Applying theories, concepts and models to Balfish Scenario
The main actors in these case in order of decreasing significance are Ada, Yuri and Helga. Ada’s actions in the case are best described by Kohlberg’s (1971) theory of moral development. Kohlberg (1971) asserts that morals are developed in three levels. The first two levels are evident in Ada’s behaviour in the following ways. True to Kohlberg’s assertion in level 1 of moral development, Ada at the beginning is seen to conform to the known moral code of good and bad in her assessment of the food poisoning complaints leveled against the organization. However, due to Yuri reassuring and dissuading her concerns, Ada does not stick to her moral code but tows in the company line despite the overwhelming body of evidence. She not only fails to share her findings and concerns with both Yuri’s boss, Helga and her team but also fails to stay true to her belief when it counts. At the end, it is more important for Ada to save her job, her team and to tow the company line rather than work to lower the levels of listeria to reduce food poisoning incidences.
Yuri and Helga, also demonstrate level 2 of Kohlberg’s (1971) theory of moral development. Instead of approaching the case based on the available evidence, they blindly tow the company line to save their jobs and to avoid liability and possible litigation. However, their actions are best described by Dixon’s (1976) leadership incompetence model. Yuri and Helga are both conservative in the approach, instead of admitting that the company’s quality assurance processes have been comprised, they deny the glaring evidence and blame everyone ranging from the team to the customers. Therefore they seem delusional, have abdicated their authority, ignore the power of the forces outside their control, believe in scare tactics rather than tactfully resolving the situation at hand, and believe that suppressing the information of the rising number of food poisoning cases is as better that resolving the issue altogether.
The psychological influence of the combined action and inaction of Ada, Yuri, and Helga result to the continued increase in cases of reported food poisoning subsequently attracting the attention of a journalist. Helga’s incompetence leads to Yuri losing his job. Ada’s incompetence on the other hand results to a communication breakdown whereby her team do not get to know of both the increasing number of food poisoning cases and the report of from the lab indicating that the levels of listeria were high. As far as her team is concerned, to the best of their knowledge, the quality department is doing a great job.
Despite the consequences, Ada should have applied the concept of guided discovery to share the looming disaster with her team. To be begin with, she should have used the evidence of the increasing reported cases of food poisoning associated with the company’s products. Secondly, she would have backed the statistics with the lab report that had clearly indicated that the levels of listeria were higher than should be the norm. Finally, she should have pushed the team to investigate the situation and rectify it before it became a crisis. Subsequently, Ada would have shared the burden with her team who would have known what was going on and worked to rectify it due to the moral responsibility they now shared. Evidently, this approach would have benefited the company’s customers and in the long run affected the company’s bottom-line positively due to increased trust.
Secondly, Ada should have used the coping mechanisms of dealing with incompetent and destructive leadership. One such mechanism is escalation. Ada was right in escalating the issue to Yuri, however she should have done the same in writing so that his inaction is on record. Due to his incompetence, she should have further escalated the issue to Helga in writing. Finally, as a last resort, she should have reported the issue to relevant regulatory authority citing what she had done to arrest the situation and the pushbacks she had experienced within her own organization. Consequently, these would have resulted to both Yuri and Helga being morally held responsible subsequently losing their jobs and the respective leader who had encouraged them to be complacent. Secondly, Balfish would have been forced to investigate and rectify the problem in addition to being slapped with fines.
References
Caprario, M., 2013. Guided discovery grammar instruction: A review of the literature with original teaching materials. MA TESOL Collection, Paper 689.
Hughes, D. M., 2014. The Psychology of Leadership Incompetence, Brighton, UK: University of Brighton .
Maxwell, B., 2014. Moral Development: Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan. In: D. C. Phillips, ed. Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., pp. 536-540.
