Introduction
Leaders are facing unprecedented challenges in today’s global organizations to prove themselves in employees’ perception of being ethical leaders. Some conducts, which might be considered right in one organizational culture might be considered wrong in another. Normative appropriate conduct varies with societal and organizational culture (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013). Perception of leaders being ethical affects employees’ performance and innovative work behavior (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013). Global leaders should possess traits such as honesty, altruism, high moral values, transparency, integrity, and fairness to be respected by the followers as a role model (Cowart, Gilley, Avery, Barber, & Gilley, 2014; Yidong & Xinxin, 2013).
Leaders perceived to have internal value compass to guide them through the complex and ambiguous ethical dilemma times (Murty, 2014; Yidong & Xinxin, 2013).There are many religious and spiritual scriptures such as the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, Dharma Sastra, or the Sutras of Patanjali, which form the ethical values of a human being (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013). Ethical leaders look for the greater good and are selflessly working to serve others. Ethical leaders are aware of their responsibilities and concern about society and environment (Weng, 2014). Ethical leaders possess charisma to influence their followers.
Transformational leadership model postulated that charismatic leaders have morality and ethical conduct as their core values (Weng, 2014).
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
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.
During the announcement of the seventh annual list of most ethical companies in the world in 2013, Alex Brigham of Ethisphere, noted that more companies find that ethical business practices increase their competitiveness in their respective industries, helping to further substantiate the notion that a culture of ethic is crucial to sustainable excellence (Smith, 2013). Researchers in the field of Organizational Behavior has found that employees are subjected to an environment of ethical dilemma constantly. During such moments employees have a choice either to pursue with ethical conduct or engage in an unethical behavior which results in harming the organization or its stakeholder (Trevino & Brown, 2004). How the employee behave greatly depends
Leaders that demonstrate a commitment to behaving in an ethical manner are viewed as trustworthy and subordinates gravitate toward them. Ethical leaders have a foundational belief in honesty and trustworthiness and disseminating these principles throughout the organization. This paper will present ethical leadership models as tools for merging diverse cultures into the existing organizational culture. An overview of which leadership models, styles, and traits are most commonly accepted as ethical across the greatest array of social cultures will be discussed. The paper will culminate with a selection of a particular leadership model as a tool for shaping organizational culture and the rationale for selecting that model.
Transformational leaders provide a sense of vision and mission, they have the capability to inspire through communication of high expectations, stimulate the use of intelligence for problem solving, and provide personal attention and coaching for followers. This type of leadership is concerned with emotions, values ethics, standards and long term goals (p.185). “Charismatic leaders act in unique ways that have specific charismatic effects on their followers”(p.188). Charismatic leaders are strong role models for the beliefs and values they want their followers to adopt.
In this article, the reader will be enlightened on (a) two definitions (explanations) for ethical leadership described by researchers, (b) how leadership is measured, (c) assess how ethical leadership relates to several leadership styles, and (d) concluding thoughts on how moral strength through ethical leadership is hoped to be seen in the future.
In today’s society, a person can make a single decision, which can positively and negatively affect their family, employer, co-workers and/or even the entire world. That said, the life we as individuals lead reflects the strength of a single trait and that is our personal character. Though personal ethics vary from person to person; people want to be known as a good person, someone who can be trusted and who is concerned about his or her relationships and personal reputations. However, ethics has a major issue in leadership positions. In order to create a strong ethical based environment, it is critical to have an appropriate leader and leadership integrity. According to Johnson (2013), ethical leadership can be perceived as both a moral person and a moral manager. In this essay, I will evaluate the importance of ethical leadership and the role it plays in daily lives. Lastly, I will apply my personal leadership perspective. My perspective will include the path goal theory and the ethical practices that I find to important to leadership.
Transformational leadership is used by a leader to “appeal to the moral values of followers in an attempt to raise their consciousness about ethical issues and to mobilize their energy and resources to reform institutions” (Yukl “Charismatic” 261). Pseudotransformational leadership refers to transformational leadership, but when the leader is “self-consumed, exploitive, power-oriented, [and] possess[es] warped values” (Hinz). When a leader appeals to followers’ self-interest and offers an exchange of benefits, the leader is utilizing transactional leadership (Yukl “Charismatic” 261).
Ethical leaders embody the purpose, vision, and values of the organization and of the constituents, within an understanding of ethical ideals. They connect the goals of the organization with that of the internal employees and external stakeholders. Leaders work to create an open, two-way conversation, thereby maintaining a charitable understanding of different views, values, and constituents’ opinions. They are open to others’ opinions and ideas because they know those ideas make the organization they are leading better. (Edward & Steward,
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.”
In order to be a successful ethical leader there are many activities that can be promoted to encourage ethical behavior in one’s organization. An ethical leader will create programs that endorse integrity in business. Programs can include setting guidelines for dealing with ethical issues, open discussion on ethical issues, and establish a protocol for people to get advice (Yukl, 2010). By establishing programs an ethical leader is really changing and encouraging moral behavior which can affect an organizations work environment and improve moral. By empowering your employees to know how to handle ethical dilemmas you create a new found trust.
The objectives of this research are to examine the influence of organizational culture on employee work behavior. Moreover, there are to explain the influence that organizational culture has on employee work behavior, to formulate recommendations regarding organizational culture and employee work behavior. There are a few questions that were asked, in order to measure the result. In addition, the method was used in this research is a survey research method. Plus, respondents were selected by using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Primary data were collected through questionnaire. Data were presented and analyzed by means of simple percentage and the hypotheses were tested by
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
The maintenance of ethical behavior when in a leadership situation becomes difficult when leaders are operating in a weak or non-existent value system. Brown (2005) exposes various reasons which make leaders behave unethically. According to him, leaders are expected to lead by example since all subordinates have to follow what the leaders prospect. However, there are instances where these leaders behave in an unethical manner because of various reasons. As the author argues, it is clear for leaders with strong, virtuous values to act ethically because their values define their character. Conversely, if the leaders are operating in a weak or non-existent value system, they tend to act unethically. Therefore, the author asserts the organization to be leading in destabilizing factors that make leaders to behave dishonorably. If the organization does not actively promote the universally accepted values such as wisdom, self-control, justice, and kindness, most leaders who are also weak in values follow suit and embrace unethical behavior. These are the kind of leaders likely not to enhance honesty, fairness, equality, and dignity for personal gains.