1

Dennis Kozlowski

Jisel Munoz

South Texas College

ORLG 3322: Behavior/Ethics/Leadership I

Dr. Scott Sparrow

May 6, 2022
 2

Dennis Kozlowski

The main traits exhibiting the Dennis Kozlowski case was his wrongdoings at the at Tyco

global. Dennis Kozlowski showed various unethical behaviors in the way he ran the company.

While Kozlowski showed rapid success in his career, it does not evidently show that he was

running his company in an ethical way. He was misusing the companies gains for his so-called

luxury lifestyle. Not to mention he was running such doings with no approval or authorization.

The data presented gives the wrong impression in the way that it appears that Tyco global had

some criminal intents by abusing corporate prerogatives as well as illegal and unethical

behaviors.

Aristotle states that living our lives in accordance with certain virtues should keep it

orderly. By determining the rights and wrongs of such actions by virtue ethics, we then can

evaluate how each action strived to make us better people. Virtue can be defined as behaviors

showing high moral standards. Vice can be referred to as immoral or wicked behavior. All of Mr.

Kozlowski’s traits are vices since his generosity to himself and close people around him are

excessive. Another of his traits would be entitlement. He feels entitled to do as he pleases since

the organization is running a huge profit margin. Who is to put a stop to him?

With that being mentioned, it makes perfect sense as to why some employees could not

stop Kozlowski. They were under intense pressure to follow orders given by their superiors. The

employees felt that even though they knew it was wrong, they had to obey their boss since he is

the person who writes their paycheck. The power that Kozlowski holds in the workplace is

dangerous since it has already led to committing unethical actions that are illegal. Employees

feel as nothing can go wrong with a boss as powerful as he was. This is like an experiment

conducted by Milgram and Ash. Solomon Ash conducted an experiment in which he would
 3

investigate how people can do bad actions to another based on superior order. The experiment 3

resulted in people doing the actions regardless as long as they could hold their supervisor

accountable.

The following case of Kevin Johnson, the CEO of a worldwide espresso chain

organization known as Starbucks, actively demonstrates how to point out data with respect and

how to basically make things right. Two men of color were tossed out of Starbucks in

Philadelphia because they did not purchase anything while they were waiting for a conference.

The manager asked them to leave, in which they refused since they were not doing anything

wrong and explained the situation. The manager still calls the police in which resulted in the two

men being arrested. Nonetheless, the case demonstrates how Kevin Johnson took care of the

circumstance and its result under his authority.

Tyco could learn from the CEO of Starbucks ethical actions to own up to mistakes. Kevin

Johnson closed a variety of stores to give immediate training, which as a result makes the

company lose money. However, Starbucks chose its customers over financial gains. Kozlowski

can take notes on the way that a company is not just a money-making machine to cover your

illegal actions to afford a luxury lifestyle. Tyco can start by cutting Kozlowski’s bonuses and to

add extra security measures to prevent the same mistake from happening again.

There are major differences that can be found in comparison to Kozlowski and Johnson.

They mainly distinguish each other because Johnson proves that he emphasizes more on his

customers and employees. He made new policies to prevent the same mistakes from happening

again. Kozlowski on the other hand demonstrates he does not care about his employees since he

puts them in uncomfortable situations in which they must obey. He is willing to risk everything,

but in the worst way possible. This demonstrates how Kozlowski frequently mishandled his
 4

ability to view above and beyond the profitable margins of Tyco. Overall, Johnson dealt 4

professionally with the ethical commitment to bring the organization morale up. With that being

stated, Johnson indeed, fosters a more robust sense of our ethical commitment than the other.

The new leader at Tyco can start by removing and replacing a new CEO for the company.

Kozlowski does not set the ethical standards needed for his organization and therefore is not

suitable for the job. I do not believe that it helps to come across a decision without some sort of

bias, that is if they do not remove Kozlowski as the CEO. Sadly, there are many companies and

corporations running with an unfit CEO who has done said actions such as Kozlowski or even

worse who are still running their organization. This can help in decreasing or eliminating fraud

like actions occurring in a company as well as abusing power. In order for Tyco to run in a moral

direct, the organization must be overseen by a CEO who has the same similar ethic leadership

styles for success.

Furthermore, for Tyco to encourage ethical conduct in the organization, they must

characterize their ethical values and place them in effect in a sense where there will be strict

moral conduct authority and activities. Tyco must possess certain honorable ethics of their chief

executive officers as well as adding them to their activities. Another recommendation to take into

consideration is through the act of empowering open correspondence. This will initiate that each

employee or any individual that has strong critics or opinions open to talk about. New changes

can be carried out with less hassle if new policies are taken into action to further improve Tyco.

Lastly, the last recommendation is to advance that can be taken by the CEO is assure that the

staff and representatives recruited by the company of Tyco have qualities and ethics that align

with the work ethic and what the company stands for. This can help in observing the ideal

employee for Tyco for the reason being that they are work with a similar outlook and common
 5

regard. Tyco ought to guarantee open correspondence to assemble criticism to improve as a 5

organization for additional improvement and development. The setting of the organization would

be more engaged, driven by a hierarchical culture comprising of open discoursed, moral qualities

and ethics, corporate administration, and straightforwardness.

To conclude, Kozlowski abused his authority power for his own benefits. In the act of

doing so, he overstepped his employees by forcing them to obey his orders with no questions

asked. He mishandled a lot of the company’s resources for greed and self-inflicted interests. This

actively demonstrates that Kozlowski was not acting alone. I believe upper-level employees were

joining Kozlowski in his deeds and were keeping quiet and not standing up to him. The

difference between upper-level employees and other employees, is that the other employees were

probably not even getting a type of compensation for getting their hands dirty. Over and all, the

types of actions or situations created can be supported when an individual with the right ethics

and morals will in general lead an organization as it can drive the association for improvement in

a correct ethical and moral standard.

 6

References

Dennis Kozlowski: Living large. Ethics Unwrapped. (2017, March 15). Retrieved May 6, 2022,

from https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/case-study/dennis-kozlowski-living-large

Tangdall, S. (n.d.). The CEO of Starbucks and the practice of ethical leadership. Markkula

Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved May 6, 2022, from

https://www.scu.edu/leadershipethics/resources/the-ceo-of-starbucks-and-the-practice-of-

ethical-leader