What is a Leader and the Leadership Role

RESPOND TO STUDENT #1 AND #2

 

What is a Leader and the Leadership Role

This week we will be examining the interaction between the employee and the leadership of the company. With this in mind, how would you define the term “leader” and what makes a good leader in your view? What do you believe is a leader’s role in shaping the ethical environment of a company and what are some ways in which this role may be carried out?

 

Student 1: Vincent Moultrie

A leaders is a person who guides people to achieve a particular goal(s).  A good leader never gives up, but always motivates and always keeps everyone engaged and in harmony so that they can achieve all attainable goals. A leader should be the one responsible for creating a good ethical environment in a company. The leader carries this role by being fair to all workers in the company.A lot of people bring different experiences and knowledge to different kind of jobs, it is important to be able to talk to people and find out what their background is, what are their strong points as well as weak points. Let your employees know what the task at hand is, and welcome their inputs. If the inputs make sense implement them whenever possible. Let your employees know that you are approachable and you are listening to their concerns as well as their recommendations for improvement. Organization theorists generally recognize that there is no “one best way” to structure an organization and that organizations must be designed to fit the nature of their task environments (see, for example. Burns and Stalker, 1966; Mintzberg, 1979). I am a firm believer in order to be a good leader, you have to follow at some point in time.Ethics is central to leadership because of the nature of the relationship between leaders and followers. Leaders influence followers—this means they affect followers’ lives either negatively or positively (Yukl, 2012). It is up to you what kind of leader you are. Are you a leader that says do as I say not as I do, or are you a leader that leads by example. You as a leader are doing the right thing even when no one is watching. As a leader in order to get respect you have to always have your head in the game because if you don’t your employees and employer is watching, and your credibility is worthless if you are not focused and producing results. If you establish a game plan, and you make it the daily norm that everyone follows there is no wiggle room for someone to say I did not know what the policy is.Drawing on previous research concerning internal whistle blowing (Waters, 1978), we can suggest that the impact of such communications can be strengthened in two particular ways. First, senior management must remove any ambiguity that exists with respect to organizational priorities.

References:

Waters, J. A. and P. D. Chant: 1982, ‘Internal Control of Managerial Integrity: Beyond Accounting Systems’, California Management Review, pp. 60—66.

https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/47445_chp_16.pdf

 

 

STUDENT 2: Marco Lara

My definition of leader is:  An individual that possesses character traits that inspire others to follow him/her.  The character traits I refer to are integrity, honesty, loyalty, respect, stability and vision.  What makes a good leader is having these traits and living by them in their daily living.  A leader is constantly being observed by the people he/she intends to lead.  The constant observation is in part to get direction on how to perform and act in carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the organization, and to learn from the decisions and actions of the person followers are trying to emulate.

The leader’s role in shaping the ethical environment of a company is the cornerstone of the initiative itself.  A passage from this week’s reading on ethical leadership helps define the primary role of a leader.  It states, “Leaders are role models. If you want your organization or initiative – and those who work in it – to behave ethically, then it’s up to you to model ethical behavior” (Rabinowits, n.d.).  This quote is clear and very simple.  Leaders must set the framework for the ethical environment.  This can be done through establishing a code of ethics for the organization.  Additionally, a leader must take advantage of every opportunity to continuously share the code and discuss it using practical situations the organization is facing.  This practice will help instill the code of ethics into the day to day practices of the organization.  Nevertheless, what is most important is the action of the leader and how he/she puts it into practice at all times, and enforces that others conduct themselves in accordance to it.

 

Reference

Rabinowitz, P. (n.d).  Ethical leadership.  Retrieved, 12 April, 2017, from: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/ethical-leadership/main