Personal reflective ( Critical perspectives in Global Management) Coursework

Personal reflective ( Critical perspectives in Global Management) - Coursework Example Volkswagen is a company that that had almost disappeared to obscurity in the early 1990s when Mr. Piech took over as the CEO, however through his leadership and management skills, the company has enjoyed sustained growth and development into the greatest European car manufacturer with expanded markets and a variety of products that respond to the needs of customers. The main issue here is that the former CEO Mr. Piech who has now retired upstairs to chair the supervisory board exhibited an authoritarian and autocratic form of leadership which is not characteristic of most modern organizations; as a result workers have little voice in the strategy and operations of the company. even though a new CEO in the shape of Mr. Bernd Pischetsieder has taken over, the main fear is that the former CEO has sufficient personal power to continue controlling most aspects of Volkwagen’s organization from outside, this raises fears of intransigence in terms of organizational operations. Obvious ly, most workers would like more space and ideological input in the operations of the company. ... Piech. It is clear that the former CEO appreciated discipline, authority, and unity of command with him being the major center of the last two. This indicates a distrust of other people’s leadership and a sense of authoritarianism. Max Weber’s bureaucracy also comes out clearly in the operations of Volkswagen with the former CEO appearing as a leader who ensured that every process and decision followed a clearly set path. This is clear in the fear that decision making will always be pushed upwards. Within the contingency theory, it is clear that Volkswagen under Peuch, was a company largely built around mechanistic structures characterized by centralization, strict division of labor, vertical communication, and low trust (Burns and Stalker, 1961). This is a system that current members of the organization fear will be continued under the new CEO, who has largely been groomed by the former CEO and that it will eventually be detrimental to the organization. There are a num ber of problems that can be identified in the Volkswagen case. The first and most clear of all is the problem around leadership and motivation. It is clear that although under the autocratic leadership of the former CEO the company flourished, many of the workers especially in the managerial level expected a new style of leadership synonymous with global trends that would afford them more input into the running of the company and its development to new heights. However, with the presence of the former CEO still looming large and the new CEO most likely to work under the guidance of Mr. Piech, distrust and lack of confidence has cropped up. This may affect morale and performance. On the face of it, the problem is intransigence, with organizational members having the feeling that things may

Personal Moral Compass & Vision Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Moral Compass & Vision Statement - Essay Example Back in the late 1990’s Nike, a corporation that was built on image and marketing to obtain tremendous brand value, lost a lot of customers due a sweetshop scandal. In this paper I will provide an assessment of my capabilities for ethical leadership and vision five years from now. Since a very young age I have always had very high moral standards. I believe it is important to do things the right way. In the marketing profession there are many challenges that a professional may face. There are ethical dilemmas such as choosing whether to target other competitors and aggressively discredit their practices in campaigns even when the claims may be half truths or irrelevant information. I believe do not believe that adverting people should use the competition as a point of basis of a campaign. Advertising should focus on highlighting the strengths of the firm or product. I think advertising campaigns such as the Dunking Donuts campaign that tells people that real friends donâ€℠¢t let their friends drink at Starbucks are unethical. I consider that my capabilities to make decisions using ethical leadership are outstanding. I have always considered the ethical implications my decisions in life and in business. I can improve my ethical understanding by taking structured seminars and continued education courses on the subject. In the past when I have been faced with tough ethical decisions I sometimes communicate the dilemma to friend or colleague in order to gain their opinion and input on the matter. Active listening skills are useful to evaluate the feedback from other people in order to make better informed decisions. Five years from now I plan to be working in a marketing department. At that time I will face ethical challenges on a recurrent basis. I potential challenge that I may face could involved deciding whether to expand the operations of the company into developing countries to raise profits with the consequence being lowering the jobs the firm cre ates in the United States. The options in this scenario are to expand into one or many foreign countries or to target growth exclusively in the domestic market. My ethical point of view on these types of business international matters is that it is the ethical responsibility of the company is to choose the alternative that maximizes shareholder’s wealth. Patriotism is a nice notion, but in business being close minded doesn’t lookout for the best interest of the firm. A good option to create balance would be to invest in the international option if is more profitable, to then in the future use those profits to diversify your operation and help the US economy by investing in new ventures in the United States. There are other important ethical decisions that I might face in 2016 as a professional in the workplace. A topic that is going to gain greater popularity in marketing circles in 2016 is corporate social responsibility. I have seen companies that are using innovativ e marketing programs to help out social causes. A few years ago Starbuck Cafe introduced a program that donated 5 cents out of every sale of certain beverages towards supporting AIDS programs in Africa. These types of programs at first glance might be seeing with hesitation by upper management because their perception might be that such a mandatory donation is an added cost that lowers the profitability of a product. Ethical leadership can have tremendous benefits. As a marketing professional it would be my duty to educate management over the value of such a