What Is Ethical Leadership?

The concept of “leadership” revolves around the idea of leaders managing an organisation with the objective of enhancing production levels and maximising profit levels. However Nowadays the perception of leadership is gradually shifting more towards the importance of moral and ethics. Ethical leadership involves leaders able to present themselves in a trustworthy and social way, to act as a good role model, in order to gain their followers respect and trust.
The main focus in leadership’s is directed at the leaders, however the importance of the followers are left unnoticed, the followers in an organisation play a significant role in the achieving success. Leadership is the process by which a person influences others to achieve certain business goals and directs organisation’s in ways to make it more successful. Nowadays, it is natural for everyone to have the thought of wanting or planning to become a leader.
However in reality, not everyone can be a leader, their would be no “followers”..., which results in no hierarchal structure and implementation of change. Therefore the “followers” in a business can be seen as more important then leaders in relation to leadership. Matriz (2010) research shows that the trust level between followers and leaders is low, with only 25% of followers agreeing “that they trust leaders to make the right decisions in times of uncertainity. This shows the importance of a good leader, in order to gain the trust of followers, leading to positive business culture and working environment for employees. An example of a person with good leadership traits is
Nelson Mandela. Mandela was considered to be a leader with great attributes of honesty and humility, he stood up for his country from extremes hardships of discrimination and was determined lead his country to democracy.
(Nelson Mandelas.com). This is a great example of a true leader, as he positions himself before his followers, providing his country with the best possible outcome. Transformative leadership allows the followers to integrate with the leaders values and outcomes, in order to develop a postive and trustworthy relationship between the two,
Justin Nguyen 17721309 4 of 8 which will help enhance the business performance levels (Ciulla et al. 2005). With this theory, it is evident that this will lead to an ethical form of leadership, as followers will be repsected.
It is critical for an individual to completely understand their morals and ethics before they can take the role of being an ethical leader. Moral identity is all the traits that overall characterises an individual self image and behaviour.
Depending on the individual role, moral identity will have a different impact and importance on some than others.
(Aquino & Freeman, 2009; Aquino & Reed, 2002; Lapsley & Lasky, 2001; Lapsley & Narvaez,
2004; Reed & Aquino, 2003), With this idea it is essential for leaders to understand their moral identity and traits , as it will boost their confidence in leadership skills, then therefore being able to effectively guide and assist others. It is important for leaders display a positive self image and act ethically, as it provides their followers with a good perception and encourage them to act in the same manner. Due to the fact that Mayer, et al, (2012) claims that people mainly learn through observation of others. (Bandura, 1977, 1986). A leader is perceived as being ethical once their morals can be integrated with their followers, in order to meet needs and interests. As without moral identity, leaders will have to act in interest of their followers, which is an unethical behavior. (Aquino et al.,
2009; Aquino & Reed, 2002). According to (Ethisphere 2010) the world’s most ethical companies were able to offer
53% return to shareholders, due to enhanced levels of consumer loyalty. An example of a good ethical leader is“Sharon Allen” , chairman of the Board of Deloitte, Sharon organisation earns nearly

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