Ethics and Governance Effective Leadership

Question: Is leadership essential to the development of ethical decision making in modern organization? Answer: Introduction In order to make the organizational functions successful, the role of effective leadership seems to be very important because it is the leadership strategies with which the desired plans can be implemented appropriately. Therefore, the leadership role is regarded to be very essential to make ethical decisions in the modern organizations. It can be said that, if an organization has suitable leadership strength, it can be able to use it at the time of determining any organizational decision by showing proper respect toward honesty, morality, trust, fairness, charisma etc. The leaders need to evaluate the impact of their decision not only in the present context but in the future context also before determining the appropriate decision for their organizations. In order to stay clear about their perspectives, they need to be clear about their morals, regulations of ethics and value. On the other hand, the decision making process needs to follow certain specific rules such as virtue, princ iple, context etc as they can influence the decision making process based on the situation. In this essay, the interrelationship between the leadership strategy and ethical decision making process has been discussed vividly with ample number of critical arguments and with suitable models. Discussion The effective leadership helps to determine the success rate of the organizational environment so that the employees can execute their idea for the betterment of the organization. It is the responsibility of the leaders to influence the team work so that they can successfully motivate the employees to indulge in the improvement procedure of the organization (Chin, Hambrick and Trevino 2013). The leaders need to be honest toward their duty and responsibility so that they can be fair enough towards their employees and can apply ethical perspectives in order to solve their issues (Colley et al. 2005). The leaders are responsible to show their employees the path of loyalty so that they can also follow them at the time of improving the organizational functions. The leaders need to be very open minded so that they can fairly judge their each and every employee. Therefore, in this context, the trait theory of leadership can be applicable. As per the comment of Eccles, Ioannou and Serafeim (2014), the trait theory of leadership indicates to the in build qualities such as intelligence, ability to acquire knowledge from several experiences, extroversion, self-efficacy, consciousness of an individual which need to be possessed in order to acquire the leadership position at any organizations. With regard to this trait theory, it can be said that if an individual uses all its qualities to fit into different organizational situations, it can ensure to take sufficient ethical decisions which can be proved to be fruitful for the organization (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell 2005). In this way, the fairness to all the employees can be maintained at the time of taking decision. By applying this theory, the management can ensure the employment of suitable personality for the leadership positions. However, from the viewpoint of Guta, Nixon and Wilson (2013), it can be said that, there are other situational aspects which can influence the characteristic features of an individual leader that can affect their taken organizational decisions. This theory, forces an individual to act in a specific way to play the role of a leader which is not always necessary. For example, an introvert individual may not interact openly but it does not indicate to its inability to lead an organization. Moreover, as per this theory, the leader is expected to do individual observational process before taking a decision which seems to be impossible for big organizations. Therefore, this theory seems to be invalid at the time of taking any decision for the organization on ethical ground. The ethical decision indicates to the organizational morality and culture which seems to be a major influential factor upon the employee performances (Low and Ang 2013). By ensuring their employees about their neutral point of view towards them, the organization can effectively increase their commitment towards the organization. The leadership and the ethical decision making process seems to be interrelated. In the modern organizations, the leaders need to take a number of rapid decisions in order to sustain in the competitive business market. Some leaders tend to use only ethical means at the time of taking any organizational decision while some leaders regard the organizational profit more valuable than the ethical decision making regulations. As per the opinion of Mathenge (2013), there are four different types of decision making processes with which the leaders take their organizational decisions such as collaborative, command, convenience and consensus. In the collaborative decision making style, the leaders seem to regard the decisions of others under its team. With the help of the feedbacks and viewpoints of the team members, the leader tries to explore different aspects of the particular topic. For this reason, this decision making style is regarded as the evidence based decision making perspective. On the other hand, McClaren (2013) points out that the command decision making style is mainly taken by the autocratic leaders in the organizations where the decisions are made completely individually and without the taking opinion of any team member. However, Radhika (2012) argues that such decision making style is proved to be useful for leaders to take quick decisions at adverse organizational situations when the discussing procedure can create difficult situations. According to Singer (1997), in convenience decision making style, the organizational leaders allow their team members especially the new ones to employ their new and innovative ideas which can be proved to be fruitful for the betterment of the organization and its employees. On the contrary, Trevino and Nelson (2006), opines that it may increase the risk factors for the leaders to rely upon the inexperienced members at the time of taking any serious organizational decision. On the other hand, as per the opinion of Trevino, Hartman and Brown (2000), in consensus decision making style the leaders seems to introduce their decision in front of other employees so that they can express their viewpoints by giving votes. This decision making style is regarded as the democratic style of determining the suitable organizational action. Such style also helps to reform the internal environment of the organization where everyone has the right to express their opinion and take active part in the or ganizational activity. However, Colley et al. (2005) said that this style can create conflict among the leader and the employees if the leader finds a particular decision suitable for the organization and the other employees go against it. Such scenario can affect the organizational environment as well. In the recent competitive business market, the modern organizations need to have one strong personality who can effectively take necessary organizational decisions by adapting the most ethical way (McClaren 2013). By maintain clarity among the employees about the organizational core values and principles and by taking the help of proper law, the leaders can make suitable decisions for their organizations. In order to maintain the ethical decision making process the theory of virtue ethics along with Kantianism theory can be applied. As per this theory, the importance of the individual employees seems to be the most important aspect at the time of making ethical decisions (Chin, Hambrick and Trevino 2013). The leaders seem to employ courage, wisdom, temperance and compassion in their decisions so that they can meet the ethical demands of their employees. By employing this theory, the taken decisions can avoid the negative aspects like selfishness, greed, jealousy etc. On the other hand, Kantianism theory puts the emphasis upon regarding the principles on which the decisions are taken (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell 2005). If the leaders take organizational ethical decisions by employing this theory, they can easily maintain the universal principles with which they can become able to show respect to all their employees. In this way, the leaders can motivate their employees to overcome t heir evil instincts by following the ethical way for the betterment of the organization. The implementation of these ethical models, the leaders can ensure the employment of suitable principles and virtue in their taken ethical decisions. In the modern organizations, three types of morality management are shown namely immoral management, moral management and amoral management. From the viewpoint of Chin, Hambrick and Trevino (2013), an immoral leader does not care much about principles and virtue at the time of taken any organizational decision. The main focus of such decisions is on personal gaining rather than in favor of the organization (Mathenge 2013). In such cases, organizational ethical rules are also overruled by the leaders. Such organizational decisions are generally taken by individual leader and without informing the employees. For example, if any leader turns down any employee all of a sudden in order to achieve its personal gain, it seems to be unethical and immoral decision making by that leader. On the other hand, Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell (2005) opines that the moral leader seems to strictly follow the ethical aspect in both the cases of its personal decision making along with the decision, made for the benefit of the organization and its employees. The moral leaders regard the ethics and regulations for their organizational success. The moral management of the decisions follows the corporate governance laws with which they set a higher standard of ethical regulations before making any organizational decisions. The moral management of ethical decisions is also meant for the success of the organization but it implements this fact with regard to the benefits of the employees as well. Such decisions are made with opinions of the organizational of Board members along with the employees. For example, if a leader feels the need for some essential training sessions at their organization, it can take relevant decisions because it is meant for the betterment of the organization. From the viewpoint of Colley et al. (2005), the amoral leaders takes the middle path at the time of making any organizational decision as they believe that the ethical aspects are not at all important in de cision making unless and until the legal aspects and regulations are not overruled. These leaders often taken the ethical matters seriously at the time of taking any personal decisions like something related to any violation or donation to any charitable trusts etc. However, they do not regard the ethical aspects important at the time of making any organizational decision because according to them the ethical aspects have less impact in the present competitive business market (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell 2005). Such leaders often face dilemma among the ethical and unethical perspectives at the time of making any decisions. The best example is the organizations which produce powdered milk for kids. The thought can be amoral but they should also thin that it seems to be quite difficult for the poor mothers in the villages to have pure boiled water to mix the powdered milk which cause various digestion related diseases of the children. Conclusion In this way, the relationship between leadership and the ethical decision making process at modern organizations are described. Ample numbers of arguments from quality journals are applied in order to authenticate the discussion. The effectiveness of leadership in determining the appropriate organizational ethical decisions is also elaborate described in order to reflect its importance in creating favorable organizational environment. Suitable organizational morality models are also used so that they can be linked properly with the decision making method. After conducting this discussion, it can be said that the leaders are regarded as the responsible ones to take necessary ethical decisions for their organization. The ethical understanding of the leaders needs to be very clear so that they can apply their understanding at the time of taking any decision. There are certain characteristics those need to be possessed by the organizational leaders such as dignity, sense of justice, comm unity building ability, honesty, respectfulness etc. By informing the employees about the latest taken organizational decisions, the leaders can increase the effectiveness of their taken organizational decisions and can also prepare the employees to adapt the upcoming organizational changes. In this way, the decision making process by deserved leaders can motivate the employees to follow the organizational principles and core values. Reference List Chin, M.K., Hambrick, D.C., and Trevino, L.K. (2013), "Political ideologies of CEOs: Illustrative evidence of the influence of executive values on corporate social responsibility", Administrative Science Quarterly Colley, JL, Doyle, JL, Wallace, S, and Logan, G 2005 What is Corporate Governance?, McGraw-Hill Professional, USA Eccles, R.G., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. 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