Leadership Ethics in Business management

1. Definition
Leadership : The ability of an individual, group or
organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals,
teams, or entire organizations (Coleman, M (2011b)
Ethical leadership : Individuals behave according to a set
of principles and values that are recognized by the majority
as a sound basis for the common good. These include
integrity, respect, trust, fairness, transparency, and honesty,
(Bauman, Z. 2009)

2. Characteristics of ethical leadership
Fair : ethical leadership makes decision without biasness
Honest :transparency and consistency with facts
Respectful: Listening and valuing employee contributions, and showing respect
Value-driven : Decisions making based on organizational values
Encourages initiative : Motivate employees to thrive, and inspire
Leads by example: Walk the talk
Team focus: Foster, encourage and promote team spirit
Kindness: Treats people humanly
Ethical leadership : ‘4 V’ model. The four V's are:
Values
Core values based on morality that drive decision-making.
Vision
A big picture idea of what will benefit everyone involved.
Voice
Having your own unique sense of self while leaving room for others to do the
same.
Virtue
Behaving in a way that aligns with all of the above

3. Ethical theories in leadership
Philosophical egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, ethics of virtue,
ethics of responsibility
Philosophical Egoism: thical theory according to which moral decision
making should be guided entirely by self-interest. Ethical egoism is often
contrasted with psychological egoism, the empirical claim that
advancing one's self-interest is the underlying motive of all human
action.
Ethical egoism is the view that people ought to pursue their own self-
interest, and no one has any obligation to promote anyone else’s
interests. It is thus a normative or prescriptive theory: it is concerned
with how people ought to behave. Ethical egoism is quite different
from psychological egoism, the theory that all our actions are ultimately
self-interested. Psychological egoism is a purely descriptive theory that
purports to describe a basic fact about human nature, (De Villiers, E.
2018)

4. Ethical theories in leadership
Utilitarianism
A tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers
and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill according to
which an action (or type of action) is right if it tends to
promote happiness or pleasure and wrong if it tends to produce
unhappiness or pain—not just for the performer of the action but also for
everyone else affected by it. Utilitarianism is a species of consequentialism, the
general doctrine in ethics that actions (or types of action) should be evaluated
on the basis of their consequences, ( Jonas, H. 1984,)
Criticism
Although the widespread practice of lying and stealing would have bad
consequences, resulting in a loss of trustworthiness and security, it is not certain
that an occasional lie to avoid embarrassment or an occasional theft from a rich
person would not have good consequences and thus be permissible or even
required by utilitarianism.
prevention or elimination of suffering should take precedence over any
alternative act that would only increase the happiness of someone already happy

5. Ethical theories in leadership
Deontology
is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be
based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of
rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action.
The morality of an action is based solely on the nature of the action
regardless of the consequences or any other factors. Deontology views
actions as either right or wrong without any regard to contextual features
(De Villiers, 2018).
Critique : Deontology is inflexible. By ignoring what’s at stake in terms of consequences, it misses a
serious element ofethical decision-making.De-emphasisingconsequenceshasotherimplications too

6. Ethical theories in leadership
Ethics of virtue
Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient
Greeks. It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral character.
This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire
virtue through practice. By practicing being honest, brave, just,
generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral
character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will
likely make the right choice when faced with ethical challenges, (Jonas,
H. 1984)
Virtue ethics is primarily concerned with traits of character that are
essential to human flourishing, not with the enumeration of duties. It
agrees with consequentialism that the criterion of an action’s being
morally right or wrong lies in its relation to an end that
has intrinsic value, but more closely resembles deontological ethics in
its view that morally right actions are constitutive of the end itself and
not mere instrumental means to the end

7. Ethical theories in leadership
Ethics of responsibility
The ability to recognize, interpret and act upon multiple principles and
values according to the standards within a given field and/or context.
When normative activities such as making moral decisions on
actions and providing guidance on applicable moral values or
ethical strategy are undertaken, they should appropriately
respond to the given macro- and micro-context, (Holger and
John-Stewart,2014)
Ethics of responsibility has high regard for ethics or morality as
a social institute
Ethics of responsibility takes an accommodative attitude over
against the plurality of existing normative ethical approaches

8. Literature gaps
Ethical Leadership is relatively complex topic to understand. It also
focusses about how difficult it is for the organisation to Practice
Ethical Leadership in the organisation.
The challenges of ethical leadership in restricting one’s individuality
is not exhaustively covered
Placing ethical leadership and society expectations before
organizations objectives can impact on profitability/growth. Most
literature do not present on ethical leadership and organizational
performance.

9. Current Application
 Many organizations have embraced ethical
leadership through Corporate Social
Responsibility
 Conflict of interest declarations in organizations
 Is it morally right for vaccine companies to make
super profits while people are suffering ?

10. REFERENCES/CITATIONS
Bauman, Z. 2009. Does ethics have a chance in a world of
consumers? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Coleman, M (2011b) Leadership and diversity. In: Robertson, J, Timperley, H
(eds) Leadership and Learning. London: SAGE, pp.172–185.
De Villiers, E. 2018. Revisiting Max Weber's ethic of
responsibility. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Jonas, H. 1984, The imperative of responsibility: In search of an
ethics for the technological age. Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press
Shields, C (2010) Transformative leadership: working for equity in diverse
contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly 46(4): 558–589.
Holger Burckhart, John-Stewart Gordon, (2014) Global Ethics and Moral
Responsibility: Hans Jonas and his Critics, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

11. Thank You !
Q&A