The Nexus Between Moral Leadership, Business Ethics
and Faith-Based Principles in Customer Care in the Homebuilding Industry
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Research Aims:
This proposed research attempts to achieve the following objectives:
1.??? To determine the employee and management customer care practices in terms of moral leadership, business ethics and Faith-based Principles in Customer Care of Rusaw Homes
2.??? ?To identify the critical factors in customer service and satisfaction in the corporate world
3.??? To analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using the strategy of moral leadership, business ethics and faith-based principles in Customer Care in terms of factors such as customer satisfaction, profitability and increase in sales
4.??? To evaluate the effectivity of the measures and guidelines employed by the Rusaw Homes in customer care
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Research Questions:?
This study attempts to answer the following questions:
What are the strategies employed by corporate home builders companies in customer care in as regards moral leadership, business ethics and faith-based principles? In comparison, what are the strategies employed by Rusaw Homes in terms of the factors mentioned How do the strategies employed by the Rusaw Homes affects customer satisfaction, profitability and sales? What are the consequences of employing these strategies? What are the advantages and Advantages of utilizing these strategies? How effective are the strategies used by the Rusaw Homes in lieu with the customer satisfaction and demand, and the changing nature of corporate culture? Will this approach facilitate the persistence of Rusaw Homes and improve its market share? ?
Introduction
??????????? The Homebuilding Industry thrives on the kind of customer service that they offer. It is the locus and thus, the focus of company profitability and sales because of its customer-driven nature. Therefore, the kind of approach employed by the management in customer care largely determines the potentials and opportunities for the company.
In the face of current economic realities, U.S. business organizations are searching for ways to remain competitive. One front on which these efforts have been made is that of product and service quality improvement. This has been the case particularly for organizations in the growing service sector. Many of these organizations are searching for practical ways to improve customer satisfaction with both tangible and intangible products and services. However, a factor most often sidetracked is the ability of value-driven personnel in meeting and possibly exceeding these goals.
Over 90% of the Fortune 500 companies have ethical codes of conduct detailing what the companies expect from employees in terms of responsibilities and behavior (Wulfson, 1998). Corporate codes of ethics establish modes of behavior for all employees from the shipping clerk to the CEO.
Service delivery is an interactive and dynamic process, that from the consumer?s point of view is much more than a passive exchange of money for a particular service (Claycomb, Lengnick-Hall, and Inks, 2001). Effective participation, in turn, influences customer satisfaction and perceived service quality. Customer Satisfaction and Perceived Service Quality Participation in a relationship (e.g., the service delivery process) persists, in part, because of the consequences (i.e., the experienced rewards). The general principle is if a person?s preferences and needs are met in a relationship, then higher levels of personal satisfaction with the relationship are likely to develop (Claycomb, Lengnick-Hall, and Inks, 2001).
A company communicates its rules, regulations and policies to employees in many different ways, pamphlets, brochures or statements of ethics. Employees expect top-level management to establish standards of leadership, direction and ethical behavior. The culture, values, norms and ethical philosophy of a company are generally based on the values of top management and, while unwritten, are reflected in the behavior and actions of the managers. Top management usually creates a culture unconsciously. In many instances, corporate culture plays a large, sometimes unconscious, role in the way an employee responds in a given situation. It is the unwritten idea of that?s the way it?s done here or don?t make waves.
Whether unethical behavior is recognized and appropriately dealt with in an organization is somewhat a product of the ?corporate culture? of that organization. When vision, standards and a strong, visible show of support from the leadership for practical ethical behavior is lacking, any corporate culture ? including a legal organization ? can prove to be a breeding ground for unethical behavior. Given the proper framework and show of support from the top, the corporate culture can be the venue to foster ethical behavior by an organization?s employees .
While a corporation cannot solve all ethical problems, it can develop a strong framework of explicit values that is consistently applied when it conducts business. Corporations and their employees must realize that in many situations there is no easy solution, no one absolutely correct answer. To arrive at a solution, one person may use the utilitarian theory of the greatest good for the greatest number, another may use Kant?s theory against using a person as a means to an end and a third may be concerned with justice. One must try to develop well-reasoned, well-thought out answers to an ethical problem that the company?s code of ethics can support.
??????????? This paper shall outline the belief system of corporations in their customer service and compare it to the values espoused by the Rusaw Homes such as: moral leadership, business ethics and faith-based principles. The advantages and disadvantages of the approaches will be evaluated in terms of their effectivity in fostering customer satisfaction, profitability, sales and employee performance. Further, this paper shall evaluate these core principles with the assumption that the employment of these strategies does not stunt the growth of the company but facilitate its growth and long-term development.
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Conceptual Framework
This paper shall utilize the framework developed by Bagozzi in explaining the effects of an approach that is centered on moral leadership, business ethics and faith-based principles and the customer satisfaction, profitability and the sales of the company. Bagozzi (1992) recently developed a model of attitudes, intentions, and behavior relationships which he proposed to replace the deficient attitude models currently popular in psychology. Essentially, his model elaborates links appraisal, emotional response, and coping in a sequential process. Bagozzi (1992) suggests that the appraisal process involves the assessment of ?outcome-desire units?.
Gotlieb, Grewel, and Brown (1994) used the Bagozzi (1992) model to explain the sequential relationship among customers? perceptions of quality (i.e., an appraisal), customers? satisfaction (i.e., an emotional response), and customers? intentions (i.e., coping) to use a service in the future. The model can also be applied to the other side of the customer-service provider relationship. The measurement of the organizational climates of well-being and service involve employee appraisals of their work situations.
Thus this paper shall employ the strategy in order to measures assessments of goal support, leader support, role stress, job challenge, workgroup support, all of which are related to the employee?s ability to meet goals and have positive work experiences.
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Review of Related Literature
??????????? Customer Care has been increasingly emphasized in the literature as that one factor aside from product quality where a company can successfully build its competitive advantage over the several firms competing for a particular market. The usual response has been that to employ guidelines and procedures that rests on the premise of strict adherence to sales quotas and in the process putting business ethics and customer satisfaction in the backseat.
In today?s increasingly complex global business environment, a company?s code of ethics should serve as the foundation upon which employees make decisions based on honesty, integrity, confidence and trust (Wulfson, 1998). These codes provide employees with an understanding and knowledge of what their company expects from them in terms of responsibilities and behavior. Codes of ethics should reflect corporation standards and establish realistic modes of behavior that apply to everyone in the company, from the board of directors to the newest employee. In It?s Good Business, Solomon and Hanson state that a code of ethics is important because it provides ?visible guidelines, stability to an organization and a point of focus for everyone in the organization? (Solomon and Hanson, 1985).
?????????????? The reputation of a corporation and its actions reflect the ethical conduct that affects the potential for growth (Wulfson, 1998). All employees need to be aware of company policies regarding ethics in order to make the right decisions in difficult business situations, to know how and when to seek help when faced with ethical dilemmas, and to know where to report possible unethical conduct A corporation must be aware of its responsibility to treat employees with respect, decency and dignity, offer customers superior products and services, and treat suppliers with a commitment to fair competition.
?????????????? Corporate codes of ethics are important because they offer a point of focus for everyone in the organization. They help an organization maintain overall goals and standards, provide stability and visible guidelines and remind every employee to look beyond the bottom line (Solomon and Hanso, 1985). Codes of ethics supply employees the confidence and perseverance to perform their duties in a climate of integrity and support. Companies must train, educate and communicate to their employees how an unethical decision has the potential to damage the company?s reputation and its potential profits. At first, an unethical decision may seem harmless, but it can, in the end, have far reaching repercussions. Employees must develop an understanding that making the right choice is the only option in the decision-making process. In today?s business environment, organizations must learn how to create, implement and evaluate their corporate ethics policies.
?????????????? However, there is an increasing pattern of dishonesty among corporations as perceived by the customers and consumers.
In a poll conducted by the New York Times/CBS News in 1995, 55% of the American public believed that ?the vast majority of corporate executives were dishonest,? and 59% thought that ?executive white-collar crime occurred on a regular basis? (Gini, (n.d)). A 1987 Wall Street Journal article noted that one fourth of the 671 executives surveyed by a leading research firm believed that ?ethics can impede a successful career, and that over one-half of all the executives they knew bent the rules to get ahead? (Gini, (n.d)). A 1990 national survey concluded that ?the standards of ethical practices and moral leadership of business leaders merit at best a C grade; and 65% of those surveyed believed that the unethical behavior of executives is the primary cause of the decline in business standards, productivity and success? (Gini, (n.d)).
The mass media?s portrayal of the American business person reflects the opinion of a society that sees employers as today?s villains, callous and dishonest A study conducted by the Media Research Center between 1955 and 1986 found that prime-time television programs portrayed businessmen committing 40% of all television murders, just one percentage point less than in 1996. A decade later from 1995 to 1997, 30% of the 514 criminal characters portrayed on television was business owners or corporate executives (.? Rockland Journal-News, Jul. 19, 1997). Daily newspaper accounts of insider-trading, stock manipulation, industrial pollution, sexual harassment, discrimination, misleading advertising and mass layoffs reinforce the mass-media portrayal of a business person as interested in only making money. A study conducted by the Ethics Officer Association and the American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters & Chartered Financial Consultants included 1,324 workers, managers and executives and found that 48% admitted to taking unethical or illegal actions in the past year, 57% indicated that they feel more pressure to be unethical today than they did five years ago, and 40% said it?s gotten worse over the last year (USA Today, 1997).
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Methodology
This chapter shall consist of the respondents of the study, the sampling technique, the instrument to be used, the validation of the instrument, the administration of the instrument and the statistical treatment of the data that will be gathered, and how this data will be analyzed qualitatively.?
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Methods of Research
? ????????? The primary source of data will come from a researcher-made survey questionnaire, which will be given to the respondents.? The respondents of this study will be randomly selected company personnel of the Homebuilding Industry. The researcher will use a combination of cluster and random sampling.? The general population will be consisted of 60 respondents, which will be divided into two clusters: thirty respondents will consist of customer care personnel and another thirty (30) from the managerial level.??
??????????? The secondary sources of data will come from published articles from social science journals, theses and related studies on migration and its effects on urban development.
For this research design, the researcher will gather data, collate published studies from different local and foreign universities and articles from business journals, distribute sampling questionnaires; arrange interviews; and make a content analysis of the collected documentary and verbal material.? Afterwards, the researcher will summarize all the information, make a conclusion based on the null hypotheses posited and provide insightful recommendations.??
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Conclusion
The RUSAW HOMES CUSTOMER CARE program comprises all the mainstream ideas on the subject including the necessity to increase productivity. The approach to motivating the work force, however, focuses on a belief system in the program as a means of achieving personal and business success. Making all individual customer/stakeholders satisfied with their efforts and that said efforts have been noble in purpose and in accordance with GOD?S principles. Moreover, Customer Care embraces the humanistic realities of business by introducing a Faith Based-Core Value culture in the workplace, thus providing the foundation for internal and external conflict resolution. The result and intrinsic benefits include respect, praise, satisfaction, joy and fulfillment for the deserving ? for work done well.
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References:
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?TV Is Bad for Business Study Shows.? Rockland Journal-News, Jul. 19, 1997, p.2C.
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Bagozzi, R. 1992. ?The Self-Regulation of Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior.? SPQ 55:178-204.
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Claycomb, Cindy, Lengnick-Hall, Cynthia and Inks, Lawrence, The Customer As A Productive Resource: A Pilot Study and Strategic Implications, Journal of Business Strategies, Vol. 18, 2001
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Doing the WRONG Thing.? USA Today. Apr. 4, 1997, p. 2A.
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Gini, A. ?Moral Leadership and Business Ethics.? Available: http://asdg99.umd.edu/cplp/kispdocs/AGini_pl.htm
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Gottlieb, J.B., Grewal, D., Brown, S.W. (1994) ?Consumer Satisfaction and Perceived Quality: Complementary or Divergent Constructs ? ? Journal of Applied Psychology Vol.79, pp.875-885.
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Schmit, Mark and Allscheid, Steven, Employee attitudes and customer satisfaction: making theoretical and empirical connections, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 48, 1995
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Solomon, R.C. and K.R. Hanson. It?s Good Business. New York: Atheneum, 1985.
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Wulfson, Myrna, Rules of the Game: Do Corporate Codes of Ethics Work?, Review of Business, Vol. 20, 1998
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Source: http://research-work.spot4blog.com/2011/09/research-proposal-on-the-nexus-between-moral-leadership-business-ethics-and-faith-based-principles-in-customer-care-in-the-homebuilding-industry/
oc oc professor professor zanzibar arizona state university nsa
I first stumbled upon the work of John Pavlus at Small Mammal Films this past summer ? and instantly fell in love with their ?Life is Learning? film featuring one of my favorite creatures ? the nudibranch Aplysia californica. ?I was drawn to John?s creativity and astounding diversity of science-based short films ? it was difficult to choose just a few of them to feature. John?s approach focuses on creativity and storytelling ? rather than generating ?pixel perfect? scientific representations, which he feels can be boring and weightless.