Leaders have a responsibility for creating trust
and cultural values
Leaders are the most important and powerful influence on the culture of an organization and are responsible for creating credibility and trust. It is obvious that employees contribute more when they are working for something they believe in. Kouze and Posner (1987) put it well:
There is more to work than is commonly assumed. There is rich opportunity here for leaders to appeal to more than just the material rewards. Great leaders, like great companies and countries, create meaning, not just money.
The aim is to operate organizations in such a way that they achieve stated goals and do so in a manner that is consistent with the higher values of the organizational community. When employees have no clear picture of the moral or ethical stance of the organization, they tend to operate at the lowest perceived level.
Creating and promoting institutional integrity becomes one of the most important functions of leadership. Moral and ethical stances need to be consistently reiterated and clarified. One of the most pervasive issues in the American workplace today is the injustice of corporations paying millions in bonuses to executives and haggling over pennies with salaried and hourly employees. Until this issue is addressed and adjustments made, leaders will have a hard time rebuilding trust and credibility in organizational cultures.
An analysis of the relationship between ethical behavior and effective leadership reveals that it is a matter of examining both ends and means. A business enterprise must be profitable in order to survive. Service organizations must satisfy consumers’ expectations. Government must meet the needs of its citizens. The ends are the very reason for existence of the enterprise. At the same time, the means by which they achieve those ends are increasingly important.
What can be done to foster a clear and consistent moral and ethical stance for an organization’s culture?
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- Leadership development must include programs on ethical reasoning and decision making. This must be an ongoing process, not a one-shot affair at fulfilling a requirement. The most effective leadership development programs include coaching and/or mentoring. Through executive coaching, issues of personal ethics and moral responsibility must be explored and aligned with organizational values.
- Leadership programs must include selection, development, evaluation and rewards policies that are aligned in such a way as to reflect their support of the values of the organization. When a person is selected for promotion, or is rewarded, the organization is making a statement: this person represents our values and standards.
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There are powerful economic, political, social and cultural forces at play in our lives today that may lead us to feel powerless to oppose them. It may seem easier to go along rather than to speak out. Each person much weigh alternatives and make choices in light of personal values and goals, but also with consideration to organizational and professional success.
As leaders wake up to needed reforms, there will be an increased emphasis on the need for leadership development programs that include coaching on ethical and moral values. There must be a drive for ethical responsibility if organizations are to thrive.
Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead
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