business

Leadership and empowerment have been the most incredible realization I have had in my life. I am the founder of a small company and have always known that I was doing something right because every year I have had profit and have grown. I wasn’t sure really what was my special key to success but am now recognizing that it may be because I empower the people that come in my workspace. Reading about leadership and its definition I am recognizing that I empower, therefore; move my followers to accomplish more than what is expected. (Northouse,7^th ed, pg.5) Leadership is described as a process involving influence in a group situation to achieve common goals. (Northouse, 7^th ed, pg.6). The legitimate question I ask myself, is why am I a leader? Was I born with some special intelligence, is it because I am confident? Do I have respect because I have a beautiful workspace and I am the boss? Is the reason I have succeeded a little bit of both?

The trait perspective toward leadership is what I always valued as the reason why I was good at leading. The trait perspective suggests that certain individuals have special innate or inborn qualities that make them leaders. (Northouse,7^th ed, pg.7) Explained in Northouse these traits are what enable me to induce others to accomplish tasks. My personality has shown strong Cognitive complexity. Cognitive complexity is comfort in dealing with uncertainty. The extent to which a person comprehends, utilizes and is comfortable with separate elements or situations and can draw connections or relationships among them. (Friedman & Schustack, 7^th ed) A trait that I was born with is shown in my comfort in dealing with situations. Having high self-esteem; Therefore, being self-confident in resolving problems and situations that are uncertain, makes me feel that I am assuring my colleagues and influencing them. (Northouse, 7^th ed, pg.24)

Although the capacity to influence someone is described by Northouse as a concept of power. Power being the capacity or potential to influence. (pg.10) Kellerman introduced the idea that power is no longer the synonymous of leadership. With French and Raven’s work power has been categorized in two major kinds: position power and personal power. The first derives from rank or position in this case me being the boss and having constructed the beautiful building we work in. The second derives from being seen by followers as likable and knowledgeable. I have been recognized as having personal power because I have resolved client’s issues as promised. Besides resolving issues, I have made a name for myself for my skills and trustworthiness. (Northouse, 7^th ed, pg. 12)

The position I am currently in now may be viewed as Position power; that like legitimate power, is associated to my status and my authority. (Northouse, 7^th ed, pg.10, table 1.1) I direct clients to the colleagues that I believe can take care of them best. I am in charge of payments and payroll and according to my discretion I can hire or fire my followers. Because I am identified as a teacher, my competence is sought for by my followers, I can recognize this as a definition of referent power position or expert power. Being seen as likable and knowledgeable by one’s followers like in this case is defined as having personal power. (PSU WC, 2020, Lesson 2)

Power can be displayed or used in many ways the way I use “my” power, is to influence the individuals that work with me towards attaining common goals. By teaching them and wanting them to be better I respect them and set myself at their level. My leader’s intellectual ability in this way does not differ from my subordinates/colleagues. (Northouse, 7^th ed, pg.24) I also apply Social Intelligence this is a theory that finds its importance in the interactions of people. This means using my intelligence with the environment, my colleagues. (PSU WC, 2020, Lesson 2) The reason I apply my social intelligence allows me to be an effective leader without necessarily displaying power.

The responses I have given in certain situations, the way I have influenced in a confident way yet being mutual, have been the determinant factor of having followers that are trustworthy and loyal. The loyalty has been the result of empowering my followers of tools so they can attain goals in common interest and feel satisfied. My interest in making work hours and being flexible has shown my trust in them. Social Intelligence has been displayed in my awareness and has been shown in the different contingencies that have been presented in my 11 years of business so far. If I can evaluate myself and say I found the key to my success, I would say that being a boss and my position as a leader, has come thanks to a strong fellowship. So, my leadership is the consequence of a Transformational process; this is described by Northouse (7^th ed) as what moves followers to accomplish more that what is expected of them. (pg.5) This fellowship has given me the strength to build my business and be trusted. Leadership has come from the role I have built for myself over the years using my qualities and traits, in the correct situations.

References:

Friedman, H. s, & Schustack, M. w. (n.d.). Personality classic Theories and Modern Research (7th ed.). Pearson.

Northouse, P. G. (n.d.). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2020). PSYCH 485 Lesson 2: Trait Approach. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2040131/modules/items/28001674

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the various healthcare professions is the code of ethics that binds practitioners to “do no harm” – the Hippocratic Oath. This famous code of ethics serves as a testament to the dedication of the oath-taker to the profession as well as to society as a whole. The need for Hippocratic Oath in the context of a healthcare professional is obviously due to the fact that they are literally responsible for the health and well-being of others. This oath is still taken to this day in various forms – in fact, I witnessed my brother taking an altered version of this oath when he graduated from pharmacy school.

Being a student of industrial-organizational psychology, you might begin to wonder if a similar oath would have a place in the world of business. Do the actions of leaders as business professionals have permanent and lasting effects on the well-being of society? Clearly, the answer is a resounding “yes.” It might then be useful to implement a similar oath for business leaders in order to keep “honest” men honest.

It turns out that Khurana and Nohira did just that in their article, It’s Time to Make Management a True Profession (2008). They believe that one of the defining characteristics of any true profession is adherence to code of conduct. They also recognize the fact that many corporations do indeed have codes of conduct, but there is no universal set of values that is accepted across the entire profession. With that, they created the Manager’s Hippocratic Oath. Treviño and Nelson (2011, p.48) summarize the 8 distinct principles articulated in Khurana and Nohira’s article:

Service to the Public and Society

Balance Multiple Stakeholders’ Interests

Acting with Integrity in the Enterprise’s Interest

Adherence to the Law

Accurate and Transparent Reporting

Respectful and Unbiased Decision Making

Professional Development

Responsibility to Protect the Profession

From an I/O perspective, it is worth noting that the principles taken from the oath closely mimic the principles of ethical leadership: “builds community, respects others, serves others, shows justice, manifests honesty” (Northouse, 2013, p.431). The main difference is that the Manager’s Hippocratic Oath devotes attention to corporate stakeholders, as well as advancing the profession and maintaining it’s reputation (Khurana & Nohria 2008).

Codes of ethics are valuable because they maintain feelings of obligation toward one’s profession that might not otherwise exist (Khurana & Nohria 2008). In addition to simply providing behavioral guidelines, they are also responsible for invoking feelings of pride when behaving ethically, or shame when behaving unethically (Khurana & Nohria 2008). From this, we can see that ethics in a business setting are not only responsible for promoting socially acceptable behavior — they are also responsible for maintaining the reputation of the business profession in its entirety.

References:

Business Graduates Take Oath of Honor. (n.d.). TIME.com. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,23218019001_1898975,00.html

Hippocratic Oath. (2012, July 2). U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html

Ivory, D., Ruiz, R., & Vlasic, B. (2014, April 19). Sending Alerts Instead, G.M. Delayed Car Recalls. The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/business/sending-alerts-gm-delayed-recall-of-cars.html

Khurana, R., & Nohria, N. (2008). It’s time to make management a true profession. United States: Harvard Business School Publ. Corp.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011). Managing business ethics: straight talk about how to do it right (5th ed.). New York: John Wiley.

How I became a leader and why

A Hippocratic Oath for Managers: Giving ethical leadership the business