Ethical Leadership Influence on Employee Voice in Non-Profit Organizations in America - Research Paper Example

Critically Appraised Topic Sada H Jaman UMUC DMGT 600 3/11/15 Ethical Leadership Influence on Employee Voice in Non-Profit Organizations in America The last 10 to 20 years have mostly been plagued by an escalating supply of moral meltdowns of organizations in the non-profit sector. Misconduct from organizational leaders continues to receive a lot of attention, probably because the errors made are costly and not easily forgotten. Consider the ethical issues in a non-profit organization such as EduCap Inc, which specializes with student loan charities. Most Americans know that the non-profitable organizations are there for the purpose of benefiting the public. However, a few years ago, EduCap Inc, abused its status as a tax exempted organization and charged excessive interest on student loans. The CEO was also accused of using $31 million to acquire a private jet. These and a host of other problems from the corporate world have been around for long and the result is the reduced employee performance because they do not trust their leaders. This is why leaders from non-profit organizations have the obligation of demonstrating that they are accountable, honest and respectful. Based on the research findings, it seems that only through ethical leadership can charitable organizations in America maintain the trust from the public. To understand the importance of ethical leadership, it is imperative to know how this type of leadership influences employees’ voice in non-profit organizations in America. Research Question: How does ethical leadership influence employee voice in non-profit organizations in America? CIMO a) Context/ The employees: Employees in non-profit organizations in America who are under the supervision of the manager. b) The Interventions: Ethical leadership style compared with other styles of leadership in non-profit organizations in America. c) Study Mechanisms: Comparative studies of any study mechanisms examining if leaders in different non-profit organizations in America behave in an ethical manner and their influence on employee freedom. d) The outcome: Employee creativity is an outcome of employees in America having ethical leadership. Search Strategy In the UMUC Library OneSearch box on the librarys home page, I entered the following searches: "ethical leadership" AND (employee OR voice AND effective* "ethical leadership" AND (employee OR voice AND non-profit* "ethical leadership" AND employee voice. On the left-hand side of the search results page, I selected the box next to the Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) journals limiter and updated my results. In some cases, I was able to find the journal articles. However, in some cases, I was not able to obtain the full text of the article. To obtain the full text of the article, I first clicked on the Find It tab button in the articles record. By doing this, I was directed to the Find It window that indicates that the full-text article was not available from any of the UMUC librarys databases. Nonetheless, it meant that I could use the Librarys DocumentExpress service to request a PDF. While I started synthesizing the evidences from the searches, I explored evidences based on Evidence-Based management’s suggestion (2014), which involves asking, acquiring, appraising, aggregating, applying, and assessing. I did this with the aim of enhancing the chance to support my research context and get the evidence that could answer my research question (Barends et.al, 2014). Discussion/ Article Evaluation In the article by De Hoogh and Den Hartog, published in year 2008, the rationale behind the study was to establish the relationship between a leader’s ethical leadership behaviors and its impact on subordinates’ optimism and team effectiveness. The researchers came up with two hypotheses showing that ethical leadership was positively related to a leader’s social responsibility. The sample used included 73 Chief Executive Officers from different organizations and 249 subordinates (De Hoogh and Den Hartog, 2008). While the total group shows it is a good sample size, the number of CEOs was not equal to that of the subordinates. It was also evident from the study that the response rate from this sample was low. A larger sample size for the two categories would have helped the researchers in analyzing their data, particularly when it came to establishing the level of optimism among the subordinates when the leaders were ethical. After a detailed introduction and background review of employee voice, Avey, Wernsing & Palanski turned their attention to the key focus of their 2012 study. The researchers wanted to determine if there is a link between ethical leadership and job satisfaction in employees. The researchers conducted the interview on 1319 participants. The researchers came up with six hypotheses. The hypotheses established that ethical leadership is positively related to employee voice, employee psychological ownership, well-being and job satisfaction. In addition, the data in the study shows that the employees gave their perceptions of their employees. This made the process of collecting data easier and faster. However, the power of this study should be increased by getting more data from other sources which were not entirely based on employee perceptions. In Brower and Shrader’s study published in 2000, the purpose was to examine the differences that affect the board members’ moral reasoning and the ethical climate in the non-profit and profit sectors. The sample size consisted of 7 non-profit organizations and 6 non-profit organizations which were located in the Midwestern pats of U.S (Brower & Shrader, 2000). Such a sample size might have been liable to bias since the researcher obtained data from only one side of America. Perhaps obtaining data from other organizations located in other parts of the U.S might have given more data regarding the differences between the non-profit and for profit directors in different organizations. Den Hartog, and De Hoogh’s purpose of their 2009 study was to establish the relationship of two forms of ethical leadership behavior perceived as fairness, empowering behavior and integrity. After conducting their study, Den Hartog and De Hoogh (2009) established three hypotheses. The three hypotheses accepted that perceived fairness, integrity and ethical leadership behavior and outcome variables reflect on individual difference. The sample size of the study also shows there were 503 employees (Den Hartog and De Hoogh, 2009). The advantage is that the researchers retrieved their information from a large sample, which consisted of participants with different levels of education. Therefore, the study was not prone to bias because the researchers obtained the views of participants with different levels of educational and work experience. Jordan, Brown, Treviño and Finkelstein’s aim of their 2011 study was to determine if the subordinate perception of ethical leadership was dependent on their leader’s cognitive moral development and the relationship between them. The data in this study was collected from 143 senior executives from different organizations (Jordan, Brown, Treviño & Finkelstein, 2011). Even though the sample size consisted of participants from different organizations, the study was still prone to bias. The data collected was only based on the views of people from the top levels of the management. This suggests that the researchers only obtained information from certain groups and left out the lower level employees. A sample size that also included other lower level employees would have assisted the researchers in coming up with conclusive findings on ethical leadership and employee voice. In the study by McMurray, Sarros, Pirola-Merlo and Islam (2012), the purpose was to determine the impact that leadership had on the performance of workgroups in non-profit organizations. From the four hypotheses established by the researchers, it was evident that in non-profit organizations, the type of leadership used in the non-profit organizations was the key variable to effective functioning of workgroups. Though the researchers used some of the best techniques to collect data, such as the use of questionnaires, the sample size used was too small because they were 43 employees (McMurray, Sarros, Pirola-Merlo & Islam, 2012). It was also liable to bias since they were all from one organization. To avoid study bias, the researchers should have interviewed more employees from other non-profit organization. In the Neubert and Robert’s article, written in 2013, the intent is to determine the impact of ethical leadership on the mindsets, commitment and behavior of employees. This scholarly article presents its research focuses on several hypotheses which establish that ethical leadership shapes the attitudes and behavior of employees. Though some of the articles used as literature review for the study are useful and likely to be at the libraries, other articles published in the 1990s are out of date. The sample size also included 250 employees from one organization which was a good sample size (Neubert and Robert, 2013). In the study by Piccolo et al. (2010) the purpose of the study was shown that ethical leadership has a positive influence on employee performance and opinions. Based on the hypotheses from the researchers, it is evident that they considered that ethical leadership is the key link between job performance among employees and getting the employees to work. The sample size comprised of 174 junior and senior undergraduate students (Piccolo et al., 2010). Based on this information, it is evident that the researchers did not collect data from a single source. In the article by Schaubroeck et al. (2012) the purpose of the study was to explain if ethical leadership and culture in an organization have an influence on the behavior and ethical cognitions of the lower level followers. The findings obtained by the researchers demonstrate that follower ethical behavior and cognitions emerge as a result of the influence they get from their leaders (Schaubroeck et al., 2012). Nonetheless, the researchers demonstrate lack of bias stemming from their use of 2,572 army soldiers from different small sized quads in America. Walumbwa and Schaubroeck’s 2009 study examined if follower’s voice behavior could be influenced the ethical leadership traits exhibited by their immediate supervisors. When discussing the six hypotheses in their study, the researchers established that the extent in which employees perceive their leaders as ethical was largely influenced by leaders themselves. In addition, their use of up-to date outside sources makes their hypotheses stronger. Conclusion The theory and evidence presented shows that ethical leadership appears to have a great impact on employee views and behavior. This is because ethical leaders are supportive when it comes to establishing an environment where followers feel free to identify the opportunities and problems that affect them. As suggested by Neubert, Wu and Roberts (2013) on page 273, ethical leadership in particular is distinct from other forms of leadership because it has more potential to positively influence work outcomes. It is also imperative that one of the best ways of promoting effective employee voice in non-profit organizations in America would be for leaders to practice ethical leadership. Moreover, it is evident that when the decisions that leaders make is ethical but not perceived by the followers, the potential benefits of such leadership becomes undermined. In such as case, the ethical reputations of the leaders suffer because employees discover genuine ethical leaders from those who are not. Although the studies addressed different aspects of employee voice and behavior in different non-profit organizations, taken together, they imply that ethical leadership brings the employees in these organizations together. Clearly, this shows that the non-profit organizations have to always invent ways that help them to deal with issues that arise when leaders embrace ethical leadership. Limitations Out of all the ten studies, two which include Den Hartog and De Hoogh (2009) and Avey, Wernsing and Palanski (2012) were not surveys, while the other eight remaining studies were surveys. Though the article by Avey, Wernsing and Palanski (2012) on experimental research design has more information on employee voice than other articles, the study conducted still shows there was a limitation. The study design used was not based on true experimental research where all the participants had the chance to get assigned to conditions that were randomly selected. This study also focused primarily on the individual perceptions of the participants and not on the data. This may have contributed to results that might have a foundation based on liberal views, rather than results based on data results. Most of the studies were not based on outcome measures that could reduce chances of bias because they were reliant on individual perceptions on how ethical leadership influences employee voice. In addition, most studies also concentrated on using questionnaires to get the data. Data was also collected from one single source for most of the studies, which makes the chances of bias significantly higher than if there were multiple sources used. For example, seven out of the ten studies had researchers getting evidence from single sources. These studies included Avey, Wernsing & Palanski (2012), Brower & Shrader (2000), Den Hartog & De Hoogh (2009) De Hoogh & Den Hartog (2008), Jordan et al., (2011), McMurray, et al., (2012) and Schaubroeck et al., (2012). For those that had multiple sources of data such as De Hoogh & Den Hartog (2008) study the response rates from the participants were low. In addition, it was in this same study that the participants may have been biased because they became consistent in their responses. Like most studies conducted on leadership topics, these studies also focused on the responses they received from questionnaires. Therefore, coming up with valid findings on what most employees view as ethical in a leader or their leaders may become very difficult. Recommendation Considering the limitations in the studies presented above, future management teams should interpret the findings cautiously. First, the underlying directions of the relationship examined between ethical leadership and employee voice may not have been clearly determined in some studies that focused more on performance of employees and not their voice. Therefore, future management teams using these study findings for research need to assess the effect of ethical leadership on employee voice by getting researchers to employ different research designs such as the use of longitudinal design where there are more variables used. Second, some of the measures used in the studies, were highly likely to lead to biased findings such as the individual’s desirability of ethical leadership traits in their leaders. Therefore, to reduce relying on reports based on employee perception from other organizations, management teams from non-profit organizations need to focus on the ratings given by the scale items used in most studies. Future management teams may still benefit from using self-assessments tests which they should carry out in their organizations and then check if their subordinates agree with them in their result ratings. Ethical leaders are usually seen as people who have a broad ethical awareness for all the stakeholders in an organization who also include the employees. Thus, leaders have to create or come up with an ethical work environment for all the employees. To get employees who have a positive attitude towards work and change, leaders should not only strive to create an ethical environment, but should ensure that they communicate ethical issues or mechanisms that help in developing an employee. Management teams who rely on studies such as these should also consider developing shared conversations or ideas regarding how to promote ethical leadership in their organizations. For example, it would be helpful to have meetings that challenge the management members to determine whether the organization is living according to the required ethical values. Management teams should also provide their employees with an opportunity to speak up, even though employees may not say what they think. It is also recommended that management teams should ensure that employees do not get the idea that they are trying to deceive them by being interested in their opinions on work related issues instead of actually making considering the issues that employees have. In future, to prolifically achieve their goals as ethical leaders, members of the management team need to have an ethical climate that facilitates ethical behavior among employees. References Avey, J., Wernsing, T., & Palanski, M. (2012). Exploring the process of ethical leadership: The mediating role of employee voice and psychological ownership. Journal of Business Ethic, 107(1), 21-34. doi: 10.1007/s10551-012-1298-2 Barends. E., Rousseau, D. M., & Briner, R. B (2014). Evidence-Based management: The Basic Principles. Amsterdam: Center for Evidence – Based Management. Brower, H., & Shrader, C. (2000). Moral reasoning and ethical climate: Not-for-profit vs. for-profit boards of directors. Journal of Business Ethics, 26:147-167. De Hoogh, A. B, & Den Hartog, D.N. (2008). Ethical and despotic leadership, relationships with leaders social responsibility, top management team effectiveness and subordinates optimism: A multi-method study. Leadership Quarterly Journal, (19), 297–311. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.03.002 Den Hartog, D. N., & De Hoogh, A. B. (2009). Empowering behavior and leader fairness and integrity: Studying perceptions of ethical leader behavior from a levels-of-analysis perspective. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 18(2), 199-230. doi:10.1080/13594320802362688 Jordan, J., Brown, M., Treviño, L., & Finkelstein, S. (2011). Someone to look up to executive–follower ethical reasoning and perceptions of ethical leadership. Journal of Management, 43: 3-24. doi: 10.1177/0149206311398136 McMurray, A., Sarros, J., Pirola-Merlo, A., & Islam, M. (2012). The impact of leadership on workgroup climate and performance in a non-profit organization. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 33(6), 522 - 549. doi: 10.1108/01437731211253000 Neubert, M. J., Wu, C., & Roberts, J. A. (2013). The Influence of Ethical Leadership and Regulatory Focus on Employee Outcomes. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23(2), 269-296. doi:10.5840/beq201323217 Piccolo, R. F., Greenbaum, R., Hartog, D. d., & Folger, R. (2010). The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(2/3), 259-278. doi: 10.1002/job.627 Schaubroeck, J., Hannah, S., Avolio, B., Kozlowski, S., Lord, R., Treviño, L., Dimotakis, N., & Peng, A. (2012). Embedding ethical leadership within and across organization levels. Academy Management Journal, 55(5), 1053–1078. doi: 10.5465/amj.2011.0064 Walumbwa, F. O., & Schaubroeck, J. (2009). Leader personality traits and employee voice behavior: Mediating roles of ethical leadership and work group psychological safety. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1275-1 doi: 10.1037/a0015848 Appendix Table showing the Results of all Studies Author & Date Population/type of organization Design Measures Outcomes Comments/ Limitations Den Hartog, & De Hoogh (2009) 503 employees from 79 work group Survey and case study -Leader behavior scales Questionnaires and -Employee perception -The findings support the hypotheses that ethical leadership empowers employee behavior. - It also correlates higher employee commitment -Study based on single source data prone to bias (the subordinates) Avey, Wernsing & Palanski (2012) 1319 participants from multiple organizations Experimental research -Use of a response scale for survey items -Survey items subjected to a confirmatory M-plus software -Findings support the hypotheses that ethical leadership promotes employee well-being -Employee voice brings a strong relationship between ethical leadership and psychological well-being. -Study used data from a single source (employee perception) -Heavy reliance on survey scale instruments Neubert, Wu & Roberts (2013) 250 employees from one organization Survey -Likert scale used to create composite measures of all variables -Items were coded to check the highest levels -Findings support the hypotheses that ethical leadership promotes extra-role voice in employees -There was a relationship between ethical leadership and outcome variables -Study subject to bias because of individual differences influencing decisions -Co-workers chosen may not have had the exposure required to make an accurate rating on job performance Piccolo, Greenbaum, Hartog and Folger (2010) -174 junior & senior level undergraduate students -107 masters business administration students Survey -Use of the 7-pont Likert-type scale -Student perception -All the 5 hypotheses show that there is a positive correlation between ethical leadership and job effort -To avoid bas from a single source, primary participants were used who could also have been biased -Co-workers may not have had the exposure necessary for rating job performance -Design used leaves the possibility of causality Walumbwa & Schaubroeck (2009) -894 employees and 222 supervisors from major financial institutions Survey Use of a 5-item scale to measure personal traits agreeability and conscientiousness and neuroticism -Employee perception -Findings showed that employee voice is not related to neuroticism, conscientiousness and agreeability -Ethical leadership relates positively with conscientiousness, agreeability and other forms of positive employee voice behavior -Study did not take into consideration that day-to-day contact between leaders and employees makes it hard to promote ethical leadership -Study relied on questionnaires which make it impossible to establish definitive inferences on internal validity Brower & Shrader (2000) 7 non-profit organizations & 6 for profit organizations Survey -Use of defining issues test -Member expectation about board members & their decision making -Hypotheses shows that individual ethics were did not have a major impact on non-profit organizations like the ethical decisions made by ethical training directors. -Moral reasoning is reflective -Study relied on small, regional samples to get information -All participating companies are located in the Midwestern parts of U.S hence liable to bias because data is from one side of U.S -Sample diverse in composition McMurray, Sarros, Pirola-Merlo & Islam (2012) 43 employees from different organizational departments Survey -Use of a transformational leadership scale -Workgroup perceptions -Findings show that the type of leadership used by managers in organizations have an impact on performance and climate of workgroups in nonprofit organizations -Data collected from one non-profit organization at one point in time hence liable to bias Jordan, Brown, Treviño & Finkelstein (2011) 143 senior executives participating in university programs Survey -Employee perception -5-point Likert-type scale -The findings in all the hypotheses showed that leaders thought employees perceived them as weak if their ethical leadership skills were lacking -Positive divergence from employees was associated with high views on ethical leadership - All leaders were taken from one level as leaders which may have had an impact on their views as highly aspiring individuals Schaubroeck et al. (2012) 2,572 U.S army soldiers Survey -Use of questionnaires to randomly selected members -Outcome variables reported by squad members -Findings showed that the moral efficacy of soldiers and the reports they gave were influenced by the moral agency in the organization. -Platoon and squad ethical culture was also influenced by those leading them -Use of small sizes of squad members De Hoogh & Den Hartog (2008) 73 CEO from different organization interviewed -249 subordinates Survey -Use of interviews to determine social responsibility scores -Use of questionnaires to gather survey data -The findings showed that CEOs in non-profit organizations exhibited ethical leadership traits in their power sharing deals -Findings showed that ethical leadership is critical in having employees who make reports and work effectively -There was a low rate of response from the participants - The sample size was larger of some groups was larger than other samples. Respondents were trying to show that they were consistent in their responses Read More