1. The anthropological model of business management.
Ideas that go beyond the Anthropological Model of business management are not completely exhausted. In fact, in El Salvador it is still a taboo to talk about ethics, when in other nations it has become a real imperative. The particular interest in this model and in the ethical application to business decisions arises as a result of the academic research that I carry out to apply for the Master's degree in Administration. Financial at the University of El Salvador.
The study has been more than enriching and has become an internal motivation of great strength in order to contribute to the clarification of routes that tend to push companies in El Salvador towards paths of greater social responsibility.
The model has its antecedents in the School of Human Relations that emerged after the Second World War, and rests on the historical studies erected around the phenomenon of "human motivation".
Precisely, it is based on the advances of the Theory of Motivation, from the considerations of Abraham Maslow regarding the pyramid of the hierarchy of needs; going through Frederick Hersberg's "motivational approach"; Porter and Lawler's "Theory of Equity", the study of Douglas McGregor's "X" or "Y" Theory and David McClelland's "Needs Theory of Motivation." Theories in which its authors have tried to rectify, deepen or exceed the scope of those that preceded them.
In simple terms, the Model considers the existence of 3 types of motivations, which have been effectively known in other times, these are: external, internal and transcendental.
External motivations are due to forces that induce action to obtain a response from the outside. In this sense, they generate the action of the people because, they look for a reward or want to avoid punishment. Its paradigm is money. Everything means that you will be better if you carry out the work without protesting, and you must do your best, because that will guarantee our well-being. This is related to capacity and the search for efficiency in administrative management.
Internal motivations refer to the forces that induce people to act, because by doing so they obtain satisfactions of their own. These satisfactions drive to reject opportunity costs that are usually economically rational. And it gives reason to be to the argument that it expresses, "that not all economic decision is, sometimes, the best one". Even this type of motivation is channeled towards the achievement of certain types of learning that end up qualifying people more. These motivations are related to the satisfaction that people obtain when working for certain types of companies, which generate reasons that are not necessarily of an economic nature and tend to generate commitment from these people to their organizations.
Transcendental motivations are very important because they reveal a fusion of the first two types of motivations and go beyond the reach of both, as they are the forces that drive people to act considering the consequences of their actions on other people. Consequently generating an entire business unit that breeds and nurtures a commitment to third parties.
The Anthropological Model in this sense, creates an anthropological paradigm in which the three types of motivations are based, transcendental motivations prevail, because with them, people act according to the organization, firstly because they know that with it they satisfy the needs of other people and secondly, because they feel useful serving, because when serving they know that they contribute to the final objective of the company to which they belong.
The final objective is an objective that has been known since the genesis of Western history, with Aristotelian thought, which encrypts the truth in a practical way, and which is translated as "the conformity of the intellect with goodwill" and that applied to business, it means that goodwill is conceptualized as serving, or as "serving society."
Hence, this final objective, advocated by the Anthropological Model, tends to go much further than the financial objective of "creating value for shareholders" through "the generation of the greatest possible market value for risk capital holders". In Termes's opinion, the final objective goes beyond the traditional objective, but they are not necessarily opposite or antagonistic. In fact, the instrumental or operational objective of creating more value for the company fuels the final objective of "serving society".
This being the case, how do you sustain that the final objective of every company is to serve society? The answer has been studied and spread by the same economic reality that hangs over the dynamics of companies. And this reality revolves around the role currently being played by "Business Ethics"
For Termes, Ethics is based on the application of truth, since it generates credibility, trust and loyalty. But the application of the truth requires a strategic capacity on the part of the management body, for the company to be effective; an executive capacity to generate employee commitment to the company itself; but fundamentally, the application or presence of ethical leadership is required, because the leader who acts ethically is not an obstacle for people to transcend when they want to and must; and at the same time it teaches them to grasp the real value of their actions, always preaching by example of their actions.
Thus, the application of Ethics will lead to higher levels of productivity, and what is more important in building more permanence for the company or organization. Specifically, contrary to the thought of excessive short-term enrichment, it derives in deferring performance from the short to the medium and long term, if this guarantees the permanence and development of the company over time.
But what has sparked an interest in the application of Ethics to business? Why has this thesis been studied since the 1980s at universities such as Harvard, in the United States?
2. Information technology, cause of new changes.
Changes in the current environment have become drivers of facts and actions, which some 30 years ago seemed inconceivable. It is enough to observe that the immense development of Information Technology was channeled towards the veneration of a technological deity, who signed his reason for being in establishing a distance that separated business from ethical principles, considered in the past as irrelevant and cumbersome for proper decision making, with business management falling on managers who strived to differentiate themselves, being extremely competent with numbers and data; their attitude was highly serious, and the further they will be from the context surrounding others, the better. The vision that was held in the past reflected pragmatic leaders,Intensively prepared in their academic fields that individualized and distanced them from their own environment. Hence, a Manager in current times was expected to have the ability to manage all resources without being directly involved in operations. An example of this is demonstrated by the executive management offices in which televisions were located that constantly transmitted images of the actions or activities carried out by the collaborators; or the location of the offices of the Managers, with tinted windows and with a wide vision of the labor territory that constituted their hierarchical domain.Hence, a Manager in current times was expected to have the ability to manage all resources without being directly involved in operations. An example of this is demonstrated by the executive management offices in which televisions were located that constantly transmitted images of the actions or activities carried out by the collaborators; or the location of the offices of the Managers, with tinted windows and with a wide vision of the labor territory that constituted their hierarchical domain.Hence, a Manager in current times was expected to have the ability to manage all resources without being directly involved in operations. An example of this is demonstrated by the executive management offices in which televisions were located that constantly transmitted images of the actions or activities carried out by the collaborators; or the location of the offices of the Managers, with tinted windows and with a wide vision of the labor territory that constituted their hierarchical domain.with tinted windows and a wide vision of the labor territory that constituted their hierarchical domain.with tinted windows and a wide vision of the labor territory that constituted their hierarchical domain.
But social dynamics turned and contrary to expectations, business activity derived, paradoxically, into something contrary and totally different from what was expected years ago. The business theories of business management were changing, from a theory "X" to a "Y", or a theory "Z", giving rise to an explosion of techniques that led to postulates on Leadership and the ability to decide and Act. And the surprising fact was the return to unthinkable positions, such as the need to truly act ethically, which has become the only way that companies have left to continue to have permanence in the long term.
3. The anthropological model, excellence and ethics.
The Anthropological Model of business management maintains that change always exists, and as such, quality (excellence) is an end that has no limits, therefore it must always be improved. But for this, extreme rigor must be acted in an ethical manner. Ethical values have been impregnated in business events and a return of spirituality is being experienced, in the sense of being impregnated with moral values that reflect a more comprehensive behavior, but this return to a particular position does not obey a sign of a religious nature. pure, but an exclusively business sign, which is related to the ultimate goal of any company,which is to serve the society where it is inserted and which is surrounded by very important operational purposes closely linked to obtaining and generating more value for the companies themselves. Consequently, the objective of managers to make their companies more valuable is subject to the attitude and behavior of all their leaders, which in turn is linked to long-term permanence. In short, acting ethically does not obey a puritanism of the new leaders, but rather a need to obtain greater value for their companies. This value translates into greater competitiveness, higher productivity, better customer and supplier service and, consequently, positioning, which implies gaining a greater market share.Managers' objective of making their companies more valuable is subject to the attitude and behavior of all their leaders, which is linked, in turn, with long-term permanence. In short, acting ethically does not obey a puritanism of the new leaders, but rather a need to obtain greater value for their companies. This value translates into greater competitiveness, higher productivity, better customer and supplier service and, consequently, positioning, which implies gaining a greater market share.Managers' objective of making their companies more valuable is subject to the attitude and behavior of all their leaders, which is linked, in turn, with long-term permanence. In short, acting ethically does not obey a puritanism of the new leaders, but rather a need to obtain greater value for their companies. This value translates into greater competitiveness, higher productivity, better customer and supplier service and, consequently, positioning, which implies gaining a greater market share.but to a need to obtain greater value for their companies. This value translates into greater competitiveness, higher productivity, better customer and supplier service and, consequently, positioning, which implies gaining a greater market share.but to a need to obtain greater value for their companies. This value translates into greater competitiveness, higher productivity, better customer and supplier service and, consequently, positioning, which implies gaining a greater market share.
The creation of value in companies.
The basis of "value" lies in the way new managers conduct business. It is no longer enough to be a "competitive manager" but you must undergo a transformation to "leader"; who knows first of all, that he is a person and that he is surrounded by people. This sometimes implies losing the status of "sparing" Manager and accepting that of being the central axis of the activities carried out by all the people in the company he directs.
Consequently, the Anthropological Model places people at the center, no longer as a "more" resource, but as beings who deserve the best and greatest respect. These people are shareholders, managers, suppliers, employees and customers. And treating them as people is equivalent to generating a climate conducive to achieving the highest productivity, which is reflected in the inevitable achievement of the highest market, economic and financial returns.
Hence, acting ethically is a necessity, not because it is prescribed in mystical texts, but because with it we are prepared to achieve financial successes that lead to the growth and permanent development of companies.
This attitude, of the ethical task, is linked to the intense development of information technology, and despite the fact that there is always corruption, fraud and deceit, it is now much easier to detect them and it is currently lived, that is known, that sooner rather than later, the truth will be known.
The leader knows that the company is, above all, a conjunction of several people, the shareholders; executives; Providers; the clients; the employees and all are attached to the direction that he, as manager, carries out by himself, or through his officers or executives. And everyone must work together to achieve the company's final objective, which is, on the one hand, to create or add wealth (economic value) and, on the other, to provide a true service to the society in which the organization is located. In other words, the creation of wealth must be complemented by the search for the common good, with which the aspirations of all the people involved in economic activity are realized.
But the achievement of economic value is one of 3 values that companies carry out, the others are called: psychological value and ethical value. With the economic value, all those who made contributions to the productive activity receive their compensation that will allow them to satisfy their needs. With the psychological value, those who participate in the production process manage to assimilate learning for the adequate decision-making that affects others or themselves directly or indirectly. And with ethical value, it is argued for the change that occurs within people.
These last two values are subjective but their influence is decisive for the generation of economic value. It represents an opportunity cost because certain benefits are probably forgone in the short term, but it has been shown that the best alternatives are realized in the long term, because they allow the integral development of people.
Hence, some academics ratify that the final objective of any company "is to provide service to society, the own of each company, and generate sufficient income for the satisfaction of all who make up the company, through actions that, at all times and circumstances, are consistent with the dignity of the people who make up the company, or are in contact with it from abroad ». This is the real reason for creating value in companies.
4. Ethical leadership and business ethics.
"Ethical Leadership" is then a need that makes the company better and richer. On the contrary, if accelerated enrichment is sought and on illicit grounds, the company condemns itself.
Already in these times, nobody can deny the importance of emotional intelligence for decision making in companies; that the client is every day more and more demanding and more difficult to deceive; that the whole world has shrunk due to the immense development of telecommunications and that the fear of a lawsuit due to an error that affects third parties is now very latent in all of them.
That is why business ethics is having, today more than ever, a determining presence in the dynamics of modern companies. It is no longer the time of past glories, reached on weak or false pedestals. It is time to value or revalue managerial attitudes and values, so that it is understood that business ethics is now a necessity and not a virtue. Certainly, current studies reveal that international companies are under increasing pressure to bring their business leaders' behaviors into line with ethical behaviors. And the facts confirm that attitudes related to managerial mismanagement are being severely punished, if not just look at the fines imposed on large companies,millionaire amounts that behind them carry the seed that marginalizes these companies from the business environment.
More deeply, business ethics is closely related to compliance with laws, regardless of the countries in which they apply. And even in those nations where there is impunity, ethics must be lucky enough to emerge, to place itself on the pillars of corruption, influence peddling and other major or minor deviations that threaten the life and dignity of people. That is why few dare to deny the importance and the high meaning that ethics has in the direction of business.
In the past, it was relatively easy to cheat and cheat, so it was believed that applying these false qualities could lead to business success. It is obvious that those who applied it profited, at the cost of seeing how their companies perished in the long term. Acting in this way is no longer so easy, despite all the tricks that those who do so resort to. Today, even the most pragmatic manager needs to act ethically, because acting ethically is proving that it gives life to businesses permanently, all because credibility and trust are acquired, and people end up being loyal to the products or to the brands. This is demonstrated by the case of the North American company Jhonson and Jhonson in 1982, when it ordered the removal of 31 million bottles of Tylenol drops from the market,because one person filled a pill with cyanide and several people died.
How much loss would this company amount to? However, two years later, their product was once again positioned in the market, and the Jhonson and Jhonson's ruling: "Respect for the life of a single person should prevail over the business", became famous and modified the parameters with that consumers would respond with their loyalty.
In conclusion, everything means that the financial value of companies must be measured in terms of intangibles, and among them is the relationship with employees, customers, suppliers, the community and finally with shareholders. The problem is that the value under this concept is difficult to measure and companies prefer to ignore it for the traditional. In this sense, the valuation of the companies themselves is minimized.
With the application of ethical values, by a new type of leadership, companies have the possibility of surviving the onslaught of the market in the short term and of having a permanence in the long term. Studies in this regard continue to confirm that the application of ethics is not a luxury but a necessity, because without ethical values failure is haunted and, on the contrary, with solid values, you can face international markets with more options.. That is the trend that is being set, for example, in the US and is reflected in the fact that most of the companies that associate with the magazine «Fortune»; and that more than 60% of England's top companies take ethical dilemmas into account in business decisions.
The application of ethics to business dilemmas, then, will bring to the top the controversy of whether individual responsibility is attended to or whether this responsibility is revalued in order to convert it or transform it into a social responsibility in or out of same companies.
5. Ethics vs. Deal. The meaning of social responsibility.
Before it was believed that business was the very negation of ethics, and the events of recent years have been determined to prove otherwise. And today more than ever the ethical question has acquired a significant importance.
In all times and in reality the choice to act correctly arises, that is, based on ethical principles. When it comes to business, there are serious controversies that even today are difficult to settle. However, these controversies are interesting, given the current conditions. And precisely for this reason, efforts must be made to understand the environment in which companies operate.
The fundamental controversy hangs over the validity or denial of the "social responsibility" of companies. Milton Friedman sets a position "businesses have only one social responsibility: to use their resources and undertake activities aimed at increasing their profits, provided they remain within the rules of the game, that is, in free and open competition without deception or fraud". From this position, companies and especially those who run them must serve the shareholders and seek to obtain profits under the framework of ethical principles set by the channel of respect for the law. They are not allowed to waste resources that do not belong to them in activities unrelated to business, in this sense, they cannot participate directly or openly in activities of a social nature,Because with this, resources are squandered and a “tax” that erodes its profits ends up being imposed on the same company. This position supports the argument that «corporate executives are employees of business owners. They are directly responsible to their employers. That responsibility is to run the business in accordance with the owners' wishes, which will generally be to earn as much money as possible, adhering to the basic rules of society, both those incorporated in the laws and those incorporated in the laws. social customs…".They are directly responsible to their employers. That responsibility is to run the business in accordance with the owners' wishes, which will generally be to earn as much money as possible, adhering to the basic rules of society, both those incorporated in the laws and those incorporated in the laws. social customs…".They are directly responsible to their employers. That responsibility is to run the business in accordance with the owners' wishes, which will generally be to earn as much money as possible, adhering to the basic rules of society, both those incorporated in the laws and those incorporated in the laws. social customs…".
But what happens when disrespect for the legal framework prevails in today's societies? It is obvious that the position indicated by Friedman does not fit with reality. First, because it presupposes an economic system of free and open competition, without cheating or fraud, which does not exist; and second, because it considers that although the objective is the achievement of wealth, (valid in all free enterprise and private property systems), this objective adheres to the ethical principle of respect for the law and custom of society. In this sense, it is conclusive that even the objective of obtaining the maximum profit must be accompanied by ethical principles, in this case respect for the law.
The second position is held by Dr. Kenneth H. Blanchard; which expresses that when looking for profits at any cost, it is in conflict with the most fundamental ethical principles, and affirms, on the contrary, that "successful companies in the long term tend to be ethical companies", consequently, achieving maximum returns It should not be the highest priority of companies. According to this position, the attitude of achieving benefits at all costs as a maximum goal, can generate excessive growth in the short term and this, in turn, enter into serious contradictions with legality and social customs. In fact, he considers that the companies that put enrichment first and foremost are companies that will tend to disappear because they forget the environment, that is, the environment, society itself and more specifically,they forget their employees and those who are more important, their customers. From this perspective, the profit motive will prevent reflection on whether the client is deceived or not; whether or not our employees are happy with their work. It will even be based on the directive work of "complacent" managers who will only be interested in being well themselves and nothing else, even going so far as to despise the work of their competitors, their suppliers, their clients and even those who are really their life support, their own subordinates.It will even be based on the directive work of "complacent" managers who will only be interested in being well themselves and nothing else, even going so far as to despise the work of their competitors, their suppliers, their clients and even those who are really their life support, their own subordinates.It will even be based on the directive work of "complacent" managers who will only be interested in being well themselves and nothing else, even going so far as to despise the work of their competitors, their suppliers, their clients and even those who are really their life support, their own subordinates.
From this perspective, the two positions are disagreeing, because in most nations of the world there is no free and open competition, much less is it free from deceit and fraud. But the current socio-economic reality seems to distance itself from the first position and emphasizes more the entrepreneurial desire that is increasingly linked to the commitment to "social responsibility", which is related to the position of transformational leadership and privileges the priority of rights. of society and nature, to the rights of achievement of the excessive returns of entrepreneurs, based on the predominance of the market.
The foregoing leads Ethics to consider the commitment to «social responsibility», since basically, it does not conflict with obtaining the maximum possible return, as long as it is achieved, first, in a framework of open and free competition in that prevailing respect for the law; and second, that the actions of companies are governed by an additional series of ethical principles that have to do with the environment, with suppliers, with customers and with employees. Its continued application and nurturing is what can make business success endure and give business long and full life.
6. Conclusion.
The Anthropological Business Management Model emphasizes the value of Business Ethics and Ethical Leadership, and is based on the impulse of transcendental human motivations and looms solidly on the anthropological paradigm that is currently considered the only complete paradigm that is directly related to the social responsibility that companies must have.
It is a model that centers its axis on the person, be it a manager, executive or employee. It is an organizational form through which the company is able to achieve the competitive efficiency that the variant and globalized environment demands more and more.
He considers the company to be a "community of people" related to each other and who also interact with other people from the outside world. This group of people is conceived treated as corresponds to the dignity of rational and free beings.
It is essential that their motivations are known, so that the company achieves its priority objective, which is not exclusively economistic. In fact, the anthropological model conclusively expresses that "nothing stands in the way of all actions aimed at creating value being taken taking into account ethical aspects" and among these is the role of the leader, on whom the company depends that transcends the levels normal growth and development. The leadership that entrepreneurs and executives develop under this model is thus, integrally ethical, because it is driven not only to ensure that certain things are done that are convenient for the organization to be effective, nor that those things are more or less attractive to the people who perform them, but will seek, above all,that people act out of transcendental motivation. Generating an internal and external environment highly motivated by the intention of being useful to the other economic agents that interact with the company.
As a contribution to the development of the 1st. Meeting of the Central American Anthropology Network held from February 21 to 23, 2001 on the campus of the Technological University. San Salvador, El Salvador.
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