Respond to…

Companies that take advantage of utilizing their ethical conscious are playing to their strengths. The reason that I say this, is that the companies are going to pursue theirs cultures and beliefs. Usually, there is a strong support for that same belief in their consumers, so the consumers are now going to support the organization even more due to the fact that the organization has the same belief as the customer. On the other hand, it might deter some potential new consumers from buying into the organization because they do not believe that the beliefs of that organization is correct. For example, Chic-Fil-A outlook on the LGBTQ+ community is not so strong, and some have decided to boycott them due to that fact. Other decide to support them because of that. An organization is only as strong as their beliefs. Chic-Fil-A is even closed on Sundays due to their beliefs. An organization that wants to get what they want done and push for more business should show support in their beliefs because as well as it being a bad thing it can also help them in many ways. A leader should always consider everybody before making a final decision and with a major organization like this, they started with that belief. So, for them it was nothing new everybody knew what they were getting into.  Their beliefs also marketed for them as well. As they were posted about their beliefs and they do not have to use a dollar out of their own money in order to market. Bad marketing and good marketing are both still marketing and helps spread awareness of the organization and what they are selling. 

Warrick, D.D. (2016). 

Leadership: A high impact approach

[Electronic version]. Retrieved from

https://content.ashford.edu/

Respond to…

Ethics are so important in business because of the benefits that come along with ethics; fairness, honesty, and consistency within the employee and customer experience are a few. Without ethical standards, employees could potentially make decisions that are not only unethical, but also illegal and unsafe, which puts employees and the company at risk. Many companies have guidelines in the form of a code of ethics/conduct to set clear expectations for employees. At my job, there is a code of conduct training that all employees are required to complete yearly to certify that they understand and commit to follow the code. This is good for business and takes the guess work out of what acceptable behavior is and what is not for employees. Furthermore, there are many consumers who will not purchase from companies whose values do not align to their personal values. If I watch the news and see that a company is engaging in unethical activities, I am much more likely to take my business elsewhere to their competition.

Warrick (2016) states that one key challenge is that morals and standards can differ significantly between countries. Because of this, what is deemed ethical and acceptable can often vary from country to country. It is important for global leaders to educate themselves on the cultural norms and values related to conduct of the countries where they work in order to effectively lead and support the employees.

Ethical leadership helps to increase global competitiveness because when things are done with integrity, the brand and experience of external and internal customers can be impacted positively. A person with a strong values system would likely feel uncomfortable working for a leader they deem unethical. In addition, a company could easily lose their positive reputation if there is a lack of ethical leadership. Chenjing (2018) states that employees learn what behaviors are acceptable and expected by observing and the behaviors of their leaders, which is what the employees often repeat (p. 1271.) If bad behavior is observed and there is an appearance that there weren’t any consequences, employees are more likely to repeat these bad behaviors based on the shadow being cast by the leader. The bottom line is that unethical leadership and behavior throughout a company could have negative consequences such as the loss of repeat business or even legal fines.

References

Chenjing, Gan. (2018). Ethical Leadership and Unethical Employee Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 46(8), 1271–1284. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=131332647&site=eds-live&scope=site

Warrick, D.D. (2016). Leadership: A high impact approach [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/