2-1 module response

Cassie: class, happy week 2!

 

An example of a leader who displayed poor ethical behaviors was Kenneth Lay. Lay was the former CEO of Enron. Lay manipulated accounting documents to hide company losses and liabilities, which is a major ethical dilemma on its own. Aside from this, he was also charged with money laundering, bank fraud, insider trading, and more (Segal, 2022). These compounded issues demonstrate the severity of Lay's ethical compass. Enron was having financial issues and needed an action plan to start recovering. Instead of reviewing the information and creating a plan to move forward, leadership decided to cover it up and continue to pursue other inappropriate actions.

 

An example of ethical leadership was displayed by Johnson & Johnson during the well-known 'Chicago Tylenol poisonings'. I have read a lot about this case, because of the True Crime aspect and I find it fascinating. In the early 1980's there was a killer on the loose tampering with Tylenol bottles and causing random deaths around the city. Although this was not directly Johnson and Johnson's fault, they took action and spoke up. The company moved forward with new safety measures to help protect their consumers and try to avoid these issues in the future. It is thought that the Tylenol brand recovered from this horrific incident because Johnson and Johnson's leadership took immediate action to address and solve the issues they could control (Cote, 2023).

 

When comparing these two situations and leadership approaches, it is very clear to see which leaders strived to do the right thing and protect their company and consumers, and which did not. Enron could have taken a different approach and been honest with the financial issues they were facing and the corruption that was taking place. Acknowledging is the first step to improvement. Once everything was clear, then action steps could have been decided to improve the situation.  Johnson & Johnson did a great job of displaying their desire to be ethical and spoke up about an issue occurring that was not even directly their fault. They identified a way to increase consumer safety and try to avoid issues like this in the future. It was a great show of leadership by the organization and really shows the beliefs of their company.

 

Ensuring employees have a good understanding of the ethical expectations of their company is vital. Although most organization have Ethics and Compliance training annually, it is important for leadership to demonstrate it, too. As cliché as it sounds, they need to 'walk the walk and not just talk the talk'. Employees needs to see leadership practicing ethical decisions in their day to day to really see it as a priority.

 

I look forward to reading everyone

 

 

References:

 

Cote, C. (2023, September 14).  4 examples of ethical leadership in business: HBS Online. Business Insights Blog.  https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/examples-of-ethical-leadership

 

Segal, T. (2022, July 7).  5 most publicized ethics violations by CEOS. Investopedia.  https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0113/5-most-publicized-ethics-violations-by-ceos.aspx#:~:text=Kenneth%20Lay%2C%20who%20presided%20over,of%20Tyco%20went%20to%20prison.