Bridging Gaps, Fostering Maturity, and Building Meaningful Relationships in Organizations - Paper Sample

Response from the first reading

Leadership is a role that requires skill, passion, and application of moral and ethical principles. A leader is necessary to observe moral and ethical principles for practical leadership to be achieved. The ethical principles that have been set by organizations are a guide to the realization of tremendous and optimal relationships between a leader and a follower. Through ethics, leaders and their followers are guided on how to relate with one another as they interact with others in society. Leadership can be challenging because of various issues. As Ciulla states, “Most really difficult moral decisions made by leaders are risky because they have imperfect or incomplete information and lack control over all of the variables that will affect outcomes.” (Ciulla, 2003). Leaders are charged with the duty of making moral decisions that will guide the relationships among people working in an organization or living in a given society or members of a community. In most instances, they make decisions without complete information on variables considered determinants of a conclusion.

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There is a huge gap of information that needs to be bridged for leaders to make effective decisions. Besides, several leaders lack control over the outcomes, especially in the 21st century. There is a lot of information that needs to be factored in before a decision is made because there are several and diverse generations to be led. Ciulla (2003) explores how leadership can be transformed, and even with such direction, there are still gaps that need to be filled. According to Shapiro & Stefkovich (2016), society is diverse and complex, and ethics need to be applied with an in-depth understanding of various dynamics to avoid conflicts, leading to poor relationships among people.

The author suggests that the best way to have effective leadership based on ethical principles is to have democratic leaders. They will allow the views of their followers and other stakeholders (Shapiro & Stefkovich 2016). Through democratic leadership, there is a high probability of obtaining necessary information from people's views, leading to better control of variables that determine the outcome.

Response from the second reading

Ethical maturity is a broad term that needs to be clearly understood by every leader because it not only entails judging the right things from wrong, but it also means offering the best solutions in situations when conflict is encountered. Conflicts arise in everyday interactions with people, and they need ethical maturity to provide favorable and optimal solutions. For leaders to influence their followers to follow righteous living, they have to be good examples. When role models are in place, the followers have a person to look up to and emulate their ways. Therefore if a leader is ethically upright, the followers can emulate their tracks as they lead by example. On the contrary, real-world situations are a variation between what a leader imposes on their followers from what they do in reality. There is a disconnect that has led to rebellion on the part of the leader's followers and ineffectiveness.

Leaders do not portray ethically right actions, and when challenges arise regarding their followers' conduct, they cannot resolve them. The best way to avoid such a disconnect and ensure that followers are influenced in the desired pattern is for leaders who have developed ethical maturity to set guidelines or approaches to ethical dilemmas. When a system is in place, it will be easy to resolve issues, offer solutions, avoid biases, and ensure that moral principles are adhered to. The behavior that leaders depict communicates a lot about them, and their followers can draw assumptions that can make them not good followers of the person they are looking up to. It is important to note that followers learn more by observing their leaders. As a result, leaders with ethical maturity need to ensure that they follow their organization's code of conduct to emulate the best. According to Demirtas & Akdogan (2015), there is better commitment and intention to goal achievement when there is ethical leadership. It means that adherence to ethics by leaders is directly proportional to observance by followers.

Response from the third reading

Leadership is based on a value that is built through relationships. People are influenced by the relationships surrounding them at the workplace and in the community they live in. Effective leadership in organizations cannot only be achieved through rules, regulations, and control but also through great relationships cultivated between leaders and their followers. Leaders and their followers can find true meaning in their work ethics through good relationships. Besides creating good relationships, they need to be sustained through moral values, which entail respect for oneself and others, observation of human rights, and being consequence-sensitive. Moral human nature requires acknowledging leadership as part of a society and that its mode has an ethical impact on every person involved.

Moral values and relationships are intertwined, and they coexist such that with acceptable standards of morality, great relationships are built and sustained. When there are significant relationships, leaders, and followers will have minimal or no conflicts in their relationships as to duties and responsibilities. The rationale of having a morally upright leader is to ensure that all the people's welfare is upheld and their rights defended. One thing that should be noted is that observance of moral principles should apply to both the leader and the follower because relationships are built mutually. When one is not compliant, then it derails the efforts of the other. However, when leaders are morally upright, then the followers will emulate them, and therefore meaningful relationships are built.

References

Ciulla, J. B. (2004). Ethics and leadership effectiveness. The nature of leadership, 302-327.

Demirtas, O., & Akdogan, A. A. (2015). The effect of ethical leadership behavior on moral climate, turnover intention, and affective commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(1), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2196-6

Hester, J., & Killian, D. R. (2010). The moral foundations of ethical leadership. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 3(1), 5. http://library.smaratungga.web.id/repository/[Joan_Poliner_Shapiro,_Jacqueline_A._Stefkovich]_E(BookFi.org).pdf

Monahan, K. (2012). A review of the literature concerning ethical leadership in organizations. Emerging Leadership Journeys, 5(1), 56-66.

Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.