Personal Ethical Leadership Profile Describing Your Own

¶ … personal ethical leadership profile describing your own MORAL COMPASS, which guides your behavior and actions and decision-making. Describe the fundamental ethical theories and concepts that inform your MORAL COMPASS. I am a manager in a United Health Care position. A manager in the public or not-for-profit sectors can be considered as a person with vision. A good manager is driven and is committed to achieving her goals and vision. Managers are the catalyst within the organization responsible for focusing their attention on problems that need to be fixed, and for tackling the situation at hand. This reminds me of Cooper's treatment of managerial responsibility where he writes that there are three levels of responsibility: objective responsibility -where clear expectations and accounts of accountability are existent at each level of the organization; subjective responsibility -- teammates in organization are involved in organizational decision and policy making; heightening the objective and subjective levels of expectation so that importance of achievement of goals is felt. The whole is implemented via organizational culture where ethics is implemented on both public and private setting (Cooper, Chapter 7, pt. 2). It is in this way that the manager contains internal and external control of organization whilst operating in an ethical manner.

The manager's speech and conduct too must be constantly guided by ethical reflection. Reflection feeds into ethical decision making and responsible behavior, therefore the administrator must constantly reflect on his/her actions (Coooper, Chapter 7; pt. 3).

As manager, I have to be a determined, motivated, and effective communicator. In essence, therefore, deontological ethics (doing what is right) directs me, as well as the categorical imperative of Kant (where I treat others regardless of who they are in the way that I myself would like to be treated). I also try to be a transformative leader where my own simulation of ethical leadership encourages people to work ethically toward their goals. That is my moral compass.

Describe the ethical leader you wish to be and how you will use your MORAL COMPASS to guide and influence those you work with and your respective organizations, now and throughout your career.

I wish to be the kind of transformative leader described by Cooper where I fuse internal and external responsibility into effective actualization of gaols whilst remaining humble in my role as manager and dedicated to my employees.

I also wish to be guided by rational reflection rather than emotion. I wish to be led by my emotional intelligence that will guide me in empathetic listening of others and in controlling my emotions for the organization's good and in order to best motivate and help others.

To be an ethical manager means that I maintain an honest and transparent front. I am able to model conflict-resolving skills, and deal with problems when they arise seeking to be tolerant rather than judgmental.

Ethics, actually, deals with a huge span of values from being careful with the organization's money to using resources (including labor) wisely; to providing clear, succinct, and positive feedback; and to encouraging others to be open with their problems and complaints when relevant. Being leader, I have to model personal requirements form others.

According to Cooper, ethical decision making skills, virtues, mental attitude and professional values are all involved in becoming an ethical leader and that this can be gained by following suitable role models (Cooper, 2006). I would need to perpetually reflect on my conduct and improve it, and involving the team members can help me (ibid.)

In short, as manager I may be exposed to weighty ethical issues that can involve all hierarchies of the organization . It is essential that I implement correct decisions, since ethical consequences may be significant.

My conversation with the three interviewees showed me the importance of certain ethics that I would like to integrate in my own managerial profile. These include transparency, honesty, and self-discipline. Most, if not all of these traits are instinctive. They cannot be codified. After these three interviews I can say that leadership is a process in which leaders learn how to cultivate their own character as well as lean how to engage their subordinate in achieving mutual goals. We are all leaders and followers at different times in our lives. And an ethical leader is the crux of leadership. It involves self-knowledge as well as self-actualization. This translates into helping others achieve their potential and their jobs.