SUMMARY OF PROBLEMS AT X CORPORATION:
Mrs. Jones 's concern over the declining customer satisfaction prompted her to seek my assistance in solving this issue. In my fact-finding mission, I found the key area that requires improvement in order to solve this problem. The issue is the drastic change in performance goals and organizational structure due to Mr. Smith 's personal career goals. Mr. Smith has his eye on Mrs. Jones 's job once she retires. A member of the board told Mr. Smith that a drastic increase in sales would help his chances of promotion. In order to improve his chances of replacing Mrs. Jones, Mr. Smith implemented stretch goals, a technique that he learned in a MBA class, to push his sales team to their limit. He changed performance …show more content…
In this case, ask yourself these three questions regarding the sales targets: Are they too challenging? How might they promote unethical behavior? How will they influence organizational culture? Goals narrow focus. Employees are more likely to justify unethical methods if it helps them reach a goal. This behavior harms organizational culture, specifically if the goals are based on individual-performance, by pinning a once cohesive group of people against each other. In my analysis of X Corporation, I found that the change in sales goals was due to Mr. Smith 's desire to become Sales Director. Personal benefit is a terrible reason for setting a team-wide goal. As a result, Mr. Smith failed to ask himself the aforementioned questions prior to implementing the new goals. Instead of setting sales targets, perhaps focus on being an effective, cohesive sales …show more content…
Mr. Smith was quick to disregard any possibility of unethical behavior in the sales department solely because they are required to attend ten hours of ethics training each year. "Employees must perceive that formal policies go beyond mere window dressing to represent the real ethical culture of the organization." (Trevino & Brown). X Corporation needs to restore the old company culture. Members of the sales team talked about how well they worked together prior to the implementation of the individual-based goals. Once they reinstate the old culture, X Corporation can begin communicating to the employees the importance of ethics. Managers need to explain how making unethical decisions can negatively effect the long-term success of the company. It is important to be clear and consistent in training employees how to deal with ethical issues that arise at work. Next, creating a reward system that punishes unethical behavior instead of rewarding ethical behavior. Ethical behavior should be expected. Finally, X Corporation should prove to employees that "good guys" get ahead by promoting ethical employees throughout the
Mrs. Jones 's concern over the declining customer satisfaction prompted her to seek my assistance in solving this issue. In my fact-finding mission, I found the key area that requires improvement in order to solve this problem. The issue is the drastic change in performance goals and organizational structure due to Mr. Smith 's personal career goals. Mr. Smith has his eye on Mrs. Jones 's job once she retires. A member of the board told Mr. Smith that a drastic increase in sales would help his chances of promotion. In order to improve his chances of replacing Mrs. Jones, Mr. Smith implemented stretch goals, a technique that he learned in a MBA class, to push his sales team to their limit. He changed performance …show more content…
In this case, ask yourself these three questions regarding the sales targets: Are they too challenging? How might they promote unethical behavior? How will they influence organizational culture? Goals narrow focus. Employees are more likely to justify unethical methods if it helps them reach a goal. This behavior harms organizational culture, specifically if the goals are based on individual-performance, by pinning a once cohesive group of people against each other. In my analysis of X Corporation, I found that the change in sales goals was due to Mr. Smith 's desire to become Sales Director. Personal benefit is a terrible reason for setting a team-wide goal. As a result, Mr. Smith failed to ask himself the aforementioned questions prior to implementing the new goals. Instead of setting sales targets, perhaps focus on being an effective, cohesive sales …show more content…
Mr. Smith was quick to disregard any possibility of unethical behavior in the sales department solely because they are required to attend ten hours of ethics training each year. "Employees must perceive that formal policies go beyond mere window dressing to represent the real ethical culture of the organization." (Trevino & Brown). X Corporation needs to restore the old company culture. Members of the sales team talked about how well they worked together prior to the implementation of the individual-based goals. Once they reinstate the old culture, X Corporation can begin communicating to the employees the importance of ethics. Managers need to explain how making unethical decisions can negatively effect the long-term success of the company. It is important to be clear and consistent in training employees how to deal with ethical issues that arise at work. Next, creating a reward system that punishes unethical behavior instead of rewarding ethical behavior. Ethical behavior should be expected. Finally, X Corporation should prove to employees that "good guys" get ahead by promoting ethical employees throughout the