CSR: Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility- Effective Leaders- Forum Discussion Assignment

Internal Code: 1GIIB

Forum Discussion Assignment:

Task: 1) Ethics and Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) Read the article by Milton Friedman, the Nobel prize-winning economist and a major proponent of the shareholder profit maximization doctrine. Watch the video by Edward Freeman, one of the 'fathers' of stakeholder theory (you do not have to watch the entire video, the first few minutes would be sufficient). In addition, revisit the article by Roger Martin 'The age of Customer Capitalism'. Compare and contrast the views of these prominent thought leaders on CSR. Who is 'right', in your view? 2) Organisational structure and its evolution Interview a manager you know about their organisation’s structure.  Why do they have the structure they have? How well do they think it works? If they changed structures, what would they change to? Why?  Analyse the result of your interview in the context of the L.Greiner’s “evolution and revolution” model. 3) Understanding yourself Research available sources and find at least two different personality tests.  If you wish, a test based on the Big Five Model is available on p235.  There are also many free Big Five and MBTI-style tests on the Internet.   Take these tests and record the results.  Do you believe the results?  How credible is the source?  How do the results of different tests compare?  Do you agree with the assessments?  What do these tests tell you about yourself?  What are the implications of your scores for your career choices? 4) How are you perceived by others? Select one test that you found particularly insightful.  Ask someone who knows you well to complete this test on your behalf (ie, ask them to answer questions the way they think you would answer them).  How does their perception of you differ from your own?  What does this exercise tell you about perceptions? 5) Attributes of team players What traits do you think good team players have? Research this question and write a short report detailing and explaining your findings.  Remuneration and motivation Do you believe using pay-for-performance helps improve employee motivation?  Explain your position using appropriate motivation theories. What are the implications for managers? 6) Dumbest business decisions Do a web search on the phrase ‘dumbest moments in business’ and get the most current version of this list. Choose one of the examples and describe what happened. What’s your reaction to this example? How could the managers have made better decisions? 7) Your decision making behaviour Describe a decision you’ve made that closely aligns with the assumptions of perfect rationality. Compare this decision with the process you used to select your university. Did you depart from the rational model in your selection decision? Explain. 8) Most important interpersonal skills Survey five managers and ask them to name the five interpersonal skills they think are most important to being a good manager and explain why those skills are so crucial. Now survey five employees and ask them the same question. Do the answers agree? What does this tell you about interpersonal skills and how people perceive them? Effective communicators Research the characteristics of an effective communicator. Write up your findings in a brief report. 9) Characteristics of effective leaders Survey five people and ask them to describe a good leader they have followed. What characteristics do they describe? What does this tell you about the theories of leadership people use day-to-day?