Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work
People are often surprised to hear that most of us overestimate our ethicality at some point. Significant research indicates that we are unaware of the gap between how ethical we think we are and how ethical we truly are. The authors describe the related concepts of bounded awareness and bounded ethicality and discuss the implications of these states for organizations. They then provide three tools for improving our individual ethicality and outline several aspects of organizational life that must be examined more closely to reduce unethical behaviour on a group level, including addressing 'hidden but powerful informal values' and 'ethical sinkholes'.
Swot Analysis of "Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work" written by Max H. Bazerman, Ann E. Tenbrunsel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ethicality Bounded facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Human resource management, Leadership, Psychology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ethicality Bounded, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ethicality Bounded operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ethicality Bounded
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ethicality Bounded
Strengths Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ethicality Bounded in Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Ethicality Bounded is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ethicality Bounded has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ethicality Bounded are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ethicality Bounded is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ethicality Bounded in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Ethicality Bounded is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Ethicality Bounded in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ethicality Bounded in the sector have low bargaining power. Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ethicality Bounded to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ethicality Bounded is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ethicality Bounded has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Ethicality Bounded is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Ethicality Bounded is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ethicality Bounded digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ethicality Bounded has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High brand equity
– Ethicality Bounded has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ethicality Bounded to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ethicality Bounded has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ethicality Bounded has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Ethicality Bounded even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ethicality Bounded is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Ethicality Bounded needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ethicality Bounded to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ethicality Bounded products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ethicality Bounded needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Ethicality Bounded supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ethicality Bounded vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work HBR case study mentions - Ethicality Bounded takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work, it seems that the employees of Ethicality Bounded don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work, is just above the industry average. Ethicality Bounded needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ethicality Bounded needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Ethicality Bounded 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ethicality Bounded has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ethicality Bounded has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ethicality Bounded to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Ethicality Bounded in the consumer business. Now Ethicality Bounded can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ethicality Bounded can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ethicality Bounded can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ethicality Bounded operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Ethicality Bounded can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ethicality Bounded can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ethicality Bounded can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Ethicality Bounded can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Manufacturing automation
– Ethicality Bounded can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ethicality Bounded to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ethicality Bounded to increase its market reach. Ethicality Bounded will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ethicality Bounded can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Ethicality Bounded can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ethicality Bounded can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Threats Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work are -
Increasing wage structure of Ethicality Bounded
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Ethicality Bounded.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Ethicality Bounded business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Ethicality Bounded will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ethicality Bounded with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ethicality Bounded can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ethicality Bounded is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Ethicality Bounded needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ethicality Bounded has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ethicality Bounded needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Regulatory challenges
– Ethicality Bounded needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work, Ethicality Bounded may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ethicality Bounded demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behaviour in Life and Work is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Ethicality Bounded needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.