Emily Guzman

3322-BV1-Behavior/Ethics/Leadership 1

Dr. Micah Bailey

10/10/2019

Unit 3 Essay

Capstone Artifact

In our lifetime, we go through a series of jobs and work for different organizations. In

those organizations, we encounter supervisors who all possess different leadership qualities.

Some supervisors can easily lead a team with grace, while others will struggle with confidence.

In the workplace, it is natural to make friends with your coworkers, you see them every day, they

basically become part of your family. Although, when it comes to management, it’s not ideal to

build a relationship similar to coworkers. Supervisors are responsible to ensure that the

organization is running smoothly and productively. They’re supposed to treat every worker in the

organization equally. However, there is an ongoing problem that is occurring in today’s work

environment: Favoritism.

Favoritism in the workplace has always been a repeated pattern. The reason why I believe

that favoritism is occurring more is because supervisors are leaving their professionalism. All

employees in an organization are supposed to treat their supervisor with respect. However, I’ve

noticed that supervisors will treat specific employees as friends rather than employees. Based on
personal experience, one will be able to notice the difference on how the rest of the team is being

treated.

My first job was in retail, and at first, I loved the work environment. I had supervisors

who respected me as a team member. However, that soon came to an end when the store

received a new store manager. As soon as the new store manager settled in, I quickly noticed the

occurrence of favoritism in the workplace. She became acquainted with certain employees and

took a liking to them. She began promoting them, increasing their pay, and praised them for non-

completed work. She began treating them as friends where they would often hangout after work

hours. Those employees started receiving excellent evaluations, and their work hours increased,

thus making them full-time employees. On our end, you were able to see the causalities; cut

hours, eliminated positions, and poor performance reviews. Those of us who actually did their

job, were often getting coached for being off task or engaging with a customer for too long, was

frowned upon. Through the perception of Immanuel Kant, in no way is this a form of a good

will.

Immanuel Kant was a German Philosopher who believed that the highest good is the

good will. Kant believed that a person who obtained a good will, would have the will to do the

right thing. Also, Kant conceived the kingdom of ends, which according to New Acropolis

International Organization, states that the kingdom of ends, “Act in such a way as to treat

humanity, whether in your own person or in that of anyone else, always as an end and never as a

means,” (Kant n.d., Petlevych 2018). Kant believed that this kingdom was composed of rational

beings and wanted for everyone to be treated as “ends” meaning that he wanted for everyone to

be respected and equal. As mentioned above, my previous supervisors have no form of a good

will. In my opinion, my supervisors do not act on moral values, rather they act on selfish
reasons. The way they tie in with Kant’s kingdom of ends, is that they treat their favorite

employees as a means rather than an end. The favorite employees are using their current

predicament to rise up in the organization, and to gain leverage to opportunities that should not

be applied to them. Kant stresses the importance that acting on a good will will make us moral. If

my supervisors followed morality, then they will be able to become rational beings and be

respected leaders in the work environment.

Supervisors need to know how to have a goodwill. However, I also believe that it is

important for them to know the forms of the good. Plato was a philosopher who believed that the

highest good was goodness itself (Bailey 2019). But then Plato also believed that the highest

form for individuals was the forms of the good. The way I see is that Plato wanted for us to live a

“good” life and to follow the forms of the good with it. The forms of the good can mean many

things; sun, trees, knowledge, etc. So, if we are able to live a good life, then we should be able to

follow all forms of good easily. To make the work environment better, what forms should my

previous supervisors follow? My supervisors should be able to follow the form of equality in the

workplace. Employees should be able to feel valuable, know their true worth, and realize that

they equally matter like everyone else. Supervisors should not allow favoritism in the workplace,

in no way is that a form of the good.

Favoritism in the workplace is an occurring problem and takes place in many

organizations. The easiest solution would be that supervisors should acknowledge the problem

and treat all employees equally. Although, this would be challenging because not many

supervisors will be able to admit their mistakes and be able to change their habits. A solution that

I would suggest is that the corporation would get involved more with their store’s leadership.

Based on personal experience, I have seen the unfair treatment towards employees that is entirely
caused by store management. I have personally witnessed the promotion of leadership positions

that were previously eliminated, the praise and excitement of non-completed tasks, and the

acceptance of being off tasked knowing full well that the store is busy. The other employees are

met with reduced hours, undeserving pay, and being coached for taking their job too seriously. I

really would love to see the main corporation to actively partake in this issue. They should

provide a training for management and stress about the importance of fairness and equality in the

workplace.

As mentioned, the ideal solution for favoritism would be if the corporation of the

organization would get involved once the employees reported them. The possible criticism that

may follow would be that the management may take it on a personal note. I have seen this

personally, and my previous supervisors retaliated against the employees who reported them. My

supervisors started to reduce their hours and issued warnings when they would make a simple

mistake. That is the reason why employees are afraid to speak out because they fear that they

would lose their jobs and they do not want to enhance the mistreatment. Corporate may be able

to add an anonymous hotline where employees will feel safe to report management. This would

be beneficial because it will offer them protection and job safety. Hopefully with this possible

solution, favoritism will no longer be a problem and employees will be able to work in a

positive, comfortable work environment.

 References

Bailey, M. Unit 1 General Information 1.1 Retrieved from

xxxxxxxhttps://southtexascollege.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/

Kant, I., & Abbott, T. (2004, May 1). Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals by

vvvvvvv Immanuel Kant. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks

Petlevych, Nataliya “Kant and the Kingdom of Ends.” New Acropolis Library, 14 Sept. 2018,

xxxxxxxhttps://library.acropolis.org/kant-and-the-kingdom-of-ends/