Transparency: How Leaders Create A Culture Of Candor

These key aspects suggest personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership.The categorization of ethical leadership in organizational management is a conceptualization of positive relationship that potentially exists on the backdrop of moral values, obligations of leaders and expectation of associated leadership factors. The interplay of such factors provides a meaningful insight into the utilization of ethical considerations within the extensive framework of integrated public sector leadership.

Toxic workplaces is a systemic and systematic problem to an organizations sustainability. It is important that the leadership develop an organizational culture that does not tolerate aggression and behaviorally supports employees in dealing with it. It is imperative that leaders are equipped with the skills to appropriately access the environment , have the ethical temperament needed to take responsibility for the problem and the skill-set to effectively correct the problem (Ellen & Ascalon, page 189). Emotionally and psychologically toxic workplaces can be framed through the following theories for redress: systems theory explains the interconnectedness and interrelations

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.

It is not uncommon for some leaders to have their personal goals overshadow the goals of the organization, and at the end of the leader’s tenure, there are often negative consequences for both the employees and the organization (Harvey, et al., 2007). Certainly, this reversal of objectives can be seen in the political arena as well, where leaders seek a leadership position to promote their own personal ambitions, which often generate substantial material gains (Harvey, et al., 2007). In addition, leaders who have negative and destructive leadership tendencies by taking advantage of their positions tend to take their organizations toward destruction (Reed, 2004; Pelletier, 2010). On the other hand, followers’ behaviors can cause the creation of toxic leaders when they attribute divine powers to leaders due to their desperation and hope that this leader will act like a therapist and alleviate their concerns (Lipman-Blumen, 2005b).

Mayer, Aquino, Greenbaum, and Kuenz (2012) stated that ethical leaders exhibit normatively appropriate conduct through their actions and interpersonal relationships with employees in work units as well as stressed the importance of two-way communication in such a way that they are concerned not only with expressing their own opinions, but also with listening to and getting along with others. Ethical leadership is important because organizations are looking at means to decrease employees’ unethical behavior and mitigate any instances of relationship conflict. Ensuring that the chief executive officer and others in organizational positions demonstrate the proper example will go a long way to serve as models for the employees to follow.

When leading other individuals, it is imperative that one be ethical themselves, in order to lead ethically. A person, who is unethical, is going to inspire unethical behaviors in others. When members of an organization see that nothing happens to their leaders, others will fall into the same unethical behavior and rationalize that what they are doing is ok as well (Mallor et al., 1966/2010, p. 119). Leaders must set the example of ethical behavior for others.

The study of Pelletier (2010) reveals eight dimensions of leader toxicity that involves leaders breaking down the self-esteem of followers, threatening employees, lack of integrity, intimidating employees physically and mentally, and being dishonest. In addition, leaders are considered toxic when they promote a culture of division and fail to listen or act on employee concerns. It is important to distinguish between bad leaders and toxic leaders where the influence of the leaders on followers will determine this fact. As toxic leaders, will have a long-term psychological and physical effects on their followers (Pelletier, 2010).

Dion, M. (2012). Are ethical theories relevant for ethical leadership? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 33(1), 4-24. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01437731211193098

By incorporating the principles of ethical leadership it provides the foundation for the development of a ethical organization which will help with decision making. Ethical leaders need to respect others, service others, show justice, manifest honesty, and builds the community. In an organization I believe all leaders should be required to go through a training to teach the development of ethical leadership. I believe we must start with the leaders in order to get others to follow along with the right behavior. Mangers in an organization should also be required to attend a program and training to become more ethically effective at work and in life and to help make ethical decisions. Managers and leaders can benefit and use the information to have a better understanding of themselves and strengthen their own leadership skills. Leaders must understand that to be an ethical leader, they must be sensitive to the needs of others, treat others in ways that are just, and care for

Research indicates that the behavior of one’s superiors is among the strongest influences on ethical behavior, playing a larger role than the behavior of peers or even one’s personal ethical frameworks (Arlow & Ulrich, 1988; Brenner & Molander, 1977; Posner & Schmidt, 1984; Vitell & Festervand, 1987). Hart (2001) believes ethics cannot be effective without proper leadership. According to Rosenbloom (1989) ethics can be considered as a form of self-accountability or an “inner check” of the conduct of public administrators. Ethics are statements, written or oral, that prescribe or proscribe certain behaviours under specified conditions (Nigro & Nigro, 1989, p.37). The success of ethics programs in any organization lies with committed leadership (Lewis, 1999; Hejka-Ekins,

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

In the research paper by Bello (2012), the concept of ethical leader, including the characteristic of an ethical leader, the role it played in improving employee job performance and the development of such leaders (p.229).

A powerful leader shall make certain they do no harm to those underneath their leadership. They are considering ethics in the way they conduct their behavior. Authors Jennifer Newman and Darryl Grigg, psychologists and directors of Newman & Grigg Psychological and Consulting Services Ltd. Affirm “Leaders who understand they are in positions of authority — and that with authority comes with the responsibility not to harm people — will be most effective” (1). Ethical behavior results in higher morale in the workplace and less risk of unethical conduct.

Kelland and Paphitis propose that once literature has a shared understanding of the relationship between ethics and leadership, then the next step will be to determine how to get ethical leaders to act ethically (as cited in Alavi, 2016, p. 41). One way they found to be critical in ethical leadership is becoming a human agent. For the reason that human agents are free to the extent that their actions and behaviors can be explained by reason and motivation that are on their own (as cited in Alavi, 2016, p. 43). As human agents, leaders can utilize their ‘better judgment’ and some level of self-control over their choices and actions. Furthermore, the better judgment guides human agents through the external motivation of the world.

Effective leaders motivate and inspire followers to achieve collective goals. Within an organisational context, the changing nature of the workplace and the employment relationship has seen a shifting focus to the importance of establishing trust between leaders and followers, emphasising employee wellbeing and team orientated decision-making. However leaders who exhibit toxic traits have lasting effects, not only upon their followers, but also the organisation. From a psychological perspective, this essay aims to analyse the characteristics of a toxic leader, by investigating the ‘dark side’ of leadership, exploring the consequences of narcissism and Machiavellianism within organisational leadership as well as on an individual level.