Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles

Ethics and Leadership Styles

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Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles Introduction Leadership is not an innate gift; its an unending process that involves making decisions that are tests to any leader. There are different leadership styles and a leader has to pick a leadership style that aligns with their values and beliefs. Ethics are a core part of any good leadership and therefore when a leader adopts the benefits that leadership avails him, he must also bear the ethical burdens that come with leadership. This paper will discuss the different leadership styles, the negative aspects of noble cause corruption as well as the importance of ethical leadership for law enforcement agencies. Leadership Styles According to Warrick (1981), the leadership style that a particular leader adopts is very influential on the followers performance and satisfaction. This is because leaders control the rewards and punishments that individuals gets and this in turn affects the motivation and attitudes that they will have on their followers. Different leadership styles possess different

characteristics, they also have different philosophies and management skills. The leadership style that a leader will pick will define the leaders character and therefore the selection has to be made carefully. A democratic leadership style places high emphasis on performance and people. This leadership style assumes that most people are honest and trustworthy. It also assumes that people will work hard to accomplish their goals and also finish their work however challenging the work is. A democratic leader therefore works hard to provide a well organized work environment that challenges the employees to work. This leader will also provide a work environment that has clear objectives and responsibilities; he gets the job done through motivating and managing the

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles

individuals into utilizing their full potential in reaching the goals of the organization while at the same time reaching their own personal goals (Warrick, 1981). The autocratic leader on the other hand places high emphasis on people. He operates on the assumption that people are generally lazy and irresponsible as well as untrustworthy. This leadership style places the duties of planning, organizing as well as decision making on the leader, therefore the individuals are not involved in decision making. This leader depends on his power, hard work and manipulation of the subjects to get the job done (Warrick, 1981).While the democratic leader organizes the work place in a way that promotes team work, the autocratic leader maintains control of all the actions of the people who work under him. In addition to this, the autocratic leader has centralized control of the organization and is considered as the main person in the organization who makes all the decisions. In the autocratic leadership the leader believes in using power to gain respect and get the job done, on the other hand, the democratic leader believes that power should be earned and therefore does regard himself as a powerful person. The democratic leader delegates tasks to the people in the organization and then holds them responsible for their results. The autocratic leader does not believe in delegating duties and only delegates the tasks that are regarded as low risk. The autocratic leader uses performance appraisals as a tool of informing the employees what they are doing wrong. On the other hand, the democratic leader uses the same performance appraisals to highlight to the employees what they are doing wrong as well as what they are doing wrong (Warrick, 1981). The democratic leader provides his employees with a conducive work environment that allows for open communication as well as open conflict resolution. In this case the leader openly

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles communicates to his employees and listens to their feedback. On the other hand, the work environment in the autocratic leadership scenarios allow for one way communication and the leader rarely listens to what the employees are saying. In addition, conflict resolution in an autocratic leadership is often non-existent or done in favor of the leadership (Warrick, 1981). Noble cause Corruption According to Caldero & Crank (2010), police officers as a whole believe in the noble cause. This noble cause refers to their moral commitment of making the world a better place for all persons to live. This is done by getting the criminals out of the streets. In pursuit of this goal, the police involve teleological reasoning which argues for the end-means justification. The police employ various means to achieve their objectives of bringing criminals book and some of the means that they employ are unethical. For instance they lie on reports or when testifying under oath, they also employ excessive force in trying to extracts confessions from the suspects and by doing all this disregards the rights of the suspects. Noble cause corruption has been practiced in the police force and because it has been defined as corruption for a moral cause, the public is less likely to have a harsh response to the police who engage in it. For instance, the public are not likely to label an officer who testifies falsely under oath as corrupt. This is because his action is not motivated by self gratification, its motivated by the desire to get the criminals in jail. Due to this, the officer will elicit reactions of admiration from the observers because the public will not condemn an act that they view as noble. This approach however cannot be encouraged in law enforcement because in as much as

its for the greater good, it is unethical and compromises on the criminal rights for fair treatment (Crank, Flaherty & Giacomazzi, 2010).

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles

Noble cause corruption brings to the forefront some ethical issues. It has been justified by using the argument that the end justifies the means. Different reasoning theories answer this question differently. For instance the deontologist will say that the end does not justify the means, the teleologist argues that the end really justifies the means. This argument by the teleologist is what the officers use to justify their corruption(Crank, Flaherty & Giacomazzi, 2010). This type of corruption can lead to the damage reputation of the entire police agency and also the individual officers who engage in this type of corruption. This can be a big blow to the trust that the public have placed on the entire police force. In some cases it can lead to one losing his job if he is discovered as having engaged in this type of corruption. In addition to this perjury is a criminal offence and if an officer is discovered as having perjured himself, he can have charges leveled against him (Crank, Flaherty & Giacomazzi, 2010). Noble cause corruption supports street justice and therefore makes the justice system look irrelevant. When officers take the law into their own hands and take up the role of judge and jury, they adopt the theory that supports street justice. This is a contravention of the laws of the land which gives every citizen a right to fair trial, whether the person is guilty or not (Crank, Flaherty & Giacomazzi, 2010). If an officer testifies falsely in a court of law, this could lead to wrongful conviction of an innocent person. This in turn may lead to a person being jailed while they are innocent and this is a violation of the individual persons rights. In addition to this, noble cause corruption advances impunity in a country. This is because these actions involve contravention of the criminal and

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles civil laws. When these laws are contravened, it leads to lack of democracy for the citizens and this in turn promotes impunity (Grometstein, 2010). Noble cause corruption also provides a loop hole that rogue officers can use to engage in corrupt actions all under the disguise of doing it for a noble cause. For instance, an officer may testify falsely in a courtroom and get a person sentenced to jail, while they know that the person is innocent for the purpose of protecting the real culprit. If any type of corruption in the force is declared as criminal, these loopholes would not exist (Grometstein, 2010). Noble cause corruption alienates the people from their governments. In some cases the actions that the police take in pursuit of noble cause are perceived as racially discriminative, for instance they may assume that a person is a criminal based on the skin color and hence doctor reports and plant some evidence on that person. Actions like these can make sections of the population feel like they have been targeted and as a result make them alienate themselves from government (Grometstein, 2010). Ethical leadership In ethical leadership, the leader has to demonstrate appropriate conduct using his actions and his relationships with others, while at the same time lead the followers in a just fair and moral manner. In ethical leadership, three aspects of the leadership are observed in offer to sum up to ethical leadership. They include: the means that the leader used to motivate the followers into achieving their goals, the personal ethics of the leader as well as the ethical values of the accomplishments that the leaders achieve (University of Miami, 2009). The leader- follower relationship is an important aspect of ethical leadership in any organizational setting. The leader is tasked with the duty of motivating his followers. A leader

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles who is distant and detached with his followers will set a bad precedent. If he deals with his employees in an unjust manner and uses power to gain obedience then his followers will most likely adopt this behavior in their work. In ethical leadership, the leader should guide his followers using fair and just principles and help the followers to achieve their goals. These principles are what the followers are likely to adopt in dealing with the people who serve below them (University of Miami, 2009). The personal ethics of the leader are another major aspect of ethical leadership. These refer to the values that the person has, his moral compass as well as his beliefs. In leadership the leader has to have good ethical values as an individual. This is because when the leader adopts a leadership style of whichever nature, he has to bring into leadership his values and morals. If a leader comes into leadership with strong values and moral beliefs, then he is most likely to deliver ethical leadership. On the other hand if a leader doesnt have string moral values, he is most likely to lack ethics in leadership (University of Miami, 2009). The value of a leaders accomplishments is another main aspect of ethical leadership. This looks at the end product of his actions. The main question that this aspect addresses is whether the actions of the leader served the greater good of the people and how much value the leader places on serving the greater good of the people (University of Miami, 2009). The Josephson Institute (1999) advanced six pillars that it considered as important for ethical leadership in an organization. They include trustworthiness or integrity, respect for others, responsibility, Fairness, kindness and compassion, citizenship. These were advanced as principles that a leader could use in his daily decision making process. Application of these

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles principles would lead to the formation of an ethical environment in which the employees start adopting the same pillars in their own decision making processes. In leadership there is a delicate balance that should be maintained between ethics and effectiveness. Sometimes this leads to a trade off of one value over the other, that is you either pick an ethical leader or an effective leader but you cant have both. Ciulla (1998) asserts that a good leader must be an ethical leader while at the same time he should be an effective leader.

However in the modern situation ethical leaders are not always effective and effective leaders are rarely ethical. Ethical leadership has a moral impact on the followers. A leader serves as an example to his followers and if a leader performs his duties ethically, then he is likely to have a positive impact on his followers. If a leader demonstrates by example how daily operations can be performed in a manner that promotes good ethics the followers will also adopt his way of doing things. For instance police chiefs who do not engage in noble cause corruption will most likely have a work force that does not engage in the same (University of Miami (2009) According to Kanungo & Mendonca (1996) effective leadership is only obtained if the leaders are motivated by their concern for other people. Therefore in ethical leadership the main driving force for the actions of the leaders should be concern for other people even if its at a personal cost. This however has been termed as a bit extreme since selflessness in actions does not really mean that the actions of the leader will be moral. For instance a leader who steals from the rich to give to the poor can be termed as selfless but his actions cannot be termed as moral. Importance of ethical leadership in Law enforcement agencies

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles

Ethical leadership acts as a guiding model for the officers in the agencies. Ethical leaders are transformational leaders and hence encourage their followers to change their behavior and adopt ethical traits. If the leaders are engaging in ethical practices, the officers will also follow suit. Therefore its important that the leaders in the agencies have strong values and moral authority as they can use this to influence the rest of the officers (Karimu, 2012). Ethical leadership can also be used as a tool to transform the law enforcement agencies. This is because this leadership can help curb issues like corruption, harassment and racial discrimination that have become prevalent in the current society. For instance ethical leadership can be applied in issues like the noble cause corruption which can be a gray area for leadership that is not ethical. In ethical leadership, Noble cause cannot be used as an excuse of not following the law; this in turn can restore the faith and the reputation of various law enforcement agencies (Karimu, 2012). In law enforcement, the decisions that are made each day are life and death decisions concerning the people. Hence ethical leadership is required to ensure that these decisions are not made lightly and that these decisions are made in a fair manner. Ethical standards require that the leaders find a way to separate their personal biases and feelings with the professional decisions that they make. Any leader who takes the ethical considerations seriously will be able to lead the agencies in a professional way (Karimu, 2012). Ethical leadership can also help in maintaining order in the society. Decisions that are made in law enforcement have an impact on the entire society and hence should be made with the ethical considerations in mind. If decisions are made without employing ethical considerations, they would have a negative influence on the larger society and would lead to

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles protests and unrests. For instance if prison officials make decisions concerning the prisoners without applying the ethical practices, law suits, prison riots and even death could occur (Karimu, 2012). Good partnerships with the society and other stakeholders are a major priority of law enforcers. These stakeholders are important in that they assist law enforcers by helping in

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community policing. This relationship however could be damaged if the leaders in these agencies were making decisions that are perceived as unethical and unconstitutional. Due to this, its important that the leaders practice ethical leadership in order to maintain proper relationships with its partners (Karimu, 2012). Ethical leadership in law enforcement could lead to the development of training programs with the aim of imparting ethical practices to all enforcement officials. These programs would be introduced with the aim of eradicating unethical behaviors from the agencies. This would be as a result of leaderships commitment to improving and enhancing the ethical practices of its officers (Karimu, 2012). Ethical leadership could promote transparency in the enforcement agencies. This transparency would help the citizens understand the police operations and also understand the reasons why they carry out certain operations. This in turn would improve the relationships between the police and the citizens. The rights of citizens are constantly violated by various enforcement officials and agencies. Ethical leadership would put in place measures than ensured that the rights of every individual were respected (Karimu, 2012). Ethical leadership will hold the individual officers responsible for their actions and punish those who have engaged in unethical practices without fear or favor. These actions serve

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles

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as a deterrent to any office who wants to engage in unethical practices. In addition to this, since the leaders administer penalties and punishments to all officers without favor or fear, the officers will not feel victimized when they receive their punishment (Karimu, 2012).

Running head: Ethics and Leadership Styles References Crank, John., Flaherty, D & Giacomazzi, A.(2007). The noble cause: An empirical assessment. Journal of Criminal Justice.35.103116. Caldero, Michael & Crank, John. (2010). Police Ethics (Revised Printing): The Corruption of Noble Cause. New York: Elsevier. Ciulla, Joanne. B. (1998). Ethics, the heart of leadership. Connecticut: Praeger. Grometstein, Randall. (2010). Prosecutorial Misconduct and Noble-Cause Corruption. Retrieved From: http://www.hts.gatech.edu/dwc/images/grometstein2.pdf. Josephson Institute (February 25, 2009). The six pillars of character. Retrieved from: http:charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html.

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Kanungo, R. N., & Mendonca, M. (1996). Ethical dimensions of leadership. California: Sage. Karimu, Olusola.(2012). Understanding Leadership Standards and Ethical Practices in Criminal Justice. Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities.1(3).2-8. University of Miami. (2009). Ethics and Leadership. Retrieved from: http://www.bus.miami.edu/_assets/files/executive-education/leadership-institute/ethics-andleadership.pdf. Warrick, Don.(1981). Leadership Styles and Their Consequences. Journal of Experiential Learning and Simulation.3(4).155-172.

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