Should Leaders Follow The Requirements Of Ethics In Human Services

As we move into the new millennium, there is an emphasis on the need for leadership and the complexities of developing effective moral leadership. In out postmodern society, chaos and corruption prevail. Organizations are created while others go out of business. Programs that are effective and necessary are eliminated, while profit-making programs that serve those who have the least need find a solid market share. From a realist perspective, it is argued that leaders cannot afford ethics in this world of increasing responsibilities, political and economic intimidation, and competitive interests. However, an alternative view would argue that leaders should follow the requirements of ethics. Further, ethical leadership leads to the development of quality human services, empowered consumers and community citizens, and committed employees. Leadership of human service delivery systems brings forward many complex ethical challenges that are located in a particular context: the organization. The moral nature of human service organizations is multidimensional, with responsibilities to consumers, employees, and society. Perhaps the greatest ethical challenge is that
human services have, as their primary purpose, serving people. Therefore, leadership in human services is connected to the moral issues of affecting people in serious, life-changing ways and attending to public trust through the moral contract with society. Human service organizations function to protect, maintain, and/or enhance the personal well-being of individuals through services that define, shape, or alter their personal characteristics and attributes (Hasenfeld, 1983). Human beings turn to these organizations to meet their needs in areas that are critical to basic daily life, such as food, housing, employment, health and mental health care, social welfare, and so forth. Subsequently, their dependence on the organization is increased and the organization acquires power to shape their lives. People in leadership positions within the organization control the resources, while the client receiving services has little influence over the policy of the organization.
Leadership is a somewhat amorphous concept that is often inclusive of many different types of roles: administrative, managerial, political, and activist, among others. Most of the roles connected to leadership have a degree of authority or power that is attached to leading. It is the use, and/or the abuse, of that power and authority that adds an inherent ethical implication to leadership. The ethical aspects of leadership are more than power holding and power wielding; also important to the leader are the motives, aspirations, and higher needs of constituents that are necessary to engage the full person in meaningful contributions to self, organization, and community.
Vision for an organization provides the ability to portray some definite possibility that has not yet been achieved (Green, 1987).
The vision “invites entrance” into the future through the committed efforts of leaders and constituents. A vision is congruent with the organizational mission; working toward accomplishing a vision is taking a step closer to the mission. The vision provides leaders and constituents with a purpose to work toward: a preferred future. The vision becomes a tool to incorporate the moral and social responsibility of the leader, constituents, and the organization. The moral ends that people commit to achieving become a valued and meaningful purpose for work. The personal commitment and ownership in the organization’s vision transforms the experience of work from a job to a
calling.
Leaders have responsibilities as a result of their actions. Leaders make decisions and take actions that result in change; Leadership, whether from formal authority or from charismatic or spontaneous actions at any level or role, makes a difference in the lives of others in relation to benefits and harm. Leadership is always carried on within a community of some kind, and the leader is a member of that community. For leaders of human services, there are multiple communities (employees, consumers, and citizens) of membership.
In conclusion, my personal leadership plan introduced the need for ethical leadership, particularly in human service organizations and it focuses on the context where leaders in human service organization make ethical decisions. The unique nature and characteristics of human service organizations provide the environment for the ethical nature of the decisions that are made there. The moral responsibilities of leadership were examined, as well as several important characteristics that are necessary to be a moral leader. A comparison of some of the central ethical themes tells the story that there is no place to hide from ethics.
Leaders in nonprofit and public organizations will experience many of the same ethical dilemmas as leaders in private for-profit businesses. A discussion of the intersection of social work and business is provided because of the increasing combination of private, for-profit, private non profit, and public agencies delivering human services. The issues that are similar and different can be informative in considering the duty of leadership in every human service organization.