Case Studies: Business Ethics and Leadership Integrity

This case study explores the crucial role of business ethics and leadership integrity through the analysis of real-world examples. It examines the ethical issues arising in companies like Mozilla, American Apparel, and Snap Chat, focusing on the impact of CEO behavior and corporate values. The study highlights instances of unethical conduct, including misrepresentation of truth, misuse of company funds, and personal behaviors that conflict with professional standards. The cases illustrate how a lack of integrity and ethical leadership can harm stakeholders, investors, and the overall success of an organization. The study emphasizes the importance of ethical guidelines and values in business operations and the need for leaders to align their personal conduct with organizational ethics. This document is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand the practical implications of business ethics and leadership.

Business Ethics

Introduction
Business Ethics gives the guide in which
business should be carried (Collins, 2013).
Ethical behavior by the leader is important
for the success of organization.
It includes integrity, personal behavior,
values and belief of the leader (Kaptein ,
2013).

Case 1
In the case of Mozilla, there are some
ethical issues that are highlighted below:
 Disagreement between the corporate
values and organizational mission.
Breaking of stakeholders trust because of
CEO personal behavior and beliefs.
Presenting of things in front of public
unethically or misrepresentation of truth.

Case 2
In the case of American Apparel, founder Dov
Charney showed the several unethical behavior
that are:
Using sex in advertising to sell clothes that is
totally unethical in running a business as it harm
the values and belief of society.
His personal behavior in contrast with professional
behavior was counted to be unacceptable as
organizations have their own code of conduct and
ethics under which leaders should work and lead
the organization(Leigh, 2015).

Continued……
Founder of American Apparel also
misrepresented the truth and used company’s
funds in an inappropriate manner this lack of
integrity in his personal behavior had
impacted investors and stakeholders trust on
the management.
To run an organization successfully there is a
greater need to analyze the personal
behavior of a leader in term of integrity and
honesty(Holder, 2015).

Case 3
Snap Chat also faces problems due to
personal behavior of its CEO Evan Spiegel.
Ethical issues related to executive integrity
are seen in the company.
Company’s CEO personal behavior and
values are important as society accepts
the company on the basis of leader’s
quality and vision (Johnson , 2018).

Continued……
Evan Spiegel behavior reflected through
emails can change the employee
perception towards him
As in this case there is no issue after the
joining of him as a CEO but indirectly his
personal lifestyle harms the image of the
company.

Conclusion
Ethics are the values and belief about wrong
and right doing. In an organization it is
necessary to run it in the boundary of business
ethics and values. In mentioned cases all the
executives willingly harm the society,
organization, stakeholders and investors for
their personal benefits or due to their personal
behavior. That unethical behavior and lack of
integrity in the leaders make the organization
suffer in every aspect.

References
Collins, D., 2013. Essentials of Business
Ethics: Creating an Organization of High
Integrity and Superior Performance. New
Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Holder, F., 2015. Integrity in Business. New
York: Routledge.
Johnson , C. E., 2018. Meeting the Ethical
Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or
Shadow. 6 ed. Singapore: Sage Publications.

Kaptein , M., 2013. Workplace Morality:
Behavioral Ethics in Organizations. Malaysia
: Emerald publishing.
Leigh, A., 2015. Ethical Leadership. London:
Kogan Page Publications.