As you may have discovered in your professional experiences, being a leader can be a difficult challenge,
especially when faced with ethical and moral tests or decisions. Consider the well-known leadership joke:
�I have got values, and if you don’t like them I have others�. This joke refers to the fact that ethics may
be disregarded in favour of competing interests. What is your definition of ethics? Are you ethical? What
does it mean to be an �ethical leader�?
This essay will enable you to engage with your colleagues in a further exploration of the important ideas
and issues in business leadership. You will analyse the role and importance of ethics in leadership.
�Reflect on what it means to you to be an ethical leader. Consider the challenges and opportunities that
you have analysed in the file attached: KEY CONCEPT EXERSIZE WEEK 5
�Critically analyse the role and importance of ethics in leadership. In your analysis, address the difficulty
of identifying the characteristics of an ethical leader in a challenging global environment composed of
varying cultural dimensions.
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Ethical Leadership
a.) Leadership is an honor that is bestowed upon a person believed to have the capabilities of
guiding others to the right path. A leader should have the charisma to lead others and take all the
problems associated with leadership in his stride. One important quality that is required of
leaders, especially in the twenty-first century, is being ethical. An ethical leader is one who is
free from bias. This leader, depending on the position, will create a level playing field where all
his followers will have an easy time to thrive. The manager does not allow racism, nepotism or
tribalism in whatever he is responsible. He is fair to all and, as a result, gains the trust and respect
of his followers (George, 1988) .
The developments in transport and communications have made it possible for human
interactions over long distances to become faster and more frequent. People from different
continents can work on the same project and produce good results. Sometimes the results tend to
be better than those brought about by people from the same locality. Global organizations have
maximized on this advantage and have received significant gains in return. However, bringing
people from different backgrounds to work together is no easy task. There are challenges that
face the leaders of these global organizations.
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One such problem is corruption. Different countries have different levels of corruption.
When bringing people together from different nationalities, it is likely that a corruption culture
might get introduced. As a result, the employees who were not corrupt might pick up these
tendencies. It becomes a problem for the leaders since corruption tends to bring whole
organizations down. Cultural indifference might also arise among the staff. Instead of mingling
and socializing as one, the workers might divide themselves into ethnic or racial groups. It ruins
the synergy of the company and thus poses a threat to the future of the global organization. These
two are among numerous problems that the leaders of global organizations face (Kruckeberg,
1993) .
b.) In earlier times, when a global organization was looking for a person to fill a leadership
position, there was little consideration for ethics. The important factor being looked for was
whether the person could maximize the organization’s profits and increase productivity. Over
time, however, more emphasis has been put into finding a leader who can not only maximize
profit and increase outputs, but also have good ethics.
Ethics in the workplace goes a long way in ensuring high standard of services are offered
by the staff. Having an ethical leader fosters a high level of integrity within the organization.
Ethical leaders ensure that the employees follow the right protocol when handling tasks. It gives
little room for corrupt practices; saving the company’s resources and time. An ethical leader
leads by example. He is, therefore, able to inspire the staff to complete their tasks in a
fashionable manner. The tasks will be completed in time and will be of a high quality. It is a win-
win situation for both the leader and the staff. The organization’s growth and expansion, as a
result, is an inevitable event (Bivins, 1980) .
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Getting an ethical leader in a global organization can prove to be a challenge. The various
communities represented in the organization all comes with their set of values. What might be
right and just in one community might be downright unlawful in another? Therefore, getting a
leader to lead all these communities can prove to be a hard task for the management. When
selecting a leader, he should be one who is least likely to develop discriminatory tendencies. He
should have a workable temperament and be fair to all.
Reference list
BIVINS, T. H. (1980) Ethical implications of the relationship of purpose to role and funcion in
public relations. Journal of Business Ethics. p. 65-73.
GEORGE, R. J. (1988) The challenge of preparing ethically responsible managers: Closing the
rhetori-reality gap. Journal of Business Ethics. p. 715-720.
KRUCKEBERG, D. (1993) Universal ethics code: Both possible and feasible. Public Relations
Review. p. 21-31.
