ETHICAL LEADERSHIP-C206
TASK ONE
Introduction
Leadership is often defined as the ability to influence people. An effective ethical leader guides an organization and its employees to accomplish organizational goals. In the same vein, an unethical leader can guide an organization and its employees to act unethically, harming both the organization and the stakeholders. Being a leader is an exploration, a reflection, and a test of your leadership values. Seeking understanding of how you resolve ethical dilemmas, taking inventory of where an ethical weakness may lie, and examining the traits of an ethical leader helps you define, shape, and apply an ethical decision-making framework, while also taking into consideration all stakeholders who may be affected by your decisions.
For this task, you will respond to an ethical situation as well as analyze the results of the Ethical Lens Inventory (ELI), which should be completed in the course. This task focuses on you as a leader by helping you to define, refine, and test your ethical boundaries through self-reflection and analysis.
Scenario
You are a sales representative for a medical device company that manufactures artificial joints. Your company has developed an artificial knee joint that is less expensive than the competition and will dramatically reduce healing time for patients. However, it is also known to produce a serious and potentially lethal infection in a small percentage of patients. The company refuses to disclose this potential side effect. You feel you have a duty to divulge this issue, but you signed a nondisclosure agreement when you were hired and worry about possible repercussions. You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Write an essay (suggested length of 6–8 pages) in which you do the following:
A. Select a nonfictional leader who you feel has exhibited exemplary ethical conduct and do the following:
1. Discuss two ethical traits your chosen leader has demonstrated.
2. Explain how your chosen leader has exhibited ethical conduct.
Note: The chosen leader can be someone you know personally or someone famous.
B. Compare the deontological and consequentialist perspectives and how each perspective would approach the dilemma from the scenario.
C. Identify and explain which level of cognitive moral development (i.e., preconventional, conventional, or postconventional) is represented in the scenario for each of the following questions:
• Which action would most likely serve the greater good in society?
• If I reveal this information, will I get into trouble and possibly even lose my job?
• Which action best aligns with my long-held belief in the principle of justice?
• What do the laws say, and what would a law-abiding citizen do?
• If I keep quiet, will I get some sort of reward?
D. Reflect on your Ethical Lens Inventory (ELI) by doing the following:
1. Explain your preferred ethical lens, relevant to the ELI.
a. Analyze whether you have the same preferred lens in different settings (e.g., work, personal, social).
2. Explain one of your primary values and one classical virtue from the ELI.
Note: If you are a Center Perspective, choose any primary value.
a. Compare your primary value from part D2 with one of your own self-identified or personal values. Then compare your classical virtue from part D2 with a different self-identified or personal value.
Note: Examples of personal values can be found in the attached “Clarifying Your Values” chart.
3. Describe one of the following from your ELI:
• blind spot
• risk
• double standard
• vice
a. Discuss two steps you can take to mitigate the blind spot, risk, double standard, or vice described in part D3 in order to make better ethical decisions in the future.
4. Discuss how the information from your ELI could be applied to an ethical situation in the workplace.
E. Submit a copy of the PDF file with the results from your ELI as a separate document.
F. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
G. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
TASK 2
Introduction
As an organizational leader, one of your primary roles is establishing programs and policies that ensure the organization operates under ethical considerations and legal mandates. This responsibility includes informing employees of the organization’s code of ethics, communicating the code of ethics, providing training, and ensuring that operational aspects are administered in a legal and ethical manner.
You will assume the role of a leader and decide what strategies you will use to develop a strong organizational ethical climate. In your position as a leader, you will need to identify primary and secondary stakeholders and satisfy their concerns, understand the organization’s ethical standing, and develop an ethics training program.
Scenario
You are a business manager of Paradigm Toys, a publicly held company that is a retailer and manufacturer of children’s toys. The board of directors has asked you to conduct an ethics audit of the company and report to the board if you find the need for ethics training. You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Prepare a report (suggested length of 6–8 pages) for Paradigm Toys in which you do the following:
A. Discuss the purpose of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an organization.
1. Identify one primary and one secondary stakeholder that influence Paradigm Toys.
2. Analyze how Paradigm Toys can meet their CSR for the primary and secondary stakeholders identified in part A1.
B. Reflect on the importance of ethical leadership by doing the following:
1. Explain why it is important for an organization to develop an ethical culture.
a. Discuss the role that Paradigm Toys’ leadership can play in fostering an ethical culture.
2. Explain the purpose of an ethics audit.
a. Discuss the value that an ethics audit could bring to Paradigm Toys.
C. Develop the ethical framework that you would use if you were faced with an ethical dilemma by doing the following:
1. Identify and analyze an ethical dilemma in a business setting. (An example of an ethical dilemma can be found in Task 1. The example in Task 1 cannot be submitted as the specific ethical dilemma response for this aspect.)
2. Evaluate two potential solutions to the ethical dilemma identified in part C1.
3. Explain which solution from part C2 you believe is the more ethical choice.
D. Create a proposal for implementing an ethics training program at Paradigm Toys by doing the following:
1. Identify three key topics that you would cover in your ethics training program.
a. Explain why you would include the three topics from part D1 in your training program.
2. Recommend a delivery method and justify why you believe it would be the most effective for the training program.
E. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
F. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
TASK 3
Introduction
As a leader in your organization, it is vital that you are familiar with the laws that regulate your industry. Sparked by the dramatic corporate and accounting scandals of Enron, Arthur Andersen, Adelphia, and WorldCom, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was implemented in 2002 in an effort to restore confidence in the stock markets. Sarbanes-Oxley represents the most important securities legislation since the original federal securities laws of the 1930s as it increased governmental regulation and oversight of publicly traded companies and established protections for whistleblowers. The False Claims Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act provide a financial incentive for those who blow the whistle to report fraudulent activity within their organization.
In this task, you will select and analyze an established company’s code of ethics, analyze how an employee would raise an ethical concern within an organization, and consider current laws with respect to whistleblowers.
Scenario
You are an experienced ethics officer who has recently been hired by an established company. You have been tasked with analyzing the company’s current code of ethics and identifying areas in need of improvement. You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Prepare a report (suggested length of 6–8 pages) in which you do the following:
A. Choose a company’s code of ethics from the Web Links section below and analyze that company’s code of ethics by doing the following:
Note: Links to the code of ethics for the companies can be found in the Web Links section. The code of ethics is only used for section A. You must choose a code of ethics from one of the following companies:
• BP
• Comcast
• Deloitte
• Tenet
• Mayo Clinic
• Oracle
• PepsiCo
• Target
• Walmart
• Wells Fargo
1. Analyze how well the chosen company’s code of ethics covers the topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
2. Analyze how well the chosen company’s code of ethics covers the topic of compliance with legal mandates.
a. Describe the ramifications for an organization when it is noncompliant with legal mandates.
b. Describe two policies the chosen company has in their code of ethics to ensure employees behave legally and/or ethically.
3. Analyze how well the chosen company’s code of ethics facilitates the development of an ethical culture.
4. Identify three resources available to employees to use when raising an ethical concern and discuss which resource you would most likely use to report an ethical concern.
B. Discuss three factors an employee might consider before deciding to report unethical conduct observed at work.
1. Describe three internal steps (i.e., inside the company) an employee could take if they decide to report or blow the whistle on misconduct or unethical behavior in the workplace.
2. Describe two possible external actions (i.e., outside the company) an employee can take to report or blow the whistle on misconduct or unethical behavior in the workplace.
C. Analyze one advantage and one disadvantage of paying whistleblowers. Base your analysis on one of the following laws:
• False Claims Act
• Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act
D. Analyze the changes that organizations have made based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
1. Discuss three culpability factors that are used to determine fines under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
E. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
F. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
