Monthly Archives: February 2016

LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS

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LEADERSHIP

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.– Professor Warren G. Bennis

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.– Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Mindtools 2016)

Leadership can get different images in the minds, like maybe a political leader , an executive or an explorer. Leadership can have different meanings according to different people and also have a different meaning under certain situations.

Some working definition of leadership.

Leadership is good management, (early simplistic paradigm)

Leadership is the process of leading, ( semantic description)

Leadership is a social exchange between leaders and followers, (transactional definition)

Leadership is a phenomenon that precedes and facilitates decisions and actions, (situational notion)

Leadership is an art or a craft, (esthetic concept).

Leadership is elusive, it seems to appear and then not. It develops overtime and not in specific instant. Leadership is complex and needs understanding and experience to master. (Allio 2012).

ETHICS

According to oxford dictionary, ethics is moral principles that govern a persons behaviour or conducting of an activity. (oxforddictionaries 2016).

Ethics shouldn’t be equated with feelings as feelings tend to deviate from what is ethical and recoil from doing what is right and wrong, nor should it be equated with religion, although most religion have high ethical standards, we can not confine it to religion, as it would apply to only religious people. Religion can set high ethical standards and provide intense motivation to ethical behaviour.(SantaUniversity 2015).

Ethics can be considered as two things:

Firstly,ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

Secondly,ethics refers to the study and development of one’s ethical standards. So it is necessary to constantly examine one’s standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based. (SantaUniversity 2015).

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

Ethical leadership really has two elements. First, ethical leaders must act and make decisions ethically, as must ethical people in general. But, secondly, ethical leaders must also lead ethically – in the ways they treat people in everyday interaction, in their attitudes, in the ways they encourage, and in the directions in which they steer their organisations or institutions or initiatives.

Ethical leadership is both visible and invisible. The visible part is in the way the leader works with and treats others, in his behaviour in public, in his statements and his actions. The invisible aspects of ethical leadership lie in the leader’s character, in his decision-making process, in his mindset, in the set of values and principles on which he draws, and in his courage to make ethical decisions in tough situations.

Ethical leaders are ethical all the time, not just when someone’s looking; and they’re ethical over time, proving again and again that ethics are an integral part of the intellectual and philosophical framework they use to understand and relate to the world.(ctb 2016).

Important components of ethical leadership.

  • The ability to put aside your ego and personal interests for the sake of the cause you support, the organisation you lead, the needs of the people you serve, and/or the greater good of the community or the world.
  • The willingness to encourage and take seriously feedback, opinions different from your own, and challenges to your ideas and proposed actions.
  • The encouragement of leadership in others.
  • Making the consideration and discussion of ethics and ethical questions and issues part of the culture of the group, organisation, or initiative.
  • Maintaining and expanding the competence that you owe those who trust you to lead the organisation in the right direction and by the best and most effective methods.
  • Accepting responsibility and being accountable.
  • Perhaps most important, understanding the power of leadership and using it well – sharing it as much as possible, never abusing it, and exercising it only when it will benefit the individuals or organisation you work with, the community, or the society.(ctb 2016)

Why practice ethical leadership?

  • It models ethical behaviour to organisation.
  • Builds trust.
  • Brings credibility and respect, both to organisation and yourself.
  • Leads collaboration.
  • Creates good climate within organisation.

Necessary characteristics of a useful ethical framework

  • Internal consistency.
  • Proactivity.
  • Dynamism.

James Burke was chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson during the Tylenol tampering episodes (1982). He is largely credited with the appropriate handling of that situation. Harvard Business School has written a case or two and produced a video on him entitled “James Burke: A Career in American Business.” At one point in the crisis the US government was advising him against a product recall–a path he nevertheless remained resolute in taking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlTijmelPCQ
REFERENCES

Allio, R. (2012) “Leaders And Leadership – Many Theories, But What Advice Is Reliable?: Strategy & Leadership: Vol 41, No 1”. Strategy & Leadership [online] available from <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/10878571311290016&gt; [13 February 2016]

Anon. (n.d.) 1st edn. available from <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ethics&gt; [16 February 2016]

ctb, (2016) Chapter 13. Orienting Ideas In Leadership | Section 8. Ethical Leadership | Main Section | Community Tool Box [online] available from <http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/ethical-leadership/main&gt; [12 February 2016]

Grounds, A. (1987) “Ethical Issues In Psychosurgery”. Journal of Medical Ethics 13 (1), 52-52

Mindtools.com, (2016) What Is Leadership? [online] available from <https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_41.htm&gt; [13 February 2016]

University, S. (2015) What Is Ethics? – Ethical Decision Making – Ethics Resources – Markkula Center For Applied Ethics – Santa Clara University [online] available from <https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics/&gt; [12 February 2016]