| Course | EDO 820 Ethical Issues in Leading Organizations |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 7 |
| Paper type | Doctoral prevention design |
| Length | About 1,028 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for EDO 820 Module 7
Apples, Cases and Barrels: A Prevention Design for a Nonprofit After Its Leader Broke the Rules
Student Name
Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University
EDO 820: Ethical Issues in Leading Organizations
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Apples, Cases and Barrels: A Prevention Design for a Nonprofit After Its Leader Broke the Rules
Earlier modules explained why Kinloch's leader dipped into a restricted gift to make payroll, why no one stopped him and how governance failed to catch it quickly. Kinloch's board must now decide how to prevent a repeat, whoever leads the agency next. Kinloch's existing ethics program consisted of a code of conduct signed at hiring and a whistleblower policy under which reports went to the chief executive. This paper designs a better approach. The agency and everyone in it are fictional.
What Ethics Programs Achieve
Treviño et al. (1999) surveyed employees at six large American companies about their firms' ethics and compliance management and about outcomes such as unethical conduct observed, awareness of ethical issues, willingness to seek advice and to report violations and commitment to the organization. Where employees saw their company's program as built around values the company actually held, results were better than where they saw it as mainly about following rules or shielding executives from blame. Most important were factors beyond the formal program: leaders' visible commitment to ethics, consistency between policies and actions, fair treatment of employees, open discussion of ethics in the organization and rewarding ethical conduct while disciplining unethical conduct. Programs perceived as existing mainly to protect top management were associated with worse outcomes.
Kinloch's program had the features Treviño and colleagues found least effective: a code signed once and a reporting line to the person most likely to be reported. Employees had learned what mattered from watching the chief executive.
Three Sources of Unethical Choices
Kish-Gephart et al. (2010) conducted a meta-analysis of research on unethical choices at work, organized around three sources. Bad apples are individual characteristics, such as low cognitive moral development, Machiavellianism and moral relativism, associated with more unethical choices. Bad cases are features of the moral issue itself, especially its moral intensity, with less intense issues more likely to produce unethical choices. Bad barrels are organizational environments, such as ethical climates focused on self-interest rather than on others or on rules, and weak enforcement of codes. Each source contributed independently, and the authors concluded that preventing unethical behavior requires attention to all three.
The Kinloch case shows all three. The chief executive's ready moral disengagement was an individual factor. The diversion's harms seemed distant and diffuse, a low-intensity case. And the environment rewarded results, tolerated euphemism and lacked enforcement.
How Ethical Leadership Travels
Mayer et al. (2009) tested a trickle-down model of ethical leadership in a large sample of work groups and their managers. Top management's ethical leadership was related to supervisors' ethical leadership, which in turn was related to less deviant behavior and more helpful, cooperative behavior in work groups. Top managers also had some direct effect on employees. The study suggests that the conduct of the person at the top shapes the conduct of every level below, largely through the supervisors in between.
For Kinloch, the implication is that choosing the next chief executive, or the conditions under which the current one may return, is itself a prevention measure, perhaps the most important one.
A Prevention Design
| Source | Measure | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals | Assess candidates for chief executive and senior roles for ethical leadership, using structured reference checks on how they handled past ethical dilemmas | Mayer and colleagues; Kish-Gephart and colleagues |
| Individuals | Include ethical conduct in the chief executive's annual evaluation, with input from staff surveys | Treviño and colleagues |
| Cases | Before restricted money is spent on anything but its stated purpose, require a written statement naming everyone affected, near and distant | Kish-Gephart and colleagues on moral intensity |
| Cases | Require plain-language descriptions of financial transactions in board materials | Module 2 on ethical fading |
| Environment | Create an ethics committee of the board, independent of the chief executive | Treviño and colleagues |
| Environment | Route whistleblower reports to the committee chair and an outside hotline | Treviño and colleagues |
| Environment | Hold an annual staff discussion of ethical dilemmas in each program, led by supervisors | Mayer and colleagues; Treviño and colleagues |
What the Design Asks of the Board
Prevention is not only a staff matter. Several measures depend on the board changing its own habits: evaluating the chief executive's ethical conduct and not only revenue growth, staffing an ethics committee whose members have time to do the work, and treating restricted funds as promises the board itself made to donors. Board members interviewed after the audit said they had seen their role as raising money and lending standing, not as watching the executive, the pattern Module 6 described. The design asks them to accept a monitoring role they did not join to perform, which is why the board's governance committee should recruit at least two members specifically for audit and ethics experience at the next election.
Fair Treatment as Prevention
Treviño and colleagues found fair treatment of employees among the strongest influences on ethical outcomes. At Kinloch, the sidelining of the program director who objected, described in Module 4, was a visible act of unfairness that taught others to stay silent. The design therefore includes a commitment, adopted by the board, that no employee will suffer adverse action for raising a good-faith concern, with any such action reviewed by the ethics committee.
Measures
The board will track four indicators: staff survey items on whether employees feel safe raising concerns and believe leaders act ethically, reported each year by program; the number and handling of reports to the ethics committee; audit findings on restricted funds; and completion of the annual dilemma discussions. More reports in the first year would most likely mean staff now trust the channel, not that misconduct has grown.
Conclusion
Kinloch's compliance-only program could not prevent a respected leader from breaking a rule he thought did not apply. Treviño and colleagues show that values, leaders' conduct and fairness matter most, Kish-Gephart, Harrison and Treviño show that prevention must address individuals, issues and environment, and Mayer and colleagues show that ethical leadership flows from the top down. A design that selects ethical leaders, makes distant harms visible, gives reporting an independent route and protects those who speak gives Kinloch a chance to prevent the next failure.
References
Kish-Gephart, J. J., Harrison, D. A., & Treviño, L. K. (2010). Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: Meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017103
Mayer, D. M., Kuenzi, M., Greenbaum, R., Bardes, M., & Salvador, R. (2009). How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.04.002
Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., Gibson, D. G., & Toffler, B. L. (1999). Managing ethics and legal compliance: What works and what hurts. California Management Review, 41(2), 131-151. https://doi.org/10.2307/41165990
What the EDO 820 Module 7 instructions ask for
In EDO 820, the seventh module covers preventing dysfunctional leadership, and the paper typically asks students to design ways an organization can prevent leaders' ethical failures, drawing on evidence about what works. Your own Module 7 classroom prompt governs; Kinloch is invented. Review evidence on what makes ethics programs effective. Identify the individual, issue-related and environmental sources of the failure. Consider how leaders at different levels shape conduct. Design prevention measures for each source. Name the signals that would show the measures are working, and reference your sources in APA 7 format.
Inside the EDO 820 Module 7 example
Kinloch's existing ethics program was a code of conduct signed at hiring and a whistleblower policy routed to the chief executive. Treviño and colleagues (California Management Review) show why such compliance-only programs disappoint: what employees see leaders do, and whether they are treated fairly, matters more than the code. Kish-Gephart, Harrison and Treviño (Journal of Applied Psychology) organize the design: bad apples, such as leaders prone to disengagement; bad cases, such as issues whose harm feels distant; and bad barrels, such as climates that reward results without asking how. Mayer and colleagues (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) explain why the board's choice of the next chief executive matters for every supervisor below. The design includes executive selection for ethical leadership, a decision rule that makes distant harms concrete, an ethics committee independent of the chief executive and a reporting line to the board, with measures from staff surveys and audit findings.
Where the marks sit in the EDO 820 Module 7 rubric
Prevention papers earn credit when the design rests on evidence about what works and addresses the specific sources of the failure. This example uses Treviño and colleagues to explain why Kinloch's compliance-only program failed and what to emphasize instead. Kish-Gephart, Harrison and Treviño's three sources give the design a complete structure, so that individuals, issues and environment each receive attention. Mayer and colleagues connect top leadership to supervisors and staff, explaining why executive selection is a prevention measure. Each element of the design traces to a finding, and the measures show how the board will judge progress, including how to read an early rise in reports.
Common EDO 820 Module 7 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Prevention papers often recommend a new code of conduct or ethics training without evidence that these alone change behavior. Use research on what makes programs effective, especially leaders' conduct and fair treatment. Another weakness is focusing only on the leader who failed; design for individuals, issues and environment. Make reporting channels independent of the person who might be reported. Include the selection of future leaders, since ethical leadership flows downward. Finally, choose measures that can show change, such as survey items on whether employees feel safe raising concerns, not only counts of training completed. Plan for the first year's numbers to look worse before they look better, since new channels surface problems that were always there.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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EDO 820 Module 7 questions, answered
What does EDO 820 Module 7 usually ask for?
Aspen's EDO 820 covers preventing dysfunctional leadership in this module, so designing evidence-based ways for an organization to prevent leaders' ethical failures is typical. Read your Module 7 prompt.
Do ethics programs work?
Treviño and colleagues found values-oriented programs, leaders' commitment to ethics and fair treatment mattered more than compliance-only approaches.
What causes unethical choices at work?
Kish-Gephart, Harrison and Treviño's meta-analysis found individual characteristics, features of moral issues and organizational environments all contribute.
Where can I find a free EDO 820 Module 7 sample paper?
This page has it in full at no cost: a prevention design for an invented nonprofit after its leader diverted restricted funds.
Does ethical leadership at the top affect employees?
Mayer and colleagues found top managers' ethical leadership flows through supervisors' ethical leadership to work groups' conduct.