OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

My role in the company was as a customer support representative in a company that

specializes in hosted telephony solutions. Or in other words, this company hosted servers
that had virtual phone numbers that customers could pay for, and these servers allowed
companies to present like they had paid money to have equipment installed with tools
like voicemail or dial by name menu options This company was a small company
consisting of no more than six people at any given time. I would later find out that was
intentional to avoid following Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
guidelines. The situation was one of animosity, hostility, rumors, and a transference of
aggression. After another employee was asked to leave the company on unclear terms, I
opted to be a witness for her in her unemployment hearings to confirm the environment
and behavior that was happening within the organization. This led the owner of the
company to retaliate against me and one of the other employees to spread false statements
about myself and the terminated employee. To make matters worse, the owner of the
company would storm into my office daily to yell at me. Not only were these situations
happening but I was also six months into a high-risk pregnancy. The breaking point was
when he told me that I was not permitted to go to the doctor for my scheduled prenatal
checkup.

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

I don’t believe that the ethics of the organization were terrible but there were ethical
aspects at play. I think the two biggest pieces were that the owner was so focused on
making it big that he lost sight of how to grow a company in a way that is healthy for the
business and employees while still maintaining profitability. This led to what Bolman and
Deal refer to as a jungle environment. “The jungle is a politically charged environment of
conflict and self-interest,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 417). The jungle contributed to an

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 environment where it felt like every person needed to look out for themselves first
regardless of how it may hinder the business.

The constant focus on being a big company and growing profitability changed the
owner’s personality from having two separate aspects, professional life and personal life,
into him seeing everything through the same lens. Some argue “[t]he point is to view
one’s life as a whole and not separate the personal and the public or professional, or duty
and pleasure,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 414). But I believe when your view is combined
to view it only through a single lens that encompasses all aspects you lose a part of the
nuances that make your view unique. I think this is what happened. The owner began to
view the business as more than his livelihood but an extension of himself. And as such he
didn’t care who or what got in his way and if that was the well-being of one of his
employees, then so be it.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

The ethical community that I believe would have made the most difference is family. If
the situation had been approached from a stance of caring and love, everything could
have been different. The term servant leadership could also be used. “Servant leadership
is a leadership approach that defines the leader’s role as serving the need of others,”
(Bauer & Erdogan, 2019, p. 430). My needs may have been at the forefront of my
thoughts given it was my first pregnancy and I was high risk but that doesn’t mean it
shouldn’t have mattered to anyone else in the organization. If the owner had shown
“caring – one person’s compassion ad concern for another,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p.
416), I would have understood that I was not alone in this but instead that the
organization could have been a family to listen, understand, accept, and support me.

The other thing that would have potential to provide an alternative course of action is
power. “The gift of power is important at multiple levels. As individuals, people want
power to control their immediate work environment and the factors that impinge on them
directly,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 418). I was powerless. I didn’t even have the power
to make decisions on how I would spend my time that wasn’t considered on-the-clock
time. I was expected to fit in the mold that the owner had set forth. If I had the power, or
autonomy, I could have found where I fit in the organization and had the potential to
thrive.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

They say hindsight is 20/20.There are several organizational tendencies that I have
realized were amiss with the organization now that I am no longer employed. From an

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 ethical perspective, I think the biggest aspect relates to how self-centered the owner was.
On the off chance that he wasn’t focused solely on himself, he laid heavy praise on the
only other male in the organization whereas the women were always seen to be lacking in
some regard. Sometimes it was related to the work itself, maybe an internet search taken
out of context. But other times it was related to familial obligations, such as a sick child.
It always felt that we weren’t good enough.

Another reflection is that the owner didn’t hold a leadership role so much as a position of
authority. “The most important responsibility of leaders is not to answer every question
or to get every decision right…they serve a deeper and more endearing role if they are
models and catalysts for values like excellence, caring, justice, and faith,” (Bolman &
Deal, 2021, p. 421). If he were to allow himself to appear more human and less
authoritarian, the culture and organization would have been better suited to prosper.
Doing the right thing may not immediately result in added profitability but in the long
run, running an organization ethically will increase profitability. The staff will feel better
appreciated. The customers will trust the organization. And when customers and
employees feel trust and faith in an organization, the customer and employee retention is
increased resulting in more profitability for the organization.

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 Reference

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2019). Organizational Behavior Bridging Science and Practice (Vol.
3.0). Boston, MA: FlatWorld.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadeship
(7th Edition ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.