Ethical leadership generally embroils mobilizing and leading employees of an organization, a company, or a business towards the creation of good relationships founded on Respect, Trust and Transparency. Competent leaders who adhere to morals and ethics are led by honesty, rectitude, equality, parity, fairness and compassion. When leaders realize that there is reward and value in sticking to standards where business conduct is concerned, then they learn to treat each other with sincerity and veracity (Mohamad, 2010).
There are millions of leaders in the world who have stood and exercised ethical leadership where discharging their duties is concerned; however, Bob Potter president and CEO of Monsanto Chemical Division top the list. The leader succeeded in exhibiting trust, trust comes into prevalence as a result of leaders expressing reliability and willingness to confess mistakes, and leaders are also trustworthy and open to everyone despite their rank in the organization or society. As a result employees and the society at large have confidence in the given leadership. The other ethical quality exhibited by Bob Potter is integrity- integrity is the situation where a leader honors responsibilities and obligation and has faith in his partners and employees to do the same. In this case, loyalty is upheld, apologies are exercised and adhered to, and commitment is the key factor and driving force.
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Ultimately, Bob Potter exhibits transparency. In the case of transparency, a leader knows and realizes that other employees are watching them closely and they track their actions. Therefore, a leader is obliged to watch out their behavior. Leaders make careful decisions and provide information in the right time and manner. They are even more concerned with the welfare of their subjects such that, they cannot allow business to be carried out in locations that can jeopardize the life of subordinates. Additionally, they keep away from deliberate and unethical business environments.
In his endeavors, Bob Potter discovered that a plant that they had assimilated was poisoning and intoxicating ground water, however, the plant manager kept mum and was not adhering to the guiding principles and provisions of the company. When Potter got wind of the matter, he put it into consideration and sent a group of investigators to assess and look into it. He additionally informed the nearest neighborhoods to stop drinking water from near sources and provided them with clean water until the investigation and testing was complete. His action ensured that no legal force was used to intervene. He succeeded in exhibiting the three aforementioned ethical practices i.e. Trust, Transparency, and Integrity.
As far as ethical theories are concerned, consequentialism is a theory that is used to decide whether something is right or wrong by looking at its aftermaths and its consequences. A good example is when someone tells a lie. In as much as rules and regulations are involved, telling a lie is wrong. Nonetheless, when telling a lie is tailored and deliberated to save an individual’s life, consequentialism does not see any mistake in lying in such an instance.
Much has been said about consequentialism, it has received much criticism in the sense that, it can sometimes be problematic or even unmanageable to identify the aftermath of action before its occurrence. Nevertheless, the theory has been fruitful in its usage over years since its discovery. The two basic principles of consequentialism generally are; the rightfulness and wrongfulness of an act is determined by the aftermath of that act, and if an act produces good consequences then the better it is.
From the tabled scenario, where the company am working for manufactures an artificial knee which is less expensive and will drastically decrease the healing time but does not sensitize on the adverse effects, it is clear from this instance and with regard to the consequentialism perspective it would be right to keep muteness and not utter any of the adverse effects of the manufactured knee. Consequentialists would argue that the artificial knee is less expensive and therefore quite a considerable number of society members would afford it. Secondly, the artificial knee will induce a dramatic decline in the period of healing and finally, the knee would benefit a great number of people as compared to the few who would be negatively affected. Therefore, launching it in the market would be of great benefit. Consequentialism could be used in a business perspective to judge what is right or wrong. In other words it could be used to decide what business activities should or should not engage in. by this, it means that when a business was doing something that was contrary to the provisions of the government and the law but the activity could benefit the general public, then it would be better to continue to serve the welfare and the best interest of the customers. After conveying the product, and the government finds it relevant and important to the public then it would be consented.
Deontology on the other hand is the normative moral and ethical stand that assesses the ethicality of an action with regard to rules and regulations. In other words deontology is the responsibility and obligation that a person holds in consideration to ethics, as that goes by; one has to align with rules when carrying out a specific task. In the above scenario, deontology would criticize and keep off the company from launching the artificial knee. The reason being, the company does not align to medical rules. Their act breaches morals, and only focuses on profit margins instead of human welfare. The product does not conform to the set medical standards, in which it should have zero effects to the consumer and if not so they should be transparent in highlighting the adverse effects. Deontology could be used in a business in a business perspective to serve the best interest of the consumers with regard to the provisions of the set rules and laws that govern a given business. If companies and organizations do not follow the laid rules, then it would be better for the leaders to call for a disclosure or the necessary steps to curb the rising phenomena
Cognitive moral development theory states that human beings grow and develop through three levels of moral thinking, the first level is basically preconventional, this level centers and majors on the importance and desire to obey rules for the purpose of avoiding punishments. Its point of view is that, an act is unethical or morally wrong due to the fact that, a punishment has been administered to the offender; therefore, the prevalent question in this instance would be “which course of action would best serve justice? And what action would be best for society in the long term?”
Conventional level on the other hand centers on the morality and ethicality that is linked to individual and public relationships. In this level, rules are rigid and robust; however, the set rules are blindly adhered to because of the importance of upholding an operational society. The set laws are equal and functional to all members and parties in the society and therefore adhering to them is seen as the most important thing to do (Brännmark, 2009). The main question here would be “if I reveal this information, will my company find out and fire me? And if I kept quiet, will my company reward me for that?”
In Postconvetional level, the sense of ethicality that exists in a person is defined with reference to nonconcrete principles and morals. This level renderers one to believe that some of the enacted laws are unmerited and therefore ought to be eradicated. The entire globe and universe is depicted to clasp distinct rights, values, and point of views and therefore, one is entitled to their opinion. The question that would be asked in this instance would be “are there laws that indicate whether I ought to disclose this information?” Generally; the cognitive moral development theory could be used in a business environment with the incorporation of the three stages. In this case, one would be required to evaluate their instincts and find out the best action to take to serve the interest of the general public and to serve the interest of the company or business and with regard to ethical and moral standards.
When all is said and done, my preferred ethical lens is definitely Reputation Lens. This basically because of the fact that, I like giving my feelings an ear so as to establish the main values that I ought to develop to present the ethical perfection that I clench to the society. In as much as the life of other individuals are of important and they mean a lot, my preferred lens goes to the extent of being exercised in all fields and aspects, may it be in work, personal endeavors or even in social obligations. However, there remains one challenge that is prevalent in the course of exercising Reputation Lens. Generally, one is not able to recognize that no one is perfect and no one can ever attain perfectness. The idyllic vision of the role that am playing is something that is to be aspired by many. However, the fact that we are human beings, we always deduce and make decisions that do not completely adhere to our intrinsic worth.
Additionally am looking forward to be a better communicator. This will not only be looked at the physical perspective but rather the general communication point of view. In other words am looking forward to establish the best communication strategies via emails, text messages, Memos, meetings other communication platforms. To make it more realistic as a smart goal, I will need to look at what it is when a given communication transpires. What type of communication is it? Is it verbal or is it written down this will help me a great deal and make a step towards realizing by goals and objectives.
Incorporating the Camera Lens to honestly asses and scrutinize our life endeavors in aligning with the virtues of our roles enables us to circumvent moral blind spots that emanate from falling short of sympathy; nonetheless, in as much as the human weakness is concerned we all have our blind spot. This implies that that, there are places that we are unethically cognizant and therefore we may sometimes make ethical blunders without deliberation. My one ethical blind spot is generally not realizing that some people are responsible for their own problems. Lack of recognizing this makes me design impractical roles for myself. However, to avoid this mistake I must now start understand that am not responsible for every person’s problem and therefore, I shouldn’t set a high standard and expectation for myself. Secondly, I ought to discover that am a human being and therefore making a mistake is not a corporal thing. And lastly, I should start to understand and pinpoint myself as more embodied to my role and reputation and less personified as an individual who commits errors (Ross, 2013).
Classical virtue being an asset that I find the most important to personify, is significant in my endeavors toward realizing ethical maturity; that said, my classical virtue is definitely fortitude. This enables one to face adversities and doubts with audacity notwithstanding the cost. As that goes by, I plan to use ethical lenses to handle ethical situations and circumstances that might arise in the course of my professional life. This implies that, I will give my sensibility an ear so as to determine the sovereignty and independence of every individual and their role their play any environment or in their areas of specialization.
To do all this I will fashion a perennial strategy that will help me not down my progress. I will seek to be audited by a professional and all my activities tracked down. This will be done through putting all my endeavors in a diary or a simple report which I will submit to my critique. It is undeniable that no one is perfect and that tells me that there are some goals and strategies that I will not be in a position to hit. And for that reason, I am prepared and will accept my mistake and will be willing to change if need be.
References
Brännmark, J. (2009). Ethical Theories and the Transparency Condition. Ethical Theory And Moral Practice , 12 (5), 449-462. doi: 10.1007/s10677-009-9160-z
Mohamad, S. (2010). Ethical Corporate Culture and Guidelines for Ethical Leadership. International Journal Of Trade, Economics And Finance , 1 (2), 151-154. doi: 10.7763/ijtef.2010.v1.27
Ross, M. (2013). Modern Risk Management through the Lens of the Ethical Organizational Culture. CFA Digest , 43 (3). doi: 10.2469/dig.v43.n3.17
