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What is the importance of ethical leadership
Relationships between ethics and leadership
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The personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership to the organization. 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). The system of values one must compile a list of the most important instrumental values and terminal values. The morals and values 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 with the organization, their value system is unified. Although
Morals act as simple ideals that set apart right and wrong set of values. They also act as a “rule of thumb when appraising a situation” (Cooper,1998 p. 10). This principle acquired through socialization act as references when analyzing possible decisions. Instead of people acting purely on obligations or expectations, morals ensure actions with respect to knowledge of right and wrong ethical values. However most values are acquired through socialization, this step requires one to examine his or her set of values. It is a good idea to list any “rules of thumb” you associate with daily life. Some morals possibly obtained through life experience include “always be a good team player” or “it is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission” (Cooper, 1998, p. 9). Whichever values you write down should be compared and incorporated with your morals and principles. As you continue upward the stairwell, it is important to make sure all steps are unified. This will guarantee the most solid formulation of good ethical foundation. Without ideals to help a person conform to the rules of right conduct, they cannot climb past level of morals. Once morals have been analyzed and are in line with values and principles, the journey can continue to the fourth
Ethics give people this sense of truth and positively affect people’s behavior. A basic analysis of this for an organization instills good values when personal ethics are developed and used by a leader; they will become a good leader. Understanding the importance of ethics will increase the likelihood of leaders to adopt ethical leadership. People are more likely to accept and use a concept they believe in. When the leaders understand that the ethics development process that would make them an effective leader, an increasing number of leaders would have a personal ethics system. Understanding the importance of ethics is crucial because leaders will consciously work to develop and use ethics, which makes them more effective. This acceptance will result in ethical decision making and the ability to put theory into practice as well as create ethical organizations. This will lead to good leadership are further discussed in the following sections. What seems so minor on a personal level can actually affect the entire society. The personal ethics produce good leadership, which help create better organizations and societies. Similar to other theories, good leadership is much easier to think and talk about than actually
Ethical leadership is hard to define according to research cited by Yukl, (2013). Ethics depends on time, culture, and laws. We can attempt to define ethical leadership by looking at the leader’s behavior, values and how he or she influences followers (Yukl, 2013). Every organization has ethical and moral guidelines stipulated through their policies, rules and regulations. A leader who is honest and trustworthy can be said as an ethical leader. But it depends on how the behavior is reflected in the organization and the employees. Ethical leadership can also be defined as to whether the behaviors violate cultural customs and laws of the society. Personal morals and ethics may be in conflict with managing the organization
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.
The study indicated that the influences processes employed by transformational and transactional leaders may be driven by different ethical values that also appear to indirectly impact follower attitudes toward corporate social responsibility. Transformational leadership was strongly associated with leader deontological values, suggesting that such leaders’ strong beliefs in altruism, universal rights, and principles lay the groundwork for enacting the key motivational and inspirational behaviors that drive leadership outcomes in organizations. Transformational leaders’ ability to demonstrate idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration behaviors rest on a strong deontological ethical foundation. A leader’s beliefs in selflessness, treating followers, and teammates as ends and viewing leadership practices as having ethical implication regardless of their consequences in any organization. These views facilitate an authentic demonstration of transformational behaviors in the stakeholder view of corporate social responsibility. Leader teleological ethics was found to predict active transactional leadership behavior, indicating that a leader’s belief in reciprocity norms, the maximization of mutual interests, and judging the ethical content of leadership acts according to their consequences were key to facilitating contingent reward and active performance monitoring
Ethical values are those certain standard or norms that decide what people should and should not do in general. The main characteristics of ethical values are “honesty, integrity, the promise of keeping, fairness, loyalty, respect for others, law abiding, and leadership accountability” (Ethical values) and this list could go on.
“Good leaders develop ideas. Great leaders develop people. The best leaders develop new leaders”, these are the words that were quoted by one of my teachers in high school who influenced and taught me some of the essential lessons in regards with being a good and effective leader. I always remember this saying every time I am working in a group or if I am given a task to lead a team. I’ve been involved in a lot of group activities in the past wherein I’ve witnessed a lot of group relationship that inspired me as well as taught me of the do’s and don’ts when it comes to leading people and getting along with your groupmates. Based from these practical learning experiences, I believe that I still have a lot of things that I need to learn and skills
Define and describe the principles of ethical leadership. Which 2 of the 5 covered in this chapter do you think are the most important? Why?
Currently, leadership is generally understood as a person with insight and wisdom of guidance, which expected to be efficient in management responsibilities like planning organizing, and monitoring performance (Kandola, 2004, p. 144). In addition, making ethical decision is important to individuals who value and take seriously institutional...
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
Although I have many core values, including diligence, happiness, helpfulness, true friendship, freedom, and intelligence, the most significant in my life are love, morality, honesty, and forgivingness. Throughout my life, these particular values have proved key to becoming the person I wished to be. “The term leadership involves our self-images and moral codes” (Values in Leadership). In order to lead and to be someone who upholds their values, one must be fully aware of what is important to them and what drives them.
This manifests in a leaders tendency to overrate themselves and their work. People typically view themselves on a higher level than their peers, which can have them overlooking their own short comings. Also, people are more inclined to take credit for success and blame external factors for failures. Lastly, there are conflicts of interest. Hughes et al. (2014) cite that “we may be conscious of potential conflicts of interest, but even then, though, we misjudge our own ability to discount the extent to which the conflict actually biases our perception of the situation in our own favor” (p. 149). All of these are biases impact moral reasoning. When leaders allow these biases to impact their behavior and decision making, it results in an unhealthy organizational culture and unethical climate. Conversely, when leaders fully understand these biases and continually work towards improving their moral reasoning, they can positively affect organizational culture and create an ethical climate, which ultimately influencing all organizational
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. .
In this paper I am going to be discussing my values and morals in life that helps me be successful with knowing what is right and wrong in personally and professionally everyday life. There are many things that go on in the world today and it is extremely important to have values and morals set in place. Also going to be discussing how cultural heritage has shaped my values and what ethical behaviors I see in myself.
Good, strong, ethical people can have an immeasurable impact on a company as well. “Ethical leadership creates an ethical culture. Top managers provide a blueprint for a firm’s corporate culture. If these leaders fail to express desired ethical behaviors and goals, a corporate culture evolves on its own to reflect the values and norms of the company” (Ferrell, 2015). “Leadership has a significant impact on ethical decision making because leaders have the power to motivate others and enforce the organization’s norms, policies, and viewpoints” (Ferrell, 2015). Often employees will look to management and top leadership for clues as to what is acceptable and what is not. It is not only important to have good role models in those top positions, but to have a culture where they can fully express their ethical
“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’
Personal values and ethics govern personal success and have an impact on career success. Everyone has their own set of values and ethics that have been taught throughout life. Personal values and ethics are learned behaviors, hence, some are easy to understand and apply, some can be acquired, and each compliments the other. Values and ethics can carry consequences. Therefore, if one applies the practices, they can succeed. If one ignores or violates the practices, one will find themselves in the position of self loathing, stress, or in a bad situation. These values and ethics carry over into our professional lives as we go into our careers.