Leadership Paper:
Comparison of Two Articles
Leadership is a very important characteristic in today's society. Many value a good leader, yet a good leader is elusive. While some would point to the current president as the epitome of such an individual, many would disagree. Thus, one asks, repeatedly, what makes a good leader, and only receives mixed answers. But a good leader is someone who can implement a variety of policies while remaining true to the customer, or the citizen, and make profit for the business, or simply sound policies for a nation. The two articles summarized below discuss good leadership with regards to ethics, another very important component in today's society. These articles will be summarized individually, then compared, after which some conclusions will be drawn.
The first article to be summarized here, written by Boniface Madu, speaks about some of the responsibilities that leaders must face in an organization. For the purposes of analysis, this article speaks of these responsibilities in an over-arching fashion. For this reason, it refers to certain things such as IT management, or ERP responsibilities, simply as various organizational characteristics that must be undertaken, evaluated, managed, and successfully implemented by leaders. Furthermore, according to this first article, leadership characteristics also involve rewards and encouragement of colleagues' participation. Ethics comes into play at this very juncture. In a collective, and
Leadership and business ethics are a powerful component of an organization’s success or failure. Before the corporate scandals such as Enron and WorldCom, success for organizations could be measured by profit and growth margins. There is a strong link between ethics and leadership because like ethics, it (what?) has been increasingly a topic of concern due to the risk in corporate downfalls and destruction based these two areas (Knights, p. 125 you might have mis-read this quote, since there’s a grammatical erroe in it. Check it again. ). Effective leadership is important in shaping the
This paper will first discuss briefly what ethics are and provide the definition for an ethical issue. An ethical leadership issue is identified and explained for this author’s practice area. We will then identify and discuss key strategies for leadership that are pertinent to the ethical issue. Next, empirical evidence which supports the strategies discussed will be analyzed. Then, the impact and importance of the strategies will be stated. The final step will be to provide a conclusion to the reader that summarizes the content and strategies.
Ethical leadership is commonly connected with characteristics like fairness and honesty, that can enable a person within an organization to do the right thing. In responding to the lack of attention to the ethical dimensions of positive leadership Brown and colleagues designed a definition for ethical leadership. They would define it as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such
Ethics are principles that are kept throughout one’s life so that he/she maintains a respectable level of honest value. Based on my moral outlook on life, my view of ethics may differ to that of many in this class. The reason for that is ethics partially depends on the individual feelings of a given situation. For example, some cultures believe that it’s unethical to have multiple partners, but in other cultures, you find that this is the norm. Morals and values are the framework to having and understanding ethics. Morals and values are the drivers
This paper will respond to three questions, “Are all managers leaders?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 425) “What are some common barriers preventing leaders from behaving ethically and how can these barriers be overcome?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 450) And “Is it possible for leadership substitutes to be effective?” (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 450)
Leaders are expected to act consistently with their vision and the values they advocate to their team. If a leader’s words or actions are contrary to the values they expect in others, they will be faced with cynicism and contempt. Followers expect their leader to act in their best interests, putting their welfare before their own. An ethical leader is honest, open and truthful to their followers. When leaders lose this trust, their followers will quickly disregard them.
Mostly, how ethics produce effective leaders will stress how good leadership is impossible without ethics. Throughout this paper, the reader will develop an understanding of what is personally required to
Leadership ethics by Lamar Odom that basically examines whether doing the right thing is enough in leadership. The author examines this issue given that the behavior of leaders has been one of the most intriguing issues in today’s society and in order to provide insights on ethics in leadership. The title of the book provokes deeper thoughts in the minds of leaders even before they open the book to commence reading. The author of this book is a leadership and ethic consultant who has not only taught numerous courses but also carried out several trainings on this intriguing topic. Professor Odom developed interest in examining this issue following the cliché answers he received from time to time on the question of what ethics is. Actually, Odom’s work in examining ethics in leadership was fueled by the concerns he had regarding the cliché answers he received from students and corporate executives.
A leader should be ethical. An ethical leader is one who does the right thing when no one is watching. S/he sees moral issues in decisions and situations.
A leader may exhibit the characteristics of an effective leader such as caring, openness, patience, honesty and trustworthiness, but being aware of ethical considerations is vital. In fact, unethical behavior of the leader derives from being unfamiliar with organizational standards, being incompetent in leading groups or properly
Leadership is a crucial aspect in any organisation whose goals include succeeding in the target market or industry against its competitors, as well as facilitating an ethical work environment and effective management to achieve those goals. The five articles provided in this analysis address the key issues when organisations fail to acknowledge the importance of ethical and effective leadership practices; including various opinions from significant parties involved. With the support of quantitative research statistics and case study results, these peer reviewed scholarly articles support the importance of leadership. This analysis is focused on the topic of leadership to emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of companies that choose to implement
Plato once asked whether you would rather be "an unethical person with a good reputation or an ethical person with a reputation for injustice." Ethical leadership has long been a debate in regards to its importance and place in the universal business world.
This broader concept of ethical leadership empowers leaders to incorporate and be explicit about their own values and ethics. The following list provides a framework for developing ethical leadership. It is based on the observations of and conversations with a host of executives and students over the past 25 years, and on readings of both popular and scholarly business literature. Written from the perspective of the leader, these ten facets of ethical leaders offer a way to understand ethical leadership that is more complex and more useful than just a matter of “good character and values.”
Leadership is by all means a special talent that not all people possess. A leader must also have ethics to be effective for the long term in the corporate world. These leaders generally implement ethical programs in order to influence an organizations climate (Yukl, 2010). I will evaluate the importance of ethical leadership and the role it plays into today’s organizations. In addition, I will discuss the repercussions a company may have when its leadership allows and even rewards unethical business practices. Lastly, I will apply my personal leadership perspective. My perspective will include the path-goal theory and ethical practices that I find important to
I will examine the importance of personal ethics in leadership and how ethics produce effective leaders in organizations today. The importance of understanding ethics, motivation to act as a role model and developing a plan of action for an organization are discussed because of their importance regarding development of good leadership. These key points suggest personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership. With so many definitions of leadership, the question evolved from “what is the definition of leadership?” to “what is good leadership” (Ciulla, 2004, p. 13). To develop a system of values one must compile a list of the most important instrumental values and terminal values. These lists are unique to every individual because they are determined by personal importance. Instrumental values, such as honest, helpful, ambitious, responsible, etc. should reinforce terminal values. Once a leader’s means are consistent with desired goals, their value system is unified and they have climbed the staircase from the lobby to the first level of values. The climb from the first floor to the second floor results in a person incorporating principles into their newly developed values. Although values act as the bedrock of ethics, principles are required because alone, “values are far too vague to have much meaning in ethical analysis” (Cooper, 1998, p. 12). Morals are ideals that help us decipher between right