Leadership aside, we could have a whole course dedicated to ethics. The five principles discussed in Leadership: Theory and Practice (2013), respect, service, justice, honesty and community, could all be covered more in depth (Northouse, 2013). This shouldn’t be a class just for leaders but for anyone looking to have a career. A leader’s ethics help create and support the values of an organization, but if everyone in the organization had ethics, they could influence each other (Northouse, 2013). This idea could translate into our daily lives where leadership may have no effect.
In my last blog post I gave examples of poor authentic leadership and now can see that it had a lot to do with ethics. My old leader, Greg, let his pride, desperation and money cloud his judgment. I can’t really say whether Greg had good ethics before he fell into financial troubles, but he let those trouble consume him to where no one could trust him. As Greg let his ethics slide, several of his follower soon found it easier to let their ethics slide. Employees spent more time watching TV and playing computer games then working. Some starter changing time cards to get a couple of extra hours that they never worked. Even patrons of the golf course starting taking privileges that caused the course to lose money. Slowly the whole business clasp on itself because the leader let other things become more important than his ethics.
If as an organization, business associates and human beings, we each have ethical standards then we can support and influences each other. In my career I belong to two different professional associations, the Golf Course Superintendents Associations of America (GCSAA) and the Idaho Golf Course Superintendents Associations (Idaho GCSA). Like all professional association, these associations had a Code of Ethics that help each member understand how they should act. Both the GCSAA and the Idaho GCSA discourage making false statements about other superintendents or promoting oneself at the expense of other in the associations (GCSAA 2014). Both association encourage it members to assist other members of the associations in any way possible (GCSAA 2014). Being a part of these associations has been a fulfilling experience throughout my career. Attending local and nations industry show has expanded my education and help build a network of professionals that I can rely in a time of crisis. Even though there all leaders in both of these association, the really success depends on the members having an ethic base that supports and build other members of the association.
Ethical leadership is important, a leader directs and oversees the organization that he or she is in charge of. Strong and proper ethics, and the self-mastery to follow those ethics in times of despair, will show the character of a leader. A leader should want to pass those ethics on to his or her follower, and follower should want to have ethics that they can pass on between each other. In the end building a strong organization, community and country.
References:
Northouse, P.G., 2013. Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th Edition). Los Angeles. Sage Publications.
Golf Course Superintendents Associations of America, (2014), Code of Ethics. Retrieved from www.gcsaa.org/about-gcsaa/governance/member-code-of-ethics.
Howard Normm Mintzer says
Hello, I found your post to be very relevant, not only to golf courses, but to any career. As you stated, leaders should pass their ethical behavior on to their subordinates, however unfortunate it may be, this isn’t always the case. In fact, followers are very susceptible to the actions of the leader (Northouse, 2013). As we have learned over the course of this class, leaders can use many different styles to lead their followers (Northouse, 2013), which makes it even harder to prevent leaders from taking advantage of their position. For example, in my own personal experience, my immediate supervisor can often be found taking advantage of her position within the company, whether it be extended lunch breaks or an overall lack of motivation to assist customers. She also spends a significant amount of time on the phone and on the internet, which is incredibly rude in general, but even moreso when we are supposed to be waiting on customers and she is supposed to be “supervising”. When this started it was very subtle, in fact most of us didn’t even notice since we kept up with the customer load and assumed she was busy. After a while, this slacking started to rub off on my co-worker who works right between us. Now, while we failed to notice the initial slacking by my supervisor, we couldn’t possibly keep up with the customer pace with TWO employees not working. Needless to say, while we still pick up the customer load and have made several mentions to our manager, we all started to feel less motivated as the months passed and still to this day the entire work environment changed due to the unethical practices of one employee. As Northouse (2013) states, ethical leaders are honest, which she is not honest with her lunch times, they are respectful of others, which is clearly not the case. It’s postulated that they are supposed to serve others, which she seems more concerned with serving herself. Lastly, ethical leaders are supposed to build community and practice fairness, both of which she does not work toward. It’s a shame that this sort of behavior is common across multiple occupations spanning several states and probably countries as well. Unfortunately, I don’t see there being a resolution in the near future.
Thank you, Howie
References:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications
Isaac J Weintraub says
In Northouse’s book on leadership (2013) virtue based ethics are explained in terms of the idea of becoming a good human being. “Although people can learn and develop good values, this theory maintains that virtues are present in one’s disposition” (p.427). This virtue-based ethics approach seems to hold that these behaviors are more ingrained traits as opposed to learned skills. The argument as to when these ethics are formed is perhaps for another entry, however one question that lingers is this: Are we able to improve our ethics or are we simply stuck with the virtues we have as a result of our upbringing?
Ethics are so important to a leader because of the power and influence a leader shows over his or her subordinates. If a leader demonstrates good ethics, then followers will almost be forced to uphold that standard. In Heifetz’s perspective on Ethical Leaders, he states, “The Leader’s duties are to assist the follower in struggling with change and personal growth” (Northouse, 2013, p.429). Many of your co-workers seem to be confronted with ethical questions each time they come to their workplace. When they arrive at a situation where ethics come into play, by nature, they look upward to their leader. Because of this concept, a leader truly has the ability to affect the entire crew on your golf course.
Northouse goes into detail in his book, explaining a number of ethical leadership issues such as respecting and serving others, being just, honest and building a community feeling. It doesn’t sound like any of those ethics are followed on the grounds crew at your golf course. Perhaps someone might introduce these concepts to your leader and if nothing comes out of it, management may need to look into a new direction. I believe ethics can be taught otherwise many workers would be losing their jobs everyday from poor ethical decision-making.
Writings on Leadership ethics are a relatively new concept and some organization are slow to realize that business in 2014 doesn’t operate without them. Long before we began to see written ethics for business leadership, Immanuel Kant among other great philosophers such as Rousseau believed that people were generally good it was our duty to treat other with respect (Northouse, 2013). From the sounds of it, the entire golf course and its members could listen to these great philosophers.
References
Northouse, P.G., 2013. Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th Edition). Los Angeles. Sage Publications.
hrh5077 says
You make an extremely valuable point about ethics and leadership. I contend as well that ethics in leadership roles go beyond the world of business and extends into our everyday lives. Whether or not we are consciously aware of it we participate in leadership roles ever day. One example I actually ran across in my social psychology class.
In the world of social media people do not always have the best intentions. A classmate of mine posted in her blog how people, thousands of people, had made negative remarks about a girl who was physically deformed from a genetic deformity she had since birth. I contended that perhaps people were just following what the “leader” had said. As you mentioned in your blog the followers of the unethical leader found it easier to proceed with unethical behavior. I think that perhaps most people don’t put enough weight into their leadership responsibilities or that not enough people seize the opportunity to take on a leadership role in everyday occurrences.
Maybe these every day leadership roles aren’t as defined as what this course is designed for. It was your comment “…we each have ethical standards then we can support and influences each other”, that made me realize that these leadership roles extend beyond what we are even aware of.