Ryan Morrow

A New Road Travelled

Category: Unit 7

Response to Norm

November 11, 2018 / / 0 Comments

In his post, Norm asks how I have responded to unethical behaviour in my context.  I suppose that there is the unethical behaviour that I am aware of and that which I am not aware of.  I am pleased and thankful that there are not many instances of unethical behaviour which come to mind as I consider your question.  As I reflect on the few instances I have dealt with, I know that it has been important for me to work together with the individual to see a positive outcome.  I have leveraged the great relationship I have with the team that I work with to guide, coach, mentor and direct an individual to an outcome which is favourable for both the individual and our organization.  I think it is important to note that if a leader is not ethical themselves then they do not have a foundation for addressing unethical behaviour in others.  This underscores the importance of the ethical leadership behaviours described by Avolio and Gardner (2005).

 

Avolio, B. & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.

Unit 7 learning activity 2

November 11, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Blending Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Managers should include elements of transactional and transformational leadership.  They are in a position to directly affect follower attitude toward the work they do and the organization they work for.  If the manager focuses only on transactional leadership where a follower is given a reward for meeting performance expectations then neither the manager or follower maximize their potential (Wang, Oh, Courtright and Colbert, 2011).

The augmentation hypothesis suggested by Wang et al. (2011) states that managers who demonstrate characteristics of transformational leadership can extend their transactional role.  When managers provide a contextual understanding of the greater purpose and value of the work being done rather than simply rewarding task completion, individuals achieve more.  Managers should be aware that when transactional leadership is combined with transformational leadership, the overall production of the individuals, teams, and the overall organization increase. (Wang, Oh, Courtright and Colbert, 2011).

My leadership can be improved by the findings of Wang et al (2011).  I tend to lean heavily toward a transformational leadership style, which is good.  Their findings however, demonstrated that just as transformational leadership augments the impact of transactional leadership, the opposite may also be true.  It would be beneficial to reflect on how I may employ more transactional expectations from my followers.

Principles of Ethical Leadership

Peter Northouse (2016) summarizes 5 principles of ethical leadership.  He states that a leader must respect, serve, be just, be honest, and build community.  Each of these principles require an ethical leader to follow the golden rule or to do as Jesus instructed as he explained the second greatest commandment, love others before themselves. Respecting others means that the leader must embrace individual differences, be tolerant of opposing viewpoints and allow others to be themselves.  Serving others requires an ethical leader to put the needs of others first, to see that their full potential is reached.  A just leader must respond to all people consistently, to react to people the way they as followers would act toward others.  The fair treatment of people is necessary for any group who is cooperating to promote interests they hold in common. A leader must be honest. Dishonesty leads to distrust and eventually to broken relationships, it is counter productive.  Finally a leader must work to find common ground.  Being attentive to interests which serve both leader and followers, builds community (Northouse, 2016).

The two most important principles of ethical leadership are justice and respect.  I would like to argue that if a leader is just then he will consider the needs of others, deal with them honestly and seek to find common ground with them.  If the leader also demonstrates respect, then others will be treated as worthy human beings.  If others are worthy then their best interests will be important to the leader and service to those followers will be natural.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: 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.

Unit 7 – Learning Activity 1 The Moral Leader

November 10, 2018 / / 0 Comments

In addition to vision setting, policy development, management and production, the demonstration of moral and ethical behaviour in leadership is essential.  All organizations face times of victory or success and times of turbulence and struggle.  In either case the leader sets the tone.  The degree to which the leader is able to demonstrate an authentic appreciation for the followership and give credit where it is due  in the good times sets an example that success comes when the talents of the whole team are recognized.  In this way a culture of collaboration rather than cut throat competitiveness is created.  This happens most authentically when the leader is able to establish and continually reenforce that the purpose behind any of the work functions because of a greater ethical or moral code (Van Buren, 2013). Similarly in times of challenge or struggle, the ability of the leader to demonstrate hope, courage and resilience impact the overall confidence and climate of the followers within an organization (Avolio and Gardner, 2005).

Organizations are dependent on public or customer favour, to be financially viable and to complete their work consistently over time they must be seen to be operating in an ethical manner.  The perception of the organization is influenced by the ethical behaviour of its leaders and employees.  It must not be seen to be financially questionable, to have employees who are not treated favourably or to act in the marketplace in a way that is unacceptable. Largely, protecting the organization in this way is the job of the organizations leadership (Van Buren, 2013).

The leader must build a moral or ethical culture. The leader must balance both the means and the end by creating an ethical process of achievement which recognizes both employees and clients well along the way (Van Buren, 2013).  The positive moral tone created by the leader through positive behaviour, ethical decision making, fair treatment of people and building high quality relationship will have a contagious impact on the overall function of the organization and the followers.  The leader may end up transforming followers into ethical leaders simply by being a good role model.  For this reason, authentic ethical leadership must be a central function of a leader (Avolio and Gardner, 2005).

As my organization grows, the staff size continues to grow with it.  Where I was once able to create a positive and ethical culture because it was easy to have direct contact with each staff member, new structures need to be put in place to allow this to continue to happen.  As a Christian school, we all operate as a staff from an external ethical code, the Bible, which allows for shared values in how we approach each other as staff as well as students and parents.  As the staff grows however, situational complexity, poor communication, or lack of contact can create an environment where employees and leadership can trend toward being focused on self.  We would all agree as leaders and followers that we do many things very well as a team but their is room to do better.

If my organization is going to flourish the staff must also flourish.  In light of organizational growth, the most important thing I can do is to create an open, safe, honest and consistent culture of communication where we are able to ask hard questions and problem solve together. (Van Buren, 2013). To lead this process I must recognize and develop the variety of strengths within the followership. I must be positive, encouraging and consistent. I must respond to all situations we face as an organization and a staff in recognition of our our values and by recognizing the variety of interests which may be represented within our community.  These things are only possible if they come from a place of ethical authenticity.  I must keep myself aligned to Biblical values and true to who I am as a person  (Avolio and Garner, 2005).

Morality and ethics are not interchangeable terms.  For ethical leadership to be studied further, they should be independently defined.  How would you explain the difference between moral and ethical in terms of leadership?

 

References

Avolio, B. & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.

Van Buren, J. (2013) What is Ethical Leadership?  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA

© 2026 Ryan Morrow

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑