Ethical Leadership
Most people have long assumed that top managers are ethical people. But in the wake of
recent corporate scandals, faith in top managers has been shaken. Perhaps now more
than ever, high standards of ethical conduct are being held up as a prerequisite for effec-
tive leadership. More specifically, top managers are being called on to maintain high eth-
ical standards for their own conduct, to exhibit ethical behavior unfailingly, and to hold
others in their organization to the same standards.
The behaviors of top leaders are being scrutinized more than ever, and those
responsible for hiring new leaders for a business are looking more and more closely
at the background of those being considered. And the emerging pressures for stron-
ger corporate governance models are likely to further increase commitment to select-
ing only those individuals with high ethical standards and to holding them more
accountable than in the past for both their actions and the consequences of those
actions.
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POLITICAL BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS
Another common influence on behavior is politics and political behavior.
Political
behavior
describes activities carried out for the specific purpose of acquiring, developing,
and using power and other resources to obtain one’s preferred outcomes.
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Political
behavior may be undertaken by managers dealing with their subordinates, subordinates
dealing with their managers, and managers and subordinates dealing with others at the
same level. In other words, it may be directed upward, downward, or laterally. Decisions
ranging from where to locate a manufacturing plant to where to put the company coffee-
maker are subject to political action. In any situation, individuals may engage in political
behavior to further their own ends, to protect themselves from others, to further goals
they sincerely believe to be in the organization’s best interests, or simply to acquire and
exercise power. And power may be sought by individuals, by groups of individuals, or by
groups of groups.
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proportion of the population. Representation on
executive teams is only 4.2 percent.
• Hispanics fared worse than any other minority.
Although they represent 15 percent of the
U.S. population, they comprise only 3.3 percent of
board members and 3 percent of executive-team
members.
The report, says task force chair Robert Menen-
dez (one of a small number of Hispanic members of
the U.S. Senate),
clearly confirms what we had suspected all along—
that American corporations need to do better when
it comes to having the boardrooms on Wall Street
reflect the reality on Main Street. We need to
change the dynamic and make it commonplace for
minorities to be part of the American corporate
structure. It is not just about doing what’s right,
but it’s a good business decision that will benefit
both corporations and the communities they’re tap-
ping into and making investments in.
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