However, leaving it unmitigated could result in severe future conflicts and related failures. Because employees are encouraged to contribute to corporate governance in an egalitarian way, the unmitigated conflict could lead to major future problems that could relate to significant financial or reputation losses for the company. Simplification can result in a global ethical principal that all the company's employees should contribute to and adhere to.
The third principle of anticipation is Sensitivity to Operations. This means that all employees are aware of the systems responsible for the smooth functioning of the company. For the conflict involved, this is probably the most important principle. If both employees in question are aware of the system underlying the operations of MTO and how to effectively promote these operations, the conflict would be much easier to mitigate. Indeed, there might be no conflict in the first place.
When applying all three principles of anticipation combined, the company can therefore promote the effectiveness of operations, while also mitigating the threat that conflict might pose to its financial and ethical prowess.
The concept of containment concerns the prevention of unwanted outcomes after an event that is unexpected. There are two principles related to the principle of containment. The first is Commitment to Resilience, while the second is Deference to Expertise.
Commitment to Resilience concerns the commitment of managers to find cures to errors that already occurred. At the basis of this principle is the recognition that errors are inevitable, but that they can be learned from. Once the decision is made to accept the high-paying, criminal client, for example, the repercussions in terms of the company's reputation might be significant. The managers of the company must therefore be mindful of their employees' mistakes and mitigate these publicly as far as possible. In this particular case, press releases can for example be issued that indicate the company's continued commitment to ethics, while training employees to maintain an adherence to the ethical principles of the company. If not addressed in terms of the resilience principle, the small failure created by the single employee or group of employees could permanently tarnish the ethical reputation of the company. It is therefore necessary to address this principle fully.
The second principle of containment is Deference to Expertise. This principle concerns the tendency to defer to experts when problems and failures arise. However, when a failure like the one above are concerned, the MTO egalitarian culture, as well as the second principle mentioned here, dictates that all employees should be aware of how to handle certain problems and issues. Once the wealthy client has been accepted and exposed, for example, the employee, group of employees, or even all employees, should be made aware of the ethical principles relating to criminal elements seeking the help of the company.
Doing this publicly will not only mitigate this problem in terms of future occurrences, but will also provide a platform for all future decisions and similar conflicts. At the same time, the company will save its reputation and mitigate any future failures that might otherwise have occurred. In this way, the egalitarian culture of MTO can all contribute to mitigating and preventing future problems by becoming a learning culture that uses its mistakes to improve future practice.
According to current information, the MTO company not only contains an egalitarian culture, but also one that is just and flexible. The just culture is mindful of ethical principles such as reporting when wrongdoing occurs internally, but also externally in terms of community and pro bono service. MTO is externally just in terms of its community and pro bono service. Internally, it might be able to learn from past mistakes and failures by increasingly adhering to a universal ethical principles to be followed by all employees when accepting new clients. Generally, however, it might be said that the culture within the company attempts to be both egalitarian and just. Furthermore, the company also strives to be internally just to its employees by providing incentives for promotion and an egalitarian platform for communication.
A flexible culture adapts to the changing demands of the business environment. Here, the egalitarian culture is of the essence. In order to grow and change as an organization, all employees need to function upon a platform of collaboration and change where necessary. As such, managers cannot be inflexible when approached by employees with specific needs or problems. Specifically, MTO has shown an ability to change with the...
Indeed, they were one of the first legal assistance companies to do so.
Furthermore, the company's community and pro bono work have testified to its ability to adhere to the changing needs of the society within which it functions. Flexibility is therefore a culture that is promoted throughout the organization. Internally, the company also defers to the expertise required to help it solve technical and other issues. There is a general recognition that neither al managers nor all employees have the expertise necessary to solve every problem or address every issue. The company consists of a completely egalitarian team to solve the problems that arise.
In order to provide an even better platform of functioning, the company could also encourage a culture of reporting and learning. A culture of reporting provides a platform of honesty that helps the company to retain its ethical core in the face of a decidedly unethical business world and profession. A learning culture learns from failure and paves the way forward with potential future success.
In its current form, MTO has a very sound basis for effectiveness. The egalitarian culture and sound social ethics provide a good platform for creating public trust and therefore function not only as an accepted entity, but also as a profitable one. To be a leader in such a company is therefore much more than approaching issues with a single-minded platform of solutions, where subordinates are expected to accept anything the leader says. Instead, the egalitarian culture in MTO dictates an open communication policy, by means of which all employees should be willing to raise concerns or opinions for debate.
In terms of the conflict mentioned above, for example, the culture should dictate that the two disagreeing employees must be willing to approach management with their question. The manager, in turn, should not offer an immediate solution. Instead, the culture of reporting and trust should dictate that a meeting be held, either within the branch involved, or with the global employee base. All opinions should be considered in the light of the broad ethical principles of the business itself. Furthermore, the debate should also highlight all the advantages and disadvantages of either course of action. Only after global debate can a single ethical principle be decided upon for dealing with similar future events. In this way, a culture of trust and a culture of reporting can be cultivated.
In terms of reporting, this is an important issue for the growing, learning organization. Being an egalitarian culture does not mean that employees do not make mistakes or engage in failing activities. Hence, for the future of this organization, I would engage in practices that encourage reporting of perceived wrongdoing or failure. All employees must be encouraged to report such activity without fearing penalization. Because MTO is ethically committed to the community and integrity, such reporting activities must be viewed as a necessary part of the company's function. Also, if an employee reports any perceived wrongdoing, the recipients of such reports will be investigated fully before any disclosure is made of their identity or indeed the perceived activity in question.
Once again, to apply this to the conflict in question, the more "ethical" of the two employees could have approached management before the issue became public. The issue could have been investigated and discussed, with a way forward implemented. Because the "non-ethical" employee believed that he was acting in the interest of the company, no penalization would be involved, but it would ensured that all employees are aware of the ethical principles of the company in such cases.
In order to accomplish this, I would encourage all employees to always adhere to the personal values that they hold, even if this does not agree with what is believed to be in the best financial interest of the company. Employees will also be encouraged to discuss with managers any misgivings regarding certain actions, whether these are decisions to be taken by themselves or others. In this way, a global and consistent system of ethics can be implemented across the company's branches.
In order to accomplish all these ideals, I believe that it is necessary for me as a company leader to move beyond a narrow, mechanical, and traditional approach for understanding organizations. In fact, being a manager within an egalitarian culture already requires this as a matter of habit. Instead of simply applying traditional and well-trodden roads of management, I am required to use my imagination, courage and creativity, applying these…
