Ethics in Leadership

Getting Started

Who are the most important people in the organization? Leaders? Followers?

In an organizational system, neither is more important than the other. Each has something valuable to contribute to achieving organizational goals. If either one does not fill their roles well, dysfunction results.

This assignment will help you better understand some of the leader actions that impact the ethical climate of an organization. In addition to character and competence, a leader’s conduct, as well as alignment between each of the elements, contributes to the credibility and influence of the leader.

Background Information

Role-modeling is one of the most important ways that leaders impact an organization. Watch this video on ethical leadership to learn more about moral examples by leaders.

Role-Modeling

Leaders have important influence on the organizations of which they are part. Leaders help establish or articulate mission and vision. They help get members of the organization aligned with that mission and vision as well as operating under a shared set of values. They make sure that organizational members have all of the necessary resources to achieve the mission and vision. They also have a very important role in setting and maintaining the ethical qualities of the organization.

It is not enough for leaders to just tell others what the mission, vision, values, and expectations are. Leaders have to live out those things. If top leaders behave ethically and make decisions based on desirable values, it is likely that the rest of the organization will follow suit and an ethical culture will grow. However, if leaders say one thing, but then make decisions or reward something else (e.g., unethical behaviors), credibility will suffer and the entire organization will develop unhealthy patterns.

Schein (2017) says that leaders embed their values into the organization via six primary embedding mechanisms:

· What leaders pay attention to, measure, and control.

· How leaders react to critical incidents and crises.

· How leaders allocate resources.

· How leaders role model, teach, and coach.

· How leaders allocate rewards and status.

· How leaders recruit, select, promote, and punish.

Previously in the workshop, we mentioned the leader’s character and competence. Here, we add the idea of a leader’s conduct. The alignment between what a leader says and what a leader does in each of the embedding mechanisms noted by Schein (2017) has important implications for trust, credibility, ethics, and healthy organizations.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Review the Background Information.

3. Read the  Sims et al. article(new tab) . Skim pages 243–246; then focus much of your attention on page 247.

4. Address the following assignment requirements in a two- to three-page paper.

a. As you think about your current or former organization, describe a scenario that you believe reflects unethical behavior or decision-making by a leader (you may change names of the organization or leader if you feel you need to protect confidentiality. But note in parenthesis during the first usage in your assignment that “names have been changed”) Describe the scenario in no more than ½ page.

b. Analyze how the unethical actions by the leader impacted the culture of the organization (i.e., what was or became accepted, even if different from formal values statement or ethics policies; How did organizational members feel about the organization – did it change; How was the organization perceived in the community – did it change? Was the action an isolated action or was it part of a pattern of actions?). Provide this analysis in ½ page.

c. Explain how the leader used one (or more) of the embedding mechanisms discussed by Schein (2017) for good or harmful effect on the ethical climate of the organization and which of the character/competency cornerstones seemed to be missing in the leader and their conduct. Offer this explanation in approximately 1 page.

d. Finally, in your conclusion, distill at least two-three important takeaways from your study in the workshop this week. For example, what lessons can you learn about leadership from the scenario? What principles or practices might you leverage in your leadership responsibilities? What are the new or revised tools in your leader toolkit?

5. Include a properly formatted title page, an introductory paragraph, and a conclusion.

6. Include a properly formatted title page, an introductory paragraph, and conclusion.

7. All papers are to be written and formatted in accordance with APA Guidelines (7th ed.). Papers must be logical, well organized, grammatically correct, and have correct spelling and sentence structure. Write in complete paragraphs of at least three sentences in length.

8. Proofread your papers prior to submitting them to ensure the highest quality of presentation.

9. The maximum number of pages is given to encourage you to be concise and use meaningful words.

10. Failure to meet these minimum writing and formatting requirements will result in a lowering of the overall grade. Use a #12 font in Times New Roman.

a. Part 1 – Initial of first name

b. Part 2 – Last name

c. Part 3 – Assignment name

d. Part 4 – Date: using numbers in order of month, day, and yearNaming Convention: Use the following format for naming the (Word document) files that contain your assignment:

e. Example of the file name: SmithJ_Ethics paper_6_1_21