Ethical behavior in leaders in Public Administration has a significant impact on their employees and the environment of their work place. Ethics is not looked at in the same light in other parts of the world. What some cultures view as normal behavior, our culture may view as unethical or corruption. (Branscome, 2008, p. 1). Some behaviors in other cultures have been instilled as a normal way of doing business. In our culture, employees feel their leaders should be beyond reproach in order for them to lead effectively. According to research, “The number one attribute we demand from our leaders and admire when we see it is honesty. A character trait- not knowledge, skills, or abilities – was the first choice every time.” (Perego, 2010, p. 1).
As stated in the article by Branscome (2008), Dr. Knapp’s model listed three dimensions of trust that lead to ethical leadership. “Those dimensions are credibility, respect, and fairness.” (Branscome, 2008, p. 2). In order for a leader to be ethical and to be considered trustworthy they must walk the walk, talk the talk. “It may be a c...
Sharp, B., Aguirre, G., & Kickham, K. (Eds.) (2011). Managing in the Public Sector: A Casebook in Ethics and Leadership. Boston: Longman.
Specifically, six themes regarding ethical leadership emerged from the study. Survey respondents from all societies prioritized these six traits as necessary for ethical leadership. First, ethical leaders are accountable. They abide by rules and regulations and take personal responsibility while holding others accountable. Second, ethical leaders have consideration and respect for others. They are approachable, treat others with respect, and demonstrate empathy. Third, ethical leaders are fair. They make objective decisions and do not show favoritism. Fourth, ethical leaders have a strong character. They are sincere and they lead by example, demonstrating integrity and courage. Fifth, ethical leaders have a collective orientation. They promote teamwork and collaboration while protecting the interests of the company. Finally, ethical leaders are open and flexible. They share information, communicate effectively, and are open to diversity (Resick et al, 2011). Though cultural dimensions affect leadership practices and expectations, these attributes and behaviors emerged consistently as the requisite traits for ethical
The topic of interest in the field of organizational behavior that represents a workplace challenge in the United States is improving ethical behavior. Improving ethical behavior encompasses other aspects of Organizational Behavior, including cognitive dissonance, workplace deviance and conflict resolution. Leadership is key to developing moral standards as well as implementing, monitoring and taking action against any unethical behavior. Group dynamics play an important part in ethical behavior as groups are made up of people from all walks of life that have different values and also have different motivations for working. It all comes down to being a great leader. Ethical Behavior is important because it can lead to better organizational
What is ethics? Is ethics an ability that grows in us from a child or does our parents teaches us ethics? According to dictionary.com, states that the word ethics means, "the code of good conducts for an individual or group." Ethics also means, simply stated, that ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves-as friends, parents, children, citizens, businesspeople, teachers, professionals, and so on. There are many characteristics of ethics. There are good and bad ethics. But when sociologist Raymond Baumhart ask business people "What does ethics means to you?" According to him, the replies he received were: "ethics has to do with whether their feelings tell them what's right or wrong, Ethics has to do with their religious beliefs, being ethical is doing what the law requires, Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts, and I don't know what the word means." (Wallace, 1985) All of those could be true, but the word "ethics" is hard to define and many views are quite shaky. If at a young age you find your daughter is stealing from the corner store, do you tell her that it is not ethical. Do you teach her that stealing is wrong? But is that ethical? So the question still remains, "What is ethics?"
How a leader can promote ethics in a healthy organization is a measure of true power within that organization (Shafie, 2014). According to Shafie (2014), a culture of appreciation that recognizes employee efforts which are critical to the company for achieving its strategic objectives. So one tool that leaders can use is a program of recognition. However, leaders also use the recognition program to target areas of low recognition in order to target additional training (Shafie, 2014). When an organization has high core values and maintains these values it often results in high performance within an organization (Shafie, 2014). Therefore, a leader can utilize the powerful influence they have to train and guide their team maintaining the highest of standards (Shafie, 2014). One thing to note is that once employees believe in an organization’s mission statement, and are trained to achieve the highest standards, employees will perform well because they believe in the reason for what they do (Storsletten, 2015). Therefore, it is important for employees to feel like they belong. Using reverent power (Northouse, 2016), a leader obtains the ability to influence their team simply because they trust him or her implicitly. Employees gain a sense of trust because they actually believe their leaders have their best interests at heart (Northouse,
Every individual has certain values and ethics that he/she stands by. Values give us a sense of what is important while ethics gives us a sense of what is right and wrong. Together, these qualities help guide us through our everyday life: what actions to take and what decision to make. Sticking to ethical standards allows you to stay clear of trouble; therefore, strengthening people’s trust in you. In return, this leads to gaining people’s respect and cooperation, which may result in leadership responsibilities. Therefore, we believe that personal values and ethics will affect a person’s career success. However, there are times where individuals will make unethical choices--some situations might question your resolve. This can be caused by
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
Miao, Newman, Yu and Xu convey a study among 239 participants working full-time from public-sector government in China. Participants would receive a survey through email in Chinese, and translators would translate it back to English (2013, p. 646). The results indicated that moderate ethical leadership leads to higher rate of unethical organizational behavior than high ethical leadership because it generates more confusion among employees. While high ethical leadership demand strict standards and express uniformity in words and action, moderate ethical leadership shows the lack of consistency. Moderate ethical leaders fail to delivers unambiguous message to employees about the priority of ethical act in the organization. Employees tend to underestimate the importance of ethical behavior in the company that increases the opportunity of employees to involve in unethical pro-organizational behavior (Miao et al, 2012, p.
Today we live in such a diverse environment, which means we are surrounded by a lot of different culture, ethnicity, and religion. To become a successful leader you must learn to deal with the differences, one could possess and practice a code of ethics which should include valuable guidelines of principles. Knowing wrong from right; basically sums up what ethic is really all about. Kenneth R. Andrews, in Ethics in Practice (March 1989), “Contends that there are three aspects to ethical behavior in organizations: the development of the individual as an ethical person, the effect of the organization as an ethical or unethical environment, and the actions or procedures developed by the organization to encourage ethical behavior and discourage unethical behavior.” (n.p.) I believe that if you understand, apply, and educate others about the value of morals, honesty, and having good ethics, you’ll become a better leader in all aspect of life.
Often when the terms “ethical leadership” is used, it is stated without any meditative thoughts (Fluker, 2009). Nonetheless, when most people discuss ethical leadership, they often includes the values or moral character that are instilled in a particular leader. According to Ciulla (2014), “leadership ethics is the study of ethical problems and challenges that are distinctive to and inherent in the processes, practices, and outcomes of leading and following” (p. 5). Undoubtedly, in many organizations, employees differ about what is ethical. Therefore, it is vital that leaders demonstrate how ethical behavior is applied to the organization. Within my organization, there is a clear ethical tone. For instance, the culture of the organization
Ethical leadership is of great significance to the prosperity of an organization. Ethical leaders usually motivate their employees to work hard. In that regard, ethical leadership requires a cocktail of ethical values ranging from rationality to independent and critical thinking. Most organizations nowadays have ethical leaders responsible for the good relationship among the members. Ethical leaders are usually more concerned about the welfare of other people rather than other motives. My focus on ethical leaders will be on corporate leaders, specifically chief executive officers. My leader of choice is Mike Duke, the chief executive officer of Wal-Mart retailers, which is one of the largest retailers in the United States. For its prosperity,
...(2010). To be ethical or not to be: An international code of ethics for leadership.
Ethics is the responsibility of each individual person, but starts with the CEO and the Board of Directors, setting the right tone at the top and moves down through the organization, including setting the tone in the middle. A company’s culture and ethic standards start at the top, not from the bottom. Employees will almost always behave in the manner that they think management expects them, and it is foolish for management to pretend otherwise (Scudder). One of the CEO’s most important jobs is to create, foster, and communicate the culture of the organization. Wrongdoings or improper behavior rarely occurs in a void, leaders typically know when someone is compromising the company
My employees have a written guide to follow and they are equipped with the training to ensure that they are conducting themselves ethically. The strategies that I have created will help me develop as an ethical leader who has an ethical organization that lives and breathes its ethics and core values (Mind Tools, 2017). As a leader, I must demonstrate the highest moral standards and ethical conduct in my everyday talk, actions, decisions, and behaviors so that others in my organizations can follow suit (Toor and Ofori,
A leader’s morale is one of the most significant aspects of leadership. The level of morality that a leader possesses determines how others will trust and respect them. In our textbook, Kohlberg explains 3 levels of morality that leaders develop to make ethical decisions. The three levels of moral development include, preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. The level of morality I consider myself to operate under is level 3 of postconventional morality. I would also expect my leaders to behave under the same level, given they have a higher authority.