Journal 6: Ethical Principles in Business

·         Is it a contradiction in terms?

·         Is there an inherent conflict between ethics and the pursuit of profit?

·         Do you always choose profit over ethics?

·         What is ethics?

·         Is good ethics good in business?

These are the questions posted to the class prior to our discussion of the topic. Ethical principles in business is a really interesting topic, all things that was shared to us in this course would really aid us as aspiring business leaders of the country.

Let’s define ethics first, as I remember in our discussion. Being ethical means that if you are a businessman it comprises:

1.     You are doing what your conscience tells you

2.     You are doing what the church or bible says

3.     You conform to the golden rule

Business ethics is the normative study of moral standards as they apply to business policies, institutions and behavior.

The usual business person always thinks about the ROI = return of investment in every aspect, but if the profit is the only consideration he might forget considering standard also for the safety and wellness of his stakeholders. Profit and ethics interfere with each other however there are also cases where in this can both work harmoniously with each other.

I used to be part of a company that has strong “RED” and inconsiderate culture. Typical of a local bank own by Chinese, they don’t trust employees with anything. I remember always receiving reports with red notes, memos without prior consideration, and an overwhelming bulk of work any person even the most hard working ones would not be able to tolerate. After a year of working for them, I really lost a lot of weight, I remember going home as late as 11 pm and reporting as early as 7 am, I was so demotivated and working conditions is intolerable as well. The whole team resigned, I am still friend with my previous colleagues and whenever we talk we still share the same feelings that we had with our previous employer. We just all hope they still have good business as we are now pursuing our own paths.

I was employed after to a “BLUE” cultured company. This is what our CEO always say:

In AXA, we have put it as our priority to be that employer that is attractive for employees who perform, who want to develop themselves by working in collaborative teams and who want to improve their skills by learning. (Rien Hermans, President & CEO)

AXA’s Cultural Analysis

Based on my experience working with AXA for the past 1 year, I deemed the culture as high in adhocracy and market, moderately high in clan and low in hierarchy. High in adhocracy, for the company believes in its employee’s talents and creativity. We work in a very flexible time schedule; our productivity is not based on how long we stay in the office or how busy we are. It is measured by how we perform and how we are able to hit our key performance index. The management supports every ideas and innovative initiatives of its employees. They believe in fast changing environment and pioneered changes in the country’s insurance industry. AXA is the first insurance company who formed a formidable synergy with banks, which is Metrobank and PSbank. It introduced bancassurance in the country. It is also the first in the industry to use systemized online assessment tool named as the e-FNA or the electronic financial needs analysis. It supported the need for online systems and reduced the use of paper for documentation, the company currently uses online tools to cater the needs of the departments and support teams such as MyAXABudget, Learning Management System, AXA Click, AXA pass, Epayslip, HR Teamware, activity management system, online IT helpdesk and many more. It is the first insurance company who used an online empowered and efficient tool for its sales team. Which makes every transaction fast and mobile, the financial executives has their own laptops and tablets for faster communication and costumer needs analysis.

It is high in market for AXA is very aggressive in pioneering almost all innovative systems in the insurance industry. AXA started its business in the Philippines in year 2000 and it is currently the #3 (number three) among top all insurance companies in the country given that it is only 13 years in existence here in the Philippines. AXA is very determined to give its costumers every need by customizing its policies in accordance to costumers need. AXA Philippines is redefining the market by challenging the present and always looking for solutions that better meet the financial needs of our customers or modify services to adjust to their changing preferences. This quest made us the innovator behind the development of bancassurance and behind the introduction of variable life products into the market. Currently AXA Philippines is offering financial security to almost 500,000 individuals through its group and individual life insurance products. As the pioneer in the market, AXA Philippines is offering the second generation variable life products, that provide the clients even better financial security and improved returns.   AXA Philippines has a nationwide coverage through 600 Metrobank branches, which are being serviced by 470 financial executives and 28 AXA branch offices that are the home to its growing network of 1,750 exclusive financial advisors.  AXA’s strategic focus is global, aimed at developing a single worldwide brand, being powerful in every one of its markets and developing synergies across the Group. The AXA Group is committed to international expansion and has already established a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific Region, maximizing opportunities for future growth. At present, AXA had over 102 million customers worldwide, 163,000 employees and exclusive distributors, 1 trillion Euros in assets under management, and 4.3 billion Euros in underlying earnings.

It is moderately high in clan for we treat each other as family. Since blue culture has been introduced, the leaders and management placed the culture of trust and achievement into practice. Lastly, it is low in hierarchy for the management discourages a non-pro employee culture. Every employee has the right to report any cases of its managers who are not following the blue culture as stipulated by AXA Global.

Since I came from a very red culture based company prior to working with AXA. Its culture is very forceful, disciplined and does not show any trust on its employees and stakeholders. When AXA offered me a position for their company, they introduced the blue culture which established my interest to joining the company. Now that I am part of AXA, I take pride with its culture and adhere to its core values. I firmly believe in the company’s noble purpose of serving its customers. I’ve been offered positions from other companies like Phillip Morris and San Miguel after joining AXA, but because of AXA’s sense of purpose I decided to stay. It is still more rewarding to work for a company that take care of people’s needs and helps the community. The success of AXA for me is very well deserved, Ive never been this happy for working for a certain company. They do not only take care of their clients but they do take care of their stakeholders’ as well and they carry on a very noble purpose of doing business. Upon discussion of the environment and organizational culture in management principles class, I had the chance to assess and foresee my own company’s culture. Not just the culture but I’ve learned to see every company during our discussion in a more objective manner. I am looking forward to learn more as I go through my upcoming business subjects.

A CULTURE OF TRUST AND ACHIEVEMENT

AXA started using OCI Developed by Human Synergistics, the OCI is recognized as one of the most widely used and thoroughly researched organizational surveys in the world. According to OCI, there are three types of company culture:

In March 2008, AXA first used the Ideal OCI among AXA Partners  to define AXA’s “preferred” culture. An Ideal OCI was completed by a wider group of senior executives (300) in July 2010 to validate the 2008 results as well as to reflect the opinions of a more diversified group within AXA. Results from both Ideal OCI surveys show a predominantly Constructive or BLUE culture, which is in line with global high performance companies.

After setting the ideal BLUE culture through OCI and surveys , AXA Global came up with action plans and designed three main drivers for change.

By building a culture of trust and achievement, we will empower and further engage our people to be customer-centric, optimize the value of our businesses and accelerate growth while reaping together the benefits of being global. Our aim is to foster a safer and stronger society over the long term.

AXA Group believed that Leadership development creates an impulse for culture change

With the good culture imposed by the company management AXA and its stake holders achieved the following:

·         Global leader in financial protection

·         Recognized as the Best Global Insurance Brand by Interbrand (the world’s leading brand consultancy) based on financial performance, the role of the brand and brand strength.

·         #39 of the world’s biggest companies global 2000 list according to Forbes

·         The Group supports its clients, both individuals and businesses, at every stage in their lives by providing products and services to meet their needs, including insurance, personal protection, savings and wealth management

·         more than 102 million clients

·         163,000 employees and exclusive distributors

·         Headquartered in Paris and active across all five continents in 61 countries, AXA is focused on the world’s major markets, in particular Europe, North America and the fast-growing economies in Asia Pacific.

·         1 trillion Euros in assets under management, and 4.3 billion Euros in underlying earnings.

If I would doing business in the future, I believe that this should also be applied. Ive learned from experience and I will also apply the Lasallian Way of conducting business.