Leadership: Ethical vs. Unethical - Essay Sample

Introduction

Leadership is a way of encouraging a group of individuals to act towards working on a particular mission. Leaders should have both good personality and leadership skills for others to follow them. Leadership can be both ethical and unethical. Ethical leadership is driven by respect for the values and rights of the followers. An ethical leader portrays honesty, trust, responsibility, and treats everyone equally without discrimination (Kuligowski, 2019). Unethical leadership constitutes of leaders who are abusive, oppressive, manipulative, and harmful (Thornton, 2015). Below is a comparative analysis of four ethical leaders who fall under business organizations, which is my field of study. The review is all about their ethical aspects and values.

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Sylvia Metayer

Sylvia is the CEO of Sodexo Corporate Services Worldwide (Schwantes, 2017). She places the company on a functional level because of her excellent leadership skills led by ethics. For example, in 2016, the company was selected among the most admired corporate because Sylvia had improved the life quality of a large mass of people (Schwantes, 2017). Sylvia uses the ethical approach that respects the rights of others without discrimination. She ensures that the working environment for all the employees is safe and comfortable. Sylvia also improves the social relationship of all members of the company and promotes respect for every individual's culture. She also embraces a framework that embraces working together in collaboration due to the changing world from traditional to technological based.

David K. Williams

David is both the chairman and the CEO of the Fishbowl organization that deals with manufacturing and ample storage of QuickBooks (Schwantes, 2017). He has formulated and implemented ethical aspects across all the workers, such as respect, trust, courage, and loyalty. The organization, under the leadership of David, dedicates one day annually to assist the minority groups of people such as single mothers, and Native Americans. He also supports humanitarian movements such as the Courage Above Mountains that offer learning and health enrichment services, and this portrays his ethical leadership aspects.

Melissa Reiff

Melissa is the CEO of The Container Store (Schwantes, 2017). The container is among the best-preferred places where individuals would choose to work or purchase goods as a result of being led by ethical leaders. Melissa is driven by the ethical approach that seeks to treat everyone according to their rights and to respect their freedom. The ethical aspects she posses are being reliable, predictable, and full of love towards everyone. She makes sure that the passing of information is done in the right way effectively to ensure that it has reached everyone, which promotes a sense of belonging.

Harold MacDowell

Harold MacDowell is the CEO of TD Industries that deals with mechanical constructions (Schwantes, 2017). He is an ethical leader as he maintains a working environment where workers are treated with respect, highly valued, and appreciated. Harold understands that workers need the job for them to survive in the harsh economy. All the subordinate leaders in TD, under Harold, ensure that trustworthy relationships are created. The safety of all the workers is maintained together with respecting each other's differences. Harold has also set up effective communication platforms to ensure that everyone gets the chance to receive any information and to air out their grievances.

Conclusion

In conclusion, all the above-discussed leaders portray ethical leadership. They respect their workers and set up favorable working environments. The most ethical approach applied by them is respect for an individual's rights. Fair treatment without discrimination, regardless of the culture or any other differences, is also employed. Therefore, the two ethical frameworks used by the four leaders are rights and justice. Besides, these ethical leaders appreciate effective communication in their organizations.

References

Kuligowski, K. (2019). How to be an Ethical Leader. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com.5537-how-to-be-ethical-leader.html

Schwantes, Marcel. (2017). The Worlds 10 Top CEOs (They Lead in a Totally Unique Way). www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/heres-a-top-10-list-of-the-worlds-best-ceos-but-they-lead-in-a-totally-unique-way.html

Thornton, L. F. (2015). What is Unethical Leadership? https://www.google.com/amp/s/leadingcontext.com/2012/10/03/what-is-unethical-leadership/amp/