Business Leadership, Followship, Values, and Ethics - Essay Example

Information processing theory and social identity theory are representative of “follower-centric” approaches, which focus on followers' behaviors and characteristics as centrally important, success depends on the performance of these followers, and it is the followers that, ultimately, influence their leaders. The contingency theory and leader member-exchange theory falls in the middle of the two perspectives. They possess greater balance, by acknowledging the importance of strong leaders and the value of strong followers (Johnson, 2009). 

Several researchers in the world firmly believe that the number of businesses that adhere to any sort of business ethics, both with the public and among their staff, is fading away (Rajeev, 2012). I believe that ethical business practices are a matter of common sense.  Honesty, integrity, consistency, and fairness should be present in all of your dealings with customers, clients, employees, and co-workers at all times. Leaders often set the tone for the lack of ethical behaviors, however, followers are equally morally responsible, because it is only with their silence, dishonesty, and deceit many members of management would not be able to get away with unethical behavior (Johnson, 2009). Many employees feel a greater obligation to their jobs and employers than to strangers and the truth. There are some things that I, personally, cannot in good conscious compromise and that is my sense of right and wrong. I will not be ethically bullied into doing something I know is dishonest and that is going to an extreme that I am unwilling to go to.

Values allow for a more flexible mode of decision-making than beliefs and intuition put together (Dean, 2011). Values offer more freedom to deal with past issues, present issues, and the issues and concerns that rise in the future because it works under the umbrella of a goal, an ideal, or something to be achieved. My perspective on values concern being fair, ethical, and certain that hard work is noticed. Presently there are no current negative issues that can be spoken of in my current occupational situation, however, in the past, I have witnessed and been involved in situations where the leadership was so entirely self-serving that employees joked about being sacrificed next. This was the sort of corporate-run company where the corporate representatives are seldom if never in the store seeing for themselves how the business is running and where any shortcomings may exist. The managers were quick to take the credit when the business ran smoothly and successfully, but when the situations were not positive these same managers were even quicker to blame the staff for any and everything that goes wrong. That is no way to run a business. These are not positive, strong leaders that encourage loyalty from their staff or the company. I promised myself when I entered the business world I would never allow myself to be involved in a company that only acknowledges their employee's work when they are being blamed for company failures.

Many researchers believe that 6 specific value-based motivators influence people within their work environments; economical, aesthetic, social, theoretical, political, and regulatory These reasons are natural motivators; the need for money, the love of beauty, social interaction, the desire for power, and the need for higher authority (Cleaver Company Administration, 2012).  Some people are more motivated by some than others, but all the same, understanding what motivates people can help you to elicit the outcomes that you are hoping for. I, personally, believe that leaders lead best by example, be involved in the work, and interact with the staff. It is important, as many experts explain, for employers to know how to motivate their employees and for employees to understand the values and leadership styles of their organization and its managers (Maslennikova, 2007). In the end, success in a business is like success in anything else. If it is a team effort, then it works best when everyone on the team is utilized for their strongest skills, their ideas are acknowledged, and their time is appreciated by their leaders. The overall goal is for our professional endeavors to be successful, productive, efficient, and, ideally, fulfilling for everyone involved; not to mention, in the case of business, profitable.