product leadership, personal

development, employee attitude, social responsibility, and standards reflecting the relative

balance between short and long term goals. The next step is to take corrective action through the

recognizing the problems and take the appropriate course of action. There are also three types of

management controls possible; precontrol, concurrent control, and feedback control. This type of

control is usually determined the work phase in, which the control is needed (Certo, 2006).

Precontrol is one that established before the work or duties are performed. The actions

performed in this type of control are usually sought out to deter or eliminate undesirable work

results. This can be done in the form of creating plans, procedures, rules, and strategies to be

acted upon to aim at eliminating unanticipated problems. This is the best and the most sought

out type of control, also creating a proactive manager (Certo, 2006).

The next type of control is called concurrent control. This control is used at the time that

the problem arises. This sometimes allows the management to make important decisions about

how to get back on track in a timely manner. This is not always caused by employee
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performance, but can be caused by unexpected equipment malfunction. This can also be defined

as a reactive type of control (Certo, 2006).

Feedback control is the last type of control that takes place after some unit of work has

been performed. Managers that use this type of control are usually attempting to take corrective

action by looking at the organizational history over a specific period of time. For control to be

successful, all individuals involved in the operation of the workforce must have knowledge of

how the control process operates (Certo, 2006).

The organization function is the process of arranging all available resources to carry out

certain short and long term goals. During this stage, managers ultimately think through the

activities the employees perform, consider all of the facilities and the equipment that is needed.

The managers give people the opportunity to work toward the organizational goals by

determining who has the authority to make decisions, perform or supervise activities and to

distribute resources. This is a particularly challenging stage because the equipment may have the

possibility of a malfunction or a possible upgrade; overturn of employees, consumer's

preferences and taste change, shifts in political and economic trends, and the competitor's actions

that affect the market (Hoy, 1997).

Levels of corporate hierarchy are easily described like a management pyramid. The

upper level of management, who has the most power and control, usually take overall

responsibility for the organization. They establish the structure of the organization by selecting

people to fill the upper-level positions. They also establish the short and long term plans while

implementing major policies. These top managers represent the company to the outside world at

official functions and fund-raisers. The middle managers are usually responsible for one region

or district of the company. They develop plans for implementing the broad goals set by the top
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managers and coordinate the work to the first line or supervisory managers. These middle

managers often serve as the team leaders whoa re expected to supervise and lead small groups of

employees in a variety of different job functions. The first line managers oversee the work being

done, of operating employees, and they put the plans developed at higher levels of management

in tact (Hoy, 1997).

One step in creating an extraordinary organization with excellent processes is to make

sure that you have the right people in the correct management positions. Leaders are proactive,

creative, empowering, skillful, and optimistic persons that are full of teamwork, communication,

motivation, and have excellent planning skills. The leadership process is an aggressively

pursued course of action where effective leaders are sought out, hired, promoted, rewarded,

developed, and trained. Whether they come from the ranks of management or non-management,

whether from inside the company or out, whether they are experienced or not, you must have the

right leaders in order to excel in managerial effectiveness and efficiency. Companies are in

desperate need of quality management team-members that are full of qualities that stand out and

that will be part of the company for an extended period of time. "Management is efficiency in

climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the

right wall." Stephen Covey

Essay Question 4

What is a career? At what stage is your career? What are your plans for the next step?

Discuss in scholarly detail.

Career is a term defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress

through life (or a distinct portion of life)". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative

work (and sometimes also formal education).

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The etymology of the term is somewhat ironic in that it comes from the Latin word carrier,

which means race (as in "rat race," a pejorative implying the opposite of a useful career).

A career is mostly seen as a course of successive situations that make up a person's occupation.

One can have a sporting career or a musical career without being a professional athlete or

musician, but most frequently "career" in the 20th century referenced the series of jobs or

positions by which one earned one's money. A person's worth is often measured by the career

success or failings.

“A Career is sequence of work-related positions occupied by a person over the course of a

lifetime. As the definition implies, a career is cumulative in nature: As people accumulate

successful experiences in one position, they generally develop abilities and attitude that

qualify them to hold more advanced management positions at the next higher level. In

building a career, an individual should be focused on developing skills necessary to qualify

for a next planned job and not simply taking a job with highest salary.

Career stages become applicable to such employees who are competent, competitive, aggressive

and career-minded. DONALD E. SUPER has suggested five stages (also called career

development cycle or career cycle) through which individuals go. These stages:

1. Exploration stage.

2. Establishment stage.

3. Mid-Career stage.

4. Late Career stage.

5. Decline stage.
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Brief details of these stages are given below:

1. Exploration stage:

Almost all candidates who start working after college education start around mid-

twenties. Many a time they are not sure about future prospects but take up a job in anticipation of

raising higher up in the career graph later. From the point of view of the organization, this stage

is of no relevance because it happens prior to the employment. Some candidates who come from

better economic background can wait and select a career of their choice under expert guidance

from parents and well-wishers.

2. Establishment stage:

This career stage begins with the candidates getting the first job. Getting hold of the right

job is not an easy task. Candidates are likely to commit mistake and learn from their mistakes.

Slowly and gradually they become responsible towards the job. Ambitious candidates will keep

looking for more lucrative and challenging jobs elsewhere. This may either result in migration to

another job or he will remain with the same job because of lack opportunity.

3. Mid-Career stage:

This career stage represent fastest and gainful leap for competent employees who are

commonly called “climbers”. There is continuous improvement in performance. On the other

hand, employees who are unhappy and frustrated with the job, there is market deterioration in

their performance. In order to show their utility to the organization, employees must remain

productive at this stage. “Climbers” must go on improving their own performance. Authority,

responsibility, rewards and incentives are highest at this stage. Employees tend to settle down in

their jobs and “jobs hopping” is not common.

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4. Late career stage:

This career stage is pleasant for the senior employees who like to survive on the past

glory. There is no desire to improve performance and improve past records. Such employees

enjoy playing the role of elder statesperson. They are expected to train younger employees and

earn respect from them.

5. Decline stage:

This career stage represents the completion of one career usually culminating into

retirement. After decades of hard work, such employees have to retire. Employees who were

climbers and achievers will find it hard to compromise with the reality. Others may think of

“Life after retirement”.

While Certo & Certo define career stages as four stages, Exploration, Establishment,

Maintenance Stage and Decline Stage.

I am at Establishment of my career, I have started post college in as computer hardware

engineer, exploring the initial stage of my career and have jumped four companies exploring

career and experiencing different stages and different work cultures. Finally I have joined my

current employer and have been with this company for last 8 Years, Grown internally in the

organization from technical to managerial roles and to grow further in the organization ladder.

I am working on acquiring skills required for my next leadership roles.

I am attending leadership training internally in the organization and also pursing the same

externally, one reason for this formal Management Program from Aspen University is also to

acquiring an MBA and required management skills to establish my career in the current

organization or elsewhere.
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Essay Question 5

Is your employer (or a company that you know about) a learning organization? Identify

the features that support your answer in scholarly detail. Remember that few organizations

meet all 5 of the criteria

Organizational learning and learning organizations have been the focus of a great deal of

evaluation within management literature since the 1990’s (Senge, 1990; Michaux, 2002).

The concept of the learning organization gained wide acceptance from the works of Peter Senge

who is most well-known for his body of work entailed The Fifth Discipline. Here, Senge (1990)

introduces the notion of systems thinking and defines a learning organization as one “where

people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and

expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where

people are continually learning to see the whole together”.

Whilst it is necessary for an organization to apply ‘adaptive’ or ‘survival’ learning an example

which would be adapting to changes in the current environment, Senge (1990) asserts that a true

learning organization is characterised by ‘generative learning’ which is learning that enhances its

capacity to innovate and create. Generative learning and the learning organization concept

proposed by Senge (1990) integrates both learning on an individual and organizational level and

gives rise to five disciplines or ‘golden rules’ for learning organizations (Smith, 2001):

1. Personal mastery, ensuring individual motivation to learn

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“All Organization members are committed to gaining a deep and rich understanding of their

work. Such an understanding will help organizations to successfully overcome important

challenges that confront them.”

2. Mental models based on the ‘theories in use’ concept, creating openness to

misconceptions

“Organization members routinely challenge the way business is done and the thought process

people use to solve organizational problems “

3. Shared vision, building long-term commitment in people

All organization members have a common view of the purpose of the organization and sincere

commitment to accomplish the purpose

4. Team learning, developing group skills like cooperation and communication.

“Organization members work together; develop solutions to new problems together. Working as

teams rather than working individuals will help organizations gather collective force to achieve

organizational goals”.

5. Systems thinking, integrates the other four disciplines.

“Every organization member understands his or her own job and how the job fits to provide a

final product to the customer”

My current employer is not a true “learning organization” while we strive to achieve the five

golden rules of the “learning organization it is a continuous process and has individual personal

dependencies
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Like, Personal Mastery – While organization tries providing all required training and other

resources to for individuals to learn and gain deep understanding of work. I also need

commitment from individuals. Our current employer is doesn’t meet the category

Challenging Mental models – We do challenge the current business processes and adapt new

thoughts, technologies to enhance business.

Shared vision – While all organization members have a common view of the purpose of the

organization, There is a lack of commitment from certain set of individuals. Our current

employer is doesn’t meet the category

Team Learning - We work together to develop solutions and to solve organizational issues.

Systems thinking – We all understand our job and how it fits into the overall deliverables to end

customer.

Conclusion – Our current employer is striving toward being a “Learning Organization”. We

don’t meet the category of “Personal Mastery” and “Shared Vision”

 Module 1 : Business Ethics

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