The issue of workforce reduction is one that rings close to
home for me. After reading Chapter 5 in The
Tracks We Leave which addresses workforce reduction, I had several
distinctions that became evident as a result of my past experiences.
In my days of working as a pharmaceutical rep I learned so
much about company culture, managing people (what not to do more than what to do) and how long term businesses
should be run. My time in the Master’s program at UCF has been critical in
understanding my past experiences from a business perspective and what I can
learn from it all.
The chapter on workforce reduction particularly struck a
chord with me. When I worked at the pharma company I got a crash course in what
it was like to work for a morally depleted organization. When I was hired to
work there in early 2008, the company had already had one layoff the year
before and by the time the fall of 2008 rolled around there was already talk of
another reduction. And it was true. There was another reduction.
I survived that round despite my non-existent tenure but the
remaining days at the corporation proved to be extremely demoralizing. The
company was the perfect example of an organization that overused corporate
jargon like “we value transparency” and “integrity is king” but the actions of
the leadership team were so contradictory. Some managers used fear and
manipulation to control team members and senior executives would outright lie
about the state of the company when the entire workforce knew that we were in
trouble.
By the time they were ready to have their next layoff in the
summer of 2010, I volunteered to leave and took my severance pay because I
couldn’t foresee spending another day working for such a compromised
organization—compromised in integrity, that is. Once I left, I started a
business with my husband and it has been the best decision that I’ve ever made.
What I’ve come to realize throughout this course (in a new
way) is that to be an organization of excellence it’s HARD. It’s hard to always
do the right thing when no one is watching. It’s hard to be ethical with all
employees. It’s hard to take on the humility that is required to be an
outstanding leader. It’s hard to make ethical decisions that may not benefit
the company but they are the right thing to do. Because of these challenges
many organizations concede to the pressure of running a business.
One of the most significant things that I’ve realized
throughout this course is the diligence and persistence that is required for an
organization to uphold itself to the highest ethical standards. My goodness,
reading through some of the case studies in The
Tracks We Leave left me dumbfounded. Considering all of the stakeholders
and the values of the different individuals in an ethical dilemma is taxing. It
requires a lot of thought and conscientiousness. It can’t always be a swift
decision—especially in health care where answers are not always black and
white. I at least feel like I am more equipped to handle such dilemmas and as I
grow in this area it will become easier and easier.
My belief is that leadership teams need to understand these
challenges. Not just the challenge in recognizing the ethical dilemma from
different perspectives but the challenge of actually doing the right thing. Sometimes corporate conferences and ethics
campaigns can oversimplify this to the detriment of the leadership team. If it
were as easy as some are led to believe, then overall we would see a more
equitable and integrity-based workforce. It is the responsibility of the
leadership to make the commitment to do the hard work of upholding ethical
decision making even when it may not be popular to do so.
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