Evaluate the mission statement of HealthFull. Explain
HealthFull’s mission statement is: “We are careful at HealthFull: We only commend what we recommend.” This mission statement is effective due to its linguistic structure and the way it reflects the company’s values. Besides, the repetition of sounds creates a rhyme that makes the statement memorable, thus enabling potential customers to memorize and recognize the company. This aids marketing efforts and contributes to HealthFull’s positive image among customers and partners.
The mission statement followed by HealthFull also reflects the company’s core values of integrity, responsibility, and caution. Since these are the company’s main promises to customers, and they have been instrumental in shaping HealthFull’s reputation, this aspect of the mission statement is also helpful. The mission statement can be seen to be efficient in its purpose and contributes to HealthFull’s positive brand image.
List and explain three major ethical issues the PharmAdvance’s deal may raise?
The deal with PharmAdvance can threaten the company due to ethical concerns, which would have significant consequences for HealthFull. First of all, it would be unethical for HealthFull to promote a product with serious side effects because customers trust their advertisements and would likely buy the product without understanding the adverse effects in full. In this case, HealthFull would be at least partly to blame for any medical conditions or deaths of customers resulting from the use of the product.
The second ethical issue is that the impaired reputation of HealthFull following its deal with PharmAdvance could affect customers’ trust in its other recommendations. As a result, even companies that provide high-quality products and services might suffer from HealthFull’s mistake. This might cost the company its loyal partners and clients, which may be more valuable in the long-term than initial financial gain from PharmAdvance.
The third ethical issue is that taking on the contract with PharmAdvance can set a precedent for the future, making management less careful with regards to products accepted for advertisement. Even if the drug produced by PharmAdvance turns out to be safe, poor attention to potential risks will likely result in the poor quality of other products. Overall, these three ethical issues should be considered by Health Full management before making any decision.
Do you think that HealthFull’s senior management team is a good fit for its culture? Explain
Organizational culture is an important concept that identifies the shared values and attitudes that are upheld by the company and its employees (Katzenbach et al.). In the present case, it is evident that the senior management team does not share the values that HealthFull stands for, and thus it is not a good fit for the company’s culture.
Firstly, HealthFull has become famous for valuing the safety of consumers because the company has a very strict process of approval, and only high-quality products and services with proven minimal side effects or risks are accepted. Based on the present case, the senior management team does not have the same attitude. If they were worried about the safety of consumers, they would have either refused the offer or ordered an in-depth investigation of the drug’s side effects to evaluate the risks and their level.
Secondly, HealthFull’s culture prioritizes its reputation over financial gain; however, the senior management team does not seem to share this aspect of its culture. Compared to the company’s CEO, they are less concerned with the influence that the deal might have on the company’s image and overall consumers’ trust. Since both reputation and safety are pivotal to HealthFull’s organizational culture, and the senior management does not appear to share these values, the team is not a good fit for the company.
Evaluate the leadership (traits and behavior) of the CEO
As a leader, the CEO shows mostly positive traits and behaviors, although there are still some considerations. Positive characteristics demonstrated by the CEO include professionalism, emotional stability, decisiveness, and loyalty. These traits are positive because they help him navigate the business environment and to make strategically essential decisions. However, the CEO was also shown to be inflexible in his meeting with senior management.
This could be viewed as a negative trait because it might affect relationships and organizational climate in the company. With regard to leadership behaviors, the CEO’s example is favorable. Seeing an ethically dubious situation unfolding, he called for a meeting, listened to other people’s opinions on the matter, made a decision, and explained his actions to avoid confusion. In the given situation, these behaviors are positive because they allow the management to weigh in on the issue while maintaining the authority and accountability of the leader.
If you were to start the discussion of the next senior management team meeting, what would your position (opinion) be? Make a convincing argument
If I were to start the discussion of the next senior management team meeting, my opinion on the issue would be similar to the one expressed by the CEO. While the deal is indeed lucrative, there is no guarantee that the drug will not cause side effects for consumers, and if it does, the reputation of HealthFull will be damaged. After a failure like this, it would be impossible to return the favorable image that the company benefits from now, and it is unlikely that the company’s partners would trust it to promote their products in the future. Therefore, ruling in favor of the deal could be potentially damaging for the company and its long-term reputation.
Apart from refusing the deal altogether, one possible solution would be to investigate the drug and its side effects further before making a decision. This would help to understand the level of risk associated with this drug. Nevertheless, if organizing an investigation is not possible, the company should avoid marketing the product to preserve its reputation, corporate culture, and consumers’ trust.
Work Cited
Katzenbach, Jon, et al. “10 Principles of Organizational Culture.” Strategy+Business. 2016. Web.