Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Case Study: Identifying Ethical Code and Issues in Leadership

###Case Study: Identifying Ethical Code and Issues in Leadership###

While ethics has been a study topic for over 2500 years, dating back to the time of Socrates and Plato, many ethicists now think emerging ethical beliefs to be values that guide how one ought to behave. Many philosophers think ethics to be the "science of conduct."

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Organizational ethics are standards that govern an organization's behavior. These standards can apply directly to an organization, or even to an industry at large. Many organizational leaders find codes of ethics to be the most sufficient way to encourage ethical organizational behavior. A leader must establish, communicate, and hold such a code through his or her organization's unabridged climate.

It is the anticipation about ethical behavior that often signifies a broader standard. According to Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn (2000), "Ethical behavior conforms not only to the dictates of law but also to a broader moral code that is coarse to community as a whole." The societal code of escort usually parallels the written laws, but sometimes the ethical code of a human sector can simply be invisibly instilled through generations of teaching and preaching.

Review of "Organizational Behavior" by Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn

As an authority, author and researcher Hunt Schermerhorn made a association in the middle of moral and amoral behavior in an society through ethics mindfulness in the leadership that was involved. It is very foremost that leaders understand that their followers must gain insight into their ways of reasoning and the behaviors they are likely to engage when working with others.

Summary of Schermerhorn's understanding

The general definition of Schermerhorn's insight was, "Ethical behavior conforms not only to the dictates of law but also to a broader moral code that is coarse to community as a whole". In one of his particular compilations, Schermerhorn, et al. Identifies "four ways of reasoning about ethical behavior in and by organization" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2000).

The Utilitarian view

Utilitarianism derives its meaning from the word utility and, when used to impart a form of ethics, it speaks of an act that is weighed by its moral worth. The utilitarian ethical religious doctrine opposes principled philosophies that allow the conscience to rule right and wrong. It also opposes philosophies that rule the righteousness of an act based on its offering to happiness or pleasure for its doer. The total outcome of this view is often measured by the phrase "the most good for most amount of people".

The Individualism view

The golden rule ethical religious doctrine emerged in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and teaches that everybody should "love your neighbor as yourself." This philosophy's central tenant is that an individual should be as humane as possible and never harm others through insensitive actions. An off-shoot from the individual perspective, Christianity teaches that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God gives justification for protecting and promoting human dignity. It has been said by varied authorities that, "to be a good person, one must take ethics seriously" (Hausman & McPherson, 1993).

The Moral ownership view

Absolute moral law was a religious doctrine that stresses it is a crucial moral duty that trumps individual desire in producing a humanitarian community based on reason. This ideas argues that right is never wrong and must be ended under any circumstances. Consistency is the key, and once a guideline is determined for an performance or idea, all behaviors and beliefs must always be applied in accordance.

It was the late 1970s that brought about a view of ethics that left them no place in the enterprise world. It was proven, over time, that "business ethics served a needed group and enterprise function" and through this realization the group belief has embraced, developed, and largely integrated enterprise ethics into the majority of corporations (DeGeorge, 2000).

The Justice View

This religious doctrine was developed to give an alternative perspective to utilitarianism, and was also referred to as the veil of ignorance. Under this viewpoint, all people are equal; therefore, no class of people is entitled to unique advantages over any others. It usually emphasizes the significance of moral argument, especially in political thinking.

Relation of my organization's ethical code to Schermerhorn's view

My organization's ethical code speaks to discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship that tends to yield great results. This trust is more in line with the Moral ownership view expressed by the popular author, John R. Schermerhorn, (et al.), a chief authority in the study of ethics and ethical behavior.

In a similar vein, just as the enterprise leaders of today manage diversity, not only because it "makes good enterprise sense as a strategic imperative", but also because it addressed legal and moral issues as well (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2000).

I believe that my organization's ethics code subscribes to the Moral ownership particular view, because issues concerning the moral ownership and duties in the middle of the company, its contractors, and its shareholders are the driving soldiery that "ensure delivery of potential products and services to the warfighter".

Responsibilities and privileges of leaders

Leaders will often have special relationships with an in-group of assistants and subordinates, who get high levels of accountability and access to resources. Characteristics of the in-group often include empathy, patience, sensitivity, and responsibility. In-group employees work harder, are more committed to task objectives, and share more menagerial functions. In return, they are improbable to be thoroughly committed and loyal to their leader. They are mostly determined the trusted associations of the leader.

Leadership skills impact vision, organizational effectiveness, and strategy. The test and comparison of the key aspects of the Leader-Member change (Lme) ideas showcased leaders' responsibilities and privileges - their use, authority and power - which in case,granted an occasion to think strategically and comprehensively about leadership.

"The changing demographics of today's workforce make managing diversity effectively a key strategic issue for organizations. The premise of the current study is that leadership-specifically, inclusive forms of leadership-is needful for successfully leveraging diverse human capital. In expanding to the moral discussion for developing an inclusive work environment, the results of the present study advise that inclusive leaders can also help the lowest line" (Nishii & Mayer, 2009).

Expected ethical decision manufacture process

The process of guiding others can begin with sharing foresight and strategy with all in the organization. Strategy can focus on the areas of change; for example, a convert in the dress code or the work environment can activate a cultural convert that can introduce an ethical religious doctrine into the picture. This chain of events usually influences the decision-making processes of today's American organizational leaders. As leaders face crises regularly, they need to custom ethical and moral decision manufacture and think the needs of employees, customers, stakeholders, shareholders, and even the community.

Consideration of gender issues in leadership

Women-versus-men as leaders is a catch-22, at best. Most authorities are bound by the very same diversity, ethics, and gender issues that leadership must succumb to and handle. Therefore, the studies that are most often cited state the conclusion of their study as showing that male and female leaders are equally effective. Still, women are less likely to be pre-selected as leaders, and followers often value the same leadership behavior higher for men than women (Kolb, J. 1997, p 504).

Regardless of researchers' hold of or opposition to gender relation theories in organizational development, sexuality continues to affect organizational operate and organizational leaders must accept its role in organizational growth. Leaders can help foster gender sensitivity within their companies. Organizational leaders will need to collate their environments and be aware of developments that affect ever-changing gender-related concerns.

Brief impart of the culture

Leaders need to deal with two major cultural aspects on a daily basis: organizational culture and cultural diversity. Leaders need to determined adopt strategies to manage both types of culture. Organizational culture is a unifying force that strongly appeals to entire society and is the sum total of the organizational image. With more and more organizations going global, cultural diversity is fast becoming lowly in most organizations.

Possible obstacles gender may have on sufficient leadership

Many of the traditional ways of talking and reasoning about leadership can continue to mask the strengths women bring to being prosperous as leaders. The results of some studies show that with or without early career support, women have ended fabulous achievements in their respective fields. What is foremost to keep in the leadership mind is that it is the leaders' own tenacity and optimism that play an foremost role in their accomplishments - any other traits, especially descriptive ones, are secondary and usually irrelevant.

References

DeGeorge, R. (2000). enterprise Ethics and the Challenge of the information Age. enterprise Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), pp. 63-72.

Hausman, D. & McPherson, M. (June 1993). Taking Ethics Seriously: Economics and modern Moral Philosophy. Journal of Economic Literature, (31)2 (Jun. 1993), pp. 671-731;

Kolb, J. (1997). Are we still stereotyping leadership? Small Group Research, 28(3), 370-371.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2008). Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. (Wiley).

Nishii, L., & Mayer, D. (2009). Do Inclusive Leaders Help to cut Turnover in Diverse Groups? The Moderating Role of Leader-Member change in the Diversity to Turnover Relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6), 1412-1426. Retrieved from enterprise Source Premier database.

Northouse, P. (2007). Leadership: ideas and custom (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

Schermerhorn, Jr., Hunt, J., & Osborn, R. (2000). Organizational behavior. (7th Ed.). Ny: John Wiley and Sons Inc. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from Argosy Online L7101 Xb: Foundations in Leadership Document Sharing and http://www.amazon.com/Organizational-Behavior-John-R-Schermerhorn/dp/0471681709#noop.

Case Study: Identifying Ethical Code and Issues in Leadership


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