The quality of leadership is a primary factor in the success or failure of any business. Individuals in positions of leadership have a direct influence on the level of commitment, motivation and performance of their organization. They are constantly in situations where their decisions impact others for good or bad, success or failure. Those in positions of leadership can enhance the effectiveness of their organization by deliberate efforts to improve their leadership abilities. Reflection on basic values and commitment to ethical principles are vital to dynamic and effective leaders. Leaders usually have charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Transformational leaders are characterized by high moral and ethical standards in each of the above dimensions. Experienced managers realize that the basics of management include an ethical responsibility to all employees.











Ethics 3
Ethics involve learning what is right or wrong and then doing the right thing. Ethical dilemmas in the workplace are not simple matters that are easily solved. Values, which guide how we ought to behave, are considered moral values; some of these are respect, honesty, fairness, and responsibility. How these values are applied is sometimes called moral or ethical principles. Ethics mean different things to different people, but generally, it is knowing what is right or wrong and doing what is right. Attention to ethics is critical during times of change and can be strong preventive medicine. In times of change much like those faced by healthcare today, values that were previously taken for granted are now strongly questioned.
Today, ethics in the workplace can be managed with codes of ethics, codes of conduct, policies and procedures. Ethics, with its continuing attention to doing the right thing, only asserts the obvious. These principles of the obvious can go right out the door during times of stress. Ethics in the workplace is about prioritizing moral values for the workplace and ensuring behaviors that partner with values that are important to management. An organizations code of ethics is its priority and focuses on certain ethical values in the workplace. Attention to ethics can promote a strong moral image and create positive public relations. People see ethical leaders as striving to operate with the utmost of integrity and honor. Aligning behaviors with values is critical to maintain trust and relations. Ethical values, consistently applied, are the cornerstone in building a successful and socially responsible department. Managers must deal with numerous ethical problems on a daily basis. There are potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, and even sexual harassment by fellow employees (McCann, 2003).

Ethics 4
Managers know that ethical values and intentions are relatively meaningless unless they generate fair and just behaviors in the workplace. Practices that generate a list of ethical values, or codes of ethics, must also generate policies, procedures and training that translate those values to appropriate behaviors. Ethics policies are best made in groups with representatives from different areas of the organization, and of differing opinions, thereby reducing suspicion of unfair bias. Ethics policies are intended to align employee behaviors with those ethical values preferred by the unit. Usually, an organization finds surprising disparity between its preferred values and the values actually reflected in the workplace. Ongoing attention and dialogue regarding values in the workplace builds openness, and honesty; these are critical ingredients of building a cohesive team. Employees that feel a strong alignment between their values and those of the unit react with motivation in doing the right thing all the time. Good people can make bad decisions particularly when stressed or confused. Ethics programs in the workplace help employees feel confident and can deal with whatever comes their way. Leaders that support ethical policies ensure fair treatment of all employees, thereby avoiding cost of litigation later (McNamara, 2004).
Leaders need to realize while managing their human resources they need to do this by using codes of ethics. These codes are used as a guide and ensure support of the leader by their employees. Society also demands that managers place a high value on fairness and equal rights for all. I think most managers know that their business is comprised of people, and people are not perfect, so mistakes are made. In a crisis there is no time for mistaken moral conclusions to be made, so prevention is the best medicine. It is also important to understanding that what one culture considers ethical, another culture will consider unethical.
Ethics 5
The fact is that there is not one universal set of behaviors that is considered ethical and the terms moral and ethical are often used interchangeably. “Leadership,” in the broadest sense of the word encompasses behaviors that are ethical as well as those that are generally considered unethical. It is my belief that an ethical leader must have a philosophical or theological basis from which he or she derives his or her understanding of ethics. Without this basis, one\'s practice of ethical behavior will be constantly changing as a result of changing circumstances and personal preferences. Character is the combination of moral qualities by which a person is judged apart from intellect and talent. It is the alignment of one\'s speech and actions with one\'s core beliefs about reality, life and truth. More simply, character has to do with one\'s demonstration of ethics (Allen, 2004).
Leaders must prove themselves competent in effectively leading people to accomplish tasks that are tied to unit goals. Leaders manage outcomes and aim for behavioral compliance independent of the ideals of the followers. To bring about change, leaders foster the values of honesty, loyalty, fairness, justice, equality, and human rights. It is immoral when information harmful is deliberately concealed from employees, and when authority is abused. Trustworthy leaders must make strong commitments to their employees, their values and to the work of leadership. With commitment, the leader\'s character and competence are engaged in a specific place with a specific purpose to accomplish. Those who desire to be ethical and credible leaders must demonstrate honest leadership in speech and actions, publicly and privately, 24 hours a day. Working with others in the trenches over time is this context is when the leader\'s ethics are proven and his or her patience and humility are forged (Huston, 2003).

Ethics 6
Finally, every ethical leader will encounter at least a few times when he or she must choose \"to die right rather than live wrong.\" Ethical leadership cannot be separated from hard and costly choices. Leaders must keep clearly in mind the ethical boundaries that they will not violate, no matter the cost. In the course of one\'s career, there will most likely be several occasions in which the leader must choose to take his or her personal losses and walk away from an ethically compromised situation. It is tragic and destructive when a leader holds on to a position or to personal gain at the expense of his or her integrity (McCann, 2003) .










Bibliography
Allen, J. (2004). Events and ethics. special Events Magazine, Retrieved Jul
15, 2004, from http://www.keepmedia.com:/Register.do?oliID=225.
Huston, L. & Marquis, B. (2003). Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing.
4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkens.
McCann, J. (2003). Five Keys to Successful Nursing Management. Springhouse,
PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
McNamara, C. (n.d.). Complete guide to ethics management:. retrieved Jul 13,
2004, from Managementhelp Web site: http://www.mapnp.org/library/ethics/ethxgde

Registered Members, login
Join now, it's free

Property of EssaySwap.com