The Ethics of Leadership

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.

When one thinks of the retail giant Home Depot they think of reasonably priced items that will aid them in home improvement projects. In the business world though, the mention of this chain store brings to mind the controversial CEO Robert Nardelli who left an organizational path of destruction upon his departure from the company. Nardelli had an interesting leadership style that bordered on the edge of being considered unethical and was considered by many as not being beneficial for the company overall. By evaluating Robert Nardelli’s leadership style against known leadership theories such as trait, behavioral, situational and contingency theories it is easy to dissect his leadership style and make a final decision as to how ethical he

I am here today to discuss… ethical viewpoints by analyzing a case study: evil in the basement from the Book Meeting Ethical Challenges in Leadership by C. E. Johnson (2013). Does everyone understand what ethical viewpoints mean?

Avolio, B., & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16(3), 315-338.

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 effective leader is an inquiry-based practitioner who shapes their role, and the direction of the organization, through informed decisions from valid and reliable data.

Meeting the Ethical hallenges of Leadership, Custom Edition, by CRaig E. Johnson explores a deeper understanding of leaders. Chapter one discusses the leader 's light or shadow. Chapter 2 discusses stepping out of the shadows. According to Johnson, the chapter introduces the dark side of leadership as the first step in promoting good or ethical leadership. According to Johnson, leaders cast light when they master ethical challenges of leadership. Leaders cast shadows when they abuse power, hoard privileges, mismanage information, act inconsistently, misplace or betray loyalties, and fail to assume responsibilities.

Ethics of care and authentic leadership theories shape the conceptual framework for this proposed study. Ethics of care relating to both the Black feminist and the feminist perspective have been chosen to unearth the intricacies of an African American informal primary elder caregiver’s journey to provide care for older family members and friends. In the United States, the majority of informal elder caregivers are women, which is the basis of a feminist preference regarding ethics of care in this study. Earlier in the study, it was established that informal primary elder caregivers are leaders, so authentic leadership has been selected based on several authentic leadership components that are similar to attributes of an informal primary elder

While I attended Wichita State University for mu bachelors of Social Work, I was afforded the opportunity to participate in a leadership program two consecutive years. We learned tips on strategies to become more effective leaders. Whenever I participate in activities that require me to take a leadership or supervisor role, I tend to think of what I learned in the program. The conflict that I identified as a supervisor in this activity was mainly that we had a student with erratic behavior, with firearms at home, and mother who not only saw nothing wrong with it, but wanted him removed from public school and is largely uncooperative with the school regarding his psych eval.

It is important for ethical leaders to have their own personal values. It can be challenging to influence others to possess values if a leader struggles with his or her own values. Ethical leaders must be ethical because they are the example for everyone else to follow. When leaders practice what they preach, they can ensure that ethical practices are enforced within an organization. Leadership happens on and off duty. It is not enough for a leader to only be ethical at work. All of their decisions must reflect a standard of ethical thinking.

Anyone can rise through the ranks and become a leader, however, very few people have what it takes to become a strong ethical leader. An ethical leader is someone who can put themselves aside and work for the benefit of the greater good of the people. A great example of an ethical leader is Mario Cuomo a man who has been governor of New York state for three consecutive terms.

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).

It means to me the value, vision, and voice in how I want to be an ethical leader. The value of understanding my own core values in making decisions on a personal and employee level. The vision on how I see myself and others in a leader. The voice I need to convince others to follow my lead.

According to Steve Arneson from the website Examiner.com, there are eight most important competencies in the leadership. First, the integrity and ethics: the truth has to be told and it is important in management to do the right thing. Then, visioning and strategy are very important and as a leader, the manager has to know where he wants to go with his team and develop a good strategy to reach it; furthermore, leader has to be focus on results. A manager needs also a good judgment, be a great differentiator. If the manager does not have passion and optimism his team will not work for him. A good leader is also someone who knows how to build his team by hire and surround him/herself with great talent. He or she has to cares and develops others, if the manager has a reputation for growing talent, it will be easy for him or her to have talent in his or her team. Finally, the leader has to accept and create a culture of accountability (Arneson, 2008). Prive from Forbes Magazine, adds “that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize”. A leader must have the ability to delegate, communicate, have a sense of humor, have confidence and commitment, show a positive attitude, be creative and intuitive, and be inspiring.

This paper would take leadership into account by comparing and contrasting two well-known leaders in General Electric (GE). The paper first introduces two leaders with some brief biographies, characteristics and their contribution to the GE. It then looks at who would be the more effective leader by providing with some aspects of leadership. It then comes up with some skills these people employed in their leadership to help GE growth rapidly during 1990s till now. The next part will put a conclusion and some recommendations about leadership for potential leaders in the future.