The Army's Profession: A Case Study

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“Leadership is paramount to our profession. It is integral to our institutional success today and tomorrow.” ADP 6-22, Odierno
The Army trains its leaders to lead in leading by example. The leader’s role in character and ethics is critical to organization success. Organizations trend in the direction of its senior leaders. If a senior leader exemplifies strong character bound with a sense of values then the organization mirrors the same. Conversely, if the leader fails to uphold established values, the organization will be without a moral compass and soon follow. As a result, organizations success or failure largely depends on its leadership and the leadership’s ability to lead by example, exercise good character, and operate in an ethical …show more content…
Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, the chief executives who guided Enron through its spectacular rise and even more stunning fall, were found guilty today of fraud and conspiracy.”7 This remarkable growth enjoyed by a few accompanied with the leaderships elitism eventually eroded into division and disenchantment. A watershed event occurred when a disenchanted employee, a whistle blower, by the name of Sherron Watkins exposed the organization. Her testimony proved damning to both Lay and Skilling, exposing their total disregard for standard accounting practices and lack of business ethics. She later left stating that she couldn’t continue "working for a company that manipulates their financial statements".8 In the end, Enron’s value dropped to pennies on the dollar and the company was dissolved from poor character and unethical leadership at the highest levels. But, can character and ethics play a different role in organizational culture? Yes, it can. Let’s look at the story of Gordon Bethune and Continental …show more content…
Gordon faced a very unstable economic and employ relationship environment. However, this poor situation wasn’t necessary the results of Mr. Ferguson’s leadership. Rather, it was the leadership – employee infighting carried in from Mr. Ferguson’s predecessor, Frank Lorenzo, that caused the most damage to management and employee relations. Mr. Lorenzo was largely seen as a narcists with poor people skills. He was credited with creating conditions during an earlier strike for employees to cross the line (a.k.a. SCABS). Mr. Lorenzo’s actions created deep divisions within the company and placed a solid foundation of mistrust between employees, more specifically pilots, and management. The employee group viewed Mr. Lorenzo as a self-serving, weak leader who cared more about himself and less about his employees. This negative sentiment ran deep through the Continental formation. His poor leadership accompanied with his lack of vision and communication skills ran Continental Airlines into bankruptcy for a second time prior to his departure. When Mr. Bethune assumed the reigns, he not only had to clean up the reputation of his immediate predecessor but he had to restore employee and management trust that was destroyed from years of mismanagement on behalf of Mr. Lorenzo. And he did just that. In a period of three years Gordon Bethune turned the ship around and not only created a
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