Kudler

KUDLER FINE FOODS: Ethical Issues I struggle to locate any unethical practices at Kudler Fine Foods. However, Kathy does send a message to her management team that is less than flattering. Her inability to train others in more important aspects of the business such as purchasing tells the team she doesn’t trust them. I have no reason to believe this is the case but, perception is reality. Also, I noticed employees are encouraged to keep track of comments or requests, and share them with Kathy. This is a completely acceptable practice. However, I would refer back to Wegmans and the empowerment they instill in their employees. Kathy needs to allow them to do what they feel is necessary to resolve the issue immediately. The idea is to diffuse a situation and foster goodwill immediately whenever possible. If Kathy wishes to implement a situational report and still take comments or requests that’s fine. I sense she is taking control of a lot and not learning to delegate and it sends mixed signals to the rank and file. Is this behavior in some ways inadvertently dubious from an ethical perspective' The matrix clearly states a 10 of 10 for the health of Kathy and its impact on her company should something happen. A lot of people depend on her for jobs that provide for their families and the company may not survive if the health of the founder is jeopardized. The primary issue is not whether she is healthy or not, its realizing the gravity of what is happening and taking steps to prepare a contingency in the event. The study by Heifetz in our chapter reading discusses the leadership values and its influence on a company. The implicit nature or assumptions about influence and a position of authority as a leader can have lasting ramifications positively or negatively. In some cases, leadership may not realize what is happening. What I mean is, the ethical nature or culture of a company is inherently derived from the values and principals of its leadership. The challenge with ethics and leadership is there are a variety of elements that make evaluating the links ambiguous. The ability to distinguish the ethics of individual leaders and the ethics of specific types of leadership behavior make more sense, according to our chapter reading. Either way, both types make for a difficult evaluation. The entire exercise in my estimation is purely subjective. The reason, we have to make moral judgments about the ethics and decisions of others. As previously mentioned, there are a plethora of factors in the formulation of decisions and why they are made, regardless of its ethical implications. The fact is, leaders are human and have strengths and weaknesses. Inevitably, leadership will make decisions that it feels will be in the best interests of itself and/or the company. With that said, whatever decision is rendered can never please everybody, because someone will take issue due to their own set of morals and values.