Ethical and unethical leadership issues, cases, and dilemmas with case studies

Abstract

Ethical issues have become important to leadership and management practice as a result of many well known cases of failure by organizations and individuals to observe and maintain ethical standards. Unethical activities of these organizations have resulted to defrauding of stockholders, consumers and employees, creditors and government to various degrees depending on the nature of the scandal or fraud. In this paper it was noted that organizations and individual have a role to play in ensuring ethical business and individual conduct. Organizations should create ethical environments by providing ethical role modelling and consisted ethical decisions and save workers from ethical dilemmas. Employees on their side should be ethical in thinking and actions to save themselves and their organizations from the costs related to unethical conduct. Whereas ethical conduct is costly and difficult to measure and account, there is evidence of long term benefits as acting ethically builds trust and respect which is necessary for successful long term business and personal success. The solution to ethical and unethical challenges lies within organizations and individuals but leaders have a special role to act as role models and create ethical environments and organizations. Psychological factors, organizational and societal pressures, and a number situational factors make it difficult for people to realize their own ethical aspirations, but we must all try to be ethical in all our undertakings as individuals or corporates because there is evidence of long term personal and corporate gains.