Proper Leadership Ethics - Term Paper Example

? My philosophy of proper leadership ethics in my career path General ethics are part and parcel of human interaction that is designed to build relationship based on mutual respect and trust. In the highly competitive environment of global business, personal and professional ethics become vital ingredients of competitive advantage. Within the defined parameters of organizational structure, leaders motivate the target group for optimal performance outcome. The ethical consideration of organization leadership becomes a crucial factor. Hence, my personal philosophy of leadership ethics would broadly comprise of the following values and principles that I intend to apply in my professional life. Leaders, who possess honesty and integrity, are better equipped to inculcate a sense of security within the workforce during the fast transforming dynamics of the current business processes. People are frequently less honest in putting their best in their work environment, especially when they are not motivated for the work that they get paid for. I really feel that whatever the work environment, one should do one’s job with full sincerity and try to give one’s best under all circumstances. As in the present case, while my current job is not to my liking, I still conscientiously try to put my best in my job. Another very important fact is that leaders and managers within the organizations should also be honest in their feedback to the employees’ performance. This is one of the most critical aspects of improving and improvising the work performance of the sub-ordinates and workforce in general. Our office environment hugely lacks motivated work because the manager is often inclined to give wrong reports to the seniors. The manager often does not give correct feedbacks. Recently one my colleague was fired for causing a grave error. It was unexpected because he was never told about his mistakes. When he was suddenly served with the notice, we all realized that manager was not only dishonest but had also betrayed the trust of his subordinates. He had just compiled the worker’s mistakes which he had never bothered to discuss with him! In my role as leader or manager, I would ensure that workers are provided with regular feedback so that they can improve their work. This not only would create a more motivating environment but also develop trust between the management and workforce. Honest dialogues also promote inter-personal relationship. When the leaders are honest in their intention to address the problems of the workers, they are better able to manage their performance. Another vital issue is ensuring that workers are given correct picture of the organizational performance so that they are able to garner workers’ trust. Managers often misread situations and wishfully hope that optimist attitude would improve situations and productivity. When, over a long time, situations do not improve, he not loses his credibility but also the trust of his people. I will be honest with my workers and try to present correct picture of organization’s future. I think, it would encourage employees to apply new vision and wider perspectives on issues so that corrective measures could be applied for improving the overall performance. Accountability of actions is another important work principle that improves quality of work and promotes teamwork. In fact, one of the members of my team had developed the habit of calling sick on Friday to Monday on a regular basis. His long absence had huge adverse impact on the productivity and weekly targets. Despite repeated complaint, manager had delayed taking action against the erring member till after huge loss was discovered by the senior management. The lack of accountability on the parts of colleague as well as that of my supervisor/ manager was highly detrimental to organization performance. It also reflected badly on the rest of the team as we were not able to achieve the defined target. I believe that accountability of one’s action is a vital ingredient of one’s ethical and moral considerations. The cases of Enron and WorldCom are prime examples of lack of accountability and ethics that had seriously corroded the trust of the various stakeholders of the companies. Few people’s unscrupulous conduct had also put at stake the long term credibility of the company which had ultimately led to serious repercussions. I think that Individual’s personal ethics and becoming accountable for one’s action need to be inculcated. In fact, it should become fundamental aspect of personal and professional life and inherent part of work paradigms. A leader with strong sense of responsibility is able to inculcate the same within the workforce for better performance. Hence, being a leader greatly increases one’s responsibility. He not only has to endorse excellent behavior to uphold the integrity of the organization but also the trust of the people who directly or indirectly become the beneficiaries of his or her services. Managerial leadership must constantly display an attitude of responsibility towards its workforce and ensure that they are provided with wider scope of growth in the organization. Workers must be rewarded for their hard work and perseverance. Ciulla, Martin and Solomon also support the concept and state ‘comparative rewards mean a great deal in terms of one`s sense of worth, one`s sense of being appreciated, and one`s sense of being fairly treated’. The contemporary business practice of hiring external workforce is not conducive to the morale of the workers who might be qualified enough for the post for which outsider has been appointed. This is my personal experience. Despite having the qualifications, experience and most importantly the right aptitude for senior managerial position, I was overlooked for the job which was tailor-made for me. Leadership must act more responsibly towards their workers and reward their hard work and performance through in house promotions. I think that managerial leadership ethics become facilitating elements for enhancing self worth of the employees that leads to cohesive outcome. I will ensure that I always work towards the wider welfare of my sub-ordinates who rely on their leaders for their career advancements. Leaders must be committed towards the wider welfare of the people. Commitment to organizational goals and welfare of people should be intrinsic parts of leadership ethics. They inspire and motivate workers towards higher level of ethical conduct and build relationship based on mutual trust and respect. Indeed, they are responsible for advocating and nurturing a high standard of ethics and quality work that promotes interpersonal relationship. Such traits help the leaders to serve as role models and promote social justice and mutual respect amongst the workers and followers. These are important traits that help managerial leadership to resolve workplace conflicts and help inculcate cross cultural understanding within the workforce that comprises of people from which comes from diverse background cutting across race, culture, color and nationality. My previous manager was a case in point who lacked commitment and leadership initiatives so as to amicably resolve workplace conflicts. Indeed, workplace conflicts are mostly external in nature and could be contributed to the differences work ideologies and differing value system within the workforce where people might be coming from diverse backgrounds. Our work environment was often ridden with stress and tension caused largely due to misunderstanding amongst the workers. It was only when the new manager came that workplace tension was significantly reduced because he made it a point to discuss the issue so that problems were sorted out. Happiness is highly constructive and greatly contributes towards improved productivity. Authors asserts that ‘friendship, family life and time to enjoy it, a sense of fulfillment, the respect of one`s neighbors and self-respect besides, the basic comforts of life, good health, and the good things money will buy” (Ciulla, Martin & Soloman, p75). Hence personal goals are designed towards fulfillment of personal desires that lead to happiness. They need to be defined early so that they can be fulfilled through better planned career path. Every year I like to map out my career goals with my manager but do not focus on my personal requirements and goals. Personal and professional goals are complementary and must be considered for overall development of the person. These are significant elements of growth that I would like to take up with my workers and help chart out their personal and professional targets so they are more happy and contented. I believe that all leaders and managers must encourage this practice amongst the people they are working with. Credibility is one of the most essential aspects of leadership that significantly impact his or her followers. Belief in the leaders generates a sense of togetherness, perseverance and positive attitude that is reflected in the increased output and improved performance of the organization. Perseverance and credibility empower the leaders to make decisions based on informed choices. Indeed, a leader, who is constantly learning through different situations and involves the workforce in the decision making process, helps build trust and mutual respect. He also facilitates empowerment of the workers through dissemination of information so that they are able to rationalize their actions and make correct decisions. Worker’s empowerment ensures that they understand the changes and are therefore better equipped to adapt them with higher degree of confidence. In other words, they are able to challenge the very process of change. This also becomes a crucial factor for resolving workplace conflicts. People are better prepared to make rational decisions when they understand the issues. There have been many instances where my supervisor’s misconceived notions regarding issues had let the misunderstandings foster into hot conflicts and dissent. He was unable to make correct decisions due to lack of knowledge and understanding. He also refused to learn from his mistakes. Conflict was resolved when relevant information regarding the issue was disseminated and workers were able to understand the changes that were being introduced within the organizational processes. Understanding and knowledge provides us with wider perspective so that differences can be settled amicably. It is also important that people learn from their mistake. We now have a learning environment whereby we try to improve our work by learning from the mistake of other people and try to introduce new measures to improve the work productivity. These are my main personal leadership perspectives which encompass my values and principles. My leadership is focused towards ethical considerations and provides me with wide scope for my expanding goals vis-a-vis various issues and challenges that have increasingly become part of business dynamics. Various factors like sustainable development, environmental conservation, affirmative actions and accountability are linked to the ethical decision making processes. I intend to include them as part of my ethical code of conduct within my career path. (words: 1751) Reference Ciulla, Joanne, Clancey Martin and Robert Solomon. Honest Work. New York: Oxford, 2011. Read More