Smoking at the state health department, leadership and ethical decisions are in question when Dry. Paul Billings takes over as leader of the company, coming from another state. The leader in this case study is described as Dry. Paul Billings who was hired from out of state to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
After a few days on the job he noticed a big problem hat he felt he needed to take action on which was the amount of smoker’s there were in the workforce not just that but the amount of breaks they took during there scheduled shift. This was a huge concern for Dry. Billings and he quickly took action to eliminate the amount of smoker’s on the workforce as well as smoking breaks. The department’s mission statement was ‘To promote the overall health and well – being of the citizens of the state by providing necessary medical, fitness and mental health programs and services”. (Sharp, Acquire, Kicking P. 1)
Based on the mission statement Dry. Billings based his assumption that the number of smokers in the department did not agree with the mission statement and that it was a disservice to the citizens as they were representing a false image to the Health and Human service department. After only three months on the job he quickly wrote a Memorandum to the employees that read, ” Beginning immediately, there will be no smoking on department grounds. Further, all employees are hereby notified that six months from the date of this memorandum the department will test all employees for nicotine. (Sharp, Acquire, Kicking P. 71)
Dry. Billings let employees know that they will compensate employees who utilize the smoking cessation program they have to stop their addiction to nicotine. Clearly this did not sit well with the employees who formed protests and signed a petition to repeal the new rule of no smoking on state grounds and in general. The employees respected not smoking on state grounds but there concern was smoking in general and the random nicotine testing.
The letter stated that smoking on state property was not a concern but smoking on there own time should not be a concern to Dry. Billings. The letter did not sit well with Dry. Billings who quickly addressed the letter by saying he will not change the policy and that any other protests or arguments would be ground for termination. The employees also had an idea they send letter’s to the state legislators protesting the new policy as smoking on there own time should not be grounds for termination. As the hearings took place Dry.
Billings was called to testify before the house and senate committee where he demanded to know the names of the employees who send letter’s to repeal his policy. Senate did not provide any names to Dry. Billings nor did they come up with an answer. As the Leader of State health department Dry. Billings has the power to encourage change and write new policies to be effective immediately without any hesitation. While the employee’s are discouraged, they need to acknowledge that they do work for the health department and smoking is considered dangerous to the public.
According to the Columbia Encyclopedia “smoking is considered a health hazard because tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a poisonous alkaloid, and other harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, scrolling, ammonia, Russia acid, and a number of leaderless and tars. (Capable) So the health effects are smoking are really dangerous so smoking on state property should be eliminated immediately as you are representing a healthy lifestyle to the public. According to Mr..
Allan “As a leader, you are responsible for the productivity of your team, the fact is Employee satisfaction causes productivity and customer satisfactions. And customer satisfaction causes profit growth. (Allan P. 23) Leaders have followers this is one of the main differences between management ND leadership. Dry. Billings being a leader of the People and the leader of the employees should no get involved in his employee’s daily lives by doing random nicotine testing as this is ground of non ethical leadership.
Allan says, A leader’s power cannot be demanded it can only by granted and that with wages, you can but employee’s hand, but you can’t buy his heart (Allan P. 23) This particular case is unethical as leadership can only make decisions on the work force when they are at work not in there daily life’s so while I agree that smoking s non beneficial for your health we still need to respect the fact that you can do anything on your spare time and that at work you listen to the rules and in this case no smoking on property which all employees agreed on.
Great leaders have followers that talk about them, and how they inspire the workforce and the public. Leaders are smoke about each and every day; every single decision they make is talked about within the work force. As a leader its important to get your team on your side, to let them know you have a open door policy should they have any problems. According to Hays “Leadership has three important attributes which are clear and consistent communication within the organization, strong awareness of self and other team members and the process of decision making. (Hays P. 2)
In this case study, Dry. Billings was concerned about the amount of smoking breaks that took place on property so he went ahead and placed a memorandum to his employees letting them know there will be no smoking on property and that random tobacco testing will be done after six months from the memo hindering employees from smoking outside of property as they were concern for there job. Dry. Billings needs to address the situation the right way and gain the respect of his employees rather than forcing them to quit an addiction based on his theories.
He needs to be in agreement with his peers in order to run a successful business and be a great leader for the community. In order for Dry. Billings to gain the respect of the employees he must build excellence. He needs to do what is right for the organization rather than what is right for only his needs. They say in order to be a good leader you must first be a man of great character and respect all the decisions of your employees and your self.
