WITHDRAWN Overcoming Turbulent Times Through Ethical Leadership: A Global Perspective

• In Event: Ethical Leadership in the Real World

Short Description

Presenters will examine ethical leadership challenges, theoretical foundations of ethical leadership, and what ethical leadership means through positive moral identity formation. By inspiring ethical leadership and a universal definition, this presentation reveals how ethical leadership can positively impact people, business, and international affairs to help solve global problems.

Detailed Abstract

In today’s globalized and uncertain world, leaders play an important role to ensure the success of different organizations in business, government, education, and society. Because the global community is marked by economic uncertainty, political instability, terrorism, and social unrest, leaders must demonstrate the ability to remain flexible to move with constantly changing dynamics and make ethical decisions that have far-reaching impact in a globalized world. Prior research reveals that the lack of ethical leadership represents a serious challenge in the global community (Alahmad, 2010; Bello, 2012) as well as in different multicultural contexts (Dickson et al., 2011). The escalation of unethical behavior of various modern leaders in the past 40 years (Brenkert, 2010) demonstrates a troubling paradigm shift with serious implications not only for today’s world but also for the future of the international community. Further, the issue of scandals in the corporate world as well as political and international leadership is a matter of grave concern that has led to a lack of distrust, increased ethical awareness, and the need for attention to ethical issues among business, political, and international leadership. Resick et al. (2011) indicated in a cross-cultural research study that ethical leadership has become a major concern in the United States, Europe, and Asia. What appears to be lacking, despite the increasing number of studies on ethical leadership, is a common framework for providing solutions to the increasing problem.

Because of different cultural and societal standards as well as individual moral identity constructs, leaders often find themselves at odds with different ethical ideologies and norms of other leaders, stakeholders, and communities. The resultant differences can create problems in how culturally-diverse leaders successfully make decisions, initiate change, shape policy, establish trust, and encourage innovation. Therefore, an important focus should address how differences in ethical leadership can create challenges for today’s organizational leaders and the impact on the global community.

A perspective on ethical leadership should include leader character, integrity, ethical awareness, a collective orientation which promotes team or organizational interests over self-serving interests, demonstration of civility, consideration for the rights and needs of others, and management of accountability. Johnson (2013) noted that ethical leadership consists of a two-part process that consists of moral behavior and moral influence. Leaders who act morally when carrying out their duties can shape ethical outcomes. No more is this insight more important than in the global community where leaders must interact in multicultural environments. “Successful ethical leaders improve lives and communities and make a difference in the world” (Thornton, 2013, p. 11). Leaders who can transcend and overcome differences can help shape greater opportunities for positive change in a dynamic global environment. Thus, the ability to find ethical common ground with culturally-diverse leaders can establish a stronger foundation to address global issues that affect the future of the world community. To explore this topic on ethical leadership, the presentation will address the following key points:

1. The presentation will commence with what ethical leadership means especially given the divergent definitions of ethics in multicultural settings. While the definition and meaning of leadership may vary across cultural divides, research reveals the search for universal meaning for ethical leadership in cross-cultural contexts (Dickson, Castano, Magomaeva, & Hartog, 2012).

2. Next, this presentation will discuss the challenges that emerge with unethical leadership and how these challenges undermine progress in the global community.

3. A poignant discussion on how individual moral identity formation evolves from an individual’s immediate community composed of family, peers, education, and religion will ensue. Using a case study, the presentation will show how positive moral identity development aligns with a concern for the welfare of others and demonstrates ethical decision making; whereas, a negative moral identity development aligns with a concern for oneself and unethical decision making (Nunn & Avella, 2016).

4. The discussion will turn to how culturally-diverse, ethical leadership can help inspire a better future for the world through the benefits of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, open-mindedness, employee motivation, collaboration, innovation, stronger ethics, and the ability to solve global problems. In international business organizations, for example, moral leadership promotes innovation throughout the organization (Nunn & Avella, 2015). Ethical leadership not only serves as the moral compass for an organization but also as a trusted force for positive change. Because innovation thrives, the organization can achieve greater levels of success and compete more effectively in the market. Therefore, “good ethics equals good business” (Banerjea, 2010, p. 375).

5. After addressing these key points, the final focus of the presentation will provide suggestions to help inspire future ethical leadership within the global community.

By focusing on these key areas, the presenters hope to provide scholars and leaders with a better understanding of the relevant issues regarding ethical leadership. By doing so, attendees will come away from this presentation with greater awareness of what ethical leadership consists of and how to overcome turbulent times through the use of ethical leadership in global organizations.

Participants

• Sandy Nunn, University of Phoenix

• Lunthita M. Duthely, University of Phoenix

• John Avella, University of Phoenix