Following the Status Quo (managing the personal fudge factor)

One of the biggest problems that have arisen from all this information upon Leadership Management is the Status Quo. As a new employee to Ball State University I have can attest that when you find yourself in a new setting you naturally like little children find yourself absorbing all the information and procedures around you. My biggest dilemma is when the status quo is unethical but since everyone is doing it, it has become almost morally right to partake in. For example in accounting, I have come to learn that one of the biggest pressures that accountants face is from the top level management to make the numbers look good, so the company can appear as if it is flourishing. I mean you look at the founder and former CEO of Groupon who was fired because of his companies "material weakness" when it came to financial reporting. I mean the hurdle is not easy when employee's are seemingly by themselves in the company not cheating or doing activity that is unethical. The toughest part to me, comes in when the goal at work is to complete your work, make your boss look good and be on your boss's good side. I believe that is where the conflict comes in of people following the status quo or dabbling in the fudge factor because if everyone else is doing it, it is a lot harder to be the lone-ranger or outcast of the group by saying no. It can and most likely will give the impression that you cannot be trusted. I see now, just how deadly the status quo can be and the plague that it is causing in our organizations but the only way I foresee to clean this up is from the head of the organization and up. Which is why I believe Andrew Mason (former CEO of Groupon) was fired, because the organization was caught in a position of unethical operations and to eliminate that blemish they needed to get rid of the person that was in authority/responsible for those wrongdoings. This also takes me back to the seven habits of highly effective people and I really need to make a mission statement for my time that I am at work so I can have something to remind me in those tough moments at work that just because it is status quo, does not make it an automatic go.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/groupon-ceo-andrew-mason-fired-article-1.1276631