Ford Was An Unethical Leader.He Allowed Himself To Fall

Ford was an unethical leader. He allowed himself to fall into the ethical trap of â€Å"Worry over Image† with his alteration of the $5 Day policy and his creation of the Ford Sociology Department. â€Å"Ethical traps stem from confusion or uncertainty as to what action or behavior should be taken in a given situation. The ethical trap â€Å"Worry over Image† entails making decisions based on how they’ll impact your reputation or standing among peers, subordinates, supervisors, or community. Concerns about what might turn out to be an embarrassing situation may cause you to do something less ethical instead of what’s right (BCEE, 2017c, p. 6-7). Ford wanted his employees to behave a certain way and to do this he paid them to conform to his standard.†¦show more content†¦172). Employees that did not confirm lost the $5 Day pay. The creation of this policy and department dehumanized his workforce for the betterment of his reputation. Expecti ng excellence in all aspects of a person’s life goes against the purpose of mission accomplishment as well as failing to embrace the critical thinking trait of open-mindedness. Henry Ford was critical of anybody’s viewpoints that went against his own. Ford was proud of the Model T, but he did not want to change it, and this failing resulted in Ford taking a back seat to his competitors and suffering a declining market share. â€Å"Being open-minded means you’re ‘open’ to actively listening and thinking about an idea or solution (BCEE, 2017d, p. 4). Ford often stifled and undermined his leaders, to include his own son who had been given the presidency of the company. However, one of the best example to illustrate Ford’s lack of open-mindedness comes from author John Maxwell who writes, â€Å"One day when a group of his designers surprised him by presenting him with the prototype of an improved model, Ford ripped its doors off the hinges and proceeded to destroy the car with his bare hands (1991, p. 122). This example shows how Ford failed to adhere to the critical thinking characteristic of open mindedness by shuttin g down new ideas on how to improve the Model T. These traits directly contributed to the Ford Motor Company almost filing