Leading in a changing world : Blog 5

 

Blog 5

At this stage in your studies of business and leadership, what is your

vision of leadership? And how ready are you to lead others?

 

The changing nature of business environment there are so many interpretations of leadership. In simple words it can be influencing others to do the work willingly.  Leadership is a “relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people” (Mullins 2010:373). A leader leads, influences, and motivates his co-workers. It can be exercised being in a position or because of your idea or just because of the wisdom you have.

During the preparation of the leadership blogs, I have taken that, leaders need to have the ability to manage teams and diverse teams in today’s complex work scenario. A leader must have the ability to help the co-workers through the change process, be charismatic, facilitate innovation process and   also have ethical leadership behaviour. There are so many roles a leader needs to play. Different leadership style suggest different ways to leading but in my understanding every individual is unique and cannot be lead or influenced in the same way as others.

My vision of leadership is influenced by Richard Branson. He is the most charismatic entrepreneur today (Butler 2010). He has over 400 companies under his Virgin group. He has lead innovatation and influenced his people to work harder. He believes in putting his people first, customers second and investors third, and in the end everyone will be will (Inc n.d).

Over the course of my studies I have realized that a leader needs to clearly articulate to his team what they what they are doing and why they are doing it. Effective leadership is a two way process that, leadership is linked to motivating the staff, communicating to them clearly, it is effective team-building (Mullins 2010). To be able to do this a leader must have good communication skills. While working in teams as a team member and a leader on several occasions I have understood the importance of delegating the work. Trusting your team with your ideas is indeed important and a sign or strength. My vision of leadership is being able to communicate and listen effectively.

 

 

 

 

Reference list:

Butler, R. W. (2010). 1 0 Richard Branson. Giants of Tourism, 136.

 

Inc.com (n.d) Richard Branson on Leadership [online] available from < http://www.inc.com/branson-upclose/on-leadership.html&gt;

Kark, R. (2011). ‘Games Managers Play: Play as a Form of Leadership Development’ : Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(3): 507-527.

Mullins, J. (2010) Management and Organizational Behaviour 9^th edition Prentice Hall

Leading in a changing world : Blog 4

Ethical leadership, defining it as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate

conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the

promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication,

reinforcement and decision-making”… [and] the evidence suggests that ethical

leader behavior can have important positive effects on both individual and

organizational effectiveness (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17).

 

Ethics are the standards of behaviour that are acceptable by the society. Conducts of ethics vary from individual to individual depending on their progress on the moral developmental stages. The perception of ethics varies individually (Yukl  2011). This blog presents arguments on the given statement by Rubin et al.

Even though business environment today highlights the importance of ethical leadership of executive antecedents of ethical leadership remain largely unknown (Jordon, Brown, Trevino and Finkelstein 2011). The perception of ethical leadership of followers is largely dependent on the leader’s cognitive moral development and also the relationship between the leader and follower. Ethical role models are the leaders who demonstrate advanced ethical reasoning relative to their followers. The followers are attracted to the ethics-related communication and behaviour (Jordon et al 2011).

Leaders who are perceived as ethically positive influence productive employee work behaviour and negatively influence counterproductive work behaviour (Brown and Mitchell 2010:583). Ethical behaviour can be measured in terms of its non-financial effectiveness by using ethical leadership questionnaire or integrity scale. The loss incurred due to the unethical practices in a company could be the financial method of measuring the ethical behaviour effectiveness (Yukl 2013). Marriot International is recognized as one of the ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ (Marriott International 2013). Marriott prides in its core values, putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity and serving the world. Such awards promote ethical leadership in businesses. Trust and integrity are the most important essence of hospitality. Companies need to create their own culture where ethical behaviour is valued (Brownell 2012).

 

The other perspective to Rubin et al statement could be that ethical leadership behaviour may have negative effects on both individual and organisational effectiveness.  All situations might not be in control of the leaders or the certain organisations which do not emphasise on ethical practices might be put into a situation of playing against the ethics. There are numerous cases where the whistleblower has had to suffer (Brown and Mitchell 2010. In most cases reporting unethical practices leads to termination of the whistleblower.

In conclusion, leaders play a major role in communicating what they deem right and what morals they wish to pass on to their subordinates. Companies are emphasising on their ethical practices to have a positive effect on the culture of the organisation and business.  The consumers are also more concerned than ever before about the ethical/unethical practices taking place. Leaders are at the centre of attention of employees and influence the choices the employees make. Ethical leadership behaviour is therefore more than necessary for them to follow to have an impact on the actions of the employees.

 

 

 

Reference List:

Brown, M, & Mitchell, M 2010, ‘Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 20, 4, pp. 583-616, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 31  March 2012.

Rubin, R, Dierdorff, E, & Brown, M 2010, ‘Do Ethical Leaders Get Ahead? Exploring Ethical Leadership and Promotability’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 20, 2, pp. 215-236, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27  March 2012.

Brownell, J. (2012)‘Fostering Ethical Leadership: shared reponsibiltiy’ The centre for hospitality research [online] 4(6) available from <http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/roundtableproceedings/roundtable-16239.html&gt; [28 March 2013]

Marriott International (2013) our values [online] available at <http://www.marriott.co.uk/marriott/about-marriott.mi&gt; [30 March 2013]

Williams, B. (2012). Morality: An introduction to ethics. Cambridge University Press.

 

Winstanley, D., & Woodall, J. (1999). Ethical issues in contemporary human resource management. Macmillan.