Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture: An Interview

Introduction

Leadership is crucial for organizational success. It can be defined simply as the ability to motivate and inspire others to identify with one's vision. This paper presents the findings of an interview conducted with a selected leader to determine how their actions and behavior influence the ethical culture of an organization. The responses given by the leader during the interview are presented and then analyzed in relation to relevant scholarly research.

Leadership and Organizational Performance

In a competitive marketplace, the success of any organization depends in part on the effectiveness of its leaders. Effective leadership is crucial for the smooth running of an organization — an effective leader guides, inspires, and motivates subordinates to achieve the organization's goals. Depending on how a leader interacts with employees, resolves conflicts, and delegates responsibility, they can influence employee absenteeism, retention, morale, and overall productivity. Thus, leadership is a crucial determinant of organizational performance and success.

The dean of students at the author's university is one leader particularly worthy of study — admired for the way he interacts with subordinates and students, and for the manner in which he deals with issues and conflict arising between students and the administration. For these reasons, he was selected as the subject for this interview. The interview was designed to obtain his perspectives on leadership, motivation, and organizational performance, and is organized around five core questions presented in the sections that follow.

Interview Questions and Responses

Leadership can be defined as the ability to inspire and motivate others to identify with one's vision and work towards its realization. A leader's effectiveness can be assessed based on their ability to set and achieve challenging goals, to take calculated risks, to act swiftly and decisively in difficult situations, and to keep their followers motivated. Leadership is more than just management — a manager focuses on enhancing efficiency and making sure that the right things are done at the right time. A leader, on the other hand, is a visionary; they are more focused on inspiring others to achieve their highest potential than on ensuring that things are done in the right way. They do this by providing learning environments that enable people to grow and develop their professional capabilities.

I personally organize a one-on-one meeting with the uncooperative member and ask them what the issue is — whether they are blocked by anything in their personal lives, at home, or at work. At times we judge people as being uncooperative when in reality they are simply dealing with difficult situations in their personal lives. I attempt to find out whether any such issues exist, and what, in their view, needs to be done to ensure that they excel in their respective roles. At times, mentorship, education, or training is all one needs to perform better. Moreover, sometimes a person is simply not the right fit for a particular role — applying this kind of personal touch when dealing with issues helps a leader recognize this. In addition, incentives and rewards also help to make team members more cooperative.

I would describe myself as a personal communicator; I care not just about what my employees think, but also about how they feel. I tend to focus on listening to others and building deep interpersonal relationships rather than on adhering strictly to rules and standards. However, some situations call for a different communication style. People tend to take advantage when a leader focuses too much on the maintenance of relationships. At times, therefore, I am compelled to complement my personal communication style with a more functional style — one based on timelines, process, and detail — especially when people intentionally fail to do what is expected of them.

First, I am always keen to balance doing the right thing with doing what is right for the business. I never attempt to avoid difficult decisions by using the excuse of acting "for the sake of the business." I always demonstrate that I would never compromise my ethical values or the moral standards that govern my profession simply because the majority would have their way. I also demonstrate my commitment to ethics by showing genuine concern for, and treating all people — including my subordinates — with respect and dignity. As such, I always take seriously the rights of others, never taking anyone for granted. I strive to understand how my decisions and character affect other people, and to make amends to aggrieved parties in cases where my decisions infringe on the rights of others.

Employees tend to emulate how they see their leaders acting and behaving. If a lower-ranking staff member sees their supervisor treating all people — regardless of status or position — with respect, they are more likely to do the same. My subordinates and colleagues observe the importance I attach to ethics and moral standards and emulate the same in their own roles and conduct in the workplace. They are inclined to live by the ethical standards that govern their practice because their leader has set a positive example. Moreover, when one treats subordinates with dignity and respect, those employees feel valued and trusted, and will often think carefully before doing anything that jeopardizes that trust. In this way, employees are able to act ethically and maintain high ethical standards at all times.

The interviewed leader's perspective aligns with established research: a leader's behavior — everything they say and do — affects the culture and environment of the organization. A leader's actions influence those of their employees, particularly when it comes to observing ethical standards. Research has shown that employees will often adjust their ethical orientations to match the behavior of their leaders (Trevino, Hartman & Brown, 2000). To be viewed as an ethical leader, one must be seen as a legitimate and credible role model who makes the ethics message salient and consistently engages in normatively appropriate behavior.

However, a leader's virtuous character alone does not guarantee an ethical culture or environment (Fox et al., 2012). At times, leaders may assume that everything is functioning well from an ethical perspective when in reality it is not. It is possible for a leader to inadvertently endorse unethical behavior in their organization even while personally displaying strong moral character (Fox et al., 2012). This can occur in several ways:

Failing to link performance incentives to ethical practice. When a leader establishes strong performance incentives but fails to create equally strong incentives for adhering to ethical practice, they open the door to ethical lapses (Fox et al., 2012).

Conclusion

Trevino, L. K., Hartman, L. P., & Brown, M. (2000). Moral person and moral manager: How executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership. The California Management Review, 42(4), 128–142.