Personal Philosophy : An Organization Level Leader

Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.

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.

Four years ago I wrote my first “Personal Philosophy of Leadership” paper. The personal leadership style I identified with, at that time, was the democratic style. I had chosen this style of leadership because of the teamwork, constructive criticism, motivation, good communication, dedication, and good attitude attributes of the democratic style. Four years later, being present time, I have learned and experienced a great deal more about leadership styles. I now think I identify with a mixture of both the democratic style for the attributes aforementioned, as well as the affiliative style for the relationship-building, freedom, creative, and focus on people attributes of the affiliative style. This paper examines the evolution and refinement of my chosen style of leadership, the philosophy that embodies this style, and the theoretical framework that guides this style.

According to dictionary.com leadership is defined as, the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group: Its synonyms include guidance, influence, control, direction and supervision. These are all qualifications that are needed to be an effective leader. All characteristics are not necessarily needed at the same time and do no need to be used for each subordinate. This paper will identify my personal leadership philosophy along with theories to support my leadership style.

God has perfect morals but yet again it begs us to question that. If god created us and he, himself is perfect why are we not perfect? Why did he create us to be so imperfect? if god himself is perfect; does a god like that deserve to be worship? If god has this attribute then god would actually want his creation to be just as perfect as himself. If god is perfect and we are mirror image of god then we too should be perfect, and if we are in fact perfect then we should acquire the moral perfection attribute. But this is not the case, humans are imperfect by nature. Humans lie, disobey, steal, and murder amongst many other things. Some are better at resisting visceral urges than others but Humans are anything but perfection. We lack the moral perfection attribute that God possesses. If Moral perfection refers to doing good deeds, why are we not given such attributes if we are to live among one another in this

Participating in the course Foundations of Organizational Leadership presented many opportunities to enhance and enrich my perspective on leadership as well as develop my own unique leadership philosophy. By observing the theories, models and cases presented in Northouse, Kouzes and Posner textbooks, I was able to learn through the experience of others what a true leader should represent. While considering the strengths and weaknesses of each theory, I am able to implement a leadership style with an effective approach tailored to many different types of learners. In addition, witnessing both the triumphs and failures of various businesses and leadership styles, helped me confirm my personal stance and aspirations towards becoming a leader. By implementing what I have learned from the course and textbooks, I will address in this paper what specific leadership theories, styles and models have contributed to forming my own leadership philosophy. In addition, I will also define the values, qualities, strengths and weaknesses and ethical considerations that pertain to my stance on leadership. By integrating a faith based approach as the foundation of my leadership style, I hope to implement my new philosophy into my current and future career path.

My father once told me that, “everything we do— be it in academia, at work, social or family life—we are guided by principles, beliefs and values that collectively form our ideology of life.” I believe that every leader, to a certain extent, is shaped through her individual personal experience. Although in some cases, we may not realize to what extent our personal assumptions and beliefs shape our ability to lead or be led.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on my thoughts on how I can utilize certain methods that will help shape the vision of the organization. I will explain how ethics play a role in leadership and decision making. This week I encountered multiple dilemmas which affected my actions at work, home, and school; in this paper I will exploit those dilemmas and how they are considered weakness that I incorporated in my IDP. Using last week 's assignment to start an IDP, I came up with certain actions (part 3) to take to further advance myself as a leader. The reasoning behind these actions will show how proper ethical actions define a leader, and the influence it holds with the organization’s culture.

The topic that we choose is “The relationship between Leadership and Ethics”. The term ethics has been defined as inquiry into the nature and grounds of morality or a branch of philosophy of human conduct and determine right and wrong (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2010). In the other words, it includes study of general nature of moral, specific moral choices, moral philosophy, and rules or standards of governing the conduct of the member of a profession (Ferrell et al., 2010).

God created all people as equals. As a believer in God, I serve him through service to others and my community. I take on responsibilities of helping others in my community, volunteering, and donating goods. At all times I abide by these principles: worship only God, respect people, be humble, be honest, live a moral life, be generous with time, practice my views, do not criticize, judge, or condemn, do not hold a grudge, and forgive others. I believe it is right to resist temptation while knowing that evil lurks around. I believe one-day God will return and seek judgment for his people. To live morally and ethically divine is obligatory to have eternal life. As a person and professional, I understand and acknowledge that not all human beings embrace the same views as me and I respect the views of others.

According to the Bible, God gave us the gift of an immortal soul that has the ability to think and reason, which places us at the top of the pyramid for morality. We are free to seek and love what is good, true and beautiful. Unfortunately, we have the tendency to steer off course and pursue the darkness that lives within ourselves. Luckily, we are able to determine what is right and wrong from our knowledge of God’s law or our conscience. God gave us (i.e. human being) a conscience that will serve as an ally to combat sinful temptations and to realize the magnitude of actions should we behave out of line (i.e. against God’s will). Our conscience leads us to do what is right or to confess and to seek forgiveness if we have done something

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.”

As part of leadership, morality has been seen as a fundamental part. Among the leadership traits, morality is has been defined as a very significant reality in how the leaders would interact. By extension, various definitions have been brought forward in the attempts to understand morality. However, moral relativism has been defined as a “theoretical approach under which what is right and what is wrong is effectively studied,” (Sergiovanni, 2013). Therefore, it is very difficult to distinguish ethics from morality. Ethics and morality seem to augment each other in emphasizing the guiding principles of life. Clearly, morality encompasses almost all aspects of the human life starting from an individual level and extending to the societal level. In the same light, there is no agreed definition of leadership. Gini (2011) in the article, “Moral Leadership: An Overview,” asserts that leadership entails numerous points of view that seem to all be centered on the fact that a leader will prioritize efforts so as to realize positive results for others. Thus, leadership is a social process that involves positive influence between a leader and their followers (Gini, 2011). The fact that leaders would have to be in touch with their followers; emphasizes should be morality. Moral leadership entails a leader who is concerned with their principles regarding rightness or wrongness of their human character (Sergiovanni, 2013). Moral leadership is important since its

Ethics is a crucial principle in human lives. It is necessary here to clarify exactly what is meant by Ethics. The term ethics may be defined as “a set of principles and concepts that guide people to determine what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures” (Paul & Elder, 2006). Generally, in all nations and cultures, parents always teach their children the importance of truthfulness, forgiveness and honesty and all of that consider as parts of morality. Thus, in individual level, morality is significant, therefore, in organizational level morality and integrity should be at the same level of importance.

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