By CPA Steve Sahado
Morality and Ethics Are Part of a Culture
Individuals in everyday life, whether in government or private practice, have encountered a situation where they have had to make a decision. When this is done, there are many alternatives at the disposal of the decision maker.
It is also true that people are faced with some ethical dilemma in the process of making decisions. Though the decision maker will always aspire to make a rational decision that will have less negative impact on the larger population or to the whole country, leaders with skewed thinking capacity will make decisions that may hurt the wellbeing of the organization they lead as well as the people they supervise.
In social responsibility there are set standards which are socially accepted within the organization that all and sundry need to observe so the environment where such an organization operates becomes acceptable. This will help organizations to compete with other globally renowned companies.
(Kang & Glassman, 2010) states that Morality and ethics are part of a way of life and cannot be separated from all other aspects of life experiences where individuals operate. Moral education is about social and inner being or soul of a person being changed for better which will make the person socially acceptable by the way he/she conducts himself/herself. Our leaders in public spaces are therefore required by the ethics to be socially acceptable to us by the way they conduct themselves and how they conduct the affairs of the organizations they run.
The factors that will morally change the spiritual wellbeing of an individual may be changed by the virtue and the values that various doctrines a person subscribes to teaches. Ethics can be that such doctrines teaches about forms the character of a person which may happen through various frameworks of moral education which is supported by various discipline such as moral philosophy, moral psychology and moral education (Han, 2014). The Internalization of our moral beliefs and the values various faiths propagate clearly sets our moral values (Halstead, 2007).
Ethical leadership enhances organizations’ profitability by inculcating the culture of trust that will drive what helps individuals to meet their goals without much supervision. The right leadership helps organizations’ set the right skill sets and ideas that will drive the organization to meet its goals. The ideas and new innovations are well thought by the leaders thus the goal of the organization will be attained in an environment that will meet the moral demands of the society it operates from. Leaders that run public entities are therefore required to have a mind that focuses on the wellbeing of the society thus creating an environment where each individual will thrive. Ethical leadership is the gateway to the prosperity of the entity. In the current situation where a country is faced with financial challenges it is important that leaders run these institutions for the benefit of the public.
The great scholars like Plato and Aristotle were the first philosophers who adopted the word ethos while learning or investigating Greek values and ideals which were mainly on power, means and ends.
Plato who suggested that ethics was the pursuit of the good life, which is the pursuit of intelligence that consists of the satisfying desires, exercising power over others, and the pursuit of spiritual good. Luegenbiehl (1983) notes that ethics is not merely a personal element, but includes those around us when he notes that ethics is recognition of an obligation to society that transcends mere self-interest. Every person has an obligation above owns desire. Business ethics therefore can mean the reasons why someone does what he does is because such a person is obligated to play a moral role in the society. The society that rescind on this important role and obligation will run into problems especially if the self-interest of the leaders is gratified above the public interest. I tend to think most of the public interest entities that have been put under receivership have leaders who glorify their interest and negating the core purpose why an entity has been formed or incorporated. Leaders who act ethically will foster a positive relationship with the organization’s stakeholders.
A good quality relationship standard that has strong foundation on respect for the customers and other stockholders must be respected as this will determine the success of an organization. The trust various stakeholders put on the leadership of the organization must be protected and preserved for the posterity of the institutions. Leaders have the obligation to keep the balance at all times. Ethical leaders will have to ensure that this ethics have been strongly inculcated in the culture of the employees so that some fundamental principles such as trust, honesty, equity and integrity have fully grow in the employee systems. Consecutively ethical leaders should give a greater attention to the moral values and fairness in decision making while considering the impact of organizational decisions to the outside world, and should clearly communicate to the employees how their actions at work contribute to the overall goals of the organization. Employees are therefore required to conduct themselves in a manner that observes a higher integrity and honesty.
The workplace structures, the orientation of the staff have also changed as institutions adopts the current technology. Consequently, today’s organizations are conducting its affairs in an environment that is hosting a competitive player as the environment keeps on changing due to the change in business operation. This has made the organizations adjust their internal or external operating frameworks to fit into the changing environment.
Leaders holding any position in either a private firm or public interest organization have an obligation to make such organization grow in bound and about. Culture of excellence bred by ethical leaders will ensure that the organization will grow as its employees welfare is taken care off. It is also important to know that leaders operates in a technologically volatile environments which brings in new competition. Ethical leaders are required to set the tone of the organization that prosper in any environment.
The writer has 15 years working experience and is currently working with Kenya Water Towers Agency.
