I am really amazed and shocked to know how poor of a leader I am when I started learning about the cognitive and emotional aspects of effective and inspirational leadership. I am in a leadership coaching class taught by Prof.Tom Roy and Mr.Scott Blessing from Inspired Leadesrhip Now, an executive coaching firm. I was ignorant of the emotional aspects of an individual’s personality and relied more on the cognitive abilities of what a person can accomplish. But now I understand why I’m a falling behind in my professional career. Though I am acquiring knowledge and becoming proficient and gaining competencies in numerous business areas, I still haven’t acted upon this knowledge. The learning I have made has had no impact on my personal or professional life. After having learnt about the facets of emotional intelligence, I have realized that there is a need to do a thorough introspection of myself before I can lead others.  All the knowledge I acquired through my five years at GWU, having an MSPM degree, a PMP certification and the current pursuit of a MBA, has not brought about a change in my actions, behavior or performance.

The reason being my inability to embody that learned knowledge. I was able to confirm this gap when I read about embodied learning from Strozzi Institute, a school dedicated to empowering leaders who embody pragmatic wisdom, skillful action and grounded compassion. I sometimes feel that the instant semester based learning, missioned to churn out business coursework does not instill any long-lasting memory of the learning done. It does provide an individual a firm footing to understand the intricacies of setting up, running and effectively managing a business. But to be an exemplary leader, be able to navigate the company through uncertain and difficult times requires an embodied presence of body, mind and spirit. It is the rigorous training and practice to understand the inner self (self-awareness, emotions and moods) and embodying such skills that will lead to purposeful actions and motivates people to achieve greater results. I strongly believe that an emotionally intelligent leader clearly has a distinct style which sets him apart from others. Going forward, I would like to embody any critical knowledge that I will gain through rigorous practice and transform them for the greater benefit of achieving excellent results. I plan to regularly follow weekly practice of self-awareness, self-control and embodiment to discover my inner self and leverage them in a positive way. I hope this approach will contribute to my self-transformation into a more effective individual and help me realize my professional objectives.

With all that is happening throughout the world in general and the economic crisis that is engulfing our nation in particular, this paper has provided me the opportunity to reflect on my ethics. Values and ethics are a part of our everyday lives. We wake up to these values and beliefs each day as they are the “rules” that govern us. Ethics is not just about morality; it is a complex dimension of personal and corporate life that can lead to higher performance by both business and society. All of us, especially those in the business world, need to make immediate decisions. The choices we make need to be driven by our ethics.

I was able to explore the standard ethical principles that I have learned from religions, work, family, role models, experiences, school and professional organizations, pick the most applicable ones, refine and polish them according to my conscience. But I can still point to several specific instances of poor ethics where I clearly made the wrong call.

Individual experiences of values and beliefs stem from the personal point of view, a cultural perspective all the way to an organization perception. Morals also relate to values and beliefs in that they help us determine what is right or wrong and how we as individuals should behave.

Creating a personal code of ethics is essential to clarify ethical thought, make us more aware of common ethical challenges and useful distinctions, to teach skills for dealing with them, and to apply the skills and improve ethical behavior. I was able to see many aspects of my own life that I could reexamine in light of my own personal ethics. This paper helped me recalibrate my moral compass. It has helped me construct and confront those what-if situations, and to develop a framework for approaching real ethical dilemmas. It helped me evaluate my own personal value systems, both religious and secular, as well as the worthiness of role models. By integrating the code of ethics in our personal life and thinking, we have the same ingrained in our way of working.

Habits develop through repeated actions, and actions derive from thoughts. Habits are the bricks from which we build character, and our character determines our destiny. By compromising one’s ethical principles does have real consequences that are only magnified when we fail to live up to our own ethical standards we hurt not only others but also ourselves. Further, we undermine our ability to act ethically in the future.

Code of Personal Ethics

I have created the ethical code based on the utilitarian and consequence-based ethical frameworks to be used to guide my behavior in life and business. Ethical decision making becomes complicated in certain situations and requires a rational approach with trade-off between action-based and consequence-based ethics. My objective has been to create an ethical framework model against a back drop of competing interests. As I continue to test these tenets against time and experience, I will continue to refine the guidelines and examples below. For the most part this code of ethics relates to my career in the computer and technology field and the rationale is self-explanatory. This code of ethics has been in part been adopted from the “ACM Code of Ethics[1]” and the “IEEE Code of Professional Ethics.[2]”.

I. TRUTH TELLING

I will strive always to be honest, straightforward, and frank with those around me.

I will respect the rights of other people to form their own opinions and decisions based on facts they gather from me or from other sources. I will not manipulate these outcomes.

I will strive to communicate with others in a way that enables and empowers them to make informed decisions.

I will strive to tell complete truths when situations are immediately relevant to those around me.

Example: If any of the projects I am managing is delayed and had cost overruns, I immediately notify the stakeholders of the project and provide them valid reasoning. I will never hide or conceal truth from the stakeholders.

I will not deliberately withhold relevant information from a person when it is immediately relevant to him/her.

I will not withhold part of the truth in order to personally profit from other’s ignorance.

I will not lie to anyone based on past breaches of my trust.

I will not make promises I do not intend to keep or am not capable of keeping. I shall consider all verbal promises like contracts and abide by them.

In situations where I am unable to keep my promise, I will proactively notify other parties to the promise of what they can truly expect.

I will maintain confidentiality when I have committed to doing so, except in situations where keeping information secret jeopardizes the life or safety of another person.

I will not promise confidentiality in situations where I know the law requires me to divulge information.

I will exercise caution when engaging in games of partial truth.

I will not knowingly profit from the ignorance of others.

I shall not cheat in any setting (academic or business). When faced with an unfair situation where others are cheating, I will not stoop to their level by also cheating.

I will strive to use language that is accurate, precise, and appropriate.

I will avoid intentionally misleading through rhetoric, whether or not my statements are technically true.

I will not distort the magnitude of any truth, mistruth or event.

In situations where I am not capable of discerning the truth, I will strive to present all sides of the story without bias.

I will be more judgmental and tolerant towards others.

I will respect other’s property.

I will respect other people’s cultures, traditions, practices and religions.

II. KILLING, HARM, PREVENTING HARM

I will not initiate harm or physical violence toward others. In a dire case of self-defense, I will use no more force than absolutely necessary to escape the situation.

I will not use force or commit any violet act except in cases where it is absolutely critical for self-defense.

I shall stop bullies who are bullying someone, even if I don’t know them.

I will not drink and drive, park in fire lanes, or operate vehicles unless I am completely aware of my surroundings, and well equipped to drive.

I will not kill animals for sport.

I will approve of animal testing if the objective of the experiment would serve the greater good of society.

I will not approve of animal testing for consumer products that do not improve the quality of life.

I am against wearing clothes made of animal skin.

I will not unnecessarily impose risk on others unless it is deemed that the benefits outweigh the costs involved.

I shall not assist in suicide.

III. STEALING

I will not steal anything that is rightfully owned by someone else, unless I am taking it away to avoid harmful effects.

I will not take advantage of generosity or autonomy offered by my employer.

I will not embezzle.

I will not take advantage of trust or ignorance of customers or others, either for my benefit or for that of my employer.

I will strive in every case to give credit to others where credit is due.

I will plagiarize or exploit the intellectual property of others in own work.

I will make attempts when possible to return items for which I was not charged, or for which I was charged incorrectly.

I do not consider piracy a theft from an ethical point of view. I do not think downloading music or movies from the internet or buying cheap books is “stealing”. The argument stems from my financial inability to purchase legal music due to high price. From a cultural point of view, piracy is not considered unethical in our society.

IV. REPRODUCTIVE ISSUES

I do not believe stem cell research is unethical. I would use the benefits of such research or fund such research.

I do not oppose abortions as long as those decisions are justified with valid reasoning.

I will not engage in romantic relationships with individuals who are in committed relationships with others.

V. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

I will strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work.

I will not work for a company whose products will likely be used in a manner that will conflict with my ethical values.

I will not exploit a professional situation for personal gain.

I will not misreport or misinterpret data to support or oppose any person’s point of view. If I am aware of misrepresentation of facts or data, I will speak up and address my concerns to my superiors.

I will not steal or embezzle from my employer, nor will I steal or embezzle on behalf of my employer.

I will not conceal or assist in concealing illegal behavior in the workplace.

I will not create incentives for others to act unethically.

I will never misreport hours worked.

I will not make personal phone calls, check personal e-mail, or surf on the web at the expense of company time.

I will strive to respect ethical sensitivities and trust my instincts when entering proximity to unethical behavior.

I will work to avoid situations of ethical sensitivity where I cannot discern a workable means for personally influencing change and improvement.

I will work to keep a fresh perspective in companies where questionable practices occur, and will speak out in favor of reform wherever possible and appropriate.

Communication

I will return client telephone calls within one business day, or have someone on my staff return them.

I will send clients copies of all correspondences and keep them immediately apprised of all significant developments in their matters.

Courtesy

I will treat my clients’ time as being as valuable as my own.

I will keep appointments on time.

Cooperation

I will use technology to work efficiently and keep client fees down.

I will look for solutions that will optimize results at the minimum fee to the client.

Commitment

I set realistic deadlines and meet them.

I hire sufficient highly competent staff members to assure client work is performed timely.

I will call and inform clients before a deadline to inform them when circumstances prevent me from meeting the deadline. At that time I set a new deadline.

I’m not motivated much by money so greed hasn’t been a big thing with me ever.

I will respect laws pertaining to professional work.

I will access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.

Example: In spite of having access to most systems at the university. I never cross my ethical lines and access data for some malicious purpose. Even though the mention of unlimited access is tempting, I have never any compromised any person’s data.

Competence

I will establish mentor relationships with knowledgeable people to enhance my skills and information.

I will strive to improve public understanding of computing and its consequences.

When given the responsibility for a group, I should promote good principles among the group

Caring

I will listen empathetically and consider feelings as well as facts in the advice I give.

I will take a personal interest in my clients’ well being.

VI. SPECIAL TREATMENT OR FAVORITISM

I will strive to treat everyone as I wish to be treated

I will not abstain from influencing hiring processes in which my friends or loved ones are competing.

Example: There were occasions when open positions were being filled in my group and I received resumes from some of friends for the same. I never showed any bias towards them and in most cases ended up hiring external candidates.

I will be honest and complete in all recommendation letters and interviews, regardless of personal relationships.

I will support any affirmative action as long as they provide enough opportunities for other groups.

VII. BRIBERY

I will not bribe when I am giving incentive for a person to do an action that is against his or her moral inclinations or would negatively impact someone else’s opportunity.

I will not accept a bribe ever.

VIII. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

I will take active part in any campaign to create awareness about environment and our responsibility in preserving it.

I will support and fund projects which will reduce green house emissions, air and water pollution, forest conservation and protect endangered species.

I will support any green initiative undertaken to reduce depletion of natural resources.

I will propose and support plans for use of alternative sources of energy.

I will conserve energy at workplace and recycle waste at workplace.

I firmly believe and will always strive to abide by my personal ethical code, regardless of other’s action. I will not, under any circumstances be willing to violate any tenet of my ethical code of conduct.

Organizational Ethics

Ethical decision making in today’s business world is encountered on a daily basis. Many of the results of decisions are based on company policies or ground rules established. A business, in order to reach ethical congruence, an alignment of an organization’s stated values, the decisions of its leaders, the behaviors that are encouraged by its systems and the values of its employees must clearly state what it truly values. Customers, employees and business partners seek predictable corporate behavior that is aligned with stated personal, workplace and democratic values. Ethical decision making in today’s business world is encountered on a daily basis. Many of the results of decisions are based on company policies or ground rules established. I am currently an employee of George Washington University working as an Analyst within Information Systems Services.

The GWU Standards of Ethical conduct is a statement of GWU’s belief in ethical, legal and professional behavior in all of employee’s dealings inside and outside the University. The purpose of policies is to provide vision and inspiration to the entire University, and to ensure that the University is in compliance with all local, state and federal laws that govern our activities as individuals and as representatives of the University. The Statement of ethical conduct comprises of the following values:

• Integrity
• Excellence
• Accountability
• Respect

In summary most of the policies set by the university deal with ethical values of

Fair Dealing

Individual Responsibility and Accountability

Respect for Others

Compliance with Applicable Laws, Regulations, University Policies, Procedures and Other Forms of Guidance

Conflicts of Interest or Commitment

Ethical Conduct of Research

Records: Confidentiality/ Privacy and Access

Internal Controls

Use of University Resources

Financial Reporting

Reporting Violations and Protection from Retaliation

Most of personal ethics coincide with the organizational ethics except for a few prominent ethical issues (abortion, environment, health issues etc.) on which the university cannot take a stand based on its non-profit status. There are some organizational ethics missing such as internal controls, ethics training, lack of organizational oversight and policy enforcement. Otherwise the principles of honesty, truthfulness, fairness, accountability and integrity are shared in common .The ethical policies of GW University are broadly classified into nine categories based on the business functions. These categories include:

1. ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND FACULTY

1. Appointment and Employment of Foreign Nationals
2. Approval of Academic Agreements Policy
3. Consulting and Other Professional Activities
4. Overloads
5. [+] Patent and Copyright
6. Researchers on Teaching Appointments
7. Teaching Summer Sessions

2. FINANCE

1. [+] Accounting and Budget Responsibility
2. [+] Contract Management
3. [+] Disbursement
4. [+] Gift/Endowment Management
5. [+] Payroll Management
6. [+] Procurement
7. [+] Tax Management and Reporting
8. [+] Travel

3. HUMAN RESOURCES

1. [+] Employee Information
2. [+] Employee Leave Policy
3. [+] Equal Employment Opportunity
4. [+] Immigration and Visa Related Policies (Student Services)
5. Legal Representation of Faculty and Staff (Organizational Governance and Administration)
6. [+] Recruiting and Hiring Employees
7. [+] Termination of Employment
8. [+] Work Standards and Conduct
9. Workers’ Compensation Policy (Public Safety and Risk Management)

4. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

1. [+] Communications
2. Data Classification Security Policy
3. Information Security Policy
4. Mobile Device Security Policy
5. Security Breaches Involving Confidential Personal Information
6. [-] Use of Information Technology
   1. Acquisition of Hardware and Software
   2. [+] Code of Conduct for Users of Computing Systems and Services
   3. Network Usage and Security Policy
   4. [+] Application and System Access Policy

5. ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

1. [+] Audit
2. [+] Authorization and Approval Levels
3. [+] Code of Conduct
4. [+] Communications
5. [+] Conflict of Interest
6. [+] Document Retention and Storage
7. [+] Emergency Management
8. [+] Facilities Management
9. [+] Information Management
10. [+] Legal Matters
11. [+] Privacy

6. PUBLIC SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT

1. [+] Environmental Health
2. [+] Fire Safety
3. [+] General Safety Policy
4. [+] Hazardous Materials
5. [+] Insurance Management
6. [+] Lab Safety and Research
7. [+] Occupational Safety

7. RESEARCH

1. [+] Compliance
2. [+] Cost Sharing
3. [+] Cost Transfer
4. Direct Charging of Administrative Costs Associated with Sponsored Projects
5. Effort Certification Policy
6. [+] Research Administration
7. [+] Research Integrity

8. STUDENT SERVICES

1. Alcoholic Beverage Consumption and Distribution Policy
2. [+] Guide to Student Rights and Responsibilities
3. [+] Health Services
4. [+] Management of Student Information
5. On-Campus Parking Restrictions Policy
6. [+] Residential Community Conduct Guidelines
7. [+] Security on Campus
8. Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures (Human Resources, Organizational Governance and Administration)
9. Smoking Policy (Human Resources and Public Safety and Risk Management)
10. [+] Student Accounts
11. Student Employment

8. UNIVERSITY GUIDES AND MANUALS

1. Athletics & Recreation: Colonials Compliance
2. Employee Compliance Guide
3. Employee Handbook
4. Faculty Code
5. Faculty Handbook
6. Guide to Student Rights and Responsibilities
7. Health and Safety Manual (GWUMC)
8. Athletics & Recreation: NCAA Rules for Alumni, Faculty and Friends
9. OCRO Handbook for Sponsored Programs
10. Residential Community Conduct Guidelines
11. Online Guide for Supervisors at GW
12. Regulatory Compliance Help & Referral Line Brochure
13. Statement of Ethical Principles
14. Athletics & Recreation: Student-Athlete Handbook
15. Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
16. Incident Planning, Response, and Recovery Manual

Credit: HR – www.gwu.edu

Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace

Personal values may conflict with ethical decision making if those personal values are different than the organizational norms of the business or institution. Constructing, and maintaining personal ethics in the workplace rests with the individual, and how willing he or she is in assimilating to the evolving cultural dynamic of the corporate world. Many times a person find their personal, cultural and/or organizational ethics conflicting and must reconcile a course of action that will mitigate cognitive dissonance. In order to be a productive member of society, in small groups and globally, one must reconcile these conflicts on a daily basis and continually move forward while maintaining personal integrity and balance.
Ethics are thought of by many people as something that is related to the private side of life and not to the business side. In many businesses, having ethics is frowned upon or thought of as a negative subject. This is because business is usually about doing what’s best for number one, not about what’s really the right thing to do. Ethical conduct is influenced by moral intensity, ethical sensitivity and situational influences. Since behaviour depends not just on motivation, but also on ability, role perceptions and situational contingencies.

Since ethical problems involve making value judgements, making an ethical decision is difficult due to the ethical dilemma of subordinating one or more of our values. Problems arise when employee’s personal values are misaligned with company’s values resulting in decisions that conflict with organisational goals and employees experience higher levels of stress and turnover.

In this  paper I will focus on some ethical issues at workplace that illustrate how possessing good ethics can have a positive effect in the workplace, and how the inverse can have a negative impact. These cases are real life situations dealing with ethical dilemmas that I encountered in my past 10 years of employment at various organizations.

I addressed most of these situations by asking the following questions:

• What are the options?
• What are the issues?
• What are the consequences?
• What is the right thing to do?

I have not revealed the names of the companies with whom I worked in the past because of confidentiality reasons.

Ethical Issue 1:

After joining a consulting company in 2002, I discovered that other, more senior employees were overstating their travel reimbursements to increase their pay packages. They encouraged me to do the same so that I will be part of the unethical process and the group would have no complaints from me.

Some of these unfair practices include:

• Taking the maximum daily meal allowance
• Meal reimbursement even though meals were provided as part of cost of event
• Purchase airline tickets from a carrier that offers free miles even though the fare might be higher than another carrier

The Solution:

In coming to a decision, I had to consider my loyalty to co-workers, fidelity to the company, and honesty. Not all of these values can be upheld, one or more must be violated in order to reach a decision. Since I strongly believe and lead my life on the basis of ethical principles, I made a decision not to falsify travel expenses and indulge in unfair practices. I brought this matter to the immediate attention of the management. The management conducted an inquiry and responded with a strict company policy with effective internal controls to prevent any such future abuse by the consultants. Had I violated the tenets of my ethical code, it would have engrained the seeds of unethical habits and I would have become habituated to violating most aspects of my ethical framework.

Consequences:

I did not compromise on my personal ethics of being truthful and honest, but strained my relationship with fellow employees.

Management overhauled with expense reporting procedures, imposed stiff internal controls and took disciplinary action against some employees. The company started providing free education to employees on ethical decision making to foster an overall ethical climate. All employees were able to recognize and discuss ethics and ethical dilemmas in the company.

There is no disconnect between what the organization did and what my personal ethics demanded. The company was able to reinstate trust and confidence among employees and restored a sense of ethical accomplishment in me.

Ethical Issue 2:

After taking job as a project manager with a consulting firm in 2004, I faced a very difficult ethical situation with my employer. The web application we were building for the client had serious design flaws and if deployed to production would cause major operational problems and severe financial damage to the client. In spite of knowing this, my company decided to go ahead and release it for production. I was instructed to not reveal any flaws in the system and instead paint a picture that the product had undergone rigorous quality checks and was production worthy.

This decision was in direct conflict with my ethical values. I brought this matter to the immediate attention of the client since it violated contractual terms and my professional ethics. Being a certified project manager, I have to abide by the code of conduct from the Project Management Institute. Turn a blind eye to evil, and you may not be an accomplice. But you’re an enabler. Regardless of how the decision impacts, I cannot compromise my principles. I’d rather make personal sacrifices to my lifestyle than act unethically.

The Solution:

After repeated attempts to convince my company, I ended up disclosing the serious flaws prevalent in the web application to the client. The client immediately responded with a thorough review of the application development process, forced our company to fix the design issues and perform joint integration testing with the client. Even though the experience initially was uncomfortable to the company, by complying with the client requirements, the project was extended and contract agreement was renewed. We often make small ethical compromises for “good” reasons: We lie to a customer because our boss asked us to.  By relying on my moral principles, I prevented our company from ending up having a sour business relationship with the client.

Ethical Dissonance

In this particular case, my ethical principles were in conflict with the organization’s policy. My decision was based my own value system rather than on the organizational norm. Instead of opposing my opinion, the company should have addressed this issue on ethical terms and changed the way it does business in this situation. Minor ethical lapses can seem harmless, but they instill in us a hard-to-break habit of distorted thinking. Ethical decision making is the foundation for any sustainable business that will help realize the best values present in employees and transform business relationships.

Ethical Issue 3:

This case deals with the ethical dilemma I am facing at my current workplace. My work life and personal life are out of balance resulting in high stress. Apart from sharing time between work and family, I try to squeeze in time for completing coursework for the business classes I take each semester. Due to severe time restraints, sometimes I end up having to finish my homework during office hours using company time. This unethical behavior on my part has brought me into a conflict with the workplace ethics stipulated by the university. Ethical decisions in the workplace can be very difficult to make depending on the situation. Sometimes we must rely on our personal ethics and what is in the best interest of the group or of the individual. I am slowly developing this habit for distorted thinking. I am in conflict with my inner conscience but my situational context is forcing me to violate my own ethical values. I fall victim to the temptations and pressures of situations.

This conflict of interest situation has evoked a strong negative response from my manager.

The Solution:

A strategy of eliminating the chance for this conflict is simple communication. I approached my manager with honesty and explained him my situation and the conflict of interest. I raised the wok-life balance issue and the tradeoff between work and academic coursework. The manager was impressed with my ethical approach and he agreed to allow me to work late hours to catch up with the lost time utilized for completing course homework. I have been granted flexible hours to work and as long as the assigned job is finished on time, the management sees no issues.

Ethical Dissonance

I had a disconnect between my personal ethics and organizational

Listed below are some common unethical behaviors observed in university environments:

Conflict of Interest

• Personal gain or gain for friend/relative
• Accepting gifts from vendors
• Hiring friend/relative as an employee or contractor
• Purchase personal software using university contract (for discounts)

Personal Use of Goods and Services

• Office supply cabinets
• University equipment/vehicles
• Computing resources

Personal Use of Staff

• Asking clerical assistance for external committee involvement
• Asking someone to order flowers for a friend
• Asking someone to make personal travel arrangements while they are making business travel arrangements

Hiring/Staffing Practices

• Falsifying hours worked, timekeeping
• Allowing a limited appointment FTE to work even though their paperwork has not been formally processed/approved
• Misrepresenting work performance on performance evaluation
• Not communicating work performance issues to employee

Credit: controller – www.ucsb.edu

Violations of ethics at workplace can mean a lot to the university. Listed below are some consequences of such violations:

• Loss of public trust i.e. stakeholders including taxpayers, donors, funding agencies, parents & students
• Damage to public image and reputation
• Loss of funding
• Diminished perception of department or organization
• Threat of criminal or civil investigation

Some additional issues of workplace ethical violations at GWU can be found from the links below:

1. Former professor pleads guilty to embezzlement

Bedewi, who headed GW’s National Crash Analysis Center until June, stood

accused of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into a private company he

part-owned. He is also suspected of using that money to pay for Washington

Redskins tickets, a car and a Florida condominium.

http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2005/04/18/CampusNews/Former.Professor.Pleads.Guilty.To.Embezzlement-927812.shtml

2. Software Company sues University

The University contracted Richmar and Associates, a D.C.-based company, in early 2006 to create a code that would facilitate the virtual storage and retrieval of important, often confidential documents, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. After paying Richmar more than $1.5 million for the code and document scanning, the University withheld funds for the final services, claiming the software did not operate properly, the lawsuit states.

http://www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2007/09/06/News/Software.Company.Sues.University-2953570.shtml

Conclusion

Ethical decision making provides opportunities to most affect our own happiness and to have the most positive effect on those around us and achieve the peace and happiness that are so threatened in these tumultuous, ethically-challenged times. Above all, a high level of ethics in your business should be in place at least for the customers. If anything, it is the customer that should be considered the most when it comes to ethical business practices. In the long run, a company will reap great profits from a customer base that feels it is being treated fairly and truthfully.

James McNerney, CEO Boeing Inc., – An Assessment of Emotional Intelligence

W. James McNerney, the current CEO of Boeing Co. is noted for his relationship building leadership style. He embraced the people and culture of the companies he had led and strived to win the hearts and minds of employees with a clear vision of future success. On careful examination of Mr. McNerney’s leadership success, we understand how the emotional dimension of leadership, Primal leadership plays a vital role in articulating positive messages that resonate with follower’s emotional reality which is then used to move people in a positive direction to achieve desired business results. His command and connect leadership style owes a lot in common with the four domains of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-mastery of emotion, social awareness and relationship management. These domains have inter-dependence – self-awareness is fundamental for both self-management and social awareness. And social awareness and self-management in tandem are the building blocks of relationship management.

Self-awareness

A highly accomplished executive, McNerney has great self-confidence, works intuitively to address problems and challenges himself to difficult tasks. McNerney understands his limitations when he starts working in industries in which he has no prior exposure. He would first talk to employees, understand the business, processes and people.  He has great work ethics and well aware of his personal emotions and its impact on behavior and performance. McNerney is open about constructive criticism and always willing to learn and seek help from others.

Self-management

Being achievement oriented, McNerney recognizes the importance of intellectual and emotional capital of people and solicits product ideas consensually and harnesses positive behaviors to boost productivity, employee morale and corporate profits. Employees at 3M and Boeing had sound trust and faith in him because of his transparency – honesty, integrity and respect for everyone irrespective of their role in the organization. Even during crisis situations especially at Boeing, McNerney focused on Boeing as a world-class competitor, did not lose his temperament and made judgment calls ethically. As a keen initiator, he would seize opportunities, fix problems instantly and adapts to changing situations. To meet inner standards of excellence, McNerney adopted lean operations, quality processes such as six sigma, trained employees and created opportunities for professional advancement. By defining leadership attributes and delegating attribute ownership to individuals, expectations are raised and in consequence, people deliver results acting with integrity.

Social awareness

As a networker, McNerney built relationships with leaders and inside the organization to get insights into business problems. With deep rooted values, McNerney created a culture that values ethics and compliance. People are empowered to openly discuss ethical matters at all levels and violations are addressed immediately. Corporate social responsibility is regarded highly at Boeing and policies and procedures are implemented which protect the environment. He understands the competitive landscape and accordingly crafts strategies to overcome competition.

Relationship management

As a change catalyst, he would tap into the innate desire of employees to improve and remove barriers that inhibit their growth. He realized that business success cannot be realized without the cooperation from motivated employees. He is instrumental in defining positive behaviors, team-building and co-operation, nurturing and mentoring potential high performing employees and removes barriers that inhibit cooperation. Linking pay to performance, people exercise cost control and eliminate manipulative spending behaviors. By fostering collaboration and expressing the need for customer focus, McNerney is able to build efficient products for the company. He would always convey the business mission and goals and make employees feel valuable in the whole process. He built long-lasting productive relationships with suppliers to eliminate disruptions in production. Any organizational change is introduced with buy-in from all concerned employees and there is no autocratic enforcement. Feedback and guidance are part of employee evaluation that reinforces management’s commitment to further employee growth. Communication is from bottom up and all levels of employees are encouraged to participate in this process.

McNerney is passionate, inspiring, highly motivating and draws strength from strong values to lead emotionally. He is a change agent, honest, trustworthy and respectful of people’s emotions, highly flexible, frank, open and informal. It is these personal and social competencies that made Mr.McNerney a great inspirational leader.

I had the exciting opportunity to interview an intelligent, highly successful technology entrepreneur in Northern Virginia. Listed below are excerpts from the interview, briefly presented as a summary. In respect of privacy, the identity of the individual concerned is not revealed.

Entrepeneur Interview

“Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.” -Stephen Covey

It was this strong belief that turned an aspiring technology professional into a successful entrepreneur. An excellent example of the seamless execution of these elements of entrepreneurial success is Mr. XYZ, the president & CEO of XYZ Inc.(http://www.xyz.com), a provider of full range of professional IT services from custom software development, to quality assurance to project management. His company is listed as one of the top small business enterprise in Northern Virginia employing over 140 consultants. He has over 10 years of experience in engineering, finance, sales, data warehousing and offshore outsourcing. He is one of the active members of the local chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a non-profit organization focused on generating and nurturing next generation of Indian entrepreneurs.

Mr.XYZ earned his BS in business administration from University of Minnesota and holds a PMP certification from Project Management Institute. His entrepreneurial passion took roots when he started helping his father, a reputed attorney in his home state of Tamil Nadu, India run his business. As an apprentice, he transformed an ailing law practice into a successful business, leveraged the use of information technology and re-structured the law practice. These early accomplishments had a huge influence on his successful career later on.

Mr. XYZ is highly ambitious, well organized, meticulous and educated risk taker characterized by passion, perseverance and persistence. His definition of entrepreneurship was the identification and transformation of a business opportunity into a viable business with self-sustenance. After graduation, he had a short two year stint as a technology consultant during which started analyzing the technology trends, specifically in data mining and data transformation. Being a keen problem solver, he was able to immediately identify immense opportunities for specialized consulting services in business intelligence and business transformation areas. He observed that there were not many companies providing tailored consulting solutions in the areas of data quality, data management, budgeting, forecasting and business analytics. After gaining enough expertise in that area, he started thinking about feasible business ideas and eventually hit upon the idea of starting a business consultancy firm. The passion for a business startup coupled with flexibility of being his own boss drove him to initially establish the consulting business in partnership with a good friend of him. With mutual investment from both partners, the consultancy grew to 8 consultants, but due to financial and strategic differences, both the partners split and went to launch their own companies.

Armed with savings from the partnership, Mr.XYZ did not give up his entrepreneurial spirit, instead focused on the lessons learned, reinforced ideas, streamlined business processes, hired marketing and sales staff and launched a new consulting firm – AstaCRS Inc. He was of the opinion that entrepreneurs will always face failures and it is the optimism, perseverance and tolerance which will lead them on the path to success. Today AstaCRS Inc. is a thriving consulting business which has plans for offshore software development and marketing financial reporting products. In contrary to what we have learned in class, this venture was started without a business plan, with self-directed capital because he knew for sure that his business ideas will work, that he can deliver value proposition and that the market was ripe to implement his ideas.

During the interview I could clearly notice how all the information we had gained on entrepreneurship in class discussions really transpired in the form of entrepreneurship success. Mr.XYZ had faced many setbacks when executing his business ideas transform into real, viable business results. He had to face competition from some well established players in the market, but his niche consulting expertise combined with tailored solutions brought in excellent business opportunities which were wisely exploited. Apart from being committed, aggressive, detail-oriented, Mr. XYZ seeks constant feedback from customers, staff and industry experts. He was fortunate enough to have the company of high-energy, highly motivated staff who worked hard along with the management to build a solid reputation and credibility for the company. Management was highly decentralized with the sales and marketing teams having authority to make instant decisions in pursuit of business opportunities. Finance and Human Resources were under centralized control. Recruitment of consultants and customer service were given high importance – a trademark of consulting niche. Furthermore, when I asked Mr. XYZ to elaborate the way he created his team he explained how he tapped people from his past jobs with whom he had great relationships and in whom he had trust and confidence that they can be an integral part of the business.

As the entrepreneur was talking about his life and his work experience I realized that there were much more factors that had guided him to success. His diverse schooling and college education in multiple countries allowed him to develop multi-cultural skills, understand consumer behaviors and improvise communication skills. His parents and fiancée were of great influence in his success, but unfortunately the stressful entrepreneurial life took a toll on his personal relationship. He broke up with his fiancée and regrets the unfortunate event, but for him his ambition and goal to succeed were his number one priorities in life. He explained how initially the lack of market knowledge led to some disastrous results and lost business. But soon he realized the mistakes and hired a marketing associate to do industry research and compliment his business strategy.

The interview was a great learning tool for me. It gave me an opportunity to understand how entrepreneurs think of business ideas, the traits they display, their personality characteristics, how swiftly they jump on opportunities, how meticulous and organized they are, the immense personal zeal and enthusiasm with which they forge ahead willing to accept failures and learn from mistakes, their noteworthy sociable and networking skills and above all their strong confidence and passion to make an impact in society. In conclusion, Mr.XYZ emphasized the importance of personal values, ethical behavior and empathy towards fellow beings. He encourages positive energy, high performance activities and ability to provide high quality solutions to pressing business problems. As stated rightly, the path to success is laden with thorns but a successful entrepreneur, through hard work and perseverance, will not falter and will always realize his business goals.

This interview was an eye-opener for me to understand the struggles and accomplishments of any successful entrepreneur. I am grateful to Mr. XYZ for sharing his valuable time and discuss his entrepreneurial journey. The knowledge and the perspectives gained from this exciting conversation will help my team build our business plan and I hope to utilize this knowledge to startup my own business in the near future.

This was one of the business plans we had developed for the entrepreneurship class. The class gave us excellent perspectives on entrepreneurship – the personality traits, the appetite for creative ideas, the urge to leave an impact on society, the struggles, failures and accomplishments achieved with unhindered passion, commitment and determination. This is a brief executive summary and the plan is still in works. The final updated business plan will be made available after completing the business analysis.

Borrowed and Blue, LLC

Executive Summary

A. Mission Statement

Borrowed and Blue, LLC will facilitate a unique and easy to utilize online platform, BorrowedandBlue.com, for engaged couples to plan the wedding of their dreams in the New York City, Boston and Washington DC metropolitan areas from the convenience of their home.

B. Description of Services

Given the complexities in planning a wedding, the adventure can be one of the most exciting yet stressful occasions in one’s life. BorrowedandBlue.com will be an industry first website dedicated to busy couples looking for an all-inclusive place to plan their wedding from scratch without the need of hiring an expensive formal wedding planner. From a list of venues to photographers, DJs/bands, and florists, couples will have the ability to select the elements necessary in the planning of a wedding according to their budgets.

Value Proposition

According to the “American Weddings” study conducted by The Fairchild Bridal Group., the average cost of an American wedding is just over $27,000. A total of $72 billion is spent on weddings annually in the U.S. The average price tag represents a 73 percent increase during the past 15 years, according to the study. This can be a significant burden on those who need to foot the bill, but it doesn’t have to be so painful. In spite of such huge expense, majority of the wedding couples are not happy with the services provided. As an alternative to traditional wedding planner, many internet based business cropped up, but unfortunately there is no “one-stop” internet based wedding site which can meet all the needs of the consumer in a timely manner. BorrowedandBlue wants to fill this opportunity gap by offering “all in one” exceptional, timely bound, high quality, customized wedding services to interested parties at affordable prices. BorrowedandBlue.com will employ the latest software technology available for Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms and Decision Support Systems to connect businesses in the wedding sector with couples via a business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing services model.

C. Overview of Market Characteristics

The wedding industry represents a $130 billion industry and is expected to grow at 3.5% compound annual growth. The online wedding market is worth more than $7.9 Billion and this segment is expected to grow by 8% annually. On average there are 2.4 million weddings per year in the United States in which the wedding industry is estimated to generate $58 billion in sales from wedding rings, apparel, flowers, receptions, honeymoons, gifts, and other related expenses. Moreover, the wedding industry also generates $70 billion dollars a year in purchases related to new life together, such as insurance, financial services, automobiles, etc. Recent results from a wedding survey show that 77% of couples will use the Internet to help plan their wedding. As related to their engagement, wedding, honeymoon, and time after, 43% will use the Internet to research products and services, while 13% will purchase products and services. The industry is highly fragmented, made up of multiple smaller enterprises caterers, wedding consultants, dresses, various beauty suppliers (hair, makeup), photographers, favors/bridesmaids gifts, music, honeymoon related, etc.  Our goal is to bring all of these smaller enterprises into an organized system based on the service charge requirements of the enterprises. As an intermediary agent, BorrowedandBlue will have two primary customers: bridal couples and wedding suppliers. Although BorrowedandBlue.com web services will be the first of its kind in the industry, some potential competitors would be theknot.com and the weddingchannel.com. We have chosen three metropolitan areas – New York, Washington D.C and Boston characterized by high income demographics. We are not boxed in to serving only one age group of clientele but it is foolish to ignore women in their twenties and also 43% of marriages are remarriages of couples in their thirties.

D. Overview of the Marketing Plan

As an online company, BorrowedandBlue.com will primarily market the site through online outlets and strategic partnerships with wedding suppliers and associations.  BorrowedandBlue.com will advertise to email lists that cater to the young professional woman like DailyCandy.com as well as targeted advertising on Facebook, Google search terms and Evite.com.  BorrowedandBlue.com will also advertise using sponsored emails to online subscribers for traditional bridal magazines like Brides and Contemporary Bride.

BorrowedandBlue.com will also use social networking to build a buzz around the service utilizing Facebook fan pages and Twitter.  These efforts will also be used to introduce the management of the site to build a personal connection between the users and the company.  For example, the CEO will have a twitter feed to post interesting links, stories and resources.

More traditional mediums such as print advertising in bridal magazines, brochure circulation, word-of-mouth advertising, are additional sources of promoting BorrowedandBlue.com.  BorrowedandBlue.com will attend bridal trade shows to build partnerships with vendors and advertise its services. BorrowedandBlue‘s marketing campaign will focus on driving volume to the website and converting visitors to buyers.

Product/Service Development Plan

BorrowedandBlue’s featured product will be a user-friendly Internet website that will offer free wedding planning services. Through a dynamic yet uncluttered interface consumers (i.e. couples) can search using various Q&A sequence loop applications that will generate possible vendor options based on budget and geographic boundaries. For instance, by entering a budget, location (within the three city selections), and a possible date for their wedding, a couple can view promising venues with a myriad of options that fit within their budget. The subscription-free BorrowedandBlue.com will provide a personal portal that users can log into with a username and a password. Consumers can not only use this portal to save their searches for analysis at a later date, but they can also take notes on calls to vendors and review and/or rate vendors previously utilized. Absolute privacy of information will be maintained and users will be alerted on any account changes.

Alternatively, vendors in the wedding industry, whether in the high or low end of the market, will have the opportunity to promote their products and services to a targeted audience in three of the major metropolitan areas of the United States.

E. Business Model

Access to the website will be free, but the challenge will be to attract lot of good quality traffic. BorrowedandBlue.com will generate revenue through advertising, corporate sponsorships from wedding vendors and bridal magazines, and Pay Per Event (PPE) services like Google AdSense. Web advertising will be paid for in two ways: Impression (CPM) based and Performance (CPM) based depending on how the user interacts with the website. Transaction fees for brokering the sale of wedding supplier services (expected to be 5% of transaction amount) coupled with advertisements and paid promotions will be primary sources of revenue for BorrowedandBlue

F. Management team and Company Structure

BorrowedandBlue will be setup as a limited liability corporation and will have two partners as key management personnel. Both the partners, Mr. Andrew and Mr. Johnson have over eight years of extensive experience in marketing, sales and internet technologies. They have been involved in the wedding planning business for over two years and understand the market characteristics and industry trends. The CEO, Mr. Jackson has over ten years of experience in the areas of Internet strategy, program management, software design, and development. In the initial development state BorrowedandBlue.com will have a CEO and a marketing manager and will engage a web development firm to build the website. But as the site traffic grows, BorrowedandBlue.com will hire a fulltime CTO, who will oversee day-to-day operations, and additional marketing and sales personnel.

G. Operations Plan

BorrowedandBlue will follow a two-phase startup plan. During the first phase, the website will be catering to three major metropolitan cities and all the day-to-day operations will be handled by the CEO along with the partners. Operations include business administration, marketing, sales, billing, vendor coordination and service improvements. During the second phase, after seeing credible sales turnover, we hope to raise venture capital funding of at least $1 million to launch a marketing and sales plan, hire 10 additional staff and launch the website in 30 cities across the US.

H. Financial Projections

Since BorrowedandBlue is an internet-based startup, the initial startup costs are relatively low. Initial investment of around $70,000 will come from the partners which will be used to rent office space, build website, purchase office equipment and hire the CEO and a marketer. The company will not achieve profitability until year one. During second year, with expected venture capital funding and expanded operations, we hope to be profitable by year end.