Leadership and Ethics: An Analysis of the Parable of the Sadhu Essay

This essay analyzes 'The Parable of the Sadhu' by McCoy, focusing on the ethical dilemmas presented in the story and their relevance to modern organizations. The essay explores the incident where a group of people encountered a Sadhu suffering from hypothermia and discusses the lack of individual responsibility in the group's response. It highlights the ethical questions of individual, collective, and institutional responsibility, drawing parallels to similar dilemmas in the workplace. The essay argues that organizations face similar challenges, where individual ethics and values can conflict with shared goals. It emphasizes the importance of leadership in synchronizing individual efforts, communicating a collective vision, and ensuring that ethical standards are met to achieve organizational goals. The conclusion underscores the need for combining individual morals with group effort, guided by strong leadership, to overcome ethical challenges and achieve collective success.

Running Head: THE PARABLE OF THE SADHU
THE PARABLE OF THE SADHU
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1THE PARABLE OF THE SADHU
‘The Parable of the Sadhu’ by McCoy in Ciulla's book can be considered as a lesson
when it comes to ethics, which can be significant within organizational terms. This essay will
be exploring the background of the piece and placing weight in the relevance it has in the
modern day organization (McCoy, 1983).
The article is based on an incident that really happened and it included Bowen H.
McCoy the Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. It is based on a trip he had taken to the
Himalayas for 60 days and his group consisted of various people of different nationalities. A
New Zealander came across an Indian sadhu who was suffering from Hypothermia and
shivering due to the enormous cold. The story focuses on how everyone tried to do their bit
foe the sadhu but no one in the group took complete responsibility of the situation at hand.
This naturally placed an ethical dilemma in the limelight as it raised questions about the
ethical responsibility of the self (Donaldson & Dunfee, 1984). It also questioned the
collective and institutional responsibility and ethics of people.
This is highly relevant in then organizational culture because of similar dilemmas
arising on a regular basis. Employees or the management tend to be aware and active with a
problem or plan as long as it is convenient for them. They are of the idea that since,
organizational responsibilities arte shouldered than more than one person, the work will be
done by collaborative effort where the lack on someone’s part will be covered up by someone
else (McLagan, 2012). It has been pondered upon, if the reaction of the people would have
been different, had the Sadhu been a Western woman. Here the analogy is placing a ‘western
woman’ as a symbol which will be able to gather better attention of the people.
The moral ethics are in question. Organizations need to realize that, it is natural that
people have various individual values when it comes to shared goals. The work that the
people had individually done to help the Sadhu was helpful, but one must look at the final

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goal. The final goal in this case was not achieved. Similarly, in organizations, because of
individual beliefs and work ethics, the final goal tends to suffer. Thus to ensure that the final
goal is reached, the leader must come to the forefront and ensure that the ethics and morals
that are set for the goals are achieved and applied by all the people involved in the project.
Collaborative effort must be put for the achievement of the goal (Stead, Warrell & Stead,
1990). A collective vision must be communicated and individual efforts must be
synchronized. An action may or may not be justifiable but the moral characteristics of the
people, which are different for each individual, play an important role in the same.
In conclusion, the ethical dilemma presented in ‘The Parable of the Sadhu’ is similar
to the ethical dilemma presented within various companies and organizations. It is a reminder
that individual morals and ethics must be combined together and compromises must be made,
along with group effort, which is headed by a leader to ensure that collective goals area
reached.

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References
Donaldson, T., & Dunfee, T. W. (1994). Toward a unified conception of business ethics:
Integrative social contracts theory. Academy of management review, 19(2), 252-284.
Maclagan, P. (2012). Conflicting obligations, moral dilemmas and the development of
judgement through business ethics education. Business Ethics: A European
Review, 21(2), 183-197.
McCoy, B. (1983). The parable of the Sadhu. Harvard business review, 61(5), 103-108.
Stead, W. E., Worrell, D. L., & Stead, J. G. (1990). An integrative model for understanding
and managing ethical behavior in business organizations. Journal of Business
Ethics, 9(3), 233-242.