Ethical Leadership

Question 1

Critically discuss the following statement.

There is no such thing as ethical leadership. Leaders should simply focus upon doing the right thing.

According to Moreno (2006), it is pointed out that the virtues of prudence, temperance, justice, and strength are the foundations of an ethical leadership. In this sense, there is a long way to go, both from the research and in its practical application. It is indisputable that pointing implies all ethical attitude of the members of organizations and working behaviours is difficult, because human beings are not machines to accept ideas and change their attitude brings with it many implications.

Ethics is the result of the inevitable tension between virtue and imperfection. Within an organisation, there are leaders from different cultures, with different way of communication and behaviour. As per Kantian ethics, the theory of duty, these questions should be asked and applied in a work place; "Did I do everything that was in my power to consolidate my position and the strength and stability of the organisation?" "Have I thought creatively and imaginative about the society role in the organization and to its stakeholders? " "Did I do everything in my power to find the right balance, both ethically and practically?"

There is no such thing as ethical leadership if leaders have the courage and authenticity to their work according to the norms. The Nolan principle approaches summaries the seven principles will help people to focus only in doing the right thing. With the increase in business competition and new technology people should be committed to their work and willing to improve and adapt to new change and challenge. Leader should be willing to change their management approach toward the staff, be more human rather than a dictator. Leaders should apply the virtue approach to motivate staffs, to work with compassion, Improving working relationships through responsible autonomy and empowerment (Bégin and Langlois, 2012). Leaders should not use the theory of “carrot and stick” instead they should encourage their employee to perform and appreciate their effort; Diminished questionable behaviour: employee engagement is on the rise. (Klebe, Trevino et al., 1999).

There appears to be a correlation between moral or ethical leadership and social responsibility, or even social performance in business (Manner 2010, p. 1). To privilege leaders making decisions from a model where maximum profit and rational calculation prevails must not obscure the importance for the leader in presenting significant moral limits (Manner 2010, p. 68). Moral leadership refers to the existence of genuinely responsible leadership that can produce better results than leadership based on a normative belief giving the right to act in such or such a way.

Ethical leadership must emphasize values ​​such as "integrity, honesty, trust". He must deserve trust, engage in a virtuous process and serve the organization. It is about educating leaders to be ethical, to value the human and the environment, to create a world where sustainability and social justice prevail (Jones and Millar 2010, p. 5).

A broad conception of moral responsibility is characterized by the search for well-being for others, commitment to benevolence, and promotion and protection of the interests of others. This is likely to lead to a paternalistic approach, in opposition to workers' freedom, judging them to be unable to choose and act according to their own interest (Crossley, 1999, p. 292).

Leadership faces many challenges. Crews (2010) picks up several:

• the commitment of the stakeholders. It's about meeting the different expectations, maintain communication with different points of view
• the creation of a culture. This culture implies the existence of shared values, common meanings to solve problems in a valid way in the eyes of the company.
• the development of a holistic and strategic thinking. From this point of view, the leader analyses situations, makes decisions, motivates teams to achieve strategy.
• the implementation of an organizational learning approach. The learning capacity of the organizational seems to play an important role in the sustainability of the organizational’ performance. Senge (2005) stresses the importance of engaging all staff and foster learning abilities at all levels of the organization. The leadership must be able to be broken down at the different levels of the organization.

In a "hypermodern" world, management will have to be socially responsible and ethical, they will have to respond to the increasing demands of market flexibility while ensuring equity (R. Dery, 2003). Leaders should not only focus on maximising shareholder’s wealth but also to cater for their stakeholders. Stakeholder play a primary role of the success of the business. The leader must be responsible, respectful towards the stakeholders, inspiring their involvement, ensuring that the organization is in step with their requests, establishing links and communication networks between stakeholders (Maak, 2007).

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