Ethics and Leadership final paper Literature & Language Essay

Ethics and Leadership Final Paper
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Ethics and Leadership Final Paper
Ethical leadership is when the leader strives to always do the right thing. Ethical leadership, as Ciulla et al. (12) pointed out, expands beyond merely increasing the profits and production for a company. It entails taking ethics into account when setting boundaries and making decisions in the company. It is also taken into account when developing ideas. One notable moral framework that ethical leaders use is utilitarianism. In normative ethics, utilitarianism stems from the eighteenth and nineteenth century British economists and philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. The theory holds that a given action is wrong if it produces the reverse happiness and right if it promotes happiness. Happiness in this case includes not just the happiness of the person or entity that performs the action, but also the happiness of every person who is affected by that particular action (Gustafsson 88). This paper discusses ethics and leadership focusing on utilitarianism.
Ethics is understood as a system of moral standards and affects the way individuals lead their lives and make decisions. Also described as moral philosophy, ethics focuses on what is good for the society and for individuals. It encompasses several dilemmas including moral decisions such as what is bad and good; the language of wrong and right; people’s responsibility and rights; and how to lead a good life (Mendonca and Kanungo 13). Leadership entails being able to motivate a group of individuals to act toward attaining a certain shared goal. People in leadership positions often lead an organization or a grouping of people. Overall, a leader establishes an explicit vision; shares the vision with other people for them to follow it freely; provides the methods, knowledge and information for the realization of that particular vision; and coordinates and balances the differing interests of the affected or involved stakeholders and members (Avella 43).
Therefore, ethical leadership is when a person in a leadership position exhibits values and morals. It is a kind of leadership wherein the leader demonstrates conduct for the common good which is both appropriate and acceptable in all aspects of his/her life. It comprises being an example in which the ethical leader leads by example and champions the significance of ethics and ethical standards within the organization and teaches others about ethics (Mendonca and Kanungo 15). Ethical leadership goes beyond only increasing the company’s production and profitability. Applying ethical principles to leadership styles requires the leader to always consider ethics whenever he sets boundaries and makes decisions in the company. The leader should also take ethics into account when he develops new ideas (Avella 44). This is important considering that making decisions basing upon an organization’s code of ethics or based on the core values helps to inspire workers to do the same, which in turn creates a positive and productive environment.
Following an ethical path creates a positive experience for everybody who is involved in the company and improves the functioning of the firm. Ethical leaders in an organization are valuable for their companies and are appreciated by their employees. Such a leader demonstrates values and morals in his/her leadership position, and exhibits virtue, morals and character in his/her work, focusing on the rights and needs of the staff members (Letwin et al. 745). Moreover, ethical leaders in an organization are able to help create a positive environment in the workplace with productive relationships over the following levels: the overall organization, the team, and the individual (Mendonca and Kanungo 16). Ultimately, the major goal of ethical leaders is to create a world wherein the future is all-inclusive, positive and allows the potential for everyone to follow and attain their needs and achieve their potential. There are several ethical theories that can help guide ethical leadership, including deontological ethics, duty-based ethics, and utilitarianism. Utilitarianism, or utilitarian ethics, is among the most widely used ethical theory used by leaders.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism refers to an ethical theory which determines the wrong act from the right act by focusing on the results or outcomes of that particular action. According to McNamee et al. (176), utilitarianism is essentially a form of consequentialism. This moral framework maintains that the most ethical decision is the decision that produces the greatest good for the largest number of people. The principles of utility were conceptualized by Jeremy Bentham who defined utility as a measure of maximizing pleasure whilst at the same time reducing pain. According to Bentham, every person has a preference of pleasure over pain. The utilitarian moral principles are anchored in this belief (Gustafsson 92).
In developing the utilitarianism theory, Ciulla et al. (5) pointed out that Jeremy Bentham might have implied pain as in sadness and pleasure as in happiness. Nevertheless, his rendering of utilitarian ethics seemed hedonistic, as though sensuality was the measure that he linked to pleasure. Later on, J. S. Mill reconsidered the utilitarian principles conceptualized by Bentham and then put forward that pleasure should not only denote sensual pleasure. According to John Stuart Mill, pleasure should also refer to mental pleasure like friendship, literature, and even music. Intellectual pleasures should be preferred over sensual pleasures according him (McNamee et al. 177). On the whole, there are quite a few differences between happiness and pleasure. Firstly, unlike in pleasure, there is an evaluative aspect in happiness. Secondly, happiness might include both pain and pleasure. Thirdly, happiness is of a longer duration than pleasure. Happiness focuses on attaining life goals or on the contentment of living well, and it is long-term. Fourthly, pleasure is related to the body while happiness is related to the mind (Gustafsson 93).
Utilitarian ethics is sometimes utilized in justifying war or military force. In addition, utilitarianism is a common approach to moral reasoning used by business leaders owing to how it accounts for benefits and costs (Jenkins 965). Even so, since predicting the future is not possible, it is hard to know with sureness if the outcomes of a given action are going to be bad or good. This is a major limitation of utilitarianism. Furthermore, this theory cannot effectively account for values like individual rights and justice. As a case in point, assuming that a healthcare facility has three patients whose lives are dependent upon getting organ transplants: a liver, a kidney, and a lung. If a healthy individual walks into that hospital, she might be killed in order to harvest her organs to save the three patients to the detriment of one life. This action clearly produces the greatest good for the largest number of people (Udofia 3). Despite that, not many people would view it has an acceptable course of action, and it is certainly not the most ethical course of action. As such, even though this theory is perhaps the most reason-based approach that a leader can use to determine wrong from right, it has inherent weaknesses.
Utilitarianism in Leadership
The theory of utilitarianism is very applicable to leadership. Its relevance in leadership stems from the fact that leaders often make decisions that impact other people’s lives. Utilitarian leaders usually have to judge what is best for others and what is best for groups, for instance employees, citizens in a country, families, or even friends. They determine the wellbeing of the affected group simply by adding up the losses and benefits which would be experienced by members of the group when a certain policy or action is adopted (Jenkins 966). It is worth mentioning that the group’s wellbeing is the sum total of the interests of all the members within that particular group. Although there are situations wherein the utilitarian analysis is focused on the interests of certain groups or people, Ciulla et al. (5) stated that the utilitarian moral theory calls for leaders to base their moral judgments on the equal consideration of interests. Therefore, utilitarian ethics includes the important notion that when leaders calculate the utility of their actions, they need to do so from a neutral viewpoint and not from a partiality viewpoint favouring themselves, their friends, or other people whom they care about (Gustafsson 93). If this impartial viewpoint is viewed as essential for utilitarian ethics, then partiality to certain groups and self-interest would both be rejected by a utilitarian leader since they would be...