Bernard Ebbers Leadership Analysis

A multitude of factors influence unethical decision making and behaviors such as employment, dissatisfaction with wages and benefits, etc. In the case of Crestview, it is the organizational culture of getting the job done at any cost, which encourages disregard for ethical considerations in the interest of achieving outcomes (Holzer & Schwester, 2011).

An organization’s culture is based off the shared values and beliefs that are shaped by the organization and its managers. It is this culture that dictates the manner in which employees are to conduct themselves within the organization. Therefore, a culture that creates an environment that influences the employees to act unethically will allow them to do so without thinking of the outcome of their

Burns wrote the book to address the essence of leadership. His intended audience is the everyday

This paper will respond to three questions, “Are all managers leaders?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 425) “What are some common barriers preventing leaders from behaving ethically and how can these barriers be overcome?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 450) And “Is it possible for leadership substitutes to be effective?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 450)

Due to these criminal activities, many top executives were convicted fraud and sentenced to spend time in prison. WorldCom activities did not align with the company's overall mission and goals. The actions taken by management were not in the best interest of the customer instead they were consumed with acquisitions and increasing the value of WorldCom Shares. The management also should have considered general accounting practices during their strategic planning. Furthermore, create procedures that protect all stakeholders within the firm.

In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).

Behind every great leader is a system of hard workers, and their job is to guide them and provide them with opportunity. One ex-worker for Bell Pottinger, when discussing why the employees of the company would commit to corruption, explained, “Your boss tells you to do something, so you do it“ (Kale). The leaders of this organization did not guide their employees properly. Instead, they found that the employees would follow them blindly into the void - if they only asked. Corruption is found in a leader taking advantage of their

A leader may exhibit the characteristics of an effective leader such as caring, openness, patience, honesty and trustworthiness, but being aware of ethical considerations is vital. In fact, unethical behavior of the leader derives from being unfamiliar with organizational standards, being incompetent in leading groups or properly

As stated above, Stuyvesant is commonly viewed as a failed leader. His opponents viewed him as an autocratic leader hellbent on gaining complete loyalty of his subjects. His attempts to make his expectations a reality turned out to be his and the colony’s downfall. Stuyvesant arrived at the colony and immediately began making the wrong decisions. Instead of dealing with the contempt the colonists held for Kieft, Stuyvesant defended him and even had the audacity to give him another position of power before he was sent back to The Netherlands. On top of this Stuyvesant fired two of Kieft ’s most ardent opponents and then forced them back to The Netherlands along with Kieft. These early actions showed the colonists that Stuyvesant was not going to be a friend to them. He represented everything the colonists did not like about their

On March 15, 2005 former CEO of WorldCom, Bernard Ebbers sat in a federal courtroom waiting for the verdict. As the former CEO of WorldCom, Ebbers was accused of being personally responsible for the financial destruction of the communications giant. An internal investigation had uncovered $11 billion dollars in fraudulent accounting practices. Later a second report in 2003 found that during Ebber’s 2001 tenure as CEO, the company had over-reported earnings and understated expenses by an astonishing $74.5 billion dollars (Martin, 2005, para 3). This report included the mismanagement of funds, unethical lending practices among its top executives, and false bookkeeping which led to loss of tens of thousands of its employees.

In Leadership 101 by John Maxwell, the author uses practical application points to give guidance on what it takes to be good leader. The book is divided in three parts, linking the development, traits and impacts of a leader, with a series of questions that the author answers. He also uses real-life stories and quotes from leaders such as the McDonald brothers and Princess Diana, to demonstrate leadership principles. The author also uses these examples and a detailed framework to help the readers enhance the leadership abilities they already possess. Maxwell suggests that in order to be a successful leader you need to; Follow your vision and bring others with you, produce a lasting legacy, grow the loyalty of your followers, make continual

It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.

WorldCom was the ultimate success story among telecommunications companies. Bernard Ebbers took the reigns as CEO in 1985 and turned the company into a highly profitable one, at least on the outside. In 2002, Ebbers resigned, WorldCom admitted fraud and the company declared bankruptcy (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, &Wright 2007). The company was at the heart of one of the biggest accounting frauds seen in the United States. The demise of this telecommunications monster can be accredited to many factors including their aggressive-defensive organizational culture based on power and the bullying tactics that they employed. However, this fiasco could have been prevented if WorldCom had designed a system of checks and balances that would have

There are stories around the world about corruption and unethical leadership; these stories often make headlines in newspapers, magazines, and televised news programming. There is an abundance of immorality in the workplace; at the scale is at, it should be considered a plague. It runs rampant in all forms of business, in white collar crime and blue collar crime. White collar crime itself is the practice and history of unethical and inauthentic leadership in the professional world. Thus, while the direct and superficial focus is authentic leadership and behavioral integrity, the

There are many factors in an organisation that may lead to deviant workplace behaviour and such behaviour is not wanted, managers must generate strategies to reduce this behaviour within their organisations. The term, deviant workplace behaviour, is defined as behaviour, that is intentional, that violates important organisational models and while this is happening, it may be threatening the wellbeing of the organisation or its members (Robbins, Judge, Millett, & Boyle, 2014, p. 21). A manager’s best interest is the organisation and its members, they have the role of controlling what happens within the organisation, ensuring that everything is being accomplished as planned and that all deviations are corrected (Carter, & Fayol, 1986). The