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Former Needham & Company chief financial officer Glen Albanese was accused today by federal prosecutors of colluding with vendors to overbill his former employer by $1 million, using the money for an exotic dog called a "Labradoodle" (a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a poodle), a fence for the dog, equestrian equipment, expensive wines, tickets to Walt Disney World and Six Flags theme parks, fitness equipment, toys, and computer equipment.

The government says Mr. Albanese engaged in the criminal act of persuading vendors, including a printing company and an information-technology provider, to issue inflated or altogether false invoices. He then would meet representatives from these vendors to collect envelopes filled with cash.

Prosecutors allege, also, that Mr. Albanese misled his followers by approving invoices for unneeded paper products and for more than $300,000 in invoices for information-technology services that never were provided. To do this required that he subvert ethical organizational structures and processes by bypassing Needham's accounts-payable department. Mr. Albanese even influenced Needham's controller to remove any references to the information-technology vendor. (The controller's complicity demonstrates that he or she clearly lacked both moral sensitivity and the courage to leave.)

Mr. Albanese even charged to Needham $2,600 for World Series tickets, claiming he attended the game with representatives from three company vendors. His employees lacked both the motivation and the courage to challenge what prosecutors allege was an excessive entertainment expense.

In the past, Mr. Albanese had engaged in acts of altruism on behalf of Needham, helping to raise funds for victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina. However, even after company officials became aware of the alleged thefts, Mr. Albanese failed to observe Kant's categorical imperative by admitting to them.

I am seing that despite the majority of the class having a J personality that the groups are not being very proactive in providing updated information for the progress tracker. I am having stress resulting from time stressors because I feel the loss of control over getting this component task completed. Additionally, I am a little frustrated because I am having more difficulty securing the interviews than I anticipated. I will not fail at this mission, but it is going to take some persistence and skill to get past the gate keepers and get the interviews secured in a timely fashion. I will use some enactive strategies to deal with the stress by going on a backpacking/ camping trip this weekend and removing my self from my stressors with no cell phone, iPad, or computer.

Just as a FYI, I was able to track down our CEO and have a 10 min conversation. He has clearly an expertise on ethics and the centrality within our company to make ethical decisions. He was very specific and able to coach me on on what he feels it means to be ethical. He mentioned he always trys to set a baseline expectation of his employees. It was a great conversation and thank god I was able to catch him because he is going to be traveling for the next couple weeks. Thanks for getting the question list done asap.

All last week I reacted to all of my stressor related to a lack of control by fixating on the problems and trying to accomplish as many tasks as possible. This lead to even more stress related to work overload. Today I reacted to the culmination of stressors through methods of withdrawal. I also used reactive strategies to help me deal with the stress that I was feeling. I am now ready to use enactive strategies to create a new environment in which I can work effectively and efficiently without becoming stressed. (6)

Today I was contacted by the Dr. Peter Northouse, who I had reached out to based on the recommendation of the author of our text for a famous ethical scholar. I found his contact information online and reached out to him via email and was shocked when he called me back that afternoon. He mentioned that he had to call me based on my initiative and authenticity due to the email I sent to him. Unfortunately, he offered to do the interview then and there while I was at work and unable to do so. Nonetheless, he and I both maintained flexibility in order to accomplish the task. After he established some baseline expectations, (i.e. gave me homework for the interview) he intervened skillfully by taking a coaching approach I believe to help me prepare for the interview. Anyway, he seems like a very great man and I was glad to have the opportunity to develop a relationship.

Earlier this week, I was feeling extreme TIME STRESS due to the looming deadline of December 4th for our presentation. The FEAR of UNPLEASANT EXPECTATIONS was not making things easier either. However, our subgroup had a conference call last night, more or less a PROACTIVE STRATEGY, and it put a lot of the fear to rest, as we have a more concrete PLAN to move forward with. I am being OPTIMISTIC that we will continue to make great progress this weekend.

It's interesting to see Dr. Allen try to exercise a laissez-faire leadership style and then change approach given the context to his default coaching leadership style. When he does intervene skillfully, he expresses optimism in our ability to achieve the product. As long as we all take citizenship for our own tasks and the cohort's tasks and exercise teamwork, we will share in his optimism.

I am faced with a small non-positional leadership challenge today as I am attempting to influence an HR executive at my company to share with me the practices and processes they used to develop their code of ethical conduct. The challenge is increased a bit by the lack of control I have with my deadline to deliver the information to Kyra. I need to toe a fine line between being patienet and being pacesetting with the executive who has very little time for my request this week.

Yesterday our subgroup briefly discussed the task of tying the subject of ethics to the MBTI preferences and facets. We thought it would be a good idea to discuss the shadow side of leadership in order to emphasize ethics. As I finish reading the text it will be interesting to look for ways to somehow connect the components of moral action to the MBTIs; in example, moral judgment as relates to the judging preference; and perhaps ethical sensitivity as relates to the ‘objectively critical’ facet of the judging preference. (6)

One of the concepts highlighted in the book is ethical capacity. Looking at the model for this concept it is easy to see the base that was built in MB 552. The assessment component was covered by our various survey/questionnaire personal assessments. The challenge component was covered by the class requirements and now the daunting nature of the assigned tasks, not to mention the requested solution to a problem that the minds of JCU's professors haven't solved (the client's goal). Finally, there is the support leg. We have some support from Scott A., and even more from our fellow students, but, as the book mentions, I think the majority of the support comes from family and other various extracurricular sources. During the current class we are seeking to sharpen our teamwork, organization and leadership skills, expand our perspective to other mindsets and ideas, increase our knowledge through interviews group interaction and the reading the text, and finally increase our motivation (prompted by a tight timeline). I think this is exactly what is meant when the text says that leadership requires "stretching" your abilities.

Hostess is going out of business. Union strikes over wages and benefits have forced the company into bankrupcy and over 18,000 employees will now be laid off. To me, this is an example of toxic leadership on the part of the union bosses. They have proved that they are overly rigid by not accepting the idea that the company actually could not afford to maintain the labor agreement. They have also shown themselves to be callous to the needs of the rank and file union members, that now do not have a job. The leadership of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union operated in an insular manner, by not considering the impact of their strike on employees not in their union. This sort of anti-citizenship behavior hurts the image and cause of all unions.

This Case in Point project is designed to create WORK OVERLOAD and LACK OF CONTROL. Because of all of the stressors, we need to remain conscious of our EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. It also seems designed to test levels of TRUST within the team. Because there are so many tasks, it is difficult to INSPIRE A SHARED VISION of the overall goal.

As we start knocking out the tasks, I feel like we are gaining more motivation to keep going as the list becomes smaller. We are acquiring new skills and knowledge along the way that will hopefully one day develop in us not being a toxic leader. We gaining awareness that ethical decisions are made every day in the work place.

I am really optismistic regarding the progress that I believe we are making, and it's been nice to see this evolve. In hindsight, I think we all realize the first night did not get off to a good start as we just finished exam #3 and then practiced withdrawal by not going through the syllabus immediately. The following few days then resutled in a combination of informational deficiencies, various displays of intiative, and disconfirmation. But as time moves on here, I hear a lot of optimism from everyone and great shows of teamwork. (6)

My last performance review indicated areas for development were interpersonal skills and supervisory skills. In terms of our new MB551 vocabulary, I need to overcome the perception that I am failing to nurture followers, and perhaps make an honest effort to embrace some of the tenets of servant leadership, particularly partnership. I shouldn't forget, either, that one notch on the scale of transformational leadership is individual consideration, through which I can act as a coach to foster the development of each member of my staff. To improve my interpersonal skills, I need to practice greater awareness, exhibit greater empathy, and be more conscious of my approach conflict management, all so as to not appear callous.

I am being completely authentic in this blog, but in the recent weeks I have felt an overload as a result of stress due to time and anticipatory changes. I am really enjoying our learning approach in the MBA so far and appreciate Scott's teaching methods, but my MBTI profile of ESTJ would suggest a more straight-forward and logical approach. My stress is not limited to only school, I am also facing some difficult challenges at work and require secrecy. I have enabled proactive strategies to dealing with the stress, including journaling & seeking input from trusted mentors.

I feel that we still migt be a little unorganized. We need to set clearer baseline expectations. I personally am feeling some anticaptory stress that i have been dealing with using a proactive strategy. I feel people my still feel disconfirmed and defensive. Everyone wants to do well and we should be using more teamwork to acomplish these tasks. Thats all for now.

For the ethics case studies our team is tasked to do I am looking into lance armstrong and general peteraus. These are obviously current and easy to find info on. Also, I think they are great examples of people abusing their positional power. The book talks about the shadowy side of leaders and how good leaders need to be aware of that side so it does not get the nest of them. I think this is a great example of this shadowy side getting the better of 2 people with a lot of power and influence over people. I think I am going to relate this to the course by suggesting that since the program uses a case study approach ethics cases should be involved each semester and try to focus on a both current events as well as the focus of the class. If anyone has suggestions about this idea of the cases in general let me know. ,

We need to set the baseline expectation before we go into tuesday's class. This will help faciiliate supportive communication and team work. What will also work is emotional self-control and self-awareness while discussing topics. As Scott mentioned this course is designed to throw us a curve ball - So lets try and set aside the work overload stress and work towards a unified shared vision.

I just wanted to give my advice on the rubric as a task. I know it is being forced on us but is nothing less than a coercive distractor to increase anticipatory stress through fear and unpleasant expectations. By virtue of our project some people have positional power and may even be more relevant. Some people even have personal power through their expertise. Nonetheless, I hope this does not disconfirm anyone and let it affect their effort because through our effort we can maintain our legitimacy. I saw a lot of defensive looking individuals when this came to light but now is not the time to be reactive, let’s be proactive and kick some A$$!

There is going to be a lot going on Tuesday night, so SETTING BASELINE EXPECTATIONS ahead of time will be a good PROACTIVE STRATEGY to reduce any ANTICIPATORY STRESS factors of FEAR or UNPLEASANT EXPECTATIONS. Our team had 2 conference calls this week and are meeting again on Sunday, and have been making great strides on the tasks. We each have been successful in EMPOWERING each other, and I am OPTIMISTIC about our ACHIEVEMENT.

I like the idea of ethical pluralism discussed in the text; the idea that it is important not to have a conceptual block that prevents reasonable flexibility when addressing ethical issues; while its indeed important to be mindful of the follower’s responsibility, baseline expectations, and accountability, an affiliative style cannot be discounted and may lead to a more positive impact on others as it demonstrates empathy and an ability to change leadership approach given the context. (6)

I think being a good follower can sometimes be just as difficult as being a good leader. It can be difficult to have a sense of trust at times. This can result in defensiveness or disconfirmation, preventing open and honest communication. Role incompatibility seems to be one of the most common causes of conflict from a follower's perspective. Yet, as a follower, I think it is important to engage in supportive listening and accept that not everyone can be a leader at once. After all, good leaders are almost useless without good followers. (5)

It is coming down to the end of the first class, and now I have to ACHIEVE results with my development paper. I will have to LISTEN to Scott's advice that he gave in the draft comments, and INFLUENCE him that I met the tasks. I have utilized the instructions to help set the BASELINE EXPECTATIONS for the paper.

Thinking about college football this weekend, I think of how much of a mess Tennessee's team is these days. With how Lane Kiffin acted in his short time there he certainly LEFT HIS FOLLOWERS WORSE OFF. He also MISLED HIS FOLLOWERS by saying he was committed to the team.

While reading the book, I noticed a link between altruism and the affiliative leadership style. Both concepts focus on other people as opposed to focusing on oneself. Furthermore, an altruistic person is likely to have a good sense of empathy. I imagine an affiliative leader would be empathetic as well. Practicing altruism in organizations is likely to lead to good teamwork and good coaching from leaders to lower-level employees.