Organizational Ethics-It's Starts at the Top!

Organizational Ethics-It's Starts at the Top!
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Introduction
Those at the top in an organization have no reporting requirements to others that may have an instant ability to override or influence their decisions. They however have an indirect reporting relationship to other groups such as organizational boards. A leader or manager at the top in an organization bears responsibility over aspects such as performance and ethical leadership in the organization (Nekoranec, 2007). Top managers in organizations have increasingly garnered attention following corporate scandals over the last ten years. Some of the featured companies included Enron, Tyco, World.com and Bank of America among others. At the core of these companies’ scrutiny is a focus on the top leaders’ ethical sensitivity based on their character, conduct and formative experiences. A focus on top leaders is important because they set the moral tone for an organization.
How ethics begins with top management and flows down to the entire company
Reports indicate that when the management within an organization is unethical, it has a detrimental effect on the sustainability of the company (Kottke & Pelletier, 2013). Employees and stakeholders expect top managers to act ethically to avoid the public criticism and the collapse. Leaders also motivate others in the organization to act ethically when they engender an ethical organizational culture. Top leaders and managers are responsible for the critical ethical activities and their resultant outcomes within an organization (Nekoranec, 2007).
Ethical leadership in an organization is based on five vital principles namely respect for others, an attitude of serving others, displaying justice, epitomizing honesty and developing the communities. It is based on deontological and teleological perspectives of dutiful conduct to meet the expected obligations and engaging in activities that are justifiable by their outcomes. Ethical leaders are genuinely empathetic and this is evidenced by their respectful tendencies in listening to others. They also intentionally prioritize the welfare of others in the spirit of fairness while making important decisions within the organization. They include followers or employees in decision making processes while simultaneously modeling ethical conduct. Engaging employees in the organization also communicates the virtue of honesty in that the leader portrays heartfelt consideration of employees’ views even when decisions fail to accommodate all their wishes. Employees also feel that the leaders create an aura of community by facilitating meaningful work experiences that appreciates individual unique contributions to the organization (Nekoranec, 2007).
  Top management has the mandate to facilitate the implementation of both formal and informal ethics mechanisms. The formal aspect of organizational ethics communicati...