d number of sales. If Dunlap had a management team that specifically served as his advisors giving him new perspectives on what may be a better way of doing things, such incidents would not likely to have happened. Leadership where people work upon fear and intimidation is not the best kind of motivation to bring the best out of employees. The whole autonomy of the company is thrown off balance where there is just not a happy working environment. Dunlap can be categorized as an “extreme” achievement oriented leader where he set high goals for his employees to achieve, so high they were basically impossible. Often you would hear Dunlap or Kersh(Dunlap’s right hand man) say after giving an employee a revenue and profit number, “We don’t want any bull*censored*. Your life depends on hitting that number” (Byrne 138). And with Dunlap’s infamous bad temper, not meeting the numbers means an encounter more serious verbal abuse. The pressure was most felt by people who had to actually report to him. As these people felt the heat around the corner, they felt the need to pass the pressure and intimidation down the chain of command. So like dominos, the morale of employees just began to fall as everyone as numbers became harder and harder to achieve. Through means of fear and pressure, these people were clawing for solutions just to meet their set goals to keep their job. This included unethical acts and debatable illegal accounting procedures. Commissions were withheld from independent sales representatives, bills went unpaid, and some vendors were forced to accept partial payment. In terms of accounting, the company sold discounted products if they were bought six months before needed, which meant booking of future sales in the present. Everybody’s goal was just to meet the number to avoid the wrath of Dunlap. Dunlap also made his managers guilty for not making the numbers since he h...
