Assignment – Chapter 12

Answer the 3 questions listed below: (page 362-363)

PART 1
1. Do you think it is ethical for a leader to go undercover in his or her
organization? Why or why not?
Leaders go undercover to obtain the perspective on what it is like to work at their
organization. To gain that perspective, I think it is ethical for a leader to go undercover in
his or her organization. The word 'leader' has different definitions in different contexts.
The most accurate one among all is that a leader is the one who influences every
individual in a team toward achieving their goals. This is done without use of power and
authority. Since the influence is so powerful that it produces self-consciousness in every
individual to do their duty the best they can which is why every team needs a leader but
all this goes well until any failure is met. Once anything goes wrong, the whole blame is
put on leader. Every hypocrite gets a chance to raise finger on him or her although the
mistake is committed by others because they are the ones who always drag down
people who have a potential to rise up. This is the ethical issue being faced commonly so
it isn’t wrong for a leader to go undercover. At least he or she can be saved from all this
criticism and dirty politics, the entire motto is to achieve targets or goals of any
organization and if anything happens in future, at least it should be divided among the
team members, be it success or failure.

2. Do you think leaders who work undercover are really changed as a result of
their experiences?
By gaining a direct experience of what it is like to work at their organization, leaders who
work undercover face a high chance of being changed as a result of their experiences.
The leaders get to learn from the situations they face while being undercover. The
decision-making process of a leader is bound to change when he/she gets to know the
real situation from its core. When a leader knows the situation, his/her decision will be
more accurate. Moreover, going undercover will help a leader to understand the
employees better, as illustrated by examples in the TV show “Undercover Boss”.

PART 2
Complete the “Leadership questionnaire” posted under Chapter 12 module.
3. After completing the questionnaire, report your people-oriented and task-
oriented scores. Do you agree with the results? Explain why you consider
yourself people-oriented or task-oriented (provide 1 -2 examples).
My scores 10 for people-oriented and 9 for task-oriented indicate my preference for
people-oriented. I agree with the results of the questionnaire, I consider myself to be
people-oriented. I would allow the members complete freedom in their work. I would also
permit the members to use their own judgment in solving problems. I would trust the
members to exercise good judgment. These make me people-oriented because I let the
people decide what they will do and how to solve their own problems from their
experience. While I consider my self-people-oriented I’m also very much aware of the
task-oriented issues.

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 The television show Undercover Boss features a leader working undercover in his or her own
company to find out how the organization really works. Executives from DirecTV, Hooters, 7-
Eleven, NASCAR, Chiquita, and Choice Hotels have been featured on the show. Typically, the
executive works undercover for a week. Then the employees with whom and under whom
the leader has worked are summoned to company headquarters and rewarded, or punished,
for their actions.
In one episode, Waste Management’s president Larry O’Donnell, sporting gray stubble and
work clothes, works the back of a trash truck. Later, he sorts recyclables from a fast-moving
conveyer belt. Under the barking orders of a supervisor, he even cleans a long line of
portable toilets.
Some criticize the show for its faux realism. The CEOs know they are on camera, so every
word and facial expression is for the cameras. Many employees know they are on camera,
too. One critic commented, “Because the series’ very existence requires cooperation from
the executives that it purports to make suffer for their sins, it has to raise them higher, in
the end, than it found them at the start.”
Realistic or not, the series continues to be popular. And the effects on the bosses featured in
the episodes – and their employees – are profound. After CEO Mitchell Modell of the sporting
goods chain Modell’s spent days struggling to keep up with his lowest-paid employees in the
warehouse and the office, he reported, “I tell everybody if you’re fortunate enough to be on
Undercover Boss to do it in a heartbeat,” he said. “If you’re not fortunate enough, then go
work on the front lines. It’s an eye-opening experience.” As a result of the insight he gained,
Modell overhauled the company’s approach to customer service and learned new ways to
increase profitability and organization performance. He said, “As CEO, one of the things you
always wonder about is what your associates (employees) are really thinking and what their
days are like. It was a great education.”
The idea has moved beyond television too. Recently, the Australian government created a
program that places CEOs undercover in their own workplaces. One participating CEO, Phil
Smith of clothing retailer Fletcher Jones, said tearfully, “I learned a lot from this that I
wouldn’t have found out any other way.”
Sources: K. Jones, “CEOs Go Undercover over Workplace Safety,” SafetyAtWorkBlog
(February 5, 2011), downloaded June 10, 2011, from
http://safetyatworkblog.wordpress.com/; W. Kern, “The Fakery of CEOs Undercover,”
Bloomberg BusinessWeek (February 15, 2010), pp. 78–79.

Please note that you do not have to upload the completed questionnaire.

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