An Analysis of Ethical Leadership Issues and Cross-Cultural Management

This report delves into the ethical leadership issues faced by multinational companies, using the Tetley Tea Company as a case study. It examines various ethical challenges, including issues related to pay and working conditions, repatriation of profits, confidentiality breaches, fraud, and discrimination. The report analyzes the impact of these issues on the company's operations, partnerships, and reputation. It then proposes ethical considerations and solutions such as implementing anti-discrimination policies, maintaining confidentiality, and promoting integrity to mitigate these challenges. Furthermore, the report discusses the importance of cross-cultural management in fostering positive relationships with employees and stakeholders in diverse global environments. The overall aim is to provide insights into how ethical leadership can contribute to the long-term success and sustainability of multinational corporations by addressing ethical dilemmas, promoting fair practices, and building a strong organizational culture.

Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of ethical leadership issues raised in multinational organization.........................3
Ethical considerations in deciding about what to do in response to the issues (800) (200)...6
Potential challenges and solutions associated with cross cultural management (1000).........9
Recommendation..................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Ethics refers to moral principles which govern person behaviour and make them able to
identify the difference between rights and wrong and it is also can be defined as a branch of
knowledge which helps people in dealing with moral principles and protecting them against
unethical behaviours (Winch, 2020). This present study is based on Tetley which is a beverage
manufacturer, with headquarter in London. It is the largest team company in the UK. It wants to
manage as well as own team plantation in China for business development and for making it
successful its advertisement focuses on partnership with developing world. It wants to develop
promotional opportunities. This study is going to show some unethical behaviours or ethical
leadership issues which occur on multinational company and create several problems in
accomplishing pre-determined goals. It will also show reasons of unethical leadership or ethical
leadership issues which occur in companies such as: unfair behaviour of leaders and employers
with employees, wrong approaches of recruitment and selection, ineffective working
environment, lack of effective polices etc. Further, it will also discuss some effective ways and
ethical consideration which needs to be followed by ethical leader and how by following all
ethics they can support their company in meeting goals. BY implementing effective policies,
rewarding employees and following all other ethics, leader can protect their company against
lawsuits and poor image. It will also discuss importance of cross cultural management and how it
can help company in managing or improving relation with employees who are main responsible
for performance of the company.
MAIN BODY
Evaluation of ethical leadership issues raised in multinational organization
Ethics refers to moral principles which help people in understanding the difference between the
right conduct and the wrong conduct. Following all moral principles of ethics play an important
role for protecting against lawsuits and also for improving image in the eyes of customers and
stakeholders (Meskell and Pels, 2020). Before discussing several ethical leadership issues it is
important to understand the meaning and importance of ethical leadership. Ethical leadership
refers a leadership which is directed by respect for values as well as rights for others. There are 5

main principles which are required for ethical leadership and performing all functions in an
effective and ethical manner and improving image. All these principles are: trust, honesty,
fairness, consideration and charisma. So, having an ethical leadership in an organization plays an
important role as it helps company in accomplishing their goals in an effective manner by
leading or guiding all followers in a very efficient manner and help them out in performing their
function without committing mistakes. There are several types of ethical issues which occur in
multinational companies and in the context of Tetley it can be said that it has been the subject of
series of critical articles in which data about pay and condition have been discussed as
exploitative. It means this company conduct some unethical behaviour in terms of pay and
conditions to its workers in order to benefit from their work. It also refers toxic relationship
between one party to another in which one party take undue advantage of power of another party.
It is also stated that this company wants to manage a team plantation in China for business
expansion and for earning money and for that its advertising mainly focuses on its partnership
with the developing world (Ko and et.al., 2018).
Repatriation of profits has also been found done by this company and It is somehow good
for business but some people believe that it is unethical. It is also found that one of staff member
has disclosed some information’s of the company with unauthorized organization. It is unethical
behaviour and having such staff as like whistleblower in an organization can create several
problems. Some other ethical leadership issues which may occur due to this behaviour of staff
members and other are:
Confidentiality or privacy of information: In this regard it can be said that companies have
some private information which they collect for taking better decision and competing with other
organizations. For motivating and making employees feel valued, companies share their vision
and all information with them. They expect from them to keep all information safe and secure
but there are some members or whistleblower who discloses some official and confidential
information to others. It is one of the unethical behaviour and issue which may create several
other problems for the company. It is one of the main ethical leadership issue occur in this Tetley
company. It may create problems like barrier in development of company, poor relation with
partner organization, barriers in attracting customers and decreased sales. One of the main aims
of this company is to manage tea plantation in China and also having partnership with
developing world (Mohiuddin and Hossain, 2016). So, for this it is important to focus on all

these ethical leadership issues and finding out people who are conducting unethical behaviours
and punish them. It can also be said that by keeping all information safe and secure, company
can make better decisions, take competitive advantages and increase staff retention rate within
organization.
Fraud: Fraud and misuse of information is other main ethical leadership issue which can
also create several problems and company requires focusing on this. It is important to make sure
that this company is free from scandals and focus on this company is maximizing partnership
opportunities. But Tetley has been alleged by people and articles that it conducts unethical
behaviours. So, as a strategic planner it is important to identify some reasons and people who are
performing unethical functions and are whistle blower for the company. It is stated that this
company has several data in computer and it is not difficult for hackers to hack accounts like
theft of data, misuse of all information’ and exhortation. It is all computer related frauds which
may occur in an organization but there is internal whistleblower who help external people or
hackers in accessing all information and records fit in the computer. So, it can be said that by
hiring loyal staff and evaluating performance of all employees company can protect itself against
all these issues and also can protect against lawsuit as well as wrong allegations.
Discrimination or unfair treatment It is one of the main ethical issue which is the main root of
all problems like whistle blowing, lack of privacy of information and others. So, it is important
for company to focus on treating employees in an effective manner as it can help them out in
improving relation with all employees. When employer discriminate their employees on the basis
of age, gender and performance then it de-motivates employees. They are more likely to leave
organization and also become the reason of poor image of the company as they tell all other
people about situation of company by word of mouth. Some it can be said that discrimination is
one of the main unethical behaviours which is being done by leaders with their followers. It can
also be said that when employees are discriminated then it affects their performance as they are
less likely to perform function with concentration and also support company in accomplishing
their goals. It affects their relation with the company which affect goals, vision and performance
of the company (Buzakuk, 2020).
So, from the above discussed all ethical leadership issues it can be said that company may
have to face problems in partnership with developing world or maximizing partnership

opportunities. But there is no evidence against this Tetley Company which can prove that this
company conduct unethical behaviours. Toxic workplace culture is also one of the main ethical
leadership issues which needs to be focused as it plays an important role in improving
productivity.
Ethical considerations in deciding about what to do in response to the issues
There are several things which need to be done as an ethical leader and protect themselves
and company against wrong allegation, poor image and lawsuits. Some main principles on which
leader of this Tetley company needs to focus on for proving themselves ethical and showing that
all allegations which have been published in articles and newspaper are wrong.
Using ethical test questions: It is stated that some people or employees in an organization
disclose information with another companies and people and all they do because of lack of
knowledge of ethics and also because of poor relation with their current company. For solving
this problem and maintaining confidentiality it is important for this company to focus on asking
ethical test question while recruiting employees and after selecting them in one to one session.
This test questions can help out leaders in knowing that employees have knowledge of ethics,
rule and the difference between the right conduct and the wrong conduct. It is also important for
leaders to make sure and warn to employees about legal and strict actions if they found doing
unethical acts (Able, West and Lim, 2017). By doing so, leader of this company can make a pool
of skilled and loyal workforce who can also help them out in maximizing partnership
opportunities.
Implementing anti discrimination policy: It is one of the main role of ethical leader is to
implement anti discrimination and other policies which can help them out in making an effective
working environment. Ethical leader is responsible for maintaining an effective and productive
working culture and it can be possible only when they implement and manage all effective
policies which are beneficial for both employees and employers. Anti discrimination is one of
them. It is found from above discussed issues that discriminated and de-motivated employees are
more likely to become the reason of poor image of the company in the eyes of stakeholders and
they are also more likely to leave companies. This increasing staff turnover rate also affect image
of the company and one of the main reason of it is ineffective working environment and lack of
anti discrimination policy. By implementing this policy, leader can make sure that all employees
are being treated in an effective and fair manner and all employees are motivated towards

accomplishing goals of the company. When employees are being given equal opportunities and
are also being treated in a fair manner then it increases their loyalty and trust with the company
and they help company in improving their image by words of mouth. So, it can be said that by
following this ethical consideration, all ethical issues can be solved out.
Confidentiality: It is other one of the ethical considerations needs to be followed by ethical
leader in order to protect their company against wrong allegations, poor image and increasing
rate of staff turnover. It is stated that those companies who maintain and keep privacy of
information of employees and do not disclose it with anyone are more likely to have a pool of
skilled and loyal workforce. When employees founds that company is concerned with their
private and profession information and also respect their decision, views then it motivates them
more towards accomplishing goals of the company, putting extra efforts and focusing on their
work for getting promotional and other opportunities. It is responsibility of an ethical leader to
satisfy needs of employees and increasing self esteem is one of the main needs which employees
have (Gonzalez and et.al., 2018).
Maintaining integrity
The ethical consideration, it is important to have maintained integrity’s and respect all
employees. This will be helpful in striving out term best level of personality in front of the
crowd. There is more need to be conforming. In addition, to that, it is important make the proper
valuation of the process building. There is need to metre proper commitment in the involved
process along with anticipating the ethical conflicts. o the other hand by making th proper level
of anticipations will be helpful in communicating inter of honesty an civility.
Practicing justice and respect
The introduction to the justice approach to ethics including a discussion of desert, distributive
justice, retributive justice, and compensatory justice. It is important for leaders to focus on this
area and providing equal and fair opportunities to all employees. Toxic workplace culture is also
one of the main ethical leadership issues which needs to be focused as it plays an important role
in improving productivity. By implementing this policy, leader can make sure that all employees
are being treated in an effective and fair manner and all employees are motivated towards
accomplishing goals of the company.

So, from the above discussed all ethical consideration which needs to be followed by
leader for becoming ethical it can be said that it can help this company against all wrong
allegations as well as poor image. By following all these ethics, company can increase loyalty
and trust among employees which can help it out in developing partnership opportunities and
successful management of team plantation. It can also help it out in partnership with developing
world, attracting global customers, increasing performance and taking competitive advantages.

Potential challenges and solutions associated with cross cultural management
Today’s economy turning out to be global in rapid manner. more companies are doing the
business overseas along with technology is accelerated at rapid trends. On the other hand, cross
cultural management can’t be learned overnight as this have required proper experiences,
education and commitment to succeed. Effective cross-cultural communication is the key success
in today’s age of globalization.
The challenges of ross cultural management tend to increase naturally as company enter
into the new market. The firm have the need for managing different teams followed by different
cultures. There is major level of risk over supervision the same way western workers are
responding. businesses and leader need to engages with the partner and customers from different
corners of the world along with requiring the relevant skills for managing the intercultural
context and expectation. Hence, issues in the cross-cultural environments, leaders need to
understand, evaluate and overcome different major challenges in order to ensure that’s the
business stay to be competitive in the market. The firm need to have the proper upliftment of
latest technologies for measuring the adverse impact of ineffective communication on
performance inefficiency and the competitive advantages. leadership in the international business
have demand to engage rather than mere transect across the cultures.
The major issue in the cross-culture management are-
Communication gap
This is identified as the barrier which are avoidable problems with the cross-cultural
management. The quality of communication is the key concerns for the cross-culture leaders as
everybody is capable of using a single language but usage of certain slang formations or
colloquialism cannot be clearly understood which can lead to certain misinterpretation. it is
important to note that’s employee belong to different nations face issue to communication gaps.
There is need for management to have the collective efforts to make fully understandable the
direction and discussion. As per the case the organization is paying major level of emphasis on
their partnership with developing world which ensure that’s the firm is developing its work and
offices in different parts dealing with varsity of new team members. team leadership should pay
major level of attention to the working situation and condition for the different members belong
with different culture and adaption to make process more effective and prominent.

There are basically two ways of team formation termed as ‘virtual’ team. The two types
are the international virtual teams which typically interact across different continents to have
collaboration in common task. On the other hand, virtual team handling thein same country or
city opt for telecommuting by usage of significant emails and other form of telecommunications
technologies for effective work coordination.
So, in this process cross cultural mix people have the expectation of the certain level of
ambiguity is bound to creep it. As culture provide different way of thinking, seeing, hearing and
interpreting the situation around them. In addition, there are any words used with differentiating
in different cultures as automatically increasing the potential misunderstanding. As each culture
it unique content, value system and communication style. Ambiguity enters the communication
process when the firm fully comprehend the context of own culture and the culture of the
listener.
Workstyle, diverse habit and etiquettes
Work style and it approaches tends to vary from the team which have cross cultural mix of
individuals. As some of work culture is fostering the proper individual thinking along with
offering rewards for significant contribution for individuals. On the other hand, in some culture
people were uncomfortable with independence of their job and tied to the apron strings of the
boss in decision making. Hence, there can be situation when their team have mixes of styles
individualistic members turned out to be aggressive whereas one a properly merge into team and
other seem to have contribution in the little manner in the team process. So therefore, it is
important to draw with conclusion to get out with best results of all team members despite the
difference in personality types. On the other hand corporate antiques have been acknowledge
and acceptable but the employee knowingly act according tut h nature inputted in them . is was
actually happen in the company as the manager have leaked the internal informatise outside and
got identified in the party.
There can be situation where team members enter into two different cultural context n by
avoiding the exposure of host culture. This result out as introvert behaviours with losses mind
leading an impression of visitor not accepting the host culture. Such a behaviour, whether
consciously or unconsciously, dampens the team spirit and deteriorates the business
relationships.
Ethnocentrism

There is relative concern over this section as team members have the cultural level of
similarity or homogeneity. This can attempt to have dominating the team process along with
overruling the rest. There is always as possibility dominating tam members will try to swing
decision towards the direction thy are comfortable with. Hence, this can be resulted in creating
negative environment for rest of team members. On the other hand, Ethnocentrism is the
assumption that the culture of one’s own group is right, moral and rational, and that other
cultures are inferior. as this the unconscious behaviours which is very difficult to prevent. The
follow up of effect culture have individual judgement over the reference to their own standards
along with making no level of new attempt evaluate the current form the host country point of
view. So, such behaviours have been characterized to be part of elective learning and value
judgements severely impacting the quality of communication in significant manner.
Different pattern of behaviour
People have the belonginess to the different in nature , attitude and precative behaviour
depending upon the level of career orientations thy are the reason when people wo belong to the
different culture generally limiting themselves form mingling with ultimately relate to religious
gaps with communication one . There is essential to make the efforts as gauge the individuals’
motivators in order to have encouragement along with motivating member in excel to their roles.
Hence the cross-cultural team workers are going to increase the business expanding to
look more scheming the diverse background on the regular basis. There have issues in the cross-
cultural environments, leaders need to understand, evaluate and overcome different major
challenges in order to ensure that’s the business stay to be competitive in the market.
Recommendation
So, it is very important for the company to work in effective manners who are actually different
and became aware of the host country culture and how it is impacting the team in respective
manner.
communication style with employee commitment
As the different culture have different communications styles. In addition to the culture are
considered to be courteous, amiable, accommodating and good listers. On the other hand some
culture are culture is considered to be warm, emotional and loquacious. So, it is important for
the firm to have the understanding regrading such nuisances of the host culture along with
helping the business leaders to achieve successful cross-cultural communication.

So, in term of the communication context, the culture is divided into the high context and low
context culture. In addition, getting their loyal employees is trueing out to big challenges in the
company. To the organization have to look int the fringe benefits to retains dedicated employees.
Undifferentiated management style can be an effective tool for retaining employees.
Upgrade the ethical values
Another important feature of Multiculturalism is shaping ethical and social values. There is need
with organization to have multi diversified personnel treatment irrespective to their background.
Employees are getting trained to handle cultural diversity at work place which increases their
ethical value. As in the high culture have the involvement of their information which have
embedded meaning in the information which not be explicitly stated written or spoken
information. On the other hand, low context culture have been characterised as direct, precise,
opens and based on feeling. So, the leader should have culture as classified as ‘linear active’,
‘reactive’ and ‘mutilative’. As it is important to note that the linear active culture is considered
to vibe calm, factual and decisive.
Proper stability of cultural value
It is important for the leaders to understand that’s there is nothing as universal management
methods. The management have the proper need to interacts who have presence of other
dynamics of the society which have the inclusion of the family, politics, religion and respective
belief. there should be valuing of the different cultural perspective. There is need to have
development of the core competencies is the equipping the as the part of busies leaders as the
right the mind in attitude and skills to the feel comfortable and business ready in the host culture.
there are the host cultural values on the scale. there is need to have recognizing the key the
conscious efforts to bridge.
Building the social relationship
There is need for their faces of the national incomes to make the equipping to business leaders
with the right frame of mind, attitude and skill to create better comfortable and busines ready to
be host culture. As this helpful to make the developing the 3 cross cultural competencies as there
is need to develop core in tolerance for ambiguity, in cultural flexibility and reduced
ethnocentrism. There is the success having the trade dependency upon the social and corporate
connections. As this will helping out to ace societies smaller. So the organization should adopt
the policy to sustain competitive market place .

Proper selection of employees
To avoid unnecessary cultural ambiguity management should take extra care in hiring
employees. Before selection, more emphasis has to be given in recruitment criterions. Gaining
the exposure to the foreign future in enabling the active embarks is the crucial to enveloping the
above said competencies. The business leader has to appreciate difference among the various
future which can leverage the differences to have communicate the communication with
partners, customer ad other stakeholders.
Hence the challenges and lesson which are above discussed to be derived the management
experiences of the management executive belonging to the different countries. All these
principles are: trust, honesty, fairness, consideration and charisma. It is also found that one of
staff member has disclosed some information’s of the company with unauthorized organization.
It can also be said that when employees are discriminated then it affects their performance as
they are less likely to perform function with concentration.

CONCLUSION
From the above file, it an b concluded as moral principles of ethics play an important role for
protecting against lawsuits and also for improving image in the eyes of customers and
stakeholders. There are several types of ethical issues occur in multinational companies and in
the context of Tetley it can be said that it has been the subject of series of critical articles in
which data about pay and condition have been discussed as exploitative. As a strategic planner it
is important to identify some reasons and people who are performing unethical functions and are
whistle blower for the company. For solving this problem and maintaining confidentiality it is
important for this company to focus on asking ethical test question while recruiting employees
and after selecting them in one to one session. Motivator are basically the factor indicating the
person would tick before entering into the team and business environment. Team leaders who
have proper handling of the cross-cultural team usually finning the factor to motive each member
in team.

REFERENCES
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Desai, S.V., Jabeen, S.S., Abdul, W.K. and Rao, S.A., 2018. Teaching cross-cultural
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Moore, F. and Mahadevan, J., 2020. Ethnography and cross-cultural management. The SAGE
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