The importance of ethical leadership
The importance of ethical leadership
More and more companies fall into the ethical crisis which leads to the collapse or even bankruptcy in decades. Therefore, having an ethical leading organization is the key for enterprise to create a good corporate image and to engage employees. There are two fundamental principles that can not neglect are deontological and teleological when we discussing ethical leadership. The most significant distinction between deontological and teleological is that the deontological ethics finds out if an behavior is good or bad through inspecting the behavior itself while the teleological consider the consequence that brought by the behavior(Hasa, 2019).
Deontological and teleological
The core of deontology is the Kantian categorical imperative to act only on principles that can simultaneously become universal laws in the human mind. We must act responsibly and without regard to the consequences. We can see that deontology is a kind of rule-primacy ethics.(Jiaming, 2010). In deontology, a business can be judged by its motivation to do good. The end result may be satisfied, or may produce undesirable results, however some people believe that the action is justified because the motive is good, and then new ideas come to mind about how to do it better. If the motive is pure and beautiful, it will expose new possibilities for creating good(Yingjie& Yu, 2020).
On the other hand, teleology has its roots in the writings and ideas of Plato and Aristotle. Teleology holds that the prosperity of human beings is the ultimate goal or goal of everyone. As for the good or bad of the behavior in the process of achieving this goal, we should not draw conclusions in advance, but define the good or bad of our behavior by the good or bad of the final results. These ideas apply not only to business, but also to the cultivation of personal character(The ethics center, 2022).
Examples of 2 principle theories
To make the distinction a little bit more intuitive, I'm going to introduce the trolley problem. From a teleological point of view, for the sake of everyone on board, the driver had to divert to a different track. But this choice can not be made in deontology. In deontology, it is clearly immoral to turn the steering wheel and cause the death of an innocent person, and the train driver, as the decision maker, should act out of his own inner responsibility without considering the consequences (Andrew, 2014).
A company with good ethical leadership
In contrast to fast fashion giants such as H&M and Zara, Patagonia encourages consumers to "buy less." In a 2011 campaign, Patagonia appealed to customers with bright, minimalist graphics and bold type, while encouraging them to tackle consumerism. Patagonia's European marketing director Alex Weller said that the company's aim is to encourage customers to be more responsible consumers, and if they don't need the jacket, they don't buy it (Andy, 2021). In addition, you can go to Patagonia's website to see a very detailed timeline of how Patagonia is constantly improving the working environment for its employees and treating them as fairly as possible. Not only that, The company was also one of the first in the USA to launch an on-site childcare program to help families avoid financial ruin due to child care costs(Ecothes team).
Unethical action in a company
Amazon, the world famous e-retailer, has caused untold damage to the British economy through egregious tax avoidance since 2012. From tax avoidance of wealth can make amazon in various countries and regions around the world achieve monopoly situation, and drastically on the development of other enterprises, in addition, amazon's staff did not because of the rapid development of the company and get the basic rights, the staff to work over time every day, including pregnant staff, Many employees became overwhelmed and objected to the company's mistreatment, only to be fired(ethical consumer).
Conclusion
Through the above two cases, we can clearly see the impact of corporate ethics on the environment, economy, employees and the development of the company. A company with good corporate ethics can enhance the cohesion of employees and the company, and jointly move towards a more noble goal. At the same time, it can also have a good influence on the economy and environment.
Suggestion
In order to make the whole company healthy and sustainable, leaders should lead by example in their work, setting clear ethics and defining ethical boundaries.
Reference
Hasa. (2019, February 07).Difference Between Teleological and Deontological.
Jiaming, C. (2016). Confucian deontological ethics from the perspective of Chinese modernization.
Yingjie, L& Yu, T. (2020). The Dimension and Contemporary Value of the Business in the Shanxi Merchant Qiao’s Family Instructions. https://urlzs.com/WdA7d
Andrew, C.(2014). Deontology: Kantian Ethics. https://urlzs.com/kq8ur
The ethics center. (2022). BIG THINKERS + EXPLAINERS. https://ethics.org.au/teleology/
Andy, C. (2021). 5 examples of truly ethical companies and how it is reflected in their marketing.
The ecothes team. (2021). Is Patagonia Ethical? Full Brand Analysis.
Ethical consumer. (2022). Boycott Amazon. https://urlzs.com/cXUdq
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