Business Ethics, Leadership, And Business Relationships

There has been increasing numbers of concerns with the ethical leadership of organizations due to historical problems with company’s downfalls due to management. The unethical conduct of leadership is typically found when the organization does not enforce the ethical climate once determined as important. The paper focuses on different approaches for strengthening the leadership for the organization and enforcing the ethical climate. In addition, the important factors for a strong ethical climate are derived based on a solid foundation for an the organization’s policies and procedures and code of conduct. Organizations can accomplish ethical leadership and behaviors by enforcing and practicing the code of conduct and having a high level or integrity in the leaders that run the organization.

There are several steps corporate and governmental leaders can take to promote ethical behavior to include developing a code of ethics and implementing ethical policies. Maintaining and supporting open communication with stakeholders and employees builds trust so that concerns are brought forward without fear of retaliation. Establishing systems and processes that support and do not sabotage ethical practices is significant to safeguarding against fraudulent and unethical behavior. However, even with the proper policies and reporting mechanisms, companies are not guaranteed that unethical behavior will not occur. With systems in place, a company is able to address issues and take action to discontinue the behavior. The most effective way to promote ethical behavior is through leadership commitment, training and demonstrating appropriate behavior. (Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 2008)

I agree with what the videos say that ethical leaders have both individual as well as organizational responsibilities. As to individual responsibility, if an ethical leader acts ethically, he will inspirit other people to follow him as an example. If leaders act unethically, subordinates will copy these unethical actions. The videos show that personal examples set by firm leaders is the single factor that has the biggest impact on ethical culture of a firm. As to organizational responsibility, leaders should organize and manage the culture of their companies so that they can urge their subordinates to act ethically.

Since the employees look up to their supervisors or leaders, so it is very important for leaders to lead on ethics. Leaders should be a role model to her employees when it comes to ethics. Leaders should also share the ethical standards of a company to her employees, and make sure they all understand those standards.

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.

According to Thornton (2009), leadership ethics issues are difficult to solve for many different reasons, including the fact that there isn’t a clear explanation of leadership ethics. The boundaries of leadership ethics are also expanding which makes it difficult to keep up with. Not to mention that many leaders find it difficult to discuss the topic of leadership ethics. Furthermore, programs that are created to assist in combating the issues associated with leadership ethics are created specifically based on the culture of each business, and therefore cannot fix the generalized problem of leadership ethics (p. 59).

Strong ethical leadership ensures setting up an example to the ethical code of conduct. By maintaining it,the leadership and top management will

Ethics involve an individual's moral judgments concerning what is right and/or wrong. Individuals or groups of people are responsible for making decisions in an organization (shaw, 2008). Decisions within the organization are always emanate from the company's culture. However, the decision to act ethically and morally requires an individual judgment. Thus, members of staff are obligated to make decisions that reflect their right course of action (shaw, 2008). This involves rejecting the option that could lead to the greatest short-term gain. The leadership of most organizations stresses the need to adopt ethical behaviors and corporate social responsibility. Ethical dealings can earn the organization various benefits. For instance, it may attract more clients to the business thus boosting sales; employees could be motivated to stay longer in the organization thereby reducing recruitment expenditures. Ethical behaviors could also earn the business a favorable reputation that could attract investors. Categorically, a lack of social responsibility or unethical behavior may hurt the firm's reputation and scare away investors. Sales and profits could fall in the process.

Additionally, Ethics should be reflected from the behavior of the managers. Ethical behavior is of critical importance to supervisors and managers of the organizations. Ethics reflect both human resources and economic issues. A manager with good ethics and good behavior with the people working under him is always appreciated by the employees. The managers whose good morals are reflected with their behavior are in a position to convince the team members to accept the decision of the manager easily. “If leaders want their people to do the right thing most of the time, they have to role model the right thing all the time.” (Clinton, 2008)

Describe the social implications of business ethics facing a selected business in its different areas of activity.

Ethical. Corporate scandals and ethical issues have increased the awareness, attention, and need of ethical leadership in business. Unique from other leadership types, ethical leadership is an overt leadership attempt to influence followers’ ethical conduct by emphasizing moral management. Ethical leaders play a critical role in promoting and perpetuating a social exchange and culture of honesty, accountability, unbiased treatment, consideration, and respect across an organization.

Ethics in business is defined as the principles to distinguish right from wrong and to choose ethical actions. It is the standard governance to all concerned to practice mutual respect and to establish morality in order for the entire organization to benefit. This leads to the development of code conduct that must be followed by the organization. It is highly important that the top senior management and leaders must set the standard attitudes and behavior in the entire organization to press ethical concerns. Because of the consequences of ethics in different organizations, senior leadership’s responsibility is to provide ethics because of their authority and responsibility; this has evolved significantly as a primary influence to change (Ciulla, 2004).

Ethics in the workplace and sometimes the lack thereof can significantly influence the success of an organization. Effective leaders often approach ethical dilemmas by identifying alternative actions and their consequences on stakeholders. The aftermath of the disasters caused by Enron, WorldCom, and other businesses, once prominent companies, resulted in a significant loss of confidence in business leader’s conduct. Organizations in today’s highly competitive business environment must develop an ethical culture to withstand the ever increasing scrutiny by customers, governmental regulatory agencies, and their competition. In order for companies effectively to navigate through the ethical

Companies are supposed to be able to achieve and demonstrate an ever increasing performance showing improvement on leading in their industries to acquire competitive advantages. Having a high level of performance could be greatest achieved with competent and motivated employees. The conduct of business in an organization with an ethical manner is of great importance to secure an increasing performance as well. Organizations functioning towards ethical standards should ensure unbiased applications of business and recall a sense of justice to stimulate motivation among their employees. Employees that are motivated through a positive ethical organizational climate and leadership do much better than a less motivated employee. This promotes the organizational achievement that causes

Business ethics originates back to Plato and Aristotle, when their political discussions of justice formed the basic notion of ethics in commercial transactions. During the 1970’s the term “business ethics” came into common use in the United States by the media to report scandalous behaviors by organizations. Subsequently, this term has been adopted world-wide but is broadly interpreted among different countries (De George).