Introduction
One of the strategies that Ornge needs to take to regain public trust is practicing transparency. Transparency is a requirement in public organizations because citizens have a right to information (Johnson, 2020). Therefore, Ornge needs to show the citizens how it spends its taxes by providing annual reports and financial statements to the public. Transparency will likely help the company establish healthy relationships with the public. The new leader will have to share with the public the new compensation packages for employees, spending, safety measures by Ornge, policies, and values. This information will be dispatched through publications, websites, press conferences, presentations, and other means (Johnson, 2020). Besides, transparency is a two-way communication that includes giving and taking information; thus, Ornge will interact with other stakeholders, such as the consumers and media, to listen and meet their concerns.
The other strategy that the company has to adopt to regain public trust is demonstrating care and concern. Nothing attracts public distrust as a company that does not take responsibility for harming its consumers (Johnson, 2020). When there has been harm to the public, the company must agree and take responsibility even if the harm was not done intentionally. The public judge’s companies depending on how they accept and respond to the challenges of public harm. It implies that Ornge should demonstrate care and concern by accepting the mistakes that existed in the company and agreeing to take of them (Johnson, 2020). For instance, when McKerlie accepted that the company had unsafe interior helicopters and promised to work on them, it helped the company to gain more public trust. Therefore, the company should continue to demonstrate care by dressing public issues raised to regain public confidence.
Ornge can regain public trust by ensuring that it delivers effective and real benefits for the citizens. One of the main determinants for public institutions is whether they provide real value to their daily operations (Johnson, 2020). Ornge must align its commitments by prioritizing the company’s most pressing issues to achieve this. Besides, the company must ensure that it fulfils its promises to the citizens to regain its public trust.
Three Most Pressing Business Issues
One of the most pressing issues for Ornge is the lack of financial transparency. The organization has been accused of misusing public funds for personal gains. Ornge’s unwillingness to disclose its employees’ salaries showed that there was malicious activity. The former CEO’s salary had increased from $298,000 in 2007 to $1.4 million in 2011 due to the lack of financial transparency (Johnson, 2020). Therefore, it was essential to ensure financial transparency so that th organizations would keep running smoothly and avoid mismanagement of funds.
The other pressing business issue at Ornge was patient safety. Poorly designed interiors in its helicopter fleets could not facilitate conducting various health emergency procedures on-board. Additionally, the staffs were not adequately trained; some lacked appropriate medical technology, and there was understaffing of paramedics and pilots (Johnson, 2020). Two patients had passed in the past due to delayed transportation to health facilities. Since the main aim of establishing the organization was to save lives, when the safety of patients was questionable, it was a pressing issue.
The third issue which faced Ornge was poor governance. All the challenges faced by this operator can be attributed to poor governance (Johnson, 2020). This starts by appointing unqualified personnel to the top executive positions whereby Dr. Mazza had been accused of hiring and unfairly promoting his girlfriend to a senior position. Besides, the company’s leadership did to listen to the grievances the people and employees raised. Poor governance led to other problems, such as misusing funds, lack of patient safety, and poor investment choices.
Upcoming Challenges That Ornge Faces
Based on its previous character and public image, Ornge is still likely to experience major challenges in the future. Some of the main challenges they are likely to experience include staff who still believe that the best way to address their problems is by leaking information to the media (Johnson, 2020). Besides, the auditor general is likely to resurrect problems caused by the previous management, which will drag the operator. Ornge will likely experience negative front page headlines due to the summer government inquiry. The final challenge will be the sceptical view of the media because it does not have trust in the operator.
Key Lessons from Ornge’s Media Maelstrom
The key lesson from the media maelstrom is that media is a powerful tool and should be considered a worthy stakeholder in public services. The media must inform the citizens about the public organizations and how they are faring (Ferracioli et al., 2022). Therefore, ignoring the media and its concerns can lead to significant negative public perceptions. For instance, when the previous management did not respond to the media issues, they gained a significantly negative public perception. To avoid this, public operators should ensure that they address and respond to news outlets published by the media. This helps to defend their public image and create more trust with the people.
Another lesson is that when used effectively, the media can be a significant tool for passing information. When McKerlie got into office, and there were all these allegations about the operator, he had to be interviewed by the media to answer their concerns. This was an easy way of reaching out to the consumers and showing them the organization cares about their concerns (Ferracioli et al., 2022). This information is likely to reach a large target audience; hence it shows that media can be used as a tool to pass information.
The media can be used for positive criticism by corporate employees. Employees who feel their voice is not heard in an organization will likely use the media to air their grievances (Ferracioli et al., 2022). This happened on an occasion when the chief of staff emailed his field report to a limited number of Ornge leadership. The report leaked to the media to show that the employees had gotten used to using the media to criticize it. When the media highlights such stories on its cover page, it gets much attention forcing the company to respond, which shows that it can be used for criticism.
McKerlie’s Key Message to the Board Regarding the Future Approach of Ornge
McKerlie’s key message to the board should provide a way for moving the operator forward. He should emphasize and analyze the six points, which focus on patient safety, staffing of employees, rebuilding the operator’s relations with the Ministry of Health, assets management, financial management, and other daily issues. He should summarize each point, state how it will be achieved, and set a deadline and evaluation method.
Elements of a Model for Exploring Ethical Leadership Practice
Various elements explore ethical leadership practice in an organization, including character and values. This is whereby the actions and values of a leader can be used to define their character (Malik et al., 2022). The other element is encouraging ethical business conduct by making fair decisions and restricting ethical dilemmas to be clearer to them. The next element is designing ethical systems by encouraging and making ethical decisions about compensation, promotions, and other forms of rewards (Malik et al., 2022). Leaders should clarify an organization’s culture to ensure that they meet arising ethical needs even if they have to restructure their vision and mission statements (Malik et al., 2022). Finally, the last element is being disciplined in their role, whereby they own their obligation and encourage employees to exercise the same.
A Reflection of How This Case Study Can Help to Improve My Ethical Leadership and Top Five Actions That I would Implement to Ensure an Ethical Climate in an Organization
This case study has shed some light on the importance of conducting ethical business practices. In addition, it has demonstrated the negative effects of having an unethical business, such as lacking financial transparency, unfair promotions, and a lack of prioritizing patient safety. Following this study, I would implement the following five actions to ensure an ethical climate in an organization:
- Ensure that I am a role model to my employees by being disciplined and acting ethically
- Restructuring the mission, vision, and goals of the organization periodically to ensure they align with the latest ethical practices
- Create an ethical culture in the organization by ensuring that all employees are informed on the importance of ethics and the set ethical guidelines
- Design ethical systems which avoid malpractices by encouraging transparency
- Encouraging ethical conduct by rewarding employees who promote ethics
References
Ferracioli, P., Kniess, A. B., & Marques, F. P. J. (2022). The watchdog role of fact-checkers in different media systems. Digital Journalism, 13(3), 1–21. Web.
Johnson, C. E. (2020). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Sage Publishing.
Malik, M., Mahmood, F., Sarwar, N., Obaid, A., Memon, M. A., & Khaskheli, A. (2022). Ethical leadership: Exploring bottom-line mentality and trust perceptions of employees on middle-level managers. Current Psychology, 12(4). Web.