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Contemporary Issues & Trends in the Business World

Mid-Term Notes
Business Ethics ___________________________________________________________________ 1

Crisis in Business & Professional Ethics _____________________________________________________ 1

Observed Misconduct in the Workplace ____________________________________________________ 1

Business Ethics ________________________________________________________________________ 1

Business Ethics Defined _________________________________________________________________ 1

Morals ______________________________________________________________________________________ 1
Principles ____________________________________________________________________________________ 1
Values_______________________________________________________________________________________ 1

Timeline of Ethical and SociallyResponsible Concerns _________________________________________ 2

Business Ethics as an Emerging Field_______________________________________________________ 2

Consolidation of Business Ethics __________________________________________________________ 2

Organizational Ethical Culture ____________________________________________________________ 2

Role of Organizational Ethics in Performance________________________________________________ 3

Global Ethical Culture___________________________________________________________________ 3

Ethics Perspectives _____________________________________________________________________ 3

Code of Ethics _________________________________________________________________________ 3

Principles of Code of Ethics: _____________________________________________________________________ 4
Developing Code of Ethics_______________________________________________________________________ 4

NSPE Main Aspects of Code of Ethics ______________________________________________________ 4

Job Crafting______________________________________________________________________ 5

Pyramids of Job _______________________________________________________________________ 5

Job Analysis __________________________________________________________________________ 5

Job Requisition Form ___________________________________________________________________________ 5
Job Design ___________________________________________________________________________________ 6
Job Execution _________________________________________________________________________________ 6

Job Crafting __________________________________________________________________________ 7

Decision Making __________________________________________________________________ 8

Levels of Decision Making _______________________________________________________________ 8

System 1 & 2 thinking in decisions ________________________________________________________ 8

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Phases of Decision Making ______________________________________________________________ 8

Phase I: Intelligence____________________________________________________________________________ 8
Phase II: Design _______________________________________________________________________________ 8
Phase III: Choice_______________________________________________________________________________ 9

Phases of Decision Making - Another Perspective: Peter Drucker’s Rational Steps in Decision Making __ 9

The Bounds of Decision Making __________________________________________________________ 9

Ethics in Decision Making _______________________________________________________________ 9

Outcomes (Utilitarianism) _______________________________________________________________________ 9
Rights _______________________________________________________________________________________ 9
Justice ______________________________________________________________________________________ 9

Ethical Decision-Making Criteria Assessed _________________________________________________ 10

Utilitarianism ________________________________________________________________________________ 10
Rights ______________________________________________________________________________________ 10
Justice _____________________________________________________________________________________ 10

Summary and Managerial Implications ___________________________________________________ 10

Perception: _________________________________________________________________________________ 10
Individual Decision Making _____________________________________________________________________ 10

Better Decisions ______________________________________________________________________ 10

Emotional Intelligence ____________________________________________________________ 11

Emotional Intelligence (EI) Defined _______________________________________________________ 11

4 Skills of Emotional Intelligence_________________________________________________________ 11

EQ vs. Job Title _______________________________________________________________________ 11

EI Starts with Self-Awareness ___________________________________________________________ 12

Improving Self-Awareness______________________________________________________________________ 12
Use Awareness to Self-Manage _________________________________________________________________ 12

Social Awareness: ____________________________________________________________________ 12

Social Awareness Requires Empathy _____________________________________________________________ 12
Improving Social Awareness ____________________________________________________________________ 12

Relationship Management _____________________________________________________________ 13

Improving Relationship Management ____________________________________________________________ 13

What does EI have to do with ECP? ______________________________________________________ 14

Individual & Organizational Performance _________________________________________________________ 14
Organizational Engagement – Vital Signs __________________________________________________________ 14
Stakeholder Engagement ______________________________________________________________________ 15
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Knowledge Management _________________________________________________________ 16

Management ________________________________________________________________________ 16

Knowledge __________________________________________________________________________ 16

Conceptual Interpretation of Knowledge __________________________________________________ 16

KBV Vs RBV __________________________________________________________________________ 16

Generations of KM ____________________________________________________________________ 17
1st Generation of KM _________________________________________________________________________ 17
2nd Generation of KM _________________________________________________________________________ 17
3rd Generation of KM _________________________________________________________________________ 17

Types of Knowledge ___________________________________________________________________ 17

Spiral of Knowledge ___________________________________________________________________ 18

Knowledge Management_______________________________________________________________ 18

Aspects of KM _______________________________________________________________________ 18
Information _________________________________________________________________________________ 18
People _____________________________________________________________________________________ 18

Pillars of KM _________________________________________________________________________ 18

Classes of Knowledge__________________________________________________________________ 18
Result oriented approach in Knowledge __________________________________________________________ 18
Process oriented approach _____________________________________________________________________ 19
Technology Based approach ____________________________________________________________________ 19

How Knowledge is Produced ____________________________________________________________ 19

Create______________________________________________________________________________________ 19
Capture ____________________________________________________________________________________ 19

Knowledge Hiding ____________________________________________________________________ 19

Knowledge hoarding: _________________________________________________________________________ 19

Types of Knowledge Hiding _____________________________________________________________ 19

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Business Ethics
Crisis in Business & Professional Ethics
• Nearly half of employees observe at least one form of misconduct in the workplace.
• After the financial crisis, business decisions and activities have come under scrutiny
• The financial sector has not fully regained stakeholder trust
Observed Misconduct in the Workplace
• Misuse of company resources
• Abusive behavior
• Harassment
• Accounting fraud
• Conflicts of interest
• Defective products
• Bribery
• Employee theft
Business Ethics
• Ethics is a part of decision making at all levels of work and management
• As important as functional areas of business
• Questions whether practices are acceptable
• There are no universally accepted approaches for resolving issues
Business Ethics Defined
Comprises organizational principles, values, and norms that may originate from individuals, organizational
statements, or from the legal system that primarily guide individual and group behavior in business
• Ethical decisions occur when accepted rules no longer serve and decision makers must weigh values
and reach a judgment
o Values and judgments play a critical role when we make ethical decisions
Morals
• Refer to a person’s personal philosophies about what is right or wrong
o Morals are personal and singular
Principles
• Specific and pervasive boundaries for behavior that should not be violated
o Human rights, freedom of speech and justice
Values
• Enduring beliefs and ideals that are socially enforced
o Teamwork, trust and integrity
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Timeline of Ethical and SociallyResponsible Concerns

Business Ethics as an Emerging Field

Corporate social responsibility - an organization’s obligation to maximize positive impact and minimize
negative impact on stakeholders
• Philosophers increased their involvement
• Businesses concerned with public image
• Conferences held and centers developed
• Issues:
o Bribery
o Price collusion Product safety
o Environment Deceptive advertising
Consolidation of Business Ethics
• Business ethics became an acknowledged field of study and firms established ethics committees
• Ethics centers provided publications, courses, conferences, and seminars
• Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII)
o Foundation for the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations to come in the 1990’s
• President Reagan introduced self-regulation that changed the rules of business
Organizational Ethical Culture
Ethical culture: acceptable behavior as defined by the company and industry
• Creates shared values and support for ethical decisions – driven by top management
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Goal:
o Minimize need for enforced compliance
o Maximize utilization of principles/ethical reasoning in difficult or new situations
Role of Organizational Ethics in Performance

Global Ethical Culture

• Collaborative efforts to establish goals and set minimum levels of ethical behavior
o European Union
o United Nations
o WTO
o COMSATS
• Companies can demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility through adopting international
standards like the United Nations Global Compact
Ethics Perspectives
• An ethical perspective is the lens an individual uses to view a problem.
• Each person has such a perspective, whether or not they realize it.
• There are a variety of theories and concepts you can use when figuring out an ethical decision.
Code of Ethics
• A code of ethics is a guiding set of principles intended to instruct professionals to act in a manner that is
honest and that is beneficial to all stakeholders involved.
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• It is divided into three sections, and is underpinned by the five fundamental principle of
Integrity, Objectivity, Professional competence and due care, Confidentiality and
Professional behavior.

Principles of Code of Ethics:

• Honesty • Integrity
• Fairness • Compassion
• Leadership • Respect
Developing Code of Ethics
• Vision • Objectives
• Mission • Strategic Plan
• Goals • Norms
NSPE Main Aspects of Code of Ethics
• Be an ethical leader. • Set the right tone at the top.
• Use moral courage. • Maintain an enquiring mindset.
• Consider personal and professional • Consider the public interest.
reputation.
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Job Crafting
Pyramids of Job
Micro-Motion
(Physical Attributes)

Elements
(Physical Attributes + Mental
Abilities)

Duty
(Mental Abilities
Enhancement)

Tasks
(Tasks are increased along
with the duties/
smaller portions of duty)

Position
(Authority)

Occupation
(No. of similar jobs and
positions combined together)

Job

Job Analysis
• Defines nature and content of the job
Job Requisition Form
Duty, task, position, occupation, job
(i) Job Description
• Systematic pattern
(ii) Job Specification
• From the perspective of person
• Compatibility in terms of knowledge, experience, capability, etc.
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Job Design
Logical sequence in order to execute job analysis
Job Execution
In Late 90s
Job Diagnostic Model
• Defines task-related activities of the job which clarifies the individual regarding core
attributes of the job to be executed by the person
Job Characteristic Model
• Introduced by Hackman and Oldham
• Defines the social attributes (interpersonal and intrapersonal skills) related to the job
• It includes:
(i) Skill Variety (set of skills)
(ii) Job Autonomy (empowered to do a job)
(iii) Job Identity (overall characteristics of job)
(iv) Feedback
In Mid 20th Century
It was believed that job empowerment allows better execution.
In Late 20th Century
Dutton introduced job crafting
2006
Arnold Bakker linked Job crafting with JD-R Model

Job Resources
Work Engagement Job Performance
Personal Resources

Job Crafting

This model clearly highlights the utilization of job resources for appropriate outcomes of jo
performance through in-depth understanding of the job demands.
Job demands and job resources are different and to bridge them, job crafting is required.
To fulfil the job demands with limited resources, job crafting is required.
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Job Crafting
• It is an employee-initiative approach that leads to balanced job resources and job demands through
multiple features of the crafting as per context of the job.
• Main features of job crafting are:
• Task Crafting
• Relationship Crafting
• Cognitive Crafting
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Decision Making
Levels of Decision Making
• Individual
• Domestic
• Group
• Society
• National
• Global etc.
• Everyone thinks. It is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial
or uninformed.
• Yet, the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make or build depends precisely on the quality of
our decisions.
• Poor thinking is costly, both in wealth and in quality of life. Excellence in decision, however, must be
systematically cultivated.
System 1 & 2 thinking in decisions

Phases of Decision Making

Phase I: Intelligence
Problem Identification and Definition
- What's the problem?
- Why is it a problem?
- Whose problem is it?
Phase II: Design
Problem Structuring
- Gather relevant information
- Generate alternatives
- Set criteria and objectives
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- Develop models and scenarios to evaluate alternatives

- Solve models to evaluate alternatives
Phase III: Choice
Problem Solving
- Diagnose the chooses
- Determine the outcome of chosen alternatives
- Select an outcome consistent with the decision strategy
Phases of Decision Making - Another Perspective: Peter Drucker’s Rational Steps in
Decision Making
- Define the Problem
- Analyze the Problem
- Develop Alternative Solutions
- Decide on the Best Solution
- Convert decisions into Effective Actions
The Bounds of Decision Making
- Prescriptive Vs. descriptive models
- Satisfiers Vs. maximizers
- Bounded awareness
- Bounded ethicality
- Bounded self-interest
- Bounded heuristics
Ethics in Decision Making
Ethical Decision Criteria
Outcomes (Utilitarianism)
• Decisions made based solely on the outcome
• Seeking the greatest good for the greatest number
• Dominant method for businesspeople
Rights
• Decisions consistent with fundamental liberties and privileges
• Respecting and protecting basic rights of individuals such as whistleblowers
Justice
• Imposing and enforcing rules fairly and impartially
• Equitable distribution of benefits and costs
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Ethical Decision-Making Criteria Assessed

Utilitarianism
Pro: Promotes efficiency and productivity
Con: Can ignore individual rights, especially minorities
Rights
Pro: Protects individuals from harm; preserves rights
Con: Creates an overly legalistic work environment
Justice
Pro: Protects the interests of weaker members
Con: Encourages a sense of entitlement
Summary and Managerial Implications
Perception:
- People act based on how they view their world
- What exists is not as important as what is believed
- Managers must also manage perception
Individual Decision Making
- Most use bounded rationality
- Combine traditional methods with intuition and creativity for better decisions
o Analyze the situation and adjust to culture and organizational reward criteria
o Be aware of, and minimize, biases
Better Decisions
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Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence (EI) Defined
• Ability to recognize and understand emotions
• Using this awareness to manage yourself and relationships with others
Aristotle says,

“Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person
and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right
way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

4 Skills of Emotional Intelligence

EQ vs. Job Title

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EI Starts with Self-Awareness

• Ability to accurately perceive your own emotions
• Stay aware of your emotions as they happen
• Keep on top of how you tend to respond to specific situations and people

“The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none”

-Thomas Carlyle
Improving Self-Awareness
• Know Thyself
o See yourself for who you are (what do you think and feel)
o Watch your emotions like a hawk (even physiological signs)
• Track & backtrack your emotions in a difficult conversation or meeting – learn your tendencies in
emotionally arousing situations
• Use paired sharing (peer or supervisor)
• Own your actions – take full responsibility for what you say and do
Use Awareness to Self-Manage
Self-Management:
• Ability to use awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and positively direct your behavior
• Managing your emotional reactions to all situations and people

“The first and best victory is to conquer self”

Social Awareness:
• Ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people
• Understand what is really going on
• Understanding what other people are thinking and feeling even if you don’t feel the same way
Social Awareness Requires Empathy
Empathy is the ability to see the world from another’s point of view and to identify and understand another’s
situation, feelings and motives
Improving Social Awareness
• Spend extra time observing, asking & listening
• Maintain eye contact
• Give the speaker your full attention
• Playback and summarize
• Try on their shoes
• Suspend your judgment
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• Read body language

• Decipher emotions in speech tone
Relationship Management
• Ability to use awareness of your emotions and emotions of others to manage interactions successfully
• Ensure clear communication and effective handling of conflict

“People aren’t either wicked or noble. They’re like chef salads with good things
and bad things chopped up and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.”

-Lemony Snicket
Improving Relationship Management
• Seek to build high quality, high trust relationships
• Try to discover what role emotions are playing in your interactions with others
• If you sense tension or other emotional reactions in a person’s body language or speech, ask questions to
seek to understand
• Be quick to settle disputes, differences of opinion and misunderstandings
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What does EI have to do with ECP?

Individual & Organizational Performance

Organizational Engagement – Vital Signs

Trust
People have a sense of safety & assurance to share and go
beyond their comfort zones
Motivation
People feel energized and committed to doing more than the
minimum
Change
Employees and institutions are adaptable and innovative
Teamwork
People collaborate and communicate to take on challenges
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Execution
Individuals are both focused and accountable
Stakeholder Engagement

“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you
are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have
effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very
far.”

-Dr. Daniel Goleman

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Knowledge Management
Management
• Management is the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and
other organizational resources.
• The major functions of management are planning, controlling, organizing, leading and staffing.
Knowledge
• It is the availability of the data and information as per circumstances which needs to be capitalize for
appropriate decision
Conceptual Interpretation of Knowledge

KBV Vs RBV
• Resource-based view sees knowledge as a generic resource which to some extent can provide a
competitive advantage if, together with other resources, is expressed in skills and utilized strategically
• Proponents of the knowledge-based view argue that knowledge-based resources are hard to imitate,
are socially complex, immobile and heterogeneous and thus are major determinants of sustained
competitive advantage
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Generations of KM
1st Generation of KM
• Early days of reliable computing
• Availability of Data and information
• Simple to execute
• No formal system
2nd Generation of KM
• Appearance of IT, processes and procedures
• Dynamics
• Growth of technology for collaboration
• Complexity in plan and action
• Formal system
3rd Generation of KM
• Pervasive technology and social computing
• Production based on needs and requirements
• Organization flexibility to change plays an important role.
Types of Knowledge
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Spiral of Knowledge

Knowledge Management
Knowledge management in a specific business perspective is to attain relevant information which creates
relevant knowledge by appropriate management of following aspects:
• Data and information management
• People / employee management
• Societal management
• Competitive advantage management
Aspects of KM
There are following aspects of knowledge management:
Information
It came to us in scattered form and it should be managed
People
Due to variation, we can make positive use of knowledge
Pillars of KM
• People and cultural constraints
• Structure and knowledge availability
• Emotional pyramids
• Behavior dynamics
Classes of Knowledge
Result oriented approach in Knowledge
A knowledge require in business for the right solution of the problem at the right circumstances by the right
worker at the right time leads to appropriate results.
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Process oriented approach

It describes knowledge to make appropriate systems, units, processes and structures which leads to tangible
outcomes.
Technology Based approach
In this approach, the sufficient business intelligence, cultural intelligence, social intelligence and IT based
acquisition is required to create meaningful outcomes from a particular company.
How Knowledge is Produced
It can be produced through CC process;
• Create
• Capture
Create
To create knowledge there must be;
• Needs
• Demands
• Market information
• Creativity (Innovation)
Capture
To capture knowledge, we must have;
• To Gain it
• To accept it
• To develop an understanding
Knowledge Hiding
• Knowledge hiding is considered as intellectual attempts to conceal knowledge.
• It is considered as Dyadic exchange between two individuals / groups of individuals.
Knowledge hoarding:
Accumulate of knowledge for future outcomes but not explored in the required futuristic time.
Types of Knowledge Hiding
• Rational hiding
• Evasive
• Playing dumb