This last Friday, April 17th 2015, I presented a six-hour seminar to the twenty-seven key subordinate leaders that affect our organization’s mission in the state of Indiana and parts of Illinois. The seminar was specific to ethical leadership, and directed toward the recruiting mission where community influence manifested by professional and personal conduct are essential to mission success. Professional ethics is a subject that I feel passionate about, and I believe it is the foundation upon which we build a successful organization. After all, the United States Marine Corps has three primary responsibilities to the American people: 1) Make Marines, 2) Win our nation’s battles, and 3) return quality citizens back to the American people. As a senior enlisted leader in the elite organization, I have a solemn responsibility to develop ethically sound and morally grounded leaders and followers. I take this responsibility seriously and without reservation, because I believe it is vital to the continued success of our organization and the continued prosperity of our nation. Though the United States needs an Army, needs a Navy, and needs an Air Force, the Marine Corps only exists because America wants a Marine Corps. Therefore, the personal and professional conduct of our nation’s Marines must be above reproach and success in any assigned mission is absolutely necessary, irrespective of the cost.
Developing ethical leaders is instrumental to the continued success of the organization, and the principles of ethical leadership reflected in the Northouse (2013) text are similar to the professional leadership education Marines receive throughout their careers. Respecting others, serving others, demonstrating justice, manifesting honesty, and building community are the principles of ethical leadership outlined in the Northouse (2013) text. I will attempt to relate those to my organization’s principles, though my list will not be all-inclusive.
Respecting Others:
Respecting others is never as easy as it sounds. We develop personal ethics through key influencers of our youth, and sometimes we hold onto those personal ethics passionately. Parents, teachers, church leaders, friends, neighbors, relatives, movies, music, social climate, and countless other influencers start to shape our sense of ethics. A social climate of racial intolerance, for example, has the potential to shape our ethics toward racism. A strong religious background has the potential to shape our ethics toward repulsion of homosexuality or other religions. For an organization to succeed in manifesting better leaders and more productive employees, they have to establish professional [organizational] ethics that are non-negotiable. As Northouse (2013) stated, “[Leaders] approach other people with a sense of their unconditional worth and valuable individual differences” (Kitchener, 1984, as cited in Northouse 2013, p.431). Policy must be implemented that fosters acceptance, and carries punitive repercussions for violations of equal opportunity, sexual harassment, hazing, etc. Employees must understand that, when committing to the organization, they are committing to accept the organizational ethics as a condition of employment. If at some point the individual’s personal ethics are too strong to adopt the professional ethics professed by the organization, it is time to seek other employment. Professional ethics foster a climate of mutual respect. The benefit is simple: respecting others means embracing the fact that people are different, and from that leadership is manifested.
For example, the United States military was faced with the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. In the interest of truth, the Marine Corps was the most reluctant and last to accept the congressional push for the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, because key leaders thought the timing (in the middle of two wars) was inappropriate. However, when the American people put their metaphorical feet down, the Marine Corps was the first to openly welcome homosexuals. Though some people thought it would have a negative affect on the image of the elite service, policy was adopted without a single ripple or story of mistreatment. The success of the Marine Corps during the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” can be summed up simply: Marines identify themselves first and foremost as Marines, and then by their other identifiers (black, white, hetero, homo, Christian, Atheist, male, female, etc.). For an organization to succeed its members must identify as a member of that organization first; that is what pride in professional ethics will produce!
Serving Others:
Serving others extends beyond just servant leadership, but servant leadership is instrumental to the success of any organization that seeks to develop ethical leaders. The servant leader, however, must ethically serve their followers. The consequences of unethical behavior for a leader are far reaching, but the most profound consequence is that they simply lose the moral authority to lead. A climate of “do as I say, not as I do” will prove catastrophic to morale, order, and discipline, and will culminate with the leader no longer being recognized as a leader and therefore irrelevant. So, the leader must first set the example, and then by that example demonstrate ethical altruism (Northouse, 2013, p.432). Leaders who are altruistic “place their followers’ welfare foremost in their plans. In the workplace, altruistic service behavior can be observed in activities such as mentoring, empowerment behaviors, team building, and citizenship behaviors, to name a few” (Northouse, 2013, p.432). Northouse (2013) further pointed out, “…leaders should nurture followers in becoming aware of their own needs, values, and purposes, and assist followers in integrating these with the leader’s needs, values, and purposes” (Northouse, 2014, p.431).
Though I am bias, the Marine Corps endures to empower its subordinates out of necessity, and therefore does it the best. The Corps emphasizes decentralization of command, and trains to subordinate leadership decision-making. This type of emphasis demands altruism in resident leadership. The necessity is a simple matter of numbers. According to the 2012 Demographics of the Military Community Report (2012), “The DoD Active Duty force has one officer for every 4.8 enlisted personnel. In comparison, the Air Force has one officer for every 4.1 enlisted personnel, the Army has one officer for every 4.5 enlisted personnel, the Navy has one officer for every 4.9 enlisted personnel, and the Marine Corps has one officer for every 8.1 enlisted personnel” (2012 Demographics Report, p.3). As the smallest of the branches of armed forces, the Marine Corps celebrates its low officer numbers because it forces young noncommissioned officers to function as decision makers on their own.
Shows Justice:
The ethical leader must thrive to be just and fair in dealing with subordinates; I commonly refer to this as the burden of leadership. Sometimes, in the interest of justice, a hard decision must be made about someone or something that has to potential to emotionally consume the leader. A genuine leader is compassionate and servant, and may shoulder the failures or discipline issues of others as their own. It is in these challenging situations that leadership becomes a burden, because the leader may be forced to punish their best employee or lay-off an employee who they are endeared to. Avoiding bias and treating everyone fairly is difficult, because natural likening can occur between leader and follower. A personal ethic may demand keeping the single mother who is occasionally late on staff because she needs the income and is a pleasant person to be around, but the professional ethics may demand keeping the higher producing, always reliable, and timely employee whose personal demeanor may be less than desirable on staff. A leader can only maintain the integrity of their organization if decisions are made free from personal bias and in the best interest of the organization. Northouse (2013) points out that “[leaders] make it a top priority to treat all of their subordinates in an equal manner” (Northouse, 2013, p.433).
The United States Military seeks to lessen the burden of leadership by imposing law that maintains a separation of the ranks and responsibilities. Rules concerning how to address senior officials (by Sir, Ma’am, or rank and last name) help to minimize loyalties to subordinates, and laws governing fraternization make relationships among seniors and subordinates career damning. This archaic method of maintaining a hierarchy helps to maintain firm, fair, and impartial treatment within the organization. Any organization that wants to foster an ethically just environment should consider creating organizational standards that minimize fraternization.
Manifests Honesty:
I believe that the two most important traits to be an effective leader are 1) integrity (honesty), and 2) humility. Northouse (2013) brilliantly pointed out that “[honesty] has to do with being open with others and representing reality as fully and completely as possible” (Northouse, 2013, p.436). Humility allows the leader to accept the consequences of their honesty. The most crucial thing about honest and humility is that the leader’s moral compass must point north at all times.
Builds Community:
The ethical leader fosters esprit de corps and cohesion. Northouse (2013) examined the community building characteristics of leadership when unifying under a common goal (Northouse, 2013, p.436). Northouse (2013) further highlights that, “An ethical leader takes into account the purposes of everyone involved in the group as is attentive to the interests of the community and the culture” (Northouse, 2013, p.437.) One necessary practice of any organization is to attract people who want to be a part of something larger than self. Fellowship and camaraderie are appealing to a good percentage of the market and ethical leaders can draw people in. It is important, however, that the organization advertise its unifying professional ethics so that the targeted population can be reached.
The United States Marine Corps, and the larger naval forces that we are a part of, have adopted core values of honor, courage, and commitment. Much more than a simple slogan, they are at the foundation of our every action, policy, and behavior. Therefore, when people are exposed to the core values it either appeals to them or not, which helps to draw in the right demographic from the initial accession. As a result of the appeal, it is even more vital that leaders behave in an ethical manner commensurate with those core values or the message is viewed as the ultimate deceit, or simple hypocrisy.
The problem with morality and ethics is that they are subjective, but an organization can draw upon positive social and environmental influence to create organizational ethics that are objective and appealing to a broad audience. In order for the organization to establish a set of ethics, its leaders must be ethical leaders of the highest caliber. Ethical leadership starts with respecting other people, and continues with serving, ensuring justice, being honest, and creating a unified team through mutual trust and respect. Every person is fallible, and the humble leader may tell us that they have made more mistakes than they have good decisions. However, if their mistakes were made without violating any ethical, moral, or legal thing, they will not only be forgiven by their subordinates but respected as genuine leaders.
Semper Fidelis,
Ron Neff
References:
2012 Demographics Report. (2012). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2012_Demographics_Report.pdf
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership Ethics. In Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.