Discuss the Roles of Ethics and Trust in Effective Leadership

The role of ethics and trust in leadership
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Introduction.
Leadership is a noble aspect in any venture involving a group of humans. In order to be able to have successful leadership, it is crucial for a leader to have ethics towards the subordinates. It is also crucial to cultivate trust in the subordinates so that leadership duties can be carried out smoothly. This paper analyses the importance of ethics and trust in leadership in view of the crucial impact that they have in the process of leadership. Any leadership that lacks the ingredients of ethics and trust is most likely to fail to achieve the targeted goals which the leadership aims to achieve. This aspect is applicable in all areas of life including business.
Ethics and trust
In any given organization, there is always need to have trust that is based on ethical orientation. In any good leadership, the leaders must be able to recognize the worth of the subordinates. Whisnant & Khasawneh (2014) assert that; the leader should not overlook the individual needs of the subordinates over the needs of the entire organization. This is the bottom line of ethics in leadership, whereby, the leader is able to visualize beyond the profitability of the organization. When the leader shows genuine concern to the subordinates, the followers are bound to trust the leader more and more. In turn, there ought to be more profitability than there would have been with leadership that is not oriented on ethics and trust.
Hasel (2013) propose that; in any given organization, there are two orientations in view of the leaders. Some leaders are viewed by their subordinates as ethical and trustworthy while others are not. In many business organizations there has been breach of ethics and trust by the leaders. This leads to mistrust of the leaders, not only by their subordinates but also by the community which contributes to the how well the business will do. Frisch & Huppenbauer (2014) assert that; with inconsideration of ethics and trust in business, the leaders end up being exposed while the businesses are destroyed. When the leaders are ethical and trustworthy, the subordinates are most likely to also become ethical in their undertakings. Ultimately, this leads to ethical groups as well as organizations.
It is a common trend that leaders set the paces in the organizations. Therefore, business leaders should endeavor to always portray ethics and trust in their undertakings so as to ensure that the subordinates can learn from them. As Taylor & Pattie (2014) found out; when leaders do not show ethics and trust, then the followers are bound to lack trust towards the leader. The subordinates are also most likely to fail to have ethical concerns.
Role of ethics and trust in achieving goals.
Organizations usually have goals which they endeavor to achieve in their undertakings. The leaders are expected to spearhead the achievement of those stipulated goals. In order to be able to achieve the aims of the organization, the leader must be able to integrate ethics and trust in their leadership. Ethics and trust help leaders to achieve both the long-term as well as the short term goals. This argument is based on teleological theory of ethics in leadership. Teleological theory is based on the measure of leadership and its orientation on the bases of the outcomes and not any other angle.
Based on the teleological theory, the essence of leadership is measured by the seen outcomes and not the motives. In this view, when the leaders embrace ethics and trust, they are ought to have successful outcomes. As Schockman (2015) found out; the outcomes in organizations cannot only be measured in terms of profitability alone. Rather other dimensions such as affect to the environment as well the concerns of the employees are also put into consideration. When the employees get to perceive that the leaders have concerns over the environment and also their needs as human beings, they are likely to worker harder and bring success to the endeavors of the business. This way, the profits of the business are increased while at the same time, the environment has been taken care of, and the employees are relaxed.
Based on teleological theories, the leaders’ conduct and behavior as well as their actions should always aim at achieving the best outcomes. Since the focal aim of business organization is to make profit, the leaders should stipulate ways that are oriented in making higher profitability but not on a short term basis. Levine & Boaks (2014) propose that; ethics and trust are ingredients of making profits but not in a short term basis. The impact is felt after a while. However, the interest of the leaders should not just be pegged on profitability alone. Other concerns such as the environment must also be put in to consideration because they are important as far as ethics and trust is concerned.
Decision making.
Decision making in business organization is a crucial process which must be undertaken with a lot of caution. Decision making determines the direction of the organization and in the long run, the achievements that the organization will make. Xiaojun (2014) maintains that; in undertaking decisions in a business organization, ethics and trust concerns must be put in to considerations so as to achieve a kind of leadership that is admirable.
In making decisions for the organizations, the leaders should evaluate the best type of leadership to align to, based on ethics and trust. For instance, in a bid to gain the trust of the employees, the leaders should endeavor to involve the employees in decision making process. Chekwa, Ouhira, Thomas et al (2014) note that; this aspect is in alignment of the democratic kind of leadership, whereby the subordinates are consulted and their views considered in the course of implementing the necessary decisions. This consultation is crucial especially in making decisions that affect the employees in one way or...