Ethical and leadership dilemmas in FIFA (Essay Sample)

Ethical and leadership dilemmas in FIFA Student’s name University Date Ethical and leadership dilemmas in FIFA Ethics are moral codes that define an individual in choosing between right and wrong. The codes evolve from a set of established Values and principles that may vary from one organization to another. They help employees and leaders to make decisions based on acceptable behaviours and choices. Managerial ethics are standards that dictate the conduct of managers and the way they should operate in a workplace. Managers make decisions based on the procedure that have been established within the organization, but there are no rules that specify how managers should approach issues or make decisions. Therefore the code ethics becomes the only tool that guides managers how to approach issues. This code of conduct contains a set of Values and ethical principles that are from shared Values, principles and company policies about conduct. These codes are not written down by the organization, , and thus not enforceable but need to be observed by managers. Therefore the business environment presents many ethical dilemmas that managers can get in. Values are personal beliefs that guide a person’s life for ethics decision-making. They personalized ideas that guide an individual in making decisions. Values can be instrumental or terminal where the individual compiles a set of the two to develop an ethical behaviour that are unified to form ethical behaviour that characterizes their actions. The leader then develops morality standards based on a solid foundation with Values and principles that enable the individual differentiate between what is right and wrong CITATION Coo98 \l 1033 (Cooper, 1998). FIFA football's world governing body has been widely claimed with cases of corruption, since 2015. It was indicated that several top executives have been involved in corruption which led to banning of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini for eight years. This scandal is traced to award of the 2022 world cup hosting to Qatar which is a small country rich in oil. It is believed that the bidding process lacked honesty and transparency. Questions were raised on the on the merit that was used to award the contract to Qatar. Massive amounts of money have been associated with FIFA bidding processes being traced back to South Africa world cup hosting where documents emerged that showed FIFA officials had been involved in corruption and money laundering. However,, Declan Hill describes corruption as being beyond the executives in FIFA to players and coaches who take bribes to achieve different ends CITATION Nus13 \l 1033 (Nuseibeh, 2013). Corruption is defined as abuse of public power for personal gain; it is normally equated with bribery where someone takes a bribe to favour another persona and thus not following the required procedure. It is thus a form of unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority for personal benefit. However, corruption extends beyond bribery to include extortions and kickbacks, graft, fraud and embezzlement. This, therefore, means that public officials can engage in corruption through different methods that are aimed at achieving personal gains through failing to follow the established procedure CITATION MJo05 \l 1033 (Johnston, 2005). Corruption has become part of everyday transactions affecting every segment of society, business, government, education and even religion. It draws back to the time of Plato’s writings and the New Testament. Therefore it has become the glue that binds transactions and brings people together. Scholars have therefore defined corruption based on several standards that define the types of norms violated by the act, nature of the transaction, and the context in which the act happens. This analysis helps in defining the nature of corruption and defining strategies that can be used to tackle it. Mishra(2006) argues that the systemic framework differentiates corruption based on the size and frequency pattern of within the system. That is not only focussing on the individual but rather on the context that the act occurs. This, therefore, leads to three forms of corruption, incidental, systemic corruption and institutional corruption. Institutional corruption has been defined as the existence of strategic and systemic influences that undermine the effectiveness of an institution by diverting it from the intended purpose and thus weakening public trust or trustworthiness of the institution. On the other hand systemic corruption is an advanced level of institutional corruption where the vice is deeply rooted in society and therefore becomes structural. Many organizations are struggling with institutional and systemic corruption since it becomes very difficult to establish internal controls that can prevent the vice CITATION Bar06 \l 1033 (Bardhan, 2006). Resistance to transparency within FIFA increased the ethical issues that the organization was facing at that time. Anytime there were investigations being carried out on corruption; FIFA ensured that the findings of the cases were not reported publicly. This meant that the organization, , was not ready to fight corruption since hiding the contents of the report means that the top executives have been involved in the scandal and thus public reporting will taint their image. One scenario is the investigation report by Michael J. Garcia on the venue selections for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups where the investigator requested the organization to release the report in its original form but rather Fifa chose not to release the report until the resigning of the investigator, where FIFA redacted the report and released it CITATION Les13 \l 1033 (Lessig, 2013). Lack of transparency limits visibility of an organization making it difficult for stakeholders to understand the affair of the organization modern day managers and leaders have instituted transparency policies where they disclose to the public the functions of the organization and how the organization is fairing. This means that there are clear processes that guide how tasks are executed and sensitive decisions are made within the organization. Institutionalized policies are not for the individual but rather for the whole institution since these policies are implemented day in day out CITATION JSo07 \l 1033 (Solomon, 2007). Lack of an effective culture that defines leadership within the organization has created cultural problems and rifts among colleagues in the institution. The executive committee had failed to establish an organizational culture that can be used in regulating activities. The committee was focussed on achieving their own ends through compromising decisions and recommendations of the investigator and other employees. Lack of a clear culture led to increased corruption where several employees in the top arm of leadership were later suspected of corruption and integrity issues CITATION Har11 \l 1033 (Hartman, 2011). The failure of Fifa’s top executives was as a result of ethical issues that the organized failed in building a corporate culture. The linkage between culture and Values of an organization is in the kind of decisions that leaders make when charged with leadership situations. Organizational culture develops the mind, attitude and behaviour of individuals that are manifested through symbols and cultural manifestations that Hofstede (1994) calls onion rings. Business culture further becomes a determining factor where there is no provision in the law regarding the decision that the leader can make (Hofstede, 1994). Kouzes & Posner (2007) argues that ethics is the heart of leadership since the two go hand in hand, in Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership Craig E. Johnson argues that when individuals assume the power of leadership they also assume ethical burdens that come from leadership. Therefore the leader casts light through influencing people to follow the decisions that they make. The leader also judged based the ethical decisions that they uphold in the leadership style. Ethics, leadership and decision-making are interrelated concepts since they form part of the final result that the leader achieves. Decision-making is part of leadership while ethics is the core of good leadership that enables proper decision-making that makes a leader accountable. Leaders who have achieved in the areas that they are known in have exercised a high sense of ethical value through upholding morality levels that can be used to define a leader. World’s renowned leaders in history are recognised simply because they stood for certain principles in their life that determined the decisions they make through observing a certain code of ethics. Many organization s have a code of ethics that is followed by its employees in all areas of work CITATION RMK07 \l 1033 (Kidder, 2007). Codes are open disclosures on the way an organization operates through providing visible guidelines for behaviour. This code when observed after sometime becomes a routine and a communication vehicle that reflects the covenant that an organization makes to uphold Values that determine the way employees handle the organization’s activities. This enables the organization to create an identity and an organizational culture that determines how the public perceives the organization. Morality is magnified in leadership making leaders carry great volume of morality than non leaders. History defines effective leaders based on their ability to bring change in the world through utilising their powers and privileges to make decisions that will have great impact on their subjects. Decision-making requires three steps: description, reflection and prescription. Sound decision-making defines the scope of the leader’s responsibility ma...