Ethical Leadership & Crisis: A Study of Kimpton Hotels and Defrino

This essay explores the concept of ethical leadership with a case study of Kimpton Hotels and its CEO, Mike Defrino. It begins by providing a brief biography of Defrino, highlighting his commitment to customer service and ethical business practices. The analysis then focuses on a major ethical crisis encountered by Kimpton Hotels: a violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, where the company allegedly misused employee biometric data. The essay discusses the link between Defrino's ethical orientation and the company's response (or lack thereof) to the crisis, noting the absence of public comment or justification from Defrino or other company leaders. The essay concludes by suggesting that this silence reveals a potential inability to effectively uphold ethical standards within the organization. Desklib provides access to similar essays and solved assignments for students.

Running head: Ethics and leadership
Ethics and leadership
Name of the student
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Author note

1Ethics and leadership
Ethics has been considered as one of the major traits that successful leaders should
possess. The term ethics refers to the value and morals of an individual which influence the
person to do what is morally right. The importance of ethics in the leadership quality is so
significant that the concept itself builds an identity for an ideal leader (Fehr, Yam & Dang,
2015). The two major aspects that come under the consideration of ethics in line with the
leadership qualities are: the action as well as behavior and personality (Voegtlin, 2016). Thus the
discussion will be closely evaluating the concept of ethical orientation and the formative
influences on while making a close connection with an example. In order to give a clear
description, an incident of ethical crisis will be elaborated in the whole course of the discussion.
To begin the discussion, a brief biography of a leader is being discussed firstly. Mike
Defrino, the Chief Executive Officer of Kimpton Hotels and Restaurant, has been leading the
business over 3 years. He was fo0rmerly working with the company, as Chief Operation Officer,
EVP operation, SVP operation for 1 year 8 months, 8 months and 6 years respectively, making
up his entire tenure of employment at the company about 12 years. As observed under his
leadership, the growth of the company is considerably to a greater extent. Possessing a clear
vision, Defrino stresses on communication within the workplace (Kimpton COO Goes PUBLIC:
Q&A With Mike DeFrino - Life is Suite, 2018). His mission is to make the not only most loved,
rather his aim is to make the company most recognized for being most loved company while
assuring the ethical aspect. Thus it can be stated that the formative influence on his ethical
orientation is his commitment towards the customers, to offer the best service to them.
In regard to the ethical consideration, one incident can be mentioned, which reports that
the company had failed to meet the ethical standards in terms of employee protection (Chicago
Tribune - Mariano's, Kimpton Hotels sued over alleged collection of biometric data: 'It's

2Ethics and leadership
something very personal', 2018). As reported, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act has
been violated by the company as they have misused the personal information of the employees
breaching their right to privacy (Agarwal & Fleisher, 2017). The company has been alleged to
have misused the data of biometric system. As per the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy
Act, before accessing the data of biometric system, an employer must have prior permission from
the jurisdiction as well the employer must inform the concerned person whose data on biometric
to be accessed (740 ILCS 14/ Biometric Information Privacy Act, 2018). As reported, the
company did b not fulfill neither of the prior conditions before accessing the personal data like
fingerprints, ID batch of the employees on biometric system.
In respect to the previous discussion, the above mentioned ethical crisis in line with the
ethical orientation of the Chief Executive Officer, Mike Defrino, must be discussed. The incident
of ethical crisis has been highlighted by several media, which reveals Defrino’s inability of
securing ethics within the workplace. Another important factor is that the media reports stated no
comments or justification to the crisis neither from the Defrino nor from any other leaders of the
company. This clearly reveals that Defrino’s inability to meet ethical standards.

3Ethics and leadership
References
740 ILCS 14/ Biometric Information Privacy Act. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3004&ChapterID=57
Agarwal, M. A. W., & Fleisher, A. J. (2017). Biometric Information as Personal Information—A
Brave New World of Regulatory Compliance.
Chicago Tribune - Mariano's, Kimpton Hotels sued over alleged collection of biometric data: 'It's
something very personal'. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-employers-biometrics-lawsuits-0723-biz-
20170720-story.html
Fehr, R., Yam, K. C., & Dang, C. (2015). Moralized leadership: The construction and
consequences of ethical leader perceptions. Academy of Management Review, 40(2), 182-
209.
Kimpton COO Goes PUBLIC: Q&A With Mike DeFrino - Life is Suite. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.kimptonhotels.com/blog/kimpton-coo-goes-public-qa-with-mike-defrino/
Voegtlin, C. (2016). What does it mean to be responsible? Addressing the missing responsibility
dimension in ethical leadership research. Leadership, 12(5), 581-608.