The W Network television show Undercover Boss Canada features a leader working undercover in his or her own company to find out how the organization really works.

Here, we consider the ethical leadership lessons it might offer.

Executives from Mexx Canada, Calgary Transit, Sodexo Canada, and Mr. Lube have been featured on the show.

Typically, the executive works undercover for a week.

Then the employees with whom and under whom the leader has worked are summoned to company headquarters and rewarded, or punished, for their actions.

In one episode, Andy Clark, the founder and CEO of Edmonton-based Clark Builders, strapped on a tool belt for the first time in 30 years and added a moustache to work beside his employees. He wondered if, at 62 years old, he could keep up. He made a lot of rookie errors, but when he heard about the wife of one of his employees who was quite sick, he called a doctor friend to see if he could help with her cancer and offered to pay the full medical cost for treatment. He said he “just wanted to improve the quality of her life, however much she had left.”

Some criticize the show for its faux realism. The CEOs know they are on camera, so every word and facial expression is for the cameras. Many employees know they are on camera, too. One critic commented, “Because the series’ very existence requires cooperation from the executives that it purports to make suffer for their sins, it has to raise them higher, in the end, than it found them at the start.” Realistic or not, the series continues to be popular. And the effects on the bosses featured in the episodes—and their employees—are profound.

Lisa Lisson, president of Mississauga-based Fedex Canada, joined her employees on the front line to see how they worked. She says the company “prides itself on providing excellent service to our customers.” Commenting on her experience, she said “I am so glad that I did this. I think it’s important for presidents of companies to get to know their employees. They give their heart and soul to our company and we need to take time to really get to know who they are and tell them that we care about them. Because we do.”

The idea has moved beyond television too. Recently, the Australian government created a program that places CEOs undercover in their own workplaces. One participating CEO, Phil Smith of clothing retailer Fletcher Jones, said tearfully, “I learnt a lot from this that I wouldn’t have found out any other way.”

Questions 

1. Do you think it’s ethical for a leader to go undercover in his or her organization? Why or why not?

2. Do you think leaders who work undercover are really changed as a result of their experiences?

3. Would you support a government program that gave companies incentives to send leaders undercover?