Describe some of the unorthodox strategies covered by Terris during this era that made Lockheed become "…a byword for the shady practices of American multi-national corporations and a major impetus for new legislation...”
On realization that the company would go down due to the reduced return on investment Lockheed design some strategy as a remedy. Firstly, the company employed unorthodox techniques that would make the product open to all. In that respect, it sort to establish allies in terms of non-competing and competitors. This technique involves networking with other prospects to get imperative information that could help the sales of their product. (Frost, 2018). For instance, Lockheed’s salespersons identified prospects with information concerning the willing and able buyers of their products.
This technique involved alliances with other middlemen that would be important in pushing the sales of the over-produced airplanes. The practices by Lockheed in logic terms can be seen as a move to rescue the wailing company from an ambitious investment. However, there are sense interferences to codes of conduct. For instance, since the company was looking for any person who had information regarding the possible or potential buyer of the choice of who to deal with was their minimal concern. In that context, they are seen as being involved with a person such as Yashio Kadama who is associated with war crimes. In a critical view, Yashio Kadama was the most imperative informant for the Lockheed in Japan due to his connection with the prospective buyer or the authority.
Another imperative technique that the company use is connecting to the community involved to get to the targeted buyer. For instance, the company made generous contributions in Indonesia to get close associates from the Indonesian Air Force as a potential buyer for their products. This also can be related with the method that seeks to get alliances. For the Lockheed, donating was imperative to sell their good intentions to the authority in charge of the Air Force.
Question Two
On the issue of overseas bribes, Terris asks the questions, "Who was hurt by the [overseas bribes to secure sales of aircraft? The competitors, of course, but what was unethical about beating out the competition that was playing by the same rules?” (p.59). What do you think about a situation where underhanded and backdoor deals are the way the game is played if everybody is on the same playing field? That is to say, if everybody is playing by the same shady rules, is it unethical to compete?
My view on the underhanded and back door deals may be termed a fair way of doing business. This is due to the fact that power concerning the control of the market is distributed evenly. In rational terms, the market is even as everybody is allowed to use any method in sealing the deals. In such cases, the market situation and barriers are standardized to meet the needs of the participants. Therefore, competition would be based on the aggressiveness and the power to make illegal connections.
In another instance, the ethical issues behind such a market are imperative factors to consider. Firstly, what facilitated the initiation of the illegal dealing was the traditions to break barriers and maybe to give each player a competitive advantage. However, the advancement of competition may give rise to a more advanced illegal means just to establish another tradition. Therefore, in such cases competition would disorganize the market traditions. For instance, bribing political class to increase sales of the product may be seen as a normal routine since everyone in the market is able to bribe the government. However, since the bribing is normal the participants might start funding more adverse issues such war to get government approval. These make the whole process unethical. It would be ethical if competition is removed from the system such that no company has a more imperative competitive advantage than the other which is impractical in the business field.
The backdoor dealing, however, seems to disorganize the essence of competition since the buyer's intentions are maneuvered. For instance, the McDonnell-Douglas deals with The Japanese airline are seen to be changed after the engagement of the Lockheed official with Yoshio Kadama. This indicates unfair competitions brought about by unethical business behaviors.
Question Three
Why was the Defense Industry Initiative (DII) so important to the eventual success of Lockheed Martin’s ethics program?
The consensus on the DII was important in for the Lockheed since would be able to restructure their working relations as well as the reputation. It was seen that since Lock heed was a major company it was under intense scrutiny by the United States Congress which would ideally mean reduced confidence from the government and other prospective buyers. Although the company internal ethics was somewhat satisfactory, the company saw the change in codes of conduct in the international arena as an essential requirement to strengthen and push for more authoritative business reputations and behaviors from the management. For instance, the company discovered unaccounted spending in the line of pushing the overseas sales. In that respect, with all the unethical practices involved it would be difficult to point it to the overseas dealings or to the personal gains of the officials used in shady dealings.
The DII was also important as the market and the activities of the industries were brought to a fair level. This meant that the competition would be pushed on other factors such as quality and reputation rather than corrupt deals. In that case, it would be easier for all the participants to remain ethical in the industry. The initiative was also imperative in pushing for internal ethical practices as well as putting more focus on the public accountability. This was important so that the marketing would be on the basis of quality and reputation instead of imposing sales. According to Huang and colleagues (2014), the consideration of cultural norms and other facets of the society that the business may influence determines the reputations of the organization to the public which later influences sales. The program was also important since it was concerned on wider sectors of the industry. In that case, it would be relevant for all employees of Lockheed. The program was also important for the Lockheed as it was essential in establishing a comprehensive industrial tradition that was uniform across the industry.
As stated earlier the essence of DII was to bring the essence of ethics into the internal structure of the organization. The program, therefore, laid important procedure defining the codes of conduct and that all employees are bound to follow them in that essence any shady deal by any of the employees would be traced to an individual instead of victimizing the whole company.
Question Four
Discuss Norman Augustine's and Dilbert's contribution in helping Lockheed Martin turn the corner with its ethics program.
The philosophy governing ethical insights of Norman seems to be the starting point for the advanced ethical values at Lockheed Martin. For instance, he believed that to be ethical is to do what is right regardless of the ability to do otherwise. In that essence, the activity of the company would not be guided by the prevailing circumstances but by what is right in all ethical perspectives. According to Leiva and colleagues (2016), when the company realizes the importance of doing the right it becomes an integrated facet in adhering to core values. In the same context, ethical culture in the company was to be redefined to a strict culture. As such ethical components were would be regarded as superior facets regardless of the status of the business and other circumstances. Such a program would escape paths leading to lawlessness since it is considering the moral obligations of every action.
Another issue that needed to be addressed as far as ethics are concerned, was the internal ethical practices. Norman realized that most of the formulated codes of conducts were more appealing and relevant to the government requirements not oriented to the employees. This needed to be addressed to improve working relations. The new model stressed the application of values such as honesty, integrity, and responsibility in decision-making. In that respect, the action of the employee and any other member of the staff would be guided by their ability to adhere to the basic values.
References
Frost, A. (2018, March 13). 8 Creative Sales Prospecting Ideas You've Never Tried Before. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/creative-sales-prospecting-ideas
Huang, C., Yen, S., Liu, C., " Huang, P. (2014). THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, SERVICE QUALITY, CORPORATE IMAGE AND PURCHASE INTENTION. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 68-84.
Leiva, R., Ferrero, I., " Caldero´n, R. (2016). Corporate Reputation in the Business Ethics Field: Its Relation with Corporate Identity, Corporate Image, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Reputation Review, 299-315.
