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Ethical Leadership

In the current corporate environment, sustainable leadership is of paramount importance. It enables organizations to benefit optimally from the human resources. Furthermore, it enhances retention of employees, reduces costs, increases productivity and enables the respective organizations to maintain a competitive edge. Sustainable leadership is largely defined by the concept of ethical leadership. This puts in consideration the wide ranging needs of the employees and actively involves them in leadership. Employees in this regard feel appreciated, respected and cared for. The resultant job satisfaction enables the respective employees to maintained continued or sustained growth and development. This has direct positive impacts on the performance of the organization. This paper critically analyzes the leadership of the chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Company in light of the five ethical principles of leadership.

The success of Wal-Mart can partly be attributed to the respect that Scott Lee extends to the employees. In this regard, he recognizes the individual needs, purposes and values of his diverse work force. He helps them to align the diverse beliefs and values to those that are developed by the company in order to reconcile possible gaps. Scott Lee works together with other members of the management to train the new recruits and inform them about the organizational culture. The decision to join the company is made voluntarily and base on informed thought. The organizational culture is consistent with the values and beliefs of the local communities as well as employees. Respect is also exhibited through constant appreciation of the efforts of the employees through promotions, pay rise and other benefits such as insurance and paid vocations.

With regards to serving others, Northouse (2007) argues that ethical leaders need to be follower centered. Although Scott Lee has taken immense measures to cater for the needs of the clients, he has failed to address the needs of the employees accordingly. In the current competitive global environment, it is certain that employees require sufficient compensation in order to empower them accordingly. Seemingly, Wal-Mart has placed undue emphasis on catering for the needs of the clients. The policies that are aimed at minimizing costs in a bid to attain this goal have significantly impacted on vital programs such as team building and mentoring that define servant leadership.

Nonetheless, Scott Lee has succeeded in making justice a mainstream factor in his leadership. According to Daft (2010), justice with regards to leadership entails equal distribution of costs and returns. All the Wal-Mart employees including the management team are given compensation depending on their skills and experience. Wal-Mart also encourages honesty and rewards this behavior accordingly. In this regard, the company provides its employees with reports regarding its financial flows and plans with them accordingly. It also informs the employees about its policies well before recruitment. The inherent openness has been instrumental in enhancing trust and enabling it to avoid employee turn over.

The current expansion and successful operation of Wal-Mart in different foreign destinations such as Japan and China can be attributed to its social corporate responsibility initiatives. In his review, Bennis (2003) asserts that ethical leaders need to cater for the needs of all the stakeholders. In this regard, local communities benefit significantly from Wal-Mart operations. Company reports indicate that in most cases, the workforce is drawn from the local community. Furthermore, the products that the company offers are reflective of the values and virtues that the respective local community upholds. Furthermore, Scott Lee together with the management initiates programs related to environmental protection and green practices in regions that they establish operations. This has been imperative in enhancing local acceptability and sustainable growth and development of the company.

In light of Heifetz’s view on ethical leadership, Scott Lee has effectively managed to maintain harmonic existence of its workforce. As aforementioned, this has been attained through the reconciliation of inconsistencies between the values of the organization and the values of the employees. Using his authority as the chief executive officer of this company, Scott Lee has enforced certain laws and regulations that govern employee behavior. These are also supportive of organizational change that Wal-Mart experiences periodically. According to Northouse (2007), Burns postulates that ethical leaders need to provide suitable work environment that can enable their employees to review their needs and values. This according to Burns enhances quality performance and enables the employees to value justice, liberty and equality.

In this regard, Scott Lee has managed to encourage this through providing model leadership that is devoid of incidences such as corruption. With this, employees are able to constantly re examine their activities and align these to acceptable values and virtues. Greenleaf on the other hand argues that ethical leadership is akin to servant leadership. The ethic of caring and addressing the needs of the less fortunate is intrinsic to this form of leadership. As mentioned earlier, Scott Lee has implemented this through corporate social responsibility initiatives. By providing employment opportunities, the company addresses the needs of the less fortunate. Allowing for community involvement in management of the organization also implies that Wal-Mart is concerned about the needs, interests and values the perceptions of all the stakeholders.

References

Bennis, W. (2003). On becoming a leader. New York, NY: Perseus Publishing.

Daft, R. (2010). The Leadership Experience. USA: South Western College Publishers

Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications