Business and leadership ethics

Business and leadership ethics.

Discuss, in one paragraph, the concept of business ethics.

Business ethics revolves around a collection of professional or applied ethics reviewing or researching ethical or moral issues that arise in any business setting. The basic principles of business ethics include three distinct types of moral or ethical concerns. The first concept focuses on issues revolving around the environment of the business. The Second concept focuses on issues revolving around an individual’s conduct, while the third concept focuses on the business’s corporate activities.

Discuss ethical leadership and its importance in supporting organizational values.

Ethical leadership is a type of leadership in which individuals demonstrate reasonable and adequate behavior for the common good in their lives. A moral leader leads by example, champions the importance of ethics, and is an excellent communicator.

Importance in supporting organization values.

1. Ethical leadership helps determine our conduct within and outside the business.
2. Ethical leadership also helps us in settling disputes during conflicts within a business.
3. Ethical leadership determines the level of motivation of the employees in an organization.

Discuss three characteristics of an ethical leader.

1. An ethical leader strives to maintain justice. They should be unbiased in how they treat people.
2. An ethical leader has the utmost respect for others. They listen to their members and value their input while being compassionate.
3. Ethical leaders show transparency in their conduct. Honesty is a virtue that is necessary for everyday business activities.
4. Leaders should always walk their talk. They should practice what they preach. Leaders who go back on their word end up killing productivity in the team.
5. Good leaders usually come last. They learn to forego their needs before those of others.
6. Good leaders have to acknowledge their mistakes. They must be accountable for their team’s mistakes. Good leaders don’t abandon their teams and colleagues to save their skin.
7. Good leaders evaluate the team’s performance with ethics in mind. They should not demand aggressive targets from their employees. They should, therefore, always put people above profits.

Discuss three (3) styles of leadership and the impact each of the identified styles on

Organizational culture.

Transactional leadership is a type of leadership where there is an exchange focused on fulfilling a contract, and it is implemented by setting targets and controlling outcomes. Organizations that favor transformational leadership usually lack innovation. These organizations, however, are highly successful because of emphasizing rewards based on accomplishment and punishing failure.

Laissez-faire Leadership is a non-transactional leadership where there is no purposeful interaction between the leader and the follower. It is the most ineffective and passive type of leadership. Organizations that focus on such leadership models usually fail disastrously because of poor communication between the leader and the follower.

Transformational leadership motivates others to achieve great objectives by changing their followers’ values and beliefs. This leadership model usually transforms the organization positively by promoting teamwork while sharing the vision, mission, and policy deployment.

Discuss at least three strategies that can be used to encourage employee participation in

decision‐making

1. We can make use of a suggestion box– The suggestion box can either be physical or virtual. We should ensure we regularly check and always respond to employees’ suggestions.
2. We could make use of surveys– Surveys should be given regularly to employees for feedback. The reviews assist us in getting to know our employee’s ideas and satisfaction levels. The employee’s suggestions should help us improve our business.
3. Leadership teams are a good way of ensuring that our employees have a platform where they can share their ideas. The teams should regularly meet to discuss ideas or make decisions. The team members don’t have to be managers; they can be employees.

Discuss three strategies that a leader can use for building trust and confidence with colleagues.

1. Communication- promoting communication in an organization promotes transparency and builds on trust. We should let the employees know that they can always talk to us about the challenges that they face.
2. We should ask for feedback from our juniors. Most of the time, the employees may feel that they can’t give feedback, but once we ask for it from them, we build trust.
3. We should give credit where it’s due. When we acknowledge the efforts of a team member, we end up motivating the team. Whenever a leader takes credit for his juniors’ work, the team’s morale ends up decreasing.

Explain the importance of leadership in ensuring that work health and safety legislation is met.

Leaders set the organization’s principles and standards, and they can enforce safety requirements. Leaders must know the safety concerns that employees face in their typical day to day job activities. Leaders should also motivate other employees to attain leadership qualities to maintain a clean record of safety in the workplace.

Give five (5) reasons why it is essential to follow anti‐discrimination law and provide equal opportunity, giving a short explanation of each.

1. The organization can improve its recruitment process. They can focus on the skills being brought by an individual and add value to an organization.
2. Employee engagement increases as a result of interacting with each other without discrimination in terms of race, sex, gender, or religion.
3. The organization ends up improving customer satisfaction, and as a result, customers come back.
4. Equal opportunity leads to the protection of the people and the business. When we protect our employees, they end up becoming loyal, and they increase their dedication levels because employees feel secure that they are being treated fairly.
5. The brand gets a better reputation once we apply equal opportunities. Employees want to work in organizations that don’t promote discrimination. A better-committed workforce translates to excellent output and increased revenue.

Explain the critical phases of a change management process.

1. The first step is identifying a need- We need first to identify the specific thing we want to change. We evaluate the business threats or opportunities and gauge if they warrant a change. If there is a need for a change, we formulate a plan on how to make the changes.
2. The second step involves preparing our employees for a change. It is normal to experience resistance when making changes. Therefore we should try and inform the employees to expect a particular shift.
3. The final step is implementation. The best way of simplifying implementation is by changing the management in phases.

Explain the organizational change process using Kotter’s 8‐step change model.

Creating urgency– the whole organization must want change for it to happen. Creating a need can get things moving.

Forming a powerful coalition– We have to convince people that change is inevitable and gain the support of key members in an organization.

Creation of a vision for change– We need to form an overall idea that people can easily understand.

Communicating the vision– Our success in the change depends on what we do with our vision. We have to teach our vision powerfully and continuously.

Getting rid of obstacles-There may be some resistance to change. We, therefore, have to continually check so that we can get rid of the barriers.

Creating short term wins– This step is vital so that the staff can taste victory, and we minimize negative feedback from critics who may hurt our progress.

Build on the change- We should not declare our success too early by over celebrating the quick wins. We must keep on improving.

Anchoring the change in the corporate structure– The change must stick and become the core of the organization. We must ensure that the change is seen in every part of the organization.