LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Tapuac District, Dagupan City, Pangasinan 2400

Business Management Philosophy
Midterm Examination

Jonathan B. Lastimado, MBA

Doctor of Business Administration - 1

Part I

1. How does each of the following major philosophies explain the truth reasons of
existence, and the meaning of life in the world.

a. Idealism

 Any view that stresses the central role of the ideal or the spiritual in the
interpretation of experience. It may hold that the world or reality exists
essentially as spirit or consciousness, that abstractions and laws are
more fundamental in reality than sensory things or at least, that
whatever exists is known in dimensions that are chiefly mental-through
and as ideas.

b. Realism

 The view point which accords to things which are known or perceived
an existence or nature which is independent of whether anyone is
thinking about or perceiving them.

c. Pragmatism

 It is identified the nature of truth with the principle of action. Put simply;
truth does not exist in some abstract realm of thought independent of
social relationship or actions; instead, the truth is a function of an
active process of engagement with the world and verification.

d. Naturalism

 A theory that relates scientific method to philosophy by affirming that

all beings and events in the universe falls within the pale of scientific
investigation. Although naturalism denies the existence of truly
supernatural entities, it makes allowance for the supernatural, provided
that knowledge of it can be had indirectly-that is, that natural objects be
influenced by the so-called supernatural entities in a detectable way.

2. Who are the philosophers and their philosophies that guide and influence man to
establishment and of a business organization? Consider the following major
concepts of truth and realities:

a. Exercise of natural rights and limitations

John Locke is among the most influential political philosophers of the modern
period. “That men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had
made all people naturally subject to a monarch”.

b. Moral principles and human conduct

Aristotle – “Humans are a political animal and ethics and politics are closely
linked. Politics is about making agreements between people to live together.
Politics also refers to the way countries or nations are governed, and how the
government make laws and rules”.

c. Rationality of work and rewards

 LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Tapuac District, Dagupan City, Pangasinan 2400
Business Management Philosophy
Midterm Examination

Charles Darwin – “Survival of the fittest competition and accumulation of

wealth”.

d. Individualism and self-interest

John Calvin’s Protestant Work Ethic – “Influenced individualism and the
glorification of God through working hard, frugal and attain success”.

e. Purpose and effectiveness

Frederick Taylor – “One best way of doing things”.

3. Specify and describe the ideas of the following philosophers relate to business.

a. Immanuel Kant

 He is known for his theory that there is a single moral obligation, which
he called the “Categorical Imperative”, and is derived from the concept
of duty. Kant defines the demands of moral law as “categorical
imperatives”. Accordingly, he believed that moral obligation applies
only to rational agents.

b. Thomas Hobbes

 Beginning from a mechanistic understanding of human beings and

their passions, Hobbes postulates what life would be like without
government, a condition which he calls the state of nature. In that
state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the
world.

c. Niccolo Machiavelli

 He believed as a ruler, it was better to be widely feared than to be

greatly loved. A loved ruler retains authority by obligation while a
feared leader rules by fear of punishment.

d. John Locke

 Locke’s monumental an Essay Concerning Human Understanding is

one of the first great defenses of modern empiricism and concerns
itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to a
wide spectrum of topics.

e. Charles Darwin

 Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English

naturalist him and others, stating that all species of organisms arise
and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations
that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and
reproduce.

f. Adam Smith

 It describes the natural principles that govern morality and the ways in
which human beings come to know them.

g. John Calvin
 LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Tapuac District, Dagupan City, Pangasinan 2400
Business Management Philosophy
Midterm Examination

 His interpretation of Christianity, advanced above all in his Institutio

Christianae religionis and the institutional and social patterns he
worked out for Geneva deeply influenced Protestantism elsewhere in
Europe and in North America. The Calvinist form of Protestantism is
widely thought to have had a major impact on the formation of the
modern world.

h. Frederick Taylor

 It focused on the belief that making people work as hard as they could
was not as efficient as optimizing the way the work was done.

4. Justify the philosophical applications of each of the following management styles.

(You can use Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid)

a. Autocratic System (Decisive Type)

 This system is characterized by individual control over all decisions

and little input from group members. It typically makes choices based
on their ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers.
It involves absolute, authoritarian control over group.

b. Democratic Sytems

b.1. Consultative Type – Normative democratic theory deals with the

moral foundations of democracy and democratic institutions. It is distinct from
descriptive and explanatory democratic theory.

b.2. Sharing/Contributive Type – It is a system of processing conflicts in

which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls
what occurs and its outcomes.

b.3. Participative – it emphasizes the broad participation of constituents in

the direction and operation of political systems. It implies that the people are
in power and thus that all democracies are participatory. However,
participatory democracy tends to advocate more involved forms of citizen
participation and greater political representation than traditional.

c. Laissez Fair (Free-Rein) – It is a type of leadership style in which leaders are

hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Free-rein is often
the most successful style concerning organization is which managers
supervise doctors, engineers, professors and other professionals.

d. Middle of the Road – It is generally accurate and certainly useful for

pedagogical purposes; no rigid boundary separates the parts.

e. Integrative/Teamwork – The importance of teamwork is essential in today’s

multidisciplinary world. In the past, during the industrial era when most jobs
were represented by people on a manufacturing line doing one thing all day –
teamwork wasn’t as important as it is today.

5. Is philosophy a passé in terms of globalization of business?

a. No
b. Whatever is your answer, be able to satisfy the following:

b.1. State your position

 LYCEUM-NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Tapuac District, Dagupan City, Pangasinan 2400
Business Management Philosophy
Midterm Examination

 Every business leader knows to make certain that the company

mission and vision statement are clear and well-defined. It is the
business philosophy that defines why you are doing things the way you
are doing them. Your philosophy of business could be an unwritten
attitude or a specifically-written philosophy that defines how your
people will act and interact with each other and the general public.

b.2. State your reasons or justifications for taking the position.

 When you stop and think about it, you see just how important a weel-
defined business philosophy is. Think about the companies you
choose to deal with personally. Most likely, you prefer to deal with a
company that has representatives who greet you at the door and that
give you the best of the best, with a smile on their faces.

b.3. Strengthen your reason or justification with scientific or philosophical

concepts.

 Businesses exist because there are problems that people and society
want to solve or minimize. Businesses begin because they have ideas
to address those problems, sometimes they solve it efficiently and
other times not. Here is the value of having philosophical education
employed in a business setting, Philosophy requires that problems be
broken down into specific and definable statements/ideas which then
should be resolved one by one with clear and definite solutions.
Philosophical processes involve taking a problem, being able to
abstractly think about it and develop a practical and articulable
solution. Philosophy requires a deep dive into understanding what
premises underlie any process, methodology, solution or idea.

b.4. State your concluding statements

 Therefore, philosophy develops critical and innovative thinking and

helps a person develop emotional stability and empathetic attitude so
much required for success in the modern complex organizations. It
helps develop ethics and core values and keeps a person grounded
and rooted to his core values. Hence, successful business without
philosophy is unthinkable!!!