In the recent past, ethical lapses in the practice of business, ranging from Enron to the Lehman Brothers debacles, have once again refocused the attention of scholars and practitioners to a contemplation of ethics and the moral dilemmas employees face in the context of modern capitalism (Fang, 2006). Scholars have devised ethical frameworks aimed at assisting managers and employees to deal with presenting moral dilemmas as they engage in ethical decision making, particularly in light of the admission that ethical decisions are fraught with competing values (Bagozzi, Sekerka, & Hill, 2009). In this paper, I attempt to provide a solution to the case study involving a work-based ethical dilemma and the justifications involved in coming up with the proposed solution.
In brief, the case is about one employee who is about to be reprimanded for falsifying entries on official documents, while the fact of the matter is that the employee was not involved in the unethical behavior and I have information to prove that the employee was not involved (Bagozzi et al., 2009)
In proposing a solution to such an ethical dilemma, I am of the opinion that I should take action to share with management what I know about the case even if such an action will definitely lead to a reprimand due to conflicting interests. As a matter of fact, the ethical dilemma will have far-reaching implications on my friend, other employees and myself, but I hold that the morally right to do in this scenario is to provide the information that I hold demonstrating that the victimized employee is not involved in the ethical malpractice.
Since I already have evidence demonstrating that the employee is not involved in falsifying the documents, I’ll engage the senior management in sharing all the information and facts I have on the issue, request management to conduct an environmental scan to locate the issue within a context, and afterwards seek for the issue to be resolved based on the legality of the facts, capacity of the solution to withstand public scrutiny, consistency of the solution with personal, professional, organizational community values, and capacity of the solution to set a precedence in dealing with such an ethical dilemma (Maddalena, 2007).
In justifying this solution, I contend that I have a right and duty as an employee to be honest and tell the truth in spite of the fact that such disclosure may actually implicate others, including my friend and I. The rights and duties ethical framework not only defines what the implicated employee should expect as his due in solving the case, but also the duty I personally have as an employee in the same organization to demonstrate honesty, justice and courage in making a decision that will be morally right for all (Bagozzi et al., 2009; Fang, 2006).
In making the decision to save the implicated employee, I am also guided by the ethical framework of maximizing the amount of good in the world by balancing the benefits of an action against the risks and costs involved (Fang, 2006). My values of finding the truth and guilt for withholding the truth definitely align with this framework. I am of the opinion that to maximize the amount of good and bring happiness and justice to all people in the organization, I have a ‘right’ to override the rights of my friend and share the information with management.
Lastly, I justify my solution based on an ethical framework concerned with leading a virtuous life by synthesizing the moral “rightness” or “wrongness” of my decisions and taking the best course of action (Bagozzi et al., 2009; Fang, 2006). In this context, I am of the opinion that I should not dwell much on the consequences of sharing the information I have with the senior management, but rather on my principles of honesty, duty, justice, and character. These principles align well with the framework of leading a virtuous life as they demonstrate the basic tenets of a morally upright human being.
References
Bagozzi, R., Sekerka, L., & Hill, V. (2009). Hierarchical motive structures and their role in moral choices. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(4), 461-486. Web.
Fang, M.L. (2006). Evaluating ethical decision-making of individual employees in organizations – An integration approach. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 8(2), 105-112. Web.
Maddalena, V. (2007). A practical approach to ethical decision-making. Leadership in Health Services, 20(2), 71-75. Web.
Banner Healthcare Strategic Planning
Strategic planning to enable Banner Healthcare to serve citizens in the next decade
Banner Healthcare is a health care facility in the United States of America. It is located in Phoenix, Arizona and operates over 25 hospitals across the country. It also operates several specialized facilities in the U.S. Banner Healthcare have operations in the states of Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and California, among others (Banner Healthcare, 2014). It has over 35,000 employees, making it one of the largest employers in Arizona. Among the services that the organization provides include emergency care, hospice, rehab services, hospital care, long term, and home care, laboratory services, outpatient surgery centers, primary care physician clinics, as well as pharmacy services. The primary care physician clinics also include Banner Arizona Medical Clinic, as well as Banner Medical Group.
Also, Banner Healthcare has a separate program, in addition to normal health care services. It provides medical insurance to its clients. The program is known as Medicare Advantage. Banner Healthcare was founded in the year 1999. The organization has grown significantly in the past few years. It has embraced change and is currently in a transformation process, which is in the innovation phase. Forming a partnership with Houston’s M. D. Anderson has enabled Banner Healthcare to build a multi-million cancer center in a place called Gilbert, Arizona (Banner Healthcare, 2014). The needs of the citizens keep on changing as the world changes. Thus Banner Healthcare has to keep on changing to be in a position to meet the needs in the next ten years. The objective of this paper is to examine the strategic planning of Banner Healthcare that will enable it to serve citizens in the next decade.
Preparedness of Banner Healthcare in offering health care services to citizens in the next decade
All organizations, both business and non-profit organizations, need to keep changing as time goes by (Carnall, 2010). Organizations should be in a position to serve citizens in the present time, as well as in the future. Besides, firms need to be pro-active and come up with strategies on how to offer improved and satisfactory services in the future (Bryson, 2011). Banner Healthcare has been undergoing a change in the recent past and has been positioning itself to serve people in the next ten years. It is embracing technology in its operation. Banner Healthcare is currently in the innovation stage. Thus it is likely to be the most critical stage in its existence as innovation is a lifeline for most organizations because it can increase customer satisfaction (Gailly, 2010). Innovation will, therefore, help Banner Healthcare to offer quality services to its patients in the future.
A strategic plan that addresses issues of network growth
Banner Healthcare has to develop a strategic plan that will help it reach as many people as possible to enhance its network. The health care provider has grown since its inception and plans to continue with its growth in the future so that it will be able to serve citizens in ten years to come. The strategic plan that it has adopted for this course is the establishment of more health centers across the nation. Banner Healthcare needs to establish more hospitals so that it can be in a position to reach more people. The organization is also planning to improve and increase its network through the launch of advertisement campaigns. This will create awareness of its existence and help it get a large base of clients to serve in a decade. Also, Banner Healthcare needs to establish more services to offer within its hospitals. This will help it satisfy a wide range of needs of different customers. It will, in turn, be able to grow its network and become a leader in the health care industry in the next ten years. The hospital should come up with better services through its innovation efforts (Gailly, 2010). Banner Healthcare is set to grow its network in its strategic plan, and its efforts will be successful.
A strategic plan that addresses issues of nurse staffing
As the demand for its services continues to increase, Banner Healthcare will be expected to increase its staff to be in a position to serve the citizens efficiently. The fact that the hospital is on the verge of increasing in size and adding more hospitals across the country has put the pressure to increase its nursing staff in the future. The organization has a plan to increase its staff gradually as it continues to expand in size and scope. The nursing staff hired by Banner Healthcare is highly qualified, and it plans to continue with the same trend of hiring such employees (Banner Healthcare, 2014). This will ensure that the organization will be in a position to handle the demand that is expected to grow in the next ten years. At the same time, it will be able to meet the changing needs of the citizens.
A strategic plan that addresses issues of resource management
Resource management is one of the most significant activities that will help in the growth of Banner Healthcare in the future (Carnall, 2010). The organization needs to be able to distribute its available resources in a manner that will enable equal growth of all its organs. It should be noted that Banner Healthcare is an organization that is rich in resources. However, proper utilization of these resources is essential for its growth. It is recognized that human resources remain to be the most important assets in the growth of any organization. It is for this reason that Banner Healthcare has plans to invest more in human resources. The organization also plans to invest in technology, as this is another resource that will facilitate the provision of quality services in the next decade. Banner Healthcare will be able to offer quality services to its clients in the future using up-to-date technological equipment. The investment in technological resources has started, with the organization being in the innovation stage of its organizational change process.
A strategic plan that addresses issues of patient satisfaction
Patient satisfaction is the ultimate objective of Banner Healthcare in the long run. All its growth and development efforts are directed toward maximizing customer satisfaction. The organization plans to make its services more effective and efficient in the future. It also plans to implement more convenient services. As such, Banner Healthcare will be offering health care services to patients from any location. In fact, as part of this plan, Banner Healthcare already offers online services, where customers can make their inquiries and contact a health care provider at any time. The hospital plans to build more on this and introduce more satisfactory services to the clients in the future. Providing care to outpatients and long term and home-based patients will be a major area of focus. Besides, inpatient services will be enhanced. Banner Healthcare will be able to satisfy its patients in the next decade through innovation (Gailly, 2010).
References
Banner Healthcare (2014). Banner Healthcare: About us. Web.
Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Carnall, C. A. (2010). Managing change in organizations. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Gailly, B. (2010). Developing innovative organizations: A roadmap to boost your innovation potential. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Characters Of Katherine Min’s “Courting A Monk”
Introduction
Courting a Monk is a distinctive example of the Asian-American short stories. It is one of the most recognizable works of Katherine Min, an author famous for her ironic depiction of the cross-cultural issues together with the deep analysis of the psychological growth and evolving of the characters in her prose.
This short story by Katherine Min received the critics’ appraise and was awarded the Pushcart Prize in 1998 (Xu, 2012). Courting a Monk is the story of the relationships between two major characters Gina and Micah. Gina is the narrator of the story, and the first-person narrative creates the impression of sincerity, intimacy, and insight into the dynamics of their relationships.
Gina and Micah as two extremes
Gina and Micah met each other as young people, and from the very first sentence of the story, the readers know that two characters are deemed to become husband and wife. From Gina’s perspective, when she first saw Micah, he was a calm, cheerful young man, “with a tremendous capacity for stillness, his hands were like still-life objects resting on his knees; his posture was impeccable” (Min, 1996, p. 101).
His calm cheerfulness was the first thing in him she was attracted to, even though for other people, the smile on his face appeared so “wide and open as to seem moronic” (Min, 1996, p. 101). In many ways, she admired his stillness because it was very contrasting with her father’s temper, whose silence was “like a lid on the pot, sealing off some steaming inner pressure” (Min, 1996, p. 102).
They also had quite opposite world views, Gina’s father was the man of science, an academic who gave up his Buddhist heritage for the scientific worldview. Unlike him, Micah was raised in the United States, had no Oriental ancestry, yet he was fascinated by the Buddhist culture and decided to pursue the life of a monk.
At first, Gina doubted the depth of his beliefs since, in her experience, even her family, raised in this culture, eventually gave up such views. However, from the start of their acquaintance, Gina liked the fact that Micah saw that she was not impressed with his spiritual views, so he was not trying to impress her (Min, 1996, p. 103).
At this point in the book, there are two significant points; the first one is the irony of how the people, like Gina’s father, raised in some culture do not appreciate this culture, whereas someone like Micah, who presumably would not be impressed with it, can start deeply believing in it. The second major point is the immediate mutual understanding between Micah and Gina, how they were not trying to show off or impress one another.
The relationships between characters in a cultural context
Later on in the story, it is revealed that Gina was suspicious about the genuineness of Micah’s beliefs and his attitude towards her because her father warned her and tried to bring her up in a way that she would think American young men only intend to take advantage of her (Min, 1996).
However, Gina did not feel threatened by boys from her college, and she ignored most of her father’s advice about going to bed bad early and keeping to herself. She was enjoying her life at college, yet did not let anyone but Micah to get to know her spiritually, the experience that is presumably autobiographic for Katherine Min (Ling, 1999).
Her relationships with Micah were not similar to those with her other friends. Gina tried to provoke him, saying, for example, that his monk devotion was only an “escape from this world and its messes,” but to her surprise, she could not disturb his self-possession (Min, 1996, p. 104). Micah saw the sense of the Buddhist philosophy as the renunciation of all the desires, and Gina’s life was full of different desires. So, at this point in the story, two characters are like extremes, but Gina started to realize and appreciate Micah’s spiritual ideas.
The turning point, the culmination of the development of both characters takes place during the scene of the dinner at Gina’s parents’. Gina’s father started a rigorous discussion about Buddhism with Micah, trying to prove to the later that the Americans cannot understand Oriental philosophy. Gina got very angry with her father’s behavior that seemed to ruin Micah’s calmness, and with the fact that she had to choose between being Korean and being American.
Conclusion
The main narrative of the story is the irony of how two characters changed each other’s lives. Before Micah appeared in Gina’s life, she was able just to ignore her father’s attitude, but now she faced all the feelings she had been trying to suppress, she could not have any more “the boys, the glib words and feelings, the simple heat and surface pleasures” (Min, 1996, p. 112).
For Micah, the change was even more drastic. The words of Gina’s father made him doubt the genuineness of his belief and think whether it was not just a fad. That is why his feelings for Gina remained the only thing he was sure of at the time.
In conclusion, the characters of Gina and Micah came a long way to realizing their existential problems of cultural belonging and admitting their feelings to themselves. At the end of the story, they are both settled down, adult people who helped each other to become who they are.
References
Ling, A. (1999). Yellow light. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Min, K. (1996). Courting a Monk. Triquaterly, 95(1), 101-113.
Xu, W. (2012). Historical dictionary of Asian American literature and theater. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc.