Essay on "Leadership Defining an Ethical"

Essay 8 pages (2221 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

An example of this are sales people who are required to attain sales quotas in progressively shorter times and with larger amounts. A sales manager who is not ethical will have a mentality of any means justify the ends, even if it means tricking or lying to customers and getting them to sign up for more expense products and services than they need. The ends-justify-the-means may work for the short-term and, may even lead to bonuses being given to the employees. Yet in the long-run this approach to managing will definitely lead to a backlash of ethical violations and a loss of credibility and idealized influence overall. The goal of analytical leader is to create the foundation for their team to continually excel across all dimensions of their jobs, not just the short-run results they need so badly to attain to keep their jobs in this turbulent economy. The sales manager would argue that they are being ethical by telling the customers of a price increase, even if it is temporary, and used specifically for the purpose of the sales teams across a company to attain their objectives. Obfuscating the truth is rationalized by managers in this situation often yet over the long-term they lose the customer's trust and their credibility. That is why idealized influence is so difficult to achieve in an ethical leader, and why according to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics the role of defining shared goal attainment, with complete transparency, is essential for long-term progress to trust occurring (Heinze, 2010).

Analysis of GE's Jeffrey Immelt's Ethical Leadership Style

Of the many leaders considered for inclusion in this paper, the accomplishments of Jeff Immelt stand out as they meet the four criterion as defined for excellence in ethical leadership. These four attributes include individualized consideration to subordinates and stakeholders to set ethical guidelines and boundaries, developing a culture of continual intellectual stimulation and how ethicacy can guide decisions accurately and with transparency, and the ability to motivate subordinates with clarity of purpose and clear ethical boundaries. The fourth is the ability to use ethical boundaries and decision making in a transformational leadership context to influence their internal workgroups and cultures.

Across each of these four dimensions of ethical leadership, Jeff Immelt has shown remarkable accomplishments and a willingness to align his company to these dimensions. His implementation of corporate-wide Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, continued requirement of each division to report ethical conduct performance monthly on internal scorecards (Crainer, 2009) and the extensive use of analytics to measure Six Sigma and advanced Total Quality Management (TQM) from an ethical compliance and congruency standpoint further show alignment to these core factors defined. He is also one of the most forward-thinking CEOs on the use of training to continually create a pipeline of ethical and transformational leaders, as his speeches indicate (Immelt, 2010). The GE culture today resonate with a strong sense of ethicacy that also aligns to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in that the company looks to delight customers while aligning all systems and process with the requirement of transparency (Heinze, 2010).

Conclusion

Ethical leadership is the most powerful attribute any corporation can have within its senior management team. True to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, the pursuit his core ideals also delivers consistent value to customers over the long-term. Ethics is the going to be the most potent corporate asset in the coming years as economic pressures force companies to increasingly cut corners in this area, bringing the never-failing fatal blow of lack of trust. Winning and keeping trust is going to be worth more than billions in revenue over time, as ethical performance will be the new water line of successful, growing companies and those failing and being acquired or fading into obscurity.

References

Crainer, S. (2009). From Edison to Immelt: The GE Way. Business Strategy Review, 20(3), 18-22.

Gonzalez, T.F., & Guillen, M. (2002). Leadership ethical dimension: A requirement in TQM implementation. The TQM Magazine, 14(3), 150-164.

Heinze, E. (2010). The meta-ethics of law: Book one of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. International Journal of Law in Context, 6(1), 23-44.

Immelt, J. (2010). Renewing American Leadership. Vital Speeches of the Day, 76(2), 53.

John, H.H. (2005). Contextual implications for transformational and servant leadership: A historical investigation. Management Decision,… READ MORE

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