Unethical Behavior : Ethics And Leader

Academic dishonesty is the use of unauthorized assistance with the intent to deceive an instructor. Academic dishonesty includes behaviors like cheating, plagiarism, and fabrication. Cheating is the use of materials, information or notes that are not authorized by the instructor. Plagiarism is the act of claiming or using someone’s own words or ideas and using them as your own without giving them credit. Fabrication involves falsifying information or data.

There has been increasing numbers of concerns with the ethical leadership of organizations due to historical problems with company’s downfalls due to management. The unethical conduct of leadership is typically found when the organization does not enforce the ethical climate once determined as important. The paper focuses on different approaches for strengthening the leadership for the organization and enforcing the ethical climate. In addition, the important factors for a strong ethical climate are derived based on a solid foundation for an the organization’s policies and procedures and code of conduct. Organizations can accomplish ethical leadership and behaviors by enforcing and practicing the code of conduct and having a high level or integrity in the leaders that run the organization.

In school, many people are dishonest and don’t show their integrity. One major way of being dishonest and not showing your integrity is by cheating. A study shows, that by high school, 75% of students have cheated on one thing such as a test, homework or a project. In many high schools, cheating is a big problem and many students do it. Studies show that most students start cheating when they were little when playing board games and cheating to win. In elementary school, kids start “bending the rules” and look at other kids papers. Another way that people don’t show their integrity, is by plagiarizing. Plagiarizing is when you copy someone else’s ideas and say that they are your own. Another common way of being dishonest is by complicity. Complicity is when you help someone else cheat, copy homework or papers, and giving others the test questions.

Academic honesty, expected of every student, is essential to the process of education and to upholding high ethical standards. Cheating, including plagiarism, inappropriate use of technology, or any other kind of unethical or dishonest behavior, may subject the student to severe academic penalties, including dismissal.All work submitted for evaluation in a course, including tests, term papers, and computer programs, must represent only the work of the student unless indicated otherwise. This includes homework, essays, theses, and creative projects.Material taken from the work of others must be acknowledged. Materials submitted to fulfill requirements in one course may not be submitted in another course without prior approval of the instructor.

To begin with, cheating is unethical; however, a study done by Akeley and Spear (2012), report that more than one fourth of freshman-level students admitted

The common prototype for this objection is taking drugs to perform well on test. Taking drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, Provigil and other drugs designed to keep them awake and focused provides the dishonest student with the advantage over his or her peers. Such an unfair advantage is a clear ethical issue. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines cheating as “to use dishonest methods to achieve a goal”.

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).

Ethical leadership encompasses the manner in which one leaders that respects the rights and dignity of other individuals. According to Preston (1996) “ethics is concerned about what is right, fair, just, or good; about what we ought to do, not just what is the case or what is most acceptable or expedient” (p.16). Ethical leadership calls for ethical leaders in the organization. However, although an organization’s beliefs, valves, customs and philosophies need to start from the chief executive, the managers and employees must be dedicated to the organization’s goals for a culture be shaped (Butts Ed.). In order for a strong organizational culture to be successful, components of key valves must be in place and followed. With the

Academic dishonesty is a threat to every student and every institution of higher education. The very act runs contrary to the fundamental values of higher education (Bowers, 1964). Dishonesty compromises the integrity of the individual student as well as the reputation of the institution (Engler, Landau, & Epstein, 2008; Gallant, 2008).

In Survey I, 91.9% of the participants reported that they have cheated on at least one homework assignment; however, when asked why they receive answers, 13.5% of the participants stated that they do not receive answers (Appendix D). Therefore, it can be concluded that some students believe that cheating on homework assignments is not considered as immoral. This may further explain why students cheat.

“Managers perform a crucial role in organizations because they interpret company policy, execute corporate directives, fulfill all of the people management needs in their particular area of responsibility, cascade senior management messages down the chain of command, and communicate employee feedback up the chain. They are probably the most important ingredient in an organization’s success and they are frequently the most overlooked. But make no mistake about it—managers are the lens through which employees view the company, as well as the filter through which senior executives view employees.” (Trevino & Nelson, 2007) Managers are faced with many ethical

. For the “College” section, items 1-3, who is harmed and who benefits from these unethical behaviors?

Academic dishonesty is another facet of unethical behaviour. It is an action or attempt that results in creating an unfair academic advantage for oneself or a disadvantage for any other member of academic community. A child uses his or her experiences in society to shape personal ethics. Family has a strong influence on one's values and behaviour,parents establish rules from the start and it becomes the basis for our ethics and morals. A personal ethical commitment is part of what makes students a success. A lack of ethical commitment will always result in acdemic failure. I personally believe that students who are academically dishonest cheat themselves out of an education and harm their fellow students by screwing the grading curve for the class as a whole. Therefore academic ethics are vital and students should commit themselves to maintaining highest personal ethical standards.

Question 1: With the support of a New Zealand based company, discuss how any two of the following types of ethics may influence ethical decisions of a leader in the company:

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