Creating an Ethical Workplace Culture

Ethics and regulatory officers play a critical part in providing oversight on issues pertaining to the company’s corporate ethics. Both senior executives and ethical officers confront a plethora of ethical quandaries at work while they strive to improve the company’s ethical dealings with external stakeholders.
According to Blanes (2013), ethical leaders possess unique characteristics or attributes that allow them to efficiently carry out their positions. First and foremost, responsible leadership is truthful. Because of his approachable personality, an honest individual is trustworthy, and anyone who deals with the organization will trust him. Honest representatives provide accurate information to all individuals involved with the organization. Secondly, ethical leadership has an element of fairness. Fairness means treatment of every person dealing with the organization in an equal manner no matter the position or status in the society. Moreover, fairness eliminates cases of intimidation which arises because of differences such as gender and ethnicity among others. Thirdly, ethical leadership is respectful. Respectful leaders are hospitable. Moreover, they listen to the plight of the employees, opinions, and ideas, which contributes to the overall success of the organization. Lastly, ethical leadership emphasizes on teamwork. Ethical leaders foster the spirit of working together as a team. Teamwork is beneficial to the organization as it allows brainstorming session among employees. In a teamwork, employees primarily focus on the objectives of the organization. In conclusion, ethical leadership is honest, respectful, fair, and teamwork based. All these characteristics help the organization to make valuable decisions.
Question 2
A relationship exists between ethical leaders and their followers. According to In Jurkiewicz & In Giacalone (2017), an organization does not only become successful because of the way their leaders lead but also because of the way the followers follow. One can term the relationship between the follower and the leader as symbiotic because one cannot exist without the other. In a symbiotic relationship, ethical leaders will influence their followers to make ethical decisions. Organizations must have a good culture for such to happen and must put in place the right infrastructure to induce ethical actions. Additionally, there must be an element of motivation. Ethical leaders should motivate their employees to work for the best interest of the organization. Furthermore, ethical leaders should love their follower without suspicion. Ethical leaders should assign roles to their followers confidently with the belief that they will act in the right way without supervision. Blanes (2013) argues that followers should support their ethical leaders to achieve the overall objectives of the organization. There should be good communication between followers and leaders in such a way that each party listens to the other. Both leaders and followers should respectably engage each other. Additionally, each party should be proactive to the plight of the other.
Question 3
The relationship is important in many ways. First, it helps the leaders not only to command the followers but also create their roles in the organization. When ethical leadership is in place, followers are certain about what is expected of them in the attainment of the organizational goals. Secondly, the relationship brings the courage of assuming responsibilities. They develop self-tell in such a way that they act with a common mind of achieving organizational goals. Equally, leaders develop the courage to authorize followers to act responsibly. Furthermore, the relationship brings courage to serve. Leaders work extra hard to achieve the organizational objectives no matter the circumstances they face in executing their roles. Equally, followers work extra hard by assuming additional responsibilities with the organizational objective in mind. Additionally, the relationship brings courage to take moral actions. Ethical leadership is all about taking moral actions in the right situations. Moral actions are painful to both the leaders and followers, but they take such actions without favoritism. Moreover, leaders and followers develop the courage to challenge each other in matters geared toward the welfare of the organization. Followers can challenge their leaders to act in the best way of the organization (Blanes, 2013).
Question 4
Chief Ethics Officer is an important position for every organization. It is an ombudsman position. First, the officer is responsible for creation and installation of ethics culture in an organization. Ethics culture may not be standard procedures because once installed the officer should constantly monitor that culture and constantly improve it for the benefit of the organization. The officer manages the entire ethic program of the organization. Secondly, the officer ensures the organization adheres to the required professional ethics codes and in the case of conflict, establish a conflict resolution program. Thirdly, the officer should train the employees on ethical procedures and actions that they should take whenever they face ethical dilemmas. Lastly, they should establish reporting channels whereby employees can report ethical cases without fear. Ethics officer position has a positive impact on the organization. The role ensures actions of the employees are ethically sound, and there is reporting of any deviance on time. Reporting helps the organization to protect itself an early stage (Gnazzo, 2011).
References
Blanes, J. G. (2013). Effectiveness and efficiency of ethical leadership. Morrisville, North Carolina, United States: Lulu Com.
Gnazzo, P. J. (2011). The Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer: A Test of Endurance. Business & Society Review (00453609), 116(4), 533-553.
In Jurkiewicz, C. L., & In Giacalone, R. A. (2017). Radical thoughts on ethical leadership. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.