Assignment 4 (unable to determine subject)

¶ … marketing that was previously considered ethical but that is now considered unethical. What caused this change?

The marketing and selling of tobacco-related products has gone through one of the most fundamental shifts in marketing ethicacy ever seen in the United States in the last century. From being seen as a symbol of confidence and commonly prescribed by society as a means to reduce stress and enjoy life, today the impact of tobacco consumption has shown to cause a multitude of cancers (Fairchild, Colgrove, 2004). Tobacco companies often crossed the line and began to market many of their tobacco products to children as well, with the idea of getting 12 and 13-year-old addicted to cigarettes and chewing tobacco to make their lifetime customer value as customers even more lucrative for tobacco companies (Fairchild, Colgrove, 2004). Of the many approaches relied on to accomplish this goal the most insidious was the Joe Camel commercials and cartoons, which were deliberately aimed at young teenagers and their curiosity with smoking. In addition to this specific use of child-friendly imagery studies have found over 100 instances of using comic book-like characters to sell tobacco and the "coolness" of it over providing a more balanced view of its many health dangers.

Based on the pervasive use of marketing tactics that sought to enslave children at a very early age to tobacco products, a series of federal laws were passed to protect minors from deceptive advertising (Fairchild, Colgrove, 2004). Today it is considered illegal to create and sustain marketing campaigns aimed at minors using images and messages that most resonate with them. Thankfully the ethics and moral obligation of tobacco companies have become more regulated, saving children from becoming addicted to tobacco in the process (Fairchild, Colgrove, 2004).

(2) Which style(s) of leadership would be most effective for the innovation process -- and why?

The innovation process by definition is nonlinear and concentrates more on making nontraditional, often unforeseen links across seemingly unrelated topics, factors and causation factors. Correspondingly, the most effective leadership styles for ensuring the effective managing of the innovation process must also be flexible, agile and very transformational in approach yet able to use emotional intelligence (EI) to determine when it is best to use specific approaches and leadership strategies (Gumusluoglu, Ilsev, 2009). From the myriad of leadership strategies completed on this topic, it's clear that a transformational leader is more adept at EI while keeping innovation teams anchored in a framework or taxonomy that guides their efforts. It is a delicate balance that only the most insightful transformational leaders are capable of navigating, making their value to innovation strategies and initiatives invaluable (Ryan, Tipu, 2013).

(3) Which School(s) of Management Thought would be most effective for the innovation process -- and why.

Of the many schools of management thought that have been integrated into the innovation processes of companies to gain greater time-to-market and competitive advantage, the most effective is one that concentrates on creating a culture of trust supported with a strong focus on egalitarianism (Gumusluoglu, Ilsev, 2009). This skill set is exceptionally difficult to find in leaders; it often must be cultivated over time within an organization to further support the innovation process (Ryan, Tipu, 2013). The orientation of leaders with these skills is to create a culture that is enriched with a high degree of autonomy, mastery and purpose that pervade each person's broadly defined roles and responsibility as well (Gumusluoglu, Ilsev, 2009). As autonomy, mastery and purpose are the core components of human motivation, and trust is an accelerator that leads to a tightly unified team (Ryan, Tipu, 2013), it is critically important a leader have the ability to orchestrate these elements together into a unified, highly focused strategy that has as its goal the creation of innovative new products, systems, solutions and approaches to solving problems.

(4) Why does technology have a direct impact on values, and how can technology lead to value change? Give an example of a technology which caused a beneficial change in societal values and an example of a technology which caused a detrimental change in societal values, and discuss why you think the former was beneficial and the latter detrimental.

Technology has a direct impact on values as it serves as the foundation for all successful collaboration, communication and orchestration of tasks and activities to attain desired outcomes (Kenny, Sandefur, 2013). The invention of the Macintosh and desktop publishing software is widely regarded as one of the most pivotal technologies in bringing democracy to the Soviet Union. First desktop publishing in previous decades and today the role of social media today in driving needed social change in totalitarian-based governments including Egypt is a case in point (Kenny, Sandefur, 2013). Social media has emerged as a powerful foundation for driving social change across all nations as a result.

Conversely a technology that led to a detrimental change in society is the use of advanced eavesdropping and surveillance including the pervasive use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. There is more surveillance today throughout the United States than ever before thanks to these technologies, and with that, the risk of civil rights being compromised. This technology specifically is a threat to citizen's personal freedoms and shows the needs for greater vigilance over the technologies meant to keep threats under control when they could just as easily be used to enforce policies they were ironically meant to battle against.