A634.7.4.RB - Ethics and Behaviors

In watching the two videos about business ethics I sat and reflected on what the overall message was as they both were very different from each other. The video “Keynote Speech Excerpts from the Ethics Guy” provided the things leaders can do to be ethical and people appeared to feel good after they heard the presentation. The second video “Business Ethics Keynote Speaker – Chuck Gallagher sharing Strait Talk” is what happens after an unethical situation and was more of a scared tactical approach. My organization portrays values very similar to the first video, however in our annual ethics training there are the consequences identified if you break serious ethics rules. My reflection blog will include leaders’ behaviors that were positive and unethical in the work environment.
Unethical Leader
The leader that was unethical was senior manager who was overbearing and very demanding. This leader created an atmosphere where employees were intimidated and could not talk to this leader without the fear of being ridiculed in front of their peers. The leader created a psychologically unsafe environment where others could not speak up, especially when they needed help. There was one instance where my team was meeting with our customer and there was an older gentleman on my team who could not quickly answer a question from the customer. This leader thought it was appropriate to chastise this employee in front of everyone. It was very embarrassing and I jumped in to answer the question for the employee.  I honestly could not sit there and let a person embarrass the employee or the company. Later the leader left the room and the customer asked me why the leader did that as it was not that big of a question that needed to be answered on the spot.  The sad part is the customer filed a complaint on the leader for treating the employee the way he did.  This leader’s behavior was not unintentional as he is known for this type of behavior.
Ethical Leader
We all hope we have ethical leaders and from my experience, most of them in my life have been very ethical. The leader that I want to talk about is one who is always about doing things right. As president of a leadership association, I have had to visit the companies’ ethic office twice over the last six months. My attendance was not because my team did anything wrong, but for clarity to ensure we did not act in a way that could be perceived as conducting unethical behavior. This last visit was due to a major event and some actions by our contracted vendor did not occur per the contract. My Vice President of Finance, Denise, pointed out some of the concessions by the vendor needed to be routed through ethics. At first I thought her idea was a bit overboard and maybe she was being a bit whiney over something that could be resolved within the association. One of the concessions was offering our site Vice President a weekend getaway for the poor food at the event.  It was something I would not accept as a concession due to our companies’ rules on gifts and gratuity. I am glad Denise said we should take it to ethics, because ethics determined that this type of concession had to be inserted into their ethics database to be reviewed and documented. If Denise had not guided me correctly there could have been an ethics violation levied on the organization.  I respect Denise as she used to be my senior manager outside the organizational responsibilities. Denise values leading by example, focuses on doing what is right and leaving positive experiences.
Conclusion
I enjoyed the two videos and everyone should should be aware of what is good and bad ethical behavior before it is too late and the potential risk to yourself or your company. My company provides ethics training each year and most often the cases we review are created by some behavior that has happened in the company. Being that our site includes customers working alongside us, there is always a chance of behavior crossing the ethical boundaries and employees may not even know their behavior is bad. I feel the overall key is to let people know when their behavior is bad so they don’t do it again. My unethical leader above has changed his behavior over the past few years as his tone has definitely changed. I am glad I have Denise on my side and looking out for me as the leader and the organization.  I don’t think you should use scare tactics in ethics but sometimes it is needed to ensure there is reality inserted to ensure we understand that our behaviors can have long term accountability.

References

Gallagher, C. (2013, January 27). Straight Talk about Ethics! Retrieved May 5, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJ00vNGCPE
Weinstein, B. (2012, August 24). The Ethics Guy. Retrieved May 5, 2017, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxbHBpilJQ


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A634.9.4.RB - A Reflection of Our Learning

My blog is to reflect on three lessons I took away from the MSLD 634 Leadership Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility course. With so many generations working together the key elements I gained from this course is understanding there are variables to morality, balance of what is moral depends on the situation, and that my way of thinking can be challenged based on other people’s experiences. Before taking this course I thought I was a pretty solid moral person with some pretty tough ethical standards, but reading and having discussions with other students in the courses allowed me to look at some situations such as affirmative action, gun control and what it means to do what is right, according to ones on values. I valued the other thoughts that were different than mine as they gave me a different perspective. LaFollette reinforced my moral thinking in his facts of “knowledge of morally relevant factors, and effects of our actions”. Although he had five facts, these two...
Read more

A635.8.3.RB - Transformational Strategies

This week blog is review a few videos about organization transformation and leaders discussing how they led during transformational times. My favorite video featured Army Brigadier General (BG) Stanley McChrystal, who led before and after September 11, 200, the day everything changed in America and how people actual lead is changing. McChrystal Story McChrystal shared his story of a typical training day from preparing to the actual jump out of an aircraft. He walked us through the typical emotions and thoughts he was experiencing throughout the process, to include asking himself why he does what he does. He talked about how the psychological training steps were embedded in all the troops and over the last 27 years, he knew what he had to do, standard culture. However, on September 11, 2001, the team ventured out on a typical jump to return to a non-typical day in America.   He reflected on how he came from a military family and todays’ military is very different than when he e...
Read more

A635.5.3RB Video Debrief

Being an Apple product junkie where I enjoy my I-phone, I-pad, Mac Book and the Apple watch, it is always interesting to watch videos about Steve Jobs’ success in the electronic industry. I also remember watching the movie about how he was a hot head who could not get along with others. Watching the video Steve Jobs brainstorms with NeXT Team made me wonder if I could fit into this organization. I think Steve is a great innovator but maybe had to learn to be a leader by making mistakes along the way. This blog will reflect on the video and my Management Assessment (MA) results provided by NextStep Research to determine if I have characteristics that align with Jobs way of leading. MA Results Reflecting on my MA results and my leadership management styles, I landed as a confident, highly extroverted logistical leader. These type of leaders “exhibit a team-oriented leadership approach and are good at establishing lines of communication and are often a stabilizing influence in organ...
Read more