Shaping Ethical Contexts - Essay Example

Shaping Ethical Context Ethical leadership can be defined as the leadership that is controlled by respect for values and ethical beliefs of other people. It may further be respect for the rights and dignity of other people and especially in a culturally diverse environment or workplace (Yukl, 2002). The concepts related to it are fairness, consideration, charisma, honesty, and truth. It is a prerequisite in cross cultural leadership where leaders are expected to conform and adjust quickly and work efficiently with employees from other cultures.

Various theories have been developed to explain and give insight into how leaders ought to conduct business in a multicultural environment and the perceptions their employees have towards them. One of the theories is the implicit leadership theory which postulates that people’s beliefs, assumptions, and stereotypes tend to influence their perception on the qualities of good leadership. The other one is the culturally endorsed implicit leadership theory which advanced some leadership dimensions that include power distance, gender egalitarianism, societal and group collectivism, humane orientation, performance orientation, assertiveness and uncertainty avoidance (Murrell, Crosby & Ely, 1999).

Ethical leadership styles across cultures include transformational, transactional, and paternalistic leadership. Paternalistic is a leadership style that incorporates a hierarchical relationship between the leader and the workers. The leader expresses personal interest in the personal and professional lives of employees and in return expects respect and loyalty from them. The three defining elements are moral leadership, benevolence, and authoritarianism. This type of leadership has been found to yield positive organizational commitment and exchange between leaders and the employees in a multicultural environment (Brown, Treviño & Harrison, 2005).

Transformational leadership is one that emphasizes on a common goal and therefore, it is a charismatic form of leadership style that mobilizes employees around a common goal. Transactional leadership on the other hand is one that emphasizes on incentives and rewards between leaders and their employees (Brown & Treviño, 2006). This form of leadership styles have been shown to yield trust and performance at the workplace in various populations but not all of them. It has further been noted that collectivists are more responsive and conform to transformational leadership because they unite individuals.

On the other hand transactional leadership most welcomed in individualistic cultures where individuals are rewarded for their hard work and success. Therefore, when this leadership is employed effectively they tend to realize positive results in different cultures. In conclusion, cross cultural leadership skills are important in the human resource departments in global organizations. Therefore, to achieve quality cross cultural leadership in the culturally diverse organizations, focus should be put on personality traits and individual differences during the process of leadership selection.

ReferencesBrown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 97(2), 117-134.Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The leadership quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.Murrell, A. J., Crosby, F. J., & Ely, R. J. (Eds.). (1999). Mentoring dilemmas: Developmental relationships within multicultural organizations.

Psychology Press.Yukl, G. A. (2002). Leadership in organizations.