1. What is the purpose of ethical conduct, and on what criteria would you evaluate your conduct? Ethics is collective values that define the accepted standard of right or wrong. Individual values are determined by factors such as beliefs, culture, upbringing, and exposure and life experiences. Knowledge of being right or being wrong is not a guarantee that a person will always behave in an ethical manner. For a person to acquire good moral traits, they must willingly abide by the acceptable ethical standards. Ethical conduct is like a guiding principle in making a sound choice or steering a person towards the proper course of action. People who share certain values, also share identities through some of their values, and though their conducts might vary from others, they get accepted in the society with identities of their values. Ethical conduct plays a major role in both the professional and individual decisions (Avey, Palanski, & Walumbwa, 2011, p.579). Although professionalism requires that one stick to the rule of code of conducts, personal values affects the professional values to some extent. To avoid conflicting signals by the personal values, organizations set codes of ethics this ensures uniformity in the mission focus and predictable way of dealing with issues. The standard code seeks to entrench the highest ethical principle in the working area, and they include dress code, accountability, the language, respect, punctuality and integrity among others. The professional values in the business plays a major role in career success regardless of being standardized or personal. Ethical conduct is the willingness to choose and do what is right even when no one is watching. Ethics is the moral compass and the voice of self-control. Ethics ensures a good time management, good relations among the people in the society, and cohesion in the places of work.
Reference
Avey, J. B., Palanski, M. E., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2011). When leadership goes unnoticed: The moderating role of follower self-esteem on the relationship between ethical leadership and follower behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(4), 573-582.
2. Give an example of an ethical leader. Describe the personal and professional qualities that define this leader's character. An example of an ethical leader is the president of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid. He embodies energetic and positive leadership. Through his moral leadership of responsibility, excellence and being visionary, he has competently authored his country’s success story in such a short time by leading with a clear vision. His foresight, wise decisions and willingness to listen to other people’s opinion from different cadres of life are well known. Just like his late father he is hard working, innovative, generous and family man whose values are beyond reproach. When he took the reign after the death of his brother, Sheikh Rashid turned his attention to the people. As an attentive and an inclusive leader, he joined residents of Dubai in various forums and listened to their views about their country (Mohamed, O'Sullivan, & Ribiere, 2008, p.110). He is inclusive in matters that seek to improve the livelihoods of the residents in his country. Unlike other leaders of the gulf nations, he is a resourceful leader who uses the oil wealth to deliver and develop Dubai as a business hub to the benefit of his people. He also a motivational leader, who has been able to rally the support of his people in turning around the fortunes of Dubai His creativity and daring values have led to the transformation of Dubai at a speed that would not have been feasible with other leaders. Unlike other leaders, he is a hands-on leader who demands accountability and integrity in the implementation of his country’s strategic plans. He is consistent in the championing accountability in federal resource management and transparency across the government bodies. What used to be a desert, is now a thriving business hub where traders from all corners of the world merchandise, thanks to the able leadership of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid.
Reference
Mohamed, M. S., O'Sullivan, K. J., & Ribiere, V. (2008). A paradigm shift in the Arab region knowledge evolution. Journal of Knowledge Management, 12(5), 107-120.
3. Ethics are defined as ‘’ the study of the principles of good conduct and systems of moral values ‘’ (Ortmeier and Meese, 2010, p. 59) if the study of ethics does not guarantee ethical conduct, why do it? When individuals think of ethics, they think of rules that distinguish right and wrong. Standards that are associated with known conducts helps in defining the acceptable from unacceptable behavior. People learn ethical standards from teachers and the fellow students at learning institutions, they also learn from their relatives and parents at home and many other social settings. Although human beings acquire the sense of being right or wrong during their formative age, moral development occurs throughout life and people pass through different stages of growth as they mature. An ethical conduct to one person might be totally unacceptable to another, and there are many factors that matters. Although societies have legal rules that govern the behavior, ethical standards tend to be a bit relaxed and more casual than rules. An action may be ethical but illegal or unethical but legal. Ethical research and concepts help people in evaluating, criticizing, interpreting and proposing laws. Consequently many social reformers incite people to disobey laws as a way to protest against what they consider being unjust laws. An ethical way of expressing political viewpoints is peaceful civil disobedience. Different organizations, professions and disciplines, have standards for performance that suit their goals and aims. These standards help members to coordinate their actions or activities and the trust of the community. Ethical standards govern the conduct in fields such as law, medicine, business and film among others (Fins, Schlaepfer, Nuttin, Kubu, Galert, Sturm, et al. 2011, p.3). The standards also serve the aims of research and applies to persons who conduct scholarly research or other creative activities. In the leadership, ethical research supports the rulers to lead by example and to do the right thing instead of doing general thing. Studies also helps the administrators to remain objective while administering the social justice and upholding the rule of law. Norms also helps in voluntary cooperation between the custodians of law and the citizens.
ReferenceFins, J. J., Schlaepfer, T. E., Nuttin, B., Kubu, C. S., Galert, T., Sturm, V, & Mayberg, H. S. (2011). Ethical guidance for the management of conflicts of interest for researchers, engineers and clinicians engaged in the development of therapeutic deep brain stimulation. Journal of neural engineering, 8(3), 033001.
