Creating Unethical Workplace: Salomon Case Analysis

This assignment analyzes the Salomon Inc. case study, focusing on the unethical workplace culture created under Gutfreund's leadership. The analysis identifies key factors contributing to the ethical crisis, including Gutfreund's reactions to misconduct and his focus on short-term gains over ethical leadership. The assignment also proposes steps to change the culture, such as defining common values, standards, and fostering open communication. The solution emphasizes the importance of ethical decision-making, long-term strategy, and employee empowerment to prevent future ethical lapses and promote corporate social responsibility. The provided solution references relevant academic sources to support its arguments and recommendations, offering a comprehensive understanding of the case's complexities and implications for leadership and organizational ethics.

Corporate Social
Responsibility

Table of Contents
Key factors regarding Gutfreunds leadership that led to unethical culture.....................................1
Steps that would be taken in order to change the culture................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

Key factors regarding Gutfreunds leadership that led to unethical culture
Salomon is a Wall Street bank that leads in experiencing the most ethical crisis which
was devastating as security trader Paul Mozer tried to monopolise the market by bidding in the
market more than the amount that was actually allowed by the department rules at auction
(Crane, Matten and Spence, 2019). Thus, the key factors of the Gutfreunds leadership that lead to
unethical culture has been discussed as per below-
 The major factor was his reaction to those incidents that took place in a firm in a critical
manner. Therefore, to save the career of his own and also the reputation the leader do not
take any kind of action that was necessary in order to reprimand Mozer for the illegal
bidding that was done by him and also waited for very long time before notifying
Treasury. Further, Gutfreund ignored the misconduct that was done by Mozer and also
tried to cover it up. Thus, it has been analysed that the good and best leader is the one
who serve others and make the best ethical decisions required in an organisation.
 The other factor was that Gutfreund was lacking with long term strategy for a particular
firm Solomon and rather than focused on small term success that leads in increasing the
profit of a particular brand (Wang, Tong, Takeuchi and George, 2016). Thus, we can say
that he was an effective leader but he lacked in becoming an ethical leader due to which
Mozer broke the rules and regulations so that he can achieve his particular goal that is
being targeted by him.
Steps that would be taken in order to change the culture
There are number of strategies that can be adopted by Salomon in order to achieve long term
success and high level of profitability in a particular organisation (Jamali and Karam, 2018).
Some of them has been discussed as per below context-
 Defining common language, values and standards- If i would be the leader and must have
taken the place of Gutfreund in Salomon than i would have defined common language
that would be understandable by everyone that are involved with me in a particular firm.
In order to make the culture of an organisation successful, everyone must try to follow
one particular language and also follow same page about the values that has been
described.
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 I must have also tried to be truthful towards the employees that are involved and worked
with me and try to always communicate with them easily and smoothly that would help
them in sharing their views and ideas regarding organisation easily in order to achieve
long term success. Thus, to be truthful towards employees means they has to be
completely honest about the strengths, weakness and biases that company is facing so
that they can also know the actual place where Salomon stands and works accordingly.
 I must have also treated people in a right manner and in terms of hiring i would have look
after the character they have rather than skills. This is because I basically believe that
skills can be easily learned but character is that which is quite harder to cultivate. Thus, it
has also been analysed through the case study that the skills of Gutfreund was good but
the feeling of saving the name and reputation made him to support the Mozer and cover
the fault that is being done by him which in turn affected the reputation and success of
Salomon completely (Reynolds & Reason, 2012).
Thus, with the help of these steps I can easily motivate employees to work in such manner that
would not affect the reputation of an organisation and can make the company reach the boost. In
addition to this, it would also help them in sharing views and ideas related to the firm which
would make them feel valued and important.
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REFERENCES
Crane, A., Matten, D., & Spence, L. (Eds.). (2019). Corporate social responsibility: Readings
and cases in a global context. Routledge.
Jamali, D., & Karam, C. (2018). Corporate social responsibility in developing countries as an
emerging field of study. International Journal of Management Reviews. 20(1). 32-61.
Reynolds, D., & Reason, M. (Eds.). (2012). Kinesthetic empathy in creative and cultural
practices. Intellect Books.
Wang, H., Tong, L., Takeuchi, R., & George, G. (2016). Corporate social responsibility: An
overview and new research directions: Thematic issue on corporate social responsibility.
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