Analysis of Two Articles on Leadership of Businesses Essay

Sustainability from a strategic business perspective is the potential for the long-term well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities, as mutually beneficial interactions among nature and individuals, organizations, and business strategies. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). Business sustainably is often defined as managing the triple bottom line – a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. (Business sustainability definition from financial times lexicon, no date). This essay will discuss the idea of sustainability being an important element within a businesses and its core strategies and the importance of it within different businesses. Secondly, this study will look at how different stakeholders are affected and influenced by sustainability as this could be seen as a catalyst to improving the environment as a whole and. Then this study will look at how businesses not focusing

DesJardins, (2007) discusses that a new paradigm is needed to re-conceptualize how businesses practice. He further states that a large a large portion of the world lacks the basic rights of clean waters,

This being despite the recession of 2008, we are witnessing an increasingly cooperative and sophisticated international business working environment. While it faces scrutiny in congress currently, the agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty was reached in October, 2015; the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership treaty is also seemingly achievable with the revival of American economy in the near future. These new agreements will set up a worldwide business rule structure that will be fulfilled by many major economies. Within this new structure, businessmen and women will face ethical issues globally despite continuing cultural and regional factors still playing a big role within these issues and decisions being made. Learning and analyzing business ethical issues within the case competition will not only assist us to become global business leaders with a deep understanding of corporate social responsibilities but also prepare us to make better decisions for our

“Those of us alive today can choose to lead the most meaningful lives humans have ever led” is a famous quote from Lynne Twist. Today, our world and economy is thriving like never before. We live in a society that has incredible opportunities to change the world for the better. With the advancement in technology, knowledge, and resources, our economy in a place it has never seen before. According to Doug Levy’s presentation on Conscious Capitalism, Capitalism has been the major factor in ending poverty in our world. If current trends continue at the rate they do today, extreme poverty will be nearly eliminated over the next few decades. In the texts Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, The Art of Servant Leadership by Tony Baron, and the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility presented by Ed Ahnert, there is a co-existing relationship leading to successful business ethics however, these individual practices are particularly vital for the foundation of a company’s business model and the business operating philosophy.

Every organization in the world, regardless of its varying location geographically all have one thing in common. It is the fact that the core of every decision made, every policy that is written, every company for which they choose to support and do business, and every product or service offered follows the guidelines and beliefs for which the companies’ ethics and culture are built upon. It is not to say, however, that these ethical practices and cultural beliefs are definitive and widely accepted. But what it does suggest is that each individual operating in a business setting runs in to the chance that the ethical practices and established culture may conflict with ones very own personal beliefs. Therefore, determining which dilemma, if any, can be overlooked to the point of tolerance versus that of which is completely prejudicial is a decision that only the impacted individual may conclude.

We must change the focus of business ethics away from primary emphasis on Western ethics toward a deeper understanding of value systems that stem from different conceptions of human nature. We need to abandon the project of universalizing ethics along Western lines.

Ethics in a global concept is difficult to pinpoint because each country has its own culture. This culture can affect the government and the citizens, which in turn, affects the way businesses are managed. However, this can become a problem when companies become international. On the other hand, there are global common values that many countries possess that can help fair commerce across countries. These shared values come from the fact that many of the world’s religions share the same values. Therefore, “relative prosperity of developed economies seems implicitly to be taken as evidence of a sustainable form of free market capitalism that is supposed to be a universal economic destination” (Michaelson, 2010, p. 239). However, when a country does not share these values, or has a leader that does not it can become a major problem for

Hosmer suggests to managers that making decisions on an ethical or moral level that these social and cultural influences must be considered. It is also offered that human beings judge standards of behavior according to a implemented and modified criteria based on a set of adopted and adapted moral criteria, based on education, professional occupation, nationality, social class and religious affiliation and that it is not enough for a manager to just “reach a decision on what he or she believes to right and fair” to benefit some and harm others (Hosmer 2011,

Ethics in global banking and business today is imperative. According to Bill George, an author for Bloomberg Business, “To build a truly great, global business, business leaders need to adopt a global standard of ethical practices.” This sums up why global business leaders need to adopt ethical conduct. To be a success leader, and business, having ethical practices gives you a good standing in the world and a good reputation. When it comes down to it, companies who have not practiced ethical values have no survived as a company, or if they did survive, have a bad reputation and needed to recover tremendously.

Industries around the world, some more than other, have revenue and assets higher than the GDP of a number of nations. This makes them more powerful than those nations. These companies are run by Individuals who essentially make decisions on how the profit is made and how operations and activities are carried out. Their actions and decisions could potentially have an impact on a number of things, generally; the environment, national economies and even the lives of people somewhere on the globe. Making ethical decisions entails the decision maker(s) moral judgement about what is right and wrong and is carried out based on what they think is the right course of action. This may involve whiling away what could potentially increase a business’s yield financially but will also cause harm or pain for other stakeholder’s involved. This is why among many other reasons, ethics is very important for both the businesses and the society.

“It is important for leaders to tell a compelling and morally rich story, but ethical leaders must also embody and live the story. This is a difficult task in today’s business environment where everyone lives in a fishbowl—on public display. So many political leaders fail to embody the high-minded stories they tell at election time, and more recently, business leaders have become the focus of similar criticism through the revelations of numerous scandals and bad behaviours. CEOs in today’s corporations are really ethical role models for all of society.”

In this essay,I’m going to argue that leadership practices bring impacts on sustainable development in the post-bureaucratic era. World Commission on Economic Development(WCED) defines sustainable development as development that satisfies the needs in the present as well as in the future (Bansal 2005). Business is considered as an aspect of the society as a whole (Evans 1992) and it can be seen that the society is more concerned about ethics,law and regulations,thus a more sustainable management style is widely applied in the post-bureaucratic era. In the first section,I draw upon Cameron and Caza (2004),Mackey (2011),Bansal(2005) and Driscoll and Starik (2004) to present ideas on the contribution of different types of organizational

In a culture based on consumption and consumerism businesses are the forefront of society providing every good and service imaginable. Although, in today’s society there has been an increase in significant issues concerning the ecology of our planet that have come along with this consumer culture. With issues such a lack of clean water, lack of food, lack of energy and a rapid decline in biodiversity. This rapid decline in natural resources is due to mostly to the over consumption and alteration of the planet and its resources. Where do we start though in the process to protect and preserve our resources? It starts with the very businesses that we all buy from; a major part of our everyday lives and the largest consumers of resources businesses can play a large role in sustainability and climate action. Increasing pressure is being put on businesses to create a more sustainable society, this is being done through many business sustainable business efforts.

Establishing an ethically oriented, value-based culture in an organization requires engagement strategies at all levels. However, without leadership who values ethical behavior, and is noticeably committed, it can be difficult for an ethical culture to gain traction. After all the leaders at the frontlines of organizations make the most tangible difference in the value of products and services provided. A leader’s lack of dignity and negligence towards society is the leading cause of unethical behavior in an organization. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the value of ethical business leaders.

Business people today are more aware about the social and the environment impact of their business than in the past. They start taking into account activities in helping others and preserving the environment as a main part of their business model. Business is no longer solely aim for profit as they have much larger purpose than that. However, to achieve that purpose, the business people need the Government and NGOs to create strong synergy in achieving the desirable outcome.