Ethical_Leadership

In order to successfully achieve leadership a person has to be able to understand and perceive the world in a certain way. According to James Clawson, leaders need to be in control of any events relating to “leadership, decision making, and morality: strategic, financial, moral, ethical, and cultural (Clawson 76).” Ken Johnson, a contact from the Ethics Resource Center, compliments with his own modes of ethical leadership beginning with “effective, efficient, and excellent if it is not to waste human potential (Johnson 1).” As most agree, ethical leadership is a highly qualitative skill. Ken clarifies by stating that an ethical leader should have balance between four components to be successful: purpose, knowledge, authority, and trust (Johnson 1). Clawson exemplifies that the foundation for such leadership should be based on truth telling, promise keeping, fairness, and having respect for the individual (Clawson 79). Ken also suggests that there needs to be authority given to this individual. And with this authority, they would be able to use their own powers to lead the others through inspiration, facilitation, persuasion, manipulation, or coercion (Johnson 1). He then argues that when facilitating ethical leadership it is imperative to use your best judgment when enforcing which tactics to use. Coercion and manipulation are deceptive values according to Clawson. He negates that when you are trying to influence people that these strategies are unethical (Clawson 79). Both men argue about the influences of culture that reflect how a leader is supposed to act. Clawson is very clear about his viewpoint on how unethical it is to be deceptive when trying to be a good leader. This article expresses the modes of ethical leadership in a different context saying that these types of leadership skills are of value but it is up to the person to use their best judgment about how and when to use these types of persuasion. Clawson, James G. Level Three Leadership: Getting Below the Surface. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. Print. Johnson, Ken. “The Role of Leadership in Organizational Integrity and Five Modes of Ethical Leadership.” Ethics.org. Ethical Resource Center, 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.