Contemporary Ethical Challenges and Leadership - Essay Example

? Number] Contemporary Ethical challenges and Leadership Ethics is a discipline of philosophy that outlines the right and the wrong moral conduct. It is a study of the moral behaviour of individuals and sets out a code of conduct as to how humans should act in a given situation. Contemporary ethics links the basic ideology of ethics with various other disciples of philosophy. Global dynamics have changed over the years. The way people think and behave, their sense of right and wrong, their views on the good and the bad, all of this has changed over time. Things which people perceived as wrong in the past are now viewed as tolerable and acceptable. This change in the way people think has brought about numerous challenges which leaders have to face. Moral behaviour was initially judged on the basis of religious teachings. Irrespective of which religion an individual belonged to, the human life was focused on the religious teachings. However with the passage of time, the human focus has shifted from religion. With secular societies and nations being on the rise, religion is not viewed as the fundamental basis of how one should act. Consequently, the error theory and the meta-ethics have developed over time. In the present times, age old principles are not used as the basis of governing a situation. Be it an issue in economy or a problem faced in the business, people consider the present situation and weigh their pros and cons before terming an action as either ethical or unethical. It is believed that times have changed so immensely, that the age old principles do not apply any longer to the issues faced by the people today (Mackie, 110). In a world, where people often do not abide by the rules of religion, it is very important for national leaders to be ethical. Similarly it is very important for business leaders and the executive managers to be ethical. Businesses are run on the basis of trust and ethics. An increasing number of business schools now teach philosophy and ethics as a part of their curriculum so as to avoid their graduates from following prey to scandals and breach of ethics in the real world (Fulmer, 308). The ethics of leadership have been analyzed time and again using the disciplines of science and humanities. While scientific scholars aim at providing people with descriptions and explanations, the humanities scholars deliver an understanding of the topic (Ciulla, 304). Every leader has to face his personal set of ethical challenges. These challenges may differ from one leader to another. In the case of national leaders, there are situations where their moral luck is to be blamed. Certain leaders are not unethical, but the situations that they have to face might lead them to make certain decisions which may look immoral. The decisions which leaders have to make on a daily basis are very sensitive and risky. At times they do not have complete information or may lack the time to gather the required information. When it comes to national decisions, leaders may often have to opt for a strategy which will cause the least amount of damage, but will cause damage nonetheless. Kant’s argument holds true in these situations. The argument was that since humans cannot guarantee the results of their actions, the judgments should be based on the right principles which a certain individual follows and not on the outcome (Ciulla, 309). The business scenario today is changing almost too rapidly. In such situations leaders have to be constantly on their toes, in order to keep themselves updated and be a step ahead of their competitors. Every business leader has numerous stakeholders to think about when making a decision. Every single decision made by the CEO of a company affects either the employees, vendors, consumers and shareholders or in certain cases all of them. Numerous companies today operate globally. They are not owned by a single person or family, but are publically owned companies. Multinationals like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson are good examples. Leaders in these companies are constantly faced with ethical dilemma or either increasing their own wealth or making decisions which will benefit the organization as a whole. Similarly manufacturing companies face the ethical dilemma of harming the environment as a result of their manufacturing practices. To overcome these challenges it is very important for leaders to take into account the changing business dynamics. They should be able to recognize these threats and deal with them in such a way that they are transformed into opportunities (George et al, 5). The situation stated above was just an example of how leaders in business have to face ethical dilemmas and make decisions which they think are for the best. Most of the decisions made by leaders are informed decisions. However, there can be certain times when the decisions to be made are time sensitive hence, the leaders have to rely on their experience and intuition rather than the facts and figures. A leader’s ethics and morality are questioned and judged the most in these situations. There are many recent examples which emphasize the need of an ethical leader. Advancements in technology have led to a rise in situations where leaders need to act ethically. Companies in America have made numerous unethical decisions over the years. Some of the most famous ones are the Nutri-system & Jenny Craig false advertising, Enron’s fraud accounting schemes, Morgan Stanley’s mutual fund abuses and Bernard Madoff’s fraudulent investor scheme. Such instances are also common in the world of sports. In addition to this, leaders of countries are also blamed often for their unethical behaviour (Mullane, 1). Ethical behaviour depends on the values of an individual. A leader who has strong morals will not resort to unethical behaviour. However, then why is it that unethical behaviour is so common in all walks of life? Why do leaders, being in their positions of authority, resort to unethical behaviour which can cause them a great deal of harm? Ethical dilemmas fall into two category. The first is the “right versus wrong” ethical dilemma. Such dilemmas occur when moral values have been violated. These issues are common in instances where people are dishonest and ignore their ethical values. Such situations are simple cases of right against wrong. The second type of ethical dilemma is more complex and troublesome. It is the “right vs. right” dilemma. There are numerous times when leaders have two options to choose form. Both of these options are supported by strong arguments, but still one has to be chosen. In such cases no moral values are ignored and no ethical standards are violated. The decisions are made based on what is best for a larger number of people given the handful of resources present. Leaders often come under fire because the decisions they take might not affect everybody positively. They may put a crunch on certain people and may be profitable for certain people (Mullane 3). The Deontological theories go on to explain how ethics can lead to an effective leadership. According to this theory moral intentions only are relevant to an act. As long as a leader is fulfilling his moral duty towards a nation, that leader is acting ethically. The teological theory states quite the opposite. This theory says that a leader is ethical only when his actions bring about something which is ethically right, the result matters and not the leaders’ intentions or actions. Owing to these different views, judging leaders can become quite troublesome. There are leaders who may not be very ethical. But they follow the teological theories and their actions bring about results which provide the greater good. These leaders work towards the betterment of their subjects, but even then their being unethical can cause problems for them. Similarly very ethical leaders may take decisions based on their moral values. These decisions may not often come across as ethical either because the result obtained might be different from the one desired or because of some situational factor beyond the leader’s control. This in itself can prove to be a dilemma for the leaders (Ciulla, 312). In spite of the numerous challenges leaders face worldwide, they try their best to be ethical and to be true to the role they have been given. Leaders are given the responsibility of leading their organizations and countries towards success. It is up to them to lead their people on the right path so that they may be successful as a complete unit and not just individually. It is important for leaders to have certain traits and follow certain rules so that they can be successful in their roles. Ethical leaders bring all of the people together, who work under them, so that they all may work collectively towards a common goal. Politicians are known for making high promises at the time of their campaign, however once they are in power those promises are long forgotten. Third world countries and their politicians are renowned examples of unethical conducts as they act according to their personal benefit rather than the benefit of the whole nation. African states, Burma, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Guinea, Pakistan and many others are top corrupted states in terms of their national leaders. As humans, these leaders are bound to make mistakes. But rather than resorting to immoral means to hide those mistakes from the public, it is better to publically accept them and apologize (Freeman & Stewart, 3). Once in power, leaders focus on increasing their personal wealth and feeding their egos rather than working towards the collective success of their organization and its people. If the leaders are ethical and have strong moral values, they can convince their people to act in a similar way. Managing by example is a theory which says that however the managers want their subordinates to behave; they should behave in that manner themselves. Similar is the case for ethical behaviour. Leaders are powerful because of their positions. The human psychology is such that people listen to and follow the individuals they perceive to be the legitimate authority (Freeman & Stewart, 5). Even though there are different schools of thought regarding how a leader’s ethical behaviour may be judged, a leader as an individual should try to be as ethical as possible. A leader should realize that his decisions not only affect his own life, but also the lives of those working with him and the lives of those who come under his authority and leadership. In order to keep a check on them-self, leaders should follow the Six Pillars of Character. This framework defines the characteristics, which a leader should have in order for him to be ethical and a good leader. Honesty, integrity and trustworthiness are of extreme importance. A leader should be true to himself and to his subordinates. He should not be egoistical and should respect others. Every leader should have a sense of accountability. It is this sense which keeps them in check and makes them refrain from corrupt activities and unacceptable behaviour. They should be fair and should play everything by the book. Leaders are often partial to their relatives and friends and thus, are not fair in their decision making. Making sound decisions without any prejudice is the first step towards ethical behaviour on the part of a leader. They should be caring and compassionate. But most important of all, a leader should work towards the betterment of his community. A nation’s leader should put the needs of his nation before his (Mullane, 3). Every leader has to face ethical dilemmas during the tenure of his leadership. A person with strong moral values will work towards finding a solution, which is not only ethical but for the greater good. In an age where religious values are not as important as they used to be, leaders should work towards making ethical decisions and conducting themselves ethically. By doing this they ensure that a distinction between right and wrong still exists. Works Cited: Ciulla, Joanne.B. “Ethics and Leadership Effectiveness”. The Nature of Leadership.(2004), 302-327 Freeman, R.E. & Stewart, L. “Developing Ethical Leadership.” Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. 2006. http://www.corporate-ethics.org/pdf/ethical_leadership.pdf Fulmer, R.M. “The Challenge of Ethical Leadership.” Organizational Dynamics, 33/3 (2004), 307-317. Web. 14 November 2013 http://www.kantakji.com/fiqh/files/companies/w155.pdf George, B. et al. ”Discovering Your Authentic Leadership.” Harvard Business Review. February 2007, 1-8 Mackie, J. “Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong.” Penguin Books Limited, 1990. Mullane, Susan, P. “Ethics and Leadership.” White Paper Series, The Johnson A. Edosomwan Leadership Institute. Read More