What is the Relationship between Ethics and Leadership?

Alexandria Pena
ORGL-3311 Issues in Organizational Leadership

Abstract
There are many roles that play in leadership. This paper will focus on the relationship
between ethics and leadership. It will analyze other authors research in which will bring
closure to the question or would it broaden the gap between ethics and leadership. My
hypothesis will be researched and validated if the articles have supporting evidence that
shows the correlation between ethics and leadership. Good ethics make positive
differences for the people and society. But, in order to improve social responsibility we
need to make sure we asking the correct questions when it comes to ethics and
leadership.
Keywords: Ethics, Leadership

What is the Relationship between Ethics and Leadership?

Ethics is said to play an important role in leadership. Many questions have been raised
whether or not how strong does ethics play a role in establishing good leadership skills
rather than just effective ones. The hypothesis that will be researched is to find a
correlation between ethics and leadership. Based on the many inquires there are on the
issue, all being well there should be enough information to determine if the hypothesis is
set to be validated.
Article 1: What Does Ethics Have to do with Leadership?
Because the question of the relationship between ethics and leadership is so vague. It
seems easy to answer however, it is actually very complex to its core. We would need to
define the question before we can answer it. We would need to break down the question
and define what is ethics and what it is leadership. In addition doing this it can be very
problematic because we will not find a direct answer but more questions that need to be
asked. We can use Merriam-Webb Dictionarys definition to define both ethics and
leadership. Ethics is defined as an area of study with the ideals about what is good and
bad behavior; a branch of philosophy dealing with what is morally right or what is
morally wrong. Leadership is defined as that action of leading a group of people in an
organization. However, because many organization and individuals have their own ideals
of both terms in which fit to their preferences the results can be misleading. According to
Michael P. Levine & Jacqueline Boaks, this happens almost every time we think about
the relationship between ethics and leadership. We can fall victim to an observer bias
that colors our accounts of the leaders we admire and thus wish to either have or be,
which in turns leads to the fourth way in which accounts of leadership can go wrong in

their description of the role of ethics in leadership. (Levine & Boaks, 2014) We tend to
forget or ask the wrong questions. For example should all leaders be morally good? And
should they be effective? Levine & Boaks challenge this by asking isnt possible to have
a good leader who simply fails? Also what happens to those who misunderstand that
exercising power is the not the same as exercising leadership. In addition, to the questions
that arise from the original issue should the issue change the focus to the relationship
between ethics and good leadership? Another point that Levine & Boaks brought up
was if leaders are suppose be the example of an organization in which the daily practices
are either immoral but legal, would that still be considered good leadership? Despite all
inquiries that make the question between ethics and leaderships complex the authors do
admit that there is some form of correlation between the two even at times when the
authentic leadership is faked. The research on ethical leadership to date shows that
ethical leaders can inspire high levels of commitment and trust and foster desirable
behaviors among followers. In addition it is also mentioned in the article that when
followers realize that the leaders is practicing ethical leadership that does not correlate to
their private personal views theres a trend for their leadership to be less impactful. Many
organizations find leaders that can lead the followers of the organization to do what is
expected of them by giving the leaders the power to set the example. We dont think that
moral reformers are leaders just because they are able to convince others of their point
of view. Thats just not what we perceive them to be doing when we call them leaders. It
matters that we think that it is the correct point of view, that there is a fact of the matter,
and this is what they convince the followers. For the authors to continue their further

research they will need to find ground where theres a stronger correlation between ethic
and leadership in a more detailed way, than just finding new questions than answers.
Doing Well by Doing Good? Analyzing the Relations between CEO Ethical Leadership
and Firm Performance
The item of interest in this article is that theres correlation between business ethics and
firms economic performance. The authors of this article where able to analyze when and
how ethical firm leadership and firm performance harmonized well by testing and
collecting data in which tested their own hypotheses. The authors also included how and
when their hypotheses were developed. Silke A. Eisenbeiss, Daan van Knippenberg &
Clemens M. Fahrbach saw in a recent survey of 2,500 workers by the Institute of
Leadership & Management, majority of chief executive officers strongly believed that
prioritizing financial gains around essential ethical conditions in the workplace was a
result of success. However, the questions that arouse from the survey were, What if their
beliefs were false? What if there was certain type of conditions under which CEO ethical
leaderships and firm performed well together?
The next study that the authors did was a theoretical and empirical analysis of the
relationship between CEO ethical leadership and performance. They believed that the
relationship between ethical leadership and performance at the organizational level stood
dependently on strong corporate ethics. Applying this general logic to ethical leadership,
we argue that CEOs with strong personal integrity who put ethics in the center of their
decision-making and demonstrate just and responsible leaderships create shared ethical
values and build and ethical culture at the organizational heart. The chairman of the
institute that did the survey also had pointed out that the employees, customers and

shareholders expect ethical values to be at the of business decisions. In which this is true
because everyone has some sense of good ethical values that they want to express
through their work that contributes to society positively. However, the authors did point
that because of the research it did bring up more questions to be answered for the
example every business has their own idea of what was the standard appropriate conduct
for their business but what exactly is the normatively appropriate conduct across
society? What their research found out was that theres has to be a strong responsibility
component of CEO ethical leadership in which included having long term goals on the
organizations success, valuing relationships with other business partners, being
concerned about the community and protecting the environment. Another hypothesis the
authors tested was the strengths of an organizational ethics program in which effects the
ethical culture and firm performance. As for the results from a cross-sectional study, in
which consisted more than 130 participants from 32 organizations it validated their
hypotheses and also proved that if theres a positive relationship between organizational
ethical culture and firm performance the stronger the firm performance will be.
Do Role Models Matter? An Investigation of Role Modeling as an Antecedent of
Perceived Ethical Leadership?
In the article Do Role Models Matter? An Investigation of Role Modeling as an
Antecedent of Perceived Ethical Leadership, written by Michael E. Brown & Linda K.
Trevino it focus on the idea of understanding where ethical leadership comes from can
help organizations strengthen it in the workplace and restoring the trust in leadership.
Based on previous research Trevino has identified traits and behavior that go on hand and
hand with ethical leadership. The moral person aspect of ethical leadership reflects the

leaders honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, caring about people, openness to input,

respect, and principled decision making. (Brown & Trevino) Many questions also
surfaced to Brown & Trevino, as they conducted research in which asked, are role models
related to ethical leadership? If so, what types of models? These models could have been
childhood models, mentors, teacher, etc. Given that the types of role models selected and
the lessons that were learned from the models, how did that impact on the learners life?
What was the change did the learner had to do? They had stated that the reason they
decided to emphasize on role models in the research is because they had learned from
prior research that theres a correlation between role models and social learning. In
addition, they also explained that social learning theory helped explained why individual
were more and likely to seek guidance from role models. Majority of the time people
dont have or have a broken moral compass in which makes them shift to look for insight
from external factors. One of the hypothesis that was tested was that if a workplace had
an ethical role models it would positively respond to a perceived ethical leadership. The
authors conducted a field study, surveying employees from a large insurance firm in the
United States. Their data was collected by two different sources. One source provided
information on the role models that each manager had in their lifetime, in addition this
source also included demographic and background variables. The second one was a rating
report the each employee got to fill out based on their ratings towards their managers
performance. In addition surveys were also disturbed through the companys internal
mailing system. The authors found that their hypothesis was true because if the top
managers are perceived to be models of ethical conduct, this should be an opportunity for
influence in which the employees will emulate their managers conduct positively.

Hypothesis 2 predicted that having an ethical role model during ones career is
positively related to ethical leadership. The result indicated that having a career role
model was significantly related to follower ratings of ethical leadership, supporting
Hypothesis 2. (Brown & Trevino) In conclusion to their research Brown & Trevino
mentioned that even though theres cynicism about ethics in the workplace, it is
noteworthy that there is a correlation between ethical role models and in the workplace
due to the large majority of respondents did report of having an ethical role model in their
careers and more than half of respondents did see that top management was the model for
ethical behavior.
Leadership Ethics in Todays World: Key Issues and Perspectives
The interest of this articles shows the importance of leadership ethics and the different
issues and perspectives on ethical leadership in which is explained in the different
theories and practices. One question that is raised in this article in which the author
acknowledges is that different societies at different times in history even today still try to
practice good leadership in which help set good moral principals for their people. B.
Lakshmi breaks down each different ethical theory from the Confucian approach to the
Kantian approach in order for the reader to understand ethics in a theoretical approach.
Lakshmi also explains how ethical leadership plays a role in business organization.
Lakshmi states, The challenge is to move from the philosophical standpoint as
formulated in theoretical approaches and apply them to the real world where clarity is
needed on how ethical leadership acts to bring about change. (Lakshmi, 2014) One
question that Lakshmi asks us is, Where does one start in fostering leadership ethics in
the business world? Lakshmi states that one can start by analyzing a leaderships vision.

The leadership vision is a reflection of the ethics within its framework. As mentioned in
previous research one key principle from the reflection of the leaderships vision is to
extend the responsibility of the business towards stakeholders, with obligations for
honesty and fairness. Lakshmi also explains the heart of leadership, is place on the
individual ethical values of leaders has in which have to begin with the self to have an
impact on others. The importance of leadership ethics and the need for ethical behavior
by leaders brings the focus on to the leader. (Lakshmi B., 2014) In addition to
Lakshmis point of view it is understandable that a good leader that understand good
ethics can help influence others positively.
Organizational Ethics: A Practical Approach
According to author Craig E. Johnson conflict occurs on a daily basis in the workplace.
Research shows that managers will spend about 20% to 40% of their time dealing with
these conflicts. Johnson believes every leader should become an ethical conflict manager.
Every organization must be able to manage conflicts in order to work collaboratively and
effectively. And because leaders are responsible for determining values, develop
structure and create ethical practices they need to be able to face the many challenges that
the leadership responsibility holds. For example a leader should be able to face the
challenges of power, privilege, responsibility and the challenge of loyalty. Ethics is
needed to be implanted in a leader to face these challenges.
In conclusion that Johnson agrees that everyone pays a price for unethical organizational
behavior. If good ethics is not implemented in organizations they will suffer damaged
reputations, declining revenue, earning, donations and stock charges.

As to my hypothesis, the data of the articles and book I used to conduct my research have
proven that there is a correlation between ethics and leadership. Ethics improves the
workplace of many organizations and establish positive leadership in which employees
follow and respect their leader.

References
Lakshmi, B. (2014). Leadership Ethics in Today's World: Key Issues and Perspectives.
ASCI Journal Of Management, 44(1), 66-72.
Levine, M., & Boaks, J. (2014). What Does Ethics Have to do with Leadership?. Journal
Of Business Ethics, 124(2), 225-242. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1807-y
Eisenbeiss, S., Knippenberg, D., & Fahrbach, C. (2015). Doing Well by Doing Good?
Analyzing the Relationship Between CEO Ethical Leadership and Firm Performance.
Journal Of Business Ethics, 128(3), 635-651. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2124-9
Brown, M., & Trevio, L. (2014). Do Role Models Matter? An Investigation of Role
Modeling as an Antecedent of Perceived Ethical Leadership. Journal Of Business Ethics,
122(4), 587-598. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1769-0
Johnson, Craig E. (2016). Organizational Ethics A Pratical Approach Perspectives Sage
Publishers ISBN 978-1-4833-4440-9