Why Do Some Leaders Abuse Their Power Essay Example For Students

Why Do Some Leaders Abuse Their Power Essay Introduction: There are many definitions of power. In social science it can be thought as the capacity to control or influence others by providing rewarding or administering punishment. When leaders in organizations abuse power, power will become evil or unjust. In the last decades ,the pervasiveness of ethical lapses of corporate villains has been astounding such as Unethical CEO behaviour, white-collar crime, property deviance, employee grievances and lawsuits. In this essay I will mainly focus on analysing the causes of the toxic leaders deviant behaviour, the consequences it will trigger and how should followers survive in the dilemma. It is often heard that there is a series of organizational formula or principle in the corporation,or some other institutions. For instance,managers manage subordinates and serve owners, shareholders elect their representatives to the board of directors. Winners and losers are decided by free market. All the processes are trying to show that the corporation has its reasonable principles and make us believe that the corporation is accountable and efficient. Ironically,the truth of the matter will make us disappointed with the surface of the scandals related to the prestigiouscorporations. Indeed, managers have run the show. Shareholder meetings have been well prepared ceremonies. People who have served as directors on boards have usually been friends of the boss. Proxy votes have become rituals as the result has already been foreordained. (Ralph Estes ,1995,P32)What roles are these leaders playing in the organization on earth? 1. Why do some leaders abuse their power? There are many factors interactively cause some leaders to abuse their power at risk of being guilty. There is a paradigm proposed by Stephen K. Henn in his bookBusiness Ethics which is called The fraud triangle that can briefly explain the reason why people behave badly. Opportunity Pressure Rationalization Opportunity simply means the environment element, Pressure is the trigger that causes bad behaviour, Rationalization is the core of the decision-making process when it is time for a go or no go. (Stephen K. Henn , 2009,P61) It is a good paradigm. However, I will analyse the causes in details from internal and external dimensions respectively. 1. 1 External factors 1. Environmental factors Things will not happen without external elements which are related to the environment and situation. There is an environment where there seems to be safe when you do something wrong or even illegal. It s exactly the one of the most important reasons why some leaders can abuse their power recklessly. Ethical lapses in corporate and society occur frequently. Numerous examples of ethical lapses in business and politics can be found these y ears. Martha Stewart, a US domestic style guru, was under suspicion in an inner trading scandal. Six former executives of Australian Wheat Board (AWB) were charged with a bribery of $300 million to Sandam Hussein’s Iraqi government and were likely to be fined $14. 4 million by the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions in civil proceeding as well. It seems that nobody has taken an effective action to prevent these wrongdoings. What are the factors that impede people to reveal the truth and reality? How could it be possible that the nation’s regulatory and supervision departments fail to figure out these severe problems for such a long time? What are the loopholes and inadequacies of regulatory bodies that indirectly â€Å"help† these ethical lapses? There is no simple answer to these questions,but there are several factors that creat situations in which individuals really do not know enough to take action. 1. 1. 1. 1 The diffusion of responsibility for seeing and acting. Social psychologist Bibb Latane and John Darley launched a series of experiments in which participants heard the sounds of people in distress under different conditions. The studies showed that as the number of by-standers increased,the likelihood that anyone would help decreased. i. e. eople were more likely to help when they were alone. When others are present ,people assume someone else will act. (Robert Gandossy ,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,2004,P. 7) Moreover, projects are frequently divided to several tasks and distributed to different departments or organizations. Specific divisions only possess the information relevant to specific tasks. As a resu lt, the asymmetrical information shared by different divisions restricts people’s control and understanding of the whole picture, which makes it difficult for specialists to figure out a fraud or misconduct early or to find out enough evidence to verify the illegal activities. . 1. 1. 2 The social and organizational culture that is not supportive of whistleblowers. The courage of individuals who know about improper behaviors in organizations is challenged by the threat of harassment, rumors, slanders, relegation and even dismiss. People often find they are put in a dilemma, wandering between right and wrong. One senior executive who revealed a colleagues million-dollar fraud scheme reflects:The path I chose was brutal on my family and lost me tens thousands in income. It also meant that I’d never again work in a corporate environment. You can negotiate a golden handshake, but it doesn’t guarantee a reference. You will always see the raised eyebrow, the inflection that means well, if you want to know ( Robert Gandossy ,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,2004,P12)Under such unfriendly environment which is full of intrigue and prejudice, with a lack of accountability and financial considerations, more and more people choose to ignore a crime. 1. 1. 1. 3 The problems of financial institutions In some cases,auditors often suspected earlier, but no investigation followed due to complexity of the accounting system and poor responsibility of auditors. Accounting system really has its weakness and those evils will exploit the loopholes to realize their personal greedy. Moreover, sometimes the financial institutions changed their position from supervising to colluding. Take an example with Enron again, you may not believe but unfortunately it is true that before Enrons collapse, senior executives at the American most prestigious financial institutions has conspired with Enrons top leaders to help them hide debt and exaggerate revenues through fictional oversea special-purpose entities. These financial institutions help create an easy way for those who want to have a good performance on book. Based on these factors,it is difficult for individuals to become a whistle blower which encourages these villains to go further. 1. 1. 2 High pressure from scorecard As we all know, corporate organization form separates ownership and control of the company, which distances shareholders from operation. Managers are charged with the responsibility for managing the business of the corporation by shareholders and should try their best to maximize the interest of shareholders. However, due to the unfair and ineffective performance judging system, managers in many organizations are clear that the only dimension on which they are being evaluated is their scorecards no matter how good the other subjective criteria are. Under the high pressure of unemployment, it can be argued that managers can pursue their own aims with impunity. The possibility arises that managers become entrenched and pursue improper goals that serve their own interest rather than the interest of shareholders as long as the numbers on their scorecards can be more â€Å"charming†. A convicted division vice president once claimed:I think we understood it was against the law, but the moral issue did not seem to be important at the time. As a(Robert Gandossy ,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,2004,P12) result, it is more likely for managers to get caught in various misconducts and unethical lapses when the fringe benefits and promotion opportunities are directly related to these objective performance measures on the scorecards. 1. 1. 3 Organizational value system Organizational value system might be factor for the widespread of these unethical and illegal activities. Leaders of organizations have a great influence on employees’ understanding of success and attitude towards illicit behaviors. How leaders judge their subordinates’ performance will directly determine employees’ behaviors and value of worth. Leaders should clarify that profits or rate of return is not the only judgment of success. One of the largest shareholders and board members of a fortune 100 company once said:we did not do anything wrong, but it was not right either. It was wrong, but it was not purposefully wrong. (Robert Gandossy,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. 004, P12)In this sense, benefits achieved through injustice and indecency should be strictly banned and avoided by leaders; otherwise, employees will only pursue interest by fair means or fouls, leading to various frauds, scandals, stock market manipulations, and so on. 1. 2 Internal factors 1. 2. 1 Moral sense Leaders with poor moral sense are often unethical and having poor or no social responsibility. I tota lly agree with Henry Ford’s century-old comment which is still meaningful and applicable to today’s poor moral climate:For a long time people believed that the only purpose of industry was to make a profit. Ideology and Historicism in Contemporary Literary EssayThe lack of integrity and credibility will not only cost them the trust from their partners, but also bring great damage to an organization’s reputation and benefits. To make matters worse, when they lose credibility from others because of their misconducts, they have no choice but continue to deceive for further interest, such as manipulating financial reporting by taking advantage of accounting loopholes. Self-centered leaders give priority to their own interest while ignoring the rights of shareholders, employees and customers. Their conscience has been eroded by money and power, their eyes have been blinded by greed and lust and their unethical pursuit of self-enrichment cost various companies and families incalculable loss. There were many examples to exemplify this phenomena which has been mentioned before such as Australian Wheat Board(AWB),Arthur Anderson,child labour abuse,and the disaster of 2003 crash of the space shuttle Columbia. With this kind of vicious circle,the organization will be destined to walking into the hell. 3. Followers response to leaders who abuse their power As followers , when we are controlled by leaders who abuse their power, we will find it really difficult for us to survive in the dilemma. People is not easily or even impossible to be changed, furthermore we are facing our leaders. When we have to challenge our leaders , we should identify the situation first and then decide what to do. 3. 1 Change yourself or tolerate continually If your boss is not so bad but hard to get along with due to the personality like introvert, a bit tyranny, or a little narcissism, you should adjust your mind to accustom yourself to his/her attitude since everybody has his/her own characters. But to make life easy,you should do some homework to know the boss deeper and do things in a way that he/she likes, hence you maybe get his/her trust. If it does not work, but you are comfortable with other things, you can choose to tolerate because you can not choose the leader. Albeit you can change a job, who can guarantee you a leader you like? Don t be impulsive, measure the gain and loss, then decide what to do next. 3. 2 Think about to leave It is more miserable if you serve a leader who is jealous. He/she will envy your ability, furthermore he/she will inhibit your individual development. Under the control of such kind of leader, you can not get more training and development in the organization which is not good for your future career. You should think about to find another job unless you just want this job and do not want to have further development. 3. 3 Communication is a two way process If your leader is poor at communication, there will be obstacles for you to continue your work. Maybe you can not change your leaders communication skill, however you can change your way of communication. People usually have the same reaction to what others say. Learn to think from the position of your leader, and change your way of reaction which is different from what he is imagining, it is possible for you to break the unpleasant situation and improve the communication between you two. 3. 4 Topple or leave The most serious grief is that your leader is a toxic leader who not only do things in improper or illegal way but entice you to join them as well. You will be trapped in real dilemma. These toxic leaders often promise followers the grand illusions to tempt the followers to do things which are immoral and even illegal. While we human being sometimes are vulnerable to resist the lure. As a result,the conspiracy between leaders and followers make the organization step forward to the destruction including all people involved. The real tragedy of the human condition is not that we all must die, but, rather, that we choose to live by grand illusions,rather than to face our fears. Hence, we fall into the clutches of toxic leaders who promise us the moon, knowing full well they cannot deliver. (Jean Lipman-Blumen,2005,P. 5) In reality, the moon is too far to achieve and it is not suitable for human to live on. We should identify the wrongdoing from right doing and keep ourselves cool that there is no free lunch in the world. We should say no to deviant command, otherwise we will finally culminate in tragedy. There are two basic options you can choose to escape the clutches of toxic leader, one is to capsize the leader, another is to leave. Before you decide to topple the leader you must know it is a very tough task. You need an elaborate plan and accurate documentation with supplementary and supportable data to persuade others. And you also should know the relationship between the toxic leader that you want to topple and the board members who you want to reveal the fraud to. When you find all your effort ends with nothing,you should consider the only left way that is to leave. Leaving is sometimes an rational strategy,particularly when you feel that the physical or psychological impact grows too great to bear and there is no opportunity for you to blow the whistle successfully and defeat the evil. At that time,leaving becomes the only way to preserve your integrity and protect your family, its probably the time to go. It is really a hard way for followers to go forward when their leaders indulge themselves in abusing their power. Conclusion: The organizational objective can not be achieved without power. However, organizations with leaders abusing their power are doomed to collapse . There are many challengers and temptations in the world. Whatever circumstances we are facing,we should always keep the moral code and basic values in our mindsets Once you cross the line,things are destined to be ended with tragedy. There is no fluke in the world,the truth will come up to surface sooner or later. The most safety way is that we must play all the games in principles and always remember not to cross the line. Albert Schweitzer said:You don t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too. It tells us that everybody should burden the social responsibility to reward the world without which we can not live. Social organization should make an effort to stop the dysfunctional consequences of toxic leadership. It is valuable that some options are advocated by Jean Lipman-Blumenin such as term limit of leadership, Periodic 360 degree reviews of individual leaders, Respectable departure options, Open and democratic leadership selection processes, Constituencies educated to deal with their anxieties, protective mechanisms for whistle blowers. (Jean Lipman-Blumenin,2005) As followers we should have the courage to say no to those leaders who are unethical,irresponsible and abuse their powers. We should insist on principles and believe that integrity plus hard-working can conquer all dilemmas. Jon M. Huntsman ,the chairman and founder of Huntsman Corporation which is the worlds largest privately held chemical company wrote a book winners never cheat. This simple sentence tells us the unique way to achieve the perpetual success. Book References: 1. Richard L. Daft,Andrew Pirola-Merlo(2009). The leadership experience. Cengage Learning Australia 2. Robert Gandossy ,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld(Eds). (2004) Leadership and Governance from the inside out. John Wiley,Inc. 3. Jon M. Huntsamn(2009). Winners never cheat even in difficult times. Wharton School Publishing 4. Ana Maria ,David Crowther(2008). Ethics,Psyche and Responsibility. Ashgate. 5. Stephen K. Henn(2009). Business Ethics. John Wiley,Inc. 6. Robert Wearing(2005). Case in Corporate Governance. Sage publications. 7. Terry L. (2006) . Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership. Cambridge university press 8. Vanket R Krishnan(2003). Power and moral leadership: role of self-other agreement. MCB UP Ltd. 9. Ralph Estes(1995) ,TYRANNY OF THE BOTTOM LINE why Corporations Make Good People Do bad Things,Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 10. Bob Johansen,2009,Leaders make the future . Berrett-Koehler Publishers Electronic References: . Kellerman, B. (2004). Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why it Matters. Retrieved March31 2010 from Harvard Business School www. hbsp. harvard. edu/ 2. Kimberly Alyn(2005). Top 10 signs of a bad supervisor. Retrieved April 2,2010,from www. Kimberly Alyn. com 3. Jean Lipman-Blumen(2005). The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why Followers Rarely Escape Their Clutches. Retrieved April 2 2010, from www. iveybusinessjournal. com Website references: 1. http://www. enron. com 2. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Narcissism 3. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Power_(philosophy)