According to Northouse (2018), “the word ethics has its roots in the Greek word ethos, which translates to “customs,” “conduct,” or “character” ” (p. 336). Ethics is concerned with both what is underneath the surface of decisions, such as motivations and intentions, but also for how these characteristics effect others (Northouse, 2018, p. 336). Northouse (2018) states, “in regard to leadership, ethics is concerned with what leaders do and who leaders are” (p. 336).
For this activity, I will discuss the moral implications of leadership behaviour and then outline a few points of how I can enable my organization to “grow and flourish” in light of the Avolio & Gardner (2005) article and Van Buren (2013) video.
Moral Implications of Leadership Behaviour
One theme that was clear in regards to moral implications of leadership behaviours from the article and video is the concept of “ripple affects” of a leader. When a leader behaves “unethically” and/or “ethically” the effects are much greater and wider reaching. The leader can be compared to the first drop of water in a pond and their effects (whether “negative” or “positive”) are the ripples that are felt in their spheres of influence.
To outline this more, the “ripple effects” of the character and actions of a leader influence three main spheres of people: 1) smaller sphere, such as employees in their organization or other leaders they work alongside, 2) outer sphere, such as employees the leader distantly works with, clients, contributors and benefactors, 3) society at large, meaning the effects of leadership can broaden out into consumers of the product and/or observers of the organization.
1. Smaller Sphere
Van Buren (2013) states, “as the leader you are setting the moral tone and people will look to you.” This means that the “ethics” and “morality” in your organization and your people start with you. You have the responsibility to “create the culture” and be a visible “role-model” (Van Buren, 2013). This illustrates that those in your “closest sphere of influence” will be mostly deeply affected by your leadership and that will trickle out into the organization, whether through management or relational interaction.
An emerging leadership model “Authentic Leadership” sees the effects of the leader on the followers being very high (Northouse, 2018, p.197). Shamir & Eilam (2005) define authentic leadership as “followers who follow leaders for authentic reasons and have an authentic relationship with the leader” (p. x). It is imperative to those who you have more of “a relationship” with that you treat and model how you want them to relate to others.
2. Outer Sphere
It depends on the organization, but generally as a leader, you cannot have “a relationship” with everybody. However, people more on the outskirts will still recognize and see your leadership’s effects and integrity. Bill George (2003) states, “we need leaders who lead with purpose, values and integrity; leaders who build enduring organizations, motivate their employees to provide superior customer service, and create long-term value for shareholders” (p. 9). For non-profits especially this “outer sphere” is also the support of the public and maintaining their trust (Van Buren, 2013). Non-profits are held to a higher standard of transparency and integrity than for-profit organizations; this is because they benefit from government support and donors in the community (Van Buren, 2013). When it comes to a leaders observable behaviour, this will carry out into outer spheres of influence and in the case of non-profits, into the community. Therefore, it is important to consider not just the end goal you are aiming to reach, but also the process, tact and ethics of how you get there (Van Buren, 2013).
3. Society at Large
Most organizations will gain “a reputation” over time. Reputation meaning they are generally known for something. If an organization has a reputation that is “positive”, society will generally be influenced in a positive way, if they have a “negative” reputation, society will be influenced “negatively.” An example that Van Buren (2013) discussed was how there is currently is very low trust in the U.S. for “non-profits” because of lack of financial integrity. Historically, for many non-profits, money has not gone to where they said it was going to go (Van Buren, 2013). Transparency to donors is key and this has implications in society at large, not just for the organization itself, but for other non-profits and the people who benefit from them. The more mistrust there is towards non-profits, the less people will give and the less people in society will “be helped.” The behaviour of non-profit leaders and their organizations, effects not just them, but other non-profits as well. Even wider, it effects society’s view of non-profits and therefore the benefactors of the organization are neglected.
Enabling my Organization to Grow and Flourish
I am thankful that the organization I work for has recently done two years of nation-wide research in terms of people’s perception of them and the effects of their ministry. Their research was talking to people who were previously involved with the organization, current people involved, and “outsiders.” After analyzing the data, they implemented some healthy and positive organizational cultural changes, when it comes to “ethical behaviour.”
On a smaller scale, as a result I would like to help my local staff team really develop into “authentic leaders” and two areas I could see this happening is:
1) Helping my staff members be “true to themselves”, rather than “conform” to organizational norms of behaviour in leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 321). This comes at a key time, since my organization has shifted its cultural values. Previously, the organization somewhat assumed Canada was the same across the board and this did not allow for local leadership to flourish. This resulted in teams being somewhat “forced” into a cookie-cutter mould. Now, local teams have been given more autonomy to do what is right for their context and also to help staff on the local team flourish and develop.
Shamir and Eilam (2005) define one of the characteristics of authentic leaders being that they do not fake it. They say that authentic leaders stay true to who they are and do not conform to expectations of others (Shamir and Eilam, 2005). This is really important in my staff team, because over the years many of us have had to fill roles on the team out of desperation or need, that were not necessarily our “gifting” or reflected our leadership style. I think this has hindered the growth of our team and our ministry. The reason we had to function this way was lack of man-power and organizational pressure. Now, with our local ministry having more autonomy, as well as the fact that we are consolidating and becoming one larger team, there is more of an ability to “specialize.” I think this will result in staff really discovering who they are as leaders and flourishing more.
2) Combatting cynicism in our team through leading by example as an authentic leader (Avolio and Gardner, 2005). Over time in ministry, it is easy to become cynical about the people we work with and the context we are working in (Luthans and Avolio, 2003).
Avolio and Gardner (2005) state, “authentic leaders are described as “leading by example” as they demonstrate transparent decision making, confidence, optimism, hope and resilience, and consistency between their words and deeds” (p. 326). I think leading by example and creating a more “positive” environment, though remaining realistic, will help our team’s morale and as a result help my staff flourish and in time help our ministry to grow.
Header photo: pexels.com by Pixabay shared under Pexels (BY) license.
Resources
Avolio, B. & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.
George, W. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.
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: Barret-Koehler.
Northouse, P.G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Shamir, B., & Eilam, G. (2005). “What’s your story?”: A life-stories approach to authentic leadership development. The Leadership Quarterly.
Van Buren, J. A. [Building Capacity]. (2013, March 29). What is Ethical Leadership? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA
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