PART I Case 15.1 The "Glass Ceiling," 1. What advancement barriers did Lisa encounter? The major advancement barriers that Lisa encountered related to the firm’s history of leadership where in the last 103 years, no female leader was promoted to the level of partner. The CEO heavily relied on this to deny her promotion. Besides, the CEO was so much prejudiced despite clear evidence of performance. 2. What should the firm’s top executives, including Michael, have done differently to retain Lisa? The top executives of the firm should have taken a strong stand for Lisa and also let Michael aware that Lisa is a high caliber professional who possesses firm grasp of all business processes. They should also have made it known that Lisa provides them excellent advise when it comes to market performance and financial projections. Basing on this information, Michael should have recognized the excellent role played by Lisa in the firm and she should have been promoted to the partner level. Additionally, the top executives should have instituted mechanisms that address gender bias in the organization. 3. What type of organizational policies and opportunities might have benefited Lisa and Pamela? Policies that emphasize equal opportunity and zero tolerance to gender bias should have benefited Lisa and Pamela. These policies should allow everyone, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion et al. is equally considered for opportunities within the firm. Practices of discrimination during promotions should have been adequately addressed through policies. Besides, the organization should have put in place a policy and mechanism that addresses internal conflicts and displeasure within the firm. What could the organization do to raise the gender consciousness of Michael and Lisa’s male colleagues? The organization must first of all institute a training program that raises the awareness of senior management and the board about the dangers of gender bias in workplace environments. The organization might hire the services of a gender specialist to allow them understand gender differences, prejudice and effective mechanisms of handling these in professional environments. Case 16.2 "A Special Kind of Financing” 1. Why do you think banks in the United States have been slow to offer financing expressly for Muslims? Firstly, I think the populations of the neighborhoods where the banks are located are not so much populated by Muslims. Secondly, there is a need for policy review which has not yet taken shape. Islamic banking requires a lot of checks as individuals can easily exploit weaknesses in the policy and obtain interest free loans. 2. Do you think it is fair to offer one minority group a special banking opportunity? I don’t think is fair at all. Firstly, this kind of preferential treatment can easily turn into liability and risk of losing majority customers who do not relate with the minority. 3. How does ethnocentrism come into play in this case? While analyzing this case, it can be seen that Muslims expect their religious beliefs and teachings to be given utmost consideration regardless of the established business practices and policies. This is therefore a perfect case of ethnocentrism. 4. How does in-group collectivism relate to Central Bank’s finance plans? The Central Bank’s finance is pushing for plans that relate to the concept of in-group collectivism. This can be seen in the way the central bank is concerned and devoted to customers of Islamic faith by devising a special banking approach that not only respects but also honors the values, teachings and beliefs of Islam in line with its acceptable finance principles. 5. How do you think the other banks in the community will react to Central Bank? I think because of competition and the dynamic nature of the banking industry, other banks in the community will certainly start considering similar special banking arrangements especially after when this arrangement registers considerable success with the Central Bank. Case 16.3 "Whose Latino Center Is It?" 1. How would you describe the strengths and weaknesses of Mary’s and José’s leadership on this project? Their strengths are being strong visionary leaders and being committed to their vision by raising resources amounting to over a million dollars in a period of just six months. Their weaknesses can be seen in communication gaps and the failure to collaborate with the board. 2. Do you see any problem in targeting part of the fund-raising campaign directly toward the Hispanic community? Not at all. I think this strategy was informed by targeted marketing 3. The Latin America leadership profile stresses the importance of team-oriented leadership and deemphasizes individualistic leadership. How does the leadership of Mary and José compare with the Latin America profile? Mary and Jose are more of individualistic thinkers despite them achieving considerable success with their vision. The Latin American profile consists of value-based, self-protective leadership and team-oriented leadership, something that sharply contrasts with Mary and Jose approach. 4. How do Hispanic cultural dimensions help explain the resistance some people felt and expressed toward the renovation project? The Hispanic culture is characterized by collaboration and team work. In the case study, we notice that Mary and Jose took more of an individualistic approach thus explaining the reason why some people felt a little hesitant about the entire project. 5. If you were Mary or José, how would you temper your excitement about renovating the new fire station? If I were Mary and Jose, I would control the excitement by allowing the Hispanic Board make the announcement and allow them take the lead. PART II The video “Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck)” the speaker highlights the process through which our minds get stuck in the negative experiences and the effective ways of overcoming these negative experiences. She uses vivid imagery and humor to illustrate several cases of how people get stuck in the negatives. She emphasizes that our view of the world always tilts towards the negatives, albeit, there exists a way to transition from the negative to the good side. While this transition is possible, the easiest transition is the one of moving from the good to the bad. The former transition requires more work most of which must be done on a daily routine. The speaker mentions that at her university, research has been performed showing that just writing for a few minutes every day about good things happening in one’s life has the potential of boosting happiness and well being, and health of individuals. Besides, the speaker mentions the rehearsal of good news and sharing it with others as another avenue for boosting well being and our health. The main takeaway in this video is the significance of leading a happy on the overall well being and health of our selves. It is important for people not to keep hatred neither practice the art of sharing or harboring bad sentiments about others since these have detrimental impacts on our thinking and overall health. In the video “Are We in Control of Our Decisions” the speaker uses different examples to make a cogent argument that our decision making is not shaped or inspired by our own reasoning or preferences but shaped by some external forces. The speaker further makes use of comparative analogy of visual illusions and cognitive illusions to illustrate how different options designed can greatly affect choices people make. The main takeaway in this video relates to the fact that we may actually not be as rational as we think. Several examples given by the speaker show how for instance, purchasing choices in actual sense are determined by the seller and not by the consumer as we would like to think. The information in this video is certainly important to me as a business professional since it highlights some of the effective marketing and economic behavioral strategies that can be incorporated in marketing plans to derive more value for my businesses and the entire organization.
