Ethical leadership practices are quite instrumental in determining the long-term sustainable economic prosperity of any investment. This is because such type of leadership enhances interpersonal relationships between employees and the management. Such are very important in mitigating employer-employee conflicts in the organization. Another importance of strong ethical leaders in business is that they serve to inspire and engage employees, a factor that promotes employee commitment and productivity in the organization (Stewart, & Freeman, 2006).
This essay is written as a discussion of some of the habits required for defining strong ethical leaders. Examples are also given in support of each habit. There are numerous strong ethical leadership qualities. First, strong ethical leaders must have a strong personal character (Stewart, & Freeman, 2006). According to consensus by numerous management professionals, it is quite unlikely to realize a strong ethical leadership without a strong personal character. Such arguments also assert that defining personal character in leaders should not only involve morality but also ethical reasoning.
Based on this reasoning, strong ethical leaders should have strong personal ability in resolving ethical issues arising in the organization. Another important quality of strong ethical leaders is engaging in ensuring social and economic sustainability of the workforce in an organization (Stewart, & Freeman, 2006). The ultimate success of any investment is dependant on its ability to meet the demands of the marketplace. On the other hand, the principles of effective employee engagement practices in an organization dictate for ensuring that the workforce is satisfied of its social and economic needs.
This has the implication that strong ethical leaders must engage in appreciating the emotional and physical needs of employees to mitigate incidences of counterproductive practices in the firm. Such are instrumental in ensuring the reputation and sustainable economic development of the organization. The third habit of a strong ethical leader is that they must have adequate information of the objectives and values of the organization. The aim of every investor is to maximize profits. Indeed, it is due to this fact that investments seek to function to enhance their marketplace place competitive share.
As an example is the numerous liabilities incurred by organizations due to falsified advertisement or customer demand failure crimes. This has the implications that a strong ethical leader must ensure effective knowledge of the vision and mission statement of the organization as such are driving principles towards the ultimate successful development of any investment. Strong ethical leaders must have the passion to do the right thing. According to the principles of morality, human actions are mainly dependant of individual character and behavioral aspects of the particular individual (Stewart, & Freeman, 2006).
However, in a business setting the underlying rule and regulations must be the guiding principles to the behavior of the employees. According to available information, the downfall of Enron and WorldCom corporations was due to failure by the management to engage in doing the right thing while enhancing investor confidences. Therefore, the long-term sustainable development of an organization must entail the development of leaders who care and strive to execute the right thing. Still, strong ethical leaders must be proactive.
The sole aim of management in an organization is to mitigate the problem of unethical practices in the day-to-day functioning of the organization. Due to this reason, strong ethical leaders should not hang around waiting for the rise of an ethical problem. This has the implication that ethical leaders must anticipate and plan to address any potential ethical crisis in the organization. Such dictate for leaders to take involving leadership activities with the employees as a move to identify and resolve any unethical practices. Giving ultimate to the interests of stakeholders is quite influential habit in defining strong ethical leaders.
The sustainable development of the company is highly determined by the level of external investments as such are a crucial capital formation channels for the organization. Another important point is the fact that consideration and accommodation of the interests of investors is vital in influencing their investment confidence (Stewart, & Freeman, 2006). Such have the important implication that strong ethical leaders must ensure efficient acknowledgement and monitoring of the interests and concerns of all stakeholders in the firm.
Strong Ethical leaders are competent managers who take a holistic view of the firm’s ethical culture (Stewart, & Freeman, 2006). True to the letter, corporate culture is one of the most crucial elements in defining the long-term behavior of employees in an organization. This is because; such are instrumental in enhancing the orientation of newly recruited employees in an organization. In addition, upholding ethical culture serves the purpose of identifying and resolving unethical issues in the organization.
This is why strong ethical leaders should have a holistic view of the ethical culture of the firm to mitigate conflict of interest among the workforce, a factor that functions to ensure the long-term sustainable competitive advantage of the organization. In conclusion, although leadership is more inborn than acquired, strong ethical leaders must appreciate and understand the importance of crucial leadership habits to ensure success in their roles. These habits are important in mitigating counterproductive practices in the organization as it enhances employee engagement practices and ethical crisis management practices in the company.
