Ethical Decisions in Leadership - Case Study Example

An Ethical Dilemma The Problem Lael Matthews has been put into a situation that is difficult because she must respond in a way that is good for the company but that is also good for herself. She is under pressure by management to promote one of three people. The challenge is that each manager has a different person they want her to promote. If she listens to any of the managers, she will upset someone. She must decide, based on the information she has been given, which candidate wil be the best for the business. The reader is not privy to information about the job or about the skills that are needed for the job. Therefore, the reader must go only on the sketchy information that is given in the case study. Lael must choose one of three candidates for a promotion. She must make this decision within a few days. Input There are three candidates for this position. The challenge is that there is no information about the job or the qualifications needed for the job. The reader must help Lael decide the best person for the job. All three candidates have positive and negative issues that may influence their promotion. Lael is being pressured by one manager or another to pick one of the three people; no manager has picked the same individual. The Three candidates are as follows: 1. Liz, a 34 year old, African American female who is divorced and has a child. 2. Roy, a white 57 year old who is married with three children. 3. Quang Yeh who is a 27 year old Asian single female. All the candidates have been "recommended" by someone in upper management. One manager has told her that she should choose Roy. Her immediate supervisor wants her to choose Liz. A third manager wants her to choose Quang Yeh because it will "look good" for him. The person who put her in charge of the decision says that "the wrong decision would not be good, either internally or externally" (Case Study). It is as though everyone wants Lael to choose their person for their own political gains. As an example, her immediate supervisor wants her to choose Liz, not because she is qualified but because she is a female African American. This will look good for the company because she will be the first one to make that level. Another supervisor wants her to choose Roy, not because of his qualifications, but because he has been in the company a long time, has turned down other promotions and now he "deserves" to have the promotion. He infers that if she promotes Roy as a "favor" to him, he "wont forget it". This seems to be a threat as much as the first one. Lael is also a good friend to Liz and she has helped her with her child by babysitting and being a friend when her child was in a car accident. To Lael, promoting Liz might meant that she was playing favorites. Part of the dilemma is that Liz is pressured to make a decision that puts her into an unethical position. In order to be fair in the promotion, she must take into consideration the qualifications of each individual and make a decision from their qualifications. In order to make this decision, it may be a good idea for Lael to bring together a small group of her peers and give them some information without revealing names. According to Susca (2006), "different viewpoints are critical in helping people who are facing ethical situations" (p. 2). Although she has been given other viewpoints they have not been objective. It is clear that Lael does not work in an environment where she can "feel valued and safe enough to speak up" (Susca, p. 2). This is apparent because she is being pressured to make an unethical decision. Without the help of a committee, Lael will have to take a step back and examine the evidence away from the pressure of management . Valasquez, Andre, Shanks, et al (n.d.) suggest that there are many ways to approach a ethical decision. In one respect, the best approach may be to look at the good of the company (p. 2). If she looks at the policies of the company, the job description, the job skills needed and the qualifications of the individuals, she may be able to find a clearer picture of the candidates. This would allow her to understand what she needed to do and how the promotion would fit into the big picture for the company. It is not known whether Lael is in management but it seems that she is because she has to make this decision. She is possibly upper management and she has come to a certain point in her own career. The case study talks about the "glass ceiling" and how Lael has had to deal with it as she has climbed the corporate ladder herself, so in some respects she may be more inclined to promote a woman. Helliwell (2004) makes a good point in that women who have to face the glass ceiling, "reach a point in their lives where the pinnacle of their beliefs coincide with the pinnacle of their drivers, causing a massive clash of uncertainty and self-doubt" (p. 1). This seems to be a challenge for Lael because she wants to please management, but she also has to be fair. Strauss (2010) would suggest that Lael promote a woman because "women are still not getting the credit they deserve … at work" (p. 1). However, within Laels company, it seems that women are not promoted very often. Solution Each candidate has both positive and negative attributes: SWOT for Liz S = young (34 years old), 4 years with the company and 8 years in the industry. W=difficulty in managing her current staff. O= this promotion could help her financially and personally. T=she has a child that she will need to take some time away from work to help her daughters rehabilitation. She is a good friend of Laels and this may cause a conflict of interest. SWOT for Roy S= he has been in the industry and the company for the longest, compared to others. He was companys top sales performance. He is a steady performer. W=he has a low energy level and has average ratings. O=this job would be a "nice gesture" for him before his retirement. T=he is 57 years old and close to retirement. He has passed up other opportunities in the country. He has a low energy level. SWOT for Quang S=strong manager, young, Asian and single. Graduated from top of her class. Puts in 60 hours per week. Very meticulous in her management style. Shows record increases in her work. W= has lost some older accounts because of her personality(?). Has had some criticism from current sales class. O = the promotion would help her climb the glass ceiling and could help her increase her opportunities. T = She puts in 60 hours per week which can be intimidating to her staff. She may appear to be abrasive in her personality, which may be why she is being criticized by her staff and losing old accounts. Choice The best choice in this situation is Quang Yeh. She graduated at the top of her class, shes young, and she is brilliant in her management. She will continue to drive staff towards success and she will create opportunity for others eventually as she learns more. She will also make sure that her department is the best and it will be ethical by nature of her personality. Quang Yeh will also be able to deal with the men in the department easier than Liz would because she has adapted to the male environment already. She may be able to make more progress in helping to promote other women because she is a strong and upcoming young woman. Veerle (2003) suggests that: "a sufficient number of women in high-level management positions is needed to guarantee the inflow of the next generation of female employees" (p. 67). Operation In order to create a place for Quang Yeh, it will be important to create an orientation for her. She will need to understand the differences between her current job and the new one. It may be a good idea for Quang Yeh to also have a mentor. This mentor could help her find a way to work with her employees in a more gentle way. The mentor could be someone inside or outside the company. Leal will also need a way to take care of herself before she makes her announcement. It seems that her boss and others in upper management have made her feel uncomfortable and they have made minor threats to her. When she brings Quang Yehs name forward, at least two people will be upset with her. She needs to safeguard herself perhaps by going to human resources first and letting them know what happened. The four action steps she should do are: 1. Provide an orientation to the new job so that she is up to speed as to the purpose of the new job. 2. Provide a mentor who will help her design a plan to develop better people skills. 3. Talk to human resources to create a policy for promoting people internally. 4. Create an ethics policy so that the next time, there is no pressure about the promotion. Thornton (2009) suggests that "ethical leadership is best supported by company-wide performance systems that require and reward ethical behavior" (p. 61). References Helliwell, C. (2004). Women in leadership: Glass ceiling or glass mirror? Retrieved January 17, 2010 from http://www.managment-issues.com/2006/5/25/opinion/women-in-leadership- glass-ceiling-or-glass-mirror-.asp. Susca, D. (2006). Making ethical business decisions. CBIA News 84 (6). Retrieved January 18, 2010 from http://www.cbia.com/cbianews/2006/07/ 200607cs_ makeethicalbizdecisions.htm. Strauss, E. (2010). The glass ceiling: Women and barriers in the workplace. Associated Content. Retrieved January 18, 2010 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/224822/ the_glass_ceiling_women_and_barriers.html?cat=3. Thornton, L.F. (2009). Leadership ethics training: Why is it so hard to get it right? T&D, 63 (9). p. 58-61. Retrieved January 19, 2010 from Academic Search Premier database. AN: 44054555. Valasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T.S., S.J., and Meyer, M.J. (n.d.). Thinking ethically: A framework for moral decision making. Retrieved January 18, 2010 from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publicatons/iie/v7n1/thinking.html. Veerle, D. (n.d.). The glass ceiling: Reality or myth? Retrieved January 17, 2010 from http://www.ethical-perspectives.be/viewpic.php?LAN=E&TABLE=EP&ID=313. Read More