The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the issues that can happen to an organization if the CEO of that particular organization is not at all ethical. The leadership is thought to be one of the most interesting facts for the organization to be governed properly so the reputation of the organization can remain as it is. Sometimes it has been observed that the fraudulent activities of the top leaders of the organization have resulted in the arresting of that person. The entire organization has lost its reputation due to these activities indeed (Demirtas & Akdogan, 2015).
The case study named “CEO: power, accountability and transparency” will have to be analyzed in this context to get an insight on the different facts that could be attributed to the issue of leadership and governance properly. The CEO sits at the top of the company and his most immediate responsibility is to see if all the things within the organization are all right. Some theories and models related to the context of leading the organization swiftly will be discussed in this paper. The fact that the CEO must lead the company by example will be discussed in this paper as well. The impact of the fraudulent activities and its impact on the organizational culture should be reviewed as well.
In this case study named “CEO: power, accountability and transparency” should be reviewed in order to understand the several things that occur within the organization. CEO is the first and last person who should be accountable for holding the brand reputation and culture of the organizations (Demirtas & Akdogan, 2015). Some of the corporate scandals have been highlighted in several social media platforms over the last decade. Two of the biggest examples of the corporate scandals are the Kenneth Lay at Enron and Bernie Ebbers at Worldcom. Apart from those scandals, the chief of the British Petroleum Tony Hayward had also been insulted in the public for the oil spill that had been done in the Gulf of Mexico under his management. These things are despicable from the end of the leaders of the rank of the CEO (Audia et al., 2016).
Some critics have argued that a leader like Kenneth lay had taken the path of fraudulent activities at his own desire. If this was the case he should be punished strictly so such issues do not take place again. There are several instances where the CEO or the chief of the company has been accused of the several issues because of his or her approach or behavior over some issues within the organizations (Kalshoven & Boon, 2012). Thus it can be said that the overall role of the CEO is enormous since he has been regarded as the one who will discuss the important issues with his subordinates to take the initiatives within the organization to prepare the strategies. If the person like the CEO of the company misleads the people it will indeed be very much harmful for the organization’s brand reputation, ethical boundaries and the culture. However some of the critics have put the focus mostly on the decision making of the board of directors and the role of the stakeholders. Thus they have completely overlooked the significance of the role of the CEOs. The proverb goes like this “a good board can never compensate for a bad CEO but a good CEO can compensate for a bad board” as said by Mats Isaksson, Head of the Corporate Affairs at the OECD (Audia et al., 2016).
As detailed in the case study the failures of the CEO in the company as the good administrators will surely hamper the operations of the organization in a great many ways. Though CEO is the chief of the company but he should not be above the well being of the company itself. He should act as the driving force that will allow him to consult with the subordinates and take the final decisions on how they will proceed with the organization. In the past many CEOs had been ousted from their positions because they had not been performing properly (Audia et al., 2016). This had been done only for the well being and success of the organization. The CEO should never hold the sovereign power of the organization rather his faults and lack of performances should be highlighted as well. The general audit of the company should be processed to find out what are the faults and the lapses that are working as the problems for the company (Kacmar et al., 2013).
The moral issues should be highlighted in this context as well. It is the responsibility of the board of the governors to adjust the issues with the CEO since he is in charge of all the activities within the organization. However, it must be considered that the subordinates do not possess a great amount of power as much as the CEO. This is why they feel the hesitation about what they should do until strong protests come within the organization from the active stakeholders, several investors or the social media platforms (Kacmar et al., 2013). The board of governors is generally very hesitant to make proceedings against the activities of the CEO. If the investors or the stakeholders make it so late it would be really problematic for the company as the permanent damage has been done before the CEO understands it or take the corrective action (Elçi et al., 2012).
The replacement of the CEO is very much important to prevent the damage of the company and this should be done to help the interests of the company only (Lazaroiu, 2015). The board of governors must take under consideration that there is much volatility in the current business environment and investors are always alert about the issues that take place there. If they see any gaps or weaknesses they will surely pounce on them indeed. The board of governors should be clever enough to response on the warning signals before the other men from the outside do. The board will need to make some decisions before the situations get worse. They should talk to the CEO about the gaps they had identified. If the CEO does not agree to them and continues with his argument it will damage the organizational culture of the company (Elçi et al., 2012).
The high performing CEOs are considered as the backbones of the company and it is their role to lead the company as the perfect leader. Some theories of leadership can be associated with this topic as well (Kaliannan & Adjovu, 2015). The CEOs should be the ones who will always look to motivate the employees to be successful within the industry. Therefore the consultation with the board of directors, the lower level managers and the employees should be arranged by the CEO to know what they actually want from the company. There are around characteristics of the high-performing CEOs that will lead the organizations to the ultimate success in this volatile business environment. The CEOs must have the perfect visionary who would lead the company to the ultimate organizational success amidst the difficult situations (Schaubroeck et al., 2012).
The CEO should be a person who would be an expert in the decision making process. He should be able to take the perfect decisions in the difficult times of the organization. He should also be proactive in adapting to the changing situations within the industry and the business environment. The CEO is also accountable for the reliable delivery of the services of the company (Bhuvanaiah & Raya, 2014). This is why he should always lead from the front and see to the fact whether all the things have been delivered to the clients properly. He must question the employees if he finds if he finds anything missing from the list (Schaubroeck et al., 2012). His leading role must be effective and it should have an impact on the approach and behaviors of the employees. The employees must have respect for the CEO since he would guide the employees towards their professional success as well. It is not the fact that all the CEOs should be the successful leaders for the companies. Apart from the technical things, the CEO must also express (Shin, 2012).
The CEOs should control the business operations with the proper corporate governance. The CEOs will definitely be accountable to the investors of the organization (Benn, Edwards & Williams, 2014). According to some of the critics, the global business environment is very quickly changing and everyone must be able to adapt to the new situations and share the most appropriate information (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013). The CEO should always lead the company by sharing the most relevant information to the several shareholders. The CEO should have a clear vision about where he wants to take the company. In order to soar to the new heights of success, the CEO must be accountable to the employees as well. If his messages are clear to the employees they will cater to the growth of the organization in the best ways they can. The CEO should lead the company by seeking the best efforts from the stakeholders associated with the company. The ethical values and behaviors will be very important for the CEO to indulge in the best practices (Shin, 2012).
The CEO will also have to take the pioneering role in building the teamwork for the employees (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). The organizational culture should be designed in such a way by the CEO so that the employees from all sorts of cultural backgrounds and ethnicities would be able to assimilate in the organization (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013). The CEO can opt to share the emails with the newly joined employees where he should play a vital part in their induction process. The newly joined employees would be overwhelmed to be a part of the organization if they receive the email from the CEO himself. It would motivate them a lot (Yukl et al., 2013).
Apart from that the employees could be divided into several plans as per the CEO’s plan. These teams within the organization could engage in a healthy competition with each other ensuring high amount of productivity (Bello, 2012). The diversity at the workplace should be encouraged by the initiation of the CEO. All sorts of people from the different cultural and ethnic backgrounds should be made welcome in the organization. The initiation of the corporate social responsibilities would be an essential part as well. This is how the organization can earn a praiseworthy reputation (Yukl et al., 2013).
The CEO might opt to allow the flexibility in the shift timings. He should also allow the work from home facilities to the sick persons and female employees if they are not able to come for some valid reasons. It is also the responsibility of the CEO to practice some changes in the organization if things are going wrong (Bello, 2012). However, it is advisable not to make the changes very frequently since it will create problems for the employees. The CEO must also take the proper initiative to get rid of the workplace politics and convince all the employees to work together with a sense of fellow-feeling and brotherhood (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin, 2013). The feedbacks from the employees can also be sought from the employees’ end through emails by the CEO as well. Thus the organizational culture can be strengthened creating a positive social impact on the customers.
Conclusion
As discussed above, the primary concepts have been clarified as per the role of the CEO in the organizations. The CEO is the chief leader of the organization and he must concentrate on his work to strengthen the organizational culture, designing strategies that will impact positively on the stakeholders of the organizations. Apart from that, the CEO must not indulge in the unethical factors this would ruin the brand reputation of the organization. The CEO must always be ethical in his attitude and work for the overall success of the organization. He should be the positive leader and his actions must create a positive vibe on the people with whom he is working with.
References
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.
Audia, P., Maug, E., Isaksson, M., Pelisson, G. and Solmssen, P. (2016). The CEO: power, accountability and transparency. [online] The Council Community: A global alliance of leading schools of business and management. Available at: https://councilcommunity.com/2016/04/21/the-ceo-power-accountability-and-transparency/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2018].
Bello, S. M. (2012). Impact of ethical leadership on employee job performance. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(11).
Benn, S., Edwards, M., & Williams, T. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.
Bhuvanaiah, T., & Raya, R. P. (2014). Employee engagement: Key to organizational success. SCMS journal of Indian management, 11(4), 61.
Büschgens, T., Bausch, A., & Balkin, D. B. (2013). Organizational culture and innovation: A meta?analytic review. Journal of product innovation management, 30(4), 763-781.
Demirtas, O., & Akdogan, A. A. (2015). The effect of ethical leadership behavior on ethical climate, turnover intention, and affective commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(1), 59-67.
Elçi, M., ?ener, ?., Aksoy, S., & Alpkan, L. (2012). The impact of ethical leadership and leadership effectiveness on employees’ turnover intention: The mediating role of work related stress. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58, 289-297.
Kacmar, K. M., Andrews, M. C., Harris, K. J., & Tepper, B. J. (2013). Ethical leadership and subordinate outcomes: The mediating role of organizational politics and the moderating role of political skill. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(1), 33-44.
Kaliannan, M., & Adjovu, S. N. (2015). Effective employee engagement and organizational success: a case study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172, 161-168.
Kalshoven, K., & Boon, C. T. (2012). Ethical leadership, employee well-being, and helping. Journal of Personnel Psychology.
Lazaroiu, G. (2015). Employee motivation and job performance. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, 14, 97.
Schaubroeck, J. M., Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Kozlowski, S. W., Lord, R. G., Treviño, L. K., … & Peng, A. C. (2012). Embedding ethical leadership within and across organization levels. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1053-1078.
Shin, Y. (2012). CEO ethical leadership, ethical climate, climate strength, and collective organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 108(3), 299-312.
Yidong, T., & Xinxin, L. (2013). How ethical leadership influence employees’ innovative work behavior: A perspective of intrinsic motivation. Journal of business ethics, 116(2), 441-455.
Yukl, G., Mahsud, R., Hassan, S., & Prussia, G. E. (2013). An improved measure of ethical leadership. Journal of leadership & organizational studies, 20(1), 38-48.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download