M5A2 - Leadership and Ethics - Essay Example

Additionally, Clarke’s roles throughout his career reflect that he had a strong tendency for management rather than as a technical person. Clarke shifted from commercial and marketing positions to the head of stores which had little relevance to his previous positions. Similarly, he later moved from Supply Chain Director to IT Director. Both positions have little in common so it could be surmised that Clarke is more of a manager than a technical person who would be restricted to one field of expertise in TESCO.

Moreover, it must also be related that Clarke has been moved around the world when TESCO required solutions to grave problems so Clarke can be seen as an adept manager, especially under pressure. Clarke’s role as a leader is confirmed most after talking to his subordinates. All of the people interviewed, at TESCO, viewed Clarke as an able leader such that they looked up to his example. Moreover, Clarke can be seen as a direction setter for TESCO given that TESCO has switched gears after Clarke took over as Group Chief Executive. 2. Describe the ethical model or framework used by the person to make ethical decisions—include the positives and negatives of your chosen leader's ethical model.

Clarke can be seen as using a managerial grid leadership model for taking ethical decisions. The use of the managerial grid leadership model is augmented by the situational theory of leadership where the leader evaluates a situation in order to provide the decision (McKee & Carlson, 1999). The managerial grid model provides for two major constraints that the leader must consider – labour satisfaction and productivity. In addition to these major constraints, the leader may also be considering other smaller constraints such as public image, accountability, legal implications etc.

The leader utilising the managerial grid model for ethical decision making tends to evaluate the provided situation in terms of the constraints in the situation (Griffin & Ebert, 2010). The primary aim of the leader is to optimise all available constraints in respect to each other such that no singular constraint overrides any other constraint. It must be kept in mind that labour satisfaction and productivity will operate as primary constraints while other constraints play secondary and tertiary roles only.

This particular model of ethical decision making is restricted to Philip Clarke, Group Chief Executive for TESCO only since other managerial grid leadership models would have personalised primary, secondary and tertiary constraints being considered. The managerial grid leadership model for ethical decision making has the distinct advantage of optimising organisational aims and objectives achievement. This takes place as the ethical decision making process optimises inputs for Theory Y under which labour satisfaction is maximised in order to maximise productivity (Griffin & Ebert, 2010).

Essentially, as labour satisfaction increases, the achievement of organisational aims and objectives becomes easier and simpler but it remains to be seen what direction organisational aims and objectives lie in. Given the nature of economic enterprises, it is common to find productivity at the top of the organisational aims and objectives list but other secondary and tertiary factors may also be available such as safety, ethical practices, corporate social responsibility etc. (Ray,