Ethical Considerations in Leadership Positions

Ethics and ethical decisions are a major component in making proper choices among tricky alternatives. The value of ethics in a globalizing economy cannot be underestimated. As leaders and executives are faced with new and potentially controversial decisions to keep their profits growing they will need to have some set of standards. Ethics provides that standard by which leaders and executives can draw knowledge. When considering the possible scenarios leaders face the value of ethical standards is highlighted.

Leaders will be required to be better than being money making machines. One’s global money ethic is how they perceive the nature of money and the uses of that money in their daily lives. Religion and money ethic are significant determinants of consumer ethical beliefs (Vitell, Singh & Paolillo, 2007). As leaders become more global and have the opportunity to deal with varying cultures they will have to understand consumer ethical beliefs in order to further their corporation’s good will and cultural acceptability. That means leaders will have to be able to balance their own religion and beliefs with that of the host culture.

Ethics will also become more important as transparency increases among public corporations. For example, a new European Act on Public Procurement is designed to counter perceived misevaluations of money tendered in business in an effort to expose or make more transparent unethical behavior (Lennerfors, 2007). One could look to its counterpart in the United States and the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley as an example. Leaders and executives are expected to act in an ethical manner and Western governments are encouraging this behavior through legislation.

One could also come across the ethical standards set forth in international product development. For example, in the software industry there is serious division of ethical beliefs when it comes to software copy write between producers and users. Consumers may not feel that it is unethical to copy software while producers feel that such illegal copying is an infringement on their rights (McGowan, Stephens & Gruber, 2007). Is there a balance between this ethical dissonance? The way in which leaders approach this issue will affect their likelihood of winning over consumers. For example, if you bring legal action against consumers it may cause a backlash. Awareness of the differences in ethical values helps to make the right operational decisions.

A corporate leader may also be forced to make an ethical decision between shareholder value, the public good and corporate law (Rose, 2007). At least a few times in most executive careers they will have a choice between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. They must chose between following the law, pleasing their shareholders and doing the most public good. If they are not aware of ethics and ethical standards it may become difficult to make such difficult decisions.

Ethics can also be applied to the starting of a new plant in a new location. The questions of unionization, discrimination and productivity all come into play. Should the company hire a minority for a key position even though they may not qualify? Should the company invite the union into their plant to save on time and money even though workers have a right to make a choice? Should the company reach out or restrict its hiring practices when it comes to woman, minorities and those with less employability? Hiring decisions and the policies & procedures developed by the organization all have an ethical component to them (Lam, 2007).

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