Firestones Tires recall

Firestones Tires recall

    Leadership is the act of leading the subordinates to achieve goals and objectives of an organization. It needs knowledge and skills to deal with issues as they arise. A good leadership strategy is the one the embraces code of conduct and upholds ethics in its dealings. At time leaders are caught up in a dilemma between the organization prosperity and the public, this is where the real test of leadership occurs on ethics and decision making. In the body discussion, there is an elaborate view of the roles of leadership when commercial realities conflict with public safety the dilemmas leaders face and a theoretical foundation of leadership and some leadership characteristics.

 Role of leadership when commercial realities conflict with public safety concerns

To exercise ethical leadership moral leader demonstrates traits like integrity, trustworthiness, and honesty. Being a leader with integrity need proper management and credibility of the organization. In this case, the Firestone tire company leadership would have exercised integrity in their dealings by maintaining a code of conduct. The company chose the organization commercial realities over the public.In order to conceal their mistake which was so unethical. The consequences of the action lead to massive death and exposure of the customers to danger. To implement a decision-making framework; the leadership In Firestone was faced with a dilemma situation during the decision-making process (Warwick, 2012.p 1455). Leaders needed a lot regarding critical thinking the leaders should have considered the results of the decision they make. The Firestone company leadership was obliged to make an apparent decision to choose between its commercial realities and safety.

To practice utilitarian analysis; the administration comes up with a decision favoring one side. All groups will be affected by the decision with some weight given to the various groups and benefits that assess their degree. In our case, the Firestone leadership would have used rational analysis to weigh both sides to come up with a solution and make a decision.

To adhere and apply the code of conduct through utilitarian analysis managers are guided when facing some ethical situations. An organization that observes a code of conduct is an organization that can solve issues directly and without causing violent conflicts. The Firestone leadership should have a clear code of conduct that should be respected and followed. The tire company should have ensured product standard is not compromising the National Highways Traffic Safety Administration. Management staff should have adherence to the code of conduct and respond to the queries by Boyden.

To exercise care; Fireworks and Traffic Safety Administration would have considered the effect of their choice. Did not put some due consideration on the human safety, lives on their preference. The Traffic Safety Administration failed to investigate the cases filled and for the Firestone. Lastly, they never rectified on the company mistakes that lead to 100 people dead making them lose their competitive position plus a lot of financial damage. The ethical dilemmas are applied in two conflicting situation like in the commercial realities and public safety.

The dilemma between trustworthiness and justice

Leaders have a role of making decisions that enhance trust levels and goodwill of the customers. They would give the right information to the clients regarding their products, and in case of defect, they should make a recall. Additionally, there is a justice factor or the legal burden that the company will bear by being trustworthy. In our case, the Firestone Company concealed the safety problems on trends separation. The management was in a dilemma, to say the fact, or suffer the consequences of giving faulty products for use to the market.

The dilemma between the organization and public safety

The dilemma between public safety and organization comes on the side of the leadership. The administration is torn between securing the organization and speaking the truth to save human life which will lead to massive losses to the organization. The organization has its competitive position and role of management to ensure that it maintains or improves the situation. The leaders also have a part to ensure that they give quality and standard products to their customers which have no effects on the environment, their health, and products are up to the quality standards.

The Firestone company leadership, in this case, decided to conceal the default in their products. It is aimed to protect the organization leading to loss of life of innocent people. After the investigation people suffered a considerable injury, there was not the best decision made since the truth comes to light which cost the company a fortune on the finances.

Ethics and conflict of interest

Ethics is a principle that morally determines a person’s behavior, or the conducting of an activity, while the conflict of interest is a situation where an organization or person is involved in multiple affairs. Here in our case, the Firestone tire has a conflict of interest between the commercial interest and safety concerns if it addresses the safety concerns that mean the economic factor of the company will go down that lead to the company overlooking the aspect of safety, which is ethical that did cost it at the end.

Addressing the problems and dilemmas that arise when carrying out a leadership role

To address essential needs, one should have the right team in place. Aimed at ensuring that they work round the clock to provide justice with lot fairness. This could help in gathering enough information, for instance, NHTSA officials put considerations to look into the matter, they found the rot in the system, and they did digging by going through files to have the correct information, by asking firestone to submit their records.

The Firestone Tire company recalled its products from the customers to avoid further damage. Clear communication to the product on the type of product they are using, and even right to information like the way ford and Firestone did by providing a platform for communication by its customers on how to check whether their tires are for recall and a line for inquiry. There is accepting when one is of fault and taking full responsibility for the action that leads to a battle. When the parties involved agree that there is a problem or a mistake that they did and are willing to make it right regardless of the cost, it becomes easier to deal with the case (Wright, 2013. p30). Shows that the Firestone officials took full responsibility for the actions after admitting that they made bad tires.

The other strep is ensured that the parties involved face the full force of the rule and bear the consequences and the victims get the justice they deserve. Leadership principles need to be followed and breaking it has implications, so there should be a framework where the people who break the position especially with the knowledge of their actions and cause the death of any form of effect to human should be executed and face charges.

The theory of ethical leadership

Moral guidance is the difference that occurs to be involved and includes various diverse elements A noble leader is an individual with stands or principals of the conduct that are crucial for him. For one to qualify to be an ethical leader, there is a need to adhere to a different and well-spread standard of moral behavior. Ethical administration is the mode of conduct of setting an example to followers and others about the rightness or wrongness of particular actions Ethical leadership can be viewed as healing and energizing powers of love, recognizing that direction is a reciprocal relation with followers. Parris & Peachey, 2013.p 378 states that a leader’s mission is to serve and support with the passion for leading comes with compassion.

Characteristics of ethical leadership

Ability to respect others

When a leader regards others, he gives them a chance to themselves, with creative wants and desires. Leaders with respect for others, approach other people with a sense of their actual worth and value individual differences. Respect pave way for accepting others ideas and recognized as human being. Sometimes, those in leadership tend to differ from others. A leader should develop the ability to listen and make the subordinates fill that they belong without condemning.

Ability to serve others

A very crucial characteristic of a leader is the ability to help others in a free and fair manner without bias and contradiction. A leader should lead by example. If an organization a group has poor leadership it will have poor results as the leaders are the mirror of an organization’s results (Al Qudah, 2018 .p 96 ). A hardworking leader who sets the example to his workers will have a high possibility of yielding top results.

Ability to be fair and just

An ethical leader main concern is the issue of fairness and justice. They take upon themselves to treat their juniors in a free and fair manner. Leaders should put fairness problems while making their decision. As a rule, no individual should get favor in consideration unless her particular situation needs that. (Hoch at.al,2018.p513) states that treating all individual similarly creates a better working environment and motivates the workers to perform better.

Ability to exercise honesty

Honesty is regarded as applying transparency with others and representing reality as fully and completely as possible. Honesty is not as easy as telling the truth may lead to counterproductively or coalitions within the organization. The key challenging issue facing leaders is balancing between being open and candid when they monitor the appropriate decision in a specific situation. Most times there might be organizational constraints preventing leaders such that they cannot disclose data to the public. Wright (2013 p.33), states that leaders should be authentic and sensitive towards the other people attitude for a better and saline working environment.

Reference list           

Al Qudah, M.A., 2018. Ethical Leadership and Its Role in Developing Leadership Skills among Employee. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 7(01), pp.96-123.

Case study.Firestone tire recall. /Firestone%20Case%20Study%20(1).pdf(insert the real link from the site ,ya hio article) and cite

Hoch, J.E., Bommer, W.H., Dulebohn, J.H. and Wu, D., 2018. Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), pp.501-529.

Parris, D.L. and Peachey, J.W., 2013. A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of business ethics, 113(3), pp.377-393.

Warwick, B.A., 2012. Reinventing the Wheel: Firestone and the Role of Ethics in the Corporation. Ala. L. Rev., 54, p.1455.

Wright, C.S., 2013. Developing ethical leaders: is there inconsistency between theory and practice?. Journal of Human Values, 19(1), pp.29-38.