ethical leadership
The Best Person for the Job
After 25 years, Ismail is finally ready to retire and take it easy. Ismail teaches Accounting and General Business courses at
Mzansi College. The Business Department at Mzansi College offers Business Administration classes transferable to
Gauteng University (GU) as well as professional and technical programs that culminate in a certificate after one year of
study. Mzansi College has a dual enrollment agreement with Gauteng University (GU), and as a result, many business
students at Mzansi College are also enrolled at GU.
Ismail teaches several of the business transfer classes at Mzansi College, but his real love is the non-transfer professional
Accounting program. He was part of the faculty that created the program, and over the years he has taught hundreds of
Accounting students and helped them obtain internships and find employment in the community. Ismail’s golfing buddy
sometimes jokes that every bookkeeper in town has been through Ismail’s Accounting classes.
Besides the regular Accounting classes and internships, Mzansi College maintains an Accounting lab where students can
get tutoring help if needed. The current lab tutor is Mark, who was hired two years ago when Dianne retired after nearly 10
years as the Accounting tutor. Mark is a former student of Ismail’s and holds a BCom Accounting degree. The lab job is
part-time, which works out perfectly for Mark, leaving him plenty of time to pursue his MBA in Accounting at Gauteng
University. Mark wants to teach Accounting at Mzansi College when he completes his MBA.
As a tutor, Mark has brought the Accounting Lab to life. He relates well with students, is an excellent tutor, and the faculty
sees him as a valuable member of the department. In the two years he has worked in the lab, Mark has become good
friends with Bongani, the Business Department Dean. They frequently have lunch together and even socialize with their
wives outside of work. Last summer the families went camping together over Heritage Day, the 24th of September, and this
year they expect to do the same.
Bongani is Chair of the Recruitment Committee to find Ismail’s replacement. The committee consists of Bongani, two
additional faculty members, an administrator from another department and Thandi, the Department Chair for Business and
Accounting. On Monday morning, Thandi met with Bongani to plan out the recruitment process.
“I know HR requires us to do a job search,” said Bongani, “but even so, there’s no reason why we can’t move Mark into
Ismail’s position. He relates well with our students, knows all the ins and outs of the college, and is well liked by the
faculty.”
Thandi is surprised at Bongani’s suggestion. “Mark is a nice guy, and we all like him,” she said, “but he’s not qualified. This
position requires a master’s degree, and he’s only got a bachelor’s.”
“He doesn’t need a master’s degree to teach in the professional/technical program,” said Bongani. “He’s perfectly qualified
for that, and we have plenty of other faculty that can teach the transfer program. Mark is in university anyway. He’ll get his
MBA next year, and until then, we’ll just schedule him for the professional/technical program, and we’ll fit the other classes
into other faculty members’ schedules.”
“This is not how we normally replace faculty,” said Thandi. She was particularly disturbed that Bongani’s attitude indicated it
was a done deal.
“It’s no problem,” said Bongani. “And besides, this is how things actually work. The only reason why I got to advance in my
career is due to a friend in a management position who recognised my potential and overrode HR processes to promote
- I would like to do that for Mark too. Recruitment is just a superficial, meaningless HR exercise anyway. I’ll have the
paperwork ready for your signature by tomorrow.”
The paperwork, marked “confidential”, was in Thandi’s mailbox the following morning. It contained all the documents
necessary for HR to launch a full-scale recruiting plan, including a new job description written by Bongani. Instead of the
customary broad-based job description for a faculty member qualified to teach university-transferable and non-transferable
classes, Thandi found a job description that described Mark exactly.
“This is a set-up,” Thandi mumbled to herself. She knows that even with five members on the Recruitment Committee and
the required selection process, the actual hiring decision is left to the Dean. “It looks like Mark’s got the job no matter what.
What good is Mzansi College’s Ethics Committee when the Deans have the power to do as they please anyway?”
Discuss the extent to which ethical leadership is evident in the case study.
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