April Leatherwood's Loyalty

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April Leatherwood’s undercover work represents an extreme example of loyalty where an employee goes to great lengths of personal sacrifice in the company’s service (Brusseau, 2012). She demonstrated both broad company loyalty and obedience loyalty with her work (Brusseau, 2012). She went undercover for years – sacrificing her personal life and all the comforts it brings – because she probably believes in her police department’s goals and missions are worth serving no matter what lengths it takes (Brusseau, 2012). Although she eventually quitted the program and was promoted to a detective, the fact that she dove headlong into danger also meant that she was willing to sacrifice her life and considered herself secondary to the organization’s mission …show more content…

Presumably, many others enter the force with the same intentions as well. However, the fact that turnover rates in law enforcement vary across geographic locations mean that other factors might be in play (Wareham, Smith, & Lambert, 2015). An examination of Leatherwood’s loyalty might reveal those factors.
Johnson (2005) notes that “loyalty should not be viewed as an either/or position”. Firms and employees can play a mutually beneficial role, with the firms supporting an employee’s professional development and possibilities to explore new challenges and employees giving 100% back in their work (Johnson, 2005). While applying these concepts to a public-sector job might be difficult, it is still worth an examination considering the vacancies in many law enforcement positions (Koper, Maguire, Moore, & Huffer, …show more content…

Her job cost her a relationship and left her depressed, but as she herself admitted, her undercover work taught her many things and helped her grow as a person (Goetz, 2009). Johnson (2005) argued that it is better to have a high-performing and committed loyalty for a certain period of time than an unproductive employee for a lifetime. Leatherwood demonstrated this very well; she made great contributions as an undercover detective, but didn’t stay there forever and was promoted to a detective (Brusseau, 2012). Her loyalty to her department would also grow as well due to the incredible experience that she had been through (Brusseau,

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