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I want to blog in a little more detail about how ethics will help my career. In today's day and age, ethics is a major issue. Personally, it seem like people are acting more and more unethically these days. Lying, cheating, and ripping people off seems to be even more common today and the costs for making unethical decisions has increased. I currently work for Cliffs Natural Resources within their treasury department. As a company we engage in the mining of iron ore and coal. This is a very risky and life threatening activity. Being able to make good ethical decisions and have a degree of ethical pluralism is very important. With regards to my specific job, we manage billions of dollars of cash in the form of derivatives, cash, and investments. Having a high ethical standard at all times is very important as well. Learning about ethics and how to make sound ethical decisions especially under pressure is EXTREAMLY valuable. Hopefully, I will be able to use and develop my ethical skills to model a way for my coworkers to follow.

I would like to look at how my knowledge of leadership will help in my career. I have been around a lot of great leaders such as Heisman Trophy winners, MVP’s, and All-Pro Athletes. However, I have never been able to identify their leadership qualities until I started my MBA classes. Having now taken a class, I am better able to identify leadership characteristics that will be able to help in my career. My goal is to become the CFO of a large organization. Obviously, having that amount of visibility and centrality requires you to be a leader. In addition, having the ability to identify if people are defensive or disconfirmed will allow you to better manage teams within you organization.

I spoke with my mom who until she retired 2 years ago wore a couple different hats throughout her career. Her professional life started out working for Ohio Bell in the 60's and 70's. When she became a manger making sound ethical decisions was very important. We talked about Kant's categorical imperative vs. being more utilitarian and she said that she tried to always do what right however you can’t please everyone so sometimes you have to do whats best for the majority. After she had children she was a stay at home mother but when she returned to the work force she wanted to do something different so she became a travel agent. A position she loved but experienced a boss that displayed some of Kellermans Bad Leadership. Mostly the boss was incompetent and callous. Eventually the toxic leadership led her and the others to quit and form their own business. They did this in the right way by providing notice, informing the boss they were opening their own place and respecting the terms of their non-compete. It was important to her and the others to handle themselves professionally and it’s how they wanted to build their new reputation. My mom instilled strong moral character in me and she models the way. I have never known her to do the wrong thing even when it means the outcome may not be best for her.

Gregg Popovich is the coach, not the owner

http://news.yahoo.com/man-blows-whistle-profit-college-152357622--abc-news-topstories.html

I have a colleague that says that he loves science because he doesn’t have to worry about ethics since data has no subjective element to it. I think that he has a conceptual block as to how bad ethics can be found in these arenas. The article speaks about a whistleblower that had the courage to leave and the moral character to follow through after he was out. He reported on his previous employer, a college management group that misled its students by posting shady graduate employment rate numbers. Essentially they included all graduates that were employed but did not mention that many of them obtained jobs that didn’t require a/the degree they earned. If you were a burger flipper at McD’s you were included as a “success” meant to show how effective this group’s educations are. Mark Twain is credited with the quote, “There are 3 types of lies: Lies, Damn lies and Statistics.” Aside from blatantly falsifying data, there is the opportunity to “cherry pick” data or present data in a leading manner, all of which flies in the face of authentic leadership (specifically balanced processing and relational orientation). Some would say this is simply salesmanship or marketing, but at what point is an ethical boundary crossed, and the behavior become corrupt?

My subgroup is putting together a 2-3 page dissertation providing examples of social responsibility in service to our presentation next week. You need to have a strong moral character, as well as a high level fo awareness and unbiased processing of your organization's actions in order to excel in social responsibility. There is definitely an altruism component to social responsibility strategies, and that can make it difficult to justify such in "for-profit" organizations. Another challenge of social responsibility is that it requires individuals and groups to have the courage to assume responsibility for its actions.

The ethical dilemma that stuck out in my Dad's mind was during a time when he lead/supervised a productivity group. He received word that a well-known manager was doing something unethical because he was bringing in factory materials 'through the back door.' The dilemma was that the productivity group relied heavily on management for the success of their group efforts, however, Dad said he also remembered taking an oath not to accept any kind of vendor perks when he became supervisor and was certain this applied to managers as well and also felt an obligation to address his subordinates ethical concern. Another aspect of the dilemma was whether to go to management with the issue, as this would seem to be 'the police policing the police.' It was decided that upper management outside of the local office should be notified. A private investigator was sent and it was found that the manager was buying the materials at a much higher price than usual amounts for the same items and he was also pushing them through by circumventing the normal purchasing process. In addition, it was discovered that the manager had considerable amounts of expensive home improvements done around the same time.
-LP

Last week we made a lot of progress toward finishing our presentation. If we can do so again this week, we should be in good shape for next week's go time. It is important when we set up our view of ethics that we DECIDE WHO OUR ACTIONS COULD INJURE along the way. We want to make sure we are not LEAVING FOLLOWERS WORSE OFF later on by suffering from COMMITMENT and CONSTANCY during the process. We need to make sure that we OWN the project during the presentation to make the audience feel the sense of community that we are creating.

Not to imply that I am the model decision maker here, but after reading Nash's 12 questions in chapter 7, I feel good about the way I typically approach most decisions. MOST of the time, I think that I ask most of these questions. Question 2(WHAT DOES THE PROBLEM LOOK LIKE FROM THE OTHER SIDE?) is one that I most often try to ask myself. I have a strong consciusness of context and others so I tend to step out of my own shoes and play devil's advocate against myself. I also ask myself HOW THE PROBLEM OCURRED IN THE FIRST PLACE in hopes of there being a clear cause and easy solution/resolution to it. Questions 5 and 6 (WHAT ARE MY INTENTIONS and HOW LIKELY ARE THOSE INTENTIONS TO BBE REALIZED) go hand -in-hand for me. I don;t think i can look at my goal and move forward with it without also looking at the probability of that end result actually coming to fruition. Lastly, I certainly try to make decisions that will STAND THE TEST OF TIME - relating back to question 9. I don't do these all the time by any means, but I think i do more often than not.

I just want it to be know that the closer the event become the more time stress I am feeling. We are making progress however our CEO interviews do not appear to be going will. I took the initative to get several fortune 500 ceo contacts. I am worried that we are suffering from complacency becasue it is near the end of the term. We need to use teamwork to acomplish tasks other are struggeling with. That being said, does anyone need help with anything?

With the final presentation fast approaching I, too, am beginning to feel a significant amount of work overload. I cannot help but feel anxious due to unpleasant expectations and fear. I have tried to exhibit skillful interventions when I feel that I can positively impact a situation in our class or assigned task list. Yet, I cannot help but feel frustration as it is becoming more evident that some of the cohort members have not been exhibiting courageous followership. I just hope that we all recognize the utilitarianism underlying the situation that we are in together. (6)

Questions we need to answer tonight. What tasks are we missing and what is the plan to get them done? What is the product that we are delivering? What is the structure of the presentation? I feel that I have lacked the courage to assume responsibility for these questions and time stress is becoming a real factor. We all need to show some citizenship and accept the followers responsibility to not avoid conflict and push for resolutions if we are going to have a presentation ready next week.

Everything seems to be coming together. Hopefully tonight we can be IMPROVE our current ideas and move into the presentation phase. My group has done some analysis of the ethics of students at JCU, and the findings seem to match our original thoughts. We are now AWARE that there is a gap in the students being able to find their ethical resources and know where to look. We need to create a place where students can easily find the ethical guidelines and resources. This should INFLUENCE the JCU community to be more cognizant of ethics in their surroundings. Hopefully we can create a culture where the student body no longer DEFAULTS to AVOIDING ethical issues.

Now that the political circus has shaken out some "winners and losers", can we finally get back to business. Congress has a job. That job is to build and maintain the Nation's network of laws, monitor and direct it's spending, and keep an eye on the President. We give a lot of slack to our legislature; as an example of justice as fairness we pay them a lot for being a simple public servant, we allow them the privileges of office and we overlook time spent keeping their positions when elections come around when they could be solving the Nation's problems (or causing them, depending on who you ask). In return we ask that they faithfully represent their constituents (ignoring their personal interests or motivations) and get the jobs of congress done. Now the US finds itself in a bit of a fiscal emergency. One of the primary jobs of congress is to balance the national budget. The problem is that bi-partisan politics is getting in the way of getting the job done. Legislators are letting party positions dictate actions instead of acting with stewardship they are tasked with and acting mindfully of their obligation to constituent concerns. By continuously fighting and refusing to compromise (much less collaborate) they believe they are showing courage to challenge a bad plan, but really they are simply to rigid to allow for progress. The fact of the matter is that many congressional leaders are not following the requests or interest of the citizens that elected them, they are simply towing the party line. It's time to stop identifying as a servant to the party, and instead as a servant to the people; not as a politician, instead as an employee with a job to get done, on a very close deadline.

• How do you define ethics?
o To behave in honest and open behavior with no deception presenting the facts with no hidden agenda.
• What ethical attributes do you look for in employees?
o Honesty and acting in the best interest of the company. The company comes first over and above their personal agenda.
• Do you think academic institutions do a good job of preparing students to act ethically in the workplace?
o NO!!! Parents play the biggest role in developing student’s ethical foundation.
• How does ethics play a role in your decision making process?
o As a lawyer and CPA, I must always look after the best interest of my client. As a father and husband, I must look after the well-being of my family.
• Provide an example of an ethical dilemma they (the interviewee) have been presented with and how they handled it?
o A client informs me that he engaged in fraud and asks me (as a lawyer) to protect him. I declined because I could not ethically justify his behavior.
• What are the key aspects that you feel are most important in promoting an ethical work environment?
o Promoting employees best effort and the golden rule “treat others the way you want to be treated”.
• How do you measure and improve your own ethics?
o Weather I am honest with my clients and do my best to solve their problems. I improve my ethics by first identifying the area of weakness and focusing on correcting that area.

My father has been an attorney for over 34 years and has developed quite a strong moral sensitivity over that period of time. He shared with me a few of his observations regarding ethics in his profession. Obviously he has seen his fair share of colleagues who were lacking in moral character and judges who were incompetent and corrupt. What was interesting in his observations is that he has found over the years that many of the unethical lawyers choose the shadows in an attempt to "get ahead" in their careers, but ironically it is those very same individuals who tend to be worse off in their careers than they would have been if they had stayed ethical. Putting aside the obvious pitfalls of disbarment and legal retribution, a common pitfall for the unethical lawyer is that their fellow attorneys are aware of their lack of integrity and they become less desirable within their own profession as a result.

I believe I heard on TV the other day that Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens were both nominated to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. A lot of fans are against these two former players' entries into the Hall of Fame because of their past steroid use. They argue that these players misled followers by denying steroid use for years; they fed followers' illusions of their greatness, when in fact their performance was enhanced by drugs; and they left followers worse off by damaging the public image of professional baseball. Some say that these players have an obligation to be honest with their fans, but I sympathize with the players' attempt to meet the incredibly difficult demands of their profession. Still, I understand the point of view that these players did something wrong - they violated Kant's Categorical Imperative. (5)

I interviewed my mom about some of the ethical issues she has seen firsthand in the workplace. She used to work at an office that saw a lot of these issues, and most of it started with the leadership. The office manager was CORRUPT and EVIL and would determine wages based on the person's situation at home, or what they would be willing to do for the office manager as opposed to actual merits. The office manager's MORAL CHARACTER was questioned at every turn. He would also force the people in the office to cancel appointments of less profitable customers to make way for potentially more lucrative customers. After seeing what was fully going on in the office, my mom made the DECISION to report the actions to a higher authority. She used her FOLLOWER'S RESPONSIBILITY to report the actions to influence executives to look at what the office manager was doing and eventually take severe corrective action.

Pretty interesting article in the paper (wsj) today about Chinese companies being prosecuted for allegedly engaging in unethical, illegal, and criminal acts by committing accounting fraud. The firms were accused of reporting accounting disclosures that misled followers and consequently left them worse off. The accounting firms responsible for auditing the subject firms are also under fire for lack of moral judgment and moral action which resulted in unethical practices and made it easy to use these auditors as scapegoats. (6)

Well we are at a point where we all need to step up and display courageous fellowship. We all need to have the courage to assume responsibility and the courage to serve in order to get these CEO interviews completed. I know we are all burned out but more than ever now is the time to engage in the follower's responsibility and be proactive by everyone getting on the phone and making one or two calls and try to secure an interview. Best case we all make a couple calls we end up with more than we need, worst case we end up with four and that is unaaceptable.

http://news.yahoo.com/controversy-grows-over-photo-ny-subway-push-231704822.html;_ylt=AnpVewSCSI6S1Z6.cS7uSxryWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTVxNHUzczhwBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDQXJ0aWNsZSBNaXhlZCBMaXN0IE5ld3MgZm9yIFlvdSB3aXRoIE1vcmUgTGluawRwa2cDYjdhYjEyZGUtMzFkYi0zZGRkLTg2MDUtOWI4MzM5NzA4NmQ0BHBvcwMyBHNlYwNuZXdzX2Zvcl95b3UEdmVyA2RmMDIzMTgwLTNlNjgtMTFlMi1iZWY5LTc1YWIxNWNmNWM2NQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJyZjBwc21mBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDOTlmYzk3M2MtM2U4Zi0zYWUzLWE1NzctMmVhN2QxMmFmZWYzBHBzdGNhdANob21lfG9kZARwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3

Where does journalism mark the line between reporting and documenting the news and pandering to a public that craves shock and is fascinated by the macabre? This week a man was pushed onto the tracks of an oncoming subway in New York. The motivation for this evil act is still under investigation, and I have doubts that anyone can deny this is a true tragedy. The concern I want to address in this blog is certain a media outlet’s choice to run the photo of the doomed man just seconds before he was crushed. What could the possible motivation be to print the photo on the front page and take the whole page’s space with it? If the idea was to illustrate the specifics of the man’s situation, a diminutive picture of the platform after or a similar platform would suffice for description. The media has a long history of printing photos of questionable integrity, but in most cases this is done to put impact behind political issues that need to be publicized or circumstances that can be changed if the public is shocked into action. In this case these conditions are not present. The New York Post callously printed this picture strictly to sell more papers, and that they put it in such overblown form only underlines their ethical failure that plays on the base fears of the readers. Readers are only left worse off from seeing the terror on this man’s face as he tries to climb from the tracks. I would have to say that it would be interesting to hear the moral reasoning between the editors about whether to run the picture or not, or if there was even a debate at all.

This morning on my way in to work I stopped at Starbucks for a tall Christmas Blend. I noticed another customer had the imagination to parallel park on the wrong side of the road rather than drive around the block to find a more suitable parking spot. An older gentleman on the side of the road had the moral character and the courage to challenge this individual's ethical decision making - it appeared to me that the issue conflict left both parties feeling disconfirmed.

We often have people that come into my branch that will ask for change or to exchange bills. As with everything else, we need to be cautious when accepting these, as counterfeit bills are always an issue, especially around this time of year. However, we can't appear to be blatant in our judgement of MORAL CHARACTER. Today we had a man come in with a large stack of $20 bills and asked for larger bills. The teller supervisor ran the money through the machine and gave him the money. Once the man left, the teller supervisor brought me over. There was a clear SITUATION DEFINITION and ANALYSIS of what was going on; while the money was all legitimate, it smelled incredibly strong of drugs. Going forward, we COLLABORATED and made the DECISION that if this man ever came in again, that we would gather photo ID and report it to our security team for investigation, as all we have right now is video footage.

I am currently working on getting a phone interview with Dr. Day. Hopefully, i can get this finalized before next Tuesday. As ffar as everything else, group 6 seems to be on track and working well together. I am feeling very stressed and can not believe it is less than a week away. We need to pull together and use teamwok to knockthis out. Do not forget we also have a exam next week.

I'm just venting tonight because it's been that kind of day. I'm experiencing severe WORK OVERLOAD right now between my two MBA classes that are wrapping up next week with finals and final presentations at work to executives (one of which is Friday). Additionally, we have house issues as well that need to be dealt with. I have a lot of UNPLEASANT EXPECTATIONS right now wondering what else will go wrong. I feel like CITIZENSHIP INFLUENCES me quite a bit...hence taking on a presenter role for Tuesday's finale despite the laundry list of things I have to do on top of that. I'm having INTERACTION CONFLICT with myself about that one...good night.