Ethical Culture Audit

Table of Contents Introduction Ethical Culture Systems Alignment Recommendations Conclusion Introduction The organizational culture is very important for the company as it enables the management to ensure that all employees are aligned to the culture and make decisions in accordance with the corporate policies concerning the behavior and norms of conduct. At the same time, weak ethical culture of the company contributes negatively to the company’s performance and employees’ commitment.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Ethical Culture Audit specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, weak alignment to corporate ethical culture may be beneficial for individuals due to unethical behavior as a part of such organizations that becomes an integral component of an individual’s behavior as far as he/she works there. The person I have interviewed is called Frances Jones (the name is changed as this p erson did not give her written consent so that I could openly present the information; so, it was agreed that I change her name and can proceed without altering information). Frances Jones worked for two years for the company American Airlines. Analyzing the interviewee’s report and the information available on the official website of the company, I found out that the company has a strong ethical culture system based on a combination of formal and informal characteristics. A more detailed analysis is introduced in the body of the report. Ethical Culture Systems The formal ethical culture system includes such concepts as executive leadership, selection system, policies and codes, orientation and training, performance management, authority structure, and decision processes. The informal ethical culture system consists of such components as role models or heroes, norms, rituals, myths or stories, and language. As such, the American Airlines company has no formal executive leader who would create or change the formal and informal ethical culture systems and the way they operate. However, absence of a formal executive leader does not give rise to the spread of unethical behavior in the company due to the strong alignment of the staff members to the ethical culture propagated in company. At the same time, there are no such components of the informal ethical culture system as role models/heroes. However, the rules of corporate behavior presuppose that in some cases employees should address their issues to supervisors or Chief Compliance Officer concerning the ethical behavior.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Selection system is anther formal element of the system which means that people are selected in a certain manner to meet the corporate ethical culture requirement. The main requirement of the company includes ability to act in accordance with the rules of ethical behavior and improve one’s skills in terms of operation in the company, effective performance of training procedures, and effective application of practices in operation. This practice supports ethical behavior in organization because employees are treated on the equal bases and have no special privileges. Norms is a component of the informal corporate ethical culture system. This element is not always based on the ethical behavior and does not always support ethical behavior. This is an example when norms can be ethical or unethical and support different types of behavior. In other words, the American Airlines have no norms that support unethical behavior because for each case of misconduct (unethical behavior) there is a punishment up to termination of the employment. The next component to be discussed for the American Airlines company is the policies/codes. There are a number of policies in this organization that enhance ethical behavior and contribute pos itively to the overall performance of employees and organization. The policies include training policy which presupposes that each employee should pass the training program to be able to work further; work environment policy that excludes any harassment (as well as sexual) in the workplace; data privacy policy that prevents leakage of information to competitors; hate-related conduct policy that stipulates the rules of behavior that should be in the framework of the company’s rules; bribes/illegal payment policy that prevents the staff members from being involved in such illegal issues. There is no evidence of rituals and their support for either ethical or unethical behavior. The training is a strong component of American Airlines’ corporate ethical culture which contributes greatly to the ethical actions taken by staff members in all levels.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Ethical Culture Audit specifically for you for only $16.05 $11 /page Learn More As such, employees and managers are encouraged to improve their performance after finishing their training which is recorded to keep the results about those efforts and report to supervisors or to mangers that are responsible for the training records policy. Besides, this element of the formal system is claimed to be one of the strongest components that support ethical behavior in the company. Myths and stories are integral parts of every company’s corporate culture. However, there is no evidence of stories created and maintained as a part of the corporate ethical image by leaders of the company. New-comers benefit from stories told by staff members and behave ethically due to the nature of those stories that dwell on the cases such as ‘what happens if’. Performance management is a part of formal corporate ethical culture system as it is aimed at improving the effectiveness of performance by a reward system. In other words, employe es should report about certain misconduct and unethical behavior by other employees of different structural levels. To ensure that no individual would be jeopardized by reporting about inappropriate behavior, anonymous reports were made possible for employees of the American Airlines company. The language of the staff members should be corresponding to their positions. For example, stewards and stewardesses are not allowed to behave unethically in terms of language when they are at work or wearing the uniform of the company. Besides, professional language presupposes that employees are polite with customers and can use different psychological techniques such as soothing tone to reassure the customers to calm down. This informal component of the ethical culture of the company is aimed at supporting ethical behavior of staff members. Authority structure is one of the strongest components of both formal and informal ethical culture systems because it enables managers and other staff me mbers for strict supervision. However, the employees of the American Airlines company are encouraged to use anonymous reports to inform executives about the inappropriate behavior and misconduct. In this respect, the authority structure is weak but it contributes greatly to the ethical behavior. Decision process is the last component of the formal ethical culture system to review. Thus, it supports ethical behavior through a number of rules enumerated in the guidelines of the company about ethical behavior of employees. As such, the guidelines offer employees to think thoroughly before making decisions and weigh up all pros and cons before doing something that can contribute negatively to the image of the company in some way.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Alignment Alignment is a process of behaving in the way a company requires it on a day-to-day basis without feeling restrained or being in conflict with supervisors, co-workers, and customers due to unethical behavior or the behavior which is not a part of the corporate ethical culture. In this respect, the company American Airlines has strong alignment in terms of formal and informal ethical culture systems developed and maintained within the organization. For instance, all employees follow the rules stipulated in policies because violation of those rules can result in termination of employment. As such, all employees are encouraged to report about the inappropriate behavior, especially if misconduct takes place as violation of the policy rules that stipulate the employees’ ethical behavior guidelines. Thus, though there is little evidence about some components of the formal ethical culture system, employees are aligned to this system in a clear way which contributes greatly to the effectiveness of performance of the company. Both formal and informal cultural systems are aligned to support ethical behavior because this behavior is the basis for effective performance. For example, customers would not use the services of the American Airlines company if they become witnesses of unethical behavior of the staff members. Moreover, customers’ loyalty is also developed due to the alignment of cultural systems to support ethical behavior. In this respect, the American Airlines company’s performance is designed in such a way that allows ordinary customers to report on certain misconduct and share their opinion about the performance of the company to enable customers. So, staff members conduct surveys to make sure that customers are satisfied with the company’s performance and would use its services the next time as well. Additionally, the surveys collected from customers can be considered another type of alignment that enables the company m onitor its staff’s performance and make adequate decisions to improve or reward it. As the alignment of the American Airlines of ethical culture is strong in both formal and informal systems, it can be considered a strong culture because it is designed to encourage employees behave ethically and no employee can behave unethically if others see him/her doing something inappropriate as the system of reporting is widely developed. Besides, authority structure seems to be misaligned in this company as it sends mixed messages. For instance, employees are encouraged to report about misconduct but if a supervisor is not the person you want to report to, you can use anonymous reporting options and tell about the problems without being potentially identified. In other words, the authority structure is clear but reporting is not conducted directly from one level to another but employees can skip levels and report directly to executives. Recommendations The culture can be improved to be more supportive for the ethical conduct by employees of the American Airlines company. For instance, it is necessary to make sure that all components of ethical cultural systems are supportive for the ethical behavior. As such, it is necessary to conduct recruitment with regard to the personal skills and inclinations of every applicant to make sure that he/she meets requirements of the company concerning ethical behavior and feels no stress being a part of the company and behaving in an ethical way within and outside the organization. Moreover, it is possible to introduce certain rituals that would encourage employees to behave ethically and feel emotionally comfortable with it. For example, it is possible to introduce certain meetings weekly or monthly so that employees shared thoughts about some new policies and their perception of changes. In addition, performance management can become stronger to ensure that performance of all employees is assessed in accordance with specific e valuation criteria and all employees are informed if some problems occur with their performance to have an opportunity to improve one’s skills. Conclusion The performance of each company depends on a number of factors that influence its reputation, financial performance, environmental safety, participation in charity and community’s activities as well as employees’ commitment. In this respect, it is necessary to infer from the information analyzed about the job hunting, future career, and future ethical leadership. So, it is important to know about the company’s corporate policies before applying for a job because a company may have strong selection system aimed at recruiting employees that have strong inclination for a particular type of work and specific personal skills and features that would be beneficial for this employee on specific position. Moreover, ethical culture of a company should not conflict with a person’s beliefs and values. For ex ample, if a corporate ethical culture is aimed at promoting the least ethically performing employees when a person is not able to conduct unethically, he/she would not get a promotion and would not be satisfied with the professional duties. On the other hand, a person that finds him-/herself in a corporate ethical culture that is not really ethical, he/she can begin behave unethically to fit the corporate standards. This report on Ethical Culture Audit was written and submitted by user Violet Bee to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

A Complete Guide to Writing a Marketing Essay

A Complete Guide to Writing a Marketing Essay If you go to college with an assumption that you’ve learned everything there is to learn about writing essays back in high school, then you are in for a nasty surprise. A college marketing essay is an entirely different beast from what you’ve been taught before. In high school, it was enough to rehash the relevant chapter from a textbook and â€Å"express your thoughts†. In college, nobody is interested either in textbook material or in your thoughts unless they are backed up by original research and, preferably, grounded in practice. In this guide we will cover, step by step, how to write a marketing essay you won’t have to rewrite half a dozen times to impress your professors. Choosing a Topic Marketing deals with current problems and issues, which means that you can earn bonus points with your professor or tutor if you find a topic that is relevant here and now instead of repeating the same generalities as everybody else. Here are a few ways to get ideas for a topic: Go to the Marketing section of Quora and take a look at what questions people are asking right now. Topics discussed there are not only current and interesting but often contain usable links to information sources and allow you to get in touch with specialists you can consult; Visit marketing websites like GrowthHackers or Social Media Examiner and see what’s trending; Look for marketing communities in social media, LinkedIn first of all; Read mass media sources like AdNews and AdWeek to spot the current trends; Brainstorming with mind mapping is a fun and surprisingly effective tactic. Write down the general idea of your topic in the middle of a page (it may be just â€Å"Marketing† for now) and start jotting down ideas all around it. Go for quantity, not quality, simply put on paper everything you come up with. Turn off your internal censor and don’t be afraid to write a bad idea – it will help to spur your creativity; Check if it is relevant for your course and you can find enough material on the topic before you commit to it; Narrow down your topic if necessary. Essays are relatively small assignments, not very well suited to discussing broad subjects. For example, â€Å"Social media marketing† is way too vague a topic. â€Å"Facebook marketing campaigns† is better. â€Å"Use of video in Facebook marketing campaigns† is better yet; Discuss the topic with your supervisor and ask if your choice is a good one. It can just as well be a step one – simply say that you want some advice. Your supervisor probably did it many times before and knows what would be the best course of action. However, before you proceed with writing, you should ask yourself a few questions: Do you have access to data relevant for your topic (market researches, consumer reports, current statistics, etc.)? Do you have contacts of people from whom you can get the necessary information? These are not always necessary but can give your essay extra credibility? Is your topic original? You probably won’t be able to find a topic that has never been touched upon before, but if it is something every other student writes about, you will have a hard time impressing your professors? Is your topic relevant? Is it important in today’s world? Can studying it be useful? If you need more specific ideas, consider these prompts – each of them can serve as a basis for a dozen original and interesting essays: Analyze a particularly imaginative and successful marketing campaign and discuss what makes it so; Analyze a marketing campaign that backfired spectacularly and discuss what mistakes were made and how they could have been avoided; Discuss the importance of taking local culture and realia into account when planning marketing campaigns for foreign markets and potential blunders that can result from failing to do so; Compare two marketing campaigns promoting similar products and point out their strong and weak suits; Discuss the reasons why viral marketing campaigns are so powerful and analyze some examples. Tips from Our Experts: Before You Start Writing Gathering Enough Information Just as with any other writing assignment, you start your job with gathering enough reliable sources of information to support your point of view and demonstrate that it is based on existing body of research, not just your own conjectures. In fact, it is best to do a bout of information before you settle down with a topic to make sure you will have enough material to work with. How many sources you need may vary – if it isn’t mentioned in the assignment you should consult your supervisor. Some students decide that the more the better – however, it isn’t always true. Using fifty sources to write a one-page essay is a bit excessive (and makes the professor doubt whether you really used all of them or simply added them to works cited page to make a better impression). General rule of a thumb is this: start with at least 3 sources and add one for each page after the first one. Also, consider the quality of the sources. Although marketing as a discipline is less conservative than, for example, psychology or physics, you still have to maintain certain standards. For example, blog posts aren’t usually considered to be a viable source of information. This, however, doesn’t mean that you cannot use online sources – you simply have to look for them using special academic search engines like Google Scholar. When choosing sources, follow these guidelines: Try to choose the most recent ones. Marketing is a volatile discipline that is subject to quick changes, and data that has been relevant five years ago may be hopelessly obsolete today; Prefer articles published by well-reputed magazines and universities. Irrespectively of their true value, they immediately add gravitas to your argument; Books and newspapers with good reputation are also suitable, although mass media in general are considered less valuable sources than proper academic materials, so don’t rely on them too much; Use a variety of sources without fixating on any one type in particular to make your research more well-rounded; Using case studies is a good idea in almost all situations. Any marketing assignment that uses data about real-life situations is going to be treated better than a purely theoretical work. Do Market Research In order to write most marketing essays you have to prepare at least a superficial market research related to your topic, even if you are dealing with a past case. Its details may vary, but most commonly you should do the following: Study the target demographic of the product or service you research. Before you do anything else, consider who its main intended consumer is. How does the company position the product? Is this positioning in alignment with how it is perceived by the public? Can this perception be changed with marketing methods? Do demographic research. Once you’ve formed your preliminary judgment, back it up with real research. Marketing reports are especially helpful when gathering this sort of info, but you shouldn’t forget about other sources: corporate websites and social media accounts, magazines and advertisements promoting the product. Document the trends trying to use as much objective facts and numerical data as possible. Support your conclusions with quotations from academic sources; Use input from psychology. Marketing isn’t the only discipline that studies advertisements and their influence. Psychology does so as well, and by looking at the subject from this unusual perspective, you can gain valuable insights into the situation: what psychological impact the ads in question have and how they can be altered. Writing Introduction and Thesis Statement Just like any other academic assignment, a marketing essay should start with a thesis statement – that is, the primary idea behind your writing, your viewpoint on the subject you are about to discuss and the purpose of your essay condensed to one or two sentences. Depending on the size of your essay, place thesis statement either in the introduction (in smaller assignments) or in the second paragraph (in larger ones). Be concise and straightforward and avoid vague expressions. However, don’t run the opposite extreme – phrases like â€Å"the topic of my essay is†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"the purpose of my essay† are fit for middle school, not college. You should formulate your thesis statement before writing anything else, as the entire essay revolves around it. If by the time you finish writing you feel that your perception of the subject changed, don’t hesitate to come back and alter it to suit the final variant of the essay better. Introduction per se serves a technical purpose – it should grasp the reader’s attention and lead him up to the thesis statement. Use anything that will cause the necessary effect. Here are some tips that will help you write a better introduction: Start with an interesting, probably unexpected fact about the industry in question (e.g., â€Å"Although there is twenty times as many consumers in the country as there are business buyers, the total volume of business market far surpasses that of that of consumer market†); Don’t repeat what you’ve said in the title. Better yet, use something seemingly completely unrelated to it; Keep it short. Introduction should lead the reader up to the main content, not replace it; Don’t forget to point out why your essay is important. Methodology Marketing is more concerned with provable facts and methods used to achieve the results and less with your personal thoughts and opinions on the subject. If you cannot prove that certain results are connected with certain factors, your opinion doesn’t mean much. That is why you should pay special attention to describing how you reached your conclusions: Where did you get your data? What methods did you use for data collection? What statistical procedures have you applied? How did you analyze your information? Why have you chosen this particular methodology (in case you had a viable alternative)? Body Paragraphs The number of body paragraphs, carrying the main content of the essay, can vary, but they are usually written following the same structure (sometimes called TEEL or TEECL): Topic sentence. Each paragraph should deal with a single idea or claim, and it is the job of the topic sentence to introduce it; Explanation. A few sentences to elaborate on the idea or claim in greater detail; Evidence. Back up the idea or claim with proof. This is where all your information sources come into play. Don’t forget that all sources should be cited using the academic style you’ve been assigned with; Comment. An optional yet very helpful part. Think about strong and weak points of your arguments and explain how your evidence supports your claim. Consider potential counter-arguments and answer to them preventatively; Link. Sum up the main idea of the paragraph, point out how it refers to the rest of your argument and why it is an important part of the bigger picture. Conclusion Marketing is all about practical application of knowledge and information, and it is not enough to just analyze the subject. That is why in conclusion in addition to summing up your argument and explaining the value of your research you are expected to offer your recommendations to solving the problem discussed in the main part. Post-Writing Activities Revision Ideally, you should set your essay aside for at least a day or two before revising it. Immediately after you’ve finished writing you are too used to your own words and sentence structures to notice most of the mistakes you’ve made. Better yet, have a trusted friend or a professional proofreader (or both) read your essay and point out all the errors they’ve noticed. However, this doesn’t replace a dedicated effort at proofreading on your own. Here are things you should pay attention to in addition to grammar and syntax: Eliminate any logical inconsistencies you find; Check if you answered all the questions you’ve asked. Make sure your answers are clear, comprehensible and unambiguous; See if you use unnecessarily long and complex words and sentence structures to make your writing appear more scientific. Remove them; Check if you follow â€Å"one paragraph – one idea† rule; Make sure you use passive voice only if it is absolutely necessary; Do you see any unnecessary words, sentences or even paragraphs? More isn’t always better, so if something isn’t needed to convey your thoughts, eliminate it without doubt. Style and Formatting When you are first given an essay to write you are assigned an academic style to use: APA, MLA or some other. You can find most information needed to successfully write an essay using one of them on websites like Purdue Owl. However, getting a relevant style guide is still a good idea. You will probably have most trouble with citations and bibliography page. If you have problems keeping in mind all the requirements in the style guide, consider using one of the websites generating citation entries based on your input. Conclusion Finally, a word to the wise. Don’t put writing off until the last possible moment – it always tends to take more time than you expect. If, however, you manage to finish the assignment a few days before the deadline, take a little break and then reread it carefully. If you find that you don’t like some parts of it, don’t hesitate to cut and rewrite – it may mean all the difference between a passing and a failing grade.

Wade & Wolf Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wade & Wolf Analysis - Essay Example Both Wolf and Wade focus on the impacts of globalization on the level of poverty and pay inequality in the world. Wolf is of the opinion that globalization has reduced poverty and pay inequality but Wade refutes Wolf’s statement. Wade doubts the creditability of sources upon which Wolf had based his judgment. â€Å"But recent research on where the Bank got the 1.2 billion suggests that the method for calculating the numbers is probably to understate the true numbers in poverty.† (Wade 440). Wade thinks the inequality in the field of income among countries is measured through an incorrect method. He mentions that household expenditure can aid in providing the correct picture about unequal income distribution. The difference in the household expenditure proves that the inequality in pay among various countries is on increase. He proves his stance by providing the statistics that bring forth disparity in wages. â€Å"Roughly 85 percent of world income goes to 20 percent o f the world’s population and 6 percent to 60 percent of the world’s population†. (Wade 441). He differs from Wolf’s view that globalization aids in the development of the country. But while looking at the inequalities in income distribution, Wade ignores the situation in China and India. And it is this attitude of Wade that Wolf refers to in his article; Wolf says that India and China with their enormous population cannot be overlooked while analyzing the changing trends in the field of poverty and income distribution. â€Å"But why would one want to exclude two countries that contained 60 percent of world’s poorest people two decades and still contain almost 40 percent of world’s population today?† (Wolf 442). Wolf contrasts with Wade when it comes to the contribution of India and China in narrowing the gap of inequality that has been prevailing in average income for countries all over