LDR800 Full Course Assignments Week 6 Discussion 1 & 2 

DQ1

Can an organizational leader who acts unethically lead an organization that is ethical? Support your position. How does your worldview inform your position? Explain.

DQ2

Should an employee who acts unethically be terminated from his or her position? Why or why not?

MORE INFO 

Can an organizational leader who acts unethically lead an organization that is ethical?

Introduction

The Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes has been accused of sexual harassment by Gretchen Carlson, a former anchor on the network. In response to these charges, Ailes issued a statement saying that he “occasionally” made comments over the years that “were clearly inappropriate.” This is not an admission of guilt — it’s simply an acknowledgment that Ailes has said things in his career as a media executive that might be considered inappropriate by some people. What he couldn’t say was whether or not those comments were ever actually made or whether they were just imagined by someone who had a grudge against him because they didn’t get along with him (which I’m sure happens all too frequently).

Here’s the ethical conundrum facing 20th Century Fox, the movie studio that has produced and distributed The Simpsons since 1989.

The ethical conundrum facing 20th Century Fox, the movie studio that has produced and distributed The Simpsons since 1989, is a question that’s been asked for years. How can an organization run by people who act unethically lead an organization that is ethical?

The answer is simple: you can’t. In fact, it’s impossible to be ethical if you don’t want to be (and if you do want to be—and I mean really want it—you’ll probably end up acting unethically anyway). But why should we care about being ethical? Because this is what keeps us human: our capacity for good or bad depends on whether we have decided which side of the line we stand on when faced with complicated situations like this one.

If you don’t know who Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes is, you have probably been living under a rock during the last couple of weeks.

• If you don’t know who Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes is, you have probably been living under a rock during the last couple of weeks.

• He is accused of sexual harassment by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, who sued him for wrongful termination in 2016. She had reported similar incidents, but they were not taken seriously at the time because she was an anchor on a conservative network, which is apparently considered less credible than someone who works at MSNBC or CNN (even though they’re also owned by Comcast).

• He has also been accused of being racist; many people find his remarks about Mexicans being rapists offensive.

• In addition to being sexist and bullying people online—he did this even after being fired from one company (which he founded) over these issues—he’s been accused of lying about things like not knowing what happened when he sexually harassed someone; lying about how much money people made off his shows; lying about an incident where one employee felt unsafe working alone with him in private rooms away from other employees; lying about having no idea why another employee quit her job after working there less than two months because she couldn’t stand working with him anymore (and then actively campaigned against her).

First, there was Gretchen Carlson, a former anchor on Fox & Friends, who claimed she was fired after rebuffing Ailes’ sexual advances.

First, there was Gretchen Carlson, the former anchor on Fox & Friends who claimed she was fired after rebuffing Ailes’ sexual advances. Ailes is a powerful man in the media industry and he has been accused of sexual harassment by other women before Carlson. He denied all of these allegations and claimed that they were false or exaggerated.”

But make no mistake about it, whatever happens to Ailes won’t be the result of an enlightened company finally realizing its error.

But make no mistake about it, whatever happens to Ailes won’t be the result of an enlightened company finally realizing its error.

Ailes is a powerful figure in the company and has a lot of influence over it. He’s not going to be fired easily, so don’t expect him to be pushed out any time soon either. In fact, it seems like he’ll fight tooth and nail just for another chance at running Fox News Channel—and that’s if anyone can stop him from taking over all three stations on his own terms (which could easily happen).

Ailes himself has been successful before; after all, he built up cable news’ ratings leader into one of America’s most profitable media entities through sheer determination and ruthlessness when other leaders wouldn’t do what needed doing: namely finding ways around regulations designed specifically for broadcast television companies such as those created by FCC chairman Michael Powell back during his tenure as chairman during President George W Bush’s second term…

That’s because there is no moral clarity at 21st Century Fox — only moral confusion.

Fox News is a company. It has employees, and they all have to follow certain rules in order to keep the business running smoothly.

Fox Entertainment is not a company. It has no formal structure or governance mechanism — it just exists out of thin air because Roger Ailes created it (and he did so without following any laws). And when you’re talking about a place like Fox News, where most people are poorly paid and overworked, there’s not much reason for anyone who works there at least not act ethically anyway; after all, if you don’t earn enough money here then why would you work hard?

A bad CEO can lead a company in bad directions

There are many reasons why a bad CEO can lead an organization in the wrong direction. A bad CEO may not be able to see past their own ego, and so they will focus on themselves rather than on the larger purpose of their company or industry. They might also have no understanding of how to make decisions that are ethical, so they end up making decisions based on personal greed or jealousy instead of focusing on what’s best for everyone else in the company.

If someone has no idea how to do good work without being selfish and hurtful toward other people (or even themselves), then it doesn’t matter how much money you give them—they won’t know any better!

Conclusion

It’s a dilemma that can only be resolved by the people who work at 20th Century Fox. If they decide to stand up and speak out against Ailes, they will clearly have the moral high ground. But if they don’t do anything, will it really be their fault?