Saturday, November 15, 2014

Leaders and ethical behavior



Leaders receive much of the credit for success and also shoulder most of the blame for ethical failures in organizations. Given their visible positions of authority, responsibility for shaping formal organizational policies, ongoing interactions with employees, and control over important rewards and punishments, leaders should play an important role in influencing employees’ ethical and unethical conduct. In this chapter, we have proposed that leaders influence such conduct primarily by way of social learning and social exchange processes. Through modeling, leaders influence followers by demonstrating high ethical standards in their own conduct and by using the reward system to teach employees vicariously about the outcomes of ethical and unethical behavior in the organization. Furthermore, admired lead- ers who are seen as trustworthy, and who treat employees fairly and considerately, will develop social exchange relationships that result in employees reciprocating in positive ways.

More on the topic HERE.  

3 comments:

My kids' Mom said...

Thank you Sir for posting this!

Sadly it does not seem important to the establishment and thus a married XO can engage in fornication with an equally married female lieutenant that works for him all while a married O6 CO can have an adulterous relationship with a female GS working with the command and still have a shot for flag!

There is something rotten in the ranks...and we keep looking the other direction and thus not standing up for our values we become pretentious hypocrites and cowards refraining from doing the right thing.

Kind regards,

Anneli Kershaw

Anonymous said...

“Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked and never well mended.”

Anonymous said...

As I read about current events of a Navy Captain who has not lived up to the standard of the uniform, I was reminded of Ms. Kershaw's comments. There is a reason we have people like Petraeus in our leadership. At some point job performance became more important than one's character. NSA and the Navy will have plenty of egg on their face if a certain Captain ((Edited by Mike Lambert)) is promoted. Too many people, including our own leadership, are aware of his relationship with his previous boss' aide. I for one will write a letter to the Navy Times if his name is on the next promotion list. on Leaders and ethical behavior