10 Jan Oh, and …Surprise!

Forum 2

Week 2: Shadow Side of Leadership ( 68 messages – 47 unread )

Question to Respond To:

How do leaders prevent themselves from being perceived as a toxic leader and ensure that those reporting to them become the best that they can be? What is the purpose of a credo memo and how can leaders groom their direct reports to do the right thing? http://greatleadersinspire.com/toxic-leadership-why-is-it-allowed-to-exist/

Readings for the Week:

Harper, M. G. (2014, February). Toxic Leadership. http://greatleadersinspire.com/toxic-leadership-why-is-it-allowed-to-exist/

Credo Memo Exercise

http://integrispa.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Credo-Memo.pdf

My Credo Memo

http://www.uncommonleader.com/WhatIsGSM/LeadersCredo.html

Mason, D. E. (1993, Jan). Put the power of ethics to work in your organization. Nonprofit World, 11, 30. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/221256991?accountid=8289

von der Embse, T.,J., Desai, M. S., &Ofori-Brobbey, K. (2010). A new perspective on ethics safeguards: Where is the clout? S.A.M.Advanced Management Journal, 75(3), 4-10,51,2. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/817563104?accountid=8289

If you are unfamiliar with using a libary database, the readings can be found here after searching by course number

Instructions

What is the purpose of a forum

Think of the forum as a classroom experience where you “meet” with your instructor and peers to discuss the weekly topic in terms of the readings, assignments and resources that have been assigned. The desired outcome is that you are able to (1) collaborate with peers and the instructor, (2) demonstrate your understanding of the material, and (3) participate as a member of an online community

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DQ2

Unethical leadership in the news – from the week of Sept 21, 2015 ( 11 messages – 6 unread )

This is an ungraded topic….

Too bad this class didn’t start back in September (2015) we had quite a news week, a treasure-trove of managerial ethical blunders and, well, I couldn’t resist. So a few months back, we saw “toxic” leadership in two companies, one that will lead to Billions (with a B) in penalties and loses and possibly jail-time and the other, at least for now has landed the chief decision maker and toxic leader in jail.

So the first is Volkswagen – apparently for years the company has been defrauding the consumers and the regulatory agencies responsible for oversight saying that their diesel vehicles were running cleaner than they were. What makes this particularly good fodder is that the company went as far as altering the onboard software to disguise the actual emissions put out by the vehicles. Google “former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn. (Here’s the news alert in the New York Times talking about CEO Martin Winterkorn’s resignation – not sure how long this will be “up”).

Story number two involves fewer “Benjamins” but it is equally as “toxic” (pardon the pun – there are lots between smog and salmonella…) Stewart Parnell, former CEO of the now-defunct Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was sentenced to 28 years in jail for his role in knowingly selling tainted peanut butter. There’s a ton to read about this too – take a look and see what you find.

Oh, and …Surprise! – both claim they had no knowledge of the bad acts of their companies – we’ll have to wait and see if both are convicted. At least for now, no one can point to VW’s misstep as a killer…

Our last one is a bit more on the fringe but on any other slow “Ethics” in the news week, I’d have to share it and I won’t let the former two nuggets overshadow it entirely. Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired an old drug (Daraprim) and raised the price from $13.50 per pill to $750.00 – yes, do the math, that’s one heck of a mark-up. (I know, I know, Shkreli’s run didn’t last too long – after only 10 months at the helm – since he stepped down in December of 2015 following his fraud arrest, but as I understand it, the cost of a pill is still north of $300) Now I’m all for the capitalist system and I’m a staunch believer in the price elasticity of demand but somehow this feels icky, in spite of that. Anyway, in light of the “better late than never” toxic leaders in the news theme, I thought it was relevant to add this. (Bonus “points” – air quotes since this is ungraded… to anyone who can explain the Wu Tang connection and relate it back to our topic of ethics…)

This is an impromptu discussion topic and will not be graded but I would love to get your thoughts as a class – this is a great way to start to think about what we’ll be talking about for the next 7+ weeks. Thanks for indulging me…