The study of ethics is fundamental to leadership effectiveness. Human relationships, our being, and roles in society influence morality by right and wrong, good and evil, or just and unjust actions. As a human relationship, leadership hallmarks power, influence, vision, obligation, and responsibility (Ciulla, 2003). These attributes can undermine or contribute to the success of the ethical and effective leader in education.
Power is defined as the capability or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others, or the course of events. Ethical leaders consciously utilize the power that they are given with high regards to the margin of harm or benefit that others or the organization will endure. The vision of an ethical leader creates a clear and distinct direction by which the organization will follow. The mission of an ethical leader sets the path for a thriving organization with succinct and strategic goals. A specific vision of the future is usually tied to a successful and highly respected leader. Leaders have an obligation to communicate the ethical vision throughout the organization. This transference promotes unity, civility, understanding, and trust.
Markie (1994) noted that educators are responsible for overlooking the important ethical dimensions of their work. In leadership, there are several interdependent dimensions which guide the practices of the ethical and effective leader. Each dimension of includes self-knowledge, discipline, and moral
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.
can be produced because a broad range of inputs has been considered. Humans are most important and treating them with respect and dignity is the essence of Human Services. Knowledge and Courage are the two most important ingredients of Ethical leadership. Another important pillar of this building is the imagination. Lack of imagination stops you from looking beyond the usual confines of an issue. The ultimate goal of a leader is always recognition and fame but of an ethical leader is the Respect in the hearts of the people.
Cordeiro and Cunningham (2013) provide several self-assessment tools that are valuable in determining the ethics that guide one 's thinking and practice and identifying leadership traits that affect one 's effectiveness in an educational organization. One such tool is a comprehensive list of statements pertaining to ethics in the first chapter of the authors ' textbook that may prompt one to think about his or her own beliefs about a variety of topics in education, including vision, school culture, learning environment, interpersonal communication, and accountability, among other topics (Cordeiro & Cunningham, 2013). These statements directly relate to the six standards of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium.
The focus of the Arthur is to explore the values of educating leaders in two specific ways. The first way is to provide research results in the area of moral and character value traits. The second way attempts to clearly define common terms that are often misunderstood (Arthur, 2010). He discusses the need for moral and character development in leadership programs. The author intertwines these concepts which emphasize the need for understanding the younger generation
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.
Ethics based leadership theories are primarily concerned with addressing three concerns. The first concern is the intent of individuals, regardless whether they are managers or just team members of an organization. The second issue involves the selection of proper means for doing things and the last concern surrounds the selection of proper ends. Ethics-based leadership has five key models; the basic integrity model of the virtuous leader, the ethical leader as a moral manager, the ethical leader as an authentic leader, the ethical leader as a spiritual mentor to followers, clients and constituents, and the ethical leader as a transforming agent of change for the common good.
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).
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.
Ethical leadership is leadership that is involved in leading in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others. As leaders are by nature in a position of social power, ethical leadership focuses on how leaders use their social power in the decisions they make, actions they engage in and ways they influence others. Leaders who are ethical demonstrate a level of integrity that is important for stimulating a sense of leader trustworthiness, which is important for followers to accept the vision of the leader.
If leadership is a process of social influence, then it stand to reason that leaders possess the ability to influence others both positive and negative in regards to ethical decision-making. It also stands to reason that if leader have strong personal values, they will possess strong Ethical Leadership. Some 500 respondents thought businesses in Europe were analyze on how ethical leadership behaviors; such as role modeling behavior, transmitting
Ethics is a topic that I have long looked forward to studying. I am excited to be taking this course, particularly as it relates to education, a field that I have interest and passion for. Since the beginning of my time in education, I have seen countless decisions made by educators and administrators. With few exception, I have seen those in the educational setting aim to do what is in the “best interest of the student” in a fair and just way, taking into account many factors in the equation. After reading the first two chapters in Shapiro & Stefkovich 's book, Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education, I came to the conclusion that this is the single most key idea or foundational component that I
In the past, the term “authentic leadership” is used to define ethical leadership. Researches examine authentic leadership as an attempt to discover more about ethical leadership. Researchers argue that authentic leadership is concerned with self-awareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, and balanced processing (Gardner et al., 2005; Walumbwa et al., 2008). Although Authenticity is an important aspect of ethical leadership and the above definition creates a good list of behaviors, it doesn’t solely define all aspects of ethical leadership. It has also been argued that Influence processes used by leaders are driven by the underlying ethical values (Groves et al., 2011). Therefore, another approach to inspect ethical intent would be to examine the influence process used by leaders. Since leader’s influence processes are very much linked to her leadership styles, it’s appropriate to look at some leadership styles and the compatible influence processes.
“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).
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.
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