The Dark Side

Critical Cases on the Downside of Business

Emmanuel Raufflet, Albert J. Mills

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781906093204
• eBook ISBN: 9781351279505
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The discredit of a certain brand of capitalism – and the managers that practice it – continues apace. The increasing lack of tolerance for short-term thinking and a systematic neglect of the social, regulatory, and economic conditions in which business ought to operate means we are entering a time of trouble and questions – an era of economic, social, and environmental turbulence.  There is a critical need for business educators and trainers to expose students and managers to these issues to examine, explore, and understand the different multifaceted, complex phenomena of our late capitalist era. There is also a need to foster a climate for future and current business managers to reflect, feel, and think differently both ethically and cognitively. The 16 innovative case studies in The Dark Side: Critical Cases on the Downside of Business are designed for this very purpose: to provoke reflection and debate; to challenge and change perceptions; and to create responsible managers.  The cases are innovative in two ways. First, in terms of content they acknowledge the diversity of actors and interests in and around organizations. They contain different levels of analysis, and propose different points of view and logics. They recognize that decisions that seem sound when they are made may actually contain the seeds of their later failure. Second, these cases are innovative in terms of format. Whereas most cases are formatted around decision-making situations, these are more diverse and open-ended. This stimulates the use of "judgment" – the capacity to synthesize, integrate, and balance short- and long-term effects, appreciate effects on different groups, and learn to listen and evaluate. Whereas decision-making is the key skill when confronting complicated issues and situations, "judgment-making" relies on experience and is a far better tool in the complex, murky, gray areas typical of business ethics.  The cases included here are all finalists or award-winners from the first seven years of the Dark Side of Business Case Competition, a joint event of the Academy of Management's Critical Management Studies Section and Management Education Section. In many areas of management, case studies are almost exclusively devoted to "best practice" cases or difficult decisions faced by basically well-managed firms. When educators look for resources to illustrate to students the more typical cases, let alone the really scandalous practices of the worst firms, the cupboard is almost entirely bare. From the beginning, the Dark Side competition aimed at encouraging case studies that integrate socio-political issues with organizational dynamics, thus contextualizing organizational and management problems within the broader system of capitalism.  These cases comprise a diverse and rich collection from a range of countries, continents, and issues and focus on interactions in business organizations as well as between business organizations and groups and societies. The Dark Side: Critical Cases on the Downside of Business is divided into four sections. The first sheds light on gray areas in the behavior of businesses. The second concerns the interactions between business and local communities in diverse countries. The third concerns crises, and specifically how firms may create or manage them. Finally, the fourth section concerns gray areas in business behavior in the global context. The Dark Side: Critical Cases on the Downside of Business will be an essential purchase for educators and is expected to be a widely used resource at all levels of management education.Online Teaching Notes to accompany each chapter are available on request with the purchase of the book.

Part 1
Gray areas in the behavior of businesses

1.1
Leading the team out of the hazing blues yonder

The case of the Windsor Spitfire hockey team¹

Francine Κ. Schlosser

This case deals with moral issues surrounding initiation rites (hazing) in organized hockey. The author profiles the attitudes and actions of several stakeholders including the players, the coaches, the team owner, the public and the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Hazing made headlines when the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires let it happen among their players. A string of hazing-related incidents created conflict between experienced and rookie players, fragmented the Spitfire team, and resulted in the loss of two key players and the head coach.

Hazing has long been a tradition in organized sports and was justified by proponents as a means for players to bond with each other. Officially, the OHL prohibits teams from participating in hazing activities. The hockey community is divided on it—some stakeholders view it as a part of developmental hockey, while others feel it has no place in organized hockey at any level. This case questions the need for hazing and how big of a negative impact it has on the players and the teams. It draws attention to the dark side of sports management in the business of profit-generating sports attractions. The author also challenges the readers of this case to make strong recommendations to the new coach regarding leadership, change management, and team-building strategies.

This case would be suitable for in-class discussion in both undergraduate and graduate level business and sports management courses. It is particularly suitable to courses that cover ethical decision-making, social identity, leadership and change management. The case encourages discussion of mainstream ethical issues and will help students to deal with large social issues by identifying how they can shape the moral development and citizenship behaviors of their followers.

Leadership and group initiation

Initiation rites have played a traditional role in stimulating membership in close-knit teams. They may be formal orientation events sanctioned and organized by team management. Alternatively, they may be informal events organized by dominant players or employees. Events that are designed around the goals of the team have the potential to introduce and align new players with the team. For example, universities commonly have a type of "frosh" week, where new students are involved in many activities. Some of these activities are purely social, but others may involve community fundraising and academic challenges. However, in recent years negative initiation activities have been increasingly profiled in the media, especially with respect to team initiation on sports teams and in the military.

This case profiles the story of hazing in a Canadian junior hockey team and its implications for the players, coaches and managers of the team. It profiles the pressures of sports as a business and challenges for leaders of professional sports teams. In examining this situation, we need to ask whether the hazing was symptomatic of a lack of team leadership. It also challenges the readers of this case to make strong recommendations to the new coach regarding leadership, change management, and team building strategies.

The issue of hazing

Hazing can be defined as:

Any willful act... by a member or associate member, directed against another member or associate member, which ... is likely to: cause bodily harm or danger, offensive punishment, or disturbing pain, compromise the person's dignity; cause embarrassment or shame in public; cause the person to be the object of malicious amusement or ridicule; cause psychological harm or substantial emotional strain; and impair academic efforts.²

Hazing occurs in academic institutions, sports clubs, armed forces, police forces, and in the workplace. There is no legitimate reason for hazing. However, proponents of hazing rationalize that the commitment of the newcomers to the team escalates when performing some unwanted and uncomfortable small tasks. Hazing may include spanking, assigning tedious cleaning jobs, servitude, wearing unusual or shameful clothing, wearing of symbols, being tied together, excessive or unwanted eating.

Considering that an Alfred University survey found that 80 per cent of college athletes had undergone a hazing initiation rite, the vast majority of hazing incidents on the high school, college and pro levels go unreported. Nonetheless, incidents that eventually gain the attention of the news media have increased steadily since 1980, when the abuse of athletes by athletes first began to receive public attention.³

At the National Hockey League (NHL) level, hazing usually takes the form of a dinner in which rookie players pay for the entire team. "They even got out of hand, as far as people trying to run up the bill on these kids," Maple Leafs head coach Pat Quinn said.

I guess hazing has been around since Plato's time, probably. I don't have the particular answer to it ... It doesn't seem to have anything to do with team building, as far as I'm concerned. I did not personally [get hazed] because I was tougher than most of the guys.⁴

Some NHL players regard hazing as a rite of passage. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Darcy Tucker described an initiation prank as:

. . . amusing . . . It just happens—it's part of being a rookie. lt [initiation] was kind of a laugh for all of us, it kind of brought us closer together . . . if you take it as an embarrassment, it'll follow you for the rest of your career.⁵

Mark Shaller, a psychology professor at the University of British Colombia, suggested that:

Researchers have shown that people who suffered in Order to attain a goal or in order to be a part of a group have ended up accepting the ritual and even appreciating this group that much more.⁶

Everyone does not share the view that hazing is acceptable. For example, Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time scoring leader and now rookie head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, asserted:

There's no room for it . . . It's the most ridiculous thing in sports. It's hard enough for a young guy to go into a locker room. We never had an initiation with the [Edmonton] Oilers . . . Lee Fogolin was our captain, he didn't believe in it and, when I became captain, I kept that going. It's just wrong. It's hard enough for a 16-year-old. As a captain, as a hockey team, I didn't like it and didn't allow it. There's no room for it.⁷

The Windsor Spitfires: a promising hockey team

The Windsor Spitfires are one of 16 Junior A teams playing in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The OHL is comprised of two conferences (Eastern and Western), with eight teams in each. The teams are further placed into two divisions in each of the conferences (eastern conference: east and central divisions; western conference: midwest and west divisions). The Spitfires have produced many great players and coaches who continued with hockey careers in the National Hockey League (NHL). NHL players who grew up with the Spitfires include such skilled National Hockey League stars as Jason Spezza, Ed Jovanovski, Adam Graves, Cory Stillman, and Joel Quenneville.

A successful local businessman owned the Spitfires for more than a decade. The team experienced a number of different head coaches in the past 15 years, and, in this case, head coach Mantha was less than one year in the position. His two assistant coaches were ex-NHL players and had a longer coaching history with the Spitfires.

In recent years, the Spitfires provided lackluster showings in the league standings. However, the 2005 playoffs saw them lead the Western Division and challenge the Western Conference title. This improved performance signaled great potential for the 2005/6 season. Two of the top 20 scorers in the league for 2004/5 were on the Spitfires.

Moe Mantha, the new head coach of the Windsor Spitfires was extremely excited coming into the 2005/6 Ontario Hockey League season. After all, there was a strong team, including three-year veteran Steve Downie, a first-round draft pick of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers, and stand-out player Akim Aliu, a 16-year-old rookie. However, what occurred September 28, 2005, during a routine practice would cause their season to come to a halt and bring negative national attention to the Ontario Hockey Association and the City of Windsor. Events created a call for action and increased public concern regarding hazing in sports activities throughout Canada. An effective solution demanded strong and ethical team leadership.

The players at the centre of the controversy

The key players in the Fall 2005 controversy were players Steve Downie and Akim Aliu, and coach Mantha. Steve Downie was a seasoned veteran of the team ready to move up to play in the National Hockey League whereas Akim Aliu was a rookie, hired only a few months earlier. Although both had exceptional hockey ability, they came from very different backgrounds.

Steve Downie, at 5'10" and 191 pounds, had played the last few seasons with the Windsor Spitfires. The previous season saw him score 21 goals, 52 assists, and 179 penalty minutes in 61 games.⁸ Downie, an 18-year-old native of Queensville, Ontario, and his brother were raised by their mother.⁹ When Steve was only ten, an automobile accident killed his father, John, as the two were on their way to a morning hockey practice during some stormy weather.¹⁰ Steve described his hockey playing as:

I put everything out there, I think when I grow older I'll learn when not to do something. But that's just how I play now. I put everything I have into it.¹¹

Downie was drafted in the first round with Philadelphia first NHL pick. Bob Clarke of the Philadelphia Flyers was quoted as saying:

The way he plays is the way he is. He's an aggressive, hard-nosed player and he's tough. What I like about him is he's humble; there's no ego. He's the kind of kid you want in your locker room.¹²

Steve planned to try out for the Canadian World Junior Hockey Team in the Fall 2005.¹³

In contrast, Akim Aliu, a 6'3" and 209-pound right-winger, had recently arrived from Toronto where he played for the Toronto Marlboros.¹⁴ At 16, Aliu had been playing hockey since the age of nine. He was born in Okene, Nigeria, before moving to Russia when he was one year old.¹⁵ In 2005 he was the Windsor Spitfires' first-round pick. By September 2005, he had played 18 games, scoring three goals, four assists, and 25 penalty minutes.¹⁶ Akim Aliu was viewed as an imposing physical specimen with good skills. He could skate, handle the puck, and shoot. Akim felt his parents were the most important people in his hockey career. He was quoted as saying:

For sure my parents, no doubt about it. They've been through so much just to let me play the game and have worked just as hard as me to get to where I am now. They deserve the credit.¹⁷

Moe Mantha

Maurice "Moe" Mantha, a 44-year-old native of Sturgeon Falls, lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife Kathy and their three children, Ashley, Devin, and Brody.¹⁸ He began coaching in 1992 and since then has served as head coach in the American Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League, and Ontario Hockey League, as well as two seasons as head coach of the United States under-17 hockey program.¹⁹ In May 2005, he was named the Spitfires new head coach and general manager.²⁰ Steve Riolo, Spitfire owner, said this about hiring Mantha:

I believe that we have the right person to build a very competitive program for our organization and the Spitfires fans. He offers a wealth of experience from all different levels of hockey.²¹

In the late seventies, Mantha played two years of junior hockey in Toronto. In 1980, he was drafted in the second round by Winnipeg in the NHL. He played over 650 games in his NHL career that spanned more than a decade.²²

A series of unfortunate events

Blowout on the ice

On September 28, 2005, hockey practice was proceeding as normal. The fight started after a drill that Aliu was not completing properly. Downie and Aliu exchanged words, and Downie came off the bench. In the ensuing fight, Downie crosschecked Aliu in the mouth and damaged two teeth. After the fight, Aliu went to the locker-room and Mantha allowed the practice to continue. A short time later, Aliu came back out and fought Downie at centre ice, while Spitfire players and coaches watched. Although Aliu was physically larger, Downie was older and held his own. The local news media was present and recorded the entire fight. In only a few hours, this fight made headlines all over the national news, radio, and television. Citing concerns for his son's safety, Aliu's father intervened by removing Aliu from team play until the incident was investigated. After all, how could a coach let this happen, especially in the public eye? Rumors began to spread that coach Mantha's philosophy was for players to deal with their problems on the ice and use their fists to figu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• The critical need for critical cases: the dark side of business
• Part 1: Gray areas in the behavior of businesses
• Part 2: Business and local communities
• Part 3: Creating (or managing) crises
• Part 4: Gray areas in the global context
• About the contributors