The Importance Of Ethical Leadership

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In research literature, not much unambiguous concentration is given to the ethical or moral dimension of trust apart from the commonly acknowledged perception that integrity is a major dimension of (perceived) trustworthiness .(Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995; Brower, Schoorman, & Tan, 2000; Dietz & Den Hartog, 2006; Lewicki, Tomlinson, & Gillespie, 2006). Integrity, according to Mayer et al. (1995, p. 719), is the trustee‘s devotion to a set of principles that the trustier finds adequate. This conceptualization resonates with the frequently used definition of integrity in the sense of performing, according to the generally acknowledged moral values and norms (Six, 2007; Lasthuizen, 2008). While there is, to a great extent research…show more content…
All the way through the article, we will use the terms leadership, leaders, management, and managers interchangeably. We conclude with a discussion of the results and their implications for theory and practice. Ethical Leadership Ethical leadership can be defined as the practically displaying of suitable behavior through personal actions and interpersonal dealings, and the promoting such behaviors to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making (Brown, Trevino, & Harrison, 2005, p. 120). Ethical leadership is a relational notion in the sense that it is constructed in and through social interactions with followers. In addition to be an ethical leader, is about being both a moral person as well as a moral manager (Trevino, Hartman, & Brown, 2000). The moral person‘element of ethical leadership can be seen as the personal characteristics traits of a leader such as honesty, trustworthiness and integrity and the conduct of that leader being moral in nature. (Trevino & Brown, 2005; Trevino et al., 2000). The followers view those leaders as ethically neutral whom they perceive to be neither ethical nor…show more content…
People look at others for ethical assistance (Kohlberg, 1969; 1986; Brown & Treviño, 2006; Brown et al., 2005), and leaders are the people followers look to for that assistance within organizations. Leaders are significant ethical role models and direct their followers (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999; Ciulla, 1999; Treviño & Brown, 2004; Weaver et al., 2005). It is for that reason important that leaders themselves are moral persons and clearly displays ethical behavior to their followers. Followers learns how to perform by observing their leaders‘ behavior and impersonate their leaders, whether the leader set good or bad example (Kaptein, 2002; Kaptein & Wempe, 2002; Lasthuizen, 2008; Soutar, McNeil & Molster, 1994). Thus, ethical leaders are reliable and shows consistency in what they say and what they perform (Brown & Treviño, 2006); or as Paine (1994) pointed out, managers should walk the talk and talk the walk. Reward and
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