Blog 1: Leadership and Ethics

Figure 1.0 Leadership and Ethics (University of Wisconsin 2018)

In a fast-paced, competitive world where the flow of information is constant, many people and companies will do almost anything to get ahead and this means that often ethics is not taken into consideration or consciously dismissed.

What is Ethics?

The word ethics originated from the Greek word ethos which can mean habit, character, disposition, or custom with the modern concepts of ethics derived from cultures, philosophies, and/or cultures (BBC 2014).

Simply put, ethics also known as moral philosophy is a philosophical branch that centers around the study of the differences between right and wrong (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 2018, Singer 2018).

Ethical theories can be viewed from two perspectives – deontological and teleological (Regis University 2018). Deontological originated from the Greek words deon which means “duty” and “logos” which means “science” is an action-focused theory that does not take into consideration the consequences of the action (BBC 2014). Teleological on the other hand, originated from the Greek words telos meaning “end” and logos meaning “science” is also known as consequentialist ethics that focuses solely on the consequence of the action (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008).

What is Ethical Leadership?

Ethical leadership takes a look at how leaders use their social power in their actions, decisions, and influence while taking into consideration the rights and dignity of others (Resick et al. 2006). Dr. William (Bill) Grace developed the 4-V Model of Ethical Leadership built upon theories of human, moral, community, and leadership development (Center of Ethical Leadership 1996). According to the Center of Ethical Leadership (1996), the 4 Vs are Values, Vision, Voice, and Virtue.

Figure 2.0 4-V Model (Center of Ethical Leadership 1996)

Values

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2018), values is defined as principles that helps an individual decide the actions to take in a situation and to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong.

Vision

According to the Oxford Living Dictionaries (2018), vision can be defined as the capability to plan on actions to be taken and think about the possibilities of the future with wisdom.

Voice

Voice can be defined as the expression of an opinion or attitude (Oxford Living Dictionaries 2018). However, in the context of leadership, it can also be defined as literal sound uttered through the mouth made in an individual’s larynx for speech-making (Oxford Living Dictionaries 2018).

Virtue

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2018), virtue can be defined as “a good moral quality in a person, or the general quality of being morally good.”

The combination of these four (4) elements can transform society, with values and vision giving the group purpose and direction, voice providing the articulation that the values and vision requires, and virtue being the cornerstone of ethical leadership that distinguishes good leadership from ethical leadership (Center for Ethical Leadership 1996).

Example of Ethical Leadership

Figure 3.0 Michitaka Sawada, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kao Corporation (Japanese Chemical Daily 2018)

On the 12^th of February 2018, Kao was recognized for the twelfth year straight as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2018 by the Ethisphere Institute (Kao 2018). Michitaka Sawada the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kao Corporation is a good example of an ethical leader in the industry. Kao Corporation’s commitment to integrity has not wavered for 130 years since the inception of the corporation (Kao 2018). The company inculcates the concept of integrity in all its employees by reinforcing the core value of abiding by laws and ethical principles to engage honest and healthy activities through the Kao Business Conduct Guidelines (Kao 2018). Kao is the only Japanese company that have been recognized as the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 12 years since the award’s inception (Spencer 2018).

Example of Unethical Leadership

Figure 4.0 Hiroya Kawasaki, Former President, CEO, and Representative Director of Kobe Steel (Kobelco 2013)

An example of unethical leadership is former Chief Executive Officer of Kobe Steel, Hiroya Kawasaki. In October 2017, the company admitted to fabricating data about the durability and strength of some of their aluminum and copper products (BBC 2017). The admission has raised doubts regarding the accuracy of data and in extension the quality of the product over a period of more than 10 years (Shane 2017). While Hiroya Kawasaki may not be directly involved in the fabrication the management style of the company that overemphasizes on profitability without a strong enforcement of corporate governance has led to fabrication of data solely for profit (Vaswani 2018).

Conclusion

Great leadership requires the combination of both deontological and teleological perspectives – the actions and the consequences have to be taken into consideration. All the elements of ethical leadership have to be taken into consideration – the 4 Vs, Vision, Values, Voice, and Virtue. The exclusion of any one of the elements can make a difference in the legacy that is left behind.

(754 words)

References

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (2018) What is ethics? [online] available from <https://www.accaglobal.com/my/en/member/standards/ethics/what-is-ethics.html#&gt; [19 September 2018]

BBC (2014) Ethics: a general introduction [online] available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml&gt; [19 September 2018]

BBC (2017) Kobe Steel shares sink as it admits data falsification [online] available from < https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41564340&gt; [25 September 2018]

Cambridge Dictionary (2018) Definition of “values” [online] available from <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/values&gt; [19 September 2018]

Center of Ethical Leadership (1996) Concepts and Philosophies [online] available from <http://www.ethicalleadership.org/concepts-and-philosophies.html&gt; [19 September 2018]

Japanese Chemical Daily (2018) Interview: Kao CEO Michitaka Sawada Talks Changing Markets, Strategies for Business Stability [online] available from < https://www.japanchemicaldaily.com/2018/03/19/interview-kao-ceo-michitaka-sawada-talks-changing-markets-strategies-for-business-stability/&gt; [28 September 2018]

Kao (2018) Twelfth Year Kao Named World’s Most Ethical Companies [online] available from < https://www.kao.com/global/en/news/2018/20180213-001/&gt; [28 September 2018]

Kobelco (2013) Message from the President [online] available from < http://www.kobelco.co.jp/english/about_kobelco/csr/environment/2013/02.html&gt; [28 September 2018]

Oxford Living Dictionaries (2018) Definition of “vision” [online] available from <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/vision&gt; [19 September 2018]

Regis University (2018) Deontological and Teleological Assumptions in Normative Ethics [online] available from <http://rhchp.regis.edu/hce/ethicsataglance/DeontologicalTeleological/DeontologicalTeleological.pdf&gt; [19 September 2018]

Resick, C.J., Hanges, P.J., Dickson, M.W. et al. (2006) ‘A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Endorsement of Ethical Leadership’ Journal of Business Ethics [online] 63: 345. available from <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-3242-1&gt; [21 September 2018]

Shane, D. (2017) ‘The Kobe Steel scandal: What we know so far’. CNN Business [online] 16 October 2018. available from <https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/16/news/companies/kobe-steel-scandal-what-we-know/index.html&gt; [26 September 2018]

Singer, P. (2018) ‘Ethics’. Encyclopaedia Britannica [online] 12 January 2018. available from <https://www.britannica.com/topic/ethics-philosophy&gt; [12 September 2018]

Spencer, N. (2018) ‘Kao achieves Japanese ethical company first’. Cosmetics Design Asia [online] 21 February 2018. available from <https://www.cosmeticsdesign-asia.com/Article/2018/02/21/Kao-achieves-Japanese-ethical-company-first&gt; [12 September 2018]

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2008) ‘Teleological Ethics’. Encyclopaedia Britannica [online] 24 April 2008. available from <https://www.britannica.com/topic/teleological-ethics&gt; [12 September 2018]

University of Wisconsin (2018) ‘Ethics’. [online] available < https://www.uwp.edu/learn/programs/ethics.cfm&gt; [26 September 2018]

Vaswani, K. (2018) ‘Kobe Steel scandal: how did it happen?’. BBC  [online] 6 March 2016. available <https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43298649&gt; [26 September 2018]