What can happen when leaders of an organization make poor ethical choices? Ethical leaders place ethics above profits and it has been shown through research that this choice helps teams to be loyal, dedicated and ethical too.
What Causes Ethical Failures?
Ethical failures can be caused by a variety of factors including ignoring boundaries set for organizational values, industry codes, doing what everyone else is doing and a lack of self-control. The lack of good role models, poor standards of practice and training as well as a lack of accountability will add to the ethical failures of a business.
How to Be an Ethical Leader
For the rest of this article there are six steps you can take to define ethical standards, and to start putting those high standards into practice.
1. Define Your Organization’s Values
The values of a business should be exemplified by the leaders and managers but if these people don’t know what the values are they cannot impart them to others.
2. Know Your Personal Values
Good leaders will have established their personal values to be used in conjunction with the values of the business. Each leader and manager should know what the standards of behavior are for their business. Determine specific values of other leaders that you admire and see if you identify with those values. Would those values conflict with your own especially if they lead to a competitive disadvantage?