...structure that employees on all levels of hierarchy will appreciate and value. This paper will discuss the short film, “Greyston Bakery” and focus on why are the issues in the film important. As well as what role do external social pressures have in influencing organizational ethics? Wrapping up the paper, a look at how these issues are relevant to organizational and personal decisions along with the relationship between legal and ethical issues as shown in film (UOP, 2013). Film: Greyston Bakery The Greyston Bakery located in Yonkers New York is known for their gourmet sweets that populate restaurants to the White House but this organization started a social experiment over two decades ago (CBS News, 2010). Julius Walls Jr., President and CEO of Greyston Bakery, states “there is more substance to the organization besides the famous brownie recipe” (Liberty Mutual, 2010). The organization conducts business with the use of a balance between a double bottom-line model. The use of this model allows Greyston Bakery profits to support Greyston Foundation, an organization with ethical principles that supports a mission of social enterprise while making a profit (Liberty Mutual, 2010). The bakery implemented a social mission to give back and provide support to the community. Important Issues of Film The Greyston Bakery has obtained notoriety through intentional efforts to communicate good ethics. Transmitting moral information is vital for an organization to have a strong...
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...Margin Call J.C. Chandler’s 2011 film Margin Call examines the actions of an investment firm’s key decision makers during the earliest stages of the most recent financial crisis. Chandler does a good job with the characters of this movie he isn’t necessarily looking for a villain in a mess like this nor any lengthy explanations; he’s going deeper than that. He goes more for societal costs of high finance, the power of self-rationalization, and the easy embrace of personal corruption. The movie is filled with business lessons that go beyond the investment world. One theme of the film centers on business ethics and whether personal interest should trump customer/employee investment. Clearly, the decision made by John Tuld and senior management demonstrates that everybody is out for themselves. Personal investors are at the mercy of the individuals and the firms they invest with. The ease with which Tuld makes his decisions is scary to any business ethical viewer. With unqualified statements such as, “its just money” the audience begins to understand that the financial system can be an unfair game. In contrast Peter’s boss, Sam Rogers’ ethical implications of how the company plans to resolve its problems are almost more than he can handle. Sam stumbles upon the issue triggering the crisis, it’s one thing to be shocked at the ramifications of what’s about to unfold. But it doesn’t mean one’s outrage can’t be set aside when personal survival is on the line, an attitude...
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...questionable but long-unquestioned business practices attract fresh scrutiny and then, surprisingly quickly, transition from being ignored or tolerated to being generally denounced. I suspect this type of attitude shift is happening now in the context of conflicts of interest confronting academic economists. Such conflicts can arise when, for instance, a distinguished economist testifies before Congress, is interviewed in the press, or otherwise weighs in on policy debates without disclosing that, in addition to his academic affiliation, he also has financial/professional ties that may color (or appear to color) his objectivity. Several recent developments have drawn attention to the issue. First, there’s Inside Job, a documentary film that explores the causes of the financial crisis and deals harshly with high-profile academic economists who had undisclosed financial ties. For example, the film includes a painful-to-watch interview (available online) in which Frederic Mishkin, a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and a former Federal Reserve Governor, reluctantly admits that Iceland’s Chamber of Commerce paid him $124,000 to write a paper endorsing the country’s stable business environment, a fact not disclosed in the paper. Next, there’s Financial Economists, Financial Interests and Dark Corners of the Meltdown: It’s Time to Set Ethical Standards for the Economics Profession (available online), a research paper in which two University of Massachusetts...
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...The Responsibility Project Hot Seat ETH/316 Deborah Stevens June 25, 2014 The Responsibility Project Hot Seat http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/films/hot-seat How many times in the workplace have we passed the buck? No one wants to admit it but more times that often many of us have passed the blame or given the responsibility of something that we should have done to someone else. This paper will discuss the importance of the issues of the Hot Seat film. How the role of external social pressures influence organizational ethics. How the issues are relevant to organizational and personal decisions. The relationship between legal and ethical issues as shown in the film will be addressed. Lastly, I will describe how ethical principles can be used to address organizational issues. The issue in the Hot Seat film was “passing the buck”. Passing the buck is defined as a person who avoids responsibility by shifting it to another. In the film there is a broken chair that keeps getting switched out from one person to another, instead of simply fixing the chair. The chair is literally going from one person to another and each individual knows that the chair is going around. The employees will not leave his or her desk in fear of having their chair swapped out for the broken chair. In the end one person takes his perfectly working chair and swaps it for the broken chair; taking it to his desk and rigging it to work properly. This issue is important because...
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...discussed in the following paper. From the website, “The Responsibility Project” it will be discussed how important ethical principles are vital to any organization and how they can shape and ensure the future of that organization. Why are the issues of the film important? Good Vibrations is a film that addresses the community’s responsibility and the cost to be complacent. This film mainly focuses on group responsibilities of the society (Good vibrations, 2009). Even though the film has more of a community’s responsibility, the issues addressed within the short film are the same within an organization. The film was about an entire building full of employees who watched people walk by as they were being injured by a loose brick on the outside walkway. It wasn’t until the group of employees saw an elderly man walk by that they decided to prevent others from getting hurt. An individual with moral and ethics would consider this film to be unrealistic group of individuals who can just sit and watch individuals walk by and do nothing to prevent the inevitable. Many organizations in today’s society are found to be in the same situation as personality types aren’t different than those in the film. Those individuals who know its wrong choose not to say anything to avoid further conflict. What role do external social pressures have in influencing organizational ethics? External social pressures have an important role on how they influence organizational ethics in today’s societies. The...
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...camera simplified the photo taking process (Williams, C. 2013) Kodak’s main focus was photography and imaging. They had an array of products that ranged from photography equipment, film, paper and color chemicals. In the1980’s, Kodak’s market share reached 90%. This was a very special moment in the company’s history. Kodak developed the first concept of the digital camera in 1975. Their executives could not imagine the world without traditional film; unfortunately, the idea was dropped because they feared it would threaten the company’s film business. Digital cameras would become common; the technology started to spread and film sales dropped considerably at the late 1990’s. Kodak made a slow transition to digital technology. Unfortunately, their competitors adapted to change. This lead to Kodak’s loss of market shares both in the United States and worldwide. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After one year of continuous battle to keep the company prosperous, the court approved financing for them. Kodak sold many of its patents to groups of companies such as; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others (Snyder, 2013). Fujifilm which is a Japanese company was founded in 1934 (Tsurumi, Y 1999). Popularity for Fujifilm grew at an enormous rate. They were in second place in the United States in film usage. Eventually, they began selling globally. Fujifilm made bold moves in American...
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... | | |Ethics and Social Responsibility | | |PD12BSB07 ( 04/10/2013 - 05/08/2013 | Copyright © 2011, 2010 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course provides a foundational perspective for ethics and social responsibility in relationship to individuals, organizations, and the community. Emphasis is placed on the interrelated nature of ethics, morality, legal responsibility, and social issues. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Boylan, M. (2009). Basic ethics: Basic ethics in action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Trevino, L. K. & Nelson, K....
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...competitors since Fujifilm’s inception in 1934. Eastman Kodak had more than half a century worth of discovery and expertise over the incoming Fujifilm. However, when Fujifilm opened operations January 1934 within a month’s time they were producing all the same products as Eastman Kodak: roll film, photographic print paper, dry plates, and x-ray movie. It took George Eastman, inventor and proprietor of Eastman Kodak 25 years to invent color film (Eastman Kodak, unknown); in detail, George Eastman was renowned for very cautious designing temped with endurance, he did not hurry discovery and breakthroughs he was able to take his time because the industry was somewhat new and there was no real competition. As Kodak was ascending the ladder of success, George Eastman and his group of inventors had conceived many first. Including, the first dry plate formula along with the first patented appliance for organizing large amount of plates, roll film, compact cameras, flexible film. George even assisted Thomas Edison with the creation of the talking image; his business invented the first digital camera, so how did Fujifilm mass produce all that Kodak had to offer within their first month of operations? Fujifilm film was Japans answer to Kodak and Jackson, (2011) summed it up best when he asserted, “The US is the home of...
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...A Management Comparison of Kodak and Fujifilm BUS302 A Management Comparison of Kodak and Fujifilm Description of the History and Core Businesses Both Kodak and Fujifilm will be examined to identify the similarities and differences in their business successes and failures. Each business will be analyzed to develop a more complete understanding of how the businesses were formed and the paths each has followed to arrive at their current market positions. Kodak Eastman Kodak was started in 1888 when the first Kodak camera introduced and was available for sale to the public. The company was started by George Eastman in Rochester, NY, when Eastman was in his mid-twenties. George Eastman grew up poor and was a high school dropout, but that did not stop him from making money and supporting his widowed mother and two sisters by the time he was 14 years old (History of, 2013). When Eastman was 24 years old, he had planned a trip to Santo Domingo, and had an idea to record the trip. Eastman purchased a large, heavy camera that was as big as a microwave (History of, 2013). Eastman never made the trip to Santo Domingo, but he did become obsessed with photography, and how he could make it simpler to understand. Before Eastman Kodak was formed, George Eastman had started a company, making dry photographic plates, which later lead to the idea of a convenient, simple to use camera that would become known as the Kodak. After the Kodak camera was introduced...
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...early success was based on the new technology for cameras. The camera simplified the photo taking process (Williams, C. 2013) Kodak’s main focus was photography and imaging. They had an array of products that ranged from photography equipment, film, paper and color chemicals. In the1980’s, Kodak’s market share reached 90%. This was a very special moment in the company’s history. Kodak developed the first concept of the digital camera in 1975. Their executives could not imagine the world without traditional film; unfortunately, the idea was dropped because they feared it would threaten the company’s film business (Snyder, 2013). Digital cameras would become common; the technology started to spread and film sales dropped considerably at the late 1990’s. Kodak made a slow transition to digital technology. Unfortunately, their competitors adapted to change. This lead to Kodak’s loss of market shares both in the United States and worldwide. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After one year of continuous battle to keep the company “alive”, the court approved financing for them. Kodak sold many of its patents to groups of companies such as; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others (Snyder, 2013). The History of Fuji Film Fujifilm, a Japanese company, was founded in 1934 (Tsurumi, Y 1999). Like Kodak,...
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...Abstract This paper will explain the history, business approaches, management, and marketing of Eastman Kodak and Fujifilm. The paper will compare and contrast the approach to management that each company has pursued in order to embrace innovation. Determine what other management differences have impacted the relative success of Kodak and Fujifilm. Evaluate each company’s approach to ethics and social responsibility and the impact those approaches have had on each company profitability. Discuss the extent to which management of both companies adapted to changing market conditions. Look at three ways any company could build in flexibility to back up its decision-making process in order to adapt to changing market conditions. Describe the history and core of each company. In 1881, Eastman Kodak was first introduced into the business world in 1881 as the Eastman Dry Plate Company in Rochester, New York. George Eastman was the founder and was the first to demonstrate a gelation dry plate versus a wet plate that was used for photography. The company changed its name to the name we all know in 1888, which is Kodak and then a new camera was sold to the public with the brand name. In the beginning Kodak was able to keep up with the changing times and keeping up with technology. They were able to develop new and easier methods to use film development, cameras, printers, and health imaging units until the digital age began. In 2012, Kodak entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy because...
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...Abstract This paper will explain the history, business approaches, management, and marketing of Eastman Kodak and Fujifilm. The paper will compare and contrast the approach to management that each company has pursued in order to embrace innovation. Determine what other management differences have impacted the relative success of Kodak and Fujifilm. Evaluate each company’s approach to ethics and social responsibility and the impact those approaches have had on each company profitability. Discuss the extent to which management of both companies adapted to changing market conditions. Look at three ways any company could build in flexibility to back up its decision-making process in order to adapt to changing market conditions. Describe the history and core of each company. In 1881, Eastman Kodak was first introduced into the business world in 1881 as the Eastman Dry Plate Company in Rochester, New York. George Eastman was the founder and was the first to demonstrate a gelation dry plate versus a wet plate that was used for photography. The company changed its name to the name we all know in 1888, which is Kodak and then a new camera was sold to the public with the brand name. In the beginning Kodak was able to keep up with the changing times and keeping up with technology. They were able to develop new and easier methods to use film development, cameras, printers, and health imaging units until the digital age began. In 2012, Kodak entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy because...
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...Abstract Kodak and Fujifilm shared the market of photographic films, digital cameras, supplying various products for the photography sector, and medical imaging equipment. Over time, both companies had to come up with new and improved products that would keep the consumers wants and needs satisfied. Both companies had their very own style of management, which allowed them to advance with the innovation of new and improved technology. Kodak, until January 2012, was the leader in the photographic and film market. Kodak’s unwillingness to adapt to the digital age gave Fujifilm an advantage. Technical advances gave Fujifilm a competitive edge. Fujifilm took advantage of the changing market. When it comes to ethics and social responsibility the companies are for the most part on the same level, but have some differences. Adapting to the changing market conditions affected each company’s management differently in many ways, and affected the growth and innovation process for both companies. After researching both companies the determination that all companies should be diversified in some way, in order to keep up in the changing market and economy is crucial for growth and success. Kodak vs Fujifilm: Who Wins? Fujifilm. Kodak was the innovator in the photography business. Their development overwhelmed the United States and also different parts of the world. It had practical experience in the photographic film and Polaroid market which qualified it to rapidly stretch its...
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...Organizational Issues It has been said that integrity is doing the right thing when we think no one is looking. Maybe integrity is choosing to do hard things when most people would give us a pass on taking the easy way out. For the purpose of this paper, integrity could be defined as ethics inspired actions. While the story of Avalon International Breads (Avalon) is focused on their commitment to the rebuilding of Detroit, it can stand as a model of integrity for the many cities and towns across America that have been devastated during the recent economic crisis. Detroit has suffered greatly in recent years because of the economic shift in our nation that has greatly impacted the manufacturing sector. Detroit had been an epicenter of manufacturing for the past century, thanks to manufacturing innovators such as Henry Ford, and the auto industry (The City of Detroit, 2012). Today, Detroit is a shadow of its former self, and to many it serves as a stark warning of what might lie ahead for many other cities. Politicians and bureaucrats in Washington D.C. continue to argue as to the state of our economy, whether we are on the road to recovery, or whether we are simply waiting for the other shoe to drop. Many of us get a good indicator of the situation every time we fill up our gas tank, or buy groceries. The video about Avalon demonstrates that ordinary people can make a difference by sharing the hope with others that we still control our own destiny. Jackie Victor and...
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...FOUNDATIONS OF BUSINESS THOUGHT Business 1050 – 005 #5947 Fall 2015 Monday Professor: W. Tim Miller Email: wtmiller@echelon-inc.com Text: Foundations of Business Thought, 1st edition, Boardman, Sandomir and Sondak (Gray cover) Outlines, notes, syllabus, handouts, etc., all be handled through Canvas. Bus1050, section 005, will meet Mondays a full 3 hours from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM in SFEBB 160. We will use Canvas exclusively in this class for syllabus, handouts, notes, etc. Be familiar with Canvas. Foundations of Business Thought will introduce the student to the cultural, historical and philosophical thought surrounding the issues of business and commerce throughout the ages. By examining the words of great authors, we will get a sense of the timeless nature of business and make the observation that the issues currently facing individuals and business have their origins in writings centuries old and from a wide array of cultural and geographic underpinnings. A brief historical trace will be made to connect us to those businessmen and women who pursued many of the same goals we do today. The course will be divided into three semester sections with six functional areas, each followed by an Exam. A lecture outline is posted to Canvas in the week that section is started. Section 1: A. The Fundamentals of Business - We will read many of the classics of literature and philosophy to discern the authors' beliefs about business fundamentals and, in the...
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