Ethical Leadership: Fair and Equitable Behavior for the Good of an Organization’s People

By Valarie R. Austin, October 19th, 2022, 4:00 PM EDT

(Previously Published on LinkedIn)

Leaders in organizations, such as schools, businesses or non-profits, have an obligation to protect the health and well-being of their staff, employees, volunteers, students, interns and members. If owners, decision-makers and executives willfully fail in this responsibility, they have violated the basic principles of Ethical Leadership. The Toastmasters International guide defines Ethical Leadership as an alignment of vision, mission and ethics between individuals and an organization. Ethical Leadership is distinct from personal ethics. Personal ethics stems from an individual’s values, culture, environment and other factors to assess right from wrong. Ethical Leadership is the intersection of individuals’ personal ethics with the values and culture of an organization to which they belong. The Toastmasters International guide to Ethical Leadership states there has to be commonly “accepted principles of honesty, justice, fairness and avoiding harm to others.” Otherwise, a misalignment can create situations that hurt the organization, its members or associates outside the organization. Today, some unethical leaders permit teachers, coaches, doctors, or other authority figures to harass, sexually abuse, or bully individuals within their organizations without repercussions. The crisis of Ethical Leadership can be seen in the following examples:

o The Boy Scouts of America sex abuse cases
o Sexual Harassment and Assault in the Armed Forces
o The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal and former team doctor Larry Nassar
o Roman Catholic Church priests and child sexual abuse
o Penn State and former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual abuse
o Allegations of sexual harassment, pay disparity and discrimination against women in Hollywood and other workplaces, which ignited the #MeToo and #Time’sUp movements
o The National Football League and the Washington Commanders’ (formerly the Washington Redskins’) allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct


The latest scandal involves allegations of systematic sexual abuse and a hostile work environment within the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). At every level, NWSL owners and senior managers allegedly knew or were told that coaches were abusing players and staff but did nothing according to an NPR.org report. The above examples highlight leaders who tainted the values and culture of their organization. They did not safeguard members from threats within the organization. Often, no one is held accountable or punished. Unethical leadership places power, money, and reputation above the welfare of the people who make up the organization.

There are three elements of Ethical Leadership: transparency, shared leadership, and placing the good of the organization above the leader’s interests according to Toastmasters International. Transparency involves leaders who are prepared to explain their reasoning for a decision. Mistakes and errors of individuals are common in organizations. That is how workers and leaders learn through experiences, trial and error. The second factor of Ethical Leadership is shared leadership, which allows the organization’s members to share influence and power. Everyone feels a sense of ownership to solve an organization’s problems together. They have the freedom to ask questions. Shared leadership promotes conversations about acceptable and unacceptable behavior. With this model, leaders can act on a victim’s tips, questions and fears in an honorable manner.

The third element of Ethical Leadership is placing the good of the organization above the leader’s interests. This factor is especially important in protecting an organization’s members from abuse. Unethical leaders choose to protect the organization’s reputation instead of the people who make up the organization. A 2020 Harvard Business Review article noted “executives will unconsciously overlook serious wrongdoing in their company if it benefits them or the organization.” Their actions harm people inside and outside of the organization because these leaders quietly discharge the guilty party to migrate from job location to job location without any repercussions. The person is free to abuse and engage in the harmful behavior for years. Instead, ethical leaders create a paper trail of the individual’s misconduct, the investigation, and response. The “right” actions for ethical leaders should be to report unprofessional and criminal behavior to the police, fire the individual(s), and remove them from positions of power. Accompanying actions should be ensuring the situation does not happen again. When leaders hide unprofessional, inappropriate or criminal behavior over a long period of time, the scandal is worse when it is finally exposed because these original silent “conspirators” chose not to do the right thing in the first place.

As a society and community members across the nation, it is important to rethink how we treat and train our young women and men. They should understand that dominance, aggression and cruelty are not normal. Individuals in leadership positions do not have the right to abuse the people under their control and authority. In my book, “The Student’s Comprehensive Guide for College & Other Life Lessons,” I point out that abusive behavior “thrives in the shadows but withers under public scrutiny.” No one should be abused in the interest of winning or training. No one signs up for abuse/hazing to learn how to do something or join an organization. There has to be consequences for perpetrators of abuse and harassment within an organization. Respect, professionalism and courtesy have to be embedded in the culture of an organization. If individuals cannot motivate, train, or mentor others without abuse and intimidation, they should not be leaders. They do not deserve to be in charge of anyone.

Ethical Leadership should prevail in protecting those within the employ or care of an organization. That is the “right” action. Transparency, shared leadership, and putting the good of organization above the leader’s interests instill values and culture that make abuse less likely within an organization. Young men and women should feel comfortable in requesting and even demanding respect from superiors, colleagues, and the adults around them. If the opposite occurs, they should be able to report abusive behavior and expect change/improvement. Every organization should have policies, oversight and independent investigative offices in place to ensure individuals have a place to air grievances and look for redress against bullying, harassment and sexual abuse. Individuals from the lowest level in an organization to the highest levels of leadership should know that workers/members should never have to submit to inappropriate, abusive, cruel and bullying behavior. If no one in authority listens or takes action, then the press will eagerly take up the responsibility where unethical leaders have failed their people and the organization. These situations should never progress to the point where outside forces care and do more for the people of an organization than its leaders.

Have a great semester!

 

Valarie R. Austin is the author of The Student’s Comprehensive Guide for College & Other Life Lessons. She has a wealth of knowledge on the subjects of career and college preparation. She also conducts career and college readiness workshops for high school students and parents. Check out her author’s pages on https://www.linkedin/in/valarie-r-austin, https://www.goodreads.com/valarie_r_austin and https://www.amazon.com/author/valarie_r_austin. A Youtube.com review of her book can found at https://youtu.be/xy_GSHlJsa0. This article was edited by Raffie Johnson. Copyright 2022, Vauboix Publishing LLC. Like, comment and/or share this article! (Article 4 of 5, fall 2022)