When it comes to any organization, whether it’s for profit or non-profit, Ethics is crucial in the foundation. The CEO, VP, regional managers, or even hourly employees must all portray ethical morals that contribute to the good image of the company. An ethical leader in an organization provides guidance and integrity by exemplifying morals and living up to the company’s culture and expectations regarding business ethics. “Knowing how to organically infuse ethics into everyday business practices and understanding how to communicate the importance of ethical behavior across divisions is a strong top-level leadership skill to develop.” For a leader to incorporating ethics into every day operations is significantly important since it will contribute …show more content…
“Understand that you cannot be partially ethical because that means you are partially unethical.”
As a true ethical leader, Amos stand up for what he believes in and makes sure himself as well as other top leaders in Aflac demonstrate the company’s morals. If the top executives of the company aren’t portraying ethics and integrity, they can’t expect the rest of the employees to display these morals. By Amos demonstrating ethical conduct in every aspect of his duties as CEO, he has contributed to the increasing success of Aflac. Over the years he has increased the brand recognition of this company and has even changed the brand image by incorporating the Aflac
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He pledged $3 million to establish the Aflac cancer Center at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, formally known as Egleston Children’s Hospital. With Amos as their CEO, Aflac has also pledged $1 million to the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial, contributed more than $1 Million to the Red Cross to help in the relief of Tsunami in Japan and recently donated $1 Million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History. In the 2011-2012 Aflac Corporate Citizenship report, Amos said “To that end, we will continue our tradition of transparency and rigid business ethics by enacting a program called The Aflac Trust; a companywide effort with a mission to deter, prevent, detect and respond to potential fraud and abuse. We’re expanding our volunteer efforts by providing altruistic employees and associates with a mechanism to find volunteer opportunities in their communities” (2011). By this statement you can see that Amos really values the Utilitarian approach to business ethics, he strives to continue his charity work while aiming to create the greatest amount of good for everyone. In the most recent Aflac Corporate Social Responsibility Report of 2016, Amos incorporated the Aflac’s social responsibility promise which is based on four principles. The four principles are the following (Aflac Corporate):
1. “First, our business practices
By proactively addressing ethical issues with a code of conduct, Raiders Inc. can set the standard regarding how they want employees to behave. Employee can be trained on the company code of ethics so they understand how their company expects them to respond. They can also train them on the biases of decision making, to make sure they are aware of the pitfalls that exist. (Robbins & Coulter, 2012)
Leaders who treat their employees with fairness, honesty, and provide frequent, accurate information are seen as more effective. According to Robbins and Judge (2014), “trust is a primary attribute associated with leadership and followers who trust a leader are confident their rights and interest will not be abused” (p.193). The old General Motor Corporation had eleven different CEO’s from 1923 until 2009 each with their own unique leadership style, which directed employees toward the organization goals. Unfortunately, many of the top level managers under the CEO’s had the tendency of filtering out information that did not match up with their pre-conceived notions about a particular issue and they lacked upward communication. One consumer goal of General Motors was to build trust in the company so people would be repeat customers, but building trust between employees and establishing an ethical culture was not a top priority of the organization. Goal directed leadership alone is important, but differs from a structure of leadership based on ethics. It is important to note, that effective leadership may not be the same as leadership founded on ethical principles. Business competence must exist, along with personal leadership accountability in ethical decisions. Within the General Motors organization, ethics and leadership did not interconnect; there were misalignment between the
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
To apply this system of moral values effectively, one must understand the structural levels at which ethical dilemmas occur, who is involved in the dilemmas, and how a particular decision will affect them. In addition, one must consider how to formulate possible courses of action. Failing in any of these three areas may lead to an ineffective decision, resulting in more pain than cure.” Ken Blanchard states, “Many leaders don’t operate ethically because they don’t understand leadership; these executives may have MBA’s from Ivey League schools or have attended leadership training; they may routinely read the best-selling management books, however, they don’t understand what it means to be a leader.” They don’t model a way of ethical behaviors.
Establishing and implementing a strategic approach to improving organizational ethics is based on establishing, communicating, and monitoring ethical values and legal requirements that characterize the firm's history, culture, and operating environment” (p. 129). Ethics programs ensure satisfactory relationships with all stakeholders by aligning with all of their demands and needs, and determine conduct with customers and relationships with regulators, shareholders, suppliers, and employees (Ferrell, 2004). Values are a core set of beliefs and principles, one or many. A number of factors contribute to the development of values. These include membership in a community or culture, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers to be appropriate. A person’s moral principals are shaped from birth, and developed overtime throughout the person’s life. There are many factors that can influence what a person believes whats is right, or what is wrong. Some factors are a person’s family, religious beliefs, culture, and experiences. In business it is of great importance for an employee to understand how to act ethically to prevent a company from being sued, and receiving criticism from the public while bringing in profits for the company. (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Business ethics is when ethical behavior is applied in an business environment, or by a business. There are many situations that can arise in which a person is experiencing an ethical dilemma. They have to choose between standing by their own personal ethical standards or to comply with their companies ethical standards. In some instances some have to choose whether to serve their own personal interests, or the interest of the company. In this essay I will be examining the financial events surrounding Bernie Madoff, and the events surrounding Enron.
For a company to be successful ethically, it must go beyond the notion of simple legal compliance and adopt a values-based organizational culture. A corporate code of ethics can be a very valuable and integral part of a company’s culture but I believe that it is not strong enough to stand alone. Thought and care must go into constructing the code of ethics and the implementation of it. Companies need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate culture as well as into their definition of success. To be successfully ethical, companies must go beyond the notion of simple legal compliance and adopt a values-based organizational culture.
When it comes to business, ethical conduct and transparency, “an environment of openness in which all participants in a conversation or organization activity receive access to the information needed” (Baak, 2012), are the standards at the helm of what determines and drives the success and sustainability of a company. Chairman and CEO of Aflac Insurance Dan Amos, has learned the necessities of exercising ethical principles and has gained national recognition for his ethical business practices amongst his employees and the millions of customers that are a part of the successful company. Aflacs employee satisfaction business principles have contributed to Aflac being named as Forbes 100 Best Companies to Work for in America (Grillo, 2010).
I discovered how sticking to one’s morals should be the topmost priority for everyone involved in business, whether personal or professional. Regardless of what the consequences may be, the intensity of the problem, and the complexities it may bring, sacrificing one’s integrity should never be an option, as integrity goes hand-in-hand with the morals of an individual (Duggan & Woodhouse, 2011). They further go on to say that having individuals take part in building a code of ethics that supports employee integrity, they will act ethically. Also, I believe that companies should place more emphasis on the moral behavior of their employees, and clear-cut policies should be set regarding such ethical situations. Furthermore, I realized how serving justice while making decisions really helps in the long run, and that opting to go for the ideal rather than they deserved is not always the best option, and could hurt a company in more than one
According to Centre of Ethical Leadership 2017).Ethical leadership is to understand the core values of a person and by converting the values like respect and justice to effective solution in complex conditions Therefore, ethical leadership is a very important element in an organization as it enables to achieve the vision and mission which are set out (Kanungo et al 1996). It is also agreed by Kelly (2016) and Moss (2002) as it will help to revise firm’s strategies and ethical action will be practiced. This leads the organisation to become successful (Butts et al. 2005). However, unethical leadership damages all properties like employers and wealth of an institution (Diane 2009).Ethical leaders always know how to do the right thing. It may be difficult to define exactly what “right” is, but a leader who is ethical is not afraid to do what they truly believe to be right – even if it is unpopular, unprofitable, or inconvenient.my role models as a believer in Ethical leadership will be Mahatma Gandhi Whenever Mahatma Gandhi is mentioned the first words that comes our mind is ‘compassion’.
Organizations are constantly tested with various moral and ethical problems and dilemmas. Organizational leaders are the key to establishing an ethical climate in the workplace. By understanding and improving their own moral reasoning, and the biases that affect moral judgment, they enable themselves to make better decisions. This has a catalytic effect that positively increases organizational climate, ultimately improving all organizational behavior.
Ethics are the driving force behind good business. Every ethical choice made by a professional can and will have a much different outcome than any unethical choice. Bad ethics can ruin many aspects of a business and as (Gaye-Anderson, 2007) states how quite easily the lives and professional reputation of the employees can even be severally damaged (para. 3). Everything from morale to motivation can be severely affected by poor ethical choices. Customers will take their business elsewhere. Employees will abandon ship. Other, competing businesses reap the benefits of the bad moral choices. Ultimately, the entire business can be brought down by one poor ethical choice.
Ethical leadership organizational ethics and socially responsibility are inseparable (Johnson). Leadership is not a inherited gift or family heritage; it is not a degree from an ivy league graduate school. Becoming a leader is an intentional process of growth that must be lived out experientially (Mullane). Ethical leaders demonstrate three distinctive characteristics, knowledge, action and character. Leaders have to have the ability to say “yes” or even “no” to a never ending series of challenges. A leader needs to be able to define their values, character and leadership style. When accepting the role of leadership you become encumbered by ethical issues and concerns. .
“Ethical leaders within an organization cannot make every ethical decision by themselves” (Ferrell, 2015). In centralized management, the top people make all of the decisions. There are still however many opportunities for lower level employees to make unethical decisions. Management can promote ethical behavior at every level by being a good example and following its own code of conduct. The ethical environment should also be closely monitored. When someone makes a really great ethical decision, that person should be recognized. By rewarding good behavior, others will naturally want to receive these rewards as
“Ethics can be defined as moral principles that govern or influence a person’s behaviour and values are the context in which an organisation or society’s norms are established and justified” (buzz text book).Ethics are the guidelines helping us tell the difference between the is wrong and right. Most people are encouraged by ethics to normally do the right things. Ethics and values are based on individual beliefs and standards in society that one if from, they vary from person to person. Leadership is the authority and capability for one to lead people in an organization in order to achieve goals. They are the main role players in all the organizations and are crucial to their success. Ethics in a business means taking the precise way’