Ethical Leadership

by Stephen Connock and Ted Johns

Published 1 October 1995
Personnel professionalism requires directors and managers to keep fully abreast of current business strategy. The "Developing Strategies" series provides the tools for them to make a full contribution to organizational success. Today's managers are constantly faced with acute ethical dilemmas; many feel under pressure to sacrifice personal beliefs to corporate gain. Yet, most books on business ethics are obscure, over-theoretical and utterly divorced from the day-to-day realities of tough decisions and tight deadlines. This text, by contrast, adopts a considered but completely practical approach to ethical leadership, which, it argues, has nothing to do with saintliness and all to do with organizational effectiveness and management action.
Topics covered in depth, with company examples, include: balancing the needs and perspectives of different stakeholders; codes of business conduct and common ethical issues about gifts, hospitality, confidentiality, conflicts of interest and relations with suppliers; establishing the values to promote the right behaviour; effective implementation of the core principles; using training to sustain the company's ethical stance; and the role of HR in enhancing business conduct. By drawing together these central themes, the book reinforces the need to integrate organization vision and values with ethical principles, thus demonstrating the vital importance to all businesses of ethical leadership.