Emery Smith
Comm 5170
Dr. Canary
3 February 2011
Leaders come in all forms, with varying degrees of effect and power on their organizations. Often times, a leader's effect may not be widely known if it is generally positive. However, when that leader's behavior is in direct contradiction with the organization's values, his or her effect can have a ripple effect in our news media.
Earlier this week, Planned Parenthood, a national organization that provides contraceptives, gynecological care, medical screenings and abortions primarily to low-income women, fired one of their clinic managers due to egregious unethical behavior misrepresenting the company's standards and values. The New Jersey clinic manager was caught on video advising someone posing as a sex trafficker about medical care for under-age prostitutes.
This article made me think about the ethical challenges this leader, the clinic manager, must have faced when choosing to give advice regarding immoral and illegal activity. Rabindra Kanungo and Manuel Mendonca, business professors at McGill University have said, “Leaders are truly effective only when they are motivated by a concern for others (Johnson, p 137).” This leader clearly had no concern for the true well-being of young prostitutes who might be in the care of this sex trafficker. He or she was breaking several moral/ethical boundaries in providing information like this to someone identifying themselves as a leader of illegal crime ring. Not only is the behavior intolerable when you think about the young lives that are at stake, but the ethical implication of this leader's behavior will present great challenges to the Planned Parenthood organization in trying to rebuild its image as a company.
Craig Johnson points out an interesting idea to think about in regard to this leader's choice, when he says, “Even when consequences are clear, evaluating their relative merits can be daunting... we tend to favor ourselves when making decisions. Thus, we are likely to put more weight on consequences that most directly affect us (p 139).” I cannot pretend to understand the motives of this clinic manager, but it appears that we may not have heard the full story. Why would he or she openly give advice regarding an unethical and illegal profession, which causes harm to the very people Planned Parenthood seeks to help? The ethical implications seem clear, but the motivation remains unclear.
Three approaches to ethically assessing situations are described in W. Glenn Rowe and Laura Guerrero's book Cases in Leadership in Chapter 15. Ethical egoism refers to “the actions of a leader designed to obtain the greatest good for the leader.” Utilitarianism is defined as seeking to “obtain the greatest good for the largest number of people.” Lastly, altruism considers “that a leader's conduct is ethical if he or she demonstrates concern for others' interests, even if these interests are contrary to the leader's self-interests.” In the case of this clinic manager, I think we would need hear the manager's side to determine what approach was used. However, without that, I believe that the manager was probably acting out of ethical egoism, that there was “something in it” for him or her. It's possible, that the manager also knew that he or she could not stop this sex trafficker from continuing in the business, so the manager wanted to give advice that might at least help keep the under-age prostitutes alive. Such intentions would point to utilitarianism.
As stated in W. Glenn Rowe and Laura Guerrero's book Cases in Leadership, “competencies determine what leaders are able to do; character determines what they will do, how they will exercise those competencies under various circumstances.” This brings up the question in my mind of how to determine if a leader is competent and has character in line with your organization. I work in human resources and have to make decisions like this everyday, whether it's a decision when we first hire someone, or a decision to counsel and coach a current employee. This type of decision and determination do not come at once, rather it is a skill that can be honed. Leaders of organizations need to implement training programs and regular employee development opportunities, where they interact directly with leaders, so behavior like this can be addressed before it becomes inappropriate. Continued communication with a manager such as this one, could prevent such behavior by either coaching the leader and assist in refining their character or dismissing them from a leadership role.
Whatever the motivations were on the part of the manager, I cannot believe that someone in a leadership position, working for and representing a company that is widely known in the health services industry, would be able to, in good conscience, speak to an identified sex trafficker and give advice. I would have to stand up to that individual and let them know that I would not be able to help them with their concerns because their business was of great concern to me. I would have to report them.
Variety in leadership styles and in leaders themselves is a good thing. But variety in core character and values can cause true crises and emergencies for an organization, when decisions are made with immoral and unethical judgment. Executives responsible for the decision to terminate the employment of this manager acted ethically. They stepped into the middle of an unethical situation, and demonstrated altruism, true concern for the community.
Johnson, Craig. Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership
