OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I will be looking into the situations from the last two decades that include illegal activities
from Wells Fargo employees. Some of these activities include, opening new accounts for
customers without their consent, opening new credit cards, and carry into illegal foreclosures
and repossession of property. These activities spand a large amount of time so I will be
focusing in on two larger stories. 2016 news story of the fradulant accounts as wells as the
recent news of the illegal activities that caused the bank more than $3 billion in fines. I am
especially curious to understand why these behavior persist even after being caught and
fined.

My role will be one of an external party looking inward. I would like to dive deep and
examine some of the practices that lead to the fradulant behavior as well as understand why it
persists. My interest lies in understanding the corporate culture that has lead to such
behaviors and the leadership behaviors that have failed this organization. I am not affiliated
with Wells Fargo in any way and have not ties to this particular bank. My curiosity stems
from the repeated behaviors that seem to continue to occur and the loyalty of the customers
and workers that they employ.

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

As we are reminded in the text, “Many would scoff at the notion that organizations possess
soul, but there is growing evidence that a bedrock sense of values and identity is a critical
element in long-term success” (Bolman and Deal, p. 413). I believe this is shown by the
scandals at Wells Fargo where many customers were shown just how greedy an organization
can be. The ethics of the company were sorely missing during this time and people were
taken advantage of. Even when workers tried to speak up, they were shut down by sernior
executives who were more focused on the money and goals than people.

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 The ethics at Wells Fargo during this time were more of loose guidelines than anything.
When senior leaders are focused on shareholder value and turning a profit, ethics typically
come last. This kind of culture at Wells Fargo is what ultimately set the stage for the
unethical behaviors that grew and grew at its core. Coming back from something like this
will take years and a huge shift in company culture. We will see if they can pull it off.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

When I think of the ethical community to recommend for Wells Fargo, I immediately go to
family. This is an organization that has been corrupted by power and unrealistic expectations
for achieving goals. The employees have probably seen friends and close colleagues get fired
over wrong doings and are still shook from this. The ethical family approach could be a
strong solution for bring the workers back together and senior leadership closer to those they
lead.

The workers are Wells Fargo need to know they are cared for. The sales goals and targets can
be removed from future company communications but the long term effects still remain. The
culture that was built off of fear and anxiety would still linger and they leaders would need to
prove to workers that they care about more than just the dollar. Shifting back to a focus on
people versus profits could generate much needed trust and bring about a positive shift in
culture.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

Thinking about what I would do differently after reading about the ethical frame work. I
would suggest that Wells Fargo immediately stop all their shady dealings and come forward
to the public. They would need to fire their leaders and hold employees accountable for their
actions. Fines would need to be paid and public statements issued. I do not think there is
much else you could do.

In order to avoid a fiasco like this in the future, I would approach sales goals differently.
Companies must have aggressive targets in order to drive profits but going about it in the
right way is key. Mayb look at the landscape more wholistically and create targets that are
more spread out for the organization. Focus on long term growth instead of short term gains
and celebrate workers who build strong customer relationships. The approach would be
drastically different but could sustain growth into the future.

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 Reference

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and

leadership (7th ed.). Jossey-Bass.