FINAL PROJECT

Transformational leadership impact on Independent thought process in

employees and Ethical work environment

Submitted to: Dr, Syeda Asiya Zainab

Submitted by: Momina Faryal

Zainab Jawwad

Zara Farrukh

Date of Submission: 28th July 2020.

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Table of Contents:
TITLE:............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION:........................................................................................................................3
Transformational Leadership Theory:.........................................................................................3
Independent Thought Process:.....................................................................................................4
Ethical Work Environment:.........................................................................................................4
Background Of The Study:s.........................................................................................................5
Statement Of The Problem:..........................................................................................................6
LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT:......................................6
Transformational Leadership:......................................................................................................6
Independent Thought Process:.....................................................................................................7
Ethical Work Environment:.........................................................................................................7
Transformational Leadership And Independent Thought Process:..............................................8
Transformational Leadership And Ethical Work Environment:..................................................9
Theoretical Framework:...............................................................................................................9
Social Exchange Theory:s........................................................................................................9
Model Of Study:.........................................................................................................................10
Literature Review Summary:.....................................................................................................10
DISCUSSION:..............................................................................................................................11
Case Study To Support The Link Between Transformational Leadership And Independent
Thought Process.........................................................................................................................14
Case Study To Support The Link Between Ethical Workplace Environment And
Transformational Leadership.....................................................................................................17
CONCLUSION:...........................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES:...........................................................................................................................19

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TITLE: Transformational Leadership Impact on Independent
Thought Process in Employees and Ethical Work Environment.
INTRODUCTION:
In the 21st century, it is pertinent for organizations to foster independent thought processes to
create knowledge and this can be achieved by developing leadership on all levels. But a critical
question arises in every leadership research is “What is good leadership”. The word good can be
translated in two ways in the leadership paradigm. First, we want leaders to be effective, and
second, we want them to be ethical (Ciulla, 1995). The first interpretation of a good leader can
easily be measured but measuring leadership ethics is quite hard. The theory which describes
ethics of leadership in the best form is James MacGregor Burns’ theory of leadership (Mulla,
Krishnan 2009).

Transformational leadership theory:

The term transformational leadership was first coined by Burns (1978) in his book leadership. He
introduced this new paradigm to understand the leadership phenomenon in the context of
management and behavioral psychology. According to burn (1978) “Transformational
leadership occurs when leaders engage with followers in a way that has to transform effect on
their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs”. Burns considers Gandhi as the classic advocate of
transformational leadership as he was able to enrich his own life while fulfilling the dreams of
millions of Indians. (Bi, Ehrich, & Ehrich, 2012). Transformational leadership theory can mainly
be divided into four components:

1. Idealized influence
2. Inspirational motivation
3. Intellectual stimulation
4. Individualized consideration

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Independent thought process:
Independent thought process points towards a leader who values and appreciates the abilities of
his followers promotes innovation and encourages creativity. Transformational leaders also
encourage their followers to reassess the issues, using a comprehensive view to understand
problems, challenge the power structure, and address issues from different perspectives. It builds
capacity for transition and allows the resolution of present and future issues. (Eeden, Cilliers,
& Deventer, 2008). Martin Luther King can be considered as a truly transformational leader
who encouraged people to independent thought processes by helping them devise their strategies
to solve their local community issues. He empowered his followers with faith to do their best
work.

He encouraged and helped his followers to devise their strategies and tactics to resolve local
community conflicts. Simply put, he did not micromanage his subordinates or his followers.
Thus, he was both an effective leader and a loyal follower. It could be theorized that it makes
little difference what personality traits leaders possess if their followers have faith in them and
they, in turn, are empowered to do their best work. “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage
in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked
solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Martin Luther King

Ethical work environment:

An ethical work environment refers to the leader-follower relationship. It has been observed that
ethical behavior is directly related to leadership in organizations. Research shows that
followers/employees take leader behavior and attitudes as models in organizations. Hence if a
leader practices ethical conduct, employees also replicate the same conduct which as a whole
fosters and nourish the ethical work environment (Calabrese & Roberts, 2001). It is also the
responsibility of the leader to guide his followers about ethical conduct and institutionalize the
moral values to improve the effectiveness of the organization. (Grosjean, Resick, Dickson, &
Smith, 2004).

In today's highly competitive environment, leaders are less worried about how you achieve
energy, strength, and property, just as long as you attain it. On the other side, Mandela placed
people and dignity before worldly benefit. Mandela 's wealth was just US$ 2.9 million at a time
when other African presidents were corruptly making fortunes during their tenancies. And, he
left money not only for his children but also for his workers. “As I have said, the first thing is, to
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be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed
yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” Nelson
Mandela.

Background of the study:

Transformational Leadership plays a pertinent role in the success of the organization. Leaders
align and direct organizations' resources effectively and efficiently with organization goals and
objectives. While previously the whole focus of leaders was to increase the productivity and
profitability of the organizations. But with all the new shifts in economies and organizational
culture, leaders also have the responsibility for inculcating moral values and establishing a
standard of ethical conduct that guides the performance of followers. (Grosjean, Resick,
Dickson, & Smith, 2004). The corporate world has recently been disturbed by several revelations
in which CEOs and other top leaders exhibited a serious lack of ethical behavior in business
processes which eventually led to the downfall of some of the world's largest and most profitable
companies. Such scandals have also proven the great influence of leaders on organizations.
Followers and employees take leaders as role models hence leaders set the overall ethical tone of
organizations.

Many researchers have shown that transformational leadership is highly successful in fostering
the independent thought process of followers but it has been observed that this relationship
depends on multiple factors and thus likely to be more complex than previously thought. (Afsar,
Badir, & Saeed, 2014). Transformational leaders consider an independent thought process
for their followers as critical because it helps them in analyzing their work and improves their
productivity (Murphy, 2005). In recent years, the need for understanding the relationship of
transformational leadership with independent thought processes has become essential due to the
continuously changing environment of the organization. (Bi, Ehrich, & Ehrich, 2012)

The current study will study the impact of transformational leadership on the independent
thought process of followers and how transformational leadership helps in fostering the morals
and ethical values in employees which creates an ethical work environment in an organization.

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Statement of the problem:
It is very little to no research conducted on transformational leadership and its impact on
independent thought process which fosters the ethical work environment. Hence, this study will
provide a base for future researches. There is plenty of data supporting the notion of
transformational leadership and why it is the best form of leadership that empowers its followers
but little has been discussed about the independent thought process and its relation with
transformational leadership. This study will, therefore, contribute towards filling a critical
knowledge gap in identifying the two sides of transformational leadership.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT:

Transformational Leadership:
Leadership has always been seen as an exchange of relationships as its impact is made an
essential of self-worth, true commitment, involvement, and motivation in their follower’s life.
This is where transformational leadership adds an extension to the transactional exchange which
means that not only the relationship between the leaders and followers is giving and take but it
should also be adding some value to it. Transformational Leaders focus on motivating others to
achieve more than what they inspire to or they consider themselves to be able to. (Bass, B. M., &
Riggio, R. E. 2006). 
Not only transformational leaders work for their well-being and enriching development of
followers but they also incline to focus on encouraging the growth of groups and organizations.
Transformational leaders try not to be extremely strict or lenient to the self-interests of their
followers rather they try to arise a sense of responsibility so they pursue what is beneficial for
their development and growth. Transformational leadership consists of four main components; 1)
Idealized Influence, 2) Individually Considerate, 3) Intellectually Stimulating, and 4)
Inspirational. (Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J, 1990).
The exposure of Transformational Leadership is not only limited to the growth of the follower
but it is also linked with the managerial effectiveness during organizational change. By going
hand in hand with the employees and guiding those through the organizational, policy, and goal
changes Transformational Leadership can go a long way. Transformational Leadership is an
effective form of leadership in both western and non-western societies as the direct effect of
transformational Leadership on employees can have a positive impact on their job performance,
creativity, and organizational citizenship behavior.

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Employees’ perceptions of their supervisor’s transformational leadership, to change their
(employees) cognitive thinking and emotional responses and procedures that aid in implementing
change strategies, should positively impact on employees’ Independent thought Process and their
continuous improvement efforts (Khattak, M. N., Zolin, R., & Muhammad, N.,2020).

Transformational Leaders are also directed by Ethics and morals to control socially necessary
ends and to act in ways that show consideration. Gini (1998) explained, “All leaders have an
agenda, a series of beliefs, proposals, values, ideas, and issues that they wish to ‘put on the
table’”. The ethical positioning of the leader is considered to have a significant impact on
endorsing ethical behavior among employees and the values unveiled by the organization K.S.
(Floyd 2010).

Independent Thought Process:

An employee’s Independent Thought Process is subject to go beyond the cover of basic job
requirements and responsibilities along with it. Compared to the regular work performance
independent thought process includes the origination, comprehension, and commercialization of
beneficial, new, and inspired ideas and solutions. The Independent thought process includes the
diverse nature of tasks that are distinct from regular ones. To remain in a competitive advantage
the employees have to pursue independent thinking which is going beyond the established
routines for an individual, team, and organizations. The Independent thought process is inclined
towards vagueness, unclearness, and doubt which doesn’t guarantee the new transformation and
ideas that if they will achieve what they ought to achieve (Bin Saeed, B., Afsar, B., Shahjeha, A.,
& Imad Shah, S. 2019).

Ethical Work Environment:

When the literature of moral development of an individual is studied the recognition of
individual characteristics seems insufficient to explain the entire moral or ethical behavior of the
individual. With the development of psychological knowledge, it is noted that the concepts of
“Ethical Work Environment” should also be deliberated (B.I. Victor, J.B. Cullen, 2008).

An ethical work climate is a work environment that helps employees recognize the normative
systems that monitor their decision making, their actions, and how they respond to ethical
dilemmas that occur K.S. (Floyd 2010).

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Organizational Ethics means an organizational code transmitting moral integrity and reliable
values in service to the public. Keeping the corporate concept in mind ethical behaviors is a legal
behavior with a set of collection of honest and principled values. When people in the
organization possess ethical behavior the entire environment of the organization also becomes
ethical.

There are several reasons why the environment of the organization does not remain healthy at
times because of the notions like “Win at all costs” and “Personal Gain” which let employees be
competitive and only care about the financial outcomes without caring about colleagues and that
competitive environment can turn into the unethical environment. (P. Banerji, R.Krishnan, 2000)

Transformational Leadership and Independent Thought process:

Transformational leadership plays a vital role in changing the orthodox customs and principles of
the employees and the organization which helps the organizational member’s in illuminating
their independent thought process. Transformational Leadership instills intellectual thinking
within their employees which pushes them to think outside of the box and gives them confidence
in their thinking abilities to achieve the organization's visions and objectives efficiently and
effectively. Transformational leaders feign employees working performance which supports
them to boost their skills and abilities to solve work-based problems.
In cases, Transformational Leadership can help the employees to think innovative and trust their
thinking patterns to make valuable decisions for their own and their organization's well-being.
Transformational Leaders can develop a culture of trust and connection within their
organizations which can help the leaders to adopt a culture of emotional and shared hope. There
are researches which have highlighted the importance of leader-follower relationship in
encouraging each other to perform better and innovative according to their thinking patterns.

Although the substantial relationship between transformational leadership and its effect on
employee’s thinking process is well familiar in existing research some researchers still insist on
further investigating the relationship between transformational leadership and independent
thought process. (Li, H., Sajjad, N., Wang, Q., Muhammad Ali, A., Khaqan, Z., & Amina, S.
2019).
Hypothesis 1: Transformational Leadership has a positive impact on Employee’s
Independent Thought Process

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Transformational Leadership and Ethical Work Environment:
The previous literature states that the Transformational Leadership Style is a construct that
focuses on the ethical development of the individuals which makes a positive impact on the
performance of the organization. It has been proposed that Transformational Leadership is
directly related to the levels of individual moral growth and development. The organizational
literature states that by generating typologies that narrate transformational leadership to
intellectual and ethical development and devoutness. To elevate follower’s moral character
transformational leaders play an important role. When the members of the organization are
ethical due to the impact of their transformational leaders their workplace environment also tends
to develop a culture of ethics and sincerity which in the long-term not only helps in enhancing
the workplace environment but also assists in achieving the organizational goals and objectives.
(Ah-Kion, J., & Bhowon, U., 2017).
Hypothesis 2: Transformational Leadership has a direct link to the Organization’s Ethical
Work Environment

Theoretical Framework:
Social Exchange Theory:
To carry out this research the “The Social Exchange Theory" will be considered. This theory was
first developed by a Sociologist George Homans. “The Social Exchange Theory is a
sociological and  psychological theory that studies the social behavior in the interaction of two
parties that implement a cost-benefit analysis to determine risks and benefits”.

The Social exchange theory explains how the leaders may affect the engagement with their
employees by creating a friendly and flexible environment for them to work along with trusting
them so that it begins as a brook of dealings with multiple economic, social, and contractual
responsibilities. The basic principle of the Social Exchange Theory is to gain positive outcomes
like enhancing the Independent Thinking Process etc. from their employees in return for the
comfort and trust put in by their leaders.

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Moreover, it is believed that transformational leaders can stimulate higher levels of employee
creativity and ethical behavior by creating a comfortable and Ethical environment in the
organization. (Li, H., Sajjad, N., Wang, Q., Muhammad Ali, A., Khaqan, Z., & Amina, S. 2019).

Model of study:
The relationship between the variables of the study are shown in the following model:

H1
Independent Thought
Process
Transformational
Leadership

Ethical Work Environment

H2

Literature Review Summary:

In this chapter, the literature about the variables of the study is discussed and the relationship
among the variables of the study is explained in the view of literature. Also, the chapter describes
the theoretical framework and the model of the study.

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DISCUSSION:
In this part of the write-up, we will be discussing some previous authors' work on the same link
between transformational leadership and independent thought process and transformational
leadership and ethical work environment. The excerpts below reveal their findings between the
said links and variables and thus we will be able to work out if our hypotheses are in line with
existing literature or not. (Precilia, Nyu & Yazdanifard, Assc. Prof. Dr. Rashad. 2013)

The approach we have developed in this article, as well as existing literature reviews, carried out
and explained earlier clearly show that transformational leadership is widely researched with
aspects to all its components and in relevance with many variables assessing the performance of
employees. Through idealized influence, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation,
and inspirational motivation, transformational leaders have quite a high possibility to elevate the
performance of employees beyond expectations and to effect enormous changes within
individuals their thought process and overall in organizations. Hence, transformational leaders
may be very well suited and desirable particularly in today’s time of fierce competition and non-
stop change.

This study highlights the existence of a significant positive relationship between transformational
leadership, workplace social relationships, and followers’ creativity. And creativity is of course
a reflection of independent thought process invoked in the employee, it may be a result of the
leader's individualized consideration and also could be that the positive relationships formed in
the workplace resulted in higher motivation among all employees. The results also show that
transformational leadership has significant positive relationships with workplace social
relationships. Previously, a positive relationship had been found between transformational
leadership and the employees’ attitudes and behavior as well (Judge and Piccolo, 2004). In the
literature, few studies have examined transformational leadership as a mediating path that links
leadership style to performance (Bass et al., 2003). The findings of this study support the notion
that the effect of transformational leadership on its employee’s creativity will differ according to
how the co-workers’ relationship is within that workplace.

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On an academic level, this study contributes to the literature by conducting empirical research
that highlights the connection between transformational leadership and both organizational
innovation on the whole and employees’ creativity. Based on previous research in this field, this
study explores how transformational leadership can enrich organizational innovation in two
ways: first, through a direct link between transformational leadership and innovation which in
the backhand is spurred by two factors the employee's independent thought process and
motivation, and second, through an indirect relationship between them as a result of the
connection between employees’ creativity and organizational innovation. This study was also
conducted on a large scale, to increase the vigor of the findings. (Harbi, Jaithen & Alarifi, Saud
& Mosbah, Aissa. 2019).

This was the first study to inspect the circumstances in which transformational leadership can
nurture innovative work behavior in employees with high levels of intrinsic motivation and
psychological empowerment. Now the mediator of Psychological empowerment here very well
enough shows that the employee developed that sense that he or she can think independently for
themselves and in turn be able to innovate and create or contribute towards something out of the
box.

We found that transformational leadership was most effective at increasing innovative work
behavior for employees when they were already intrinsically motivated also psychologically
empowered to have their independent thoughts which will help to create and implement their
new ideas. However, this specific study also shows how transformational leadership was shown
not to be very effective for other arrangements of psychological empowerment and intrinsic
motivation e.g. when employees had high psychological empowerment but low levels of intrinsic
motivation in them, or when they had a low level of psychological empowerment and high levels
of intrinsic motivation.

This specific study found an interesting result which could be attributed to the fact that the extent
to which employees experience delight and interest when performing their work or task, without
being controlled by any external incidents, such as rewards and punishments, is regarded as more
important in leading to more independence In their thought process and creativity overall. (Bin
Saeed, B., Afsar, B., Shahjeha, A., & Imad Shah, S., 2019).

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Transformational leadership has many advantages and how this mechanism applies to
neuroscience in improving the competences of employees in every aspect. If the intervention of
applied neuroscience in this aspect can target transformational leadership competencies to
translate well into the ultimate goals the organizational effectiveness can be maximized. The
proper decision making with minimum bias results in the effectiveness of the decision itself, the
ability to make decisions can be enhanced by using mindfulness meditation. The bias mitigation
and mindfulness meditation enhance positive emotions (joy/excitement), they encourage the
brain to produce dopamine and serotonin. Hence the negative emotions (fear) reduce in the brain.
This situation will impact creativity and decision-making skills. It increases decision-making
skills.

Social intelligence plays an essential role in the leadership process as well according to this
study. By understanding the situation and activating the right part of the brain to face various
situations, the leader will be able to cooperate and accomplish organizational goals effectively.
((S. M.Juhro & Aulia, 2018)

The results of another study confirm the proposed theoretical extension of strategic thinking and
transformational leadership to support the new product idea generation potential of industrial
teams. The subject matter in this study attempts to offer transformational leadership at the core of
the management style at work utilizing the approach of strategic thinking to bind new product
team dynamics in line with the organizational innovative inventiveness. The reason to mix
transformational leadership with the above paradigms are the how numerous research studies
previously also confirm the positive role of that leadership style plays across various samples and
cultures (e.g., Birasnav, Rangnekar, and Dalpati; 2010, Menguc, Auh and Shih, 2007; Bycio,
Hackett, and Allen, 1995; Howell and Avolio, 1993; Koh, steers and Terborg, 1995; Wofford,
Goodwin, and Whittington, 1998) are examples of studies that established that leadership style’s
universal theoretical support. Likewise, a study directed on 13 innovative companies by Zein and
Buckler (1997), also found that these companies valued their employee's independent thinking
styles and gave them positive appraisal for thinking differently and had an environment that was
conducive to high personal motivation. (Kazmi, S. A. Z., Naaranoja, M., & Kytölä, J.,2016).

After seeing that our H1 is aligned with most previous findings between these two variables. In
our write up we also attached a case study below which shows the practical implementation of

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this link between transformational leadership and Independent thought process and how bringing
the two together in a workplace will have positive impacts for organizations.

Case study to support the link between transformational leadership and independent
thought process
Scott Uknes and Eric Ward believed the science behind agricultural biotech was extremely
fruitful if applied properly. However, many large agribusiness companies had been shown little
or no innovation over the years. This lack of advancement, Ukes, and Ward believed, created a
gap in the market. So they founded AgBiome in 2012 to be “the most successful agricultural
innovator ever.” To achieve their goal, Uknes and Ward were inclined to form a company with a
radically different structure from most companies. The two founders were fanatics of self-
managed organizations and culture, their approach was that AgiBiome’s organizational structure
and the process would be one to encouraging openness and collaboration. Therefore, Uknes and
Ward built AgBiome to operate without any supervisory relationships, job titles, formal
performance evaluations, and individual performance bonuses. Instead, AgBiome relies on a
committee structure that encourages employees with the greatest expertise in that particular area
to make decisions on those matters. Training, leadership development, and feedback and
mediation mechanisms had to be developed from scratch, as there were few off-the-shelf
programs to support this kind of organization. But to date AgiBiome is successful it has had to
face some issues but it has managed to stay innovative due to its leadership's transformational
style develop such an organization that enables all of its employees to think independently and
contribute towards the betterment of AgiBiome. (Yale School of Management. AgiBiome,2020)

In the next few excerpts, we will be discussing the link between transformational leadership and
the ethical work environment and try to confirm if our H2 is aligned with previous researchers'
findings.

The two hypotheses predicted that transformational relationships would have a positive effect on
ethical judgment and intention. Findings of this paper also demonstrate how transformational
leadership has substantial effects on how to apply ethical judgment in the given scenario 1
(bribery), scenario 2 (nepotism) and scenario 4 (political favoritism), and also on ethical

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intention in scenario 1 (bribery), scenario 2 (nepotism) and scenario 3 (padding up of expenses’
account). Transformational leadership styles, significantly influence ethical judgment and
intention of Mauritian managers as per this study’s findings. However, some responses in this
paper also show how in some cases the cultural effects had a stronger impact then the style of
leadership however generally the findings of this paper were fit the overall literature. ((Ah-Kion,
J. & Bhowon, U.,2017).

 In addition to previous literature, this study also shows that both transformational and
transactional were found to be strongly correlated with implied forms of ethics
institutionalization. Thus, this study supports research that was conducted by Judge and Piccolo
(2004) which found a transformational and commission-based reward system had a positive
relationship with employee job satisfaction, motivation, and organizational performance.
Besides, Bass (1985) suggested that transactional leadership may work as well as
transformational leadership in certain situations if the leader provided appropriate feedback and
clarification of what corrective action is needed. This relationship is important because it
suggests that certain types of transactional leadership can be as effective as transformational
leadership in supporting implicit forms of ethics institutionalization initiatives that can lead to
the development of an ethical work climate. (Floyd, K. S.,2010).

The positive values that are supplementary with the positive aspects of transformational
leadership establish the type of values that support the three ethical theories of egoism, teleology,
and deontology. Although egoism is often associated with negative self-serving interests, it could
be very well argued that values such as honesty within oneself, and aiming for personal
happiness, dignity, and pride although maybe self-centered but are not undesirable end states. It
is when such negative values are linked with self-serving interests used for the exclusion of
others’ rights and interests that egoism is considered highly undesirable. Positive values such as
truthfulness, tolerance, politeness, equity, justice, and respect for life reportedly held by leaders
that exhibit transformational leadership validate a link between transformational leadership and
teleology theory of ethics. Similarly, the relationship of transformational leadership to
deontological theory is often supported by the respondents’ opinions that many instrumental
values such as caring, commitment to ethical behavior and crucial values such as love,

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understanding, and respect for life underpin the idea behind all dimensions of transformation
leadership. (Armstrong, A., & Muenjohn, N.,2008).

Transformational leadership is strongly associated with ethical deontological values, which

suggest that such leaders' have strong beliefs in altruism, universal rights, and principles that lay
the footing for endorsing key motivational and inspirational behaviors that result in impressive
leadership outcomes in organizations. (Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Lowe et al., 1996; Yukl, 2006).
Transformational leaders' ability to exhibit idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational
motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration behaviors may all well rest
on a strong deontological ethical base. The results suggest that a leader's beliefs in selflessness,
how they treat their followers, and teammates as an end rather than a means to achieving his/her
personal goals, and view leadership practices in line with ethical significance regardless of what
may the consequences be, facilitate an authentically demonstrate transformational behaviors that
stimulate a belief in the stakeholder’s view of CSR (Groves, K. S., & LaRocca, M. A.,2011).

The findings of this study show that all dimensions of transformational leadership are positively
related to caring, law and code, rules, and ethical climate types. A very positive relationship was
found between all four dimensions of transformational leadership and a caring ethical climate.
These results support the theoretical explanations and research results about transformational
leadership in past literature. Firstly, this study confirms the claim that transformational
leadership is built on the deontological ethical basis (Aranson, 2001; Kanungo, 2001; Mendonca
& Kanungo, 2007) at organizational (rules), and cosmopolitan (law and code) levels while it
partly also confirms at individual extent (independence). Secondly, it is consistent with the
opinion that transformational leadership is generally altruism-oriented (Mendonca & Kanungo,
2007), which goes beyond the idea of self-interest and emphases on the good of the organization
and that of the community (Bass, 1999) and is a human-oriented process (Celep, 2004).

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To study the link between these two variables further we have seen how it is implemented in
practical life by real companies when faced with ethical dilemmas such is an example of Apple
and its then CEO Tim Cook.

Case study to support the link between ethical workplace environment and
transformational leadership
After the heartbreaking events in December 2015, where two attackers killed 14 people in San
Bernardino, California, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requested Apple to help them
in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the attackers (Lichtblau & Benner, 2016). This request
generated a blazing debate which got even worse when on February 16, 2016, the Federal
Magistrate Judge, Sheri Pym, ordered Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking one of the attacker’s
iPhone 5c (Weise, 2016). That very same day, Tim Cook circulated a 1,100- word response
regarding this request on Apple’s website. The response handed out by Tim was not a simple
refusal to comply with the court order but a vocal call out of his transformational leadership
competencies at Apple.

Because he claimed that it is not just a single iPhone at stake, but the precedence that the
government can have access to any of yours encrypted data; Cook’s reply stated, “This moment
calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to
understand what is at stake” (Cook, 2016). Cook further argued that customers of Apple “…carry
so much personal information on our phones today, and there are new data breaches every week
affecting individuals, companies, and governments…if we lose control of our data, we put both
our privacy and our safety at risk” (Cook, 2016). Cook pointed out that the government such
form of access over encrypted data would set a future legal precedent which other firms would
have to comply with as well in the future. This power he mentioned in the hands of the
government to give them control of everyone’s personal and private data without it being in the
knowledge of the customers could go out of the hand and used adversely if hacked into and such
events rather uncommon and that would put all civilians in a compromising position and lead to

17
many issues. Also, he mentions it would be entirely unethical to do so without taking the
customer's approval first he would not take any further step regarding this judgment.

The Apple vs FBI battle ended on March 29, 2016, when Federal Magistrate Judge, Sheri Pym,
rescinded her original order for Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking the iPhone 5c. Tim Cook’s
idealized influence in becoming a role model and a leader for the advocacy of privacy, Apple
won this battle. Sensitive data will continue to be created by individuals and companies
likewise; such data must be safeguarded with encryption at rest and in transit. Leaders such
as Tim Cook will need to continue to come forward to protect the data, rationale, and ideals
behind protecting that data. And that is how a transformational leader shows his moral ethics
and what his organization stands for. (Sans.edu., 2020).

CONCLUSION:
After looking at the conclusive evidence provided by various studies pertaining to different
sectors and countries we have been able to come to the same result that transformational
leadership does have a strong and positive influence on not only how ethical the workplace
environment is, but also how a leader uses his/her individualized consideration to mold his/her
leading style to match the personality of the subordinate but also to suit the situation at hand.
Leaders can also use intellectual stimulation to make the subordinates think creatively and follow
their imagination to create something unique yet extraordinarily effective and efficient as well.
By using individualized consideration leaders are also able to create a workplace environment
that induces motivation and brotherhood between employees. Where there is trust now this kind
of environment makes followers of the leader indulge in the independent thought process which
is ultimately the key to any creativity and innovation at all levels of the organization.

Also if most of the employees are empowered enough and have that intrinsic motivation in them
to independently think something different on their own than the level of creativity and
innovation of the whole organization increases. Thus the outcome of this paper is also that firms
in today’s fierce competition need independent thinkers to help them reach new levels of success
and develop core competencies and competitive advantage over their rivals. Another very
important aspect touched by these papers shows an ethical work environment creates a more
supportive atmosphere at the workplace and further gives the followers to be able to share their
work without the fear of t being stolen or corrupted. Also, no competitive advantage can be

18
sustainable or long-lasting if it's not ethical as it will save costs today maybe but will cost the
firm more in years to come. But all his starts from the right leaders leading its followers towards
the right path of being ethical and yet smart independent thinkers.

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