Ethical Leadership
Some of the most important questions faced by leaders are those about what constitute ethical behaviour - questions about what ought to be done. Leaders have to make hard choices. Throughout their careers, leaders of organizations, small and large, encounter ethical challenges. Sometimes the difference between right and wrong isn’t obvious, sometimes it’s fiercely debated, and often it involves conflicting values.
What is Ethical Leadership?
There are many ways to define and understand ethical leadership. At the broadest level, we might say that ethical leadership involves exercising influence to guide others in the ethical pursuit of aims. Being an ethical leader involves deliberating with others about ethical problems, and assessing ethical perspectives of various stakeholders, as we saw earlier. Ethical leadership also involves thinking through moral disagreements and ambiguities.
Ethical leadership in organizations can also be about implementing new organizational forms, systems, or policies. Many organizations are experimenting with new ways of blending profit and purpose by design, by adopting social missions or placing constraints on profit-seeking. Others are experimenting with methods of decentralizing authority, either by introducing democratic (not autocratic) governance measures into the workplace, starting businesses owned by employees themselves, or experimenting with flat structures that reduce reliance on traditional hierarchies.
Leadership Through Taking a Stance
Increasingly, those who work for powerful companies expect their organizations to speak out on issues like immigration, racial equality, and criminal justice. Many believe that corporations have a duty to use their tremendous wealth and power to give back to society, to challenge systems and policies of oppression, and to lend a hand where they can.
Common pitfalls result when companies take stances on issues for mainly performative reasons or for marketing purposes. In other cases, companies may have good intentions but limited expertise in the particular area where they seek to intervene. Often, a stance is championed by certain stakeholders within an organization, such as employees or an outspoken executive, and may not fairly represent the views of all the relevant parties, who may have fewer opportunities to make their positions known. Another standing worry in discussions of corporate activism is that the voice of powerful actors like corporations may drown out the voices of the less powerful, such as experts, people with opposing viewpoints, and members of the affected communities themselves.
We might think that, when companies engage in activism, they should do so for the right reasons. If they are to engage with broader social issues, they should do so sincerely. They should prioritize issue areas where they have relevant expertise or connection. They should consider carefully how different viewpoints within the organization are to be represented. And they should be mindful of the volume of their voice in public discussions.
Leadership Through Standard Setting
One challenge that organizations might face in showing ethical leadership is that, in the existing business environment, being ethical might be costly. If one organization invests in ethics and raises its standards while other organizations do the opposite, this might lead to a reduction in market share for the ethical organization.
Ethical leadership can thrive when an entire industry moves in the same direction. Organizations can influence this by means of outreach and communication to the public about their efforts in ethics. Another way to have lasting influence on an industry as a whole is through engaging in standard setting, or getting directly involved in the development of rules and guidelines for your industry.
Organizations can lead by participating in standard setting activities such as:
Keeping close contact with national and international standard setting bodies, such as ISO or the IEEE.
Joining committees of independent technical experts that draft and vote on new standards in the area of ethics.
Linking activities concerning ethics within the organization with standard-setting activities and encouraging members in the organization to join the standard-setting efforts.
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