Ethical Leadership is defined 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 decisionmaking" [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).
Living in the competitive world often make us, as an ambitious human , attempting to
achieve success with all efforts. As a young generation, I realized people tend to nudge each
other to satisfy their desire and forget the meaning of being ethical , specially in the
working world. Everyone can be a leader and everyone can easily understand what is the
meaning of being ethical. However, become a leader who do the ethical leadership is not
easy.
Numerous expert discusses about the relationship between ethics and leadership
which appears to be centered on the transactional transformational dichotomy. According to
Burns (1978), the relationship between ethics and leadership has transform as ethically
superior to its transactional counterpart. Leaders and followers will experience a mutual
elevation to increased levels of motivation and morality with transforming leadership.
In this blog, i will examine the concept of ethical leadership through two major
perspective, deontological and teleological. To generate the readers understanding, the real
life industry examples will be used to associate theory and the reality on the ground, specially
to highlight the impact ethical and non-ethical leadership behavior.
Ethical Theories
According to Aronson (2001),The study of standards for determining what behavior is
right and wrong or good and bad is called ethics. Despite there are various theories about the
ethical theories, one thing does remain constant. It is a morality. If we examine further about
ethics and morals, ethics are The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a
particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture
(Diffen,2015) which come from the social system (external) and we

do it because our society says it is the right thing to do. While, morals are
Principles or habits with respect to right or wrong

conduct which make morality becomes personal

compass of right and wrong for someone. Morality
determined by individual (internal) and people do that
because they believe in something being right or wrong
(Diffen,2015).
https://youtu.be/drxrd2LSydY

It is important to have ethics in the business. Ethical behaviors and corporate social
responsibility can bring positive implication for the business. In the business ethics, there are
2 dominant approaches to evaluate the ethical nature : teleological and deontological.
Teleological means leaders action have no intrinsic moral status and oriented for the
outcomes or the end (Kanungo,2001) .It doesnt matter how to get there as long as the actions
can make larger merit to numerous people, it will considered morally right However, this
belief has its drawbacks in that it could encourage people to conduct in anyway because
priorities the outcomes of actions.
On the other hand, According to Kanungo (2001) deontological considers a leaders
action to have intrinsic moral status. Deontological theories more focus for the outcomes
even though some acts are always wrong/ can be morally bad. Actions in deontology are
always judged independently of their outcome. This simple explanation for deontological is if
the leader acts according to her/his duty/ moral principal, then the leaders act can described
as ethically without considered the consequences. Nevertheless, Singer() stated that
deontological has removed emotion ,sympathy , and any moral worth from ethics. He
explained that the concet of duty for its own sake' will lead to a 'closed

system'. It will exposed another problem which people dont

inquire into the reasons for their actions. (Singer,1986)
The 4-V model of ethical leadership
I believe to create a great leader, ethical leadership training must be a part of the education of
todays student. The 4 V model leadership model is used because this model incorporates all
the crucial elements in leadership development. 4V model is created by Dr. Bill Grace from
the Center for Ethical Leadership. He believes that ethical leadership is knowing your core
values and having the courage to live them in all parts of your life in service of the common
good.

Values, is the beginning of ethical leadership. It is about what the leaders should base
their action on. Vision is about the ability to frame their action. Voice can be used as
expressing vision to others in a persuasive way to motivate them to action. It is more like the
instrument to pronounce the vision of the leaders. Value and vision will give the group
direction and purpose that will be identified the group. To make the groups more dynamic,
voice is given to values and vision. The last one is the fundamentally another name for
Ethical Leadership which located at the center of the model, Virtue. Virtue is a blend of
principle, sensitivity to relationships, and commitment to the common good. Virtue
distinguishes Gandhi from Hitler, Martin Luther King, Jr., from Stalin (Center for Ethical
Leadership)
To build better understanding to this topic, let us watch this video
https://youtu.be/f9Tztq3LU-w
Microsoft is the best company example that illustrate the the 4-V model of ethical
leadership. As a leader, Bill Gates has his core values such as intencity, tenacity, and
passion(JD, 2011). He success identifies his vision which help him to be able align his action
to what are the right thing to do. He use his voice to express his vision throughout
management and spend all his time, resources, and energy to make a better world rather than
retired. For the virtue, we can see at Bill Gates behaves to serve the common good by
establish a famiy foundation. Bill Gatess leadership which has emphasis on humanity has
success increased the brand image and boosted the globalization of Mircrosoft. By arranging
4-V model of ethical leadership, the leader has effective tool to manage organizations.

Ethical and Unethical leadership Case

Before I write this blog, I already have one favorite inspirational leader. Since I read
book Onward by Howard Schultz, I know he is one of the good examples of ethical
business leaders. He is the CEO of Strabucks since 2000 and he is honored as one of the
"worlds greatest leaders" and earns a top-10 spot on an employee-rated survey of executives.
In 2014, THE Ethics Resource Center is pleased to honor Howard Schultz Pace Award for
Leadership in Ethics.

The next question is :

What makes Howard Schultz the kind of leader he was which also put him on the list
of the Worlds 50 Great Leaders?

SoItrymakealist:
o Thefirstthingishecan demonstrateethicalleadership inestablishinga
valuesbased organization with high standards of quality, service to the
community,andrespectforhumanity.(Connector,2015)
o Hehas TransformationalLeadershipdemocraticstyle whichallows the
employeetogivefreeopinionandinputtotheleader.Heallowshisemployee
to make personal calls and email to seeks advice from them. He give
motivationandinspirationofhisfollowers.Moreover,Hethinkitisimportant
to take real good care of his employess. He entitles his employee with
comprehensivehealthinsuranceandoptiontoownstocks,alsoflexibilityto
choose their own working hours. According to fastcomapny(2015) He
announcethatStarbucks wouldcovercollegetuitionforitsU.S.employees
workingmorethan20hoursperweekwhoenrollinanonlinecollegedegree
programfromArizonaStateUniversity.
o Hehasa missionandvision.WhenIwatchSuperSoulSunday,hesaidto
OprahMypassionisbuildingacompanythatisfocusedontreatingpeople
with respect and dignity(Schultz, 2013). He understand that knowing
employees and customer is very important. For Howard, employees and
customerarepillarsforhisbusiness.
Basedonthatcase,IthinkHowardholdonDeontologicalprincipleinrunning his
business.Heputtheprocessasthepriorities,andbeanethicalleadership.Nowonderhewon
numerousawardforhisleadership.

unethical leadership is behaviors conducted and decisions made by

organizationalleadersthatareillegaland/orviolatemoralstandards,andthosethat
imposeprocessesandstructuresthatpromoteunethicalconductbyfollowers.Brown
andMitchell(2010)

BasedonForbes(2013),KennethLayEnronisthenumberoneunethicalleaderin
theworld.Hehasabigroleintheinfamouscorruptionscandalthatbroughthiscompanyto
ruins.Hiscasebecameagoodexamplesofunethicalleadershipbecauseofhisarrogance
andperceivedinvincibility.Accordingto SwartsandWatkins(2003),20.000employees
losttheirjobandtheirlifesavingbecausetheyputtheirentirepensionportfolioonEnron
stock.
Enronlostmorethat$60billioninmarketvalueandmorethat$2billioninpension
plans.
In my opinion, everyone can be a leader but not everyone can apply ethical
leadership. Leaders are recommended to have the ethical leadership, they have right to
choosewhichtheorytheywanttoapplyaslongastheykeeppayingattentionforthewelfare
oftheiremployees.

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