Teaching and Nursing Profession: Code of Conduct within a Regulated Professions Influence Conflicts - Essay Example

?Introduction The importance of ethics for a leader or anybody working within regulated professions, like teaching and nursing, cannot be denied. Ethical leadership is vital for successful accomplishment of organizational objectives within the framework of ethical guidelines. Ethical leadership means “ethically motivating others in ethical directions” consisting of both “procedural” and “substantive” (character-based) aspects (Chumir, 1992). The procedural dimension of ethical leadership includes problem-solving and decision-making techniques within the circle of ethics. For example, ethical leadership demands that the leaders, before putting their decisions into action, inform and discuss them with the parties which are going to be affected by their decisions. This means that the concerned parties are being given due respect and importance. The substantive aspect of ethical leadership includes knowledge, strong standards and courage to follow ethical directions despite strong opposition. This paper intends to discuss the importance of a Code of Conduct and its influence upon the ethics and values of today’s leaders in a nursing institute, and a Code of Conduct I have worked under within my organization. Code of Conduct Influences Ethics Leaders must know that they are supposed to exhibit their moral values and ethics in every action that has an effect upon the organizational goals, according to Heathfield (2011). Today’s leaders know the importance of ethical considerations and work according to what is expected of them ethically. If leaders do not recognize their ethical responsibilities, this results in a lack of trust between them and the end users. Consumers will trust only those leaders who understand their ethical standards. An effective Code of Conduct is an organization’s most important key success factor that helps it succeed in the competitive market. With the help of a Code of Conduct, the leaders know how they have to perform and what they should do to keep their actions within the framework of ethics and values. A good Code of Conduct tells a leader that he will lose his position if he is found to be acting unethically. This way, the leader will know that he has to constantly perform ethically and should not expect that he will stay in leadership once he has got there. Also, the Code of Conduct guides him through the process of conflict resolution and mediation. An ethical leader must know that how to be unbiased when solving a conflict. Employees often enter into disputes and conflicts, and ethical leaders must try to resolve those conflicts without letting down any of the parties involved. “Ethical leadership predicts outcomes such as perceived effectiveness of leaders, followers’ job satisfaction and dedication, and their willingness to report problems to management”, according to Brown, Travino and Harrison (2005) A Code of Conduct tells a leader to value his moral standards and to develop a strong vision. It instructs him to relate the goodness of his inner self to his actions. It requires him to be courageous enough to be able to raise his voice in front of opposition. He must be a role model for other employees to follow. This is called transformational leadership in which the leader is an inspiration for others to follow. If ethical leaders want that employees participate in a vigorous collaborative environment where they interrelate with each other in a better way to share their ideas and information, they would have to take steps to improve their communication with their workers, listen to their problems, talk to them and work out their issues. Workers will automatically start following them and the overall organizational culture will improve. This is the transformational leadership (Brown & Travino, 2006) actually in which the leaders produce such an effect on their subordinates that they inflict a “transforming effect” on them thus producing “sweeping changes in organizations and societies” (Priyabhasini & Krishnan, 2005, p.1). Suppose the requirement is to meet the deadlines. Since the role of a leader is to influence the workers to follow him, he will himself have to be punctual and always in time so that others get inspired and do the same. He will arrange sessions to motivate the members to fasten up their progress so that the deadline does not pass. He will announce rewards and bonuses for employees who will work harder to meet the deadline. These are some of the many skills that should be adopted by an ethical leader according to the Code of Conduct in order to motivate others to do what he wants them to do. Personal Experience I have been employed in a nursing institute and have worked under a Code of Conduct that worked toward the maintenance of ethical leadership within the organization. This Code of Conduct illustrated Dr. Bill Grace’s “4-V Model of Ethical Leadership” that correlates the substantive (inner values, principles and standards) with the procedural (words, actions and deeds) dimensions of ethical leadership (2007). Dr. Bill Grace is the founder of the Center of Ethical Leadership. These four V’s are value, vision, voice and virtue. The Code of Conduct of my organization required the leader to understand and polish his basic values and develop a sense of moral obligation of enhancing the betterment of himself and of the patients. It also required him to be able to raise his voice to face opposition that comes in the way of ethical decisions regarding treatment processes. It instructed him to get a clear vision of his mission, objectives and milestones, and to involve the patient in the decision-making process in order to make him feel empowered. His actions must also be virtuous. Apart from these requirements, the Code of Conduct instructed him to be courageous enough to follow the company’s rules and regulations and should focus on organizational benefit rather than on his personal ego (Freeman and Stewart, 2006) Conclusion Ethics and values are basic ingredients of successful leadership. Every organization should deploy an efficient Code of Conduct that must be obligatory for the leader and employees to follow. This is important if the aim is to achieve organizational goals in an effective way. My Code of Conduct aimed at treating the patients according to ethical guidelines and instructed the nurses and physicians to work toward achieving patient empowerment and improving physician-patient relationship which helped both the parties simultaneously. References Brown, M.E., & Travino, L.K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), pp. 595-616. Brown, M.E., Travino, L.K., & Harrison, D.A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), pp. 117-134. Chumir, S. (1992). What is ethical leadership? Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership. Retrieved September 25, 201, from Sheldon Chumir Foundation Website: http://www.chumirethicsfoundation.ca/main/page.php?page_id=20 Freeman, R., & Stewart, L. (2006). What is ethical leadership? Developing Ethical Leadership. Retrieved September 25, 2011, from http://www.darden.virginia.edu/corporate-ethics/pdf/ethical_leadership.pdf Grace, B. (2007). Ethical leadership. Center for Ethical Leadership. Retrieved September 25, 2011, from http://www.ethicalleadership.org/philosophies/ethical-leadership Heathfield, SM. (2011). Leadership ethics and values. About.com: Human Resources. Retrieved September 25, 2011, from http://humanresources.about.com/od/leadership/a/leader_values.htm Priyabhasini, A., & Krishnan, V.R. (2005). Transformational leadership and follower’s career advancement: role of pygmalion effect. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 40(4), pp. 482-499. Read More