Bz300 Christian Philosophy Of Business Assessment Answers

Should Zach sign the new two-year, $200,000 lease for his building? If so, what should he do to sustain and grow the business? And if not, what, if anything, should he do about the employees who will lose their jobs?

Answer:

Introduction

The topic of the following essay is about a business case study that is associated with some vows of Christianity and deals with the various aspects of the religion. Though, it has some definite undertones regarding to business and business strategies, there are some serious matters that can be dealt with only by developing some masterful business provisions. The case deals with the perspective of a person who possesses a successful business industry but he cannot control the current business trends, so his business is on the verge of getting over. There are only two options left before him to save his business. He has some responsibilities towards his family, friends, employees and the stakeholders.

A Brief Overview

The situation is something like this: A person named Zach Jordan has been running his business named the New England Spring Company (NES); that dates back to the 1980s. He has been running this business very well because the returns have been very encouraging. He had been manufacturing steel products and selling it within the country. All his employees were very happy with their boss and he always celebrated special occasions like the birthdays of the employees (Bauman and Skitka 2012). Suddenly, a situation arrived that his profits began to fall and it converted into losses because his customers began to move to the southern part of the globe and began purchasing goods from the Asian manufacturers as the cost production was lower and he got it at a lower rate. The two choices that were left for him were either to sell the company and release his employees or to sign a $200000 for the building and adopt some strategies that would help him to sustain his business. Zach had to get back his customers and stop that customer shifting process (Kumar and Reinartz 2012). He was too fond of his employees to let them go at an age where they could no longer find any jobs for themselves.

Responsibility to Family

A man has always great responsibilities to his family. It is main responsibility to provide and meet all the needs of the family members (Bowen 2013). It is also essential for the men to work for the family members and get paid for it. He would be able to provide all kinds of needs that a person has. A person should always maintain good relations with the family members such as wife, children and parents. According to Bible, it has been said that, ‘The man was required to labor despite hardships in order to have food’ (Genesis 3:17-19). Some other examples that can be quoted are: ‘A man should love his wife as Christ loved the Church and as he loves his own body.’ (Ephesians 5:25-31, 33). ‘Fathers should bring children up in the training and admonition of the Lord. This includes bringing the children to all the meetings of the church, and also teaching them God’s word at home’. (Ephesians 6:4). These teachings of the Bible show that a person has very grave responsibilities towards his family members that he must perform or else he would commit a sin. In this case, Zach Jordan should not just leave the hope and surrender to destiny.

Responsibility to Employees

The employees of an organization are an asset for them. It is the responsibility of the organization or the employer to provide security for him (Resick et al. 2013). An employee, when feeling insecure, cannot feel the same urge of working as he feels in the normal time. Business is a part of the life but it does not mean that the employees should work hard all their lives and help to provide success for the organization and on one certain day, they should be left with no hope as the organization has been facing losses. The employers should look after their welfare and be helpful to them in time of their needs. According to the Bible, ‘One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much’ (Luke 16.10), another example can be drawn, His Mater said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’. (Matthew 25:23).  These examples indicate that Zach Jordan will be held responsible if he decides to sell his business and releases his employees. His employees have been very faithful to him in both good and bad times so he should not commit this kind of injustice to them as this would finish their futures (Klein, Becker and Meyer 2012).

Responsibility to Customers

The employers or the manufacturers have some responsibilities towards their customer base so that they sustain their customer base or else it would shift away to other rival manufacturers. These responsibilities are they have to ensure quality product all the time at an affordable rate (Servaes and Tamayo 2013).  They have to look after the product development so that more people get attracted to their goods. They can launch new activities that would help to increase customer satisfaction. Business employers should maintain a customer support center where their potential customers will be able to launch their praises and grievances to the authority. They will be able to provide feedback to the manufacturers. The goods or products should have a stable supply. This would help the manufacturers to keep up their good reputation in providing their service.

Responsibility to Stakeholders

The business organizations have certain responsibilities towards their stakeholders who invest a lot of money behind them (Torres et al. 2012). Managers have to make sure that the all the guidelines that ensure profitability to the organization are followed. All the relevant information regarding financial and other issues should be disclosed to the stakeholders so that they can evaluate the business performance (Morgan 2012). All the employees and the managers should be aware of the code ethics that tell how to deal with the stakeholders (Van Cranenburgh et al. 2014). 

In this case, Zach Jordan has discussed the situation with his trusted friends and he has been thinking over their opinions. Zach must look out to consolidate his position in the industry instead of selling the business. He must think about his employees who have served him so long. He must follow the strategies like assessing consumer behavior and providing best results to them (Solomon 2014). These strategies would probably help him to sustain the business growth. So, he can think of signing the two year lease and utilize these two years to grow his business (Bravo-Biosca, Criscuolo and Menon 2016).

Conclusion

In the concluding part, it can be said that all the relevant details have been discussed here in the essay. The responsibilities of an employer have been described in terms of catering to his family, employees, customers and stakeholders. The Christian perspective of this has been analyzed with Biblical quotes that would give a deep insight into the matter. A suggestion has been provided on which option should Zach Jordan choose and relevant strategies that could support him to back him up. These suggestions will hopefully lead him to success.

References

Bauman, C.W. and Skitka, L.J., 2012. Corporate social responsibility as a source of employee satisfaction. Research in Organizational Behavior, 32, pp.63-86.

Bowen, H.R., 2013. Social responsibilities of the businessman. University of Iowa Press.

Bravo-Biosca, A., Criscuolo, C. and Menon, C., 2016. What drives the dynamics of business growth?. Economic Policy, 31(88), pp.703-742.

Klein, H.J., Becker, T.E. and Meyer, J.P. eds., 2012. Commitment in organizations: Accumulated wisdom and new directions. Routledge.

Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2012. Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and tools. Springer Science & Business Media.

Morgan, N.A., 2012. Marketing and business performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), pp.102-119.

Resick, C.J., Hargis, M.B., Shao, P. and Dust, S.B., 2013. Ethical leadership, moral equity judgments, and discretionary workplace behavior. Human Relations, 66(7), pp.951-972.

Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2013. The impact of corporate social responsibility on firm value: The role of customer awareness. Management Science, 59(5), pp.1045-1061.

Solomon, M.R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Torres, A., Bijmolt, T.H., Tribó, J.A. and Verhoef, P., 2012. Generating global brand equity through corporate social responsibility to key stakeholders. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(1), pp.13-24.

Van Cranenburgh, K., Arenas, D., Goodman, J. and Louche, C., 2014. Religious organisations as investors: a Christian perspective on shareholder engagement. Society and Business Review, 9(2), pp.195-213.