PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 1

Philosophy of Proper Leadership Ethics

Name

Institution
PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 2

Introduction

Ethics is a set of rules that governs personal behavior or the way an activity is conducted.

As norm dictates, the society, government and our work places has put in place a dynamic set of

rules that governs its functionality and daily operations. Our ethical behavior is strongly

influenced by the environment that we grow up in and the societal values we believe in. As an

individual I believe that employers should put in a place a set of rules that governs the operations

of their firms and these set of rules should be unanimously accepted by employees. Some

employees may however disagree with these set of rules based on personal factors such as their

religion, beliefs and moral upbringing. Good upbringing is not a guarantee that one may uphold

ethical behaviors and such in instances leaders are supposed to come up with counter measures

to deal with such kind of individuals as seen in the case of the Bad apple theory. Organizational

leaders over the years have adopted the various ethical models in their leadership owing to the

wide spread ethical concerns that has been raised by employees because most people like to be

associated with ethical organizations. With this in mind, leaders in managerial position have

devised a set of ethical rules to govern these employees as any employee misbehavior or

insubordination has overtime been treated as a managerial problem. These set of ethical rules are

governed by integrity, intelligence and energy and in a case where the employee lacks either it

becomes a hindrance to uphold the ethical values. Ethical behavior may however be hindered by

various components which include: moral values, knowledge levels, age, gender and race. This

study therefore focuses on the proper leadership ethics and understanding, analyzing and

implementing ethic related choices.

PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 3

Ethical leadership is an aspect of leadership which focus on ethical beliefs and moral

values and it focuses on elements such as honesty, integrity and equity. Ethical leadership is built

around three historical and physical approach which emphasizes various aspects in decision

making. The first approach is the Utilitarianism theory which aims at determining write from

wrong by majoring on the locus of control, where an individual is able to control one action over

another one. It therefore focuses on outcomes (Demirtas, 2015). The second approach is the

Libertarianism theory which focuses on protecting the freedom of individuals, where ethics is

associated with individuals who think principally as in the case of Machiavellism and as such, it

focuses on individual intentions. The third approach is the Ethical theory of doing the right thing

and it holds individuals accountable to making right decisions owing to their moral values. This

follows the idea of Moral disengagement where individuals ought to act ethically and in

situations where they act unethically there are stopped by the feeling of internal guilt (Demirtas,

2015).

In my understanding, ethical leadership is governed by five principles which can be

traced back to Aristotle and they include: Service, Respect, Justice, Honesty and Community.

With regards to Service, I concur that ethical leaders should be altruists, given that leaders moral

obligation is help and serve others at the sacrifice of their own self-interest. The service principle

is entirely built around the theory of altruism and it requires leaders to place the interests and

welfare of the employees in the forefront (Demirtas, 2015). They are therefore tasked with the

responsibility of leading, serving and making decisions that are beneficial and not harmful to the

welfare and wellbeing of the employees. This can be achieved through activities like mentorship

programs, team building and empowerment. Therefore, the primary block of ethical leadership is

being of service to others.

PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 4

With regards to Justice, I can argue that the ethical leaders are expected to treat all their

subordinates equally and justly and this should be top of top of their priorities. Further to that

ethic demands that the leaders in their decision making process should exercise fairness where no

favoritism is accorded to anyone at any level, and as such no one is subject to any special

privileges unless their situation is honest and dictates so. In cases where individuals have to be

treated differently there should be concrete reasons as to why the leaders have resorted to such

actions. The leaders are expected to issue out, punishments, rewards and resources in a just

manner that the workers do not have to question their ability to make decisions. The principle of

Justice is centered around the rule of Reciprocity (the Golden Rule) which states that “you

should unto others as you would have them do to you”. Therefore, the principle dictates that each

person should be accorded an equal share of opportunity according to their individual efforts,

needs, merit and rights (Demirtas, 2015).

With regards to Respect, ethic demands that leaders are supposed to respect all their

subordinates regardless of their positions. This principle dictates that people should be treated as

ends rather than as means and by doing so, it means that the leaders should uphold people’s

decisions and values (Goethals & Sorenson J 2017). The leaders should educate the others in

knowing their rights values and purpose and as such integrate them with their own needs and

values to realize a conducive working environment. Respect demands that even though the

leaders may have a difference in opinion from that of their subordinates, they should still be able

to factor in their ideas and opposing points of view. When the subordinates feel respected by

their leaders, Their competence and productivity at work increases.

With regards to Honesty, I can state that when leaders are dishonest, they start being

viewed as unreliable and undependable by the subordinates and as such people stop believing in
PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 5

all that they represent and stand for which in due time causes them to lose their respect. This

eventually leads to mistrust between the leader and the subordinates who may them pass a vote

of no confidence against them (Goethals & Sorenson, J 2017. When leaders lie to the then people

they breach the trust that the people has accorded to them and as a result their relationship

deteriorates because the leaders assume that by lying, they are acting in the best interest of the

people. Ethic therefore demands that leaders should be honest and in so doing you should be

accountable, you should promise what you can deliver and encourage obligations.

With regards to community, ethic requires that leaders should be accountable for their

followers’ purpose in their efforts to achieve sustainable goals for both parties. Leaders should

be concerned with the well-being of the community and such are required to work towards goals

that accommodate everyone in the society. This principle dictates that leadership should not be

coerced instead the people should be allowed to be a part of the leadership that governs them.

Leaders should be considerate of everyone’s interest and not at any point should they exercise

biasness based on tribal or racial differences. The leaders they need to put the needs and goals of

the community before their own (Goethals & Sorenson, J 2017).

Ethical thinking means taking into consideration the positive values of the societies

bearing in mind the goals and not challenges. As an ethical leader, I would engage in various

practices which would ensure the moral values of the society are upheld. These include; I would

be Inclusive, and by so doing, I would be open to ideas and opinions from the people.

Consequently, I would be accountable as means of building trust among the subordinates by

taking responsibility for my decisions (Goethals & Sorenson J, 2017). Additionally, I would be

authoritative, in that I would use my power autocratically and ensure that ends are met without

using the subordinates as a means. Further to that I would be consistent, and by that I would
PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 6

always be present in the daily operations and exercise ethical standards in my leadership

approaches all the time to build trust among the subordinates.

Ethical leadership are however affected by a number of factors which include Individual

factors and social factors. Individual factors such as knowledge, morals, values and personal

goals affect ethical behavior differently as they affect one’s ability to make ethical decisions

based on how much knowledge one possesses. For instance, Morals are the set of behaviors that

govern one’s way of life based mostly on cultural values and quite often one is forced to question

their morals when the ethical values do not correspond to their morals. Personal goals may also

be one’s ambitions and their aspirations which are usually related to financial freedom and many

at times if your personal goals outweigh the moral values, then in that instance one is unable to

uphold the moral values. Values is a set of standard behavior and one’s judgement of important

things in life. Whereas others may feel a sense of entitlement to do whatever they wish even if it

means compromising ethical values, others still vow to abide by the rules and uphold the ethical

values of the society.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, I can attest that ethics play a major role in leadership within the society and

leaders who uphold the ethical and moral values are more likely to achieve better leadership

skills and greater heights as leaders compared to the ones who don’t and as such it’s safe to

conclude that for us to realize better leadership in the society, we should be inclined to uphold

high moral and ethical uprightness within ourselves without having to give a thought if anyone is

watching.
PHILOSOPHY OF PROPER LEADERSHIP ETHICS 7

Reference

Demirtas, O. (2015). Ethical leadership influence at organizations: Evidence from the

field. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(2), 273-284.

Goethals, G. R., & Sorenson, G. J. (Eds.). (2017). The quest for a general theory of leadership.

Edward Elgar Publishing.