Ethical and Responsible Leadership

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Introduction
Ethics is involved with articulating and prescribing moral criteria and behaviours. Ethics is the
set of values and moral principles that directs the individual or collective activity as ethically
proper or wrong. Within the society or organisation or household, folks constantly demand
ethical behaviours, properly and ethically. Leadership is defined as the ability to persuade others
to follow the goals and actions of one's superiors. Leaders differ based on the particular
leadership style that arises from personality features. Some leaders, notably charismatic and
transformative, have influence and authority, through which they include the workforce. On the
other hand, there are some leaders, who employ the positional, and legitimate authority. The
values, norms, attitudes, beliefs, procedures, conduct, behaviours, and practises that identify
leaders vary based on the culture of the organisation, profession, or institution in which the
leader works or studies.
Ethical leadership is a term that seems to be unclear and comprises numerous components.
Instead of considering ethical leadership as stopping individuals from carrying out wrong
activities, scholars say that one should regard it as empowering people to do the right thing. An
ethical leader is a person living true to the standards of behaviour that are vital for him. To be an
ethical leader, one has to adhere to a more general norm of moral conduct (Leskiw, 2007).
Section 1
Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
Analysis and conclusion as well as a plan of action are all covered in this form of contemplation.
Overview
Graham Gibbs created the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in 1988 to systematise experiential learning. It
provides a framework for assessing events, and its cyclic nature allows for repeated encounters,
enabling you to learn and plan from both successes and failures (Kish-Gephart, 2010).
● Describe the event.
● Reactions to the occasion.
● It's important to evaluate the experience.
● Analysing things to have a better understanding of them.
● A conclusion based on what you've discovered and what questions you still have.
Develop a strategy for dealing with similar situations in the future or making general adjustments
that you feel appropriate.
Model – Each step has a detailed explanation, questions to ask yourself, and a reflection
example.
Different depths of reflection - utilising this approach to reflect more briefly
This is one reflection model. Try it out and see how it goes. If just a few questions assist you,
concentrate on them.
The model

Gibbs' reflective cycle

You may find this model useful in solving an issue. In certain cases, this might be a one-time
event or an ongoing one, such as regular meetings with a group. Although Gibbs advised using it
for repeating situations, the stages and principles may be used to one-time occurrences as well.
Description
This is where you may elaborate on the issue. The important elements are about what transpired.
Later emotions and conclusions (Kish-Gephart, 2010).
• What's up?
• When and where?
• Who was there?
• What did you and others do?
• What was the outcome?
• Why did you go?
• What did you want?
Feelings
Explore any sensations or ideas you had throughout the encounter and how they influenced it.
Good questions:
• How did you feel at the time?
• How did you feel before and after the event?
• How do you believe others felt about the situation?
• How do you believe others see the issue now?
• What were you thinking?
• How do you see the situation now?
Evaluation
You can assess what worked and what didn't in the circumstance. Be as impartial as honest as
you can. Focus on both the good and bad sides of the incident, even if one was dominant.
Good questions:
• What was good and negative about it?
• What worked?
• What went wrong?
• How did you and others participate (positively or negatively)?
Analysis
The analysis process allows you to make sense of what occurred. You've been focusing on the
situation's specifics. Now you can deduce its significance. You want to focus on the elements
that went well or badly and ask why. This is a natural location to add scholarly material
(Brimmer, 2007).
• Questions that help:
• Why did it work?
• Why didn't it work?
• What can I make of this?
• What expertise (my own or others) can assist me grasp the situation?
Example of 'Analysis
Group work assignment
Initially, I believe our work division was successful since we split according to people's abilities.
Worked well for me while alone. To me, this applies to groups as well (Hoch, 2018).
We probably didn't think through this strategy since we felt it would save time when assembling
the portions afterwards. So we had to stress out and speed through the rewrite, which took us far
longer than we anticipated. A lack of planning may have contributed to our current predicament.
The problem is explained in two ways in the literature on group work. Teams have strengths and
limitations, and each member has both. The key to effective teamwork and work delegation
seems to be using people's different strengths, which we did, though not necessarily in the same
way (Chassin, 2010).
Section 2
Decisiveness comes to mind when we think about exceptional leaders. It's hard to see effective
leaders being vague and unsure. As communicators of their goals, not as quick decision-makers.
For example, deciding whether or not to disclose “bad news” with investors is a difficult issue
for a business leader.
Great leaders know how to make choices that benefit themselves, their staff, customers, and
stakeholders. Determining the best course of action in tough circumstances is no easy task since
these choices often include ambiguity, worry, tension, and negative responses from others.
Exceptional leaders know when to act swiftly and when to acquire more information. It's
important for leaders to know when to stop looking for more information. Enough data may be
good, but too much data may be paralysing and distracting from the larger picture or crucial data
points if not collected efficiently (Hannah, 2016).
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, or the capacity to recognise and regulate your own and others' emotions,
is a critical leadership trait. Emotions are infectious, say the authors of Primal Leadership. Thus,
a leader's mood will reverberate with others, setting the tone for an organization's emotional
environment.
Social awareness and interpersonal management are components of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence is built on self-awareness. It requires precise self-evaluation. In order to
change, you must first be conscious of yourself. Self-management requires emotional
intelligence, flexibility, and a positive approach. Social awareness is comparable to self-
awareness, but the emphasis is on others, and how to connect to them. Relationship management
encompasses being influencing, inspiring, and developing people (Leskiw, 2007).
Emotional Self-Control and Decision Making
Imagine yourself in a high-risk circumstance where you had to make a quick choice and take
action. You'd probably feel anxious, fearful, or angry. Sadly, feelings like this impair our
decision-making abilities. In the emotional area of our brain, we instinctively defend ourselves.
We receive an adrenaline surge and our immediate aim is survival.
Reigning in Emotions for Strategic Decisions
To make strategic, long-term choices, we need to know how to calm our emotions so we can
activate a separate section of our brain (the prefrontal cortex), which is responsible for vision and
planning. Paradoxically, accepting and allowing our emotional reactions allows us to concentrate
on the facts.
Trying not to feel anything is like trying to stop a rollercoaster from going downhill. It requires a
lot of work, which makes us feel worse. Take the plunge and ride it out. The emotions will
subside fast, allowing you to think rationally. But the idea isn't to remove emotions from
decision-making. So they don't take over and lose emotional control (Hannah, 2016).
Managing Uncertainty and Choices

Why is it so hard to choose? Maybe it's because the outcomes and factors are unknown. We hate
uncertainty. Uncertainty causes anxiety and paralysis. To reduce the ambiguity, we look at the
problem from all angles. In the face of uncertainty, these attempts are generally fruitless and
squander time and energy.
Making ethical decisions
Morality and the concepts of good and wrong have long been a focus of philosophical inquiry.
Ethics, as coined by Aristotle, enables one to know "what to do and what should be avoided," he
said. Using contemporary ethics as a science, ethicists evaluate human relationships and
behaviour in light of predetermined principles. Business ethics include negotiating with partners,
keeping correct records, and using ethical methods of competition. No matter where they are in
the world, all entrepreneurs are required to follow the same set of ethical principles. A company's
ethics might vary greatly from those of another. With a single customer, the same rules of
engagement hold true (Leskiw, 2007). Many in the moneymaking industry aren't altogether
wrong. Because of the way certain businesses work, ethical behaviour becomes a hot button
issue (Chassin, 2010).
How Far We Will Go to Prevent Uncertainty
Uncertainty often paralyses us, causing us to make decisions based on elements that are
unconnected.
Question your need for assurance before making judgments. Acceptance, like the last strategy to
regulate negative emotions, is a necessary first step. Accepting uncertainty rather than trying to
resolve it allows us to concentrate our limited time, energy, and resources on making the best
judgments possible.
That doesn't imply you shouldn't think about a situation before acting. Various analysis may
assist provide the knowledge needed to make the best judgments. The trick is to know when and
how to obtain information to resolve doubt. If what you don't know isn't vital, then embrace the
ambiguity and go on.
Limit Your Choices
We often make the error of giving ourselves too many alternatives. We will make better choices
and decisions if we explore all options. We do this to resolve ambiguity. That way, no stone will
be left unturned, and there will be no doubt. We are prone to get overwhelmed and make no
decisions.
Researchers from Columbia Business School and Stanford University's psychology department
put up two taste booths of gourmet jams at an upmarket supermarket in 2000. One display
displayed 24 jams, whereas the other had just six. The table with 24 jams drew greater attention,
but only 3% of those who tried it purchased a jar, compared to 30% of those who tried it with six
jams (Brown, 2005).
This research and others indicate that when there are more than five or six alternatives,
individuals struggle to decide and frequently choose not to. Limit your alternatives to assist
yourself and others make better judgments. Keep alternatives to five or less to make decision
making easy.
Trusting Your Intuition
Great leaders frequently claim they make choices based on intuition. They can trust themselves
and their knowledge and not get caught up in over-analysing.
Section 3
The importance of curriculum alignment
Curriculum refers to a unit's content and organisation. The second category focuses on
programme content and organisation. Neither category understands curricula as a product. In the
third category, curriculum is seen from the student's perspective. We framed curricular alignment
in terms of programme structure and student learning.
The constructive coherence between teaching, learning, and assessment is vital for the quality of
teaching. Ensuring that all activities support the achievement of learning goals is critical to
maximising students' learning. Constructional alignment, they say. Developing alignment at the
programme level is more challenging than creating harmony within a single course or module.
Professors and supervisors failed to communicate effectively, which led to certain elements of
study being taught many times in different classes while others went unmentioned.
The relevance of curriculum mapping tools
Inconsistency in curriculum, lack of alignment with research skills, and a lack of transparency
and consistency in learning outcomes. The visual representation of the relationships between
distinct curricular components may help solve both issues. Students, teachers, and administrators
may all make well-informed decisions about the various levels of the curriculum. Curricular data
may be collected and recorded using curriculum maps in many formats.
A growing number of nations are using curriculum mapping methods to assess and enhance
curriculum coherence, and to inform quality assurance committees and accrediting authorities. It
is common to map student results on general traits (Brimmer, 2007).
Benefits
Enhance Business Reputation: 
Following excellent business procedures may help a company's reputation. Both the legality and
the quality of a company's service may be enhanced by following ethical standards. Every
unethical business practice is forbidden, and all activities are handled in compliance with the
strictest ethical guidelines. Products of higher quality are sold at a lesser profit margin.
Environment That Encourages Creativity and Innovation:
Companies benefit financially when employees like coming into work each day. As outlined by
ethical standards, companies must operate under a set of guidelines. Coworkers develop closer
relationships as a result of the training they get from their employer. 
Enhances Customer Satisfaction: 
A company's reputation is enhanced when its employees adhere to high ethical standards. It's
possible to generate a decent profit from an ethics-based company and satisfy all of your clients'
needs at a lower cost than your rivals. If you treat your consumers well, you'll get repeat
business. All of their concerns are handled in a timely way, and they get timely support.
Customers' loyalty to companies that uphold these high ethical standards is a sure sign of a
successful business.
Keeping Good Employees: 
Ethical businesses are better able to keep their finest employees for longer periods of time. In
order to retain employees, a corporation must treat its workers with respect and appreciate their
talents. They want to be acknowledged and compensated adequately for the work they do.
Companies that treat their workers with respect and openness have an easier job keeping them on
their payroll (Bolser, 2012).
Reflection
To better understand corporate ethics. Although ethics are "a priority". As well as internal tasks
and processes including integrating the firm's mission and vision with its culture, establishing
strategies, and accomplishing organizational goals. To succeed, leaders must integrate ethical
principles into their firms' rules. Business and politics seem to be losing confidence
internationally. Urgent business ethics needed to combat public corruption, erosion of principles
and values. As a result, business ethics is Centre on improving worker and community welfare.
As a result, businesses are introducing ethical norms. This technique is win-win. Employees feel
respected and happy to work for a business that gives back to the community. Customers stick
with a company that addresses community needs. With so many economic, political, social, and
cultural elements at play, it's critical to analyze your options and make values-based decisions.
Against put things in perspective, compare community and social culture to business culture
(Chassin, 2010).
Conclusion
The primary goal of ethical leadership is to ensure that the duties and obligations of the company
are carried out in an ethical way. The concepts, standards, morals, values, norms, and behaviours
that leaders and other members of the organisation may accept are the primary focus of ethics.
Leaders who uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct treat all people equally and refrain
from discrimination on the basis of any factor. They should not be afraid about interacting with
anyone outside of their organisation. Leaders have a high level of drive and are energetically
powerful, fearless, and fair in their treatment of their subordinates from a personality standpoint.
It seems that ethical leaders have strong religious convictions since their moral commitment
seems to be built in religious belief that conveys an unconditional duty to others. Ethical leaders
have the main responsibility of conveying to all employees the importance of conducting
themselves in a manner that is honest and truthful, fair, rational, efficient, conscientious, and
trustworthy at all times (Bolman, 2017).
References
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