Sample Assignment on Capstone Project

Capstone Project

Table of Contents
Q1. Do you think using a quota system to promote gender diversity in the workplace is a good
idea?.............................................................................................................................................1
Question 2: Why do you think some countries have more diverse boards than others? What is
the situation with board diversity in Australia?...........................................................................3
Question 3: Discuss the possible reasons that leaders may led to abuse their position and
ignore others' needs......................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Q1. Do you think using a quota system to promote gender diversity in the workplace is a good
idea?
Quota system is the systematic process under which there is some specific number of
people which can take part in management of organisation. There is different number specified
under law which can be relevant to understanding changes. There are different organisations in
which gender diversity is high in which there is difference between male and women ratio
working in organisation (Andrews, 2018). Hence in order to reduce gender diversity, there must
be quota system to reduce gender diversity. There is increment in gender diversity because of
understanding changes which are taking place. There are many countries in which there is quota
set for women interference in industry through which there is no difference in rights and
responsibilities of employees working.
As per provided document it is evaluated that in Norway, there is a bill passed for 36%
participation of women in board seat. This is the way through which women participation at
working place of women can be maintained. When women are getting proper rights and
responsibilities, then there will improvement in living standard and social development of
country as well. When policies are framed for gender equality, then it is easy to maintain positive
environment in the organisation. When there is setting of quota, then it is easy for individuals for
understanding their rights and responsibilities. For understanding quota policies in country after
passing legal legislation, it is essential that HR manager to communicate with workers properly
so they are aware about their roles and responsibilities. When there is change in legal policies,
then it is compulsory for organisations to implement it in working efficiency (Windscheid and et.
al., 2018).
In France, there is act for working of women in organisation i.e. 48%. in 2013. When
there is equal participation of women, then it is easy to maintain positive environment in
organisation. When there is complete and specific information in order to maintain gender gap,
then it is easy to maintain equality and employees does not feel biasses. When there is increment
in stake of women, then they also feel satisfied and their effectiveness and efficiency can be
maintained. There is requirement to retain consumers in organisation, with the help of which
there is ease in handling consumers. When women get equal opportunities at workplace, then
they study well and prefers to stand at their own. This assist in improving brand image of
organisation and improves living stands of people which are working in association. When there
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is specified number or percentage of women are required in organisation, then it is easy to
maintain gender diversity and it is easy to take discussion without partiality.
There is increment in participation of women by 2025, then there will increment in GDP
rate of country by 11% (GENDER EQUALITY - TIME FOR CHANGE, 2019). this means with
understanding and collecting information about gender diversity, country will also get benefit of
it. When there is increment in role of women, then work place ethics are also followed, so
society will also get benefits of it through less possibilities of ethical and morale issues. With the
help of gender diversity gap, there will ease in maintaining culture of society. For instance:
Marks and Spencer have policies through which gender gap can be reduced, then it is easy to
retain talented work force for longer time.
In Australia, there are around 47% of total employees are women and able to earn amount
more than men. In women, there is more leadership skills through which it is easy for
organisation to perform operations. It is analysed that women are more insecure regrading their
work, they want to complete task with full efficiency, hence it is easy to maintain positivity in
outcome as profits and productivity. So organisational development in Australia is more as
compared to other countries. When there is equal rights and responsibilities to country, then it is
easy to provide satisfaction to employees and they give their best for organisational upliftment.
In Australia, companies which are listed in ASX listed organisations there were involvement of
8.3% in 2009 but this arise to 26.2% in 2017 which is due to diversity in organisation
(Promoting Gender Diversity and Inclusion in Our Workplace, 2019). There will proper
involvement of women, then they are ready to work with more dedication and achieve targets
and ready to work at management positions as well. Most of the women work for whole time
occupation with the help of which it is easy to get growth of company and society growth is also
possible.
In 2016, women in Eastern Europe countries only 8.5% women are working in
organisation. This is because there is motivation and proper performance from management of
association. This is important for understanding changes in roper manner. Women can work at
top level management when they are provided with positive and proper working environment
(Mun and Jung, 2018). This makes them satisfied and motivated to work at top level
management. For instance: if individual is working properly in organisation, then they have to
take care of their familiar aspects as well. Hence it is not easy for them to manage both the
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aspects. It is observed that there is no good working environment for individuals at top level
management, hence it tough to retain them at this level. In turkey ration of women working is
increasing this makes organisational as well as societal development with the help of which
individuals are able to make proper policies and make proper change in organisational
environment (Women in boardrooms: Speeding up the progress in Turkey, 2019). There are
some policies which are specific in organisation through which it is easy to manage and maintain
long term relations with consumers.
Question 2: Why do you think some countries have more diverse boards than others? What is the
situation with board diversity in Australia?
One issue that has gained air during last some decades is that women are still not given
the privilege to be seated as a part of Board in many of the countries. Furthermore, the recent
findings from MSCI ESG which is a well renowned global research firm found out that
organisations which have strong female representation in Board generate a higher Return on
Equity than those with only men. In this regard, the results of this research acknowledged that
diverse boards generated ROE of 10.1% as opposed to 7.4% generated by non diverse boards.
Global Board Diversity Analysis of Egon Zehnder revealed that with the passage of time, there
have been incremental gains across the globe. For instance: During 2016, approximately a total
of 19% of the seats of Board of the largest companies across the global periphery are backed up
by females which implies an increase of a total of almost 5% since the year 2012. The authors of
GDBA state that this takes place because majority of the nations across the global periphery are
undertaking measures to make gender diversity their priority (Smith and Parrotta, 2018).
Globally, the quantum of females on the Board have been inflating since last 3 years. As
per ISS QualityScore data, the female representation has enhanced from 14.5% within 2014 to
15.3% within 2015 and 16.9% within 2016. Even though it is a small proportion of
directorships, yet the increase of 1.6% within a time span of 2 years is a significant jump and
illustrate a substantial quantum of global directorships now backed by women (Kagzi and Guha,
2018).
At the first sight, the biggest predictor of a more gender diverse board seems to be the
strength of any regulation mandating some minimum level of diversity. Stronger regulations with
mandates for minimum gender representations are in place in many of the markets with the
highest percentage of female directors, while markets with less stringent regulations or no
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mandates tend to have fewer female directors. Within some regions, social norms seem to have
obviated the need for diversifyng the board. In this regard, Sweden and Finland are
acknowledged to be the nations with the highest quantum of females in directorships.
Australia is one of the nations which also recognises the significance of maintaining
gender diversity on board. As a result of this, the latest percentage of women on ASX 200 boards
is 29.7% as of 31 July 2019). The percentage of women on boards of ASX 200 companies and
the proportion of women comprising new appointments increased significantly from a low base
of 8.3 percent in 2009. However, an overall of 4 boards in the ASX 200 still do not have any
females.
Question 3: Discuss the possible reasons that leaders may led to abuse their position and ignore
others' needs.
Authority is given to a leader within an organisation or a nation for a number of reasons
while taking into account their expertise, likelihood, skills, competence, experiences,
intelligence, capabilities etc. It is assumed that leaders are adept at operating and running a
corporation or department (Rossi, Lipsey and Henry, 2018). Also, it is a general presumption that
they have a way with leading, guiding, directing and supervising personnel belonging to an
entity. The leaders work in a manner such that the long term goal of an economy or company is
fulfilled for the betterment of people pertaining to its periphery. A national economy or an entity
bestows enough power upon a leader to assist them in accomplishing the goals and objectives.
However, leaders have different options of handling their powers, some of which even are
unhealthy and adverse for the company or residents of a country.
Wielding power is an important yet highly sensitive aspect of leadership as there is huge
possibility of abuse of power (Francioli and et. al., 2018). Leaders that make use of their power
in a negative manner tend to bring down the morale of people pertaining to the area under their
authority. Abuse of power takes place because of a number of reasons. From decades till now,
the world has seen various significant real life examples of abuse of power by leaders. Even the
top notch MNCs such as Apple Inc. and Google have been accused by Spotify of abusing their
privileged position (Spotify CEO claims internet giants like Apple and Google ‘abuse their
privileged position’, 2019). The probable causes owing to which abuse of position occurs, are
acknowledged to be personal reasons, unrealistic performance expectations, rivalry, poor
management etc.
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The reasons behind abuse of position along with some key instances from history
illustrating the same are given below:-
For personal reasons: A large number of times leaders abuse their position owing to
maintenance of social or family relations. This is the most apparent cause of abuse of power. The
same happened in the year 2013, whereby the Attorney General for Consumer Protection of
Mexico named Humberto Benitez Treviño closed a restaurant on the basis of a complaint
received from his daughter. Hereby, the misuse of power by the leader took place because his
daughter reported that the staff of a top notch restaurant operating within the confines of Mexico
did not allow her to sit at the specific table that she wanted. Soon after the case gained air, the
public accused Treviño of abuse of position for personal use (10 OUTRAGEOUS CASES OF
LEADERS ABUSING THEIR POWER, 2019). As a result of this issue going blatant, the
president of Mexico fired Trevino and consequently, that eatery store was opened again.
For entailment of kickbacks and other incentives: One of the most apparent causes of
abuse of power is the entailment of money or monetary considerations for living a high standard
and excellent quality living. The same happened in the year 2014 whereby the Mayor of New
Orleans Mayor named Ray Nagin was charged of wire fraud, bribery and also, money
laundering. It was acknowledged that the accepted kickbacks in money and money worth such as
free vacation to Hawaii even at the time of hurricane stricken state of the city. This was the time
when citizens pertaing to that area needed his support and aid the most to recover from losses
caused by the natural disaster. Yet another instance of this took place in Pennsylvania whereby
the Treasurer named R. Budd Dwyer was charged of accepting bribe in return of awarding a
state contract to an inqualified and incompetent company (Computer Technology Associates)
with lack of resources. He did so because of the sole reason that the organisation offered a hefty
sum of money as much as $300,000 in terms of bribe for provision of $4.6 million contract to it.
Dwyer was found to have chosen CTA inspite of a well renowned Pennsylvania based
corporation offering to do the same work at half price (10 OUTRAGEOUS CASES OF LEADERS
ABUSING THEIR POWER, 2019). The reason that was implied behind misuse of power was to
gain bribe and use it for personal purpose to inflate one's living standards.
Rivalry: With a view to get ahead of others and becoming more rich than them, a number
of leaders indulge in hefty crimes. Such an instance gained air in the year 2013 when the Mayor
of Detroit named Kwame M. Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 felony counts due to which he was
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later referred to as “Crime Boss Mayor” by people who knew of his crimes and abuse of
position. The crimes included extortion, mail fraud, racketeering, organising wild party with
strippers at governmental Mayor residence etc. As a result of all of this, he was sentenced to jail
for a time period of 28 years (Nevicka, 2018).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Andrews, M., 2018. Fine wines are varied bunch. Australia's Paydirt. 1(265). p.6.
Corkery, J. F., Taylor, M. E. and Hayden, M., 2018. Gender balance in Australian boardrooms:
The business case for quotas. In Women on Corporate Boards (pp. 69-89). Routledge.
Francioli, L. and et. al., 2018. Quality of leadership and workplace bullying: The mediating role
of social community at work in a two-year follow-up study. Journal of Business Ethics.
147(4). pp.889-899.
Kagzi, M. and Guha, M., 2018. Board demographic diversity: a review of literature. Journal of
Strategy and Management. 11(1). pp.33-51.
Mun, E. and Jung, J., 2018. Change above the glass ceiling: Corporate social responsibility and
gender diversity in Japanese firms. Administrative Science Quarterly. 63(2). pp.409-
440.
Nevicka, B., 2018. Narcissism and leadership: A perfect match?. In Handbook of Trait
Narcissism (pp. 399-407). Springer, Cham.
Rossi, P. H., Lipsey, M. W. and Henry, G. T., 2018. Evaluation: A systematic approach. Sage
publications.
Smith, N. and Parrotta, P., 2018. Why so few women on boards of directors? empirical evidence
from danish companies in 1998–2010. Journal of Business Ethics. 147(2). pp.445-467.
Windscheid, L. and et. al., 2018. Managing organizational gender diversity images: A content
analysis of German corporate websites. Journal of Business Ethics. 152(4). pp.997-
1013.
Online
Spotify CEO claims internet giants like Apple and Google ‘abuse their privileged position’.
2019. [Online]. Available Through:<https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/08/apple-google-
european-commission-spotify.html>.
10 OUTRAGEOUS CASES OF LEADERS ABUSING THEIR POWER. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://unbelievable-facts.com/2018/01/leaders-abusing-their-power.html>.
Company suffers when leaders abuse power. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<http://www.financialpost.com/related/topics/company+suffers+when+leaders
+abuse+power/386746/story.html>.
GENDER EQUALITY - TIME FOR CHANGE. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/stories/blog/gender_equality_time_for_change
>.
Promoting Gender Diversity and Inclusion in Our Workplace. 2019. [Online]. Available
through: <https://au.work180.co/blog/promoting-gender-diversity-and-inclusion-in-our-
workplace>.
Women in boardrooms: Speeding up the progress in Turkey. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/women-in-boardrooms-speeding-up-the-progress-
in-turkey-141755>.
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