Ethical Leadership At Chick-Fil-A

Chick-fil-A is an American franchising restaurant company, which is operated by Cathy’s family. They started from a small restaurant named Dwarf Grill in 1946. It was founded by a conservative Christian, S. Truett Cathy. In 1961, he invited a special way to cook chickens, and then he created his own fast food chain and added their specialty in the menu in 1967. After a long time, Chick-fil-A has grown as a fast food giant, which have 1679 locations in thirty-nine states. In 2010, their total sale per restaurant won the champion in the United States (Harvey, 2012).

Chick-fil-A is affected by numerous external forces which challenge upper management’s ability to make Chick-fil-A "America’s best quick-service restaurant". Through intense strategic planning, based upon the vision, mission and corporate values, Chick-fil-A has been able to establish a unique position in a very competitive industry. The corporate purpose of Chick-fil-A, "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact witch Chick-fil-A", their commitment to family and the community, and their sound business decisions, have made Chick-fil-A one of the most profitable and fastest growing quick-service restaurants

I can remember, not only myself, but others going to Chick-fil-A on multiple occasions on a Sunday only to realize they’re closed when they get there, we just simply forgot. Rewriting their policy would impact Chick-fil-A’s business aspects on multiple levels. Bringing in

Chick fil A is a unique company and is clearly different from most fast-food restaurants; employees are kind, helpful and maintain a clean environment no matter where they located. As stated previously Chick-fil- A’s corporate purpose is constructive in addition it emphasizes their culture “To glorify god by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil- A.” (cite) This statement truly shows how the company’s leadership has created a culture where service is just as important as profit. The emphasis of this section of the paper will be to research while also analyzing how Chick-fil-A makes people a priority and how doing things in an uncommon way has certainly helped Chick-fil-A create a strong culture as well as a successful business.

The management and employees helped to support each other in order to please their customers. The customers contributed to functionalism by purchasing food and drinks which supports the restaurant. The employees serving the customers to their satisfaction helps the customers become happier and wish to come again in the future. The manifest function is to serve the customers in order to make money. The latent function may cause an overpopulation of customers if the service is well performed bringing more sales in and the need for expansion. I saw the conflict perspective as well while in the restaurant. The management was kind to the employees, however, they still will make more money for their job compared to a crew member. There will also be competition between different fast food restaurants going against Chick-fil-A. Restaurants mainly take place in high competitive levels due to their demands for customers in order to keep their business strong. There was also symbolic perspective involved in the restaurant. The “chick” logo is on the signs outside, cups, and food wrappings indicating that the item is from Chick-fil-A. When people see the logo, they will recognize the restaurant as Chick-fil-A due to its symbolic meaning. Ranging from chicken sandwiches to chicken nuggets, people also recognize Chick-fil-A as a restaurant where they may purchase foods with

As for controversy, it was not until July of 2012 when Dan Cathy made a statement saying that he stands for the biblical meaning of marriage. This statement came off as criticism towards gay couples and their marriages. The statement that was made had so much volume that gay right supporters came out to boycott. It also made people start to question the extent of ownership and their views affecting and causing long-term viability meaning their company culture. Chick-fil-A also received support from Arkansas Governor Mike

Ethics is important to everyone for the society as a whole. Whether it is in a person’s professional career or personal life, ethics and morals play an important role. The key to an organization’s success is the way they handle business ethically. Although it is not always simple to do the right thing, it is something that must be done. Conducting an Ethics Awareness Inventory is a way someone can learn how they as individuals see ethics; what is important to them the most, and what is important to them the least. I completed this inventory, and will discuss how it relates to my

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.

Ethics are values and principles that individuals use to govern his decisions and activities. Ethics are about moral judgment of an individual about right and wrong. In an organization, code of ethics refers to set of guiding principles and organizations use these principles in their policies, programs, and decisions for business. Within organizations, decisions are taken by groups or individuals and these decisions are influenced by the culture of the company. Decision making and relevance of ethics may also differ for nonprofit and for profit organizations. In contemporary business environment, organizations must have a clear ethical policy and implement it in proper manner. There are many social, legal and economic outcomes that company has to face in case of any ethical dilemma, so there must be a smart strategy to deal with ethical dilemmas. In this paper, we will address the ethics for nonprofit and profits organizations, ethical dilemmas being faced or faced by each of these companies and the outcomes of these ethical dilemmas. Critique of actions of each of these companies will be provided from the point of view of applicable philosophical theories of organizational ethics.

Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.

How would you describe the ethical dilemma confronted by the managers at the law firm?

It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.

Personal values may conflict with ethical decision making if those personal values are different than the organizational norms of the business or institution. Constructing, and maintaining personal ethics in the workplace rests with the individual, and how willing he or she is in assimilating to the evolving cultural dynamic of the corporate world. Many times a person find their personal, cultural and/or organizational ethics conflicting and must reconcile a course of action that will mitigate cognitive dissonance. In order to be a productive member of society, in small groups and globally, one must reconcile these conflicts on a daily basis and continually move forward while maintaining personal integrity and

Morality and values are contingent on the community’s view and opinions of the issues at hand. As time passes, the community will evolve and the popular interpretation of an issue will influence the acceptance of behavior by the community at large and, in a business setting, it is no different. Business leaders must adhere to accepted cultural and community code of conduct in order be accepted as contributing members of the community. In analyzing the role of business ethics within a community, Joseph Betz (1998) wrote:

In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important