After reading “Ethical Role of the Manager,” I was able to determine the traits and ethical roles of leadership when it comes to being a moral manager. As stated in the text, “Managing and leading can be said to be inherently ethics-laden tasks because every managerial decision affects either people or the natural environment in some way.” The ethical role of managers is a combination of being both a moral person and a moral manager. Being a moral person relates to such traits as integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness, as well as behaviors such as doing the right thing, having concern for people, being open, and maintaining standards of personal integrity. “To be able to make good decisions ethically, an individual needs to have thoughtfully developed his or her personal set of standards or values, a personal code of conduct or integrity.” Being a  moral leader and manager also involves recognizing the leader or manager that serves as a role model for others in all their duties. One also has to provide rewards and disciplines around the ethical and unethical decisions made by others, so that a clear message is sent about what behaviors are tolerated and acceptable in the work place, and this way the leader or manager cannot play favorites. Additionally, moral managers must be able to communicate openly, explicitly, and frequently about ethics and values. 

There are four methods of ethical reasoning; rights and duties, utilitarianism, justice, and the ethics of care that helps managers and leaders step through a logical thinking process to sort out the ethical dimensions of a difficult and inherently conflictual situation. “The ethical decision making framework for managers relies on reasoning using the principles of rights, justice, utility, and care. It presupposes that managerial decision makers have the capacity to reason from principles in making an ethical decision.” However, depsite this, not everyone reasons from moral principles in making ethical decisions. “Most large corporations today have developed codes of conduct internally, which are intended to provide guidance for managers confronting ethical situations and moral conflicts. Such codes of conduct need to be supplemented by internal systems, such as reward and information systems, promotion and hiring practices, recognition systems, and organizational culture and communication systems, that support their implementation.” With this, managers are able to sufficiently come to good decisions when they are faced with ethical decisions and moral conflicts. 

I think all of the points above are so important when getting in a field where one may have to take on a managerial or leadership role, and it is important to know how to deal with ethical decisions and moral conflcits, and the best way to go about them when trying to resolve the issue, or come to a group consensus. That being said, it can be hard to always come to a consensus, or even resolve the issue. However, using the four methods of ethical reasoning along with displaying the traits and ethical roles of leadership can play a vital role when it comes to resolving a dispute revolving around ethics in the workplace. 

Waddock, Sandra. “Ethical Role of the Manager.” Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. 

Ed. . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2007. 786-91. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 30 Jan. 

2012.