Behavior And Promotes Prosocial Responses -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Behavior And Promotes Prosocial Responses? Answer: Introduction During a short contract as the unit manager in a global insurance company, I faced different ethical and leadership dilemmas. However, one occasion put to test my management skills in leadership, ethics and multiculturalism. As a sales oriented company, my team was under pressure to perform. We undertook projects based on result and each team was putting up enough efforts to outperform the other. My colleague Timothy advised me that nothing comes easy in marketing and I had to engage in corrupt dealings in order to sell the products. I had to use false information about the price in order to convince more clients. In his opinion, Insurance brokers from his home country excel because of skillful marketing tactics that do not conceal the hidden charges. Timothy points out that marketing does not look at the fairness in practice, competition nor pricing. This discussion brought about critical issues in leadership, ethical management and personality traits. This essay unfolds the ethical dilemma faced by leaders in the insurance industry. It focuses on the unit manager as a personal leader (Qi Ming-Xia, 2014). Level managers are responsible for setting a good example to subordinates or followers. Employees in the global businesses come from different backgrounds hence are guided by varied values and principles. Credibility Issues The main components of leadership focus on each leader as an individual. This is a personal approach to leadership. Aristotle one of the founding fathers of virtue leadership theories stated that effective leadership is a combination of ethics coupled with action(Levine Boaks, 2014). Although I had a different opinion about Timothys approach to leadership, we were both recognized leaders within the insurance company. In fact, it was commendable that his team received awards severally for sales performance. I could not help but admire his charming attitude and charisma, which endeared him to his teammates. Credibility in management practices calls for emotional intelligence as propagated by Daniel Goleman(Mohler, 2012). Leaders are different because of the influence that they have. Timothy was the best manager in the company because he had a rare ability to influence individual choices. However, he had his own perspective about leading and managing his team. His ideas of success were different from mine. Although he depicted performance through tangible results in sales activities, his model had questionable virtue. Goleman highlighted six models of leadership including commanding, pacesetting, democratic and visionary. In the case of Timothy, he was a pacesetter in the marketing department because of his vision to sell. Timothy focused on the acquisition of more customers regardless of the channel he used. In this case, the end justifies the means(Kemeny, et al., 2012). He set his pace based on self-direction and not standard procedure. We had both gone through business classes and Ethics was part of our professional training. However, my approach to leadership leans towards excellence and I like to build consensus through effective leadership that supports quality standards. I found this missing in Timothy because the corporate environment calls for affiliative leaders who connect with team members within a harmonious system. Visionary Leadership and Personality Traits In support of Goleman, contemporary leaders today develop ethical standards in personal leadership styles (Goleman, et al., 2013). In business leadership, emotions have a critical function because of self-awareness and decision making processes. I have personally faced challenges that made me choose between earning more money and making quality, sustainable decisions. Having personal values about business choices guides the self-regulation process. When I encounter huge business deals that may not have ethical procedures, I find myself tempted to ignore ethical values. Timothy was aware of the importance of performance in a result-oriented industry. Personal leadership defines a leaders attitudes, and practices. Engraved in cultural and ethical frameworks, this leadership approach is subjective. This explains why Timothys style of leading was different from mine. Although we were both unit managers, we approached our responsibilities from a different point of view. Despite the fact that Timothy was leading in the performance charts, I could not envy his management style because I felt that it was short-lived and did not have personal fulfilment. I had the right perception of success and it did not matter whether this had tangible results because my approach was more sustainable. In my opinion, my behavior did not focus on pleasing people but on doing the right thing. In order to develop the right management and leadership practices, I focused on a positive trait while Timothy represented a callous approach that did not emphasize on the process. He showed less commitment to his team members despite the fact that they liked his personality. His approach is popular in marketing and advertising where there is a tussle between ethics and business success(Boone Kurtz, 2013). Globally, insurance firms and service providers arise suspicion because of questionable ethics in product placement, pricing, professional conduct and quality service delivery. Multiculturalism According to Chhokar, et al (2013) leading people is about the core personality traits and unique values. These determine the type of leadership taken by industry leaders. Run by Indians, our insurance firm had no restrictions on morality and my colleagues included a conglomerate of Muslims, Christians and Buddhists. My perception of leadership is strongly based on spiritual values. I am a Christian who believes in making concrete decisions based on love for the neighbor and doing the right thing in fear of a supreme being. On the other hand, Timothy did not commit to any religion. Purporting to be an Atheist he ascribed to his own values defined by personal success factors. It is good that he respected all kinds of faiths,but his actions failed to show enthusiasm for any moral guidelines. His apathetic leadership practices did not consider service oriented leadership and he prefered to lead a small team than a whole group. In his vision plan, unit managers had better deals than branch managers because of the commissions. His idea of morality was centered on reflection and not action or exemplar leadership. He ascribed to the right management practices, which supported his outcome(Czinkota Ronkainen, 2013). Cultural values influence personal traits and some leaders are realistic while others are impractical. If I chose to follow Timothys approach of dishonesty, I would be pessimistic about building credible teams. During a HR appraisal process, it was evident that most of my team members found motivation in group participation while Timothys team members were indifferent and disorderly. They had no personal connection even though they produced positive sales reports. I came to the conclusion that the professional work environment provided a perfect setting for leaders to demonstrate their abilities as leaders and to gain the right perception about work. Leadership Theory So what exactly is leadership? Timothy stands out as a leader in his own way but I recognize my personal leadership style as more respectable. One of the critical assumptions about leadership is that it comes naturally. However, I ascribe to the behaviorist approach, which concentrates on tasks and relationships(Goleman, et al., 2013). This is different from traits based leadership adopted by Timothy, which comes out as selfish. In his style of leadership, competition was key to performance. His functional group in the organization often encountered challenges helping customers to understand the importance of life and health insurance. On the other hand, my unit had a convincing approach because we were honest when explaining our business approach to our clients. Behavioral leadership looks at the characteristics of the leader, and the connection to the followers. In my team, people are more important than money. My followers were keen on the clarification of each activity we undertook because it brought out our skills in sales and unique attributes. We overcame barriers and took advantage of opportunities while emphasizing on values. We organized our sales strategies around the companys core values among them integrity and customer service. On the other hand, in Timothys team individuals had divergent goals based on assumptions like charisma and performance ability. Professional expertise calls for effective leadership, collaborative teamwork, and behavioral support systems. Like other leaders, Timothy had the ability to engage others into sales actions. However, his team lacked a leadership model to define the teams core traits and values. Influenced by individual philosophies, Timothys leadership style lacked morality and missed the critical professional ethics. In order to harmonize his leadership approach with quality leadership, he needed intellectual abilities that remain intact when tested. In Machiavellis word, I support leaders who remain true to virtue in the midst of competing interests(Chervenak, et al., 2013). Conclusion The consequences of following virtuous leadership may not always bear immediate positive results. However, in the end virtue comes out as successful. Timothy may have won a number of awards for leading the best performing team, but his approach exhibited vices. A deeper analysis of his victory reveals loopholes and unnecessary risks. Like other businesses today, insurance companies incur loses and legal suits because of failure to commit to their agreed service plans. Customers around the globe feel duped in business by money hungry business leaders who focus on profits while neglecting the non-tangible value approaches. I have learnt to differentiate between leadership and personal interest because of real life examples by counterfeit leaders who promote chaotic leadership. My primary function as a leader is not to gain popularity but to provide service to humanity. I choose to implement rational leadership based on people. References Boone, L. E. Kurtz, D. L., 2013, Conetmporary marketing. Cengage Learning. Chervenak, F. A., McCullough, L. B. Brent, R. L., 2013, The professional responsibility model of physician leadership. American Journal of Obstetrics Gnecology, Vol 208, no. 2, pp. 97-101. Chhokar, J. S., Brodbeck, F. C. House R, J., 2013, Culture and leadership across the world: The GLOBE book of indepth studies of 25 societies. Routledge. Czinkota, M. R. Ronkainen, I. A., 2013, International Marketing. Cengage Learning. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E. McKee, A., 2013, Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press. Kerneny, M, E., Foltz, Cavanagh, J, Cullen, M; Giese-Davis, Jennings, P; Roseberg, E, L, Gillath, O; Shaver, P, R; Wallace, B, A; Ekman, P. 2012, Contemplative/emotion training reduces negative emotional behavior and promotes prosocial responses. Emotion, Vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 338. Levine, M. P. Boaks, J., 2014, What does ethics have to do with leadership?. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol, 124, no. 2, pp. 225-242. Mohler, A., 2012, The conviction to lead: 25 Principles for leadership that matters. Baker Books. Qi, Y. Ming-Xia, L., 2014, Ethical leadership, organizational identification and employee voice: Examining moderated mediation process in the Chinese Insurance industry. Asia Pacific Business Review, Vol, 20, no. 2, pp. 231-248.