Ethics Week 4

This week was especially interesting to me because the reading in the tracks we leave book was about gender discrimination. I am a woman and these types of situations and their consequences are important for me to understand. The issue at Rolling Meadows hospital was tricky. When I graduate I hope to receive a fellowship opportunity in an acclaimed health care institution and this type of situation would not be one I would like to see myself in. In my own opinion I think it is not only the responsibility of the male to ensure he does not discriminate against a female but it also the females responsibility to keep her guard up. Whenever you are working closing with people, whether they are of the same gender or different gender, you will develop a relationship. That relationship can come in any form. It is a professionals or future professionals personal responsibility to maintain a productive and healthy relationship with the other people that they work with. This can often become hard when attractions, physical and not, have the opportunity to develop. My current job is a waitress and I work with several members of the opposite sex. The environment in which I work is fairly casual and professionalism is not a big issue. For me I think it may be difficult to transition into a different environment, one where gender discrimination and sexual harassment issues can become prevalent. Therefore this chapter in the book was highly enlightening and I aimed to absorb all the information presented. This is because I am beginning to mentally prepare myself to properly act in any situations that may arise in the future.
My first opinion in response to this chapter is I am completely against subordinate/ supervisor relations in an organization. As the book stated these types of relationships cause a hostile environment for workers. An environment where feelings of jealously, favoritism, and fear of expression can arise. Most jobs in themselves are stressful and the supervisor should be there to ensure that the employee isn't distracted while trying to perform at their best. Women should keep their guard up and not be vulnerable to put themselves in situations, such as the one stated in the text.
I also think that this situation may have been avoided had the protege keep in communication with the mentor and vice verse. The mentor had a responsibility to prepare the protege for the future and be emotionally secure. The moment that he may have felt inappropriate attractions were at play he should have communicated this with the protege. Being emotionally secure and rational may have saved the mentor from putting himself in this type of situation.
Personally I would like my mentor to be a female, one who has dealt with these types of situations first hand. As the text stated CEO's are predominantly male, but what the text didn't state was whether mentors are predominately CEO's. I would assume that most mentors are not the CEO's of an organization. I would assume that they are more time mangers of departments and positions such as that.
In out managing ethically book the readings were about leadership and ethics programs and committees. These reading kind of went hand and hand with the tracks we leave reading. The tracks we leave book gave the situation and then the manging ethically book gave examples of solutions that may have been implemented to avoid the problem. The solution being exemplary leadership and clearly defined ethics in an organization.