Leadership and Ethics

If you know what you’re doing is wrong but there’s no one to notice or learn of what you’re doing, is there an ethical issue? When it’s put that bluntly, what do you think? Remember the common sense definition of ethics. Ethics is what you do when no one’s watching. You as the supervisor, manager or leader have a moral obligation to your organization and to yourself to always try to do the right thing. If you don’t but you instruct your employees to do so, aren’t you really simply stating that they’re to do as you say, not as you do? Are you truly behaving as a leader?

Ethical conduct these days seems to be in short supply. We’ve all read the headlines and heard the talking heads pontificate about the waste and abuse by federal agencies, state agencies, and private sector organizations. Why does it keep happening? For one thing, what are the consequences? A few folks have resigned their positions or retired. And in “fifteen minutes,” figuratively speaking, no one will remember, the agencies involved will suffer no lasting consequences and the same old mind set continues.

Here’s the big “however.” If your organization relies upon its reputation for honor and integrity, any behavior by any employee which is contrary to those principles will undermine that reputation and ultimately end up hurting the organization. As a member of the leadership team you bear a great responsibility for protecting the good name of your organization and the reputation of each and every employee. With that in mind, how will you respond to the next ethical dilemma you face?

Leadership and Decision Making

Here’s a question for managers and supervisors.

Does your leadership style contribute to or hinder decision making?  Does it contribute to the problem or the solution?

Research has found that the style of leadership used within a group will have a direct impact upon the workings of the members.    It involves the facilitation of the interactions of the individual members, monitoring and encouraging member participation and completing the assigned tasks.  Leadership within a group may either be earned or ascribed.  When a group first forms the leadership issue must be decided.  Until that happens the group cannot focus on the tasks.  The style of leadership may vary along a continuum of authoritarian to non-directive.

An authoritarian leader is in complete control of the group.  The leader will make the decisions and then announce them to the members.  Information may be solicited from the members but may not affect the final decision.  An authoritarian leader is concerned only with getting the job done and not with whether the members approve of the final decision.

An authoritarian-democratic leader will make a decision and then attempt to persuade the group members to support it.  Such a leader needs the cooperation of the group to insure the task is completed.  The leader will attempt to persuade the members to support any decisions which have been made, whether or not the group had any input into that decision.

A democratic leader will present ideas and ask for input.  Additional suggestions may be asked from the members during the course of the meeting.  Decisions from such a leadership style are usually the result of a majority vote.

When compared to one another, authoritarian leaders will produce faster decisions in part because they have encouraged centralized communication structures.  Nondirective leaders encourage the use of decentralized communication structures and while slower, they will produce higher quality decisions.

So which style of leadership do you have and how effective are you in resolving problems?  If problem solving remains an issue, consider looking at your leadership style and making changes in order to bring about the best solutions possible.