Business and organisational ethics is hot topic at the moment, and it seems that on a near daily basis we see reports of unethical and amoral behaviour in many contexts including political, societal and organisational. But who should take responsibility for this? Well I would argue that it’s the job of the leader to take ownership for providing and role modelling ‘Ethical Leadership’. This is because, as supported by the research, not only is good ethics good business[1], but good ethics also represents an opportunity to act and lead in a way that improves your own and your team’s performance[2] and well-being[3].
So, what is Ethical Leadership? Well for me it’s about having a set of moral, team and organizational values that as a leader you proactively role model, monitor and manage across all dimensions of the hierarchy and it consists of three supporting leadership behaviours[4]:
- Leading by example and providing an ethical example to follow
- Leading people fairly and consistently
- Pro-actively encouraging the right behaviour and tackling the wrong behaviour
Sounds good, but it’s not that easy and that’s because true ethical leadership demands a significant level of self-accountability that supersedes hierarchy, which is easier said than done when ethical issues might relate to your peers or more senior people in the hierarchy.
What is relatively easy, is that you can define your own ethical standards and live and lead by them consistently, which according to studies[5] is the most effective way of leading ethical change, because individual levels of ethical leadership have a far greater effect on the ethical attitudes and behaviour of a team, than the prevailing organisational conditions and culture they operate within.
So how can you build an ethical team? Three things seem essential:
- Create a set of systems and processes that support your team’s ethical standpoint and help your leaders and team monitor and maintain ethical practice.
- Proactively hold yourself and your team accountable to a clearly defined and understood set of values.
- Ensure that you recruit for and work on the development of behavioural integrity as part of your people strategy.
[1] Gossling, T., & van Beurden, P. (2008). The Worth of Values: A literature Review on the Relation between Corporate Social and Financial Perfromance. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2), 407-424.
[2] Shin, Y., Sung, S. Y., Choi, J. N., & Kim, M. S. (2015). Top management ethical leadership and firm performance: Mediating role of ethical and procedural justice climate. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(1), 43-57.
[3] Gossling, T., & van Beurden, P. (2008). The Worth of Values: A literature Review on the Relation between Corporate Social and Financial Perfromance. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2), 407-424.
[4] Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. 2005. Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97: 117–134.
[5] Holtbrügge, D., Baron, A., & Friedmann, C. B. (2015). Personal attributes, organizational conditions, and ethical attitudes: a social cognitive approach. Business Ethics: A European Review, 24(3), 264-281.
