Assessment Of Sexual Harassment Allegations Against CEO: Key Personal Competencies Leadership Perspective Report

Analysis of the Situation

Creating a safe workforce for the employees is the first priority of any company. For, when the employees are happy can they serve the consumers better. Any form of harassment with the employees is completely intolerable and should be met with strict actions (Ventimiglio, 2015).

However, if such an act is carried out by the CEO or any top-level leader of the company it is important to ensure that it is thoroughly looked into and all corrective measures are taken.

In the given case too, the situation is similar. Here, the person concerned is the CEO of our company and has been charged with sexual harassment cases from the two employees (former) from his former company. The claims are quite dependable and authentic, and due to this situation, the news has spread in media and is gaining momentum. Because of this, the current company is facing a lot of issues, especially because the stakeholders no more see any value and are extremely angry. This situation is not at all desirable for the company, as this is not only harmful to the company’s image but is also against the ethical boundaries and rules set. It is quite reflective that the CEO is in the denial phase. However, it is important to give him a fair chance and investigate the matter thoroughly, without any bias whatsoever. Once the matter has been looked into completely, perfect recommendations can be given for the processes henceforth.

Aim: in this report, we will aim to formulate certain recommendations and aims to provide solutions for this situation and how the CEO can himself take some rectification measures. The report will also aim to contain the damage that has been created because of this situation. The evidence will be evaluated keeping all the practices of the organization in mind and how it can be completely free of any bias (Bischak & Woiceshyn, 2015).

Scope: the scope of this report expands to the organization only. It will be enforceable on the CEO and if, in any case, he does not adhere to the recommendations mentioned here, he is liable to step down from the post or be terminated.

We will not consider any implications in this report and any legal cases which (if) have to be filed against any member in question. The report is simply investigative in nature and for the purpose of helping the board of directors to evaluate the situation in detail.

Personal Competencies Leadership Perspective

Every human being in a workforce has certain skills and competencies based on which it is decided if he or she is fit for the job or not. The competencies are a list of observable behaviour which make the probable character of a person and renders his or her use to the company (Cripe, 2012).

In this case, too, the list of competencies will help us in identifying the kind of person the CEO is, our company’s requirement and vision for its CEO and if he is able to live up to them or not.

These competencies have been formed after the complete background check of the CEO which are direct proofs of his conduct and his ability to head the company. We have asked for a behavioural psychologist to help us with this. Being an independently chosen their person, the psychologist is not at all biased and has ensured that she gives us an independent report of her findings (Jabbouri & Zahari, 2014).

In an international business environment, it is important to develop these competencies in the employees of the company, no less the leader as well. A CEO is responsible for the growth of the business and is the bridge between the management and the employees and the company and the outer world. Such a person should exhibit the highest amount of calibre, ethics, humility and skill besides the regular domain knowledge (Forbes Coaches Council, 2017).

For the purpose of this report, it is essential to understand that the following keep personnel competencies are essential in our CEO.

The core competencies which we require in our CEO are mentioned below:

• The CEO should be empathetic enough to understand the plight of the employees and should be willing to take corrective actions
• The CEO should draw clear channels of communication to ensure proper flow of information and that employees can clearly communicate their concerns to the concerned person (Hackett, 2012)
• The CEO should be clear in his pursuit and vision for the organization and should have the right planned chalked out as well
• The CEO should respect everyone and shall consider all the workplace ethics as important and to be followed
• The CEO should focus more on the growth of the people than just his personal gains (Riggio, 2014)

The following section will summarise the expected competencies of the CEO, the competencies in the current CEO and if there is a sync between the two or not.

 
There were various other questions which were asked to him during the interview, and it was felt that while he was a good CEO in terms of his knowledge and skills, his personal beliefs and ideas often clouded his judgement and rendered him biased in this transactions.

It was felt that the CEO was not really in grip of his accounts that day. Even though his plans for the company were ready, he lacked basic implementation methods as well.

On being asked about the harassment issues, he showed visible signs of discomfort but still stuck to his denial story and simply termed those women to be opportunists. This situation is tough since the CEO appointed is good in work, but with all the allegations levied against him and his outright denial, apparently unsupported by any facts, makes it difficult to count upon his integrity and take his word for it (Snellman, 2015). There are chances that the female employees of our company, who are currently enraged might not feel comfortable with the decision of sticking him around. But at the same time, finding a better replacement, better in terms of skills and knowledge can be a tough road.

Following recommendations have been formulated for the members of the board after a diligent interview with the CEO and the committee. These recommendations are guiding principle for a better and informed decision-making process, which is free of all the bias.

• The CEO should be given a last fair chance to come clean in the matter
• The board should give a press statement at the earliest possible to control the fake news and all the corresponding damage the company is facing over these allegations
• The board should also conduct a meeting with all the relevant shareholders and investors to ensure that their confidence remains intact
• PR activities to be rolled out for better outreach and image cleansing for the company
• The CEO should be asked to submit a detailed clarification
• A random and unbiased background check of the CEO from the previous company, especially the female staff to understand his work cultures and work ethics
• Temporarily suspending the CEO till some progress is obtained and reinstating an acting head
• Initiate the search and nomination for a new CEO (Sunanda, 2018)

The board members are hereby requested to go through the report in detail and understand the current situation from an independent perspective. While we may have supporters of the current CEO in the board, it is important to first thing about the company and its slowly but steadily tarnishing image because of these unfortunate incidences.

A thorough and bias-free understanding is requested following which a meeting can be scheduled to decide on the future of the current CEO and the company.

Conclusion

With this, we can understand how companies and the board function when the ethical norms of a company are violated (Saremi & nezhad, 2014). It is essential to create such an environment in a company where laws apply to everyone equally and women are safe. In this case, a bias-free understanding is essential to reach a decision as soon as possible.

References

Cripe, E. J. (2012). 31 Core Competencies Explained. Retrieved from https://www.workforce.com/2002/09/03/31-core-competencies-explained/

Jabbouri, N. I., & Zahari, I. (2014). THE ROLE OF CORE COMPETENCIES ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN THE IRAQI PRIVATE BANKING SECTOR. European Scientific Journal, 1.

Forbes Coaches Council. (2017). If You Want To Be ‘CEO Material,’ Develop These 15 Traits. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/12/29/if-you-want-to-be-ceo-material-develop-these-15-traits/#4b9dd5a44ed3

Ventimiglia, L. (2015). The Benefits & Importance of Ethics in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/benefits-importance-ethics-workplace-larry-ventimiglio/

Riggio, R. E. (2014). The Top 10 Leadership Competencies. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201404/the-top-10-leadership-competencies

Sunanda, D. K. (2018). IMPACT OF WORKPLACE ETHICS ON EMPLOYEE AND ORGANIZATION PRODUCTIVITY. International Journal of Management, 9(1).

Saremi, H., & nezhad, B. m. (2014). ROLE OF ETHICS IN MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATION. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CURRENT LIFE SCIENCES, 4(11).

Snellman, L. (2015). Ethics Management: How to Achieve Ethical Organizations and Management? Business, ManageMent and education, 13(2).

Hackett, R. D. (2012). Virtues and leadership: An integrating conceptual framework founded in Aristotelian and Confucian perspectives on virtues. MANAGEMENT DECISION, 50(5).

Bischak, D. P., & Woiceshyn, J. (2015). Leadership Virtues Exposed: Ethical Leadership Lessons From Leading in Rock Climbing. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.