Ethical Leadership
Abstract
In a rapidly globalizing business environment, leaders play a central role in how organizations are run. It is through their policies and ethics that companies can run sustainably. However, it is also parameters such as communication and collegiality that play a factor in how ethical leaders relate to their employees. Ethical leaders play a central role in advancing organizational ideologies. Furthermore, they help foster communication between the employees and the management. For example, companies such as Jumeirah Group and Enron have different ethical leadership strategies that have shaped their sustainability as organizations. The following study shows the relationship between ethical leaders, communication, collegiality, and how it advances the ideology of sustainability.
Introduction
Corporations have changed more than ever thanks to innovative and modern advances, and there is no doubt that they will change even more dramatically in the coming decades with the expansion of structural changes and globalization that will affect the working space. To adapt to this rapidly changing technological age, all organizations must have ethical leaders deeply committed to three things: excellent quality and competent and professional skills, a moral approach to remain effective for a long time (i.e., sustainable results) and the obligation to do it correctly (Eldridge et al., 2013). According to Brown et al. (2005), ethical leadership is one where leaders guide their subordinates, establishing the right communication channels, and leading an organization to long-term sustainability through ethical practices and decisions within the organization. Reiche (2017) stated that sustainability exists across all domains and that everything is sustainable. From an organizational point of view, leaders must be responsible for the service and guarantee of their stakeholders and the community as a whole. It focuses on organizational management skills, including financial strength, as well as environmental, social, and moral issues (Joseph, 2013).
The following study will analyze ethical leadership and how it relates to communication and collegiality. The study will use two companies Enron and Jumeriah Group, as two companies to demonstrate the effects of ethical leadership in the organization. The main points of focus will be on employees and sustainable efforts.
Effects of ethical leadership on collegiality
To achieve ethical leadership within an organization, there is a need to have ethical leaders. If leaders have ethics, they can ensure that ethical practices are practiced throughout the organization. Leaders are usually at the height of the activity, both inside and outside the activity. As such, ethical leadership should consider how leaders influence this decision, the activities they share, and how it affects others. Leaders can influence their followers to carry out activities, work, and develop certain behaviors. Effective leaders also have an impact on form, promoting a change of mind and values, and self-sufficiency of their followers as they develop a company vision. Part of the benefits of governance can also be to elevate the lifestyle of the organization and the reputation of its representatives to a higher ethical standard. By demonstrating moral authority, we promote an important level of justice that promotes a sense of trust and urges lower-level partners to recognize and follow our vision. Behavior and focus provide a solid basis for other personal traits that directly affect our beliefs, values , and moral decisions.
Agreeableness generally refers to trustworthiness and congeniality (Northouse, 2015). A self-aware leader with this trait might display and leverage positive behaviors, including giving others the benefit of the doubt, being easily relatable and quick to pitch in with tasks, avoiding discontentedness with self or others, and being generally empathetic (Goldberg, 1999). A self-aware leader would also know to be cautious against being agreeable with toxic or unethical individuals. While one may not engage directly in unethical behavior, allowing unethical situations to continue due to being overly agreeable is unethical as well.
At the organizational level, investment in regular training programs in ethical leadership will yield dividends for the organization, reflected in a warm work environment that is congenial to growth (Taylor & Pattie, 2014). At the societal level, Luk (2012) proposed a model that emphasized ethical leadership training and ethical training of employees because role modeling is an insufficient medium of cascading ethical behaviors. Roberts (2015) posited that leadership development training should not be limited to classroom teaching, but should be interactive and include reflections, activities, and relevant experiences, based on action learning theory propounded by Revans (1982). Overall, formal and informal training in schools and work environments need to be encouraged to enhance the development of ethical leadership skills.
Likewise, the ethical leadership component should focus on the virtues and decency of popular leadership, given the impact that these decisions will have on the organization. This suggests that a clear correspondence is established with the representatives in order to create a guarantee structure developed by the workers and how this contributes to the realization of the organization. As a result, leaders of morality are constantly trying to consolidate moral standards in their behavior, quality, and beliefs that illustrate an approach based on superior logic, revered for judgment, consistency, and tolerance (Hsin-Kuang, Chun-Hsiung, and Dorjgotov, 2012). On the other hand, Stacey (2013) provides the structure of moral administration and provides a network that contains a misleading image. That trait of bad faith. Likewise, Buble (2012) suggests that leaders are considered respectable individuals, which indicates that they care and feel comfortable with the workers’ well-being.
The individual responsibility of the organization is full of responsibility. It is accompanied by strong confidence in the objectives of the organization, the willingness to make considerable efforts for the organization, and a strong desire to maintain participation in the organization. Employees’ desire to remain loyal to a company depends on their enthusiastic eagerness. Workers who actually join an organization are considered committed and permanent representatives (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011). Seriously committed employees who have the impression of having a sense of belonging that gradually links them to the organization’s exercises closely follow the objectives and wish to remain in their organizations.
Effects of ethical leadership on communication
Ethical leaders are reasonable and genuinely concerned with the needs and interests of their employees and others. They strive to empower representatives, are available for alternative opinions and assessments, and allow others to be interested in the basic leadership process. This representative, goal-oriented, conscious, and empowering behavior reflects the idea of unified communication that emphasizes the extent of influence and interests (Choi & Choi, 2009), joint efforts, connections, and lack of control. Likewise, the leaders of morality fulfill their guarantees, accept duties, and continue in a kind manner. They are good examples and promote positive moral work for the club, reward moral leadership, and set moral standards. This authority provides a caring environment in which the structure of moral and inalienable communication can be supported (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011). In addition, ethical leaders use open and direct correspondence to explain their career goals/objectives, take into account the interests and values of employees, and promote mutual understanding. They value hierarchical associations with society and environment around the world and offer to support these long-term connections. Significant prior knowledge is aligned with the success of the victory and the social emphasis on balanced correspondence.
Internal communication also discusses in depth the effects of leader behaviors of power-sharing practices and individual guidance on employee engagement. This intervention is normal, given that moral authority as an authoritarian environment provides the framework for uniformly representative, enabling, and collective internal communication. This finding is also consistent with the idea of Kalshoven et al. (2011) that the pioneering correspondence environment and the workplace have a higher priority than pioneering behavior.
Ethical leaders not only promote leadership and moral virtues in the organization, but they are also good examples of representatives and are also encouraged to participate in moral behavior. In general, communication specialists must work with licensed leaders to create an ethical communication environment and develop initiatives to make communication viable (Sharma, Agrawal, & Khandelwal, 2019). The most critical, bidirectional, open, responsive, employee-centered, and balanced, collaborative communication programs must be established because of their progressively meaningful and direct work in managing employee engagement (Sharma, Agrawal, & Khandelwal, 2019).
Those who focused on ethical leadership predicted increasing importance for hierarchical practice. Neubert, Wu, and Roberts (2013) argue that the collapse of organizations like Enron and Lehman Brothers is a compact indicator of the importance of ethical behavior. In fact, the lack of ethical behavior in the approved practice can, in this sense, impair the spirit of an employee and is based on the need for administrative guidelines based on ethical leadership. Companies such as Jumeirah Group have employed an ethical leadership model, such as a CSR, where they focus on delivering to their stakeholders and sustaining the environment (Noeiaghaei, 2009). Enron, on the other hand, was the complete opposite as the company lacked ethical leadership. In retrospect, the company failed to deliver to its stakeholders and was marred with unethical practices such as tax fraud. This stemmed from the leadership level.
For leaders to demonstrate their skills, they must have reliable communication with their assistants. Trust is mental. It communicates the goal of recognizing weaknesses based on the uplifting desires of another person’s expectations or practices (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011). This is a key factor in recognizing the manager’s commitments and data. Trust in a relationship is born when managers are available to get information from employees and ready to share control. When representatives trust their leaders, they see the authenticity, quality, and value of their leaders and are therefore deeply committed and ready to act when needed. In addition, assisting the organization with counselors affects the overall level of trust, rather than assisting the organization as seen by workers (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011). In an excellent relationship, employees know that leaders are truly stable, reliable, and solid. Leaders respond to trust by helping the company achieve its important goals. If leaders find their employees lacking confidence, they will reject the requests on the assumption that their words are problematic. In order for managers to optimize the performance of their representatives in relation to their roles, they need to rely on them to apply.
Conclusion
In a rapidly evolving business landscape, sustainability is a key element for organizations. However, achieving sustainability requires a lot of commitment from the leaders. One of the aspects of achieving sustainability is having an ethical leader. Ethical leaders help foster communication within organizations, and thus, employees can voice their opinions. Furthermore, employees tend to emulate ethical leaders, and this gives them a feeling of belonging within the organization. However, if organizations lack an ethical leader, this can lead to mistrust among the employees and impact the long-term sustainability of the organization. When employees perceive their leaders as unethical, it can lead to insubordination as they may feel like their leader does not have the best interests of the organization. Therefore, ethical leadership within the organization fosters communication, which, in the long run, impacts the sustainability of the organization.
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