The ethical foundation of any organization is crucial in determining the success of its operations, its position in the market, and the perceptions conceived by the surrounding community. It follows, therefore, that organizations must maintain high standards of quality and ensure that their operations reflect the accepted universal standards. The discussion that follows investigates and reflects on how ethics, business relationships, and leadership contribute to the overall culture of an organization.
Ethics and Business Relations
Ethics within a business are crucial to maintaining optimal operational levels and promoting the productivity of employees in the workplace. Ethical practices include, among others, the ability of organizations to appreciate legal and moral standards expected in their contexts. For example, commercial organizations are legally obligated to promote diversity in hiring and abhor unacceptable practices such as harassment in the workplace. Businesses that observe these requirements are ethical and such a condition promotes productivity in the workplace. It is undeniable that practices such as discrimination and harassment can lower the morale of workers and affect the overall productivity of the business. In addition, businesses are expected to promote observation of moral standards within the organization to ensure that workers operate in a safe, comfortable, and respectable space. Highly ethical businesses regulate interpersonal relationships to allow meaningful interactions between workers in and out of their premises. The end -result, as a result, is development of an organizational culture reflects respect for employees’ dignity while striving to achieve its strategic goals (Ciulla, 2014).
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Leaders, Leadership Styles, and Ethics
Leaders and their leadership have strong impacts on the organizations’ subscription to ethics. In essence, effective leaders must maintain and demonstrate high levels of integrity while they interact and communicate with the employees. Leaders who show commitment and dedication to integrity and morality inspire employees to do comply with organizational rules and cultures. Similarly, leaders who demonstrate disregard to morality and rules inspire employees to become unethical. The leadership styles adopted by leaders also affect the ethical behavior of employees greatly. Leaders to adopt the democratic model, for example, inspire change and encourage employees to engage in activities that are beneficial for the organizational (Ciulla, 2014). The democratic model means that leaders and employees exchange ideas and learn from each other. An ethical democratic leader, therefore, inspires his values, beliefs, and norms to the subjects. Leaders who adopt the autocratic method, on the other hand, dictate rules and regulations authoritatively and are emotionally disconnected from their teams. Thus, they lack the impact to pass their beliefs on morality and ethics to the subjects. In fact, Ciulla (2014) argues that organizations based on democratic leadership tend to have higher score when it comes to ethical practices and compliance with rules.
Personal Approach to Business Ethics
I believe that business ethics are cultivated internally through creation of an organizational culture based on accepted practices and moral standards of leaders. Business ethics are also a result of the interactions between employees and their leaders. By principle, therefore, leaders must be at the forefront to determine and inspire the codes of conduct that are healthy for the organization. Without inspiration from their leaders, employees are unsure of what is right or wrong for the organization.
Conclusion and Reflection
Indeed, one overlooks the critical relationship between ethics, leadership, and leadership styles in an organization. These variables work together to ensure that an organization creates a culture that promotes ethical behavior and morality. As a future leader, these insights will play a big role in influencing the nature of policies and rules that I will use to manage by organizations. They will inform by actions as I interact with my subordinates as the interaction between leaders and employees play a critical role in determining the prevailing organizational culture. In essence, I will never engage in a leadership role without examining how my actions might affect the organizational culture and the employees’ subscription to ethics.
References
Ciulla, J. B. (2014). Ethics, the heart of leadership . Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
