Leadership

ETHICS IN LEADERSHIP

Ethics are the moral values in a human being. It is nothing but a feeling of knowing what is right and by default what is wrong .Ethics is not about codes, but about people who make decisions .Ethics is a generalized term. There are professional ethics and so on. This ethical behavior appears to contribute to credibility as a leader. A person’s ethics reflect the sum total of that individual’s experiences, education. The process of making good ethical decisions is complex, influenced by individual, organizational, situational and external factors and interpersonal and organizational influences. Furthermore, ethical decision making is regularly hampered by psychological factors. A person tends to have certain theories about the world, other people, or themselves that affect their ethical decision making.
Both leaders and followers have attitudes towards ethical dilemmas. It appears that a leader’s attitude and final decisions towards more difficult ethical dilemmas will influence the member’s perception of that leader. Many executives and business thinkers believe that ethical leadership is simply a matter of leaders having good character. By having “the right values” or being a person of “strong character,” the ethical leader can set the example for others and withstand any temptations that may occur along the way. Without denying the importance of good character and the right values, the reality of ethical leadership is far more complex and the stakes are much higher.
Most people think of ethics as practical knowledge, not theoretical knowledge.
One problem that exists in applied ethics is that scholars sometimes feel their practical knowledge and common sense are adequate for discussion of ethics in their particular field. After a very quick run through utilitarian, deontic, relativistic ethics, Mr.Rost concludes that "None of the ethical systems is particularly valuable in helping leaders and followers make decisions about the ethics of the changes they intend for an organization or society." He condemns all ethical theories as useless. Scholars who either reject or ignore writings on ethics, usually end up either reinventing fairly standard philosophic distinctions and ethical theories, or doing without them and proceeding higgledy-piggledy with their discussion. Professional ethics focuses too much on negative vices and not on the good things. Ethical analysis generally requires a broad perspective on a practice.
For example in business, ethical considerations of a problem often go hand in hand with taking a long-term view of a problem and the long term interests of an organization.
UNETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Unethical behavior involves acts that are illegal and/or are morally inappropriate to larger society.
It involves behavior and decision making that violates moral nature or human standards. These leaders are oppressive, abusive, manipulative, and calculatingly undermining their actions are perceived as intentional and harmful, and may be the source of legal action against employers therefore, destructive leader behavior is unethical. Unethical leadership, however, transcends beyond the leaders’ own behavior. In seeking to accomplish organizational goals, leaders can

encourage corrupt and unethical acts within their organizations. Unethical leadership impedes the effective functioning and viability of organizations. For example, scholars estimate unethical leader behavior costs U.S. corporations billions of dollars a year due to increased absenteeism, health care costs, lost productivity, and expended costs associated with defending actionable claims. To be sure, some examples of unethical leadership within the popular press have resulted in the end of the organization altogether (e.g., Enron, Worldcom). The effects of unethical leadership on employees are also considerable. Research shows unethical leadership negatively influences employees’ attitudes. Moreover, unethical leadership positively influences deviant and unethical work behavior among employees. Employees learn accepted behavior (even if it is unethical) by watching relevant social role models. Leaders are particularly influential because they authorize unethical behavior through their own acts, sanctioning abilities, and legitimate power. ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
The moral person dimension refers to the qualities of the ethical leader as a person. Strong moral managers see themselves as role models in the workplace. They make ethics salient by modeling ethical conduct to their employees. Moral managers set and communicate ethical standards and use rewards and punishments to ensure those standards are followed. Ethical leaders “teach” ethical conduct to employees through their own behavior. Ethical leaders are relevant role models because they occupy powerful and visible positions in organizational hierarchies that allow them to capture their follower’s attention. They communicate ethical expectations through formal processes (e.g., rewards, policies) and personal example (e.g., interpersonal treatment of others). According to principles of reciprocity in social exchange theory (Blau, 1964; Gouldner,
1960), individuals feel obligated to return beneficial behaviors when they believe another has been good and fair to them. In line with this reasoning, researchers argue and find that employees feel indebted to ethical leaders because of their trustworthy and fair nature; consequently, they reciprocate with beneficial work behavior (e.g., higher levels of ethical behavior and citizenship behaviors) and refrain from engaging in destructive behavior (e.g., lower levels of workplace deviance). Ethical leadership is related to important follower outcomes, such as employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, willingness to report problems to supervisors, willingness to put in extra effort on the job, voice behavior (i.e., expression of constructive suggestions intended to improve standard procedures), and perceptions of organizational culture and ethical climate. The personality dimensions of agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to ethical leadership.
ETHICS AS EXHORTATION
Whereas some of the leadership studies literature offers descriptive accounts of ethics, other parts of the literature treat ethics as an exhortation rather than an in- depth exploration of the subject. Researchers often tell us that leaders should be honest, have integrity, and so forth. For example, John Gardner makes his plea for ethical leaders in his working paper “The Moral
Aspect of Leadership,” later published in his book On Leadership (Gardner, 1987). In the chapter titled “The Moral Dimension of Leadership,” Gardner began by categorizing the different kinds of bad leaders, or what he called transgressors, that we find in history. He said some leaders are

cruel to their subjects; some encourage their subjects to be cruel to others; some motivate their subjects by playing on the cruelty of their subjects; some render their followers childlike and dependent; and some destroy processes that societies have set up to preserve freedom, justice and human dignity. A good leader is an ethical and an effective leader (Ciulla, 1995). Whereas this may seem like stating the obvious, the problem we face is that we do not always find ethics and effectiveness in the same leader. Some leaders are highly ethical but not very effective. Others are very effective at serving the needs of their constituents or organizations but not very ethical.
U.S. Senator Trent Lott, who was forced to step from his position as Senate Majority leader because of his insensitive racial comments, is a compelling example of the latter.
ETHICS AND EFFECTIVENESS
History defines successful leaders largely in terms of their ability to bring about change for better or worse. As a result, great leaders in history include everyone from Gandhi to Hitler.
Machiavelli was disgusted by Cesare Borgia the man, but impressed by Borgia as the resolute, ferocious, and cunning prince. Whereas leaders usually bring about change or are successful at doing something, the ethical questions waiting in the wings are the ones found in the various definitions mentioned earlier. The distinction between ethics and effectiveness is not always a crisp one. Sometimes being ethical is being effective and sometimes being effective is being ethical. In other words, ethics is effectiveness in certain instances. There are times when simply being regarded as ethical and trustworthy makes a leader effective and other times when being highly effective makes a leader ethical. Given the limited power and resources of the secretarygeneral of the United Nations, it would be very difficult for someone in this position to be effective in the job if he or she did not behave ethically. The same is true for organizations. For example, in the famous Tylenol case, Johnson & Johnson actually increased sales of Tylenol by pulling Tylenol bottles off their shelves after someone poisoned some of them. The leaders at
Johnson & Johnson were effective because they were ethical. The criteria that we use to judge the effectiveness of a leader are also not morally neutral. In many business cases, the criteria for effectiveness are practically and morally limited. It does not take great skill to get rid of employees, and taking away a person’s livelihood requires a moral and a practical argument.
Also, one of the most striking aspects of professional ethics is that often what seems right in the short run is not right in the long run or what seems right for a group or organization is not right when placed in a broader context. For example, Mafia families may have very strong internal ethical systems, but they are highly unethical in any larger context of society. In some cases it is difficult to tell whether a leader is unethical, incompetent or stupid. As Price (2000) has argued, the moral failures of leaders are not always intentional. Sometimes moral failures are cognitive and sometimes they are normative (Price, 2000). Leaders may get their facts wrong and think that they are acting ethically when, in fact, they are not. In some situations, leaders act with moral intentions, but because they are incompetent they create unethical outcomes.
CHALLENGES OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
CONSISTENCY
One challenge of ethical leadership is the ability to consistently adhere to the rules you establish for your business. Following your own ethical standard serves as an inspiration to your

employees, indicating that you stand by your core values. For example, if you expect your workers to treat everyone with respect, they won 't take you seriously if you disparage them or gossip. The same applies if you 're willing to bend the rules for convenience. For instance, if your organization is required to adhere to federal and state laws, your employees will react negatively if labor standards or environmental regulations are violated. Employees will see your hypocrisy and interpret your company 's mission and vision as a public facade.
POLICIES
Ethics can be complex. To ensure clarity, you need to write clear policies in the form of mission statements, rules, regulations and practices. From the moment they 're hired, employees need written copies of the above policies. These must also be documented in a way that is easy to understand and free of exploitable loopholes. If you 're unsure of where to begin, try modeling your company 's vision and policies after those of other organizations that you find particularly admirable or successful. You can also hire a consultant to assess your organization and determine the best way to approach the issue.
ATMOSPHERE
Workplace culture and environment can also be a challenge to ethical leadership. In oppressive environments, employees who may notice serious ethical problems may be afraid to speak out for fear of being ostracized -- even terminated -- as "whistle-blowers." This means that you need to recruit middle and senior managers carefully. Screen resumes and check references thoroughly, looking for specific characteristics like communication and people skills. Managers who are good at what they do may not be effective ethical leaders if they are introverted or antisocial. Once you hire the right people, emphasize an "open door" policy, meaning that employees can approach their supervisors openly about any issues they notice.
Ethical leadership can be particularly difficult when faced with moral gray areas. In cases like these, doing the right thing could be less beneficial to your business ' bottom line. For example, assume that you own a construction business. You 're ready to expand, but new safety regulations require you to update the organization 's equipment -- a measure that will cost you money. You may rationalize that your current equipment is fine, so bending the rules in this one case could increase profit and allow you to create more jobs for the community. In short, the ends justify the means. However, this could easily create serious litigation issues if an injured worker sues you after finding out that you knowingly ignored safety regulations.
DEVELOPING ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Becoming an ethical leader is relatively simple. It requires a commitment to examining your own behavior and values, and the willingness and strength to accept responsibility for the effects of your actions on others, as well as on yourself. A “responsibility principle” is a necessary ingredient. Ethical leaders must consider and take responsibility for the effects of their actions on customers, suppliers, employees, communities
The best way for organizations to develop ethical leaders is to engage in some of these questions.
(1) What are my most important values and principles?

(2) Does my calendar—how I spend my time and attention—reflect these values?
(3) What would my subordinates and peers say my values are?
Viewing business simultaneously in economic and ethical terms helps to send the message that ethics isn’t just an important set of rules not to violate, but that it is an integral part of what it means to work at your organization. There are some concrete steps about how best to develop ethical leaders within the framework that most global businesses find themselves. The first step is to bring life to a conversation about how the organization benefits its stakeholders and about understanding the organization’s values. Many companies have leadership development programs. These programs need to be strengthened by adding the idea of “ethical leadership.”
Executives can develop shared conversations and conceptions of how “ethical leadership” can be implemented in their particular company.
From the arguments, we can say that ethics play a crucial role in leadership. For example if we take the question “Was Hitler a leader?” According to the morally unattractive definitions, he was a leader, perhaps even a great leader, albeit an immoral one. Heifetz (1994) argued that, under the “great man” and trait theories of leadership, you can put Hitler, Lincoln, and Gandhi in the same category because the underlying idea of the theory is that leadership is influence over history. However, under the morally attractive or normative theories, Hitler was not a leader at all. He was a bully or tyrant or simply the head of Germany.
CONCLUSION

The philosophic study of ethics provides a critical perspective from which we can examine the assumptions behind leadership and leadership theories. It offers another level of analysis that should be integrated into the growing body of empirical research in the field. The ethics of leadership has to be examined along a variety of dimensions that cannot be understood separately. We need a practical understanding of why it is morally difficult to be a good leader and a good follower. Leaders do not have to be power-hungry psychopaths to do unethical things, nor do they have to be altruistic saints to be ethical. Most leaders are not charismatic or transformational leaders. They are ordinary men and women in business, government, nonprofits, and communities who sometimes make volitional, emotional, moral, and cognitive mistakes. Leaders do not always have to transform people for them to flourish. Their greater responsibility is to create the social and material conditions under which people can and do flourish. Change is part of leader- ship, but so is sustainability. Ethical leadership entails the ability of leaders to sustain fundamental notions of morality such as care and respect for persons, justice, and honesty, in changing organizational, social, and global contexts. The moral triumphs and failures of leaders carry a greater weight and volume than those of non-leaders. Finally and perhaps the most important, an ethical leader never stops re-examining his own ethical values and assumptions and what it means to be an ethical leader. Like so many important tasks, maintaining ethical leadership is ongoing; like only a few others, it can last long.
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