FDRE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

FACULTY OF LEADERSHIP AND

GOVERNANCE
DEPARTMENT OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES

INDIVDUAL ASSIGNMENT 2:
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Course Title: Organizational Behavior
Course Code: LEST 5022
Credit Points: 5 ECTS

BY Abdisa Kenea Geleta

ID.NO. LS /001/12
Submitted to- Dr-Assefa Beyene (PHD)

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2020

QU.1 .Do you believe that one’s basic philosophy of human nature affects one’s approach
to leadership? Explain about it supporting your views with pertinent examples.

Before discussing the effects of one’s philosophy of human nature on his/her leadership
approach, first it is better to have some points about philosophy of human nature and
leadership approach.
When we said one’s philosophy of human nature, we are referring about set of beliefs or
an attitude on human life that guided his/his behavior in the practical world. According to
Agrawal, 2008 an American psychologist, individuals may believe about human nature in
ways.
A. Most people believe that humans are reasonable being naturally having conscious
mind.
B. Others may believe that humans are naturally good and attractive beings.
C. Some others may believe that humans are basically evil beings.
On the other hand, the science of leadership states as that there are different
approaches to leadership. Basically we can classify as:
A. Democratic/ participatory approach
B. Autocratic approach
C. Lezaisfair approach
Now, from the above points, discussing that, one’s basic philosophy of human
nature affects one’s approach to leadership are supported by the following
statements from different researchers.
 If someone believes that people are reasonable beings with conscious mine,
he/she is more likely to exercise democratic/participatory leadership to acquire
their novel ideas in decision making.
 If someone believes that people are basically good, she/he is more likely to offer
those rewards and sometimes he/she may expect results from just praising them.
 If someone believed that people are basically evil beings, he/she govern them
with appeals to their interest, or else by threatening them with punishment.
The above premises have a history of working. For example, Mahatma Ghandi and Mao
the Tung, their related philosophy was related to human being is basically good and

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 needs peace and love, Mathin Luther King was also influential democratic leader
believing on equality of human nature. In ancient times leaders need power than love and
money and sometimes fight for resources including humans. Their believe on humans as
a resource is that humans are slaves and they exploit slaves undemocratically.
People have the ability to do good and evil. This is may occur at different times, causes,
situations, etc.
From the above discussion ideas, we can say that one’s basic philosophy of human
nature can affects the approach of one’s leadership.

QU. 2. / Can a bad person be a good leader? If yes, how? If not, why? Justify.

For the record, I believe the answer is No. However, discussing the question has as much merit
as answering it. In an age where declarations of morality are considered impolite, if not outright
suspect, the question highlights the significant challenges faced by those who would be our
leaders.

Twenty years ago, the question of whether bad people can be good leaders would not have been
so confusing. At least that's the suggestion of Barbara Kellerman in a recent Harvard Business
Review article ("Leadership—Warts and All," January 2004). She argues that the inherently
positive bias implied by the words leader or leadership is a recent invention. She references
James Burns' 1978 book Leadership, which introduced the distinction between leaders and
power wielders. Warren Bennis's 1989 book On Being a Leader focused on the importance of
creating shared meaning between leaders and followers.

Most definitions of leadership include two elements. Leadership involves both getting people to
work together and the pursuit of some common purpose or goal. Superficial responses to the
question in the title of this column respond by evaluating only the purpose. Mother Teresa was a
good leader; Hitler was a bad leader. This judgement has nothing to do with our knowledge or
evaluation of their leadership styles. Rather, it is a moral judgement of the goals they pursued.

But beyond evaluating the purpose, we need to understand the process of leadership. Even in the
pursuit of objectives we agree are worthwhile, we know that there can be a difference significant

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enough between Leader A and Leader B to warrant moral distinctions. Success is part of the
equation. Machiavelli equated good leadership with strong leadership, rationalizing any
casualties in the process with a type of ends-justifying-the-means philosophy. Good leadership
involves something more than the successful achievement of worthwhile ends. The how of
leadership is a factor in the equation

The multitude of tactics available to leaders can be divided into four categories: coercion,
position, expertise, and relationship.

Coercion. I can be coerced either by the fear of negative consequence or by the promise of a
positive reward. The motive impelling the behaviour is not the behaviour itself but rather the
consequence of the behaviour. Working for a paycheck, obeying the speed limit, or testifying
against my friend in court are all examples of behaviours that are prompted by some form of
coercion.

Position. I do what certain people tell me because I believe I ought to obey them. It's not
that the consequences of not regarding the chairman at a meeting are that fearful. Rather, it is
a respect for the office or position that prompts me to be quiet when I am asked by the chair,
to join the line as the security guard tells me, or to accept the request to volunteer made by
my supervisor, purely out of some sense of obligation.

Expertise. If I think you know more about the subject than I do, I am likely to follow your
advice. My rational being impels me to.

Relationship. I am inclined to do things for people I know simply because I know them. If I
like them, I am even more inclined to follow them.

All of these tactics are appropriate in given circumstances; none of them are always right or
always wrong. Part of what separates good leadership from bad leadership is the ability to
utilize the right tactic in a given circumstance.

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But there is more. Leadership is influence with a purpose. Noted leadership author Max De
Peer is perhaps best known for the trilogy of tasks he assigns to the leader in his
book Leadership Is an Art: "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is
to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor."

Defining reality. This includes articulating and selling the mission. It also includes knowing
the opportunities and threats, strengths and weaknesses that need to be dealt with on the
journey.

Saying thanks. Those who accomplish their goals with the help of inanimate machines are
technicians, not leaders. The work of leadership involves other human beings. Leadership
that lasts affirms the humanity of those with whom they work.

Being a servant and a debtor. Utilizing position is one of the tactics of influence, but
leadership that relies on the ethic of mastery and taking credit is rarely called good
leadership and seldom is successful in the long term.

So if skill and competence are part of the good leadership equation, character is certainly
another. James Kouzes and Barry Posner have collected data since the 1980s on what people
look for in a leader. Four characteristics consistently rank well above the rest: honesty,
forward-looking, inspiring, and competence. Honesty ranks number one by a significant
margin. As Kouzes and Posner put it, "If people are going to follow someone willingly,
whether it be into battle or into the boardroom, they first want to assure themselves that the
person is worthy of their trust."

So does the view that the concept of leadership involves character, competence, and
technique that has some long-term success amount to a "skewed moralistic understanding of
leadership" against which Kellerman warns? How do we deal with the obvious evidence that
leadership isn't always noble and praiseworthy?

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Both good and bad people climb into the driver's seat of leadership, manipulating the
available controls, sometimes with great skill and dexterity, and other times with less. But
the measure of leadership isn't a test of driving skills, as if it makes no difference whether
one intends to drive around a track for the purpose of showing off skill or taking the
passengers to a worthy destination. The 9-11 terrorists who flew planes into buildings are not
leaders, regardless of how much skill they demonstrated in flying the plane. There are
lessons about technique to be learned from bad leaders, but we need to distinguish between
technique, an element of leadership, and leadership itself.

Good and evil run through the human heart—also the hearts of leaders—and so making
absolute distinctions can be difficult. But the difficulty of applying distinctions is no reason
to euthanize them. The success of leadership involves inspiring people, and that involves
holding before them worthwhile goals and affirming the gifts of their humanity, including
their gift of free choice, in working together to achieve those goals. Even when the tactics of
coercion are utilized, they must be utilized in a manner that maintains respect for the  imago
dei imprinted on each person. The choice may be for or against an action with an understood
consequence, but enabling that choice on the part of the follower is an imperative duty of the
leader.

Kellerman says that to suggest good leaders are always good people is "to be blind to the
human condition." Greatness, she says, comes from "recognizing and managing our failings."

True, but not the whole truth. Good leadership does include a goodness that comes from
more than technique. To ignore the fact that followers around the world seek leaders who
inspire them to worthwhile goals they can share in a trustworthy manner is to be equally
blind to the human condition. If the following of leaders is the result of free choice, leaders
need to work in manner that affirms the humanity of the follower. Neither of these are value-
neutral conditions, but neither are they natural to our broken world and sinful hearts. Finding
ways of translating this theory into practice is at the heart of the leader's art.

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QU. 3 What is the relationship between an individual’s responsibility for ethical behavior
and the idea of organizational ethical climate? Does focus on the latter diminish the
importance of the former or reduce the importance of individual accountability? Discuss in
detail.
An Organization’s ethical climate is the focus on the ethics of decision making and actions.
Ethical climate is a component of organizational climate which is the reactions of organizational
members to the values and beliefs of that make up organizational l culture
Organization climate is important because it can be a driver and indicator of job performance,
psychological wellbeing and withdrawal of individuals in an organization
Organization and Ethical climate are important because these conditions will impact the
behavior, motivation and effectiveness of the workforce. These forces if positive and supportive
can strengthen and increase morale and productivity, but when caustic and destructive, can cause
withdrawal, dysfunctional and unwanted behaviors.
One of the components of an organization’s climate, is its ethical climate. Ethical climate is
focused on the ethical aspects of decision making and actions of members of an organization.
Ethics provides the values and morals that an individual, organization or society finds desirable
or appropriate
Knowing the importance of the ethical climate of an organization/individual, how do you
determine the type/level of ethical climate of your organization/leaders? which creates a matrix
of two dimensions. The first dimension is the ethical criteria which is the standard for moral
reasoning of a person and is based upon three ethical criteria.

 Egoism: Doing what is best for oneself

 Benevolence: Doing what is good
 Principle: Finding a standard to adhere to
 Individual: Looking from the perspective of oneself
 Local: Looking from the perspective of those who are directly involved/affected
 Cosmopolitan: Looking from the perspective of society as a whole.
An individual has the duty to act in a moral way so that their conduct is in accordance with that
of the general public. This implies that as an individual, one has obligation to carry on and adjust
to the alluring ascribes that are esteemed in the general public.

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QU. 4 ,/ Search for, identify, prioritize and discuss about the best practices for improving
the organization’s ethical climate. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each it?
Discuss.

Improving organizational climate is a process in which ethical behavior, values and practices are
displayed promoted and rewarded.

 Improving Ethical Behavior; In an article published in 2004, Curtis C. Verschoor suggests

that companies should undergo internal ethics audits on a regular basis. He contends that
"the regular internal audit of the organization's ethics and compliance program adds great
value to the organization." Verschoor argues that business organizations must take a "top-
down" approach to ethics. By communicating and modeling behavioral standards from the
highest levels of your business down to the entry-level positions, you can ensure that there is
no "gap" between ethical standards and the actual behavior of employees. By regularly
evaluating these standards and the behavior of your company's leadership, you can
effectively promote compliance to ethical behavioral norms for your organization.

 Educating Employees Increased; focus in the business community regarding ethics-based

issues has led to increased funding and research to increase ethical awareness. One strategy
to improve the ethical climate of your business organization is to offer or even require
classes in business ethics. Business ethics classes at the local community college or even
classes offered directly through the human resources department can be a practical and cost-
effective way to offer ongoing ethics training and motivation.

 Protecting Employees; One problem that might arise in the promotion of ethical guidelines
to your workforce is the fear employees may have regarding their role in reporting unethical
or questionable behavior by another employee or even a supervisor. Employees must be
assured that they will be safe from retaliation from other employees or supervisors who
might be turned in for engaging in questionable activities. The best way to make this
assurance is to offer employees a confidential channel through which they can report bad
behavior. A company ethics hot line is one way to increase employee willingness to speak

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 out. Another might be a suggestion box kept in a secure location where other employees are
not likely to see one of their fellow employees turning them in. Employees must be
confidently assured that reporting bad behavior is expected and safe.

How to Manage Ethics in the Workplace. The usage of proper ethics in any workplace is vital to
the success of the company. Unfortunately, companies fail and people sometimes even go to jail
because of unethical decisions made at work. Follow these steps to manage ethics in the
workplace.

Communicate the company's ethics policy clearly to the employees. Posting it around the office
and distributing it to employees is great, but you should have regular meetings in which everyone
spends some time discussing ethics. Ask people to talk about examples of different ethical
decisions. Review the rules and the reasons for them. Make it clear that the company won't
tolerate unethical conduct and outline the consequences for it.

Make it easy for employees to seek guidance when they need help making a decision. Employees
may not always be sure what the ethical solution is. Therefore, it's the company's responsibility
to provide the resources that they need to make the right decision. Someone should be available
at all times with which employees can discuss these issues.

Create an atmosphere in which employees can trust their supervisors and know they can report
violators of the ethics policy. Supervisors should keep employees who report violators
anonymous and not make them face penalty. However, employees shouldn't feel like it's their
responsibility to report violations.

Set an example. Supervisors cannot expect employees to respect them if they don't follow the
rules that they set. Model decision-making that embraces the ethical values that the company
embraces. Employees will respect their supervisors more and will likely follow their example

.the following key practices should be implemented to improve ethical climate in an

organization.

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 .Vision statement- the organization should have a clear dream where it is going and this
vision should be clearly understood by each members in an organization vision shapes the
behavior and instinct of employees so that they are likely to be ethical.

 .Value statement- the organization should values, beliefs, and customs shared by all its
members. These values are guidelines of employee’s behaviors. If members are clear about
values of organizations they can adjust their values to fit with the organization.

 .Code of ethic- an organization need to have strong and understandable code of ethics which
includes the agreed upon rules and laws that governs the behaviors of its members.

 .Ethics communication strategy- an organization having vision, values, and code of ethics
need to have ethics communication strategy that can be applicable to its members in
particular and the community in general so that employees and stakeholders can understand
and implement what is expected of them.

 .Ethical training programs- the organization must implement regular ethical training to its
employees so that problems can be corrected and good practices can be strengthened.

 .Ethical leadership in the organization- leadership is influencing followers and followers

are more likely to imitate the behavior of their leaders so leadership need to be ethical/
leaders need to be role models for their followers.

 .Rewarding ethical behavior- incentives are best mechanisms to promote ethical behavior
and practices. So rewarding ethical behaviors can strength themselves and are a key educator
for others.

 .Strengthening ethical committee- ethical committee plays determinant roles in building

good behaviors and practices in organizations. They train, recruit for rewards and promoters
ethical issues.

 I. Ethics officer- organizations need to have ethics officers who are concerned to build and
improve ethical climates. The individuals are responsible for promoting good behaviors,
provides training, and introducing updated values, rules and guides to the employees.

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 .Regular monitoring and evaluation. Building ethic can’t be established overnight, it
needs continuous process and efforts. The process needs serious monitoring and evaluations
which should be followed by rewarding, training, and role modeling.

Sating the above methods are best practices to be implemented in improving ethical climate
doesn’t mean that they are out of weakness. They have their own strength and weaknesses. Here
are some examples;

Strength:

 The above methods increases team building activities

 They build trust and positive relationships between employees.

 They promote self-learning in an organization

 They increase role models in an organization

 They help the organization and its employees to integrate with external environment.

Weaknesses:

 -They consume more budget, time, and additional workforce.

 -They create busy environment in the organization.

 -Suspect ions especially of the reward face biasness.

 -Organization may be profit oriented; in this case they can enforce it to go out of its basic
purpose etc.

These weaknesses can be solved and ethical organization can be build. Here the main point is
that:

 Role modeling in leadership

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  Increasing employees inspiration and

 Practicing best practices daily

QU. 5. Do you agree that society in this 21 st Century is intoxicated with technology? Does
this pose special problems for organizations (be it is business or public) with respect to the
ethics of technology use? How will such intoxication blind people to ethical considerations?
Discuss in detail by substantiating your views with pertinent examples.

The word technology is actually derived from the Greek word "techno", which means art (the
application of human creativity) and handicrafts.
Technology can be described as applying scientific knowledge for practical purposes.
Technology can easily be seen that the developments and changes around us have been around
since the beginning of time. Among the discoveries made by the ancient man were hunting tools,
fire detection, and farming with others.
But the modern age of technology really dates back to the 18th century, when the Industrial
Revolution began in Great Britain. It is, of course, the transfer of labor from manpower to
machines. This new age of technology has passed in the 19th, 20th and now 21st centuries.
The main focus of 21st century technology is really the introduction of computer machines
that can be used in all sectors we can imagine. Be it education, business, transport, industry, etc.
The technology of the new age has really had a positive and negative impact on the 21st
century. Now let’s really look at the impact of technology on the 21st century
The Effective Impact of Technology in the 21st Century
Access to information;
This can be seen from three perspectives. The First, there is readiness when information is
available. With the advent of computer technology in the Internet, we see that it is not necessary
for people to buy huge textbooks, beg for books, or go to the library, perhaps to read a lot of
material to choose from a small amount of information. The Internet will bring you everything
you need in just one click at home.
Expanding the Mind: Before the advent of modern technology, young people undoubtedly used
their minds to learn only what their parents, religious leaders, or schools taught them, and the
world's perception was limited to those around them. But with easy access to information, young

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people can now learn from other perspectives and compare. This comparison alone gives them
the ability to judge from a broader perspective and to realize that they can come up with their
own ideas.
This diversity of information not only expands the mind but also helps to make the classroom
more enjoyable. Regularly learning from the same method can sometimes be boring, making the
class even more enjoyable. But learning and comparing it with other information can help make
the lesson more enjoyable because students can refer to the subject they have learned with ideas
from elsewhere.
Easy connection
Gone are the days when it took months to send information from one person to another, but they
are still not sure if it has reached its destination. Students even find it difficult to communicate
with them when parents have problems at a distance school. Parents do not know how their
children went abroad or what the distance to work is, and children who work in the city do not
know how their parents return to the village, they are lost on days when they cannot get an
academic certificate except you. Sit in class. But 21st century technology has made it possible
with mobile phones, social media platforms and apps. This not only facilitates communication
but also brings peace of mind. And just knowing that a child in the city is doing well in the
village will help him to do his job peacefully and more diligently. The ability of a student to
inform his or her parents about a problem at school allows the parent to present the request and
receive it on time, which takes a long time to make learning easier. The online classroom allows
people to learn and receive certificates at their own convenience while pursuing other things,
which helps to reduce costs and save time.
Improved productivity
Increasing the number of worlds is a call for increased productivity. Before the Industrial
Revolution, much work was done by manpower. After the Industrial Revolution, much of this
man's power was transformed into a machine that controlled most of the human race. But with
the advent of technology in the 21st century, all processes can be integrated into a computer
system that allows each task to be performed faster than ever before, allowing the manufacturing
industry to produce more products in less time. Therefore, much can be produced at low cost.
Increasing the number of worlds is a call for increased productivity. Before the Industrial
Revolution, much work was done by manpower. After the Industrial Revolution, much of this

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man's power was transformed into a machine that controlled most of the human race. But with
the advent of technology in the 21st century, all processes can be integrated into a computer
system that allows each task to be performed faster than ever before, allowing the manufacturing
industry to produce more products in less time. Therefore, much can be produced at low cost.
New sources of employment
Increased productivity of industrial products and the application of 21st century technology has
led to the creation of new jobs in the marketing, transportation and distribution sectors. More
shopping malls are now needed to market more goods, and more transportation agencies are
needed for good transportation.
The promotion of the Internet, websites, and search engines is also a great development for self-
employment. Because young people can now make money online in a variety of ways. These
come from building applications, website building, blogging and partner marketing. Everyone
with basic computer skills can get involved in something important at no cost, and therefore
identify some unemployment issues.
The negative impact of technology on the 21st century.
Unemployment
True, technological advancement has resulted in increased productivity in less time and less
labor. Now that a professional can do about 20 men under the supervision of a professional, what
will happen to 20 people instead of one machine? They will automatically become unemployed.
Consider, too, the introduction of new technology into a company with unskilled workers. These
workers will lose their jobs because of incompetence.

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Conclusion
Looking at the positive and negative impacts of technology on the 21st Century some people
might be tempted to say technology has done more harm than good. But I will want to say it out
very clearly, the world won’t have been any better without technology, and surely Jesus could
have been the only one who succeeded to preach to more than 5000 people if there were no
microphones and speakers. The thing is every development has it bad side and this bad side only
shows itself in the absence of discipline. So my advice is for everyone to be discipline, before
using something, know what you want and go for it. Hence I can conclude without any doubt
that the impact of technology on the 21st century is more positive.

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