SCOM 425 Final Exam

Answer the questions posed using theories and concepts from our class. Make sure you
underline or bold the concepts and explanations – similar to how you did it on the
midterm exam.

1. When is calling a culture “toxic” appropriate? How bad do things need to be to

ago, but unfortunately, they are in a tough position and have to address many problems

within the company. Noelle is the type boss who cares too much about the bottom line.

She doesn’t think about the company as a whole including the people, culture,

efficiently, and profitability. Bad news for the company, Noelle has only been focusing

on the profits and has not showed care to her employees. You can see how bad it is

when we get to Marshall and Noelle’s conversation. Marshall is far gone from being a

positive leader in Little Rock and he’s only bringing the rest of his division down with his

attitudes and behavior. Noel should’ve never let it get to this, but here she is trying to fix

it. Circling back to our question, I believe this is a perfect example of when it is time to

call a culture toxic. When you have your supervisors, like Marshall, reporting to you that

people are quitting or at least threatening to quit, you need to take a hard look around

your organization. However, as we learned from our readings, toxic followership can

come from toxic leadership. I think a better question is how do you confront a toxic

leader. In my mind Noelle does fit the criteria for being a toxic leader. She hasn’t shown

care to her employees so why should they care and put effort into their job. Noelle’s
actions have set her company way back in terms of being a well running organization.

While she still has a chance to save her organizations culture and employees, this is

indeed a toxic work culture.

2. Is Joss right in saying that getting rid of toxic people won’t change the culture?
Why or why not?

I believe Joss is right and wrong in this situation. I think this, because when you’re in

an environment and a culture that is toxic it takes a leader to change the perception of

the group. It is up to someone to step up and lead an organization out of the toxic

culture. While there will be some toxic people that need individual help, the main goal is

to make the organization the most efficient place to get work done and make a profit,

and have people enjoy what they do. A leader must do all they can in order to change

their toxic culture, in the case of Noelle, she doesn’t want to lose more employees and

have the possibility of going bankrupt. Noelle must do everything she can for her

company to get back on track and have an efficient workforce at her hands again. She

needs to gain their trust back and fix what has become a depressing work environment.

Listening to Joss and bringing in an expert could really help move things back on track.

Now if all else fails and you did everything to try to improve your culture and

environment, yet you still have toxic people, then I think it would be valid to remove

them from the company in order to restore the best culture you can.
 3. Should Noelle support the layoffs or advocate for culture change? Justify your
answer by aligning it with the leadership theory you think is most consistent with
your approach to leadership. Your answer should demonstrate command of the
leadership theory and its implications for how you should proceed in this
situation. (this should be your longest and most in-depth answer)

If I was in this position, I would firstly try to turn around the company’s culture and make

it an efficient workplace yet again. It will be tough and it won’t happen overnight, but

showing your employees that you’re willing to change and put in the effort, it might just

rub off on them too. While it makes sense to lay off workers who seem toxic or are

helping contribute to the toxic environment, it would be better to try and solve the

problem then avoid it. Since Noelle and her team at Franklin have had rocky couple of

years with “belt-tightening and turnover, it would be in their best interest to try and get

the company’s culture back on track.

I would firstly suggest having a companywide meeting to address new standards

and rules due to the problems with-in the company and let the employees know you

hear them and are listening. That Franklin is dedicated to turning around the

atmosphere of negativity. I would then visit each separate plant and assess the

damages of the culture and have an expert consultant who is there to better the culture.

Bringing in an outside hire might help identify the problems behind the cracks. Joss was

right when she said, “it’s not the people who are toxic, it’s the culture”. Since money has

been tight spending it on something that is there to help bring employee satisfaction

back might send a strong message to employees that times are starting to change for

the better. Since Noelle was too narrowed in on making the company run no matter

what, she lost sight of the whole picture. We have learned from class you have to keep
workers motivated and hungry for their next challenge. To bring back energy and

community into the workplace, Franklin needs to bring back benefits. This can only

happen when the company is making great quotas, so starting it slow might just be the

kick start Franklin needs. Marshall made a great point of how benefits can bring a

company more together. If these strategies do not seem to help, then conducting

particular layoffs might clear the culture of the toxicity. Joss was also correct when

pointing out that if there was another round of layoffs, before trying to fix the culture,

would there be anyone left there that actually has trust in the company? When a culture

becomes toxic you can only face it head on and deal with the consequences. For

instance, maybe it’s time for Franklin to look at a new CFO, bringing in one new leader

who could possibly affect the entire organization for the better. Our whole semester has

been about leadership, so when I started to try and come up with solutions, one that

seemed like a good possibility is removing the head of the snake. If Noelle was the one

focused too much on making her profit, then she’s the blame for poisoning her workers.

Noelle seems to mean good, so if she could have a chance to start a clean slate with

her employees, she better take the chance.