Similarities Between the Scandals
During the years the two companies have been reported to carry out their companies with morality however in the recent years the two companies have been faced with scandals that are related to ethics and morality. The two companies have been presenting morality under standards in that the top leaders of the two companies have of the corporation been mistreating and undermining the rights of their employees (Ogechukwu, Ndubueze, & Uche, 2014). The unethical problems facing the two companies have led to the increased limelight shed on the operations of the two companies. The ethical misfits in the two companies are not as a result of errors or mistakes but are as a result of an intended violation of the law.
1. The two cases have a leadership that is selfish and is profit oriented thus leading to their ethical misdoings. For instance, the executive leaders of Volkswagen saw to the installation of software in their cars that ensured that they passed the tests of emissions carried over them. The installation of the software resulted in emissions by the cars which easily identified the different tests carried on the car before being available to the customers (Naveh, & Katz-Navon, 2015). For instance, the emissions could detect a road travel test, an idle test while undergoing an emissions test and a normal idling. For this reason, the company reduced the number of resources being used during the manufacture of the cars hence increasing the rate of saving in the production process. The increased saving on the production process increased the number of operations carried out hence increasing the amount of profit realization by the company and n return increasing the size of the company in that particular industry.
Additionally, the Australian seven eleven company decided that it needed to reduce the expenses used in labor by reducing the minimum wages it paid its workers by half amount suggested legally. Also, the company decided to increase the number of working hours that the employees dedicated to the company in a day (Permarupan, Saufi, Kasim, & Balakrishnan, 2013). The leadership of the company despised its workers and mainly this wrath fell on the workers that were from a different country. For instance, an incidence presented itself when an employee threatened to expose the poor working conditions in the company but was faced with a brutality from the leaders and a threat of cancellation of his visa if he dared talked. The reduction of wages and over-exploitation of the workers increased the resources used during production hence increasing the level of output at a lower cost thus distribution cost is lowered. When the rates of distribution were lowered the company supplied the goods at a relatively low price hence attracting a large market.
The two companies have ethical issues that are closely related as both were operating in a profit oriented direction. The direction that the two companies needed to make the profit were unethical in the sense that the move was aimed to selfish gains. For instance, the deceit behavior is shown by the Volkswagen Company about the environmental friendliness of the emissions of their cars while seven eleven decided to decrease the amount of money they paid to their workers by half amount that is legally required by the law. The lack of morality in the business was influenced by the need to make more gains and remain at the top of the industry by executives of the individual companies.
Leadership in Both Scandals
The two companies had leaders with a corrupted mindset. According to the two case studies, the leaders are selfish and do not put the interest of the customers at heart in the case of Volkswagen company while in the seven eleven enterprises the rights of the employees are violated by the executives (Langlois, 2011). The two studies showed an instance whereby the behaviors and traits of the leaders are marred with irrelevance and lack of integrity. The culture exhibited by the leaders of the two companies led to the lack of ethics in the business practice. The leaders of the two companies have a culture of exploiting their customers and their employees due to their selfish interests. The leadership of the two companies has held a habit of intentionally not following the likes of their customers and the legal rights of their workers due to this habitual behavior the companies are faced with a problem of dysfunction in the culture followed in the business.
It is also clear that the two companies deal with commodities that are very competitive in their respective industries. Companies in the two industries, therefore, try to find ways of dealing with the stiff competition in the industry so that they can stay at the top of the industry. To deal with competition in the business the management of the two companies decided to turn to deceitful means of making more returns thus remaining at the top of the production process. For example, the seven eleven company decided to steal from their workers by not paying them well and letting them work for long hours. This strategy increases the level of production at a lower price hence supplying the products at a relatively low price gaining a large customer base hence increase in profits. In Volkswagen Company the use of the emission software reduced the amount used for manufacturing hence increasing the amount of profit realized hence staying at the top of the industry.
2. Yes, I agree with the statement ‘good leaders by definition are ethical leaders’. A leader is an individual with the ability, power, and authority to control or direct another person or group of people in a given direction. Leaders can be elected or they can also be appointed according to the type of leadership enhanced in a particular place (Hemmelgarn & Basso, 2016). They are believed to bear qualities that are unique from others as they act as role models in the society. In the contemporary society today, there are various types of leaders with power, authority and also some skills to help offer control important for development. Some of the various classification of leaders include Democratic leaders who ensure and enhance democracy, autocratic leaders who have all the powers to control a given group, transformational and transitional leaders in the society. All these types of leaders have a solemn role of coordinating and controlling a given group of people in the right direction and according to the set ethics (Mendonca, & Kanungo, 2007). In an organizational setting, a leader has the power to make crucial decisions that are important and ensures support in realizing the set organizational goals and in accordance with the set rules. Leaders are expected to bear some leadership ethics important in ensuring that the level at which they seek to offer control relates to the level at which control offered fits the situation relevantly
Competition and Deceit
Leaders with Ethics in most cases have positive working relationships with their employees or rather the junior leaders in case of the executives. They are straight and do not make decisions that they are aware of their negative effects to their customers. They also have no fear in doing what is right and understands the needs of their juniors as they respect their rights and contributions to in the society for development. Ethical leaders are ones who are bound to the oath of leadership in that they clearly understand their roles and work very hard to help achieve the set organizational goals. Among the many existing, written and unwritten leadership ethics, some include;
Justice. This is the ability of a leader to carry out all activities affecting his people in a just way. In the modern society today, leadership has been curbed by so many challenges that are related to acts of inequality lying on the basis of race, skin color or ethnic background (Boaks, & Levine, 2017). A good leader practices justices and understands that everyone should be treated equally despite the level of vulnerabilities affecting him. example, leaders in coca cola company that is globally developed and has the largest influencing international market are expected to treat all the employees with a lot of just Despite the diversity involved. in cases where a personnel working in a different country is faced by a work misconduct, he or she should receive the same judgment. In such a case, the leader does not have a favorite employee and this makes them not to fear anything while approaching the leader. Good leaders have ethics and ethics are the foundation of a good working environment.
Apathy. This is a quality of a leader that makes him or her fill the problem affecting the other employee as his or her own. This helps the leader to offer the fastest means of finding solution relevant in solving the problem at hand. This ethic implies that a good leader is always mindful of the problems or issues affecting those he or she is leading. Example, the emissions by the Volkswagen were not favorable and could have been corrected.
Team builder. For successful leadership, a leader should have all the qualities of a team builder. He or she should understand that working with a team spirit is very important in an organization. The leader performs all of his duties with an aim of enhancing both organizational and personal development (JOHNSON, 2016). Working as a team is very important to help raise the morale of the individuals working. Example, in the case of a group leader, he or she should start by understanding all the strengths and weaknesses of the group members important in preventing biases during group activities. This is important because the rate of conflicts at workplace reduces to a rate that all the activities in question are achieved peacefully. Team building is a crucial ethic important in enhancing a peaceful coexistence among the employees and their leaders.
Are Good Leaders Always Ethical?
Honesty. This is similar to a saying that says, anyone or rather any leader with ethics, that is, who is ethical has honesty and in most cases is also loyal (Amine, Chakor & Alaoui, 2012). For the followers, it’s important for them to be able to develop trust in their leaders and the various activities they influence. Ethical leaders should enhance transparency in their line of performance as well as accountability to enhance honesty among the followers important in easing coordination.
Encourage new initiatives. Leaders who are ethical have the qualities of an innovator and transformational leadership. This ensures that the level at which initiatives are enhanced is very high and influences the employees or rather the followers to thrive hard and give the best. It ensures motivation of the employees as those who come up with are rewarded respectively. This is very important as it makes the employees strive very hard to improve the way things are done around her or him and in the best ways possible (Malik, Javed, & Hassan, 2017). Example, in an organizational setting, a leader should influence the adoption of the current trends in the various departments important in improving the various abilities at the work place.
Role model. Leaders should lead by example in every activity they do too. Ethical leaders ensure that whatever they tell or expect their followers to do they have done it even better, they don’t just say but act according to what they say and think is the right thing and as stipulated by the law (Johnson, 2012). Both employees and their leaders have high expectations from each other and he who leads should start by making sure the expectations he has are in line with the organizational goals and he leads by example. An ethical leader tolerates ethical issues at work from employees. This should not be the case as ethical leaders show no tolerance for all violations that are unethical. Tactical theory of leadership clearly illustrates that the personality of a person influences his or her leadership qualities, thus, leaders elected should bear the best skills and qualities of a good leader for good leadership.
3. In an organization, the leaders and the employees are the main actors, expected to carry out activities positive to ensuring that all the required services are given to the target customers but in the best manner. To enhance the level of service provision to the customers, the organizational climate should be positive so that all can be comfortable while attending to the customers. The level of viable organizational climate depends on the type of leadership put in place, respect of employee’s rights, and the relationship of the employees with the leaders as well as the level of personal development that relates to the level of performance. To help improve the organizational climate in the modern settings, the following can be done;
Corporate training on the rights of the employees. An organization cannot function without the help of able employees as they form an important part of the organization’s main actors. Leaders should, therefore, understand that employees are very important in the organizational setting and should be treated with a lot of dignity. Like in our case study where the employee’s salary is being reduced without notice or mounting reason to help them understand why. Leaders should understand that the employees’ rights are crucial to being respected always despite the reasons that they are to be controlled. An employee cannot be out to deliver to her or his best if he is not respected as required. Leaders should be relevantly trained to help understand their roles and how important they can impact them to the employees important in improving the level of performance.
Importance of Ethical Leaders
Ethics training by the relevant personnel. An organization without ethics stipulations is more of the same as dysfunctional. Ethics are the set code of conduct of the organizational employees or the leaders that are meant to enhance the activities carried out for the achievement of the organizational set goals (Birdie & Jain, 2016). Ethical leaders and employees are expected as role models to each other as they have expectations from each one of them. The level at which ethics influences organizational climate is very high as it influences the relationship between the employees and the leaders. The example in our case study, employees are disrespected, deceived and scolded. Through ethical training, the leaders should learn and understand that employees are also human and should be treated in the best way possible to prevent their emotional grief. They should be taught the effects of employee’s torture and how it can affect the organization’s performance. Some of the ethics that the leader should be taught during the training are virtue of honesty, the value of awareness, respect to others as well as being humane among many other positive traits. Employees also in some extent affect the level of organizational climate through the way they behave. They should be taught the need to respect their leaders and carry out their responsibilities effectively to enhance organizational development. The relationship between the leaders and the employees should be positively enhanced to ensure good working coexistence.
Clear stipulation of the organizational rules and the roles of every leader and every employee. An organization’s executive or rather the top leaders should ensure that the set organizational rules are clearly written down and self-explanatory to both the employees and the leaders to enhance their understanding of the same (Borges et al, 2015). This is important as every person is able to understand the limits with the other thus reducing conflicts that may arise like in our case study where the leaders don’t understand their limits and go further to threatening the employee on cancellation of the transport visa. It’s ethical for a leader to allow personal feelings to lead others other than the expected code of conduct for leaders. Roles stipulated to both the employees and the leaders should be in line with the organizational goals to prevent conflict of interest that may arise.
Conclusion
Ethics are the main basis of every organizational set up to help in achieving the set organizational goals. Employees and the leaders of a specific organization are the main actors with the role of ensuring that the set organizational are achieved through implementation of the specific strategy. Leaders are defined by their ethic and are controlled by the set organizational roles for leaders. Leadership ethics should influence the positive relationship with the employees to enhance a positive organizational working climate as well as implement the organizational set rules.
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