Leadership Models And Organizational Culture

Leadership has been defined in various ways according to different schools of thoughts and approaches in which the concept has been looked at, but the general ideas that leadership is about the effective vision drawing, planning for achieving the goals, motivating people towards the pre-determined achievements, monitoring the performance, reviewing the results of past agendas and ability to avoid shortcomings if present. There are several theories of leadership depending on the approaches of the person in leading. These are “Great Man” or trait theory, position –function of the leader, power relationship – effect on group behaviour and the leadership from the influence on the organisational culture.

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.

A personal definition of ethical leadership is “deliberate behavior that is consistent with organizational values and expectations, which in turn builds trust and maintains a leader’s moral authority to hold the organization or individual followers accountable.” Although morality and ethics are different, they are closely connected. A dictionary definition for moral authority is, “trustworthiness to make decisions that are right and good” (Moral authority, 2016). One can expect a workforce or unit that perceives their leader to retain moral authority will respect that leader’s decisions and demands because of an alignment of values. Whereas ethics

Ethics are significant for all people, especially for someone in a leadership role. Frequently, some leaders turn to immoral and unethical behaviors and decisions. Defining and applying an ethical decision to a difficult situation can make a huge difference between positive and negative consequences for organizations (University of Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts, n.d.). Ethics in Leadership offers a general idea of applied ethics related to leadership situations in society and organizations. For a leader, it is a challenge to exercise power wisely, without unnecessary selfishness and keeping moral integrity. The study of ethics allows individuals to examine and view ethical issues from several prospectives, identify the problem for a better understanding, and to practice ethical thinking in developing a useful solution (University of Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts,

This week I chose to focus on ethical leadership within a company. Most people may already have their own ideas as to what ethical leadership already is, however not everyone will be on the same page as to what it is. Ethical leadership has been defined as the practice of behaviors that are deemed normal through personal actions and interpersonal relationships (Neves and Story, 2013). Because of this what might seem ethical to someone from China, may not be viewed in the same light here in the U.S. The article I read suggests that there are several factors when it comes to ethical leadership within a company. Work environment being one of the factors, as well as job characteristics and trust in leader (Neves and Story, 2013).

The customs and practices within a business culture will create an environment that are the foundation of that organization. First, the establishment of an ethically empowered organization is essential to the positive environment vital to the success of the organization. First, the premise of ethical leadership is a principle that requires four concepts to successfully endure (Elliott, Marquis , & Neal, 2013, p. 93). The four elements required of ethical leadership include intent, education, authority, and confidence for successful implementation (p. 93). In addition, the business culture that desires to continue a successful ethical leadership will incorporate a code of ethics, establish training on

There are many different definitions of organizational culture. Most of them suggest basically the same principle, that the organization’s culture is the shared values, beliefs and assumptions of how the members should behave. The purpose of the culture is to understand how organizations function and gives meaning to the organizations way of doing things. Culture helps to foster internal integration, bring employees from all levels of the organization much closer together, increases moral, and enhances their performance. Just as personality shapes an individual, organizational culture shapes its members and defines what the organization is willing to do. The goal of the organization should not only emphasize on being profitable but also to

“Ethical behavior is critical to being an effective leader.” According to Dyer (2016), “It 's been studied for over 2,500 years, and yet..., a recent survey showed that only three percent believe that corporate and governmental leaders would consistently behave in an ethical manner (Dyer). It is quite alarming that only three percent of people surveyed believed that leaders in such critical positions would always act in an ethical manner. It is surprising to know that we have dedicated that much time to studying ethics, yet, society has no trust in their leaders. However, why is this? Kelland, Paphitis, Mummery, and Nolton have a few revolutionary schools of thought that will help bridge the gap in ethics and leadership.

“Ethical Leadership is defined as "the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making"… [and] the evidence suggests that ethical leader behaviour can have important positive effects on both individual and organizational effectiveness” (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17).

Leaders articulate a vision that emphasizes values shared by leader and followers (Jacobsen & House, 2001), and infuse seemingly disconnected organizational activities with those shared values (Shamir & Howell, 1999), which guides behaviors of followers (Tsai et al., 2009). Ethics means weighing carefully the actions to be undertaken through the compliance prism of a set of values and standards defined at the level of society, for its own good. Ethical leadership is ‘‘the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making’’ (Brown, Trevino, & Harrison, 2005, p. 120). Ethical leaders are concerned with how their decisions affect others (Murphy and Enderle 1995), and when leaders take this into account, they become more sensitive of others needs inside and outside (community) of the organization. In order to make ethical decisions, leaders require the use of ethical concepts and principles (Dukerich et al. 1990) in their moral judgments.

The organization I work for, Service Access & Management is a human services agency that actually relies on having a healthy organizational culture, without it the organization would not survive. Because this organization relies on all members understanding the vision and the reason we work – which is mostly being able to help people live their lives despite the developmental delays they might have – it is important that members or employees work in a healthy organizational culture. It is up to the leaders of the organization to maintain this culture. Using management as the leaders of the organization, they are encouraged to motivate their staff on a daily basis and ask for staff input to improve the daily processes.

The business world has expanded globally in the 21st century. With the development of the Internet, companies can expand into new markets in a fraction of the time previously necessary. With this new global frontier, organizations have found new challenges. Culture barriers present real obstacles for building cohesive organizational structure. In order to overcome this hurdle and take advantage of the cultural diversity, the leadership must find an effective model to accommodate this diversity while constructing a unified culture. By incorporating the most appropriate ethical leadership model, an organization’s leadership can honor the cultural diversity that is present while successfully shaping the organizational culture.

The problem to be investigated is; how the leaders manage to stay ethical in their role while maintaining trust with the followers and focus on organisational goals. Most of the times, the biggest responsibility of leaders is to lead the team of the people to achieve organisational goals willingly. Leaders are supposed to create harmony between the workforce and management so that win-win situation can be created. It is a challenge for the leaders to play this role successfully and they can be accused of any partiality or favouritism by either management or the employees.

The team manager often talks with the team about her beliefs in constant personal improvement and high productivity so that her team can stand out and have an excellent resume’ when they are ready and willing to move into a different role at Humana. She encourages the team to learn about the many different areas of the company and focus on where they would like to go inside the company.

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