Unethical Behavior
One of the situations, when a company manager behaved unethically, was the scandal with Turing Pharmaceuticals owned by Martin Shkreli. In 2015, the company acquired the rights to manufacture Daraprim intended for people infected with HIV. As a result of the transaction, the company received a monopolistic right to manufacture and sell this drug raising its price from 13.50 USD to 750 USD per tablet (Sidahmed, 2016). Before that, the company has bought the right to manufacture Daraprim, which is used to prevent malaria and treat toxoplasmosis.
It is important that the bacteria that cause this disease do not pose a threat to healthy people; however, for HIV-infected individuals and those who suffer from certain forms of cancer, this is a serious threat. This drug did not have patent protection, however, because of the small number of the diseased, companies were not interested in manufacturing this drug; therefore, it would take years to start producing generic medicines, which meant that Turing Pharmaceuticals had no competitors at all (Sidahmed, 2016). For patients who do not have health insurance, this medicine has become unaffordable putting their life in danger. Despite the fact that the company manager did not formally violate the law, his business strategy and decisions broke company’s corporate social responsibility because of the unethical nature of such decision. Although the strategy brought extensive profits to the company, its reputation was undermined as well as the authority of management due to the fact that large gains were put many times higher than human life, which initially contradicts the postulates advocated by the healthcare industry.
If the management were not outlining with company values and policies, I would employ two interrelated strategies. First, I would transform the policies into specific operating principles. Second, I would proactively manage my personal conduct. This way, I would ensure that all employees comprehend the underlying issues of corporate social responsibility and outline their behavior and decisions with these guidelines (Bazerman & Tenbrunsel, 2011). In addition, in cases when some people try to confront this principle, it would be possible to use this occurrence in favor of promoting the values once more since infractions can assist in reiterating the core of company’s culture.
Organizational Culture
It is worth noting that the issue of establishing a sustainable organizational culture is one of the most important problems at the current stage of business development. Managers need to use strategies that reinforce all employees to share company values. The dominant culture shared by the majority of the enterprise’s employees expresses organization’s fundamental values. From the point of view of the indirect influence of the manager, he or she should have the knowledge in social psychology and industrial pedagogy in order to manage invisibly the process of implementing the internal and external relations (Epstein, Buhovac, & Yuthas, 2010). Regarding the direct impact, managers should manage both cooperation, coordination, and information-management between employees.
In order to ensure a sustainable organizational culture, managers need to give clear guidelines to the workers and orient the performers through individually selected forms of psychological influence. Then, it is necessary to form a correct social position, which will be based on economic thinking, knowledge of the system, and the place of the employee in it rather than his or her individual perceptions (Epstein et al., 2010). Finally, it is necessary to support the growth of the organizational culture through the constant orientation of the performer towards the certain conduct.
Thus, the formation of organizational culture is a gradual process. Understanding the structure of the cooperative, economic, and social ties between employees will allow the manager to outline the interests of employees in accordance with the corporate values (Yates & Vallas, 2012). The ability to educate members of the team in the spirit of solidarity with the aims of the organization is the main requirement for the creation of a sustainable organizational culture.
Corporate Social Responsibility Guidelines
The three concepts that have resonated with me the most with regard to managing co-workers and promoting their cooperation are the domains of corporate social responsibility, sustainable organizational culture, and inclusive work environment. The implementation of each of them is equally important for the contemporary business setting. In addition, as a manager, I will employ the corresponding approaches to ensure these three aspects are sustained.
Following the corporate social responsibility guidelines, I will ensure that the mission of the company is integrated with the goals and objectives of implementing the development strategy. Moreover, in terms of the company, it will allow consolidating the image of a socially responsible organization. In addition, this approach will allow me to participate in the formation of new markets for socially responsible services and create additional factors for the loyalty of employees due to their involvement in solving socially significant tasks (Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999). In general, the observance of corporate social responsibility will allow displaying the ethical conduct.
Regarding the sustainable organizational culture and inclusive work environment, it should be stressed that these two domains are interconnected. The sufficient organizational culture implies that all employees expresses organization’s fundamental values and perform in accordance with them. It requires the collaboration of workers to achieve corporate goals, which is impossible in the setting when some employees are excluded (Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999). Therefore, sustainable organizational culture means establishing an inclusive work environment in which every individual will be able to exhibit his or her full potential. Therefore, it is the role of a manager to ensure that the conditions for inclusion are established, and all the co-workers support company’s core values.
Reference
Bazerman, M. H., & Tenbrunsel, A. E. (2011). Ethical breakdowns. Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 58-65.
Epstein, M. J., Buhovac, A. R., & Yuthas, K. (2010). Implementing sustainability: The role of leadership and organizational culture. Strategic Finance, 91(10), 41-47.
Pfeffer, J., & Veiga, J. F. (1999). Putting people first for organizational success. Academy of Management Executive, 13(2), 37-48.
Sidahmed, M. (2016). Martin Shkreli: I’m not upset about HIV drug hike; it was ‘woefully underpriced’. The Guardian. Web.
Yates, K., & Vallas, S. (2012). The character of communication. Communication World, 29(3), 23-26.