As a leader, it is important to not only understand what common biases are, but to also have the self-awareness to understand those that they possess.  Only through this self-awareness can a leader minimize errors in the decision-making process.  What could be the result if self-awareness is not attained?

It is important that everyone possesses self-awareness. Self-Awareness is the …“ conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires.” (Oxford University Press, 2018)    People need to be aware of themselves and their actions. The reason for this is because of how their decisions can affect their interactions with others. This includes their personal assumptions, convictions and their biases. If a leader does not possess self-awareness it will affect their ability to take responsibility not only in their place of work, but also in their personal lives.  

Managers who lack self-awareness can lead to a failed business. Managers need to have self-awareness to be completely competent at their jobs.” While it is disadvantageous for anyone to lack self-awareness, it is especially important for managers and executives to prevent themselves from losing their sense of self-awareness. Often a lack of self-awareness is what keeps managers back from becoming truly effective and becoming a genuine leader rather than just a manager. Those who are constantly paying attention to their actions, behaviors, and how they display themselves to others give them a great chance of becoming successful in their organization and in life.” ( Arthur, 2016)

Decision making must be balanced, taking into consideration both short-term and long-term business outcomes.  Explain how common biases, bounded awareness, emotions and motivation affect the decision-making process.

Although Managers try to be as fair as possible when it comes to judgments, the sad truth is that they are only human. And as humans there are biases that can be found in all of us. These biases just to name a few, are stereotypes, first impressions and even similarity bias. These come from past experiences that each person has had. For example, if you have had a conversation with an older gentleman of a certain background and it made you uncomfortable, this may make you reluctant to go through another experience like that one. These biases also play along side your emotions as well. You were feeing trapped during that encounter so every time you have a similar encounter your emotions may dictate to you how to react. (Vozza,2015)

Bonded awareness is when a leader fails to read all the fact concerning a decision. This means that although they have the information they have chosen to only use what they feel would benefit their decision. “ Bounded awareness is a serious problem. Rather than make use of all information necessary to make an informed decision, people attend to only the limited set of data that is most directly in front of them and fail to seek out other data that is clearly needed [3].” ( Bazermen & Chugh,2019). This can be detrimental to the company as well as to the employees. For example, say a company wants to expand on the customers who use prenatal vitamins. So, they decide to sell their product in a community that has 90% older residents. This information is shown in the data but was not considered. So, the company in the end must close the expansion because they didn’t take that into account. But they were so enthusiastic about the expansion that they went ahead with it anyway.

What ethical factors should be taken into consideration when making a decision?

When deciding ethics is always at play. Your ethics guide you in every step that is taken in life. For example, you have no money, but you are hungry. Its wrong to steal but you need to eat. So, what do you do? Your ethics are what help you to make the decision to either steal or go hungry. In businesses its no different. A company must have a good ethical foundation to have the trust of its clients. “ “Few areas cause more harm in the business community than when businesses lack an ethical foundation,” said Joseph Potchen, an attorney and a visiting professor at Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business, where he teaches a graduate-level course on  business ethics. “Most people would agree that having good ethics is important. However, it’s when people lose sight of proper ethical behavior that the problems and issues begin.”” ( Michiganstateuniversityonline.com,2017)

Ethics can be considered as doing the right thing.  How do you believe ethical standards in multi-national corporations should be adjusted for the diverse cultures the organization works within?

Ethics often is considered doing the right thing. But when a company is dealing with different cultures and different countries the ethics may be different for each country. For example, most companies have an inclusion environment. This means that if you qualify for the position then you can be hired for it. Now although this is great, many cultures don’t believe that females should be in positions of power or even receive the same pay as male employees do. This can cause friction and a hostile environment for the company. “An atmosphere of inclusion where women have the same opportunities for promotion as men can generate several ethical challenges. In some countries, women are legally subordinate to men. Male and female workers from these countries may find it difficult to adjust to a diverse, inclusive work environment where men report to women, and women occupy top executive positions.” ( Lindblad,2016)

References:

Arthur, T. (2016, November 19). The Dangers of Neglecting Self-awareness. Retrieved from https://thinkplanlaunch.com/blog/dangers-neglecting-self-awareness/

Bazermen, M., & Chugh, D. (2019). Bounded awareness causes people to overlook and fail to use important information for decision making. Retrieved from http://www.prioritysystem.com/reasons1c.html

Lindblad, M. (2016, October 26). Cultural Diversity & Business Ethics. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cultural-diversity-business-ethics-26116.html

Michiganstateuniversityonline.com. (2017). 6 -Step Guide to Ethical Decision Making. Retrieved from https://www.michiganstateuniversityonline.com/resources/leadership/guide-to-ethical-decision-making/

OxfordUniversityPress. (2018). Self-awareness | Definition of self-awareness in English by Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/self-awareness