Ethical Leadership: Characteristics, Impact and Organisational Examples

Running head: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Ethical Leadership
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1ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Characteristics of ethical leadership:...............................................................................................2
Impact of ethical leadership:............................................................................................................5
The 4-V Model of Ethical Leadership:............................................................................................6
Impact of ethical leadership on employee turnover:........................................................................8
Ethical leadership and employee job performance:.........................................................................9
Organisational examples:.................................................................................................................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
References:....................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction:
The beginning of the 21st century has seen several researches in the fields of ethical
leadership. This type of leadership has become a topic of scientific enquiry. There also have been
established measures and a corpus of research along with theoretical work which is responsible
for the assessment of the previous circumstances and the effects. There have been several
unethical acts of organisation leaders which have received an immense of attention and there are
speculations regarding the events and issues which have led to the rise of unethical issues in the
organizations which has led to the need for ethical leadership (Alshammari, Almutairi &
Thuwaini, 2015).
Ethical behaviour is considered to be proper, right and just as opposed to the unethical
considerations of being wrong or unjust. Therefore it can be said that ethics is the code of values
and moral principles guiding the behaviour of humans (Mayer et al., 2012). It can be stated that
ethical leadership is an assemble which seems to be a bit ambiguous and includes several diverse
elements. Instead of considering ethical leadership to be stopping people from performing the
correct thing, researchers aim to make people understand it as something that enable them to do
the proper thing. All in all it can be stated that “ethical leadership is a form of leadership which
enables individuals to demonstrate conduct for common good which is acceptable as well as
appropriate in each area of their lives (Branson & Gross, 2014)”.
Characteristics of ethical leadership:
It is stated by researchers that ethical leaders always are aware of doing the best thing. It
might be difficult in exactly defining the meaning behind what is right but a true ethical leader is

3ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
not afraid of doing anything which they truly consider to be right (Yukl et al., 2013). This is true
even in case it is unpopular, unprofitable or even inconvenient. The different characteristics of
“ethical leadership” are discussed as follows:
1. Justice: An “ethical” leader is found to be just and fair at all times. These leaders do not
have any favourites and are responsible for treating every person equally. Under the
guidance of ethical leaders “no employee has any reason to fear biased treatment on the
basis” of any sort of demarcations or alterations, be it gender, nationality, ethnicity or any
other factor.
2. Respect towards others: One of the main noteworthy traits of “ethical leadership” is the
respect which is provided to the followers. A leader who is ethical shows huge
admiration for all team members and also listens to them in an attentive manner and their
contribution are also valued. They are compassionate and generous at the time of
considerations of opposing viewpoints (Hassan, Wright & Yukl, 2014).
3. Honesty: In this connection it can be said that any person who is “ethical will also be
honest as well as loyal”. This is because of the reason that for effective ethical leaders,
there is a huge amount of importance on the idea of trust and dependability. Ethical
leaders are responsible for conveying fats in a transparent manner irrespective of their
negative popularity.
4. Humane: the humane attitude and nature of the ethical leaders are very popular. The
leader also needs to be ethical as well as moral. Ethical leaders are those who place huge
importance on kindness and act in ways which are always beneficial to them.
5. “Focus on teambuilding”: “Ethical” leaders help in the fostering a sense of community
and team spirit within a particular organisation. At a time when an ethical leader strives