COM 574 Reading Guide Questions for October 23 - Irwin Mallin, IPFW Communication

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COM 574, Fall 2008 – Reading Guide Questions for October 23

For Barge:

1. Do you agree with Barge’s critiques of the way(s) we’ve traditionally thought of leadership? Why or why not?

2. Think about each of the alternative metaphors for leadership Barge provides. For class, please choose one that you might think be useful in your organizational life and explain how.

3. In the conclusion of the article, he suggests skills that leaders should possess: networking/seeking info, negotiation, facilitating innovation. He also suggests that leaders should develop an ethical code. Why would each of these be important?

For Nicotera and Cushman:

1. How would you describe their “Within-Organization View” of ethics in your own words? Do you agree with it?

2. Do you agree with their depiction of American cultural ethics in the section on “The National Culture Question?” Can you think of situations in which the public response to events departed from this depiction?

3. What’s the argument they make in defense of GE’s plant closing/layoff practices? Do you agree with them that these practices are ethical? How do IBM’s practices (for example, in Greencastle) differ from GE’s? Do you think these practices are ethical? (In case you’re wondering, the plant closings they discuss here all took place before the federal law requiring advance notice of mass layoffs took effect).

4. Upon reading the section entitled “Application to Individual Ethics”: How would you (or have you?) reconcile the difference between your own ethics and your organization’s if asked to do something you found unseemly?

5. How would you describe the distinction they make between “apex” and “emergent” cultures in your own words? How would you classify the places you have worked? Do you find this to be a useful distinction?

For Mattson and Buzzanell:

1. After you read Diamond’s story (which ends around the middle of page 54), answer these questions before reading the rest of the article: From your own perspective, was diamond treated ethically by WGEM’s new management? Why or why not? Based on your reading of Nicotera and Cushman, would GE management agree? Would IBM management agree?

2. Upon reading the description of Redding’s typology of unethical messages, which these authors term a “traditional” approach to org com ethics (pages 55-61): How does this approach to ethics differ from Nicotera and Cushman’s? Which do you like better? Why? To what extent do you agree with his typology of what constitutes unethical behavior?

3. What’s Mattson and Buzzanell’s complaint about Redding’s traditional approach? Do you agree?

4. How does their feminist conception of org com ethics differ from Nicotera and Cushman’s? From Redding’s? Which do you like better? To what extent do you agree with their approach to what constitutes unethical behavior?

For Stephens and Behr:

1. Analyze Enron’s culture and the departures of Baxter and Ceconi in terms of the various perspectives prsented in the two main articles. Do some perspectives yield results that make more sense than others?

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