Category: UNIT 7

This is a response to Charlie Mable’s blog https://create.twu.ca/charliemable/2018/06/14/ethics-and-morals-act-1/

Question: If leadership truly is a process of influencing others, it is important that leaders enact the moral and ethical responsibility entrusted to them. Do you agree?

Yes, I agree with you. Moreover, I think leadership can be observed and exerted in other kinds of situation or context rather than merely organization and political domain, such as leadership at home, leadership within the school setting, and so on. Considering the influential process of the leadership, I believe the moral and ethical responsibility should be addressed more in other kinds of context. For example, it is far more profound for a father to nurture his children to grow up and become ethical and righteous individuals. In turn, if the children are raised to be the potential transformational leaders or ethical leaders, they would influence more people who are around them or working for them. Similarly, the authentic and moral impact that the leadership has on within school settings or friends can be significant. Coming back to the organizational context, I really like the example you made in promoting effective financial management. This example can also be a perfect one to demonstrate the conduct of leading by examples. When the leader is acting moderately and morally, the followers will be at least influenced to act the same way in terms of short-term effect. Sequently, the moral behaviours will be institutionalized as the moral traits for the followers. In turn, the moral culture within the organization is formed. This process just echoes your words in the beginning: It has a ripple effect. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

This is a response to Kwantlen Brenda’s blog https://create.twu.ca/kwantlenbrenda/2018/06/11/unit-7-activity-1-indigenous-economic-development-ethical-leadership/

Question: What are some other ethical and moral beliefs that the public holds with its indigenous organizations? Do you think it is fair that indigenous organizations are held to this standard given the history of inter-generational trauma?

Thank you sharing your valuable thoughts of indigenous organization which I barely considered before. I live in China, therefore I could only synthesize the situation of the indigenous organizations here to my answer.  Hope you find them useful.

China is governed by the Communist Party, and the culture in China particularly emphasizes the morality of serving for the mutual good for the society. This moral principle serves as the implicit standard for all kinds of organization, especially the indigenous ones. Actually, I do not like the invisible pressure that the public has put on the indigenous companies. Actually, I am working in an indigenous company. To be honest, the public and the government are using a magnifying glass to look at the all aspects of the indigenous company. For example, the public thinks that it is abnormal for the staff of an indigenous company to have the salary above the average level of the citizens in that city. And the government, who is willingly to incline to the thoughts of the public on this issue, has been extremely strict with the companies. Ironically, the government does rely on the indigenous companies to gain a beautiful financial report each year, and the public admires and desire to work in the foreign companies or partly foreign-owned companies. Therefore, I totally agree with your words that there is only one chance to do things right for the indigenous companies because it is already hard and impossible for the indigenous companies to satisfy the public and the government anyhow. The pressure and the unfair treatment are potentially undermining the intrinsic will of serving others of the indigenous companies. This is the real potential threat to the country, I think, and this threat is stemmed from within.  

Question 1: What are the main implications for managers in the article? How can you use this information to become a better leader?

I think there are four main implications for managerial strategies which can be pulled out of the article. First, the company should provide training to managers and help them acquire or enhance the transformational leadership.  Hypotheses 1, 2, 3, 4 supported by the results imply that transformational leadership greatly contributes to superior performance at all levels (Wang, Oh,  Courtright, & Colbert, 2011). Moreover, Barling, Weber, and Kelloway (1996) have examined that transformational leadership can be gained through training and practice. Second, for an individual who wants to be picked up as the manager, he/she should possess the traits of transformational leader in advance such as “being dominant and self-confident, having a strong desire to influence others, and having a strong sense of one’s own moral values” (Northouse, 2016, p. 164). Sequentially, he/she could select or nurture the next potential manager who is “more likely to become a transformational leader”(Wang, Oh,  Courtright, & Colbert, 2011, p. 253). Third, the managers could increase the chances of engaging team-work in tasks to gain higher performance. The results tested in the article show that “the overall relationship of transformational leadership with organizational-level performance was somewhat smaller than for team-level performance but greater than for individual-level performance” (Wang, Oh,  Courtright, & Colbert, 2011, p. 246). In sum, the transformational leadership will work the best within teams. Fourth, it is crucial for managers to exert transactional leadership when necessary to maximize the performance. The contingent reward, one of the typical transactional leadership behaviours, is examined to be particularly useful in increasing individual-level task performance (Wang, Oh,  Courtright, & Colbert, 2011). Although the transformational leadership is superior in other aspects such as enhancing individual-level contextual performance and team performance (Wang, Oh,  Courtright, & Colbert, 2011), the manager can demonstrate a multi-leadership style rather than sticking to only one type of leadership. Incorporating different types of leadership and balancing the factors of the leadership in the managerial actions are the best choice for the manager.

Question 2: Define and describe the principles of ethical leadership.

(1) Respects others

Respect others means “Treat others the way in which you like to be treated” (BuildingCapacity, 2013). It also means that the leader “listen closely to followers, is empathic, and is tolerant of opposing points of view” (Northouse, 2016, p. 342). In sum, “respect includes giving credence to others’ ideas and confirming them as human beings” (p. 342).

(2) Serves others

A leader who puts the followers’ needs and concerns foremost demonstrates the principle of serving others (Northouse, 2016). Also, this principle is “an example of altruism” (Northouse, 2016, p. 342).

(3) Shows justice

Being fair means the leader chooses to treat the followers equally (Northouse, 2016). This principle needs the leaders to “place issues of fairness at the center of their decision making”(Northouse, 2016, p. 344).

(4) Manifests honesty

Dalla Costa (1998) states that the honest principle means “do not promise what you can’t deliver, do not misrepresent, do not hide behind spin-doctored evasions, do not suppress obligations, do not evade accountability, do not accept that the ‘survival of the fittest’ pressures of business release any of us from the responsibility to respect another’s dignity and humanity” (p. 164).

(5) Builds community

The ethical leader intrinsically feels he/she should seek the common goal which presents the good of everyone (Northouse, 2016). Consequently, the community will be built based on all the members moving towards the mutual goal.

Question 3: Which 2 do you think are the most important? Why?

Serving others and showing honesty are the most important principles from my perspective. The reason for choosing them is that they are both hard to achieve for the leader. The aforementioned altruism, another illustration of serving, requires the leader to promote the interests of others regardless of his/her own preference (Northouse, 2016). Also, altruism is addressed in many types of leadership such as authentic leadership, transformational leadership, and especially servant leadership. I believe that these types of leadership value the role of serving not only because it is unique but also it can contribute to long-term benefit including the welfare of the people, the flourish of the company, and the harmony of the community (Northouse, 2016). Comparing with serving others, being honest is relatively easy to achieve. While the critical part of being honest is to what extent should a leader share candidly with the followers (Northouse, 2016). Apparently, lying to the others most of the time will make the individual undependable and unreliable, and the consequences of this behaviour could be destructive and irreparable. On the contrary, always being honest and open is unwise because “telling the complete truth can be destructive or counterproductive” (p. 346). In order to motivate the followers in the best way and to gain the better performance effectively, the leader should face the challenge of striking the balance “between being open and candid while monitoring what is appropriate to disclose in a particular situation” (p. 346). I think the words of Dalla Costa (1998) mentioned above can serve as the standard of being honest or not for a leader. However, the leader should decide or develop his/her own standard of honesty considering different situations or issues. This could be a critical task for the leader. But once the leader has figured it out and exerted this principle perfectly, he/she can genuinely achieve the reciprocal relationship with the followers and the long-term effect will be positive.

My questions: If you are the leader who chose to disclose some information in the particular situation, how would you deal with the dissatisfied emotion of the followers when they discover the truth? How would you rebuild the trusty relationship with them?

References

Barling, J., Weber, T., & Kelloway, E. K. (1996). Effects of transformational leadership training on attitudinal and financial outcomes: A field experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 827-832.

BuildingCapacity. (2013, March 29). What is Ethical Leadership? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA

Dalla Costa, J. (1998). The ethical imperative: Why moral leadership is good business. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Wang, G., Oh, I. S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223-270.

https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-7-2/unit-7-learning-activities/

Question 1: What are the moral implications of leadership behaviour?

Since the leadership behaviour is definitely related to three factors including the leaders, the followers, and the organizational context or certain events or challenges, I would like to consider the answers according to the components of authentic leadership development theory (Avolio & Gardner, 2005), ethical theories, and principles of ethical leadership (Northouse, 2016).

(1) Considering the influence/impact of the consequences of leaders’ conduct

There will be many types of conducts involved in leaders’ actions, such as making decisions, dealing with conflict, express their preferences and emotions. Each conduct would produce its particular consequences (Northouse, 2016) revealed eventually in short term or long term, and in turn the consequences would influence the followers and the context. Therefore, whether the leaders have consider about the consequences and the impacts and how they are going to act could greatly reveal the leaders’ ethical level ((Northouse, 2016).

(2) Arranging the hierarchy of interests

I concluded the types of interest which should be considered and balanced by leaders including self-interest, interest of others, and the interest of the community. Regarding to the moral conducts which shows the concern for self-interest or concern for the interest of others, the figure 13.1 (Northouse, 2016, p. 334) and the three approaches including ethical egoism, utilitarianism, and altruism demonstrate the way in which leaders arrange their personal hierarchy of interests. Apparently, the leader who take the job or the power for his/her selfish enjoys represents  ethical egoism (Northouse, 2016). So, there is a great chance that the leader might cheat, conceal, or act dishonestly to maximize his/her own profit.  Utilitarianism means that the leader should behave “to create the greatest good for the greatest number” (Northouse, 2016, p.334). I think the leader would consider both self-interest and the interest of others, therefore, the moral level of the leader would be moderate. In terms of altruism, the leader may consider most about the interest of the others and the community, “even when it runs contrary to his or her own self-interests” (Northouse, 2016, p.335). I deem the approach of altruism, to some extent, equals to the spirit of sacrifice. The leaders need to give up personal self-interests to make a contribution to the interest of the others and the mutual interests. Hence, demonstrating altruism requires that the leader need to be psychological healthy. In another word, he/she has the ability to construe his/her loss of self-interest in a positive way, and the capacity of balancing the feelings and emotions. This point echoes the positive psychological capital of authentic leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005).

Positive psychological capacities, such as “confidence, optimism, hope and resiliency” (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 322), are drawn on emphasizing the self-awareness and self-regulatory behaviours of the leaders (Luthans & Avolio, 2003). Combined with the authentic leadership, the moral behaviours of a leader showing altruism would be consciously keeping a cool head of what he/she is doing and where he/she is leading, keeping the answers honestly to himself/herself, and staying consistent during the process.

(3) Viewing their duty

“Whether a given action is ethical rests not only with its consequences, but also with whether the action itself is good” (Northouse, 2016, p.335). The duty of the leader mainly focuses on the leader’s moral obligation and responsibilities (Northouse, 2016). Then, the process for the leader to take the responsibilities, such as helping the followers “assess their own values and needs in order to raise them to a higher level of functioning” (p. 338) and  “telling the truth, keeping promises, and respecting others” (p. 335) or not, can be resorted to assess the moral level of the leader.

(4) Further learning to enhance or update their virtues and moral abilities through practice

I add this aspect for it implies that a leader with high ethical spirit has the urge to be a “morally appropriate human being” (Northouse, 2016, p.335). Despite the moral factors of the leaders are always categorized into the virtue-based theories which state that virtues are part of the individual’s characteristics (Pojman, 1995), Northouse (2016) argues that the virtues and moral abilities can be acquired and enhanced through practice.

Combined with the authentic leadership, I think the moral abilities include the ability of self-awareness and self-regulation (Avolio & Gardner, 2005), the ability to “incorporate positive moral perspectives” (p. 324), and being “temperance, generosity, modesty, fairness, and justice” (Northouse, 2016, p.336). I always think that it is easy for the leader to demonstrate a high level of morality in their conducts when the context is stable and harmonious. In order to keep the morality in the destructive, unstable, or threatened context which could trigger destructive leadership (Northouse, 2016), the leader would actively practice their heart and validate their faith to be competent and moral in all kinds of context. The initiative to practice and to forge the moral abilities can genuinely explain the will of the leader to achieve a higher level of morality.

Question 2: How can you enable your organization to grow and flourish?

(1) Building a supportive and trust context

The organization is consist of staff including leaders, managers, and followers. In order to enable the organization to grow, it is fundamentally to enable the staff to grow. Therefore, creating a supportive context should be the first thing to do. “For leaders and followers to be effective, leaders must promote an inclusive organizational climate that enables themselves and followers to continually learn and grow” (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 327). Further, when facing tough issues, it is significant for the leader to create “a ‘holding environment’ in which there is trust, nurturance, and empathy” (Northouse, 2016, p.338). Within the holding environment, there are “clarity about project scope, meetings times, and a clearly defined set of operating procedures and ground rules in which people can get together, share feedback together and learn together” (Cameron & Green, 2015, p. 210). With the trust climate and collaboration, the staff could effectively tackle the hard issues, their confidence and abilities would grow as well. In turn, the organization would grow eventually.

(2) Engaging in more charitable activities

The organization could intentionally do more charity, such as donating books to the schools, visiting the orphanage, and so on. These charitable works could create and “institutionalize an ethical culture”(BuildingCapacity, 2013) within the organization. When an ethical culture is formed in the organization, all staff would be motivated to work towards something larger than themselves, such as contributing to the good of the organization and the community. In the long-term perspective, the organization and the community will definitely flourish and be benefited. 

(3) Increasing sustainable superior performance

“Sustainable superior performance” can be interchangeably used as “sustainable competitive advantage” (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 328). The sustainable competitive advantage means when a company is “implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors and when these firms are unable to duplicate the benefits of this strategy” (Barney, 1991, pp. 99-120). In another word, when the organization has the sustainable competitive advantage, it is unlikely to be overwhelmed by other companies. Also, it is clear that sustained superior performance can help the organization “achieve persistently high performance and growth over a long period of time” (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 328). Besides “financial, human, social, and psychological capital” (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 328) which are included in the sustained performance, I think that keeping to the organizational code of ethics (BuildingCapacity, 2013) should also count. Moreover, obeying the code of ethics should be seen as the underpinning of all the performances.

(4) Providing trainings

Most of the companies provide technical training for the staff all the time. As far as I am concerned, the training regarding leadership and ethics should also be provided. For example, the ethical training could help the staff gain a better understanding of the codes of ethics in employee manual (BuildingCapacity, 2013). The staff should have a clear sense of what they can do and what they cannot do. Also, the ethical training could build the capacity of empathy for the staff. People would understand the situations or perspectives of others with the power of empathy. In turn, the communication would be greatly facilitated and the consensus within the organization will be achieved easily.  The staff would work productively when they are sharing a mutual goal (Cameron & Green, 2015), and the organization can be flourishing apparently. 

Questions: If you have any working experience, do you familiar with the codes of ethics in your company? How do you think of or understand the codes?

References

Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The leadership quarterly, 16(3), 315-338.

Barney, J. B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99-120.

BuildingCapacity. (2013, March 29). What is Ethical Leadership? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools, and techniques of organizational change. (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page.

Luthans, F., & Avolio, B. J. (2003). Authentic leadership: A positive developmental approach. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship (pp. 241-261). San Francisco: Barrett-Koehler.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Pojman, L. P. (1995). Ethical theory: Classical and contemporary readings (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

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