A634.3.5.RB - The Harder They Fall_Reyes,Cassandra

Using concepts from the Kramer (2003) article as a baseline, share your insights on dilemmas that happen in society, work, and in your life.

Large or small, dilemmas are a part of everyday life. Issues or challenges arise on a daily basis and test me in all areas of my life. As a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, citizen, student and full time employee, I am challenged to constantly maintain the relationships I have at all levels of importance or significance. There are times when it can be tough to uphold these connections or affiliations, however sustaining each one and being successful them all is a challenge that many individuals face and very rarely achieve.

While there are times when I do consider myself the master of my domain, there have been plenty of times when I have found myself “on the pavement looking up, wondering where it all went wrong” (Kramer 2003). I like to think of myself as an intelligent woman who is dedicated and loyal, self confident and enthusiastic. One of the traits I am most proud of is that I am a very hard working individual who prides herself in her successes. While being successful is important to me, I know that the dilemmas I have come across over time have only helped to shape me to think outside the box, critically think, and build the characteristics necessary to survive in difficult situations.

            Competition in the workplace, society and even in an individual’s personal life can create enough tension, stress, or frustration for someone that can lead them to fully entering or even dabbling in the genius to folly syndrome. The genius to folly syndrome is described as a “swift and steady rise by a brilliant hard driving politically adept individual followed by surprising stints of miscalculation or recklessness” (Kramer 2003). When life, society and people challenge you in both positive and negative ways, no one really ever knows how they will act or react unless specifically placed into the situation and required to take action.

            Many individuals spend their lives in competition. In school we try to get the best grades we can, at home we try and be the best daughter or brother. We also strive to be the best wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, and at work we are constantly vouching for more responsibility and work to prove our self worth and to try our best to make it to the top, most of the time, as quickly as possible. The pedestals people place before themselves are sometimes so unrealistic that if ever achieved and they find themselves in a position of power, they feel a sense of entitlement and prestige and they are all of a sudden untouchable. When this occurs, dilemmas in all areas of an individual’s life are at risk.

            “Moving up the ranks can be like competing in a high stakes tournament. As you make it through successive rounds, the pool of worthy candidates narrows the margin for error is much smaller and the competition intensifies” (Kramer 2003). Is this one of the reasons how and why dilemmas are created? When the winner takes all mentality becomes the winner wants all mind set, how can we be sure to not end up like individuals such as Marjorie Peel? How can we be sure that we do not fall victim to “uncharacteristic lapses in professional judgment or personal conduct” (Kramer 2003)?

            On the other hand, while some leaders may fall from grace because they happen to get caught up in all the glory of power and prestige, others won’t even get the chance in getting to the top. Dilemmas in society, work, and your personal life can also stem from someone feeling as though they are not successful. While it is important to make sure that we stay focused on  what we are giving for our successes rather than what we are getting with our successes, it is just as important to remember that in order to become successful, there is a certain amount of risk and challenge an individual should be comfortable taking on.

            “The players in winner take all markets must be extraordinarily aggressive about taking risks” (Kramer 2003) and should also keep in mind that to get ahead, they need to be strategic in “finding a back door to success that others have not been able to spot” (Kramer 2003). Individuals should always ask questions, challenge mindsets and find new and improved ways of being successful both individually, organizationally and personally. I have heard that rules are meant to be broken and in many instances I can agree with this. “If you aren’t willing to test the limits of what’s acceptable and what works, you may never make it to the next level of performance or attainment” (Kramer 2003).  However, while I can respect pushing the foul line to see how far you can really get away with in order to be successful, I also believe there is a major dilemma that occurs when this is taken too far.

            The disdain for rules puts those who are less fearful or even fearless of risk taking on thin ice. When a leader rejoices in the amount of power they have and continues to push the envelope with what they can get away with “they may consider themselves exempt from the rules that govern other people’s behavior. Even more dangerous, leaders who want it all and who break the rules to get it often develop contempt for those who do play the rules” (Kramer 2003). The danger in succeeding with risk also assists leaders in having self enhancing illusions of themselves leading to overly positive views of their abilities. This creates dilemmas for leaders in any situation whether personal or professional. If you can get away with something without a slap on the hand, then why take your hand out of the cookie jar?

            Dilemmas in all forms are situational and can be prevented from getting out of control as long as a leader can stay humble in their ways. “It is not only what a leader does when they get to the top that gets them into trouble; it’s also what they don’t do” (Kramer 2003). Leaders of all kinds; mothers, daughters, fathers, students, wives, citizens and employees can be as successful as they would like by maintaining proportion and a high level of self awareness as well as creating “a combination of psychological and behavioral habits that helped them to stay grounded” (Kramer 2003). Keeping life simple, remaining ordinary and handing a lantern on ones foibles are just a few ways for leaders to be able to rise to the top and stay there. While most leaders will experience the occasional blunder, our shortcomings provide us with the motivations and encouragement we need to keep pushing forward. While “the natural tendency with flaws and imperfections is to deny them or cover them up, what we really need to do is shine a light on our weaknesses to understand them better” (Kramer 2003). Then and only then can we truly be successful.

Cassandra R.

     References

Kramer, R. M. (2003). The Harder They Fall. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 81(10), 58-66.

            

A634.2.3.RB Theories of Ethics_Reyes,Cassandra

In Chapter 2, LaFollette (2007) discusses Consequentialism and Deontology. Discuss your thoughts on these two theories.

I thought the chapter on consequentialism and deontology was a great way to really key in to thinking critically think about our decisions. Consequentialism states that that “we are morally obligated to act in ways that produce the best consequences” (LaFollette 2007). Interestingly enough the book uses choosing a degree program as an example and immediately my eyes opened and my perspective on this was broadened to new heights. I help students choose a program every day. It is amazing the things people will take into consideration when choosing their education.

When I was in junior high school, and needed to start making decisions on what high school I wanted to attend, relying on prudence, I chose something that I liked and thought I would enjoy learning. Back then, it was as simple as that. When I was almost done with high school and began to choose a college, there were a good number of other things I had to consider, such as location, tuition costs, financial availability etc, however even when taking all of that into consideration, when I chose my college, I still chose something that I liked.

Dealing with working adults and military members as students has been an eye opening experience as it has challenged me to think consequentially. While I can ask a prospect or student what their interests are, the conversation I have in regards to choosing an education, relies more on what they can get out of the degree. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter what they are interested in anymore. If they need a degree and they can get credit for experience or knowledge they already have, they will instantly choose the degree that will allow them the least amount of time in school.

Some students are concerned about their families and how they will be able to provide for them, others are concerned with, the amount of transferable credit they will receive, most want to know what employment opportunities they will have after graduation. No matter their predicament, prudence is rarely seen, decisions made by these prospects and students is all done consequentially. They have taken a bird’s eye view of their life and are looking for someone to help them make a consequential decision on their future successes.

Deontology was also an interesting topic for me. When reading it, I thought about the change of attitude and emotion that motherhood has brought to me and really began to tap into how effective I can be when raising her and teaching her about morality and ethical choices. The text states that “deontologists think that it is important not only that we do the right thing but that we do it for the right reason” (LaFollette 2007). When I was growing up my mother told me, don’t do this, don’t do that. My guess is that it was an immediate reaction to whatever I was doing at the time. If I was doing something that could hurt me and she didn’t want to see me get hurt, she would say, “Don’t touch that!” When I started school she would then say things to me like “Shouldn’t you be studying?” When I think back now, I can see why I may have been a bit more rebellious in nature to my mother’s orders. That’s exactly what they were orders! I was being told exactly what to do but there was no elaboration as to why. I knew she wanted me to do well in school, but she rarely said that. She instead would say things like “Because life isn’t easy”, or “I’m not always going to be around, so you need to learn it for yourself.”

Thinking back to all of my experiences, I can now see the issues my mother and I have even today. My mother gave me all she could and for that I will always be grateful. I had everything a child needed; clothes on my back, food in my belly, and someone who was there to teach me how I could be successful. What I didn’t have was someone who really tapped into my personality and informed me on the real why’s of my actions and successes. For me “morality was a list of rules” (LaFollette 2007), most of which was negative in nature.

As I raise my daughter, I have tried to inform her of the whys of her actions and really provide her with moral conclusions so she can understand how the actions she is taking will affect her either in the moment or in her future. My goal for her is for her to understand how to effectively dissect a moral conclusion but even more so, for her to be able to give valid logic and reason as to why an action may or may not be wrong. To do this, I may tell her things like “Isabella please do not do that. You can hurt yourself and I don’t want to see you get hurt” or “It’s good to set aside some time every day to study your notes so you can be successful in your classes. It will help you in the long run because it will be easier to remember things as you go instead of having to study everything in one shot and becoming overwhelmed. I want to see you succeed and it’s important for you as well so when you go off to college you are able to effectively manage your time and studies.” I think if I stick with providing her explanations to the rights and wrongs of life, she will be able to better manage her moral decisions and understand the reasoning behind them.

Cassandra R.

                                                                   References

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell.

A634.1.6.RB The buck starts and stops with you_Reyes,Cassandra

Many believe that management education has contributed to the systemic failure of today's leaders. After reading the Podolny (2009) article, in your reflection blog share your thoughts on how business schools can best prepare future leaders to adopt a holistic approach to business problems and ethical dilemmas. Be sure to share benchmarks and examples of how some of the B-Schools are accomplishing this.

In order for business schools to assist with the development of holistic views towards ethical dilemmas and business problems, they should consider concentrating on the study of arts and culture as well as history, literature, philosophy and religion. Doing this will help with the continued sharpening of an individuals critical thinking skills and moral reasoning leading them to make better informed decisions instead of short sighted decisions that could possible result in crisis.

Business schools should also gear their teachings toward ethics and corporate responsibility and focus their students learnings on the actual occurrences that are happening in todays business world. While theoretical models may be useful in some instances it is important that real world knowledge and experiences are used in order not to obscure the inner workings of todays organizational structures. Today’s business schools teach traditional academic disciplines emphasizing on quantitative methods such as economics, statistics and operational research, however the importance of the study of qualitative research and management practices somehow becomes fragmented and pushed to the side

It was found that businesses have strayed away from valued academic disciplines which include studies in ethics and values because they were never considered “subjects of inquiry for traditional business school academic disciplines” (Podolny 2009).Due to the ignored teachings of values and ethics in business schools, leadership has been viewed as not needing necessary investigation and attention to detail is missed.

In order to better the teachings in leadership and management and better prepare our future leaders, business schools are improving curricula and teaching methods. They have in turn geared their “curricula toward students who want to work in sectors such as consulting and financial services” (Podolny 2009). Business schools are currently also working toward building trust for their students. To do this they are showing their students that they have the same values as society and are teaching principles, ethics and attention to detail that leadership needs. They are fostering greater integration by “defining what they teach and emphasizing integration of several disciplines.” (Podolny 2009). Business schools are also appointing teaching teams and encouraging qualitative research, this allows for more advanced and experienced mangers rather than just academic teaching the information.  

While making these changes business schools are now able to develop a more “eclectic taste for research than currently exists in most schools.” (Podolny 2009). Managers can now learn the necessary knowledge and skill it will take to teach the students of business schools the knowledge they will need to lead in their future organizations and become leaders themselves. Doing this allows them to reinvent themselves and promote behavior, understanding and awareness consistent with society’s values.

Cassandra R.