The Emergence and Maintenance of Ethical Leadership - Research Paper Example

I feel that I possess at least 60% of what it takes to be an ethical leader.

Ethical leadership focuses on the actions and behavior of leaders, and secondly, the personality and character of leaders. A leader ought to drive and influence the followers to achieve a common goal. A leader should ensure there is teamwork and the organizational quest for any project. Ethical leaders treat their subordinates with respect to their unique personalities. There should be an ethical environment built out of the influence of developing ethics and organizational values (Eisenbeib, Silke, & Steffen 2012). I am aware of the mentioned values related to ethical leadership employed to use, thus I expect a higher score.

Question #2

Comparing my score with two other familiar individuals, I lie in the midst of the two. One of the leaders (leader A) that I am well aware of is a corporate leader, strong in his position, and a Democrat. The second individual (leader B) is far much below the pass mark score.  Calculating a percentage between two other two leaders and me, in terms of being:

• Very ethical: leader A scores 80%; I would score 55% while leader B would score 40%.
• Moderately ethical: leader A would score 55%; I would score 80%, while leader B would score 42%.
• Very unethical: leader A would score 20%; I would score 40% while leader B would score 80%.

These percentages between leader A, leader B, and I are true representatives of leaders in companies today. This is because there are leaders who act perfectly in their positions, those who are moderate in performance, and wrongly placed leaders whose performance is below average.

Question #3

In the business world today, some behaviors are so unethical. We examine three such behaviors:  lack of dignity and respect, injustice, and dishonesty. A leader ought to rule with the highest dignity while exercising respect for all his employees. Some leaders take advantage of their employees and use them as a medium to achieve their personal goals, which is very unethical. They care less about their feelings, decisions, or even values. Injustice focuses on unfair leaders; they do not treat their employees equally. Such leaders have a personal bias, with unclear grounds for the ruling. Dishonest leaders are those whose loyalty is questionable. Dishonest leaders present ambiguous circumstances that are untrue and incomplete. They never gain the necessary trust of their followers (Toor, Shamas-ur-Rehman & Ofori, 2009).

Of the three behaviors, the worst offensive is dishonesty, followed by injustice, while the least offensive is the lack of dignity and respect. Dishonesty is the most offensive as it causes the loss of trust between junior and senior staff.

Question #4

Ethical behaviors in any organization have positive impacts on organizational performance. If there is continued trust and confidence in a work place, then this creates a suitable environment for maximum productivity (Shin, 2012).

By default, people take responsibility for their actions in an ethical environment. They always work towards advantaging the institution with the feeling of satisfaction. Therefore, through all ways and means, leaders ought to maintain an ethical environment at the work places to attain maximum output from the workers.