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Maybe we could make a pamphlet of case studies (15-20 pages maybe?) that share consequences of bad as well as good ethical behavior. Shared experience, personal accounts help to make a point and maybe this could be included in the code of ethics.
Basically, we're trying to get new students to 'drink the kool-aid'. What would work for you? I know for me, I started enjoying my job more when I decided to have the courage to assume responsibility and abandon the cynical culture at work. Not to say that I don't recognize the problems that we have but I want to be more focused on working through them and fixing them rather than dwelling on the fact that we aren't perfect. This is not as easy as it seems. There is a large segment that identifies itself as anti-establishment and actively attacks 'sell outs' as not acting as an authentic leader. It takes courage to challenge this mindset and participate in transforming the culture.
Maybe we could create an ethical mission statement, along the lines of what Jose brought up, to encourage a sense of citizenship and put a challenge to new students. Have the courage to do better, to assume responsibility for the culture in the school, to challenge those who would ridicule or work against it, to participate in the transformation of your school, and to serve each other. The consequences of not doing so will be a mediocre educational experience, full of resentment, and cynicism that students will merely endure. The reward of challenging themselves to actively engage in the culture of the school will be a positive outlook on education, better education, closer relationship with classmates and faculty, and an educational experience that will fly by, be enjoyable and be more of an experience than a burden.

Jayhall81 wrote:I think we made great progress in finally boiling down the project to something with "teeth". I did have a question that I was not able to ask due to the time constraints. Why does the Boler school and JCU currently think that what they do to instill ethics into their students is not working? Has there been a lot of people caught cheating or breaking rules in their current codes of ethics? I think this is important to consider when we are brainstorming recommendations about how engage students and instill the code of ethics into their decision making. Maybe ask what they feel have been the shortcomings of past attempts to create this ethical culture they are seeking? Any thoughts?

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HUGE question Justin!! I strongly believe having the clients answer this question will save us LOTS of time as it should quickly point us to certain ideas/alternatives...
-LP

The flow of the conversation in yesterday's Clinton debate was interesting how it change and shifted. Initially the class seemed quite hardline in the discussion, often simply stating that Clinton broke the rules and therefor his decision was unethical. What was interesting is how the conversation softened to Clinton's position as the debate progressed. Initially many people fell to Kant's Categorical Imperative to judge Clinton's failings, but as the conversation evolved many recognized that Clinton's performance as a president may not have been affected, and despite his unethical decision he has retained his ability to influence in US politics showing a lean more towards Utilitarianism. The idea of whether personal and public morality can be separated was present in almost all parts of the debate. Another comment that clouded the waters even more was the that Clinton was not necessarily a bad leader by Kellerman's standards as he did not really meet any of the 7 characteristics. Finally, the mention of Nash's 12 questions illustrated that Clinton's actions had greater effect on others than what was initially assumed. I personally separate the public and personal morality of a leader and, other than the legal case of perjury, this lack of foresight is, in my opinion, Clinton's true ethical failing in the public arena. On a personal morality level Clinton's failing in moral judgment is his biggest fault, with the consequences, both negative (home stress) and positive (stronger home bonds after reconciliation), present.

Last night’s discussion/debate regarding the ethical failures of Bill Clinton (and other leaders) was stimulating. Ron and Erik did a good job of demonstrating the follower’s responsibility by facilitating the debate so that we could complete the required task and the group displayed citizenship by participating in the event to obtain some ‘food for thought’ as we produce deliverables. I believe we really touched on an important point when a few of us agreed that wives standing by the sides of their politician husbands who have committed adultery is a “shadowy” message to the public. It is unfortunate that our nation allows this sort of message to be conveyed, which essentially is: ‘there is no consequence for unethical behavior.’ This popular practice is toxic because it involves misleading followers by promoting corruptions; it also displays a lack of moral character on our part as a nation. (5)

I feel that as we continue to define the problem that our ultimate objective is deeply routed in Courageous fellowship. We need to invest in a concept that will incubate and ultimately provide a product that can widely be excepted among faculty and students.

In order to help set a baseline expectation and figure out what we are going to present in December I have attempted to brainstorm some solutions. I feel the best way to influence students on ethics is to somehow make ethics cool. College students are every concerned with what is popular. We could create a system in which students who are caught by their piers being unethical must pay a fine. The individual who reports the violation will recieve a percentage of the fine that will be applied to their tuition. This would require students to use citizenship and self awareness. This is a imaginative solution that could have a greater impact on ethics than making students take a class or handing them a code or ethics and tell them to follow it.

I feel that we all are exemplifying the COURAGE TO SERVE and the COURAGE TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY in regards to this task. Everyone is taking ownership and INITIATIVE when it comes to completing the tasks. I almost believe that at this point in time, we have too much EXTROVERSION and JUDGING that is leading to divergent thinking and not allowing us to truly DEFINE THE PROBLEM. We are still brainstorming problems right now. However, I think with the class's OPTIMISM after the initiative that Ron took last night with compiling the class missions, visions, etc, we will move in the right direction.

From the BASELINE EXPECTATIONS of the code of ethics and mission statement from JCU, we could COLLABORATE by making a short statement that is posted in each of the JCU classrooms and is also required to be in all Boler school syllabi. This would INSPIRE A SHARED VISION among any Boler student. It may also help develop better MORAL CHARACTER amongst some JCU students and encourage them to think before they act. They would develop CITIZENSHIP during their tenure at JCU and carry through to their careers. A yearly award could also be presented for both Boler faculty and students based on applications submitted about ethical acts they've performed.

A story I've been following a bit is the lawsuit of many former NFL players against the NFL. I believe the former players allege that the league knew long ago that concussions lead to permanent health problems, but refused to acknowledge that truth or pay sufficient health benefits to suffering retired players. If those allegations are true, they raise several questions: Were NFL leaders callous in their attempts to deny the seriousness of concussions? Were they too rigid in their attempts to limit health benefits for former players? Were they insular in their approach to safety relative to our society's increasing concerns about health? Whatever the case may be, I think the medical community and major football organizations have an obligation to inform players and fans of the risks of concussions. NFL leaders should also take action to limit the dangers of the sport to help ensure its survival. (5)

On Thanksgiving I'm thinking about the morals of the country and our founders. It seems like the country usually has a call toward COMMUNITARIANISM on days like this. My fiance and I saw the Lincoln movie last night, and there were many examples of ethical leadership present. To pass the 13th amendment, President Lincoln utilized ACT UTILITARIANISM to move the amendment forward. Lincoln also showcased the ideal of JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS to help African Americans become freed from slavery. Lincoln certainly exhibited the COURAGE TO SERVE and COURAGE TO PARTICIPATE IN TRANSFORMATION.

In an effort to model a way I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I can feel myself getting anticiptory stress the closer our presentation comes. I am excited to influence the client on what we develope but I think we need to get more organized and continue to use teamwork to acomplish this task. I feel that we need to continue to do some self-awareness and develop alternatives to was to make this a "1/2 Cr. hour class"

It seems clear to me that Boler school administrators and faculty want to cultivate a greater sense of ethical communitarianism among its student body, perhaps to more completely fulfill both their obligation to establish clear institutional values and their responsibility to provide stewardship of the young minds to which they've been entrusted. As a class we must acknowledge their courage to assume responsibility for this difficult task, and exhibit our own courage to participate in this transformation. We must understand that by thinking too rigidly or by performing incompetently we may potentially be leaving our followers worse off, and use this as motivation to deliver a set of recommendations which reflects our ascension to authentic leadership.

I definitely think think that it is important that we are using more PROACTIVE STRATEGIES to keep our stress at bay over the next 2 weeks. In order to succeed with Scott and our clients, we need to continue to be SPECIFIC, DESCRIPTIVE and LISTEN to what the client is telling us. Tabitha and Shilpa have taken the great INITIATIVE to have continuous conversations with the client which can only help us. I know that we are all feeling the TIME STRESS and ANTICIPATORY STRESS with the presentation being so close, but I am OPTIMISTIC that we will tremendously succeed.

Even though we have the Thanksgiving holiday going on, we have the daunting task of completing this project in the up coming weeks. We have anticipatory stress, fear of failing and time stressors all going on at once. I am optimistic that we will succeed because we have a good group of people that are showing much iniative and self-determination in doing our parts to complete all of the tasks. (6)

It was nice to see some ALTRUISM out shopping with my fiance today during Black Friday. We saw many charities and charitable contributions at the mall when we were expecting CALLOUS AND INCOMPETENT behavior from everyone around fighting to win the shopping battle. The people who gave up their weekend certainly had COURAGE TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY and the COURAGE TO SERVE.

Just occurred to me while reading our book that there are a number of parallels between ethical leadership and parenthood. As a parent, you can't be too rigid or callous. You're charged with protecting and nurturing (stewardship), an equitable or just distribution of power (partnership), and you must take both of those responsibilities seriously (obligation). You must be conscious of your motives, desires, and feelings, and trust them (awareness). You must be open and truthful (relational orientation), and act harmoniously with your beliefs (action). Finally, you must have confidence that in doing all of these you are imparting to your child your moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character.



moral judgment
moral motivation
moral character.

I cannot help that I felt a bit defensive and disconfirmed at our last class on Tuesday 11/20. I felt like a lot of people were trying to deal with their own conceptual blocks relating to constancy, commitment, and compression. Yet I think that at this point it is important to remember to try to engage in supportive listening for the entire time that we are together as a class. It can be very frustrating that someone will ask a question, it will be thoroughly answered, and then someone else will ask the same question all over again. This wastes time and clearly demonstrates that the person was not actively engaging with the class. Although constructive feedback is necessary, we have to remember to be careful not to criticize each other. We are all on the same team and are working towards the same inspired vision. (7)

Again, I emphasize the importance of reading this article entitled, "Promoting Ethical Practices within Institutions of Higher Education" (http://businesscommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/31ABC07.pdf)Article.

This article discusses everything that we are currently looking at and working towards as a cohort. The article also includes recommendations, a sample plan, research into why a code of ethics at the institutional level is valuable, and questions to ask people. This should be really useful.

It was interesting that the article brought out the importance of positional leadership. Further, positional leaders must engage in supportive communication. The article highlights the importance of congruent, validative, and conjunctive messages. "The responsibility for promoting ethics in higher education lies with the leadership of colleges and universities. Like most efforts at organizational change, the energy, financing, and inspiration must start at the top and must anticipate and verbalize a long term commitment to ethical goals. “Bottom-up” schemes for change are seldom successful since they lack the organizational influence to create a sustained, well supported plan of action. Ethics issues permeate every aspect of university life from admissions to the classroom, from hiring to curriculum development and from research to the athletic field. To alter the ethics culture in an institution of higher education (or any organization) requires the highest level of commitment and realistic consequences for deviations." (5)

First and foremost it was awesome to witness our community's courage to serve and courage to assume responsibility. With all the negatives that oftentimes receive too much focus, I love this time of year when we receive gentle reminders that not all leaders nor organizations are callous and instead there are several with moral character and a strong sense of obligation. (5)

It was an earlier conceptual block that the class had that we had to post on the blog every weekday. As time progressed we discovered that we could make up for lost blog days on the weekend. This type of flexibility is necessary in the high time stress environments of grad school, careers and family responsibility. This is an example of the same problem from this week. We had a holiday that's exact purpose is to give thanks and to spend time with family and friends or time just recharging. Blogging is being done in the spirit of generating ideas and discussion about ethics, but it should not take precedence over much needed relaxation and free time. To put classwork above home time on one of the few days of the year that is dedicated to time off would be a failure to nurture and would leave followers worse off.

I re-read the syllabus as well as our blog entries since Tues and the conceptual blocks I notice relate to imagination and improvement. I like having a mission statement but we still need a solid/specific recommendation - or as the syllabus states, "a solid solution." I too would like to promote supportive communication but also believe it is critical to know when we are moving off track and creating new assignments/work for ourselves rather than tackling the urgent assignment at hand (which Dr. Allen mentioned we were indeed doing on Tues); because our reality is that we have a severe time constraint. On that note...

In terms of brainstorming, I've been thinking about how our broker-dealer handles promoting a culture of reps that embrace ethics and what I realize is this: 1.) The code is repeated repeatedly and 2.) repeated creatively (via various forms throughout the year and at each 'annual compliance' point). Therefore, my idea for a 'solid solution' to add to our punch is: 1.) Propose to the client that they not settle into complacency by only communicating the code upon entry (freshmen/1st year/start of employment) but rather at the start of each school year and 2.) do so via creative methods, such as an interactive online case study module that presents real life scenarios and shows outcome of unethical choices; and tie this "refresher" to financial aid being applied (and some other tie for faculty) or the like to make it a requirement. Utilizing creative repetition rather than one communication will promote an ethical culture because Boler school would be immersed in it rather than 'sprinkled' is the basic message of the idea...
-LP

I think that one of our suggestions needs to start with the top. From what and I know and what was reinforced by the text is that like most everything especially including culture and ethical environments begin at the top. I believe one of our recommendations should be related to reminding the leaders of the Boler Busines School about Servant Leadership. The 4 premises of servant leadership are stewardship i.e from the text "Servant leaders are charged with protecting and nurturing their groups and organizations while making sure that these collectives serve the common good."¹ Obligation because they must take the responsibility seriously.¹ Partnerships which directly from the text states: "strategies for empowering followers include sharing information, delegating authority to carry out important tasks, and encouraging constituents to develop and exercise their talents."¹ Lastly elevating purpose, once again as described in the text: "seeking to fulfill a high moral purpose and understanding the role one plays in the process make work more meaningful to leaders and followers alike."¹

I think that you when you decide to dedicate your life to a purpose as noble, and sometimes thankless I'm sure, as education you kinda have already decided to engage in servant leadership; however, I also know that education is a business and like everyone sometimes we need to be reminded of why we do things. I know ceratinly I do from time-to-time...

1. Johnson, Craig E. (2009). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow. United
States of America: Sage Publications, Inc.

As I read the text, it is clear that many unethical decisions arise due to selfish actions. Kellerman discussed types of BAD LEADERSHIP, from INCOMPETENCE to CORRUPT and EVIL. The worst leaders VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS and BUILD TOTALITARIAN REGIMES to fulfill their own agenda and gain power. However, while these leaders may have the SOURCES OF POSITIONAL POWER, they will not be admired and followed based on SOURCES OF PERSONAL POWER. Therefore, our ideas should work off of the university's mission of "Men and women for others." Developing young adults to be focused on others and make a difference in the community rather than simply pursue selfish interests may help the Boler school's goal.

After my father past away my mother went back to work for a daycare. The owner of this daycare I would say falls into Kellerman’s bad leadership characteristics of evil and corrupt. She described such atrocities such as falsifying documents to avoid fines, lying to parents about their children being injured (telling the parents that their child instigated an action) and overcharging by not telling parents that they were not required to pay in certain situations. Fortunately my mother has high moral judgment and moral character. She would undermine these actions by telling parents the truth even under the fear of retribution. Her actions display courageous fellowship especially in the realm of courage to assume responsibility as well as the courage to leave which she ultimately did once she could no longer deal with how this establishment was run.

Over the weekend I watched the movie "Downfall" which is based on the last few days of Hilter's life. One can see many attributes of TOXIC LEADERSHIP through out the movie, be it Hilter or his generals. The biggest stand out would be how one's man's idealogy MISLEAD FOLLOWERS to VIOLATATE HUMAN RIGHTS ,ENGAGE IN UNETHICAL, ILLEGAL AND CRIMINAL ACTS and ENCOURAGING FOLLOWERS TO HATE OR DESTORY OTHERS. Very few people had the COURAGE TO LEAVE eventually leading to LEAVING thousands OF FOLLOWERS WORSE OFF.