Ethical Challenges in Tanzanian Project Management: A Reflection

This reflective essay examines ethical challenges in Tanzanian project management, using a case study of a dam construction project. It analyzes unethical practices, such as hiring based on recommendations and corruption, and connects them to cultural dimensions and organizational structures in Tanzania. The essay uses Hofstede's cultural dimensions and flat organizational structures to support its arguments. The author proposes the implementation of virtual ethical theory and effective corporate governance to combat corruption. The essay also reflects on the author's personal experience as a group leader, discussing the division of roles, challenges faced, and strategies employed to complete the assignment. The author suggests improvements for future projects, including better planning, source selection, and team management.

Reflective essay

Reflective essay
It has been analysed from the present case study of constructing dam in Tanzania studied
that there are many sources are used which demonstrates that lots of practices are legal in
Tanzania in comparison to US.. It is depicted that US law is more strict and put lots of
boundations upon the government authorities and organisations while performing their functions
Here, Brett Jones was known as a good operational project manager, who had known to finish
every assign project on time within specified budget (Perego and et. al., 2018). For the purpose
of completion of Dam project , respective person adopt such practices that seems to be unethical
in nature to accomplish company's mission on time.
One of the factor which which drive and force Brett Jones to indulge in unethical practice
is about hiring of recommended persons belongs to the families of officials working in that
particular nation. One of the source which is provided along with argument is about hiring of the
niece of custom officer to further take consideration in the process of clearing their imports.
Theoretical aspect which is used for the purpose of identification and supporting the practice of
Brett Jones is Hosftede. This is used for the purpose of identification of the cultural dimension
present in particular nation. After analysing the cultural factors present in Tanzania, identified
that quite common and legal in this nation to hire people on the basis of someone's
recommendation (Mwambi, 2016).
One more factor that contributes in the process of acceptance behind unethical practices
from the manager side in Tanzania is about their organisational structure. Structure provides
equal opportunities to everyone. This is the reason that all employees wants some extra amount
of bonuses for effective completion of work. It results in corruption where HG pays extra for
completion of their Dam project. The theoretical and conceptual aspect that also proved this
aspect is adherence of flat structure in Tanzania which promotes the local employees to enjoy
same rights and power which are posses by other officials of organisation. This led in corruption
activities (Mwinjuma and et. al., 2017).
The last factor which contributes and supports the corruption is about motivation and
HRM. As, the policies and standards in Tanzania is not much strict which allows Brett Jones to
hire people on the basis of recommendation. This will satisfies his two needs and motivates to
hire on the basis of officials recommendation. One is about faster completion of work by
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spending less amount on recruitment process and use of their family members in future for
further help in relation to the work of Dam (Tilley, 2016.).
Here, I have suggested to respective organisations to develop effective corporate
governance by adoption of the virtual ethical theory. As corruption is considered as both global
ethical and legal issue, therefore, it can addressed more appropriately by global virtue ethics
(Hyle, 2016). Through implementing a unified ethics in corporate governance that emphasises
more on character development more emphasis is provided in the process of combating
corruption. Through organisational perceptive, this virtue ethical theory must included with
OECD initiatives (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), developing core
values of businesses. Virtue theory has given by Aristotle that states that if an individual consider
the right action to perform own duties in right way then it would led to run business ethically. To
be morale, individuals must exercise mortality in daily work, they can generalise the importance
of a moral judgement before performing their actions as per situation. It will help in character
development and develop accountability in business as well (Virtual Ethics Theory. 2019).
It is a group task activity where 5 members are needed to work in collaboration, including
me to make a podcast. In this regard, as a group leader I have divided the roles and
responsibilities of respective task to each member, by making a proper discussion with them.
This would lead to reduce chance of conflicts and resistivity of any member to play the given
role. Here, my responsibility is to disburse the sources among group members to find issues and
conduct an analysis on given case study and give guidance for any type of further assistance. As
it is my first task in group so, I enjoy memorising this academic concepts because it helps me in
stimulating my thought patterns. Along with this, it also enables me to discover contents related
to given case study in quick manner. This would aid me to retain the academic information as
much as possible.
Here, I made discussion with each member by organising a group meeting about certain
issues under given case scenario to get different viewpoints for analysing the report more
appropriately. I have found that team members are much exciting to make podcast script on such
an interesting topic. In order to encourage them to work more efficiently, I have cherish them to
discover more new ideas. But I have also struggled to understand the main scenario of given case
study and put quotations in my work. Here, sources are also limited that raise my frustration
level because this would impact on outcomes of research negatively. To resolve such issues and
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complete the given group assignment within given time (3 weeks), I have laid down a work plan.
Under this plan, I have written entire instructions and activities that are needed to complete per
week and set deadline for each also. For getting engagement of team members, through
interpersonal skills, I have influenced them in what manner they have to work to meet deadline
of each activity. This idea of handling the project seems to be fit well to complete assignment on
given time duration.
After completion of project in given time, I analysed that if I made some impactful
strategies then chance of obtaining higher outcomes. Therefore, if I got chance to work again on
such a difficult academic topic, then I will prefer to make some effective strategies first. It
includes choose a topic or relatable question, to conduct investigation. Further, will collect
sources from where reliable information can be gathered and give high attention to arrange and
select methods for analysing the same. I will also work at my level best and give proper
instructions to team members about how to perform their assigned roles in given period of time. I
will also critically analyse all the viewpoints to obtain valid conclusion and made my research
more effective.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hyle, M. A., 2016. Conceptual reflection on responsive environmental
governance. International Journal of Public Administration. 39(8). pp.610-619.
Mwambi, J. M., 2016. Experiential Manifestation of Youth Violence in Tanzania: A Case Study
of Commando Yosso Notorious Youth Gangs. Huria: Journal of the Open University of
Tanzania. 23(1). pp.144-160.'
Mwinjuma, J. S and et. al., 2017. Meaning And Experiences In Managing Primary Education
Development Programme School Funds Among Public Primary Schools Head Teachers
In Tanzania. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social
Sciences. 7. pp.649-671.
Perego, P. and et. al., 2018. Perception of road hazards in a Tanzanian Secondary School before
and after a traffic psychology intervention. Journal of Transport & Health. 10. pp.37-
43.
Tilley, H., 2016. The Political Economy of Aid and Accountability: the rise and fall of budget
support in Tanzania. Routledge.
Online:
Virtual Ethics Theory. 2019 [Online]. Available
Through:<https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/virtue-ethics>.
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