Morality, Moral, And Morality

This paper will first discuss briefly what ethics are and provide the definition for an ethical issue. An ethical leadership issue is identified and explained for this author’s practice area. We will then identify and discuss key strategies for leadership that are pertinent to the ethical issue. Next, empirical evidence which supports the strategies discussed will be analyzed. Then, the impact and importance of the strategies will be stated. The final step will be to provide a conclusion to the reader that summarizes the content and strategies.

James Rachels' article, "Morality is Not Relative," is incorrect, he provides arguments that cannot logically be applied or have no bearing on the statement of contention. His argument, seems to favor some of the ideas set forth in cultural relativism, but he has issues with other parts that make cultural relativism what it is.

Leaders can achieve an understanding of ethics, this paper will analyze how personal ethics are built from virtues, morals, values, and principles. Then, how ethics begin and continue for people and understanding the importance of ethics will be examined. How to serve as a role model in making ethical decisions is shown with a step-by-step process of how a leader develops a template for ethical decision-making.

Leadership ethics by Lamar Odom that basically examines whether doing the right thing is enough in leadership. The author examines this issue given that the behavior of leaders has been one of the most intriguing issues in today’s society and in order to provide insights on ethics in leadership. The title of the book provokes deeper thoughts in the minds of leaders even before they open the book to commence reading. The author of this book is a leadership and ethic consultant who has not only taught numerous courses but also carried out several trainings on this intriguing topic. Professor Odom developed interest in examining this issue following the cliché answers he received from time to time on the question of what ethics is. Actually, Odom’s work in examining ethics in leadership was fueled by the concerns he had regarding the cliché answers he received from students and corporate executives.

as two basic types of leadership and examines the concept of moral leadership by investigating

The basis of morality has been major area of discussion for philosophers for many years. In The Leviathan, Hobbes argues that desire and aversion determine what is good, evil, right or wrong, believing in a subjective self-interest based view on morality. In The Grounding of Metaphysics of Morals, Kant takes a rational approach, arguing that it is reason that plays a role in determining the same, thus having an objective view on morality. In my opinion, Hobbes’ account has greater validity than Kant’s in the fact that I believe it is human passion that dictates morality.

The topic that we choose is “The relationship between Leadership and Ethics”. The term ethics has been defined as inquiry into the nature and grounds of morality or a branch of philosophy of human conduct and determine right and wrong (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2010). In the other words, it includes study of general nature of moral, specific moral choices, moral philosophy, and rules or standards of governing the conduct of the member of a profession (Ferrell et al., 2010).

In the ultimate analysis, organizational and leadership ethics is everybody’s responsibility, not just that of an elite few. This is because leadership is not a person or a position but rather a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good as cited in Johnstone, 2013).

Ethical leadership can be defined in different ways. And also the definitions may include internal personality of leadership, which are values, traits and behaviours. Furthermore, ethical leadership can describe the features of motives and behaviour (Yukl, 2010). Ethical leadership is the leaders who have the good behaviour and performance and the right morals. Moreover, ethical leaders manage and organize performance, morals, and points of view into the culture of companies (Freeman and Steward, 2006).

Ethical leadership encompasses the manner in which one leaders that respects the rights and dignity of other individuals. According to Preston (1996) “ethics is concerned about what is right, fair, just, or good; about what we ought to do, not just what is the case or what is most acceptable or expedient” (p.16). Ethical leadership calls for ethical leaders in the organization. However, although an organization’s beliefs, valves, customs and philosophies need to start from the chief executive, the managers and employees must be dedicated to the organization’s goals for a culture be shaped (Butts Ed.). In order for a strong organizational culture to be successful, components of key valves must be in place and followed. With the

What is the aim of moral (ethical) theory that you learned from the reading? Elaborate on this by explaining how you think that having a clearer understanding of ethics can affect your life.

This broader concept of ethical leadership empowers leaders to incorporate and be explicit about their own values and ethics. The following list provides a framework for developing ethical leadership. It is based on the observations of and conversations with a host of executives and students over the past 25 years, and on readings of both popular and scholarly business literature. Written from the perspective of the leader, these ten facets of ethical leaders offer a way to understand ethical leadership that is more complex and more useful than just a matter of “good character and values.”

Leaders are responsible for influencing followers to perform a task, duty, or to be representative of their followers/constituents' wants and needs. In order for a leader to perform their task and duty effectively, they must possess ethics and morals that prized by their followers and that create loyalty among them. Because leaders are supposed to set a strong example of ethical behavior and ethical practices, it is imperative that leadership follow and set morally acceptable behaviors and that leadership conduct itself in a acceptable ethical manner. As such, leadership must conform to certain ethical principles, which Immanuel Kant attempts to define in Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals.

In the past, the term “authentic leadership” is used to define ethical leadership. Researches examine authentic leadership as an attempt to discover more about ethical leadership. Researchers argue that authentic leadership is concerned with self-awareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, and balanced processing (Gardner et al., 2005; Walumbwa et al., 2008). Although Authenticity is an important aspect of ethical leadership and the above definition creates a good list of behaviors, it doesn’t solely define all aspects of ethical leadership. It has also been argued that Influence processes used by leaders are driven by the underlying ethical values (Groves et al., 2011). Therefore, another approach to inspect ethical intent would be to examine the influence process used by leaders. Since leader’s influence processes are very much linked to her leadership styles, it’s appropriate to look at some leadership styles and the compatible influence processes.

I will examine the importance of personal ethics in leadership and how ethics produce effective leaders in organizations today. The importance of understanding ethics, motivation to act as a role model and developing a plan of action for an organization are discussed because of their importance regarding development of good leadership. These key points suggest personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership. With so many definitions of leadership, the question evolved from “what is the definition of leadership?” to “what is good leadership” (Ciulla, 2004, p. 13). To develop a system of values one must compile a list of the most important instrumental values and terminal values. These lists are unique to every individual because they are determined by personal importance. Instrumental values, such as honest, helpful, ambitious, responsible, etc. should reinforce terminal values. Once a leader’s means are consistent with desired goals, their value system is unified and they have climbed the staircase from the lobby to the first level of values. The climb from the first floor to the second floor results in a person incorporating principles into their newly developed values. Although values act as the bedrock of ethics, principles are required because alone, “values are far too vague to have much meaning in ethical analysis” (Cooper, 1998, p. 12). Morals are ideals that help us decipher between right