Ethical Leadership at Cardinal IG: The

Foundation of a Culture of Diversity

Submitted by:

Angelica Duarte

Nicole Anne Caranto

Ruby Antonio

Precious Hanah Tabla

John Harvey Marchan

Joshua Janrenz Lopez

January 14, 2020

 I. Executive Summary

This study purports to explore the main factors contributing to the Fargo plant’s success
through the stories of plant manager, David Pinder, his leadership team and the Cardinal IG
employees through PESTLE analysis --- the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological,
legal and environmental. And with the analysis, it will show how the company copes up with the
issues which or may arise considering their line of business consumes a significant amount of
resources.

It will also tackle about platforms to be considered and one of these is social media for
the organization to be well-connected to the people across the world. This will help to promote
the product at the very least, to reach potential consumers. Furthermore, to raise awareness on
how socially, ethically and environmentally committed Cardinal IG is which might be a source
of consciousness and motivation to those businesses that affects a lot of areas negatively.

This paper will state recommendation/s that may adapt by the organization in order to
continuously improve and thus increase the rate of their profitability and to continue to be a
socially and environmentally responsible.

II. Statement of the Problems

a) How has David Pinder embraced ethical leadership to create an ethical culture at Cardinal
IG?
b) How has Cardinal’s principles and values shaped the ethical behavior of employees?
c) How has Cardinal empowered its employees to practice responsible and accountable
leadership?

III. PESTLE Analysis

 Political

Competitive business environment is the dynamic external system in which a business

competes functions. As the IG cardinal started the flow of the business is just like the normal
businesses. As they struggle in encountering economic recession that causes them for having less
cash and revenues. As time goes, they were able to overcome those struggles and be one of the
top businesses in their country. One political factor also that this study includes is that IG
cardinal uses traditional hierarchy or centralized administrative functions which is accounting,
sale and etc. The organization also uses centralized function for the technical administration to
assure compliance with laws and regulations and internal consistency.

 Economic

North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country which indicates a good health
of the economy. Cardinal IG has its own ways or policies in maintaining its low unemployment
rate. As a result to this, Cardinal IG gives a great labor market performance and produces an
excellent quality of labor force.

 Socio-cultural

A Diverse culture

Cardinal Glass Industries, Inc. has a strong culture of discipline which was rooted from the
foundation of the company. It is an organization of rich diversity which consists of 183 people
coming from 15 different countries.

Having such diverse organization could lead to problems like language barriers, but not with
Cardinal IG. They developed a strategy to overcome this by pairing employees who speak the
same language. Not only did it help employees understand each other, it also gave an opportunity
to those who do not speak English to learn to do so.

Culture of discipline and respect

The company values include loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and
personal and moral courage. These values are the foundation of the company’s culture. Being a
graduate of West Point military academy, Pinder’s beliefs and behaviour became a good example
to his employees. As described by Jim Collins, the culture of Cardinal IG is “not autocratic, but
caring.”

The Code of Conduct of the employees are about Safety, Quality, Service, Training,
Leadership/Teamwork/Communication, Cost Awareness, Respect for others, Care for Families,
Integrity, Attitude, and Keeping a sense of humour and having fun.
  Technological

As we assessed the case of Cardinal IG, they are the best operating company of glass. They
have a finest technology, machine and equipments for their production that cause their success as
a corporation

 Legal

Safety
Nothing we do is more important than safety. It’s our #1 priority.
Quality & Service
We ensure that every product we ship to our customer if flawless and, we treat our
customers like they are the most important people in the world.
Training
We develop, implement, and maintain a top-notch training program.
Leadership/Teamwork/Communication
This organization is led as a team to make Fargo IG the Flagship of the company.
Cost Awareness
We will spend money wisely here-as if the money is our own..
Respect for others
We treat others with dignity and fairness while encouraging others to do the same.
Care for Families
We encourage our people to spend time with their families and balance work accordingly.
Integrity
When in doubt, do the right thing. Trust is an important part of our relationship.

 Environmental
 By sticking and living with the company’s mission and vision, values and principles,
Cardinal IG Company thrives to become the largest company of its kind in the world and through
its way of training its employees to become a team leader and also a team player that leads the
company to have the most diverse culture and this helps the people living in the community
around them especially the refugees because of the opportunities that have been given by the
Company that enhances their skills not just on making glass but more importantly on building
good relationship with people around them and growing together to become part of one
community.

Cardinal IG also gives its community around them a new way and much better one on how to
treat employees thus makes it more effective and efficient on the side of employee and also on
the side of the company or any organizations that will implement the same culture of treating
employees like the Cardinal IG of Fargo in North Dakota.

They introduced triple-pane insulating glass for saving energy, began use of silicone-dual
seal insulating glass for improved durability, introduced LoE coatings to produce triple-pane
performance in dual-pane construction, built dedicated factory supply LoE coatings for
residential windows, introduced gas filling of insulating glass units: combined with LoE this
provides quad-pane performance in dual pane IG unit, etc.

 Conclusion

As we examine the company from a Holistic and system perspective, it is evident many of
the elements of the organization are interrelated. They fit together to achieve a shared goal-a
great example of an organization “designed” to accomplish its purpose. The elements that make
this happen are the strength of its leadership, specific goals and objectives, a team-based
structure, strong values and culture, and intentional and disciplined procedures throughout the
organization. Cardinal’s success cannot be attributed to any one factor but rather the alignment
of all its parts in support of its mission.
a) Dave Pinder articulated his vision clearly to himself before setting up the organization
and how this led to a clear and practical application for his employees. The fact that he
hired workers based on their leadership traits rather than their expertise in the field is also
an important point. Pinder’s behavior based on discipline and love is another way he
embraced ethical leadership. While he is willing to work with managers and employees,
he clearly sets forth ethical boundaries that cannot be crossed without repercussions. By
setting up clear boundaries for behaviors and balancing it with genuine care and concern
for employees, Pinder created an ethical culture to which all employees contribute.
b) Under Pinder’s leadership, abstract values are practically applied to specific behaviors to
make them clear and tangible to all employees. For example, loyalty, duty, respect,
selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal and moral courage are the values of the
company, which are reflected in the principles of safety, quality, service, training,
leadership, communication, teamwork, cost awareness, respect for others, care for
families, integrity, attitude, and keeping a sense of humor and having fun. The principles
are actions that employees can follow that embody the values the company has set in
place. The strength of the values and principles in shaping ethical behavior should also be
noted by its low turnover rate. Employees rarely get terminated because of the way
principles are made practical for employee behavior
c) Cardinal IG provides extensive leadership training for every employee. The fact
that all employees are trained so that they can easily take over any position when
needed empowers employees and also keeps the organization prepared.
Additionally, the fact that employees are the exclusive shareholders of the
company gives them a sense of ownership and a stronger sense of accountability
and responsibility. Because all employees are hired through the lens of their
leadership traits and are trained and expected to act like leaders is another way of
holding employees accountable. Managers are also empowered through coaching
and mentoring their subordinates, which creates a bond between members of the
team. When this bond exists, responsibility and accountability are held in higher
regard than when it does not exist.
  Recommendation

The organizational structure is also important because, while it is centralized, there are
teams and Team leaders that allow groups to work independently and efficiently promote
motivation and efficiency. This also deemphasized inequality within the organization, which
empowers employees.

There are clear ethical boundaries that Pinder has set for managers and employees. The
repercussions of these boundaries are clearly communicated and implemented, demonstrating
that the plant is serious about its ethical expectations of employees.

Pinder’s way or recruiting employees can be a disadvantage at some situations like the
opportunities for people with special education or vocabulary courses in making glass that didn’t
have any family, friends, or relatives that works in Cardinal IG have much less chance to be
hired because no one can recommend or refer them to the managers, but they can eliminate this
by adding an HR department that will be responsible for this type of responsibilities.