One
of the reasons that I selected the Master of Science in Leadership program was
because of the immediate practical application of the material. An MBA would be
great for the future when I am retired from the Army but I can use what I am
learning now to increase my effectiveness as a Soldier. My last class which
covered leadership in a complex environment and this class on ethics have
reaffirmed that I made the correct choice. For every single topic covered, I
can see exactly how that applies to my current role as a recruiting center
leader. The material for this blog really brought that home today.
I ran
across an article shared on a social media page the other day describing 31 traits
of horrible bosses (Jackson, 2012). As a leader and manager, I like to measure
myself up against lists such as these to see if others may perceive me as a bad
leader. Fortunately, if you measure me against this particular list, I am doing
okay overall but I have to be the honest broker and admit that I have a hard
time with one of the traits in particular - giving honest feedback on
performance reviews. I am surely not afraid of conflict but I hate hurting the
career of my subordinates. (The Army is trying to correct our evaluation system
but in the past if you weren’t made to look like you walk on water then you
could forget about promotions. Our new evaluation system forces us to rank
people so it is easier now to be realist and still not hinder promotions...theoretically.)
However, by not giving honest feedback and real criticism, how am I helping my
subordinates grow? Since I am not in the habit of providing criticism, I would
do well to remember that there is an ethical way in which to approach it. As
you know, criticism can be taken very personally and can be hurtful. However,
when our intent is to bring about the best in others and not to tear them down,
it is a valuable tool (Weinstein, 2012). Our true intentions usually are
apparent to others. If we intend to provide criticism to truly help our
subordinates grow then we will approach it with empathy which they will sense.
Another
trait of a horrible boss is never admitting to being wrong (Jackson, 2012). The
fact is that we all are going to mess up from time to time. We are going to
make poor decisions that hurt others. That is just a part of being human. So,
as managers, why do we have such a hard time saying “I am sorry” and actually
meaning it? An apology without action to back it is just wasted breath
(Weinstein, 2012). When I first assumed my new position, I had a Soldier that
informed me that he had a pay issue that he had been trying to get resolved for
five months. I had so many things going on with the assumption of my role that
I didn’t do much to action it for two weeks. I had sent a few e-mails but was
seriously lacking in my follow up. Of course, this young man was fed up because
whereas I had only been dealing with it for two weeks he had several months of
dealing with it. He ended up sending a very unprofessional e-mail the entire chain
of command which greatly embarrassed my commander and me. However, I realized
that I really owed him an apology backed by action for the fact that he felt
that that was his only course of action. Now I have another Soldier with a pay
issue that was just brought to my attention two weeks ago. I have an
opportunity to show that I truly am sorry that I didn’t see to the first Soldier’s
needs by ensuring that none of the rest of my team experiences what he did.
A
few weeks ago, we examined slippery slope arguments (SSAs) in depth. SSAs assert
that we should reject some behaviors because of either projected consequences
or because they can easily lead to other actions that are unethical
(LaFollette, 2007). As an example, think of arguments against the use of marijuana.
Those that view it as a gateway drug may argue that just trying it once will
eventually lead one becoming a homeless junkie so the best thing to do is just
never take that first puff. Of course there are several stages in between that
I just glossed over there but you get the idea. Let’s consider an SSA from an
organization standpoint. Chuck Gallagher (2013) is one that fell victim to his
own ethical slippery slope in the workplace which resulted in him spending a
little bit of time in federal prison. Now he focuses his efforts on helping
organizations realize how these slippery slopes are so damaging. He points out
that there are five levels on the slope, the first three of which are often
viewed as “acceptable”. They are:
1.
Actions
that are bad for the customer
2.
Actions
that are bad for the company
3.
Policy
violations
4.
Unethical
behavior
5.
Illegal
behavior/actions
I
have sadly seen each and every one of these in my time as an Army recruiter. I
will just highlight the worst examples.
As
recruiters, we are salespeople so our applicants are our customers. When I
first came to recruiting, I actually observed the assistant center leader in my
office talk a homeless person out of enlisting to go active duty (full time)
and instead convinced him to join the Army Reserve (part time) because we
needed one more Reserve contract to close our yearly mission. I was appalled! I
have also seen countless examples of policy violations where paperwork was omitted
in enlistment packets to conceal potentially disqualifying information
(particularly when an applicant has admitted to a law violation but the police
and courts have no record of it). I have seen unethical behavior where
government vehicles were used to conduct personal business or EZ Passes were “borrowed”
for the weekend which allows unlimited use on toll roads. And, very sadly, I
have seen careers ruined when recruiters have forged documents leading to fraudulent
enlistments. Of course this isn’t to say that just because you use the office
copier/printer to print flyers for a garage sale that you are going to end up
as a criminal but the idea is that one behavior makes it easier to take the
next step. If you are willing to do what is bad for a customer, you might be
willing to do something that isn’t in the best interest of the company then you
might be tempted to violate policy and so on and so forth. (By the way, I
openly admit to using the office printer to print articles for school but we
have express permission because our continued education is in the best interest
of the Army. We are even allowed to complete self-development during duty
hours.)
With
as many unethical behaviors as I have observed, I am very encouraged by the far
more numerous positive ethical behaviors that I observe on a daily basis. Just
a few weeks ago, we had a Future Soldier (someone that has signed a contract
but has not yet shipped) that was injured during Future Soldier Training.
Instead of trying to cover it up, it was properly documented and brought to the
attention of the chain of command. The responsible Soldier knew that he easily
could have covered it up and nobody would know that it was his fault but he did
the right thing. Therefore, the chain of command also did the right thing and
took care of him. It was an accident. It wasn’t intentional. Therefore, his
disciplinary action was retraining on conducting training. That was it. He wasn’t
removed from duty. There is no paper trail. Now that is positive ethics in
action!
Gallagher,
C. [Chuck Gallagher]. (2013, January 27). Business
Ethics Keynote Speaker – Chuck
Gallagher
- Shares Straight Talk about Ethics! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJ00vNGCPE
Jackson,
E. (2012, August 09). 31 Telltale Signs You Are a Horrible Boss. Retrieved July
15,
2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/07/27/31-telltale-signs-you-are-a-horrible-boss/#1c15502bbddc
LaFollette,
H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing
Weinstein,
B. [TheEthicsGuy]. (2012, August 24). Keynote
Speech Excerpts from The Ethics
Guy
[Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxbHBpilJQ
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