Individual Ethical Leader Assignment

Ethical Leader 1

I work part time in a local supermarket aimed at earning some extra money to cater for my expenses. The supermarket had many employees and each employee was assigned to a particular task. I was assigned a duty in the warehouse where I could keep track of the company’s stock. The head of the inventory offered his leadership and supervision as I executed my duties and responsibilities. Notably, the leader had a set of values that he required all the employees working in this department such as responsibility, fairness, honesty, trust, transparency, openness, and respect. Moreover, the supervisor demonstrated a lot of interest in respecting the rights of the entire workforce.

The supervisor’s score from the ELQ assessment is 45 out of a possible 50. Therefore, based on the obtained results, it is evident that the supervisor conducts himself as an ethical leader. The areas of strength were marked with a score of 5 including his capability to punish all the employees that violates the company’s ethical standards (Johnson, 2020, p.27). In addition, his activities demonstrates that he has the best interest of his employees in mind, fair decisions, discuss business values, and set a good example for the employees. Other areas where the leader’s strength was exhibited with a score of 4 include asking employees about their opinion during decision making, listens to the plight of his employees, and conducting his life ethically. Alternatively, the leader ought to address the issue of not solely viewing success based on acquired outcome. Ethical leaders ought to also factor in any factors that hindered the workforce from achieving the set objectives.

The supervisor demonstrated a variety of different positive character traits that include courage, wisdom, integrity, and compassion (Johnson, 2020, p.71). A courageous leader does the right thing oblivious of the dangers facing them for making a specific decision. An example of a scenario where the leader exhibited courage was when he disagreed with the management about creating a shortage of some commodities due to an expected rise in the price of the specific items. Another character trait exhibited is wisdom, which refers to the capability of a leader to make decisions that promote the wellbeing of the organization. The supervisor made decisions that aimed at propelling the organizations vision forward. The supervisor also demonstrated integrity by aligning his actions with what he expected from the workforce. For instance, the employees looked up on the supervisor as a role model when executing our duties and responsibilities. Finally, the supervisor was compassionate given that he demonstrated care and concern towards employees working in the inventory department. For instance, he ensured to conduct orientation for all the newcomers to ensure that they understood what was required from them aimed at minimizing errors.

Based on the ethical perspectives outlined in Chapter 5, the supervisor practices the Kant’s categorical imperative approach. The approach requires that the leader makes a decision perceived to be the most right (Johnson, 2020, p.147). For instance, the leader would still make the right and most ethical decision even though it meant losing some clients. Hence, telling the truth plays a central role in this leadership approach while deceitful vices such as lying are discouraged. Furthermore, it is essential that the leaders respect other individuals even though they might be undertaking junior roles in the organization.

Elements of moral sensitivity demonstrated by the leader include benevolence, humanism, integrity, and mutuality (Johnson, 2020, p.176). Benevolence refers to the way in which people demonstrate kindness towards each other. Accordingly, it is possible to ensure that other people are happy from what is happening to other employees. On the other hand, humanism enables the supervisor to implement policies and practices that facilitate personal growth and achieving organizational goals. Integrity enables the supervisor to adhere to the stipulated code of conduct proposed by the management of the organization. Finally, mutuality enables the supervisor to facilitate teamwork from the organization such that every project is approached by the entire workforce in the department until its completion.

The compliance technique used by leaders to have their way as they provide leadership. The supervisor demonstrates a wide range of techniques as he offered leadership in the department. For instance, he engaged in consultations with the employees whereby he sought for their opinion on how to improve the organization. Furthermore, he provided the employees in the department with collaborations by providing them with needed resources to execute their duties. Another strategy is using appraisal whereby he extensively explained to the employees why they ought to complete a specific task in a certain way. As a result, the department managed to gain more visibility in the company with the most outstanding performances.

It was easy to determine the followership behavior under the supervisor’s leadership because he did set a good example for the entire workforce. Furthermore, there was a set of values that all employees working in the department were expected to comply with. Hence, it was easy to understand what was expected from the workforce and work towards attaining it. I realized that I was supportive in that I gave my opinion in some instances where I discovered that I had a better idea on how to complete the underlying tasks. Moreover, it was possible to tell the truth at all times, which is among the values required in the organization’s corporate culture.

There are multiple leadership lessons that I acquired from the current leader. For instance, I learned the importance of being an ethical leader because it plays an essential role in making it possible to meet the objective and mission of the organization. Moreover, maintaining a good relationship between the leaders and the employees is critical because it is critical in practicing teamwork among the workforce. It becomes possible for the employees to contribute in decision-making by giving their opinions. Similarly, the leaders are able to create a working environment where employees can pursue career development.

Ethical Leader 2

In my philanthropic activities, I work with a charity organization within my local community. The organization engages in feeding homeless individuals within the community. Since the organization does not generate profit, all the employees work as volunteers. The challenge is that the entire workforce has other engagements that they use to sustain their wellbeing. Accordingly, providing leadership in such a company is challenging given that employees are only available when they are not held up in their fulltime jobs. It can be a challenge to finally have a sufficient convene whenever they are required to execute their duties. However, the chairlady of the organization has provided ethical leadership that has led to its growth such that it is possible to achieve its growth and development by ensuring that homeless individuals are fed thrice every week.

The supervisor’s score from the ELQ assessment is 48 out of a possible 50, an indication that the chairlady conducts herself as an ethical leader (Johnson, 2020, p.27). The areas of strength were marked with a score of 5 including her not assessing success based on the outcome alone, but also consider factors that might have led to the failure. Additionally, other areas where the chairlady performed well include demonstrating best interest of her employees’ welfare, fair decisions, discuss business values, inclusive decision making, listen to the plight of her employees, and set a good example for the employees. The chairlady scored a 4 on the question about conducting her work life ethically. Alternatively, the leader ought to address her capability to punish employees that violates the company’s ethical standards. Given that it was in her nature to ask for explanations that contributed to failure, it was easy for the employees to get away with unethical practices. If such practices are not mended, they can jeopardize the manner in which the company runs leading to its failure.

The chairlady demonstrated a variety of different positive character traits including courage, wisdom, integrity, and compassion (Johnson, 2020, p.71). She demonstrated courage by doing the right thing despite of the glaring dangers after making a specific decision. An example of a scenario where the chairlady exhibited courage was when she faced off with local authorities that sometimes make it difficult to distribute food to the needy individuals living in the streets. Moreover, she exhibited wisdom, since she depicted a lot of knowledge when making decisions that would facilitate the growth of the organization (Johnson, 2020). For instance, her wisdom is seen when she considers both the positive and negative behaviors attributing to achieved outcomes. All the decisions that the chairlady made aimed at ensuring that the vision and mission of the non-profit organization was met. The chairlady also demonstrated integrity by aligning her actions with what she expected from the rest of the workforce. Therefore, it was possible for the employees to look up on her as a role model when executing our duties and responsibilities. The chairlady was compassionate given that she demonstrated care and concern towards employees and the needy individuals within the local community. She conducted orientation for all the newcomers to ensure that they understood what was required from them when executing their duties. The orientation also enabled the employees to understand the vision of the organization and work towards achieving the stipulated objectives. She was also the founder of the charity organization, and thus her work shows compassion towards the poor and needy.

The ethical perspective that best captures the leader’s approach is the justice as fairness. The approach aims at providing all people with equal rights and chances regardless of the individuals’ background and level of income (Johnson, 2020, p.151). Consequently, the approach suggests that both the rich and the poor should be allowed equal rights. The chairlady aim of initiating operations within the organization was to meet the right of the homeless individuals on having healthy meals. Even though eating is a basic right, it is likely that the homeless individuals do not enjoy the right because they do not have means to acquire food for themselves. Hence, finding means to provide such individuals with a meal is fairness. Another principle in this leadership approach is that the wealthy in the society should prioritize the needs of the least disadvantaged individuals in the society. Nevertheless, being a good leader when practicing this approach requires one to overcome the veil of ignorance that might be demonstrated by the needy in society.

Elements of moral sensitivity demonstrated by the leader include responsibility, benevolence, humanism, integrity, and mutuality (Johnson, 2020, p.176). The chairlady demonstrates her capability to be responsible by initiating an organization to take care of the needy individuals within the society. Similarly, her actions are benevolent because she demonstrates kindness towards others within the society. Furthermore, she is also concerned about the welfare of the employees by ensuring that they can work at their convenience. Similarly, humanism enables the chairlady to implement policies and practices that facilitate personal growth among the employees while also achieving organizational goals. Integrity enables the chairlady to adhere to the stipulated code of conduct outlined in the organization’s corporate culture. Another element is mutuality, which enables the chairlady to facilitate teamwork from the organization’s workforce such that every feeding project is conducted by all the employees, which enhances the organization’s efficiency. The elements above help in creating a framework that guides the leader in creating a suitable work environment.

Compliance strategies are vital for leaders because it includes the communication techniques used to convince a target group aimed at achieving immediate objectives. The chairlady must have persuasive skills when initiating the organization that does not generate any profits. Thus, she uses rational persuasion to convince various stakeholders supporting the operations of the organization that it will attain stipulated objectives. Moreover, the chairlady makes personal appeals often especially when seeking for individuals to financially support the organization to sustain the feeding programs. Another compliance strategy practiced by the chairlady is consultation during decision making to ensure that all parties give their opinions on how the issue should be addressed. The compliance strategies play a key role in leadership because they define the interaction retained between the leader and other stakeholders involved.

The followership behavior defines traits that employees exhibit under the leadership of a specific individual. Firstly, I gave the leader the benefit of my knowledge by actively engaging in decision making and giving my opinion on issues that were of interest to me. Accordingly, it was possible for the leader to make informed decisions at any given time. Furthermore, I also made it easy for the leader by making my own initiatives without necessarily waiting for direction on issues that were automatic. Moreover, I willingly engaged in teamwork since that is one of the strategies that made it easy for the leader to execute the feeding program among all the targeted individuals. Due to the good leadership that chairlady provides in the charity organization, it becomes easy for me to be a good follower by following through the directives given.

The ethical leadership provided in the charity organization offers good leadership aimed at spearheading the affairs of the firm in feeding the homeless individuals within the local community. The first lesson learned is about servant leadership since the chairlady initiated the non-profit organization to offer help to the needy individuals within the society by providing them with basic commodities. Secondly, the leader demonstrates the importance of communication between leaders and other stakeholders. Communication plays a central role in facilitating the organization’s success by ensuring that enough funds are raised to facilitate raising adequate funds in support of the feeding program. Equipping oneself with such elements as a leader significantly contribute to the success of an organization.

Unethical Leader 

My experience with an unethical leader was during a visit to a local restaurant alongside my friends. We had organized for a getaway where we intended to have a lunch date among other leisure activities. Nevertheless, the lunch date did not turnout like we had anticipated since we had a bad experience in the restaurant. The restaurant did not have readymade food and customers had to wait while it is being prepared. The management had a poster in the hotel urging clients to wait for about 30 minutes after making their order and being served. However, in our case, we had to wait for an hour and a half before we inquired why it was taking so long to be served. The hotel manager did not give us a positive response or an explanation as to why there were delays to serve the order. Even though, the meal was eventually served, we left the premises very unsatisfied and I would never go back to the hotel based on that day’s experience. The hotel’s manager demonstrated unethical leadership because it feels as though a simple explanation could have played a critical role in shaping our attitude towards the services rendered and delays caused.

The manager scored 89 after conducting the destructive leader behavior scale out of a possible 140 marks. The score demonstrates that some aspects in his leadership are unethical, while he also excels in other areas (Johnson, 2020, p.27). For instance, the manager performed badly on all the questions aimed at assessing his commitment to abiding with company policies and standards. He led the subordinate employees to violate the available and stipulated laws. Failure to give a viable explanation on why the food ordered was not served within the first 30 minutes demonstrates him violating the same policies implemented by the management. On the other hand, the manager was not accused for engaging in any sexual behaviors while within the company, which is a positive attribute. Therefore, his personality has positive attributes while he lacks critical elements required to propel the agenda of the restaurant forward. Hence, it is vital that he addresses his areas of weakness and be committed to a better leader by adapting better habits. In addition, it is essential that the manager should continue upholding his strong personality whereby he is not accused of engaging in sexual harassment either among his subordinate employees or the restaurant’s customers.

The manager demonstrated variety vices as shown in Table 1.1 relating to toxic leaders (Johnson, 2020, p.4). Firstly, he subverted ethical organizational processes and structures by encouraging the subordinate employees to violate existing laws. Accordingly, the behavior disadvantaged the organization because it increased the rate of dissatisfaction among the employees. He was also arrogant because he dismissed us instead of addressing the present issue. Moreover, the manager’s actions demonstrate incompetence of a leader while serving in a key position within the organization. He ought to have demonstrated his leadership skills and inquire from the kitchen department why it was taking long to have the order ready on time. Nevertheless, by assuming the complaints raised by the clients only communicated to the subordinate staff members that they would continue engaging in practices that they partook. Therefore, it would be impossible for the employees to abide within the stipulated corporate culture and this can lead to the organization’s failure.

Organizational leaders are bestowed with ethical burdens that they ought to address to enhance the capability of this organization in addressing issues likely to disrupt effective performance. An example of an ethical burden depicted by the leader is the shadow of power whereby the manager had the power to influence the experience of his customers by giving orders to the subordinate staff (Johnson, 2020, p.4). In this case, the manager ought to have inquired why policies set were not followed. Accordingly, instead he demonstrated arrogance by dismissing the plight of his customers. The manager was consumed by the influence that he had given that he was aware that he was not answerable to some superior authorities above him. Hence, he would easily get away with his unethical behaviors. It is a significant misgiving to have leaders experience a shadow of power because it makes them be less efficient and unproductive as they render their services. Furthermore, it is difficult to correct such leaders by making them see that their activities are misguided.

The manager largely lacked some compliance techniques when he engaged with us as his clients and solving the entire standoff. Communication is a key leadership element that every leader must possess (Johnson, 2020, p.211). It was in the best interest of the company that the manager inquired why it was taking long to have the order ready. Nevertheless, such never happened and instead, he assumed the customers and this increased our dissatisfaction with the services that were rendered. However, compliance technique such as pressure could have worked well when addressing the subordinate employees and demanding that the order be served at once. Alternatively, he could also have made a personal appeal to the customers, apologize for the delay, reassure us that we shall be served at once, and follow-up on the issue with the respective individuals. Such a response could have made us see the remorse among the restaurant’s management concerning our experience and was likely to influence our overall attitude and satisfaction of services rendered.

As a follower, it was challenging for me to come into a consensus with the attitude demonstrated by the manager. He was unwilling to cooperate or even exhibit remorse based on the attitude that he exhibited after making the complaint. The manager continued with his operations unbothered of what was happening in the immediate environment. Subsequently, it was extremely difficult to understand what was happening under his watch and he never made any interventions to relieve the customers the anguish they felt towards the services rendered because it did not in any way meet our expectations. I thought the leader would be interested in ensuring that the experience of the customers was excellent, which was not the case.

b. I exhibited the traits of a defender bystander during the standoff in the restaurant premises. The defenders usually try to intervene and solve the issue using safe techniques. In this case, I felt that the hotel did not abide with its own policies by failing to serve the food order within the given timeline. It was only right to demand for an explanation from the hotel’s manager who disregarded the complaints and progressed as though nothing was wrong with the injustice we were subjected to. Nevertheless, my efforts did not bare fruits as we were served several minutes later after we had filed our complaint.

g) The experience in the hotel revealed some unethical practices from the leader that are likely to influence his performance. Firstly, the leader exhibited an arrogant character due to his unwillingness to listen to the plight of the customers, which negatively influenced the company since we would not be loyal customers. Secondly, it is visible that the organization does not abide with the policies and practices acknowledge in its corporate culture. It is the responsible of the leader to ensure that organizational policies are met. Finally, lack of communication skills was a significant misgiving that made it difficult for the manager to interact with customers or engage with the workforce (Johnson, 2020, p. 211). Hence, it is essential that the manager considers to pursue individual and career development aimed at improving his leadership and working to achieve the best interests of the organization. Failure to address his shortcomings will not only affect the company, but it might also lead him to being fired on the long-term.

References

Johnson, C. E. (2020). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership : casting light or shadow . Sage Publishing.