Insight into ethics
Discuss about the Ethical Decision Making of Steve Jobs.
Adherence to the ethical considerations reflects the personality of the individuals. I think this adherence is crucial in terms of preserving the individual sentiments of the public domain. Ethics is one such parameter, within which each and every individual is bounded. This binding is an obligation for the individuals in terms of achieving a worthy existence. Countering this, maintenance of balance in the life helps the individuals to beautify their existence. All these aspects seem true even in terms of decision making, which is a part of the daily tasks performed by the individuals for survival (Grijalva & Harms, 2014). I think the discussion is becoming too philosophical. Therefore, I would shed light upon the ethical considerations with the help of theories and models. Taking the example of Steve Jobs would enhance the clarity of the readers in terms of systematizing their lives for adding meaning to their existence.
The mention of Steve Jobs reflects the picture of a round faced and spiky bearded man with spectacles. Although these descriptions are common; however, the struggle that this man did for becoming successful in life makes him stand out from the crowd. It makes me immensely proud to point out that in spite of a disturbed childhood; Steve was desperate to achieve the goals, which he had seen. The major drive behind this disturbance is being dropped from the college due to poor attendance. This incident invoked his negative character, which got reflected from his addiction towards drugs (Lakin, 2015). I think this reaction attains commonality with the usual traits of a person upon attaining negative outcomes for the performance displayed. Herein I can relate behavioral theory. The stages proposed by Freud for human development attains a negative connotation under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I think Steve indulged into these habits to transcend into a utopian stage, which would be filled with happiness. Countering this, this utopia is mere illusions, as happiness, joy and wish fulfillment are matter of luck and fortune.
I can say that becoming the founder of a famous and prestigious company like Apple transforms the illusion of utopian society into reality. Achievements made by Steve during his tenure in Apple reflect his awareness towards systematizing his work life balance. Herein, maintenance of ethics is a mere part. Typical evidence of this fact is the enhancement of some the workers, who used to work with him in Apple (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016). Prioritizing the professional development of the subordinates before his self-development is one of his traits, which I consider as the agent in terms of enhancing his fame and glory. This instance reflects his matured behavior, which contradicts the mentality of attaining the hot seat in the blind rat race.
Steve Jobs as a person
Awareness regarding the performance of the tasks in a different perspective makes Steve a leader among the team members. Application of rationality adds value to this difference. Consciousness towards the preservation of the individual sentiments of the team members is the evidence for the presence of the primary element needed for ethical decision making. The thought of regarding the professional development of the ex-subordinates reflects the moral values, which enhances Steve’s role as a leader (Menzel, 2015). For the appropriate expression of this consciousness, I think collection of the relevant facts is crucial, which is very much present in Steve. The proof for this is the market research, which he conducted for upgrading the standard of professionalism. I feel that evaluation after the selection of the appropriate way enhanced his clarity regarding the right and wrong actions for attaining proper development. Keeping the organizational values intact while experimenting with the available and the gathered solutions projects Steve’s ethical considerations. Application of the values and principles made Steve stick to his resolution for making noticeable advancements in life (Koehn, 2017).
Maintaining continuity with the aspects of the above paragraph, I can bring behavioral theory to the discussion once again. Humans tend to undergo doubts regarding the performance that they are displaying. Steve cannot be included within this tendency, as he followed an integrated structure for taking the decisions. I liked his strategy to consider the pros and cons of a particular solution in terms of their impact on his professional and personal development. This relates seventh element, which is needed for taking essential decisions. The aspect third party interference can be correlated with the instance of hiring John Schulley, his successor (Streeter, 2015). I agree with his confession regarding “error of judgment” regarding passing the legacy. This error contradicts the true essence of ethics. Realization of mess regarding the business environment reduces Steve’s mistake largely and bestows upon him a chance to rectify them for advancing in life.
At one instance, Schulley terminated Steve. This was the turning point of Steve’s life when he decided to forgo all the past happenings and proceed towards a better future. Typical example of this is the decision to sell Apple. One thing that I liked the most about Steve is the persistence, dedication and commitment towards the performance of the basic tasks. He systematized the activities for the achievement of positive outcomes. Typical evidence of the fact lies in his statements given to Fortune Magazine. I think projecting Steve as a “corporate dictator” contradicts the true essence of the aspect of “ethics”. The characteristic traits of a dictator include rigidity in terms of extracting the work from the team members (Klein, 2015). This rigidity contradicts the systematic approach of Steve in terms of maintaining the balance between the personal and professional work field. Within the systematic approach, awareness regarding the ethical consideration enabled Steve to make remarkable contributions in altering the plight of Apple as a whole.
Critical and reflective reflection on Steve Jobs’ philosophy
Inspiring the employees to follow the ethics and core values identified enhances the ethical considerations of the leaders. Within this category, Steve gains an important position as he follows a structural approach for leading the team members. Here, I am talking about the leadership of Steve, not with an aim to be Hitler for extracting work from the team members. Instead, the perspective here is humanitarian, which bears direct relationship with ethics. I think without ethical considerations, no human being can expose appropriate humanity. To put in on a simple note, lack of basic ethics, adds the adjectives of devilish, selfish in the character of the individuals (Veale, 2014). The adjective “devilish” reminds me of Satan, who was compelled to adopt satanic behavior for accomplishment of the goals.
Apart from this, I also like Steve’s preference towards intuitive research upon analytical tools for taking ethical decisions. In his obituary statement, he sheds light on the importance of intuitive research on his success (Coget, Shani & Solari, 2014). In his words, preaching what the intuition says is the most important task that the individuals need to do for being ethically and morally correct. This intuition relates with the penultimate stage of the decision making process model, where evaluation is carried out to judge the effectiveness and appropriateness of the displayed performance in terms of the identified and the specified requirements. Attachment of the aspect of ethics in the previous sentence, Steve’s decisions sometimes lacked firmness (Niebuhr, Voße & Brem, 2016). I think this is natural in terms of the recurrence of success and failure in the lives of the individuals. I can perceive this in various connotations. On one hand, this perspective negates the efforts put in by Steve for taking beneficial decisions. On the other hand, this perspective places Steve amidst the public domain. The second connotation snatches away the success from Steve and makes him an ordinary businessman. Countering this, rational application towards the execution of business activities portrays Steve as morally and ethically successful. This rational application reflects the effective and judicious utilization of the decision making process model by leaders like Steve Jobs (Sonnenfeld, 2013).
Delving deep into the last sentence of the above paragraph, rationality relates with the third stage of the decision making process model. Selection of the appropriate and beneficial decision places leaders like Steve Jobs on a higher pedestal than the team members, whose perfection in decision making is on a budding stage (Clinebell, 2014). This perfection is achieved through the experimentation with the available and the gathered solutions. Pondering upon the situation is very important for attempting this experiment. This experimentation needs matured intellect and capability, which is lacking in the aspiring businessmen.
Evidences of philosophy followed by Steve Jobs
Figure: Decision making process model
Bringing out the talents of these aspirant businessmen enhances the individuality of Steve in terms of upgrading their preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge. I think thoughts regarding the professional development of the juniors make Steve stand out far from the madding crowd. With ethics, the adjective “madding” cannot be related. Madness regarding the attainment of the hot seat amidst the competitive ambience of the market failed to alter the focus approach of Steve in terms of inspiring the team members to follow the ethical considerations (Hbr.org, 2017).
The models and cycles are interrelated with each other. Missing one step aggravates the complexity of the individuals in terms of managing the phases of crisis. However, leaders like Steve Jobs needs applause in terms of considering each and every aspect of the selected solution before implementing it for efficient execution of the business activities. Awareness regarding ethical considerations proved beneficial for Steve in terms of overcoming the potential challenges. Here I would shed light on Steve’s patience regarding the resolution of the crisis. This patience solves half of the problem and bestows numerous solutions on the individuals. Possession of eagerness and willingness to alter the situation paves the way towards solution (Hammershøj, 2017). I feel that the Samaritan side of leaders like Steve Jobs reflects their awareness towards the ethical considerations, which needs to be maintained for professional upgradation. Countering this, spreading this awareness among the team members through training is itself an agent, which reflects the moral and ethical principles, which the leaders had followed to enhancement of their professionalism.
The verb “making”, in the process of taking decision, relates with the aspect of “in job” approach of reflection as proposed by Schron. Evaluation of the undertaken decisions helped Steve to judge his performance in terms of the requirements of the team members. Maintenance of consistency in the execution of evaluation assisted him in rectifying his approach towards the performance. In this process, many business critiques offered various suggestions and advices to him (Bushnell & Stone, 2014). However, what I liked most is his preference towards what is ethically and morally correct. This does not mean that he negated family relationships, peers and relatives. Instead, Steve’s preference towards ethical considerations outshines his individuality in terms of taking a individual stance. This independence helped him to stick to the undertaken decision for achieving a slow yet gradual progression towards the identified and the specified goals.
Till this point, the discussion proves successful in pondering upon the achievements and failure of Steve Jobs. Expressing my viewpoints regarding a personality like him is my attempt to consider him as a role model and make noticeable improvements in my life for achieving personal and professional development. As far as ethics is considered, I have tried my best to adhere to the basic ethics, which is needed for shedding light on the life journey of such personalities. The most important of this is taking credit by notifying his innovations as mine. This safeguards me from the heinous crime of plagiarism. Along with this, I have accessed permission from the companies, where Steve left a trademark after him, for obtaining necessary information from the archives. I think maintenance of consistency in complying with the ethics would help me to beautify my life in terms of attaining personal and professional development. However, for this, I have to evaluate my performance, which especially includes the decisions, which I take for progressing towards development.
References
Bushnell, N., & Stone, G. (2014). Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent. Simon and Schuster.
Clinebell, S. (2014). Snapshots of great leadership. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 13(1), 139-141.
Coget, J. F., Shani, A. B., & Solari, L. (2014). The lone genius, or leaders who tyrannize their creative teams. Organizational Dynamics, 43(2), 105-113.
Grijalva, E., & Harms, P. D. (2014). Narcissism: An integrative synthesis and dominance complementarity model. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(2), 108-127.
Hammershøj, L. G. (2017). Conceptualizing creativity and innovation as affective processes: Steve Jobs, Lars von Trier, and responsible innovation. Philosophy of Management, 1-17.
Hbr.org (2017). Was Steve Jobs a good deision maker? Retrieved 30th July 2017 from https://hbr.org/2011/10/was-steve-jobs-a-good-decision
Klein, S. (2015). Steve Jobs and Philosophy. Open Court.
Koehn, D. (2017). Aesthetic Dimensions of Virtue Ethics: Implications for Business Ethics. Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management, 13-22.
Lakin, P. (2015). Steve Jobs: Thinking Differently. Simon and Schuster.
Menzel, D. C. (2015). Leadership in Public Administration: Creative and/or Ethical?. Public Integrity, 17(4), 315-318.
Niebuhr, O., Voße, J., & Brem, A. (2016). What makes a charismatic speaker? A computer-based acoustic-prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs tone of voice. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 366-382.
Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.
Sonnenfeld, J. A. (2013). Steve Jobs’ Immortal Quest and the Heroic Persona. Journal of Business and Management, 19(1), 59.
Streeter, T. (2015). Steve Jobs, Romantic Individualism, and the Desire for Good Capitalism. International Journal of Communication, 9, 19.
Veale, T. (2014, June). A service-oriented architecture for metaphor processing. In Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Metaphor in NLP(pp. 52-60).
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