The scandals of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas took the country by storm. Noticeably, the scandals went on to paint the challenges that children seeking to be successful in sports face and the deteriorated adherence to moral and legal guidelines that existed in many universities and colleges teams as far as sports were concerned. While Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of multiple counts of child sexual abuse over his career, Tim Tressel, the Ohio State football coach was found guilty of keeping silent even after his players went on to sell memorabilia and get discounts at a tattoo parlor. As if this is not enough, Bobby Petrino, Razorback’s football coach, was found guilty of unfairly granting Jessica Dorrell a job position after they had an extramarital affair (Schlabach, 2012). What is important is that the three scandals have gone on to point out the inadequacy of NCAA’s ethics program as well as its leadership. Notably, all is not lost and NCAA, its leadership, and HR departments in colleges and universities can incorporate preventive measures and recommendations that will hinder a recurrence of the scandals.
Fundamental Ways that NCCA’s Ethics Program Failed
The scandal at Penn State shook the nation concerning the extents to which child abuse had penetrated the American society. If anything, the NCAA’s ethics program did not facilitate reporting of the abuses that Jerry Sandusky had performed on minors through his career. In this regard, it is evident that although the NCAA’s ethics program sought to encourage ethical conduct in sports, it did not have proper procedures through which sexually abused minors could report their seniors. Regarding the Ohio State scandal, the rules relating to the conduct of sports teams are also ambiguous in such a way that they do not reveal clear patterns. While the rules may be good on paper, they are rather hypocritical as they are not based on practicality (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2014). This was the situation at the Ohio State scandal where although the NCAA prescribed that athletes who produce revenue should not be paid, they offered a formal way of offering scholarships. Noticeably, the best ways to ensure an adherence to rules is to have structures that work in tandem with those that are set.
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Concerning the University of Arkansas, its scandal presented another case through which the NCAA ethics program had failed to prevent. Notably, the NCAA ethics program was unable to detect the weakness in decision making that Bobby Petrino, the coach of Razorbacks, had as a result of the affair. If NCAA had more efficient ways to not only warn but also assist in noting the potential effects of the coach having an affair, perhaps the scandal would not have happened. Admittedly, these scenarios reveal some of the ways through which NCAA’s ethics programs could have but failed to prevent the scandals of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas.
Principal Ways that NCAA Leadership Contributed To Violations
While the NCAA’s ethics program may have its shortfalls as far as the scandals relating to Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas are concerned, it is evident that the leadership was to blame as well. For one, the NCAA leadership should have identified the weakness of the institution regarding managing institutional unwanted behavior. In this respect, one cannot say that the NCAA leadership knew that they were seemingly unable to identify key aspects of its partners such as the scandals that Jerry performed at Penn State. On the other hand, the NCAA leadership contributed to the ethical violations at the scandal in Ohio State when it failed to put out clear jurisdictions through which players who earn revenue can continue earning. This was clear in the Ohio State scandal considering not only some of the players but also the head coach took part or rather knew about the selling memorabilia and getting discounted prices at the tattoo parlor. Leaders should not only oversee happy events but also discern when there seems to be a challenge. With no proper leadership, such scandals will become the norm.
The University of Arkansas scandal, also, presents a leadership problem on NCAA’s part. While NCAA’s leaders had gone on to recognize that the lives and positive growth of the participating children were more important than the football teams, it had not provided that the coaches were equally not above the teams and that their conduct was similarly paramount (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2014). The leadership of NCAA failed to acknowledge that although coaches play a pivotal role in the enhancement of performance, they should behave well on an off the pitch to protect the image of their club and other people who might be affected.
Key Differences in The Scenarios if An Effective Ethics Program Was In Place
It is important to note that an effective ethics program would have gone on to point out the flaws that led to the scandals of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas before their effects blew out. Regarding Penn State, the children who were abused would be in a better position to report the claims early enough if they knew and understood that the rules set by NCAA would help them gain justice. This would have helped to mitigate the abuses conducted by Jerry Sandusky and enhance sports development. Notably, the conduct of Jim Tressel, the resigned Buckeyes coach who was at the centre of the Ohio State scandal is worth noting. One can argue that the coach did not understand the grave effects that the misconduct of his team and its greediness would have not only on himself but on the institution as a whole. In this regard, it is necessary to point that if the rules had stipulated such conducts and pointed how they jeopardized sports, Trissel may have been prudent enough to report the cases. In the end, the University of Arkansas scandal would not have happened if Bobby Petrino understood that he had a role to ensure that his conduct would have damaged the reputation of Razorbacks team (Schlabach, 2012). In this respect, a lack of knowledge and lack of responsibility are pertinent. A key difference that would be experienced is that Petrino would have been ardent enough to consider judging the weights and avoided having an affair and notably, gifting Dorrell even though she was one of the finalists for the job position of the student-athlete development coordinator.
Actions that the NCAA Leadership Should Take
For one, NCAA can perform two actions that can help it to regain the trust and confidence of students and stakeholders: First is to offer harsher rules and penalties and second is to act more on the preventive side. Regarding the former, the scandals of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas should serve as a lesson about the significance of harsh rules and penalties in protecting the wellbeing of the children and the upholding of sports as a point of development rather than self-enrichment or for soliciting favors. For instance, matters relating to child molestation should be the most important and new and harsher guidelines as well as penalties should be introduced to facilitate this (Rohan, 2012). Attempts should not only be made to create the guidelines and penalties but also provide a clearer pattern of when one would have violated them and dictate the role of the victims as far as reporting the incidences is concerned.
Concerning the second act of taking a preventive stance, the NCAA leadership should up its socks and make sure that it works to prevent various cases from getting to such a point that the harsh rules and penalties will have to be applied. It is said that the best way to solve a problem is to solve a problem and the best way that the NCAA leadership can solve this is to stop future cases. A preventive way would be to converse directly with various players and perform a research that would reveal the challenges that they are facing. It is necessary to take into account that the unearthed cases of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas may have been the icing on the cake and it is only a comprehensive research that will enable the NCAA leadership to know how to forge the way forward. Admittedly, the NCAA leadership has the responsibility of ensuring that the cases do not occur again.
Measures That HR Departments Should Take To Prevent Similar Incidents
In any case, the human resource (HR) departments of colleges and universities have the responsibility of providing that they also do their best to prevent such incidences from occurring in the future. The primary role of HR is to manage a crucial component of organizations, people. In this respect, HR departments in colleges and universities should be more watchful and must incorporate a lending ear rather than be bossy when delivering on its mandate. Generally, many of Jerry Sandusky’s victims did not have someone to talk to about their challenges at the time of their abuse (The Associated Press, 2011). If HR was not just a formal setup but an active and involving segment, the children may have found a safe place where they could report their misfortunes without feeling that they would be victimized. Therefore, HR departments should go out of their way and seek to listen more to children and players to prevent the occurrence of such scandals.
In the same way, HR departments in colleges and universities can work in close contact with coaches and assist them to run teams. While the coaches, of course, perform the role of overlooking training sessions and ensuring that different people are fit, the HR department should look into the relationship between different people in the team. This can be considered to be rather inquisitive into the coaches’ work although it proves essential if the aim is to prevent the stated scandals is to be achieved. HR departments should not only aim at looking into the relationship between coaches and players as well as among players but also seek to understand the competence and behavior of coaches. If this is done, bad traits among coaches and teams will be realized early enough.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the scandals of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas had a lot of impact in the management of sports by colleges and universities while at the same time it put NCAA on the spot. For one, the Penn State scandal involved Jerry Sandusky who was indicted with multiple accounts after sexually abusing many children through his career. The Ohio State scandal involved the football head coach, Tim Tressel, who overlooked his athletes as they sold memorabilia and had discounts at a tattoo parlor. Regarding the University of Arkansas scandal, it involved Bobby Petrino was involved in a marital affair with Jessica Dorrell who he went on to employ. Notably, the three scandals present various flaws into NCAA’s ethics programs with the primary challenge being the ambiguous and ineffective rules which could not prevent the three tragedies. However, all is not lost and it is evident that both the NCAA leadership and HR departments of colleges and universities can do a lot to prevent the occurrence of such scandals in the future.
References
Ferrell, O. C. & Fraedrich, J. (2014). Business ethics: ethical decision making & cases . Boston: Cengage Learning.
Rohan, T. (2012). Scandal at Penn State poses tough choices for N.C.A.A. The New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-scandal-poses-tough-choices-for-ncaa.html
Schlabach, M. (2012). Scandal another ugly exit for Petrino . ESPN. Retrieved from kwese.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/7793936/arkansas-scandal-another-ugly-exit-razorbacks-coach-bobby-petrino
The Associated Press. (2011). Chronology of Ohio State scandal. NCAA. Retrieved from www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2011-12-21/chronology-ohio-state-scandal
