Discussion Board 2

Please use the same instructions as found on DB1. Also, note how the content of the answers are responses are graded for grammar, clarity, depth, relevance, and accuracy.

Leadership and Change DB2

Instructions:

Post an answer to one of this week’s discussion board questions. Choose a question that has not been answered, until every question has been answered. If every question has been answered, then you may choose a question that has already been answered once before. If two other students have already posted answers to a question, then you must choose a different question. This limitation does not apply to your response to another student’s post. You may respond to any student’s post that is interesting to you no matter how many people have already responded. You are required to read all student posts and responses, but only respond to one answer.

Answers and responses should be substantial for full credit. Both writing quality and the content of your answers are important. Answers should have at least three paragraphs (15 sentences) and responses must be at least two complete paragraphs (10 sentences). Your response must add new information to the discussion. Use complete sentences, avoid unexplained lists, and avoid slang. Use a professional writing style at all times.

Remember to include at the top of your posting, the chapter, question number, and the text of the question you chose. Then include the page number(s) in the textbook where you found information about your question. Just to make this a little easier, you do not need to include APA style citations or references in your discuss board. You may use personal experiences, internet sites, journal articles, or books to help with your answer. You may not copy and paste answers or responses from sources. Answers and responses must be written by you. Please put your name at the bottom of each answer and response to help me keep the scores straight.

The assignment: Post one answer to a question of your choice below (the question may have multiple parts, so answer all parts), and write one response to another student’s answer. Choose a question that has not already been answered by another student. Write your response to another student rather than answering a second question. You must label your answer as “ANSWER” and your response as a “RESPONSE.” If you wish to make an additional comment (more than one response), please label these posts as a “COMMENT.”

discussion theme: 29.What role does societal or organizational culture play in the use and effectiveness of the 360-degree feedback process? Provide examples to illustrate your response.

response to this peer's discussion:

Chapter 5

Pg 169-176

What are the characteristics of ethical and unethical climates in organizations? What factors in the Enron climate most likely led to the firm's collapse?

The culture of any organization is directly related to the “tone at the top”. Upper management influences the atmosphere, structure, ethical nature, and goals of those working beneath them. Senior leaders at Apple and Google foster an atmosphere of creativity. Employees are empowered to make decisions and reach goals. Upper management at Enron also built a culture, unfortunately it was one of greed and corruption.

It may be hard for some to understand how a work environment becomes as toxic and unethical as Enron. I can tell you from first hand experience that it begins slowly. Greed, corruption, intimidation and coercive power will ruin a company. Often the downward spiral is caused by a misaligned reward system. For example: When a CEO has a bonus that is connected to stock prices. Naturally the CEO will want to inflate the stock prices to make more money. The problem comes in when they falsify earnings reports to make it appear that the company is doing better than it truly is. Another example of this was the opening and closing of unauthorized accounts by Wells Fargo to meet goals set by upper management.

In Enron’s case the culture was based on a cult like following. The CEO was Charismatic leader who indoctrinated new recruits or employees into the culture by trumpeting a grand vision and initiating them into the business in a way that promoted “group think” and fervor. If someone did not conform to the Enron culture they were quickly dismissed. The CEO and CFO used coercive power to make Arthur Anderson LLP to sign off on the falsified financial statements, hiding the fact that the company was losing money. Although the number of people that knew about the unethical and fraudulent activity were numerous, they were either fully indoctrinated into the Enron mindset or intimidated into compliance.

In an ethical work environment there will be a formal ethics policy that is implemented and followed from the top down. Executives will promote an environment of propriety and integrity. There will also be an outlined disciplinary policy for those that will not follow the ethical standards put in place. A reward system should be in place to promote desirable behavior. A certainly they will have a system that promotes transference of information regarding witnessed unethical behavior (A kill the messenger atmosphere will promote the unethical behavior).