Case Study 1: Faith Integration (Dual Morality)
Having analyzed Christy’s list of occupations, it is possible to state that some of the presented jobs can be unethical with the focus on Christians’ visions, but almost all the mentioned positions contribute to the social progress. A state executioner literally kills people, and Christians can reject this profession because of their religious views. The actions of a CIA spy can be viewed as unethical only from the perspective of victims of his or her activity, but this profession contributes to social security.
Liquor retailers, bartenders, adult video store owners, cigarette manufacturers, psychic hotline receptionists, and potato chip manufacturers can be viewed as involved in unethical activities, but their actions cannot be widely discussed as immoral (Hill, 2008). The reason is that, interacting with these people, adults usually make their own moral or healthy choice, and they are typically not provoked to make unethical choices by the representatives of these professions.
Christians can become nuclear plant operators and perform their responsibilities effectively to address the community’s needs because any risks at these plants are associated with employees’ inattentiveness and poor quality of work. Being a Mercedes-Benz dealer, a Christian can help other religious people receive rewards in the form of a high-quality car for their ethical activities or job performance. The work of gun shop owners and nerve gas manufacturers should also be discussed from two perspectives because guns and nerve gas are used in the sphere of national security to protect people’s interests. It is possible to agree with Christy’s views only on such an occupation as a state executioner.
Some Christians can face ethical dilemmas while deciding whether to take some of the listed jobs, and Joan’s position seems to be more rational in this case.
The occupations presented in the list can be analyzed from the perspective of how these professionals can serve other people and follow God’s will. Referring to the concept of vocation, it is possible to state that only some of these jobs can be really contributing to the development of a community (Hill, 2008). It is almost impossible to provide reasons for discussing cigarette manufacturers, gun shop owners, state executioners, bartenders, adult video store owners, liquor retailers, and Mercedes-Benz dealers as persons whose serve their community through their activities. Thus, these jobs are mainly oriented to generating profits, and the absence of these positions cannot negatively affect the life of people in most cases.
The ethical contribution of potato chip manufacturers, nerve gas manufacturers, psychic hotline receptionists, and nuclear plant operators is questionable, but these activities can be viewed in terms of the vocation if these people selected their professions in order to address their ethical principles and visions. For example, people working in the sphere of potato chip manufacturing can be interested in providing all people, without reference to their social status, with high-quality cheap and nutritional food.
Activities of CIA spies can be viewed as examples of vocations because these people can highly contribute to society if they act ethically and do not harm other persons. From this perspective, the correct actions of a professional can lead to protecting the nation’s interests. Thus, the concept of vocation can be applied to those occupations that are based on the idea of serving other people’s interests and addressing their needs (Hill, 2008). The results of such activities should be presented as benefits for the community.
Case Study 2: Leadership Traits
The Five Factor Model has the following categories: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Ann Fudge’s openness can be valued as high because the woman is ready to focus on new experiences as it is in the case when she traveled, took up yoga, and wrote her book. Regarding conscientiousness, Fudge can be viewed as careful and hard-working because she concentrated on making Young & Rubicam (Y&R) the leader in the market and understood the importance of integrating innovation and creativity in the company’s strategy (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2015).
The level of Fudge’s extraversion is also high because she is sociable and can easily interact with different people in various working situations. Concerning agreeableness, Fudge is described as a leader who can listen (Hughes et al., 2015). Thus, she pays much attention to the ideas of other people involved in working processes. Discussing the final category, it is important to note that there is no clear evidence that Fudge can be characterized by a high level of neuroticism because she is not inclined to demonstrate negative emotions in spite of being interested in other people’s feelings.
Ann Fudge’s success is mainly affected by such components of creative intelligence as the synthetic ability, thinking style, and personality factors. Thus, Fudge’s synthetic ability is in her developed skills to consider things and processes from a unique perspective to find and build new connections between objects that seem to be unrelated. This approach helped Fudge to lead Y&R to success using the resources that the company had. Fudge’s thinking style also contributes to her creative intelligence. Despite the fact that she applied her synthetic ability, the leader also demonstrated her ability to focus on new solutions to existing problems.
This approach allowed her to add the necessary creative and innovative component to the company’s progress as it is in the case of integrating the Six Sigma method in the firm’s operations. Personality factors also play a key role in determining Fudge’s path to success as a corporate leader (Hughes et al., 2015). Thus, Fudge is open to experience, sociable, and positive, she is oriented to creativity and success, and she is able to help other people develop their own potential for creativity while equally communicating with them.
The benefits of a sabbatical for Ann Fudge include her opportunities for changing the sphere of activities, receive new experience, focus on writing her ideas in the form of a book, and concentrate on her professional standards and visions of creativity and innovation. As a result, Fudge developed her horizons with the help of traveling, cycling, and taking yoga classes (Hughes et al., 2015). These experiences helped her think over and generate even more ideas regarding innovation and creativity that could not be produced in the context of her tight working schedule.
Therefore, Fudge was able to restore her energy and use it for active work in the future with the focus on new ideas. However, such a sabbatical can also have some negative effects on a leader’s activities. Thus, Fudge could face the problem of the need for more work in order to achieve the tops in her professional life that had been occupied before her break. Moreover, two years of inactivity in the corporate area could result in the situation when the woman’s experience and skills would be discussed as outdated.
References
Hill, A. (2008). Just business: Christian ethics for the marketplace (Rev. ed.). Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2015). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Irwin/McGraw-Hill Company.