Business Environments Issue 1 Ethics and Legal Environment - 2200 Words

Business Environments Issue 1: Ethics and Legal Environment (Research Paper Sample) Content: Business EnvironmentsNameInstitutionIssue 1: Ethics and Legal EnvironmentSince each department has to lay off one employee, it means that one out of the four considered employees in the Toy Ideation/Mockup Department should be considered. This presents an ethical dilemma that is hard to decide on since it presents right versus right scenarios. However, this can be resolved using Badaracco (2002) framework. This can be resolved using the four-question framework in which the decision maker asks all the four questions and gets the most appropriate responses for each. When answering the first question, the decision maker has to consider all the parties involved in the case as well as those who will win and who will lose (Van Buren, 2008). In this case, the parties involved to the case are the company employees, the four considered ones for lay off, the management, investors, supplies, and the customers.In order to remain in business, the company has to lay off one employe e from each department. The management from this department would be carrying out their management roles effectively if they lay off one employee as required but in the right manner. The customers, suppliers, and investors would win if the company remains in business and has the most skilled, experienced, and hardworking employees who would ensure success of the company. However, for the case of the four parties, they would win or lose based on the taken decision. The final decision taken would be to lay off one of the four employees.Laying off Ari who is in early 60s means that it would not be easy for him to get a job since he is nearing retirement age. However, he has a financially stable wife and since the couple does not have children, having him out of work does not mean that the two would not be able to financially support their needs. Laying him off would benefit the organization since he is one of the few highly paid employees and therefore would be a great saving for the c ompany. However, his experience, innovative skills, flexible character, and hardworking skills mean that he is a great asset to the company. Laying off Gloria would be a great torment to her. She is a single mother of two teenagers and in fact the current job is not enough to car for her financial obligations. Even though she is absent most of the times for spending sleepless nights working, her hard work, savvy character, and always on time on projects are great assets to the company. In order to benefit from her skills and experiences, it is advisable that she is promoted and her salary increased in order to benefit from her presence on work every time.Terry who is in her 20s shows great promise to the company. Even with her formal training in computer design techniques and animatronics, having attended a film school, and being a brilliant conceptualizer, her wicked sense of humor, immature and barbed remarks, and her refusal to work on some projects makes her the ideal candidate for lay off. There are rumors that she is considering switching companies. Even though this might not be true, her skills, experience, and age are good to help her get a new job. Laying her off would not be so destructive since she can easily get another job. Laying off Michelle is out of the question since his retirement arrangements are underway. Even she had outdated ideas, her active contribution help in improving the ideas of others. Her contribution in the past has been remarkable.In the second question, the decision maker would consider the people with rights that must absolutely be respected and thus cannot be violated. In this case, the rights to consider are age, financial obligations, and financial stability. When considering the aspect of age, it would be unethical or unacceptable to lay off employees who are nearing retirement since it would be impossible to get jobs in other organizations. Another aspect is that of financial obligation (Bragues, 2006). A good example i n this case is that of Gloria who has two teenagers to take care of and is even unable to cater for all her financial obligations despite the fact that she is taking more jobs during her off time. The last aspect to consider in terms of rights is that of financial stability. In this case, as the decision maker considers who to lay off, he should consider how hard life would be for the person who is laid off. Following this question, the best person to lay off would be Terry.Considering the third question that deals with the character of the decision maker, it would be possible to reason with the young employee after laying him off (Badaracco, 2002). It is even possible to help him get another job through referrals or by writing him an attractive recommendation letter. The last question explains the aspect of responsibility. In organizations, the managers have responsibilities that they have to fulfill. However, in some instances, they do not have to take the responsibilities seriou sly since they are required to act as human beings. The decision maker should therefor consider what would work in the world as it is. In this case, what works is what would not be taken as a great punishment by the victims. Since the manager has to lay off any employee, it has to be the most appropriate for lay off (Resick et al, 2011). The manager would behave as a human being if he helps the laid off employee to get another job.Following the framework by Professor Badaracco (2002) of consequences, rights, character, and pragmatism, the best decision would be to lay off Terry. This might be based on the rumor that she is looking for another job. Even if it happens that the rumor is only a mere assertion, laying her off would not be a great challenge to get into another company. At her age, with her skills, her experiences, and without any financial responsibilities, it is easy for Terry to have her problem fixed.Issue 2: Organizational EnvironmentBefore the recommendation, it is advisable that Cookie goes for the opportunity. This an opportunity that has helped many organizations go global. In fact, most of the current multinational corporations were started as family businesses and expanded when opportunities came up. As a result, this can be considered an opportunity of a lifetime for Cookie. It is notable that even with high quality and well-liked products, Cookie has not considered expanding in the past because of lack of the required resources, operational constraints, and the firms philosophy of serving fresh products. However, this does not mean that with expansion, the philosophy would be breached since it is possible to have the products produced in various points all over the world and distributed with sophisticated distribution channels. As a result, Cookie should consider this as a great opportunity and grab it.Nevertheless, when considering the opportunity, Cookie should put in mind a number of factors. The fact that Cookie does not know how to go about the implementation of the plan means that she is unqualified as a manager or leader of a large company. As a result, she should start by hiring a qualified manager who would take the small firm to the expected level. The next thing would be to consider the ethical dilemmas involved when operating across the border. As explained by Resick et al (2011), a leader should consider what ethical leadership means in different perspectives. While some employees in some countries would require active participation in the management, other would require passive participation by adhering closely to the directives and guidelines of the leader. Cookie needs to understand that by expanding her business, she will be operating with diverse customers and employees and this would mean different types of ethical dilemmas to deal with calling for an effective leadership style.Since Cookie is working with family members and close friends in her current business, it is assumed that most of them are not qualified and this is the reason they have not considered going global. This means that as the company expands to deal with a wide market share, Cookie should consider training her current employees in order to keep up with the standards in the global world. Before training, the employees should have specific responsibilities that they would undertake in the organization. This would help in matching the training content and programs with the training needs of the employees based on their assigned roles. This would help to avoid ethical dilemmas of laying off employees who have worked in the organization for long and as a result of their age and poor skills, are unable to secure jobs in other organizations.As the firm considers going global, Cookie should consider a more organized organizational structure. This is based on the assumption that by operating a ...