The five core values from the list of choices most important to me, in order of importance are 1) love, 2) truth, 3) wisdom, 4) justice, and 5) integrity.
Love
Love is one of the core values that a rational, independent person can possess. Different thinkers have different perspective of love as an ethical value. Ayn Rand, in normative ethics, rejects any conception of love as an exercise of altruism. She claims that love is not some sort of handouts or alms. Instead, it is the emotional responses of one man to the virtues of another. It is the spiritual payment given in exchange for the personal, selfish pleasure which one man derives from the virtues of another man’s character.
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According to Rand, there is no selfless love. This means that for love to exist, one party is indifferent to that which one values. As such, one gains a profoundly personal, selfish joy from the mere existence of the person one loves. The object of love, according to Rand, offers genuine enrichment of the lover’s life. This means that only a rationally selfish man, a man of self-esteem, is capable of love. The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone. Love in the organizational context refers to an intense positive reaction to another co-worker, group, and/or situation.
It has been established that people and situations can evoke loving and kind feelings, sensations, images and thoughts. When a manager show love towards people or situation, he is expressing his or her value of people and may in turn engender love from others. Love is a means through which managerial leaders build goodwill that can be drawn upon in times of conflict. Love will enable manage to empathize and handle ethical challenges in the best way possible.
Martin (2001) also demonstrates that love is the value associated with energy/spirit. It brings enthusiasm, tolerance, compassion, persistence, and sincerity, sense of community, friendship, patience and fun. Martin (2001) adds that the energy for activities in organizations, without which nothing happens and no good ideas come to fruition, comes from love.
Truth
Truth is another key core values that a moral agent should possess. Martin (2001 p. 238) reveals interesting facts about truth as an ethical value. Martin reports that truth is a value associated with cognition. Martin reveals that human being operates in dynamic worlds and needs to adjust accordingly in order to subscribe to one world view. Truth is associated with values such as honesty, curiosity, discernment, integrity, trustworthiness, knowledge, system thinking, impartiality and learning. Truthful manager will able to find rational solution to any problem.
A manager who is guided by value of truth will not blame the innocent. System thinking is best way of addressing issues in a complex world. System thinking, which is a value associated with truth, allow managers to find the real cause of problem and address them amicably without generalizing. One thing that should be mentioned as far as truth is concerned is that the truth is pursued in a principled way rather than in a passive or doctrinaire way. However, this approach may lead to some conflicts between the person’s perspective and the institution’s.
Truth enables managers solve ethical issues amicably because truth reduces cases of egoism. This is because truth and reality, according to Martin (2001) are seen from an expanded perspective, as holistic, incorporating many different dynamics, e.g. social and political issues.
Wisdom
Wisdom is another key values proposed by Plato that an ethical leader should possess. Wisdom is a value that enables a leader get what he wants. Wisdom, according to Plato, belongs to the rational part of the soul. It belongs to the “golden cord” that regulates our pursuit of pleasure and our aversion to pain by reference to consideration of better and worse (Irwin, 1994). Plato also treats wisdom as the leader among the goods of the soul. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness. The foolish leader, according to Plato may recognizes that something is fine and good, but he hates it.
Alternatively, such person may recognizes that something is unjust, but loves and welcomes it nonetheless (Irwin, 1994). Foolishness is a discord between rational belief, on the one side, and pleasure and pain on the other. Wisdom, on the other hand, involves concord between rational judgment and pleasure.
Unlike truth, wisdom should be identified with psychic harmony. Wisdom is depicted as the leader among the virtues. The wise person’s feelings of pleasure and pains would follow his judgments of value, whereas the foolish person’s pleasures and pains would conflict with his judgments of value (Irwin, 1994).
Justice
Justice is another key value that an ethical leader should possess. As a guiding principle, justice demands equality in treatment under similar circumstances. This implies that an ethical leader must treat its members or employees in a just and fair manner. The employees should receive similar treatment under similar circumstances. Justice helps in addressing employment problems such as discrimination of wages for a similar job due to colour or sex (Mandal, 2010). Laws have been formed to help stem out forms of injustices. An employee who reports such forms of discrimination can be assisted easily by a law-enforcing agency. The employer who perpetrates injustices is likely to attract legal penalty.
There are many other ways through which injustices can be perpetrated. For example, an employer, who knowingly ask employees to work in an unsafe and hazardous environment is considered not just or fair. The principles of business ethics forbid such practices. Many scientists feel that justice and fairness of dealings in business operations matters more than utilitarian approach to rights and duties. Employees and employers are expected to stand for justice (Mandal, 2010).
According to Mandal, (2010), no one can be forced to participate or perform in order to acquire or accrue benefits exclusively for others. Every leader should understand that justice can be served by “equity” of distribution of benefits and not by equal distribution. This means that if employees have to work in dangerous environment, the leader should be prepared to reward them accordingly (Mandal, 2010).
Integrity
Lewis & Gilman (2012) describes integrity as a value that encompasses the personal inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from honesty and consistent uprightness of character. Integrity, as a value, entails keeping oneself integrated and whole, in balance, and ethically sincere (Lewis & Gilman, 2012). It is widely praised value that managers should possess. With integrity, an individual can hold multiple realms of judgment in tension while keeping some coherence in his actions and life. It has been demonstrated that uniform and static viewpoints do not help leaders keep their integrity. Instead, integrity requires principled flexibility under fluid circumstances. As far as integrity is concerned, a leader should be able to make choices that demand the exercise of reasoned judgment reinforced by intuition and emotion.
References
Irwin, T. (1994). Plato's Ethics . Cary: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.
Lewis, C. W., & Gilman, S. (2012). The ethics challenge in public service: A problem-solving guide . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint.
Mandal, S. K. (2010). Ethics in business and corporate governance . New Delhi: Tata McGraw- Hill Education.
Martin, G. (2001). Human values and ethics in the workplace . Cherrybrook, N.S.W.: Glenn Martin.
