Ashley Group

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet
1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I will be choosing to keep the name of the organization and its members anonymous to
protect privacy. I work as an administrative assistant for “organization.” There are five other
administrative assistants I also work with daily, one of them being my supervisor. Some
essentials of the job are managing clientele enrollments, maintaining hard files and e files, and
daily communication with supervisors, staff, and clientele. We also handle PTO requests from
staff as well as client and staff cancellations.

There is a new data collection and e filing system being implemented that will be replacing
our current system, which is notoriously a hassle to configure. With this change occurring, new
processes have developed, one of them being someone appointed to scheduling. One of the
administrative assistants was promoted to a scheduling position where she handles much of the
client and staff cancellations, along with PTO requests and client filing/client enrollments. She is
essentially taking on two roles that should be split into two. The situation is ‘Bella” now has too
much responsibility on her plate and cannot keep up with all the work. The work she is doing
should be split between a team of three people, but it is all on one person right now. She has
expressed her distress about her new role to her supervisors, but no further actions have been
taken to support her in this new role.

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

Ethics in this situation can be identified in a positive light as well as negative. I think that in
the beginning, the organization had good intentions with this new role in the hopes it would
solve many of thr cancellation and scheduling problems. But they went wrong when they didn’t
define the role more concretely. Because of that, Bella is now in a position that is overwhelming
and stressful. She also has voiced the struggles she has gone through and has received feedback
from supervisors that lacks a lot of empathy. She is burning out and is losing motivation to
continue in the stressful position she is in.

Right now, the organization is lacking soul. According to Bolman and Deal, soul sustains
spiritual conviction and ethical behavior. (2021) The organization has a goal they would like to
meet: to spread their message and the the work they do to the community by opening more
campuses. The intentions are good and bad. They want more people to receive help from the
organization, but they have forgotten about the value of their employees. The employees are not
taken care of, as clearly shown in Bella’s situation. Most of them are underpaid and overworked.
Teamwork is at an all time low. People are resigning rapidly. This is because they have forgotten

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that the core of their organization and why they are in business is because of their dedicated and
hard working employees.

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

I would apply the family dynamic to the organization and its employees first and foremost.
As stated above, there is a huge lack of soul with not enough focus on the hard work employees
put into the work they do. There is no warmth felt by upper management currently. I would
implement more workplace appreciation, including team building exercises, company outings,
and professional growth opportunities. There is a quote by Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s that I
think resonates with this situation very well: “ When you give love, you receive love.” I’m a firm
believer in this way of living. This is seen in the family dymanic, which highlights caring and
love.

Much of the family dynamic centers around a parent caring for children, then once the parents
are old, the children take care of the parents. Implementing more love and soul through the
family dymanic boosts team morale as well as creating a more positive client experience. Clients
can feel the energy of a company. If clients sense that employees don’t want to work, they won’t
want to continue with the company anymore. With putting love and soul more into the work that
is done by adding more employee incentives, maybe even a restructuring of those in upper
management, it will (hopefully) in turn boost the success rate of obtaining more clientele as well
as lowering the turnover rate.

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

As said by Bolman and Deal (2011),“Leadership is giving. Leadership is an ethic, a gift of

oneself.” (pg 122) Leadership is truly a gift. It should not be taken for granted. It should be used
for the greater good of a company and its growth. Right now, the leadership is not treated as a
gift. It is treated by those in upper management as a pedestal, many of them out of touch with
what employees endure daily. It is not an organization that welcomes vulnerability or honesty.
There is an uneven power dymanic, too many people in power make the rest of the staff feel
powerless, without a voice.

I would restructure leadership from being so “greater than thou” to changing the dynamic to
more of a family environment. In a family, there is leadership. The leaders in a family show love
and caring to all in the family. I think that if the leadership structure reflected more of a family
dynamic, Bella as well as other employees would feel more secure and understood.

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Reference:

- Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and
Leadership (7th ed.). Jossey-Bass

- Bolman, Lee G.; Deal, Terrence E. (2011). Leading with Soul. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.