Sexual Discrimination Lawsuit At Bayer

In a recent article posted today, I encountered a very interesting topic addressing issues currently being brought up by Bayer AG's U.S. health care branch. The article brings up a very significant problem regarding gender discrimination in the workplace. It is said that the branch filed a $100 million gender discrimination lawsuit today, claiming that the U.S. unit of Bayer discriminates against its female employees in terms of pay and promotion, as well as pregnancy leave. This lawsuit was filed through the Newark, NJ federal court and seeks "class-action status". Stated simply, the lawsuit is asking for $100 million in pay back, damages, and legal costs. 

“Bayer engages in systemic discrimination against its female employees — particularly those with family responsibilities — by paying them less than their counterparts, denying them promotions into better and higher paying positions, limiting their employment opportunities to lower and less desirable job classifications, and exposing them to different treatment and a hostile work environment,” said Katherine Kimpel, a lawyer for the women suing. “To make matters worse, Bayer is often blatant about its disregard for its female employees.”

According to the same source, the defendants include Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and its U.S. parent Bayer Corp. In addition, the lawsuit claims that the company's HR department has defined gender discrimination as being a "gray area" that should be handled by the employee, not the company. It is also important to note that a Bayer spokeswoman stated that the company had previously received administrative complaints before the EEOC by 6 current or former New Jersey based employees. Apparently, the company was prepared to cooperate with the EEOC and respond to said charges, but the plaintiffs elected to end the proceedings and file the current lawsuit. 

This article brings up yet another ethical situation regarding women and leadership, along with the fact that a number of corporations who do business in the U.S. have faced discrimination suits on behalf of their female employees as well. In fact, last month Sanford Wittels & Heisler, which brought the Bayer suit, sued Toshiba Corp's U.S. business and French advertising company Publicis Group SA on behalf of female employees in the U.S. Several other situations exist as well, including a lawsuit on behalf of as many as 1.5 million female employees at Wal-Mart Stores. 

This clearly relates to our class topic, Chapter 13 on Women and Leadership. It goes along quite well with the premise of the glass ceiling and how women have struggled to gain elite leadership positions due to instances such as this one where Bayer is apparently preventing women from promotions and higher paying positions. A useful tool to help navigate this issue is further understanding of the Leadership Labyrinth. According to our text, women's underrepresentation in high-level leadership positions generally revolve around three types of explanations. The first is differences in women and men's investment in human capital. The next category considers gender differences between women and men. Then, the final explanation focuses on prejudice and discrimination against female leaders. Therefore, if we relate the Labyrinth to the situation at Bayer, you can start by thinking about whether or not the employed women's educational level, work experience, developmental opportunities, and work-home conflict play a role in this discrimination by the company. Next, you can look into various prejudices regarding gender stereotypes, biased perception and evaluations, vulnerability & reactance, along with cross-pressures. Finally, it is important to think about gender differences in the workplace, including traits, negotiation, self-promotion, commitment & motivation, along with style & effectiveness. Many of these various elements that are a part of the Leadership Labyrinth can often give explanation as to how and why some of these women may be discriminated against in their workplace.

It will truly be interesting to see how this lawsuit, along with the many others relating to discrimination of women all pan out. This is clearly an ethical issue that must be dealt with and analyzed more deeply. See the link below to read the full article. 

Click Here

 -Josh Dlabal

Presidential power vs. ethics

Obama’s Pledge to Reform Ethics Faces an Early Test

President Obama has been faced with many tasks that he has vowed to complete that will eventually by the end of his term dramatically affect our government in the US and indefinitely affect the American people and their trust in this administration and those of the future. In the article linked below, there is discussion of President Obama’s intentions as president to fill important political positions with well informed and talented individuals that had previously broken the law or have significant biases toward specific goals in leadership. Is this ethically advisable? No. Is this an ethical dilemma? In my opinion yes.

I would like to start from the beginning of our ethics teachings in class and suggest that legitimate power has given President Obama the authority to permit well qualified individuals that have make unethical decisions in the past to lead this country into the future. I feel that this is the primary unethical platform for future unethical decisions. Logic would dictate that any individual who has been convicted of breaking law in any way, shape, or form should not hold a position that allows him or her to make decisions in a position in which they were previously unlawful. I feel that if it were not for legitimate power, our president would not be able to appoint these individuals to specific positions in our national government.

I feel that opportunism also may play a role in these decisions. The president has the luxury of using impoverished management to his advantage, he can be hands off when leading certain members of his administration and let them admit their inadequacies while in the process of resignation, ultimately letting mistakes in their personal lives outweigh his initial mistake of appointing these individuals in the first place. Opportunism comes into play when he has to use an authority-compliance relationship with the individual to force them to step down for the good of the country and those that are affected by a particular portion of the government.

I also feel that path goal theory does certainly play a role in these unethical developments. President Obama has initially set goals during his campaign and ultimately during his first presidential address. The public has certain expectations of him and his staff that directly affect his ratings as our national leader. Mr. Obama has clarified his path in many addresses across the U.S., but fails to take into consideration the obstacles that he will face due to his initial unethical decisions. The president now has to remove these obstables to provide to support to the rest of the staff and the American people. This sense of removal, often of staff by a forced resignation, allows some sense of productivity as an end result; but we must take into consideration that the goal of achievement in this case has outweighed ethical behavior on President Obama’s behalf.

LMX theory may also play a role in these leadership decisions. President Obama’s in group has certainly reaped the benefits of his unethical decisions much more than the out group. As this theory entails, the individuals in the in group are more likely to receive special treatment and more authority (in this case the opportunity to obtain a position of authority). Though many do criticize the theory for suggesting that individuals are separated in the work place by an in group and out group, I feel that this example is very applicable. Many of these individuals, due to past convictions, should have no ethical reason to participate and make decisions on behalf of our country and its citizens, but they were given this opportunity because they were in an in-group of sorts.

Finally, I feel that authentic leadership is certainly worth discussing based on the findings in this article. From an intrapersonal perspective, authentic leaders base their actions on their values. I feel that if President Obama’s actions represent his values in these circumstances mentioned in the article; he has acted in an unethical manner. Though I do feel that he is a genuine leader who does have faults, he is original and does lead from conviction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/us/politics/03lobby.html?_r=1&ref=ethics

-Shae Spitznagle

H-P Sues to Stop Ex-Chief's Job

Leader-Member Exchange Theory is a very important in business. In class, we learned that there are two groups associated with the theory: In-group and Out-group. Leaders and their subordinates form relationships and their subordinates fall into one of these groups.   In this case, former CEO Mark Hurd is in an out group with H-P.  He is in an out group because there is no trust between him and the rest of the executives a H-P. H-P does not trust Hurd to keep a secret.

I think in this article, Mark Hurd is task motivated. Within Contingency Theory have low to middle LPC scores. In this case, Mark Hurd, has good leader-member relations, his task structure is high and his position power is strong because he was the CEO of HP.

In this article, the author (Guth) discusses trust in the workplace. In this case, a confidentiality agreement between Hewlett-Packard and its former CEO Mark Hurd.  H-P is suing Hurd because they think his recent hiring, as a senior executive at Oracle Corp., violates his current confidentiality agreement. H-P’s former CEO, Hurd, has deep knowledge of its operations that could prove useful at Oracle. Hurd signed a confidentiality agreement stating he must always comply with keeping H-P’s trade secrets confidential. H-P claims Hurd is violating his legal obligations stated in his exit agreement. Oracle’s CEO, Larry Ellison, is countering by stating that H-P and his company have always been partners and have had joint customers. Also, prior to Hurd resigning, there were sexual harassment allegations towards him from a former employee, Jodie Fisher. Hurd did not violate the company’s sexual harassment policy only its code of business conduct, H-P stated. Hurd reached a private settlement with Fisher on those allegations.

Trust will continue to be a huge part of everyday life in organizations.  Hurd should have some moral awareness about keeping H-P’s trade secrets. Hurd has a personal choice to tell the secrets, but either way H-P will always question is trustworthiness. Hurd lost his employees’ trust with the sexual harassment allegations; that is why H-P does not trust him with keeping its trade secrets. Sexual harassment is a very negative issue in the workplace and it affects many organizations every day, and in this case, it’s affecting H-P and rival Oracle.

I encourage everyone to Click Here to read the full article. It is very interesting to learn about a high profile leadership scandal. 

Please leave any comments and/or your thoughts on this article and issue. And put yourself in HP's shoes, would you trust your ex-CEO to keep your trade secrets?


In my opinion, I would have to know and trust the person well before I would consider trusting someone in this situation. 


--Michael Cosentino

“BP’s New Chief Puts Emphasis on Safety”

Despite tragedy and disaster, there are many examples of leaders that promote good corporate social responsibility. Path-Goal Theory is a very interesting theory that is laid out very well within this article. In this article, BP’s new CEO Robert Dudley has a goal to strengthen the company’s image and social responsibility. He is going to do this using Path Goal Theory.  

We learned in class that Path-Goal Theory is when a leader (Dudley in this case) directs their subordinates along a path (restructuring BP) around obstacles (the oil spill and BP’s damaged image) towards a goal (increased safety standards at BP and implement them).  As we all know, the oil spill on April 20, 2010, was the result of an oil rig explosion. As I mentioned, the oil spill is acting as the obstacle in this case. BP’s new CEO, Dudley has created a path to strengthen BP’s corporate image and he plans to provide support along the way to his goal.

In this case, Dudley has two leadership behaviors: directive and achievement-oriented. He has a directive leadership behavior because he is initiating new structure to BP.  Dudley is (or plans to) set clear safety standards of performance at BP and he is making the rules and regulations (new safety standards) clear to his subordinates (other top BP executives).

Dudley is using achievement-oriented behavior because he is (or plans to) establish a high standard of excellence (new safety standards) for his subordinates and BP. You will read in my summary, that he is challenging Mark Bly to develop and lead the new safety unit at BP.

In this article, Chazan outlines the changes that incoming CEO Robert Dudley has for BP. According to Chazan, BP’s reputation significantly fell after the Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico last April. Dudley has plans to improve safety by creating a new safety unit lead by Mark Bly. Bly is author of the company’s inquiry into the oil rig disaster and currently holds the position of top safety executive. Dudley also has plans to restructure the company by removing two senior executives who were in charge of drilling operations in the Gulf, during the disaster.  Dudley’s changes are focused towards rebuilding the public’s trust and BP’s stock value; because it plunged more than a third since the disaster. The new safety unit is going to be made up of safety specialists that will make sure BP operations are executed to the highest safety standards in the industry. Dudley also has plans to divide its exploration and production division into three functions: exploration, development, and production. Each function is going to be run by a senior executive that will report to Dudley.

The Deep Water Horizon disaster is not BP’s first disaster where the public has lost trust in them; it is just the worst yet. Chazan lays out how BP is restructuring in order to adapt to the new (post disaster) environment. Dudley has to act quickly in restricting BP and implementing these safety standards/units. He recognizes the company needs to significantly change to raise its organizational performance. Firms and their leaders must learn that cutting corners will lead to customers losing trust in them. Trust is everything in business, without it organizations fail. 

I encourage everyone to read the entire interesting article by: Clicking Here

I also encourage everyone to post any comments. The BP oil spill was one of the greatest disasters in history. And this was very interesting to me because it showed how a new Leader plans to use the Path Goal Theory to change BP and get over the devastating obstacle/disaster; for the better good of the company, the environment, and everyone in the world. 

--Michael Cosentino 

Workers Sickened at Apple Supplier in China

With our group talking about ethics in the workplace I’m going to be providing a situation where I strongly believe that the overall company needs to adapt to the followers needs such as the workers and going to present a leadership style/approach that is critical to the companies long term survival. 

This company is known as Apple.  When you think of them, you think of faultless management, superior products and a leader that stands out with competitive advantage.  Is this all true though?  In an article that I found in The New York Times titled, “Workers Sickened at Apple Supplier in China” by David Barboza, he truly did beg the differ.  This article is about Apple and how workers at a supplier plant in Suzhou China are being injured by a toxic chemical .  The plant is known as Wintek, in which 137 workers at that factory had been seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in making the glass screens of the iPhone.  “The chemical that is used is called n-hexane and it can disrupt the central nervous system of humans and induce vertigo and muscular atrophy” (Barboza).  With this happening and workers getting affected by this chemical, Apple refuses to help them in any possible way.

Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman at Apple’s headquarters, said that the “company was committed to the highest standards of social responsibility in its supply chain,” clearly they don’t follow through with their mission. (Barboza). They undeniably don’t treat workers with respect and dignity and don’t use environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.  With this said, I feel that the company should adopt a procedure/theory know as transformational leadership.  Transformational leadership is a theory that stresses “that leaders need to understand and adapt to the needs and motives of followers, and also that leaders should be recognized as changed agents who are good role models, who can create and articulate a clear vision for an organization, who empower followers to meet higher standards, and who act in ways that make others want to rust them, and who give meaning to organizational life” (Northouse, pg. 200).

In the article, it is stated that the workers that are affected by this illness “say they don’t trust the factory because some managers continue to press injured workers to resign, sometimes by insisting they work longer hours even through their health is impaired” (Barboza). Management is not paying for any medical bills, and are tying to make the employees quit instead of trying to provide support. The first thing management needs to do is win back the company/workers trust.  To do that, the workers which are affected by the chemical should seek medical attention that should be paid for by Apple.  Apple then should redesign the process and figure out how they can make the screens with a different technique.  After that, they should follow through and reimburse the workers for medical leave.  With these little tasks getting done, it will show the workers that Apple is indeed trying to help.  Management should be evaluated and be given the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire “which measures a leaders behavior in seven areas: idealized influence, inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, contingent reward, management by exception and laissez-fair” (Northouse, pg. 200)  This will show the management team what their strengths and weaknesses are and will then lead them to focus and correct their original behaviors that will then make them into a better role model/leader.

Apple should live up to their end of social responsibility and to adopt the theory of transformational leadership to help upper management be attentive to the needs and motives of the followers and try to help each worker/follower reach their true potential.  Upper management strongly demonstrates Laissez-faire leadership which is defined as having no leadership at all.  It implies a “hands-off, let-things-ride” approach (Northouse, pg. 182).  Apple needs to move far away from this approach and needs to start giving feedback to the workers to let them know how their doing or even try to help them a little bit.  Management can offer incentives for hard work or meeting quotas, and this will create trust among the company and will be better on both management and the workers.

After reading this article, I encourage you click here and do the same. How do you feel about this situation as you continue to purchase products from Apple.  Yea they have great technology and products, but the workers are all in danger while building the products.  What would you suggest to Apple’s management? 

- Steve Fagiano

CEO, philanthropist 'helped humanity'

My group focused on several examples of CEO’s who failed to exemplify superior ethics and have experienced a scandalous situation.  Conversely, I will proceed in the opposite to present an individual who demonstrated exemplary leadership standards and who is a truly motivational character.  Currently, the class is learning about one of the most modern and extremely admired leadership methods, transformational leadership.  As stated in the textbook by Peter G. Northhouse, “transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower (Northhouse p.174).” When one thinks of current and past transformational leaders in the business world, individuals who stand out are Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, and Jack Welch of General Electric.  

A transformational business leader who is not as widely known, but deserves to be on the list of great ones, is Winston Wallin.  Wallin was the executive at Pillsbury and the CEO of a medical technology firm, Medtronic Inc.   Wallin recently passed away last year at the age of 84, after battling cancer.  An article written by Janet Morre and Neal St Anthony in The Star Tribune highlighted, “CEO Winston Wallin, Philanthropist Helped Humanity,” celebrates Wallin’s life as a great business leader, and even a better human being.

 “Winston Wallin is widely credited with setting a foundation for the Fridley-based Medtronic Company to become what it is today -- the world's largest medical technology firm, with $16 billion in annual sales (Morre, Anthony).”  Wallin is loved and missed by many, not only by his family and friends but by hundreds of employees he touched and influenced over the years.  Winston can be categorized  as a great transformational and charismatic leader, not only because of his success transforming a floundering company into a multibillion organization, but because of the way he conducted himself throughout his long life as being a self-confident, dominant person.

Current Medtronic's Chairman and CEO, William Hawkins III, said in a statement, “Wallin will be remembered for much more than his business record.  Wallin was extraordinarily generous and kind, and had a sincerity and dedication to fairness and ethical business practices which we strive to uphold every day at Medtronic."  This comment is just one example depicting that Winston Wallin truly represents a significant transformational leader.

Additionally, Wallin was driven by his strong moral values and he was not afraid of taking risks.  At the same time, Wallin was a respectful person who cared not only about his customers who made him successful, but all of his employees that he motivated on a daily basis. Wallin consistently illustrated a passion and desire to influence followers to make them better people and employees.  By setting a strong role model example for subordinates and communicating high expectations throughout the organization, Wallin created a sense of sincere trust with his followers.  Wallin was a leader who was “attentive to the needs and motives of his followers and tried to help his employees reach their fullest potential (Northouse p. 173).”

Wallin’s subordinates developed a unifying degree of affection towards him and they truly were able to relate to him on a personal level.  Through Wallin’s inspirational and motivational behavior surrounding corporate goals and vision, his organization provided emotional involvement throughout the company and many individuals began to focus on individual long-term goals.  As Janet Morre from The Star Tribune stated, “At 6 foot 4 with a gentle, self-deprecating wit, the no-nonsense Wallin defined a generation of Minnesota business leaders who stressed leadership over management and long-term and short-term gains (Morre, Anthony).” Winston Wallin was an exemplary and trustworthy leader who was a true visionary.  Wallin’s passion was to inspire subordinates by implementing his moral values onto others in creating a workplace of fun and fair environment.  

Finally, I believe that one of Wallin’s most noteworthy contributions to society was his work in philanthropy. “Winston Wallin spent him time raising approximately $35 million so that thousands of poor students could attend college.  Wallin challenged others to do the same (Morre, Anthony).” As Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty stated, "The world lost one of its pioneers today. Wallin saved lives, created jobs and helped humanity in immeasurable ways.  He will be greatly missed (Morre, Anthony).”

What do you think about Winston Wallin?  Does he deserve to be on the top list of transformational leaders such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos?  In addition, in your opinion, who are other transformational leaders that come to mind who inspire the human element ….?

To learn more about Winston Wallin and his leadership style see the full article: Click Here!

-Adam Kalkirtz