Management: Analysis of a Critical Incident Scenario

This article analyzes a critical incident scenario in management, where the CEO of a company has been accused of sexual harassment. It evaluates the key personal competencies of the CEO and suggests that the organization should replace him with another person with strong work ethics.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
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Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the situation..................................................................................................................2
Key Personal competencies.............................................................................................................3
Evaluation of the situation...............................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References and Bibliography...........................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Leadership is probably one of the most critical aspects of the management within the
organization. The organizations should always focus on improving their reputation in front of all
the people within their customers and the overall business environment. In this critical incident
scenario, it has been alleged that the CEO of company has committed sexual harassments. The
allegations have come from two of the junior employees of this person when he was positioned
as the COO of the previous company. This incident has gone viral as well. Therefore, the
leadership credibility of the person is in question already (Ferrell, 2016). This is why the key
personal competencies will be evaluated by the organization since the leadership perspectives of
the CEO will have to be evaluated properly. If the CEO does not meet the leadership
perspectives, the company has to think about replacing the current CEO with another person.
Analysis of the situation
Optimism and ethical behavior are very crucial components of the leaders in the business
organizations. In the concerned business organization, it has been seen that the CEO of this
organization was accused of sexual harassment by two of his former subordinates in another
company Lefkowitz, J. (2017). This kind of allegation is seriously very much harmful for the
reputation of the company. Moreover, this incident has gone viral in the social media as well.
This is why it is quite important to realize the gravity of the situation. The reaction of the CEO is
quite important to identify here. As per the sources, it has been seen that the CEO of the
company had completely denied the accusations made against him. The sources have highlighted
the fact that the two most important factors for the achievement of the company are motivation
for the employees and their abilities (Ferrell, 2016). This proper motivation can be evidently
supplied by the leaders and this will surely enhance the abilities of the employees as well.

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In this kind of scenario, the employees will be highly de-motivated and they will lack the
proper urge to give their best efforts for the company. Therefore, the CEO must understand the
fact that holding on to the position still after committing such things will not at all be a clever
decision. The CEO knows exactly what he has done and he should admit it if he really has
committed such things. This might happen because he has a lot of power and this is completely
the misuse of power (Lefkowitz, 2017).
As per the allegations, he committed such things when he was the COO of another
company. This suggests that he gained lots of power in that position as well. Therefore, it is quite
clear he had utilized his power for his wrongdoings. Now, it should be pointed out that the
stories of these employees had been separately given and that too, without each other’s
knowledge. So, the viability of this kind of accusations should be looked into with proper
investigations. Now, the key personal leadership competencies should be implemented to find
out the credibility of the current CEO.
Key Personal competencies
The social norms and ethics should be implemented in the business decisions by the
leaders. Otherwise, it would become very much difficult for the organization to cope up with all
the challenges. In order to become successful companies with high reputation, the leaders must
earn respect from their subordinates (Lefkowitz, 2017). The work ethics of every organization
should be followed by every person, no matter what post he or she holds. The values of the
organization should conform to the hard work and diligence of the employees. Here the CEO has
evidently disrespected the set of values of the employees. Therefore, it is quite hard for them to
trust him again, especially the women employees (Yoder & Denhardt, 2019).

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The characters of the leaders must be enhanced because lots of things depend on the
overall character of the leaders. Fresher employees learn from their leaders on how to engage
with their work and how to respect everyone on the floor. Leaders should treat the female
employees with the proper respect as well (Calk & Patrick, 2017). This thing definitely lacks
within the critical scenario. There are many benefits of the work that can be gained by working
as per the moral standards. The present CEO has completely overlooked this aspect. People who
will work without the work ethics will never reach to their desired position despite their talents.
Here, the current CEO might have achieved the highest position in the company but his poor
display of work ethics has degraded his position (Yoder & Denhardt, 2019).
There are some elements that should be considered for the key personal competencies.
These elements are conflict management, prudence, emotional intelligence, social intelligence,
courage, decision making, influence skills, political skills and expertise area (Calk & Patrick,
2017). Here some things should be remembered in terms of his achievements in his professional
career. The career development is a very long process and the CEO of this company has not been
able to maintain this path with all kinds of work ethics. He has committed such acts that destroy
the confidence of the subordinate employees. It has negative impacts on the work culture as well.
Decision making is also an important competency for the leaders (Hersch, 2015). He must be
aware of the fact that his activities will have certain impacts on the working capabilities of his
subordinate employees. Therefore, the current CEO has failed to uphold the decision making
perspectives for the betterment of the company. This might not be a business decision but this
has impacted negatively on the better reputation of the organization.
The third key competency for being a leader is the conflict management. The conflict
regarding the allegations has not been handled by the CEO very tactfully. So, this has aggravated

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the situation indeed. He ha behaved very adamantly with the accusers in this regard. The fourth
competency skill is prudence or wisdom (Hersch, 2015). As a top post holder for the
organization, he should possess the knowledge that any unethical behavior from the end of the
leaders will de-motivate the employees and ruin the organizational culture as well. This is why
he has gone on to commit such behavior (McLaughlin, Uggen & Blackstone, 2017). He has also
not been able to calculate the risky situations that he might have faced after committing such
kind of activity. The concept of emotional intelligence and social intelligence has also not been
practiced properly by the CEO. Therefore, he has not been able to guide his subordinates
properly and it is the reason for his kind of situation.
Evaluation of the situation
This situation is quite complicated to be discussed properly. As per the critics, this type
of situation should be handled very minutely. It is quite clear that the CEO has completely failed
to convince his subordinates that he has failed in his responsibilities. The organization should
always value the emotions of all of their employees. Otherwise, this will impact negatively on
the well being of the organization on a serious note (McLaughlin, Uggen & Blackstone, 2017).
The business environment of the organization depends on how well they have conducted their
business operations and cared for their customers. The psychological impact on the customers is
something that should be regarded highly indeed (Herbert, 2014). Here, it is very apparent from
the course of events that the organization will lose their reputation in their industry because they
will not trust the working culture of the company. If the CEO of the company can commit such
acts previously, it might happen again in the future to the customers.

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After the allegations have been done, the CEO did not react calmly and convinced people
that all of these accusations were false. It was only done to degrade his position and reputation.
Rather he acted very adamantly (Herbert, 2014). His implementation of decision making was not
up to the mark as well. So, it is quite sure that the organization should take up some legal actions
against the current CEO. They should replace with him another person with strong work ethics.
Otherwise, it will be very difficult to revive the faith of the customers (Norzailan, Yusof &
Othman, 2016). The replacement should be made immediately until the investigation goes on
with the current CEO. Thus the organization could convince the employees.
Conclusion
In the concluding section, it can be said that the accusations made against the current
CEO should be analyzed properly to ensure the organization is on the right path. After going
through the key personal competencies model, it has been found that the accusations will need to
be investigated. Otherwise, the case cannot be solved. The organization should not entertain the
current CEO after such kind of allegations. It is up to the CEO how he will prove himself as
innocent. He has failed as a leader in the previous company to maintain the work ethics. Now he
is suffering for it in his current organization.

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References and Bibliography
Buckner, G. E., Hindman, H. D., Huelsman, T. J., & Bergman, J. Z. (2014). Managing
workplace sexual harassment: The role of manager training. Employee Responsibilities
and Rights Journal, 26(4), 257-278.
Calk, R., & Patrick, A. (2017). Millennials through the looking glass: Workplace motivating
factors. The Journal of Business Inquiry, 16(2), 131-139.
Ferrell, O. C. (2016). A framework for understanding organizational ethics. In Business ethics:
New challenges for business schools and corporate leaders (pp. 15-29). Routledge.
Herbert, L. C. (2014). Conceptualizing sexual harassment in the workplace as a dignitary
tort. Ohio St. LJ, 75, 1345.
Hersch, J. (2015). Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA World of Labor.
Lefkowitz, J. (2017). Ethics and values in industrial-organizational psychology. Routledge.
Marson, N. (2019). Leadership coaching. In Leading by Coaching (pp. 135-169). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
McDonald, P., Charlesworth, S., & Graham, T. (2015). Developing a framework of effective
prevention and response strategies in workplace sexual harassment. Asia Pacific Journal
of Human Resources, 53(1), 41-58.
McLaughlin, H., Uggen, C., & Blackstone, A. (2017). The economic and career effects of sexual
harassment on working women. Gender & Society, 31(3), 333-358.

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Norzailan, Z., Yusof, S. M., & Othman, R. (2016). Developing strategic leadership
competencies. Journal of Advanced Management Science Vol, 4(1).
Osland, J. S. (2017). Global leadership. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural
Communication, 1-6.
Yoder, D. E., & Denhardt, K. G. (2019). Ethics education in public administration and affairs:
Preparing graduates for workplace moral dilemmas. In Handbook of administrative
ethics (pp. 85-104). Routledge.