Moral Responsibility of a Leader - Research Paper Example

?Moral Responsibility of a Leader Table of Contents 2. Introduction 3. The enormous responsibility of Leadership 4. The history of Ethical recession 5. A Real time example 6. Solutions for the issue 7. Dilemma handling 8. Ethical relationship between entities 9. Conclusion 10. References Abstract The main focus of the paper is Rush Kidder’s concept of “Ethics Recession”. The world population is in a crucial state of shedding all its national identity and maturing into one global village. What started as small family entities and matured into tribal groups and small kingdoms, got united at a larger level under democracy as nations and continents. Intercultural impacts and massive communication facilities are leading us towards next major evolutionary step in human history, the world citizenship. Every individual involved in this process is required to lead an interconnected group in a subtle way. Hence every citizen of the planet is required to hone their leadership abilities like never before. Their leadership quality should be governed by ethics more than personal or group oriented preferences (Schmidt, 2007). But, the way the world works show we are treading in the exact opposite direction. No one ever takes responsibility of any mishap. Rush Kidder pinpoints the lack of this major moral responsibility as “Ethics Recession”. We will discuss the reasons for the situation, its adverse affects and the means to change into better leaders in this paper. Introduction Every moral leader is responsible not only for their actions but also the dealings they could have prevented doing for the welfare of everyone. Huge corporate companies and conglomerations which will lead this technological era should have iron willed leaders capable of choosing the best for both their company as well as the world in general. This is where ethics come is picture. Every good leader considers all the given options and its alternatives before taking any major decision. They analyze the consequences and the emotional impacts that might affect his crew and others in general. They take firm decisions which are profitable to the company and his employees. They also take the moral responsibility for any discomfort caused by this action (Taylor, 2000). They compensate groups or people affected in the required way and convince them to co-operate in the big picture of development, putting aside their personal grievances. This is exactly how moral leaders behaved for centuries. But the question here is ‘Why is there a sudden decline in such effective leadership?’ Every problem the world faces today, from economical recession to, terrorism and infiltration are a result of this lack of moral leadership (Anello, 2006). The US housing bubble, a major reason for the recession is the best example for what lack of work ethics will do. What happened to our modern and moral citizens? Will world citizens be well dressed cannibals eating others opportunities whenever possible? If so is it development or a path to destruction? To find suitable answers to these questions we should first define “Morals” and “Ethics” The Enormous Responsibility of Leadership The word “Value” refers to something of importance. A commodity or a products value is determined based on its importance. Similarly the “Value” of a person is also determined based on his position or status. The decision taken by the ruler or the leader has more “Value” than the decision taken by a normal man. But every leader including the King was expected to follow some moral conducts known as “ethics” to maintain this “value” or their position in the ancient world. When the mob refused to follow its ethics, dictators arouse. When Kings failed to add “Value” to their decisions through non ethical conduct, the church condemned them and revolutions arouse. The higher the position is the necessity to follow the code of conduct or ethics increases. Hence most of the nobles, church dignitaries and Kings were given the best of moral education. But, in the modern democratic system, society and religion have very little place in inflicting ethical codes. Every person is taught only technology. They learn to survive with the skill they acquire. Leaders are no more blessed ones or chosen by divine power. They are simple people drawing their ethical code from the society they grow in and the culture the family brings them up combined with their conscience acts (Weber, 1956). “We have emptied 'morality' of meaning and thus live in a physical and moral geography of nowhere” says Wolgast. The history of this ethical recession had its seed sown way back during the industrial revolution. The History of Ethical Recession Gone are the days the King and the church punctuated the ethical values. With the advent of industrial revolution, money started to accumulate in huge corporate firms instead of individuals and the kings. The massive political changes in the 19th and the 20th century lead to power shifts from one person to huge political parties and the corporate conglomerates. An ideal ‘leader’ no longer had royal birth, great education or noble principles. In the 21st century the leader no longer needs to lead wars, sacrifice his well being or work tirelessly for the welfare of his clan. The leader in the current situation is a person who acts as a mediator between the top management and the people working under him. The decline of the moral obligation towards the fellow men makes leaders indifferent to the position they are holding. In earlier days the king had a counsel, the church would condemn him if he goes beyond religious limits and there were defined rules as to which is right and wrong. With no such cultural or religious obligation the leaders have merely reduced powers. The invisible corporate wheel doesn’t demand much from a leader and doesn’t allow any leader to act independently beyond a certain limit. The globalization policies, political system, business everything forms an important part of this invisible wheel. The employee is answerable to the MD who in turn answers the CEO who in turn answers the board of directors. The wheel continues on and on with no end. If there is a problem, each person can pass on the responsibility to others umpteen number of times. So who is the actual leader? The answer is everybody. Every person has a certain level of responsibility in any mishap or successful event. Everyone is a leader by himself (Hunter, 2010). The modern world and the management systems divide leadership responsibilities equally between every person associated with the task. But, sadly none of us understand the importance of our role. We are too busy thinking about the personal benefits we could get from the job like loans, increment and promotion etc, we fail to notice the importance of our job, no matter how small it is. This lack of morals or ethics among the common man every leader is the root cause of several modern day issues. A Real Time Example Indian poet named Bharathiyar quoted in one of his famous works “every citizen of this nation is its rulers”. His words are coming true with the massive technological growth. Let us see how every person becomes a leadership force with an example. The US government has authorized large oil drilling in the arctic regions by the Shell Company. Drilling in Arctic might prove valuable to the Shell. But considering the general interest of the world, the move might prove disastrous. The major parties involved in the process are 1. The politicians who licensed the project 2. The company engineers who refuse to acknowledge the danger 3. The media which underexposes the importance of the issue and 4. The end consumers who purchase the company’s product All the four groups involved in this process are the leaders controlling the same action in their own perspective. Have any one leader shown proper ethical responsibility, this severe environment vacating task wouldn’t have been initialized. Lack of ethics and the refusal to take moral responsibility are the major issues endangering the humanity in this crucial situation. The act of one company or one person signing the deal affects the world in general as the adverse effects as well as profitable benefits are shared by all the world citizens. Every moral leader is and should be aware all his decisions have consequences and they must take decisions keeping the interest of everybody concerned in their mind (Greenfield, 2004). Solutions for the Issue Every leader or every person should try and live up to his responsibilities as best as his position allows. Thomas Hobbes defined people who spoke for others as "Feigned people". He enquires whether this artificial person will be capable of holding any actual responsibility during problems. Most of the corporate leaders serve as feigned personalities in the present world. When there was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the British Petroleum corporations CEO stated he was not a member in the decision making board of that oil well. By saying so he put the blame entirely on others. The future leaders should avoid doing such deceitful acts at any cost. They should concentrate on taking proper decisions to avoid massive issues in the later period. While the million dollar salaried software engineered sweats to protect the businesses data through programming, the peon should make sure no stranger enters or leave the office cabins to ensure physical security. Each one of them is a leader by himself. Talking about taking decisions, Darrell Young defines how a good leader should be in five points. 1. Every leader should understand he has no one to follow. If a change is necessary each person should take steps to bring about change. 2. Leadership isn’t a quality acquired by birth or through a degree. It is an ongoing process which lasts for a life time. Commitment to stay alert in every step taken is the first important step to become a leader. 3. Whenever a leader is expected to take any decision he should analyze it ethically and see what adverse effects it will inflict upon fellow human beings. 4. If necessary the leader should be ready to pay his position as the price for his ethical decisions. Honesty is the most expected quality from him (Kouzes, 2002). 5. Character and the welfare of the people should be the foundation of any decision taken, rather than any personal or management preferences. If every leader gives importance to these five points, the corporate world would be a much better place to sustain. Here is a quote on leadership said by H. Darrell Young. Dilemma Handling The most important issue every leader faces in his life is decision making. No matter however well his character is groomed, lots of intellectual work is necessary to take a decision which will satisfy the management as well as the workers and the world in general. This is where Group thinking comes into practice. To avoid such situations Janis suggests the policy of groupthink. The leader who is responsible to take important actions should discuss it in detail with his subordinates and all other people concerned. The group should consist of individual intellectuals as well as experts in the field they are dealing with. When groupthink process is in function, there will be lots of conflicts too. A minority of the group might not agree to the majorities decisions. The conflict handling process should be handled in a matured and creative way (Gray, 1984). Many high lever groupthinks in corporate worlds do not allow conflicts to occur at all. The leader heading the group should use the conflicts to keep him informed and analyze the second person view of the issue. The leader should focus mainly on these points during the group decision 1. Is the leader informed about the adverse effects the project will cause to all parties thoroughly? 2. If the conflict arises, what is the reason and does it contrast the information given to the leader? 3. What are the tangible gains and losses for the company by implementing this deal? 4. Who are the direct and indirect third parties being affected through the project? 5. Will the net profit of the project do more good to the world in general than the harm it causes? If the leader is not able to answer any one of the questions properly, additional suitable means to analyze the problem further should be sought. Further steps to progress the project shouldn’t be taken unless the answers for these questions are cleared. Ethical Relationship between Entities Most of the leaders do not give importance to gather as much information as possible in the planning state. This is known as predictable irrationality by many experts. Analyzing the adverse effects of the project on different parties is a concept overseen by most of the project managers. They just consider their own progress and the power they will gain by finishing the project successfully. This narrow approach towards one’s own wellness is known as dogmatic ideology (Himmelfarb, 1994). The reason for this approach is the lack of the ethical and moral educations as well as the bifurcation of the society. Most of the individuals a person sees around them are different people inside and show another face to the society. The inner conscience fights with the ingrained ethics as to how much should a person compromise to play the different roles of a life. For example a software engineer who is in dire need of money to marry his girlfriend might be lured to infringe the security data of the company. Similarly a peon who should pay the school fees for his son might be forced to let in an intruder for a small amount. How does a modern man cope up with such situations? Each person should act as their own leaders. Every man should think about such situations in terms of relationship. The ethical relationship a person has with the company and the personal relationship he has with the lover and the son contrasts directly. A good leader does should not allow the pressure of the situation to alter their self confidence and their general caring for the others. Accepting the money might fulfill the lover and the father characters. But failing in all other characters will lead to adverse effects affecting the very lover and the son if the company is closed due to loss caused by security breach. Several other people who the leader cares will also be affected. If a person is not able to maintain an ethical relationship with one Entity Company, in the long run they will fail to maintain a proper relationship with others like the lover and the son as well. It is just a matter of how vulnerable a person’s inner character is. Here are the six basic principles of a good leader suggested by Hester. Let us analyze these in terms of the situation given above. 1. A good leader should give importance to taking care of all others around him instead of concentrating his own needs. – Should avoid getting corrupt 2. The leader should be confident and have enough self respect. He shouldn’t give up his character or ethical conduct of the sake of threats, positional or monetary benefits. – Should be confident he can solve his own issues. Shouldn’t let the love for others weaken the inner strength. 3. Changes should be bought around the organization or in a plan using creative and intellectual methods, rather than using power to suppress conflict. – should think of alternate ways to impress lover or finding funding for the child for another source 4. The leader should recognize the importance of every worker he is involved with – shouldn’t take decisions seriously affecting the co workers like breaching security. 5. He should stay positive in the grimmest situations, influencing and encouraging his workers to deliver the best and come up with new ideas. – can seek the advice of others in tackling the situation. He might even show up the person persuading him to cheat, to the company authorities earning a gain in salary. 6. He should allow people to take part in major decisions like planning and decision making. Though the final judgment lies in the hand of the leader, everyone should get a chance to influence the same. – Should involve the lover and the son in the situation to get practical ideas from them. Conclusion The modern world has redefined every ethics a person possesses. A Hobbes suggested finding a man who speaks for others and acts keeping the general welfare of everybody in mind are becoming more and more fictional. If the situation is to change from worse to better than bad to worse, everyone should take up the responsibility of acting according to their value quo. It is quite hard to stay dressed up in a naked crowd. They will use their full strength to pull out your attire. But, if you hang on or continue to robe yourself constantly, some others will start to follow you. It will turn into a chain reaction in a short period of time. The strength to surpass the initial difficulties is within oneself. References 1. Anello, E. (2006). The Capabilities of Moral Leadership. Panchgani: Bahai Academy 2. Gray, J. & F. A. Starke (1984). Organizational behavior. London: Longman Higher Education 3. Greenfield, W. D., Jr. (2004). Moral leadership in schools. Journal of Educational Administration. Retrieved September 21, 2012 from the Self Growth Website http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/are_there_moral_responsibilites_to_leading 4. Hobbes, T.b & A. P. Martinich (1651). Leviathan Parts I and II. New York: Broadview Press. 5. Hester, J. & Killian, D. (2011). The Leader as Moral Agent: Praise, Blame, And The Artificial Person. The Journal of Value Based Leadership. Retrieved September 21, 2012 from JVBL website http://www.valuesbasedleadershipjournal.com/issues/vol4issue1/leader_moralagent.php 6. Janis, I. (1983). Groupthink. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 7. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: Josey-Bass. 8. Kidder, R. M. (2009). The ethics recession. Rockland, ME: Institute for Goble Ethics. 9. Schmidt, D (2007). What is a business leader's moral responsibility? Retrieved September 21, 2012 from the Network World website http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/091207-what-is-a-business-leaders.html 10. Taylor, S. E., L. A. Peplau, & D. O. Spears (2000). Social psychology. NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 11. Young, H. & J. Hester (2004). Leadership under construction. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. Read More