Ethical Organizational Climate - Essay Example

Ethical Organizational ClimateA leader’s responsibility for ethical behavior influences ethical organizational climate positively and negatively. Leaders’ ethical behavior influences their followers and motivates them to engage in ethical or unethical practices. President Obama is an example of a leader who demonstrates ethical practices in his behavior and conduct (Hughes and Ginnett, 2012). For example, during his time in power, he has no major cases of ethical misconduct. However, more importantly, the president has demonstrated a willingness to take action against individuals or organizations that engage in unethical behavior.

In 2009, less than a month after being sworn in, he signed three presidential memoranda and two executive orders concerned with ethics and transparency (Hughes and Ginnett, 2012). A leader’s public and private morality can be distinguished because people exhibit different behaviors privately and publicly. A leader cannot act privately the same way he acts in the public because the expectations in both cases are different and trying to streamline them can create strains privately or publicly.

The best approach is to find a balance between the two (Bowie, 2013). A bad person cannot be a good leader because effective leadership requires respect for the people one leads. How can one be a good leader if he does not respect the very people he is supposed to lead, and who probably placed him in that position of leadership? It is impossible. If leaders do not demonstrate ethical conduct then their followers will do the same (Bowie, 2013). Next, their followers’ followers will follow the cue and within no time a whole society will be corrupt and unethical.

Leader behavior is more important in improving ethical values in an organization than a code of ethics or employee training. This is because good leadership embodies the other two aspects. A good leader creates a conducive environment to facilitate the employee training and the creation of codes of ethics. Codes of ethics and employee training cannot create better leaders than natural leadership (Bowie, 2013).ReferencesBowie, N. (2013). Business ethics in the 21st Century. Dordrecht: Springer.Hughes, R., & Ginnett, R. (2012). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience.

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