TASK: You must write a paper based on your current or past work experience. Your paper will describe your work experience and utilize topics discussed from class related to your personal and professional experience.   

*Describe Importance of Company Culture, Company Ethics, and Goal Planning in the paper.*

POINTS TO USE IN ESSAY-

Past Work experience was at Tim Horton's and Cashier at Kmart. 

These experiences made me the man I am today. 

Showed me that in America nothing is free and I must work for what I want. 

Current Work Expereicne- I OWN Hookah Lounge in Shelby Township and 1 BOOST Mobile Phone Store in Redford Township.

My PAST experiences prepared me for these roles. 

I've been the worker, not I am the boss. 

I wouldn't be the boss I am today if it weren't for those past experiences. 

 

Culture, Ethics and Goal Planning

Introduction

           More important than making money and expanding profit margins in a business is anchoring it to acceptable company culture and building it on the pillars of ethics. This is because combining the two, that is, the conventional culture and business ethics, gives one magical alchemy of great performance and eventful success (Shakeel et al., 2011). The workplace culture, which is made up of shared values, goals, attitudes, and practices, enables this, especially if it is aligned to the organizational employees’ goals (Levine, 2011). In this case, it makes them feel more comfortable, valued, and supported since they sail on the same wave of aspirations with the company (Levine, 2011). On the other hand, business ethics ensures that only the lawful and appropriate business policies and practices are put into place in the companies (Bowie, 2020). And although these two are enough to spur any organization into success, they are incomplete without the goal planning step. 

This phase of businesses mainly entails the development of an action plan that illuminates the path to the set organizational objectives. It is greatly intertwined with the business culture and ethics because the planning is always done in line with them. For any company that has a suitable organizational culture and follows specific ethical procedures, the employees have a higher likelihood of good goal planning (Shakeel et al., 2011), which is significant even in their future explorations. The opposite is also true since the impact of inappropriate culture and unethical practices is seen in bad goal planning of employees within and without an organization (Shakeel et al., 2011). The former has been the case with me since my past work experiences; in company culture, ethics and goal planning have played a huge role in my current work experiences. They have helped shape me businesswise into who I am today, making me maintain certain standards that have facilitated the day-to-day improvement of my current work status.

Past Work Experience

Although I have had some minor work experiences in the past, my first major work experience was while being an employee at Tim Horton’s. This Canadian multinational fast food restaurant chain is famous for its coffee and doughnuts, despite the fact that it serves other fast foods. And although the foods there hold a special place in my heart, my key takeaway from the Tim Horton Incorporation were the values, attitudes, ethical practices, and ultimately good goal setting. Unlike the food items offered therein, these have no existent timeline for use, and thus, they have continually played a vital part in my life up to date. Looking specifically at the company’s culture, it is even embedded in its mission to “produce our guests and communities with superior quality goods and services through leadership, creativity, and collaborations” ("Tim Hortons Mission Statement and Vision Analysis | How I Got My Job", n.d.). By upholding the mission statement, I daily became more and more accountable, diverse, collaborative, passionate, creative, and leadership-oriented as these were the company’s core values. 

In matters pertaining to ethics, Tim Horton well deserves to be termed as an ethical organization. This is because its code of business conduct and ethics was approved and even reviewed in 2009 and 2012, respectively ("Tim Hortons Mission Statement and Vision Analysis | How I Got My Job", n.d.). Unlike many organizations, Tim Horton’s code of business conduct and ethics applies to each and every team player in the organization, from the top management to the least of the employees. Whereas the executives were expected to be in their best behavior to create suitable working environments for us, we, on the other hand, were expected to be respectful to each other, to them, and more importantly, to the customers. The outcome of this taught me that for the effective implementation of ethical policies and practices, it is essential for everyone to be under the same ethical umbrella. The efficiency and smoothness in the goal planning and implementation processes were also due to the aforementioned. This is because the leadership at Tim Horton was always guided by the code of business conduct and ethics as well as the organizational culture in the above procedures.

My second major work experience was in Kmart as a cashier. Sincerely, I can attest that the values and ethical practices acquired in my first work experience were very instrumental in the choice of this workplace. This is because by comparing and contrasting the two companies on matters of culture, ethics, and their ultimate goal planning, the organizations lack significant differences. They share core values such as collaboration, diversity, accountability, and creativity. However, the contrast comes in the ethical issue where, unlike Tim Horton, Kmart was at times being rated as “Not Good Enough” (Wolfe, 2021). Personally, this acted as an eye-opener on the outcome of the flip side of ethical business practices, which tends to disorient many things, one of them being goal planning. This is due to the numerous unethical decisions in some controversial subjects during the business procedures. Moreover, I realized that no matter how conventional a business culture is, it is hard for an organization to have effective goal planning and ultimate success in the absence of ethical practices.    

Current Work Experience

           Unanimously, the work experiences from Tim Horton and Kmart have not only influenced my current working conditions, but they have also changed the man I am today. In terms of the latter, they have made me realize that nothing is free, and therefore it is a must for me to work in order to acquire what I desire in life. This inspiration became the biggest push in transforming from work experiences as an employee in the past to the current work experiences as a boss. Currently, I own a Hookah Lounge in Shelby Township as well as 1 Boost Mobile Phone Store in Redford Township. A keen look at the two business ventures I am in, and one will realize that they are in one way or the other related to my past works. For instance, the hookah lounge and Tim Horton have a lot in common because while restaurants offer foods, drinks, and some music, the hookahs only serve shisha on top. On the other hand, the Boost Mobile Phone store borrows a lot from the Kmart retail business.

           Considering that these ventures borrow much from each other, it is true that the former work experiences, from the business cultures to the ethics involved and the goal planning, have influenced the current work experiences. For example, the culture of embracing diversity, which I was introduced to while at Tim Horton, has helped me and my employers handle the different clients that we get. Additionally, from executives to the least employee, the aspect of everyone being under the same ethical umbrella has been of assistance in promoting equality and thus enhancing the effectiveness of our work. Furthermore, in both current work positions, I have managed to be a better goal planner or setter, thanks to the educative background that taught me always to set goals that do not collide with the business’s culture and ethics. For instance, I cannot embrace any form of corruption in my Boost Mobile phone store because I learned well from the negative impact of such practices in Kmart. 

Conclusion 

           Whereas company culture and ethics are the faces of a company, the goal planning process depicts its ultimate success. The two thus work to supplement the process to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in operations. I have been privileged to have work experiences in both scenarios where the two conditions have been put in place to facilitate the goal planning process and then positive results were seen and where lack of one condition led to negative results. Currently, both of these experiences are helping me make my present work experiences better and better.