Leadership is a prerequisite for producing an ethical corporate culture. It represents a relationship between a leader and his subordinates within an organization and it describes how individuals should or ought to conduct themselves in that organization. Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell (2015) define leadership as “the ability or authority to guide and direct others toward a goal” (p.311). Leadership has a significant impact on ethical decision making because leaders have the power to motivate others and enforce the organization’s norms, policies, and viewpoints. Leaders are central to influencing an organizations corporate culture and ethical posture (Alshammari, Almutairi & Thuwaini 2015; Mihelic, Lipenik & Tekavcic 2010).
Define and Discuss Ethical Leadership
In order to influence an organizations ethical posture, understanding the definition of ethics is imperative. Ethics is a philosophical term meaning “custom” or “character”. It is associated with “describing and prescribing moral requirements and behaviors” which implies that there is a standard when of conducting oneself. (Mihelic, et. al 2010, p. 32) Ethical conduct or behavior is defined as behavior which is morally accepted as “good” and “right” as opposed to “bad” or “wrong” depending on the circumstances (Simms 1992).
Ethical Leadership is the process of motivating employees through values, principles and beliefs that significantly border on the conventional norms in the organization. It reflects the
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.
An ethical leader takes into account the purposes of everyone involved in the group. They are attentive to the interests of the community and the culture. This type of leader demonstrates an ethic of caring toward others and not forcing others or ignore the intentions of others.
With these values in place makes sure that each person working within our organization models these characteristics. It helps establish priorities in daily work life and personal life and can help our organization grow. Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and shared meaning of values/beliefs, priorities, and direction so that every employee understands and can
Ethical leadership surrounds the idea that there are behaviours which are accepted as “good” or “bad” and that leaders can base their views and styles on these behaviours. There have been many cases throughout history of highly ethical leaders and some very unethical leader. An example of an ethical leader would be Abraham Lincoln for his ideals to abolish slavery as a leader even facing opposition.
Ethics is defined as the set of moral principles or values that defines right and wrong for a person or group. The problem with ethics in today’s world is most employees do not believe their organizations leadership is ethical. The other consideration is one of mistrust. Employees are afraid to report anything for fear of retaliation.
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
Leaders make critical decisions between right, wrong, and the lesser of two evils every day. These decisions can affect the person making the decision, their employees, and goals of the organization. There are many readings that describe ethics and leadership, but ethical leadership is basically knowing your inner values and having the courage to steadfastly live by them for the purpose of the common good. Southwestern College's Master of Science in Leadership program has given me a firm understanding of how important ethical reasoning is and how it impacts, good and bad, an organization.
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.
Ethical leadership. We measured ethical leadership by using Brown et al.’s (2005) ethical leadership scale (10 items). Using a five-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree), employees indicated the extent to which they agreed with statements about their team leaders, such as “my supervisor listens to what employees have to say” and “my supervisor has the best interests of employees in mind.” Table 1 shows the items used to assess ethical leadership. In order to test the scale reliability, we calculated the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the 10-item scale measuring ethical leadership. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the items measuring ethical leadership was 0.911. Therefore, because the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient
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
Every organization has a set of ethical standards that they abide by. The organization ethical standards purposes: it build the organization confidence in the community , keep the employees uniformed in what the organization strive to have as organizational behaviors and help the employees have guidelines to make ethical decisions that protects the organization.
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