Ethics in Leadership
Student 2025
5.3Assignment-LeadersYouCanTrust.docx5.3 Assignment: Leaders You Can Trust
Getting Started
One of the key themes early in the course was the centrality of trust to leaders and organizations. One outcome of leaders who function ethically can be that organizational members trust the leader. Another outcome is that trust, and the behaviors that build trust, begin to expand in the organization creating a community of trust.
This assignment starts the process of drawing together your study from the course to build your personal philosophy of ethical leadership. This assignment will have you build a scholarly document to support your thinking. Then, you can use the scholarly work as one of your building blocks to wrap up the course project in the next workshop.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
· Articulate a personal model of ethical leadership.
Background Information
If moral awareness is a first step in being our “best self” as an ethical leader as we build a community of trust, a second step can be moral decision-making.
Moral Decision-Making (step two)
Covey (2006) stated, “The ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust with all stakeholders—customers, business partners, investors, and coworkers—is the key leadership competency of the new global economy” (p 21). He suggested that “trust is the ‘hidden variable’ in the formula for organizational success” (p. 20). However, related to ethics and trust, Covey pointed out “that many ‘ethics’ solutions focus on compliance. The compliance definition of ‘ethics is not one of integrity or integratedness; it is a water-down, devalued definition that essentially means ‘follow the rules' ” (p. 61).
In contrast to a mere compliance view of ethics, Covey (2006) suggested a trust-based view is more powerful. The trust-based approach focuses on character, competency, credibility, integrity, congruence, capabilities, results, behaviors, and relationships. That sounds very much like the approach we have taken throughout the course.
Instructions
1. Review the Background Information.
2. Leveraging the content and sources provided in the course as well as additional research, compose a three – five-page paper on the theme: Leaders You Can Trust.
a. Provide an opening, introductory paragraph that clarifies a definition of what it means to be an ethical leader.
b. Then, explain five key concepts from the course regarding an ethical leader’s character (inside, who they are).
c. Then, explain five key concepts from the course regarding an ethical leader’s competence and/or conduct (what they do, how they function).
d. Then, explain five key ways that ethical leaders may impact (positively) their organization.
e. Finally, provide a conclusion that summarizes the five most important principles or practices about being an ethical leader that you’ve distilled from your study in the course and work on the assignment.
5.3 Assignment: Leaders You Can Trust
Getting Started
One of the key themes early in the course was the centrality of
trust to leaders and organizations. One outcome of leaders who
f
unction ethically can be that organizational members trust the
leader. Another outcome is that trust, and the behaviors that build
trust, begin to expand in the organization creating a community of
trust.
This assignment starts the process of drawing toget
her your study
from the course to build your personal philosophy of ethical
leadership. This assignment will have you build a scholarly
document to support your thinking. Then, you can use the
scholarly work as one of your building blocks to wrap up the
co
urse project in the next workshop.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be
able to:
·
Articulate a personal model of ethical leadership.
Background Information
If moral awareness is a first step in being our “best
self” as an
ethical leader as we build a community of trust, a second step can
be moral decision
-
making.
Moral Decision
-
Making (step two)
Covey (2006) stated, “
The ability to establish, grow, extend, and
restore trust with all stakeholders
—
customers, bus
iness partners,
investors, and coworkers
—
is
the
key leadership competency of the
new global economy
” (p 21). He suggested that “trust is the
‘hidden variable’ in the formula for organizational success” (p. 20).
However, related to ethics and trust, Covey p
ointed out “that
many ‘ethics’ solutions focus on
compliance.
The compliance
definition of ‘ethics is not one of integrity or integratedness; it is a
5.3 Assignment: Leaders You Can Trust
Getting Started
One of the key themes early in the course was the centrality of
trust to leaders and organizations. One outcome of leaders who
function ethically can be that organizational members trust the
leader. Another outcome is that trust, and the behaviors that build
trust, begin to expand in the organization creating a community of
trust.
This assignment starts the process of drawing together your study
from the course to build your personal philosophy of ethical
leadership. This assignment will have you build a scholarly
document to support your thinking. Then, you can use the
scholarly work as one of your building blocks to wrap up the
course project in the next workshop.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be
able to:
Articulate a personal model of ethical leadership.
Background Information
If moral awareness is a first step in being our “best self” as an
ethical leader as we build a community of trust, a second step can
be moral decision-making.
Moral Decision-Making (step two)
Covey (2006) stated, “The ability to establish, grow, extend, and
restore trust with all stakeholders—customers, business partners,
investors, and coworkers—is the key leadership competency of the
new global economy” (p 21). He suggested that “trust is the
‘hidden variable’ in the formula for organizational success” (p. 20).
However, related to ethics and trust, Covey pointed out “that
many ‘ethics’ solutions focus on compliance. The compliance
definition of ‘ethics is not one of integrity or integratedness; it is a
