Leadership and Ethical Behavior

Running Head: Leadership and Ethical Behavior
0
Leadership and Ethical Behavior
Student’s Name
2/7/2020

Leadership and Ethical Behavior 1
Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................2
Analysis..............................................................................................................................2
Toxic triangle......................................................................................................................3
Kellerman’s approach........................................................................................................3
Kidder’s four ethical dilemmas...........................................................................................4
Kidder’s ethical checkpoints..............................................................................................5
Issue of trust......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................7
References.........................................................................................................................9

Leadership and Ethical Behavior 2
Introduction
Every business carries its activities based on the plans and policies, which are
developed by the leader hence; it can state that leadership plays a crucial role. If
leaders of a business are ethical and consider the interest of every stakeholder then
such business is more likely to attract customers and to be successful in the future in
comparison to others. "Australian Royal Commission into the Misconduct in the
Banking, Superannuation, and Financial Services Industry" has made an investigation in
the businesses of insurance, Superannuation, and banking sector. In many of the
businesses, misconduct and unethical practices have found to be there. As mentioned
above, leadership has a great role in shaping the future of every entity hence this report
will focus on the issues found in leadership and contribution of the same in misconduct
done by various organizations of above-said industries.
Analysis
A leader is a person who influences people to achieve their goals. People in an
organization adopt the practices, which are referred to and recommended by their
leaders. A good leader has some key attributes, which makes the same difference from
others. One such attribute is ethics. When leaders are ethical in their actions,
subordinates learn the same and it further creates a positive and ethical work culture.
Royal Commission in its investigation found that many organizations have charged a
fee for no service or failed to report the material financial transactions to regulatory
bodies and in some, the cases have adopted unethical and misleading sales tactics.
One of the significant causes behind the issue seems to be poor leadership where
management of these businesses has not paid appropriate actions to prevent such
behavior and in many of the cases, leaders themselves were involved. Another question
that blinks In mind here is to know the factors that motivate such poor leadership. Are
only personal values and behavior of leaders are the reason or whether some other
factors also there to contribute to destructive leadership. To find the answer to this

Leadership and Ethical Behavior 3
query, one of the important concepts of leadership can be studied here which is named
as a toxic triangle.
Toxic triangle
According to the concept of the toxic triangle, there are three factors, which lead to
destructive leadership, which include destructive leaders, a conducive environment, and
susceptible followers (Landy and Conte, 2010). In other words to state that the toxic
triangle suggests that the whole mistake is not of destructive leaders but other
situational factors and organizational players also remain involved in the picture. Here
conducive environment refer to that organizational culture where there is a lack of check
and balance as well as of effectiveness and stability (Yapp, 2019). Further Susceptible
Followers are those who have low self-evaluation, low psychological maturity, and
unmet needs. In general, these are people who obey the authority without considering
ethics or unethical of their leader's action. In the findings of the royal commission, the
toxic triangle can easily apply. In many of the companies such as freedom insurance
and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, deceptive sales tactics have been used and
managers themselves have approved the policies such as a fee for no service
(Danckert, 2019). Further, the sakes executives were also involved in these practices.
Here it shows that executives behaved as susceptible followers who pursued their role
as per the instructions of leaders without considering the results of their actions. Lastly,
as per the toxic triangle, the environment of these organizations also seems to be
conducive where even under the internal audit, the misconducts have not been found.
People became aware of the issues where the royal commission has set an inquiry. In
this way, the application of a toxic triangle can be seen while considering poor
leadership issues in royal commission finding.
Kellerman’s approach