After reading Strong Ethics Provide Guidance, I feel as if I am more aware of just how important it is for leaders to be confident and encouraging to the people they lead, as they are setting examples for success. In times of uncertainty, it can be very discouraging if a leader is visibly shaken and not able to stand strong and be confident to deal with whatever may be happening. I am reminded of when I was little, and my family was going through some difficult hardships. My dad never let me or my brothers see just how bad it was, as he remained strong for us. He was able to still lead our family, ensuring us that everything would be okay, even if he was not one hundred percent confident that it would be. By him doing that, I have always been able to put my trust in him, knowing he can handle whatever situtations come our way. This is the same in the workplace with leaders. Employees want to feel confident and secure in where they are at, and if their leaders are not exemplifying security, it can cause anxiety and uncertainty.
What stood out to me was this quote, “In volatile times, we may turn to our formal leadership to help us realize we still stand on solid ground, we still make a difference and we still matter.” This is why it is so important for leaders to be strong, confident, and able to face any challenge that may come their way.
Guest Column: “Strong ethics provide guidance,” Triangle Business Journal, Feb 17, 2017.
What I found most interesting after reading “Value Based Leadership Paradigm,” was how all leaders conduct through their beliefs and values. As simple and obvious as it seems, it is very true that leaders make decisions based upon their own personal values. This is why business ethics is so important, as not every shares the same personal values, especially when making decisions that could have a positive or negative impact on more than just the leader themself. Reading this article, I am reminded of a person who formally held a leadership position at my church. Unfortuantley, their personal values when making decisions, they only thought about the benfits of their self image, and their family, not of the church as a whole. This caused many issues within our church as many people disagreed with the decisions this person was mkaing, and the power they held.
This specific situtaion, along with the article itself, reminds me just how important it is for leaders to have strong ethics and morals, when leading other based on their personal values. I also find it important that people understand that personal values differ within everyone, and it is important to understand and respect that. I also found the models shown to be very interesting and important. These models can be applicable to not only business settings, but personal lives as well. This is important as personal values and oponions are often time brought into the workplace through leadership.
Shatalebi, B., Yarmohammadian, M.H. (2011). Value based leadership paradigm. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811009050
“Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model,” written by author Thomas M. Jones, shares three important definitions of ethical decision making. The three include a moral issue, which is “present where a person’s actions, when freely performed, may harm or benefit others” (Velasquez & Rostankowski, 1985). The second, a moral agent, which is “a person who makes a moral decision, even though he or she may not recognize that moral issues are at stake.” And finally, an ethical decision, which is defined as a “decision that is both legal and morally acceptable to the larger community.” These three definitions are used in every day life and are very helpful and important when it comes to businesses and how they operate in their respected environment. I think the questions discussed in the article provide a good outline of what employers and leaders of companies should keep in mind when hiring and navigating employees. The article discusses sort of an outline for businesses to follow, which is vital if a business truly prioritizes business ethics and its importance. This text reminds me of the other texts I just read, “Ethics Awareness,” by UC San Diego, as they emphasize the importance of business ethics. Both articles discuss similar ethical frameworks and why they are so important within a business environement.
UC San Diego. (2022, February 3) Ethics Awareness. Blink.ucsd.edu. https://blink.ucsd.edu/finance/accountability/ethics-awareness.html
Jones, T. M. (1991) Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. The Academy of Management Review, 16(2), 366. https://doi.org/10.2307/258867
Upon completetion of reading Ethics Awareness by UC San Diego, I feel as if I have a better understanding of why ethics is so important to me, both in my personal life and in professional settings. The article begins discussing why ethics are so important to them, and why they should be important to readers. They state that certain characteristics come from prioritizing ethics, like trustworthiness, respect, responsiblity, fairness, caring, and good citizenship. These specefic characteristics help set an individual up for success within a partnership and business environemnt. While reading this article, I am reminded of a discussion I shared with my aunt, who is a successful lawyer and leader within her laew firm. She stated how “all the money in the world is great, but if you got it by mistreating people or cheating people, it will come bacl to get you.” She emphasized how much better it is to operate a business with ethics at the forefront of her mind, always. I think the article does a great job at emphasizing why busines ethics are so important to them at UC San Diego, as a positive reputation is extremely important to them because of the impacts it has on them. I also really liked how they added what are some consequences of unethical behvior, because I think that helps emphasize just how important business ethics are and why they should be prioritized.
UC San Diego. (2022, February 3) Ethics Awareness. Blink.ucsd.edu. https://blink.ucsd.edu/finance/accountability/ethics-awareness.html
While reading “Playing favories? Hospital boards, donors get COVID shots,” I am reminded of the issues and arguments that were so prevelant during this time. So many people wanting to get the vaccine, so many people not wanting to get the vaccine, and so many disagreements. Not only just with the vaccine, but if the quarantine was really necessary, if face masks and coverings should be legal, and what could be considered an “essential business,” as many businesses wanted to stay open and were doing everything they could to. This caused many people to put their business ethics on the backburner, as they had no problem being dishonest and lacking integrity in an attempt to stay open. Many people felt it was unfair that some people, depending on their situtaion, got special treatment over others.
Many people lived in fear during this time, and viewed the vaccine as a sign of hope. So when they did not get first access to it, they were naturally very upset. Because of someone’s situtaion and status, they recieved something important to others, before they even got the chance. It can be very frustrtaing when it seems as if favoritism is being shown. I am reminded of a time when I was playing club soccer, and my coach’s niece was on my team. She barely showed up to trainings, barey put in any work or went to any outside practices or weight lifting, but for some reason, still got a starting spot for almost every game. Even though there were players who played the same position as her, but where twice as good and worked twice as hard on the team, she was shown favoritism by our coach.
“Playing Favorites? Hospital Boards, Donors Get Covid Shots.” AP News, AP News, 20 Apr. 2021, apnews.com/article/technology-washington-coronavirus-pandemic-russ-seattle-c453fc84e9378ba4259715d3e0ad50d9?fbclid=IwAR0f5KQatkPEoDv64vUzJLY1qg24st1qSKop4uZI8XaU9HOS4PnXHdAdskA.
While reading “LuLaRoe was a little more than a scam, a Washington state lawsuit claims,” I am reminded of when my mother’s friends were involved in LuLaRoe, and they spoke of it like it was the greatest thing to ever exist. I remember hearing them disucss it and my school, and trying their best to convinve my mom to join. Thankfully, my mom did not fall into the trap. After hearing how highly the women talked about it, I thought my mom should take part in it as well, but now I understand and see why it would not have been smart.
Reflecting on this articel, I feel as if I am more aware of how prevelant scams are and how easy it is to fall into one. Scams are so prevelant and people can do so well at being dishonest and trying to hide it. This contradicts the Virtue Ethics Framework, as they were dishonest and lacked integrity. The company revealed their own personal ethics by being dishonest and lacking integrity, causing many stay at home mothers alot of time and money. They gave investors items they could not even sell, causing them to go into debt.
Jones, Charisse. “Lularoe Was Little More than a Scam, a Washington State Lawsuit Claims.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Jan. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/28/lularoe-pyramid-scheme-duped-consumers-washington-suit-says/2700412002/.
The article “Ethical Role of a Manager” explains the importance of ethical leadership within a business setting, and just how beneficial it can be. Personal ethics and business ethics are combined together for leaders. “The ethical role of managers, or what the business ethicist Linda Treviño and her colleagues call ethical leadership, is a combination of being a moral person and being a moral manager.” To be a moral manager, you must be a moral person. This reminds me of the ethical framework, the virtue lens, as it focuses on the importance of human values and beliefs, such as honesty, integrity, and compassion. A good manager who prioritizes business ethics will value their own personal ethics first, and put them to use within business settings. A leader, who wants to do the right thing and suceed in their company must obtain morally right attributes such as honesty, integrity, respect for others and compassion. These attributes begin at personal ethics, and translate later into business ethics. This is why it is so important to prirotize ethics when in a leadership role, as it can have a positive affect on the business or company.
I found this article to be very interesting and helpful as it discusses the importance of selfless leaders and the importance of doing the right thing. The article goes on to share ethical frameworks which can be very beneficial to all scenarios in business, providing an outline for specefic frameworks. Rights and duties, utilitarianism, justice, ethics of care, making ethical manergrial decisions are all discussed, followed by more developement.
Waddock, Sandra. “Ethical Role of the Manager.” Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Ed. . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE,
In The Role of Values in Leadership: How Leadership Values Shape Value Creation, written by Scott Lichtenstein shares the history and importance of leadership. The author discusses the different forms of leadership over the years, and how “my way or the highway” has seen to become the most common form of leadership. The article goes on to discuss how personal values affect the values of leadership. “Personal values impact leaders in at least two ways: 1) as a perceptual filter that shapes decisions and behaviour, and 2) as a driver of their methods of creating value.”
In my own personal life, I have seen first hand how this is true, personal values do have a major affect and impact on leaders. I was working for a company that was primarliy male employees, and my boss was an older gentleman, who had a very old fashioned mindset. He believed that it was disrespectful to ask me, a woman, to do certain tasks the job required, because they were traditionally male jobs. Because of his personal values, it affected they way he led me through the job and the work I was able to get done. While this is a negative example, there are positive personal values that can affect leadership, in a good way. If someone values ethics, honesty and integrity, that will be portrayed in their leadership, for example, Best Buy’s CEO, Hubert Joley. While everyone has different values, each value within leadership affects more than one person.
Lichtenstein, Scott. “The Role of Values in Leadership: How Leaders’ Values Shape Value Creation.” Integral Leadership Review, integralleadershipreview.com/6176-the-role-of-values-in-leadership-how-leaders-values-shape-value-creation/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2025.
In Santa Clara Markkula Center’s article titled A Framework for Ethical Decision Making, it begins what ethics are and what they are not. Follwing, the article descibres six ethical lenses for ethical decision making. Following the six approaches, the article describes how to use them when making ethical based decisions. The lenses include the rights lense, the justice lense, the unitarian lense, the common good lense, the virtue lense, and the care ethics lense.The article describes what ethics can be based on, since they are not based on things like religion or personal feelings.
These lenses go hand in hand with the five different value approaches expressed in the other article published by the Markula Center titled Thinking Ethically. I think these six approaches, paired with the different value approaches can be very beneficial when trying to make ethical decisions. I think thinking these things before making decisions could be very helpful to me throughout my life whether it be personal or professional settings. I think every business and corporation’s leadership teams should consider all of these approaches before making any decisions, as business ethics are so important. This could prevent alot of issues further down the road within their business. While these will be very important and helpful in my own personal life, these are things all of the world should take into consideration and really prioritize. I think the world would be a better place if more and more people prioritize ethical decision making in businesses, politics, and personal life.
A Framework for Ethical Decision Making. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. (2021, November 8). https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/
The Santa Clara Markula Center’s article “Thinking Ethically” descibes how ethics is something that is apart of everyones life and is something everyone thinks about each day through different situations and scenarios. The article states that ethics do not just resolve around facts, for example what is right and wrong, but it also requires values, like why something is right and why something is wrong. Following, the artcile shares five different value approaches philosophers have developed to deal with ethics and moral issues. The five include the unitarian approach, the rights approach, the fairness of justice approach, the common-good approach, and finally the virtue approach. Following each approach, there are five questions that must be asked to comprehend ethical values.
For me personally, I like to consider myself a very fair person. I find it very upsetting when certain situtations are not fair to all. I understand that the world is unfair and not perfect, but I find it important and ethical to be as fair as possible. For example, class punishments. In elementary school, I was a very good kid, as I was terrified of getting in trouble not just at school, but at home. So when the class was misbehaving, but I was not apart of it, but we ALL got punished, I never thought that was right or ethical.
I think they world could also considere the Fairness of Justice Approach, as I think majority of our society are selfish and only care about their own good, instead of being fair and just.
Velasquez, Manuel, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer. “Thinking Ethically: A Framework for Moral Decision Making.” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University, 2021, https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/