{"id":558,"date":"2013-11-12T19:27:51","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T19:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/the-miami-dolphin-fiasco-a-playbook-of-poor-leadership\/"},"modified":"2013-11-12T19:27:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T19:27:51","slug":"the-miami-dolphin-fiasco-a-playbook-of-poor-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/the-miami-dolphin-fiasco-a-playbook-of-poor-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miami Dolphin Fiasco: A Playbook of Poor Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The NFL has found itself embroiled in a public relations nightmare with reports of player harassment emanating from the Miami Dolphins locker room. Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin recently departed from the team voluntarily, unable to cope with an alleged a pattern of harassing behavior directed at him by a teammate, Richie Incognito.\u00a0 Recently-released voicemails and text messages illustrate threats and racial slurs directed by Incognito at Martin.\u00a0 Miami Dolphins management has attempted to distance itself from this controversy by releasing Incognito.<\/p>\n<p>Recent reports suggest, however, that Dolphins management may have had a role in the harassment.\u00a0 During pre-season training, Martin skipped some voluntary team exercises.\u00a0 Though the exercises were not mandatory, NFL culture weighs strongly in favor of attendance.\u00a0 Apparently displeased with Martin\u2019s absence, Dolphins management is reported to have asked Incognito to \u201ctoughen up\u201d Martin.<\/p>\n<p>Though facts are still emerging in this case and the entire history is not yet known, this scenario, if true, provides a number of useful take-away points for managing employees and avoiding controversy.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Management makes itself vulnerable when it delegates management responsibility to an employee.\u00a0 If management wanted to convey to Martin that he should have been present for voluntary exercises, it would have been more prudent for a member of the coaching staff to meet with Martin directly.\u00a0 Instead, according to reports, team officials delegated this responsibility to an employee, who then went to extremes in carrying out this direction.<\/li>\n<li>If a management function must be delegated to an employee, extra care must be taken to choose the right employee.\u00a0 Incognito had repeated behavioral issues, both on the field and off, long before this recent controversy.\u00a0 Dolphins\u2019 management should have been aware of this fact and should have foreseen the risk that Incognito might go too far if given a task of this kind.\u00a0 This underscores the importance, when delegating, of matching the task with the employee.<\/li>\n<li>Where a management function is delegated to an employee, management must oversee how the employee carries out this direction.\u00a0 Especially given Incognito\u2019s past transgressions, Dolphins management should have been monitoring how Incognito chose to carry out the task of toughening up Martin to ensure that something like this did not happen. Failure to monitor the situation could lead to claims of negligent supervision.<\/li>\n<li>Do not tolerate racial slurs or bullying- ever.\u00a0\u00a0 Reports have revealed that Martin received numerous voicemail and texts that included racially offensive comments and derogatory comments about sexual orientation.\u00a0 To the extent the Dolphins knew about these comments, it should have intervened and stopped such types of communication.\u00a0 Employers never prosper from creating a work environment that tolerates joking about race, sexual orientation, or other sensitive and legally protected characteristics.<\/li>\n<li>Act like a professional to avoid being caught in a public relations firestorm.\u00a0 Incognito insists that there was nothing racist about his comments.\u00a0 In an interview with Jay Glazer, Incognito said he had a close relationship with Martin and \u201chad his back.\u201d\u00a0 Incognito claims that he simply took things too far and did not know he was hurting Martin. \u00a0\u00a0Giving Incognito the benefit of the doubt, we see an important takeaway \u2013 be careful what you say because you never know what may offend someone.\u00a0 Each of us comes to work with our own life experiences and sensitivities.\u00a0 To protect your professional reputation, it is always prudent to act professional, err on the side of caution, and avoid making comments that could be viewed by others as hostile and offensive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>By reportedly giving a sensitive task to an employee with a checkered history, and by then apparently providing no oversight while the employee carried out this task, Dolphins management may have opened themselves up to liability.\u00a0 Such an outcome may be easily avoided where management delegates sparingly and carefully.\u00a0 As for Incognito, he could have avoided this mess by being more thoughtful about his words and acting like a professional. \u00a0There is room for joking and fun in the workplace, including a locker room, but only trouble will come from comments about race, sexual orientation, and legally protectable characteristics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NFL has found itself embroiled in a public relations nightmare with reports of player harassment emanating from the Miami Dolphins locker room. Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin recently departed from the team voluntarily, unable to cope with an alleged a pattern of harassing behavior directed at him by a teammate, Richie Incognito.\u00a0 Recently-released voicemails [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Miami Dolphin Fiasco: A Playbook of Poor Leadership - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/the-miami-dolphin-fiasco-a-playbook-of-poor-leadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Miami Dolphin Fiasco: A Playbook of Poor Leadership - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The NFL has found itself embroiled in a public relations nightmare with reports of player harassment emanating from the Miami Dolphins locker room. 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