MGM - Week 2: Discussion Question, IR & Responses

Welcome to Week 2 of my Master in Global Marketing!

My grades for Week 1 and 2 so far are A, B and A respectively, although I am waiting for another grade to be confirmed.

Below you will find my Initial Response (IR) to Week 2's Discussion Question followed by my Responses to Luai's IR and Noriko's Response to his, and then you will be able to view my discussion with Kate in regards to her IR.

Happy New Lunar Year, 

El Tanoderno

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Week 02 Discussion Question

Academic Integrity in a Cultural Context
By Saturday: In an approximately 250-350 word response, address the following issues / questions: 

A business plan is defined as a formal statement of strategic action that identifies why an organisation believes in those objectives. This document defines the foundational values that separate one business from its competition. When an organisation presents its business plan for financial backing, a loan approval will be based off the conception and originality of the plan presented.

In your academic programme along with your professional life, your personal integrity is a key to success. Demonstrating integrity in your leadership roles, communication skills, and leadership practices will not only inspire trust in those around you and in your personal life, but will also help to instill loyalty in your co-workers, and clients in your professional life.

For this Discussion Question, consider your culture of origin in addressing the following topics:

• Consider how academic integrity, originality and ownership are also applicable within your organisation. Do you believe the same presumptions regarding academic integrity hold true in your career as an employee of an organisation? How might an individual or organisation be held liable for not crediting, referencing, or citing the works of other practitioners? Provide an example situation in which you were, or may be asked to, provide research and reference on specific materials for a sector of your organisation. You may wish to do additional research to support your views.

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My Initial Response to Week 2's DQ:

 

DQ: Initial Response Week 2 – Academic, Organizational & Individual Integrity

Academic integrity, originality and ownership are three important factors which are the cornerstones that form the foundation of a relationship between two or more parties. The academic staff, as well as any future reader, has to feel assured about my honesty, trustworthiness and maybe most important of all reliability. 

As an employee of an organization, I am obliged to maintain such a relationship with every member of the organization and every customer I may deal with as long as I abide company policy. 

By not citing or referencing a source I’m automatically claiming ownership of said source’s information resulting in being downgraded or failing an assignment in an academic context, but in an organizational context the consequences may be far more severe. 

The claiming of another’s work or idea may lead to violate a patent right, and being an employer of an organization, could result in a lawsuit against the company thus potentially resulting in the individual’s unemployment and a stained reputation for the company and individual. Now if said individual didn’t credit a source or fellow employee, then this could lead to senior management promoting the wrong person at some stage as the effort of the true source wasn’t recognized, but if found out would probably lead to a demotion or unemployment depending on the severity. 

Say one was chosen to provide research on the amount of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners present in the Far East in order to determine whether setting up a factory producing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gi, the uniform BJJ practitioners wear, in mainland China would be profitable enough. After extensive research one presents the data to their senior, although having forgotten to include the reference that the data came from the International BJJ Federation, makes any data and thus the report irrelevant due to its unreliability even though the numbers are correct.

To conclude, it’s one’s professional responsibility to keep originality and ownership at all times to preserve one’s own integrity as well as others. It ultimately comes down to reliability and morality, though the latter may differ between cultures as one may tolerate something the other wouldn’t.   

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Luai's, Noriko's and my discussion in regards to his IR:

Luai's Initial Response to Week 2's DQ 

If I may participate Academic integrity is very important and it’s a must to credit others work and to refer to the work they have done its more or less like copyrights law.

But the difference is that infringe Academic Integrity is not forbidden by law.

Well I will participate with a case which happened with my classmate at the university.

We had a case study for the history teacher and I worked very hard gathering the information spent a week of study while my classmate told me why to waste your time I bought it for 5 Us ready I will just change the name

Well after we gave the assignment I found out that I got B grade While he got an A I can tell you it feels so bad and I had the Feeling why the hell should I study any more?

My point is you can find some work of other and get away with it but it’s the question is if you are doing it at the university what will you do in real life ?

The Digital Literacy Project is produced by Cornell Information Technologieshttp://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/integrity/dpl3320.html(Accessed : 15^th Jan 2012 16:20 )

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Noriko's Resonse to Luai's IR

Hi Luai

You are right and I agree with you. Your classmate didn’t aware how he insulted his academic life. This is his choice and he will find what happen in the real world in the future. His academic apparent pyramid may look higher but thinner than you. He must fall down easier while your pyramid is stabilized in the real world.

I understand that the Academic Integrity demands you not only fair and honest but also respect for others work. And all of students and professionals should adhere this.

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My Response to Luai & Noriko:

Dear Noriko and Luai,

Unfortunately, there are people out there that like to take the easy way to the top. What they do not realize is that with time this will be the only profession they are good at which is essentially plagiarism and piracy.

Let’s say such a person manages to graduate with a very good degree and now manages to work for an organization. This person will now have to make a choice between following an honest and hard-working path, and carrying on as said individual has throughout their studies. Knowing that they have been successful with the latter strategy they are most likely to continue on this path of procrastination. What they do not realize though, is that by prolonging their journey on this path is to arrive sooner or later at a dead end where their career will abruptly stop as they will by all probability be found out. Even if one is very good, nobody is perfect and will sooner or later slip up.

As an example, ‘Japan's Olympus Corp has sued its current president, Shuichi Takayama, with the Tokyo district court on Sunday (8^th January), along with three former executives identified by investigators as having engineered or helped cover up a $1.7 billion fraud at the firm’ according to Murai (2012). 

‘Four top Olympus executives have already lost their jobs over the scandal.(….) Olympus itself is facing a lawsuit from its former chief executive Michael Woodford. Mr. Woodford was fired in October after he questioned payments made, which in turn lead to the revelation of the fraud.’ (BBC, 2012)

This has just come forward recently and Olympus is now being investigated by Tokyo Police and other law enforcement in the US and the UK, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and regulators (BBC, 2012), which shows that even when you are right at the top that you will be found out and that the fall will therefore be the greater. Also, as demonstrated by the above events, in an MNC such perpetrators normally work as a team and therefore the impact of their actions carry severe consequences beyond their circle. 

Regards,

Andrew

References:

BBC (2012) Camera-maker Olympus could sue directors over cover-up [Online] London: BBC News Business. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16464085

(Accessed 17 January 2012)

BBC (2012) Former Olympus boss calls for clearout of board [Online] London: BBC News Business. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16480140

(Accessed 17 January 2012)

Murai, R. (2012) Olympus sues current president, ex-directors [Online] Tokyo: Reuters. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/us-olympus-idUSTRE80523J20120109

(Accessed 17 January 2012)

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Kate's and my discussion in regards to her IR:

Kate's Initial Response to Week 2's DQ

Academic Integrity

People, in a personal or professional context, are bound to have different standards regarding integrity and morale, though there are certainly norms regarding social graces.

 “Academic integrity is a commitment […] to five fundamental values: Honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behavior, that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action.” (IACI, 2012) These values are core values and reflect moral standards within societies in different cultures and religions.

Personal integrity “is connected in an important way to acting morally” correctly and is a human characteristic following “substantive or normative constraints” in interpersonal relations (Cox, La Caze, Levine 2012).

Comparing both definitions it demonstrates the need of pertaining academic integrity and its conjectures in an organization, as it is only reflects one’s personal integrity in a particular professional environment. Crediting and “citing the work of other practitioners” correctly shows that one follows mentioned values, which is essential for flourishing businesses and human relations. Default in complying shows untrustworthiness and can for example result in legal charges for stealing intellectual property of these practitioners and the entire company could be made accountable for even actions of individuals.

In a professional manner, academic integrity is therefore relevant when, for example, launching a new project. In the planning phase of this, an employee would be asked to gather information either from theoretical sources, in order to look at fundamental theories that can be used to develop a practical process, or from sources that reveal practical examples already, maybe from competitors or different business areas with similar projects, which would enable benchmarking best and worst case scenarios for the project outline.

Coming from Germany, stereotypically a culture of correctness and righteousness especially regarding standards, norms and values, there are certain things one just does not do or as my German grandmother would say, “It’s a matter of principle.” In my opinion, this puts the five core values of academic integrity in a “German nutshell”.

In conclusion, integrity, as the hypernym and next to morale, should be considered as one of the most imperative (sometimes unwritten) rule in a company, academic community and society.

References:

ICAI, International Center for Academic Integrity, accessed 14.01.2012: http://www.academicintegrity.org/fundamental_values_project/pdf/FVProject.pdf

Cox, D., La Caze, M. & Levine, M., (2012) "Integrity", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
forthcoming URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2012/entries/integrity/>

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Dear Kate,

I can understand where you are coming from, as I was born and raised in Germany although to a Chilean father and an English mother. In a cultural sense I’m partially German having attended Kindergarten, Grund- as well as Realschule and therefore the cultural education I received at home merged with the German in school. Therefore, I understand that being ‘aufrecht’, or righteous in English, in any situation is one of the highest priorities that even comes before family sometimes and for that matter is already integrated into the majority of German employees and organizations.  

Now comparing cultural values with that of Latin American countries, for example, where dishonesty is frowned upon but still accepted as a daily survival technique due to marginal separation and corruption that exists, then integrity and morale take less of a neither social nor organizational importance. A sociologist or anthropologist might argue that in such countries the trend of getting to where you want by any means has integrated into society and its people over generations and thus become an integral part and thus social norm.

Having said that and as you have mentioned in your conclusion, I too believe that integrity, as well as morale, should be one of the most important imperatives for a society and organization to function effectively, prosperous and in harmony. It is an international issue which Multi-National Companies (MNC) try to overcome and tackle by implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies, as stated by Edwards et al (2007, p.11), 

‘The controversies surrounding the process of globalization have raised concerns that multinational companies (MNCs) might be pursuing profit at the expense of vulnerable workforces, the environment and so on. In response to such concerns, MNCs have increasingly taken steps aimed at demonstrating their social responsibility as business organizations. One prominent development has been the elaboration and adoption of a Code of Conduct concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR),…’

‘It is about enterprises deciding to go beyond minimum legal requirements and obligations stemming from collective agreements in order to address societal needs.’ (The European Commission, 2006)

To conclude, MNCs are on their way to maintain and preserve corporate integrity but how will smaller-sized businesses fare as well as their national counterparts?  

Regards,

Andrew

References:

Edwards et al (2007, p.11) Corporate social responsibility in multinational companies: Management initiatives or negotiated agreements? [Online] Geneva: Institute for Labour Studies. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/publications/discussion/dp18507.pdf (Accessed 17 January 2012)

The European Commission (2006) Implementing the partnership for growth and jobs: making Europe a pole of excellence on corporate social responsibility [Online] Brussels: The European Union. Available at:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52006DC0136:EN:NOT (Accessed 17 January 2012)

 

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Thank you, Andrew, for your interest and it is really nice to have another German in this class.

I have spent some time in South America as well and I have experienced the same discrepancy between high standards of honesty, the high value of interpersonal relationships and the virtues that come with it and on the other side the willingness to pay less attention to these qualities in favor of more important or urgent regards. For myself, I disapprove of making these exceptions when it comes to standards and principles. Nevertheless, I come from a different background and therefore I cannot relate to situations in which “daily survival technique[s]” are needed and hence values need to be “rescheduled” or “adjusted”. That’s where intercultural understanding comes in handy though.

Regarding your elaborations on MNC, CSR and the doubtful success of its impact in smaller sized businesses, I would like to go back to the “roots” per se. You have quoted it yourself that MNCs  “might be pursuing profit at the expense of vulnerable workforces, the environment and so on”. This only shows where the focus comes from. MNC generate profits in overloads and at the same time have the responsibility to follow labor laws across the globe, which are mainly written to protect the weaker link, in this case the employees. Now if this is outbalanced and it appears that he company as an organization is benefitting more from their employees, who are part of the communities surrounding the company geographically, than they are giving back to these communities, the consequence is public pressure. They will expected to do more than what the law expects them to do which is the issue simply forces the MNCs to” try to overcome and tackle” this problem of unbalance.

Smaller sized businesses on the other side are less bound to have this public pressure and are therefore “only” restraint to laws. These provide some fairness, but in the end it’s a matter of nullo actore, nullus iudex and being able to create such attention in order for it to be of greater importance.

Of course it is not only a matter of pressure and being forced to do the right thing but also a matter of wanting to be a company of “integrity”. Nevertheless, it is certainly harder for small companies to create and secure such balance given the resources they have. Would you agree?

Finally, please allow me this small excursion. When you used the word “aufrecht” for righteousness, I must admit, it made my German heart smile. It made me realize how strong German expressions can be, especially compared to their apparent literal translations into different languages. It is only one word that describes a behavior but simultaneously the moral standard and value of mentioned as well. Saying “being righteous” and “aufrichtig sein” should mean the same and should have the same significance, though from my perspective it does not even get close.

Vielen Dank für die anregenden Worte.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards, 

Kate

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Dear Kate, 

Having read your response carefully, I have to agree with you that small businesses do not feel the same public pressure, i.e. from the media, government agencies and local communities, as MNCs would if the right equilibrium between employee and organization doesn’t exist. Due to this lack of pressure smaller companies are more prone to exercise rules and regulations with, as you have mentioned, the only restraint being the law and not including social needs. 

You also raised the question whether I believe if it is harder for smaller companies to create and secure such an equilibrium given the resources they have and my answer would be yes. The reason why I agree with you on this point is because smaller companies have different priorities compared to MNCs, as MNCs not only have to function well, delivering and developing products as well as having a well-organized internal structure, but they also need to keep a good public image as a company that not only cares about results from its employees but as a company that also cares about its employees and their needs.

Of course, not all MNCs follow this such as Foxconn, Apple’s subcontractor (Deffree, 2011) and the World’s largest electronics manufacturer, as 150 workers protested over two days over their work conditions by threatening to throw themselves off the third floor of their factory in Wuhan, China. In 2010, 18 protesters threw themselves of a roof killing 14 workers (Moore, 2012).

For the past six years, ever since the Daily Mail investigated and published the 2006 article ‘The stark reality of iPod's Chinese factories’, Foxconn as well as Apple have come under media fire, as Foxconn is contracted by Apple to assemble their goods, as more newspapers report about the harsh conditions (Daily Mail, 2006) their employees have to endure.

Now small companies do not focus as much on public image because they are busy creating a public image through results and growth first which, of course, is directly related to product demand and employees’ production performance as well as advertising platform. Once the company has made waves and gained the public’s attention is when they would perhaps invest more into tipping the scale a bit in favour of their employees given their limited resource allocation priorities.

In regards to German, yes, it most certainly has a very unique vocabulary with words that cannot be described or translated into another language easily as they would lose power and true meaning. Another good example of this is ‘spannend’ which cannot be simply described as exciting, intense or electrifying. 

Mit freundlichen Gruessen,

Andrew

References:

The Daily Mail (2006) The stark reality of iPod's Chinese factories [Online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401234/The-stark-reality-iPods-Chinese-factories.html (Accessed 18 January 2012)

Moore, M. (2012) 'Mass suicide' protest at Apple manufacturer Foxconn factory [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9006988/Mass-suicide-protest-at-Apple-manufacturer-Foxconn-factory.html (Accessed 18 January 2012)

Deffree, S. (2011) Foxconn explosion ignites conversation on corporate responsibility [Online] Available at: 

http://www.edn.com/article/518571Foxconn_explosion_ignites_conversation_on_corporate_responsibility.php (Accessed 18 January 2012)

   

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STAY TUNED FOR WEEK 3!;) 

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