Business Leadership, Ethics, and Organizational Strategy

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from lecture notes on organizational change (VUCA), technological evolution and AI, team dynamics, psychological safety, cognitive biases, Paine's ethical framework, negotiation mechanics, the BUILD leadership model, and corporate social responsibility.

Volatile (VUCA)

The speed of change in an environment or market.

Uncertain (VUCA)

The lack of predictability in situations or outcomes.

Complex (VUCA)

The multitude of confounding factors and variables that must be considered.

Ambiguous (VUCA)

The hazy, gray area where information is open to multiple interpretations.

Machine Learning (ML)

A subset of AI enabling computers to learn from data without explicit programming.

Deep Learning

An ML technique using artificial neural networks to model complex patterns in data.

AI Model

A mathematical representation that enables machines to learn, predict, or make decisions.

Training (AI)

The process of adjusting a model's parameters using data to improve its performance.

Transfer Learning

Leveraging pre-trained models to improve learning efficiency and performance in new tasks.

Hallucinations (AI)

AI-generated outputs that seem coherent but are not accurate or based on actual data.

High Man Power Workflows

Tasks that are easy but can take a lot of time out of the day (e.g., lecture attendance).

High Brain Power Workflows

Individualized tasks that require someone to sit and critically think (e.g., problem sets, papers).

Psychological Safety

The feeling of comfortability within a team that fosters mutual learning, risk-taking, trust, and effectiveness.

Inclusion Safety

The pillar of psychological safety that recognizes the potential value of contributions from all team members.

Learner Safety

The pillar of psychological safety characterized by being able to learn and grow without fear of judgment.

Contributor Safety

The pillar of psychological safety that empowers individuals to act on their own and participate in team discussions.

Challenger Safety

The pillar of psychological safety where team members feel comfortable challenging each other and embracing differing perspectives knowing their team has their back.

Forming

Stage $1$ of Tuckman's model, focused on figuring out what people's roles are.

Storming

Stage $2$ of Tuckman's model, addressing members' strengths and weaknesses and establishing how to achieve success.

Norming

Stage $3$ of Tuckman's model, centered on members knowing and understanding one another.

Performing

Stage $4$ of Tuckman's model, where the team is fully able to conquer a new task together.

Adjourning (Journey)

Stage $5$ of Tuckman's model, in which the project finishes and the team separates.

Groupthink

A team dysfunction wherein everyone immediately agrees without critical debate.

Social Loafing

The tendency where the more people who join a group, the less likely each individual is to actively partake.

Unconscious Bias

Unconscious attitudes or feelings held towards other individuals.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out and favor information that validates pre-existing opinions.

Affinity Bias

A bias that favors people with whom one shares an affinity or mutual trait.

Halo Effect

A cognitive bias where one positive characteristic of a person clouds our judgment of their overall character or performance.

Attribution Bias

The tendency to view one's own positive achievements as personal accomplishments while attributing negative outcomes to external factors.

Recency Effect

The cognitive pattern of placing the greatest weight on the most recent items due to ease of recall.

Gallup's Q12

A survey instrument with $12$ questions scored on a $1-5$ scale to average and measure an organization's employee engagement score, where $6$ of the $12$ items focus on feedback.

COIN Model

A feedback structure standing for Context, Observation, Impact, and Next steps to understand what went wrong.

Moral Credentialing

The psychological bias where an individual believes their past good deeds grant them a pass to make an unethical decision.

Paine's Framework

An ethics decision model consisting of three stages: understanding the facts, identifying relevant standards, and maintaining objectivity.

Visibility Test

An ethical objectivity question assessing how one would feel if an action were visible to others (e.g., 'What if my mother was aware?').

Generality Test

An ethical objectivity check asking whether it would be acceptable if everyone else acted the same way in the same scenario.

Legacy Test

An ethical objectivity evaluation examining whether a proposed action reflects how an individual wishes to be remembered.

Business Ethics

Shared community values and moral principles across an organizational context.

Ill-Conceived Goals

An organizational barrier where goals set to promote a desired behavior inadvertently encourage unethical or negative behavior (e.g., Wells Fargo's '$8$ is great').

Motivated Blindness

Overlooking unethical behavior when it remains in one's personal interest to stay ignorant (e.g., Nike).

Indirect Blindness

Holding parties less accountable for unethical actions when they are executed through a third party (e.g., Apple supply chain).

The Slippery Slope

The reduced likelihood of noticing unethical behavior when it develops gradually over time.

Overvaluing Outcomes

Giving a pass to unethical practices because the end outcome or result is favorable.

Distributive Negotiation

A competitive, win-lose negotiation over a fixed amount of resources driven by self-interest.

Integrative Negotiation

A collaborative, win-win negotiation that uses mutual problem solving to enlarge the pool of shared assets.

Congruent Negotiation

A negotiation context where both parties have identical alignment on an issue, fostering a win-win collaborative outcome.

Arbitration

A court-like dispute resolution process with formal evidence and testimony where the arbitrator's ruling is final.

Mediation

A dispute resolution process assisted by a neutral third party where no binding resolution is reached unless all parties agree.

BATNA

An acronym standing for Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.

ZOPA

Zone of Possible Agreements; the overlapping bargaining range where a mutually acceptable deal can be made.

Anchoring

The tactical establishment of the first numerical offer in a negotiation.

Packaging

Negotiating multiple agenda items simultaneously rather than discussing terms one by one.

Fisher Definition of Leadership

The behaviors through which individuals influence other people and groups of people to think, do, and feel things that they otherwise would not do and feel.

Principled Leadership

An individual's commitment to making a positive impact on their community through an array of inspiring behaviors.

BUILD Model

A $360$-degree leadership evaluation that assesses three mountain faces: Self-Leadership Skills, Relational Skills, and Stewardship Skills.

Self-Leadership Skills (BUILD Face 1)

Internal leadership capabilities such as self-awareness, emotional intelligence, self-control, social responsibility, and intrinsic motivation (exemplified by Mother Teresa).

Relational Skills (BUILD Face 2)

The ability to work with others, prioritize others' interests, develop people, resolve conflict, and uphold ethical conduct (exemplified by Abraham Lincoln).

Stewardship Skills (BUILD Face 3)

Visionary leadership skills centered on wisdom, strategic planning, diplomacy, and guiding an organization into the future.

Shareholder Theory

Milton Friedman's theory asserting that the overriding duty and purpose of a corporation is to maximize shareholder wealth.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The practice whereby a business assumes accountability for its operational effects on customers, suppliers, the environment, and broader stakeholders.

Carroll's Pyramid of CSR

A four-tier model of corporate social responsibility comprising economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities.

Third Sector

The non-profit collective segment of society, categorized alongside but distinctly from business and government.

Social Enterprise

A venture that directly addresses an intractable social need through a profitable and sustainable commercial operation.

Cash Cow

A high-earning business unit or commercial venture whose generated profits are funneled directly back into a non-profit's charitable mission.

Benefit Corporation (B-Corp)

A hybrid corporate legal structure blending for-profit capital market access with committed non-profit social missions.