ETHICAL LEADERSHIP: THE WAY FORWARD

Leadership entails the ability to consciously pioneer actions towards the efficient attainment of set aims and objectives (Whetstone 2011). It is trite that ethical leadership is based on some moral and normative principles (Kanungo 2001). However, the validity of steps taken towards the enforcement of any organisation’s values or culture has been subject to debates between Transformational and Transactional leaders (Groves and Michael 2011). Transformational leaders share Kant’s deontological perspective to ethical leadership while Transactional leadership conforms to the Jeremy Bentham’s teleological opinion (Groves and Michael 2011). Deontology views ethical leadership as any rigid compliance to set rules regardless of its consequences while Teleology emphasizes on the consequences of decision making (Mullins 2013).

While deviating from either principles of ethical leadership, it is suggested that leadership is ethical if its validity or soundness is confirmed objectively by any third party follower. A manager’s conduct ought to be certified appropriate if all parties directly influenced by a two-way communication with him freely agree that a certain line of action best assists in the realization of the organisation’s goals. Premised on the popular quote that a good leader is a good follower, ethical leadership embodies collaboration and listening to followers (Hurwitz and Hurwitz 2015). By so doing, a leader indirectly influences and inspires others to be leader-like and flexible (Guillory et al 2012). This form of ethical leadership is unique because the future survival of any organization is highly dependent on leaders who are sensitive to the dynamic needs of the changing world.

One may be tempted to argue that this followership concept conforms more to the Deontological perspective of ethical leadership. This is because a leader strategically influences his followers norms and values to be in line with his (Guillory et al 2012). However, the writer posits that this concept is akin to the Teleological perspective because through active engagement, a leader transforms his follower’s self interest into collective concerns (Guillory et al 2012). The deontological perspective is unethical because it appears manipulative and self-absorbing (Vugt et al 2004). Regardless, to promote strategic focus, it is imperative that an organisation adheres to stipulated legal rules (Vugt et al 2014). The teleological perspective is ethical because it non-coercively extols mutual moral values of human conduct regardless of class or position (Vugt et al 2004). Keely however argues that the moral and ethical justification by teleologists is uncertain because the opinion of the weak minority may be dominated by the strongest majority faction where a leader fails to achieve absolute unianimous interest (Keely 2004).

Ethical leadership contibutes immensely to the exponential growth of any organisation (Mullins 2013). Primary focus on rules rather than consequences have in certain scenarios breeded bad decision making especially in the financial service and hospitality industry (Mullins 2013). An instance is the fall of a leading US mortgage company Taylor, Bean & Whitaker in 2011 (Protess 2011). Its founder, Mr Farkas was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for pioneering a fraudulent scheme that robbed investors and the government of $2.9 billion (Protess 2011). Sadly, his executives also fell with him as they were manipulated and offered bribes to execute Mr Farkas’ devious decision (Protess 2011). Perhaps they were scared of the consequences of disobeying a ‘leader’. On a brighter note, inclusive leadership values of Coca-Cola has strenghtened the company’s brand image as a highly reputable international company (Ernst and Young 2014). The CEO of Coca-Cola, Murtar Kent views a culture of rigidity and exclusion as detrimental to competitiveness and long term business development (Ernts and Young 2014). In addition, Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks is said to be an ethical leader because among other sound reasons, he urged business men to desist from supporting governments unless their countries are run like successful businesses (Berghofer and Shwartz 2014). However, one questions if his decision not to pay UK income tax since 2009 due to his company’s contribution to UK economic growth, suffices as being unethical (Premaux 2014). The fall of Enron as shown in the video above explains why ethical leadership is absolutely necessary in every organisation.

Figure 1

Figure 1 above explains that understanding of individual core values, ethics, vision and virtue helps propel ethical organisational decision making. It is pertinent to question the influence of organisational values on ethical leadership. Some argue that leaders are either born or made (Locke 2014). The writer is of the opinion that individual human virtues are the foundation to developing good organisational values and by extension, ethical leadership principles. These virtues are intrinsic in the person, and as such ethical leaders may born with these traits (Freeman and Stewart 2006). However, everyone cannot lead if they neither possess the intrinsic leadership virtues nor take steps to acquire them through creation. For instance, in Africa, most politicians contest elections for the sole purpose of aquiring illegal wealth. Clearly, having a wrong vision for leadership does not make one an ethical leader. Therefore, it behoves on leaders and managers to take necessary steps to ensure that their actions are framed in ethical terms (Freeman and Stewart 2006).

In all, managers should be committed to re-evaluating their virtues and organisational values to determine if their actions conform to ethical behaviour. This could be augmented with organising leadership development programs to fill up any normative leadership gap (Freeman and Stewart 2006). Thereafter, the organisation can unanimously decide on how best to effectively apply existing ethical values to fulfil their aims and objectives.

REFERENCES

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Protess, B. (2011) Leader of Big Mortgage Lender Guilty of $2.9 Billion Fraud [online] available from <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/business/20fraud.html?_r=0&gt; [15 July 2015]

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