Literature Review about Organizational Leaders
The aftermath of recent organizational scandals has forced managers and researchers alike to focus their attention on ethical questions in organizational leadership. In respect of this fact, various researchers have made recommendations that ethics in organization leadership should be managed in a proactive manner though explicit ethical leadership and the development of ethical culture. In this context, organizational leaders play a big role in determining whether ethics in organizational leadership can be realized or not. The research has been carried out on the subject of ethics in organizational leadership, but there still remains room for further research and more improvements. This paper provides a review of earlier works that have been used by organizational leaders to better manage their employees and their individual ethical behaviors under the context of ethics in organization leadership.
Much has been researched and written on organizational leadership and management, especially on the subject of ethics in organization leadership. This plethora of research work has been increased to a greater extent by the manner in which ethical breaches in workplace or organizational setting has been described. This publication has been organized in such a way that all attention has been focused on the issue of ethical behavior and leadership in organizations. In a number of companies, cultural values that guide employees often emanate from the top levels. Employees take their cues from the messages communicated by those in formal organizational leadership roles. This occurs due to the fact that most employees do not know their organization executives personally. They only can make sense from what the information they receive. Therefore, senior executives must develop ethics for their leadership by being visible in ethical matters and communicating strong ethical messages. This paper provides a review of literature concerning ethics in organization leadership.
The aftermath of recent organizational scandals has provoked managers and researchers to turn their attention to questions regarding ethics in organization leadership and management. Despite the fact that scientific study of ethics in organization leadership is relatively new, there exist research and theory that can aid executives who try to manage their organizations and their ethical conduct in a better way. This literature review organizes much of the available research under the following themes:
- Ethics in organization leadership from leaders’ perspective;
- Ethics in leadership’s role in creating a ethical culture within the organization;
- Authentic leadership versus ethical leadership;
- Influence of leadership styles on ethical leadership.
Ethics in Organization Leadership from Leaders’ Perspective
Organization leaders behave ethically whenever they do what is just, good, right, and authentic. This act of ethical behavior is not limited to simply complying with rules or even ensuring fairness. It is essentially about taking into consideration the impact of one’s actions and words on other people within the organization. Applying ethics in organization leadership requires choices that are aligned with the leaders’ core values and beliefs. These choices should also honor other employees’ right to foster their own individual values. Organizational leaders are ethical, their words and actions reflect the values of their organizations, the society, and themselves as individuals. In this respect, when leaders bring their positive personal values into the organizational workplace, it should not be viewed as a desirable trait but rather as their responsibility as ethical leaders.
Argue that ethical leaders at different organizational levels employ certain intrinsic traits and behavioral patterns to transmit values and expectations. These intrinsic features come from the argument that being an ethical leader involves being, first of all, a moral person then a moral manager. Ethical leaders must exhibit a high standard of individual moral conduct in line with established standards (relating to moral person aspect) and encourage moral conduct in others (relating to moral manager). Ethical leadership may appear slightly different from country to country and the context within which leaders work may vary too, but what remains unchanged, is that ethical leadership involves being both a moral manger and a moral person irrespective of the context.
A moral person who is a leader at the same time must act with integrity and be perceived as trustworthy. Additionally, the ethical leader has to exhibit traits like honesty, integrity, and candor. The leader as a moral person should be able to:
- Ensure that his/her private moral behavior is consistent with the moral standards he/she openly espouses;
- Do what is right in every situation and act morally in all of their actions;
- Take every responsibility for his/her actions and decisions;
- Show concern for other employees