Leadership and Ethics
Leadership and Ethics
It can be easily seen in our broad society that places facilitated by leaders, who equally listen, show trust, and genuinely believe in their companions, reflect in followers’ fulfilled perspective (Ehrhart & Klein, 2001, p.159). On the other hand, some leaders that normally do not provide moral standards and tends to perform illegal management towards corporations and followers yet commonly exist. Therefore, this blog aims to reveal different leadership actions.
Having said that, one phenomenon of leadership style that has caught interest is called “Ethical Leadership”, as conceptualized by Brown, Treviño and Harrison (2005, p.120) that ethical leadership is the behavior using interpersonal communication and incorporated decision-making to demonstrate an appropriate behavior to followers. Aside from ethics, which is widely discussed as a positive component of leadership style (Brown & Mitchell, 2010, p.586), trustworthiness, equality, and compassion are associated as well (Breevaart & de Vries, 2021, p.256).
Model of Ethical Leadership
Figure 1. The “4V Model”
Note. From The Center of Ethical Leadership webpage, by Center of Ethical Leadership, 2007,
(https://www.ethicalleadership.org/concepts-and-philosophies.html).
Theoretically, the framework of ethical leadership called “4V Model” guides on integrating internal and external aspects for ethical leadership action including Values and Vision which are main pillars used to drive the actions, Voice which is a process to effectively communicate the vision, and Virtue which is a characteristic of good moral practice (Subhasree, 2011, p.114).
Principal Theory of Ethics
There are 2 main principal theories of ethics, which are Deontological theory and Teleological theory. Deontological theory exclusively distinguishes the action as well as inspects whether it is right or wrong based on the fixed rules, without considering upcoming consequences. Instead of relying on the sticked regulations (Ismail & Abderrahmane, 2018, p.35), Teleological theory assembles action based upon ethical behavior, by firstly examining its good and bad consequences (Ismail & Abderrahmane, 2018, p.34).
An interesting example of Teleological leader is Bill Gates, who is known for co-founder of Microsoft. He noticed that most of the organizations had not utilized helpful technology that much because of the wrong perspective in limiting employees’ access to some company’s data (Gates, 1999, p.16). Accordingly, Gates (1999, p.18) suggested that company should spend more time applying data on supporting and coaching employees for new technology. As a result, it is proven that he has an ethic and a great vision, which is one of the elements on 4V Model, in striving his business to achieve the best together with reinforcing his followers to acquire applicable skills. However, it is still recommended to keep the credential company’s data protected while allowing beneficial access to employees and developing training sessions for them based on their background and level of necessity.
Conversely, one notable example of an unethical leader, Martin Winterkon, the former CEO of Volkswagen who brought the company into disrepute because of the cheat on car emission tests by installing the device that provides faulty emission control on over 11 million vehicles (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2015). Moreover, he also persuaded his followers to believe that it is acceptable to cheat and forced to hide this fraud from nonmembers for the company to fulfil ambitious goals, otherwise they might be fired (Glazer, 2016). Despite the terrible management, this illegality is a direct result from the unethical conduct of CEO which caused impact on both credibility and loyalty on shareholders, employees, and most importantly, customers. Eventually, it is necessary to not only restructure the broad of directors, but also heal employees and enlighten their attitudes.
Ultimately, being ethical is a standard for leaders. However, having studied Gates’ conduct, it can be considered that besides ethical leadership approach’s assets, likelihood of risks can possibly occur. So, instead of sticking to only one plan of action, it is better to carefully integrate all possible outcomes and be aware in every aspect of end results. As a consequence, both principal theories should be applied together then make use of each distinctive characteristic of theories to carry out the most proper action (Alexander & Moore, 1986; Al-Asfour, 2015, p.66).
List of References
Alexander, L., & Moore, M. (2021). Deontological Ethics. Stanford University.
Al-Asfour, A. (2015). Strategies for Leadership Styles for Multi-Generational Workforce. Journal of Leadership,
Accountability and Ethics, 11(2), 58-69.
Breevaart, K., & de Vries, R. E. (2021). Followers’ HEXACO personality traits and preference for charismatic,
relationship-oriented, and task-oriented leadership. Journal of Business and Psychology, 36(2), 253–265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-019-09671-6
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for
construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002
Brown, M. E., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future
Research. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(4), 583-616.
Center of Ethical Leadership. (2007). The Center of Ethical Leadership webpage.
https://www.ethicalleadership.org/concepts-and-philosophies.html
Ehrhart, M. G., & Klein, K. J. (2001). Predicting followers’ preferences for charismatic leadership: the influence
of follower values and personality. The Leadership Quarterly, 12(2), 153-179.
Gates, B. (1999). Business @ the Speed of Thought (1st ed.). Grand Central Publishing.
Glazer, R. (2016). The Biggest Lesson from Volkswagen: Culture Dictates Behavior. Entrepreneur.
Ismail, S. A., & Benlahcene, A. (2018). A Narrative Review Of Ethics Theories: Teleological &Deontological
Ethics. Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 23(7), 31-38.
Subhasree, K. (2011). Ethical Leadership: Best Practice For Success. IOSR Journal of Business and Management,
1(2), 112-116.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2015). Notice of Violation.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-11/documents/vw-nov-2015-11-02.pdf
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