Feb 23, 2024 DQ Describe an ethical dilemma that you experienced, or have witnessed in a change leader, when attempting to initiate change.
LDR 615 Topic 6 DQ 2
Describe an ethical dilemma that you experienced, or have witnessed in a change leader, when attempting to initiate change. How was the ethical dilemma resolved? What can a change leader use to guide decision making when faced with an ethical dilemma?
The ethical dilemma in my experience revolves around a change leader of an organization I worked for claiming credit for the work and ideas generated by the team members involved in the change initiative for the Campaign for Inclusion in the organization. This behavior undermines trust, demotivates employees, and creates a culture of dishonesty within the organization.
To resolve this ethical dilemma, the change leader could have employed several strategies. Firstly, they should have established a culture of recognition and appreciation for the contributions of team members. This could have been achieved by openly acknowledging and celebrating the individual and collective efforts that have contributed to the change initiative’s success. By doing so, the change leader reinforces the value of collaboration and ensures that credit is attributed where it is due. Instead of pitching the idea as their own to the leadership team and receiving all the credit for themselves.
Secondly, the change leader could of and should foster an environment of open and honest communication. This involves providing opportunities for team members to share their ideas, contributions, and accomplishments. By actively encouraging and amplifying the voices of team members, the change leader demonstrates their commitment to fairness and equality.
Furthermore, the change leader could and can use the concept of “change blindness” to guide their decision-making process during ethical dilemmas. Change blindness refers to the human tendency to overlook or underestimate significant changes in one’s environment (Ellis, 2012). In this context, the change leader can consider the potential consequences of taking credit for others’ work, such as eroding trust, damaging relationships, and hindering future collaboration. By recognizing the impact of change blindness, the change leader can make more informed decisions and choose to act ethically. They can prioritize sharing credit, giving credit where it is due, and ensuring that team members are recognized for their contributions.
In summary, the ethical dilemma of the change leader taking credit for others’ work can be resolved by establishing a culture of recognition and appreciation, fostering open communication, and considering the concept of change blindness. These approaches promote fairness, trust, and collaboration within the organization.
In preparing to do the work for this assignment, I tried really hard to think of an ethical dilemma that I’ve experienced or witnessed in a change leader in places that I’ve worked. I think perhaps I have been really fortunate to work for ethical organizations and companies , or my mind is failing me terribly. So instead I am going to talk about an infamous ethical dilemma that I’ve read about – the Bernie Madoff scandal, and hope it doesn’t cost me points. I’m choosing this particular example because of the devastating and irreparable damage that impacted so many. Short version of the Madoff scandal tells the story of a New York financier who scammed many out of their life savings to the tune of 64.5 billion dollars.
The investments securities company that he founded was not reputable and many of the employees were family members of his: his brother Peter was senior managing director and chief compliance officer; Peter’s daughter was the firm’s rules and compliance officer and attorney, and he also employed his sons Mark and Andrew – nepotism at it’s finest. As a result those who trusted him to handle their financial interests lost their entire life savings. The downfall of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme came from inside the company when on December 10, 2008, Madoff’s sons Mark and Andrew told authorities that their father had confessed to them that the asset management unit of his firm was a massive Ponzi scheme, and quoted him as saying that it was “one big lie” (Wikipedia, n.d.)
The change Madoff was trying to initiate was to take his small penny stock brokerage firm, which eventually grew into Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, into a bigger pond with bigger fish, and he succeeded. That year, the firm was the 6th-largest market maker in S&P 500 stocks, but it came at a colossal cost. The confession of his sons, brought the whole house of cards down resulting in members of the Madoff family doing time and worse, some taking their own lives.
We are still living in an era where organizational leaders are allowed to, and even rewarded for putting their own egos and self-interests ahead of the interests of the many, often with disastrous results and consequences. As Stiglitz [12] observed, the short-term performance incentives of mortgage salesmen, of the investors and purveyors of complex and ill-understood financial instruments and of the corporate leaders who were supposed to supervise them were not aligned with the long-run interests of the institutions for which they work. To put it succinctly, the long-term, sustainable interests of the many are sacrificed to the short-term greed and arrogance of the few. To avoid this in the future, we need to highlight the importance of promoting the ethical dimension of change as a means of ensuring that leaders and their followers act in the interests of the many rather than the few.(Todnem, R. et al, 2012)
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In conclusion the question asked is what can a change leader use to guide decision making when faced with an ethical dilemma? The following three key principles: transparency, responsibility and empathy, enable leaders to make informed decisions while also considering their impact on the entire organization or community.
Transparency is a core leadership principle that helps leaders make clear and consistent decisions. Leaders should be open about their values, ethical standards and other aspects of their leadership philosophy. Doing so allows employees, your customers and the public to know what they should expect from someone who serves as a business leader.
Responsibility is another critical principle in influencing ethical decision-making because it forces leaders to consider the broader impacts of their actions before making a final decision. When making a crucial decision for your company, think beyond just how it will impact you or your team members — think about what could happen if it gets out into the public realm or affects other stakeholders in any way.
Lastly, empathy is the soft skill of feeling like standing in someone else’s shoes. In other words, it’s the ability to understand someone else’s feelings. This principle is essential, especially in the digital age, when smart offices, remote work and digital information could cloud our thinking and ideas. When a leader empathizes, they create positive relationships. (Easley, 2022)
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