WH Framework for Decision-Making – L’Oréal
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W-WHO (Stakeholders)
Regulators
Employees
Customers
Shareholders
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H-How (Guidelines)
Passion:
- To make the L’Oréal adventure fascinating
- To improve the well-being and self-confidence of men and women with their cosmetic products
- To use business to intrinsically link humanity and culture
Innovation:
- To have an endless quest for higher performance achievement
- To create products and services that are truly different
- To take risks and initiative to achieve the highest possible performance
Entrepreneurial Spirit:
- To achieve autonomy, challenge, and adventure
- To be a driving force for individuals and their talents
Quest for Excellence:
- To be in constant pursuit of better
- To always provide the best products for customers
Responsibility:
- To provide effective, yet safe products
- To protect the beauty of the planet
- To protect the wellbeing of the employees and communities.
Explanation
Traszka and the management of L’Oréal cater to a number of stakeholders; the stakeholders mentioned in the model above include regulators, employees, customers, and shareholders. As a lawyer in Pennsylvania, Traszka must adhere to the state’s professional rules of conduct. Therefore, one of the main stakeholders that influence his decision-making is the regulators. He considered the patenting rules of the state in determining whether he would be able to meet the requirements of the head office or not. Another group of stakeholders affected by the decisions, in this case, are employees. When L’Oréal sets limits for patents, what they are doing is creating performance standards for the employees. They are setting a minimum for the new innovations that they can come up with in a given period. Thus, the employees are pressured to create more. Customers have also been considered in the L’Oréal decision-making process. The reason why L’Oréal is so strict with its patenting rules is that it wants to encourage more innovations. The company wants to have more innovative ideas patented so that they can choose the ones that work best for the customers. Lastly, the company likely considers the shareholders in decision-making. They want to maintain a high level of innovation to continue creating value for the shareholders. Do you need help with your assignment ? Reach out to us at eminencepapers.com.
The values that L’Oréal’s management chose when they made their decision to fire Trzaska include passion, innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, a quest for excellence, and responsibility. First, these are five of the core values of the company (L’Oréal, 2020). These are the core principles that guide most of the decisions made by L’Oréal management. In this case, the company demonstrates its passion for the creation of new products. The company has so much passion for creating products that it is willing to terminate people who do not agree with their approach. Similarly, their actions are reflective of their dedication to innovation and their entrepreneurial spirit. The decision to fire Trzaska puts pressure on other people in the organization to respect the decisions on productivity that have been made by the company. Therefore, they will work harder to develop new ideas. Lastly, L’Oréal has a quest for excellence and a responsibility towards the customers and the community. These values motivate the management to take serious actions to produce innovative ideas that will help them to become better and achieve their responsibilities towards their stakeholders.
Self-Reflection
The WH framework has been helpful for me in analyzing the situation in the case study. The framework has highlighted whom the actions of the company and Trzaska affect. This framework helps to understand the guiding principles behind the actions of the parties in the case (Kubasek et al., 2020). For instance, this analysis demonstrates that Trzaska was only dedicated to maintaining ethical practice. He focused on regulators as the main stakeholders who affect his decision-making by choosing not to patent unrealistic ideas as they would violate his professional code of conduct. On the other hand, L’Oréal management is mainly focused on the innovation and performance of the company. They fired Trzaska because his values were not aligned with those of the company. He did not support their approach to getting employees to produce more ideas.
The WH framework can help managers in other contexts to make the best business decisions. The framework helps them to understand the purpose of their actions, the people who may be affected by those actions, and the decision-making approaches that will maximize positive results (Lawton & Páez, 2015). Therefore, they can generally make better decisions when they analyze their options with this framework.
As a manager, the WH framework would help me to make the decision that has the most positive effects. If in the situation of L’Oréal and Trzaska, I would use the framework to see that both sides are being guided by positive values. Both of them are concerned about achieving the best for the company. Trzaska wants to achieve productivity in the most ethical manner. Thus, I would listen to his sentiments and try to make production rules that meet the needs of the company without violating the law.
References
Kubasek, N., Browne, M. N., Herron, D., Dhooge, L., & Barkacs, L. (2020). Dynamic business law. McGraw-Hill.
Lawton, A., & Páez, I. (2015). Developing a framework for ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(3), 639-649.
L’Oréal (2021). Values and mindset. https://www.loreal.com/en/group/culture-and-heritage/our-values-and-mindset/#:~:text=Our%20Values%20And%20Mindset,shared%20by%20our%20people%20everywhere.
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Question
Refer to section “The WH Framework for Business Ethics” of Ch. 2, “Business Ethics,” of Dynamic Business Law for information on the WH Framework.
WH Framework for Decision-Making – L’Oréal
For this assignment, refer to the scenario located in the “Questions & Problems” section of Ch. 2, “Business Ethics” in Dynamic Business Law (eText, pg. 33). This scenario involves Steven J. Trzaska, the head of L’Oreal USA’s regional patent team, and ethical rules and core values of the company.
Read the scenario in the textbook and complete the following activity.
Create a WH Framework chart similar to Exhibit 2.2. Refer to L’Oreal’s core values and the primary values in Exhibit 2.3 to determine the guidelines to include in the WH Framework.
Write an explanation of how you decided on the list of stakeholders and guidelines to include in your WH Framework. Address the following questions in your explanation:
Which stakeholders did Traszka and the management of L’Oreal cater to? Why?
What values did L’Oreal’s management choose when they made the decision to fire Trzaska? Why?
Self-Reflection
In addition to your explanation, address the following self-reflection questions:
How did the WH Framework help you analyze the situation?
Now that you’ve put together the framework, how does the WH Framework help managers with making business decisions?
What type of decisions would the WH Framework chart help you make as a manager?