Demonstrate ethical decision-making skills and create persuasive arguments for ethical action.
Peer-to-Peer Review of OLCU 601: Democracy, Ethics, and Leadership
Ruan Brits, Michael Farley, Christina Franks, Reynaldo Rios, Jeff Shipman
OLCU 681 Leadership Capstone Seminar
Brandman University
09 July 2018
REVIEW OF OLCU 601 2
OLCU 601 Course Review
Purpose: Review important themes, theories and major concepts covered in the core
organizational leadership course, OLCU 601: Democracy, Ethics, and Leadership.
Democracy, Ethics and Leadership Themes, Theories, and Concepts
The course learning objects for OLCU 601 were clearly listed and required no further
explanation. They were as follows:
1. Assess and apply one’s own ethical decision-making framework in relationship to ethical theories and models.
2. Demonstrate ethical decision-making skills and develop persuasive arguments for ethical action.
3. Explain values-based leadership in relation to the ethical use of power. 4. Discuss how democratic values affect the organizational culture. 5. Create a plan for promoting creating an ethical culture. 6. Explore diverse cultural influences on ethical principles in a global economy.
Ethical Leadership Themes
The major themes presented by Johnson (2016) were very interesting and understandable,
and presented in a practical manner, starting with personal ethics, ethics within an organization,
and ethics on a larger scale such as in the community and globally. The initial theme presented
was the various ethical theories used by individuals and in society, and an evaluation of their
strengths and weaknesses. The ethical theories were presented along with Case Studies and Self-
Assessments to improve understanding and application. The next major theme presented was
how one can improve the understanding and development of ethical behaviors within
organizations. Johnson (pp. 49-51) references Stephen Covey’s writings to discuss the personal
development of one’s own character. Covey (1989) is a great reference to the discussions on
personality and character ethics and dealing with how many view others and themselves (pp 18-
20). Johnson effectively ties in the personal development of individuals into the discussions of
improving organizational ethical cultures.
The last theme presented was how to build or improve upon an organization’s ethical
culture. A great example of this is the case study of Costco’s Fish Story. As Johnson (2016)
REVIEW OF OLCU 601 3
discusses in chapter 10, stories are a great way to embody an organization’s ethical standing,
especially when they use “heroes who embody these values and provide positive role models” (p.
317). Costco utilizes a story to show how their employees strove to please the customers by
improving on the quality of a product offered at their stores, without increasing price. However,
as time goes on there is increasing protests over the treatment and the environmental impacts of
farmed salmon, which is the major source for Costco.
Personal Ethical Themes
The basic foundation of one’s personal ethical perspective usually started at a young age.
Perhaps we see others around us making ethical decisions and see the results, only to realize the
ethical implications later. Or, maybe we were fortunate to have someone mentor us in some
manner regarding business ethics. Regardless of the initial exposures to ethical decision making,
the personal framework is one’s step-by-step thought process for making decisions. Whether it
is a financial decision-making framework, a career plan or framework, or an ethical framework,
it is a construct of thoughts that one uses to determine the path forward.
Many organizations are starting to incorporate ethical training into their organization’s
culture, such as the United States military. The Navy teaches basic, fundamental ethics training
to enlisted personnel during their initial training in boot camp, and continues to provide
additional training through their careers (Department of the Navy Code of Ethics, 2005). The
service academies have also incorporated ethics training into their regimes, such as at West Point
with the code “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those that do” (Johnson, 2016, p. 48).
Johnson also discusses the benefits of continued ethical training being included in the training
programs and group discussions (pp. 325-326).
REVIEW OF OLCU 601 4
Ethical Theories
There are numerous ethical theories, with Johnson (2016) explaining many in detail with
examples of their application to real-life scenarios. Additionally, theories on how to apply
ethical decisions to building or improving on an organization’s ethical perspectives are covered.
One of the ethical perspectives covered is Aristotelian Ethics with the underlying theory that
correct ethical decisions will be made if one develops ethical character traits (Johnson, p. 13). In
a discussion of the Golden Rule and Aristotle’s writings, Apressyan (2016) writes that “a
dignified person behaves toward others not on the basis of his own interests and even not in the
interest of others, but on the basis of what he understands to be noble and right” (p. 463).
Browning (2004) expounds on that principle further with a discussion of how virtue ethics
contributes to one’s development as a transformational leader (p. 110). By incorporating good
character traits into our personal inner life, we are more likely to make good, ethical choices as
leaders.
Additional ethical perspectives, or theories, hold to the belief that decisions should be
made to benefit the most people. One such theory is the utilitarianism theory that was developed
by two English philosophers, Bentham and Mills, who had two basic beliefs regarding ethical
decisions. They believed “the best decisions (1) generate the most benefits relative to their
disadvantages, and (2) benefit the largest number of people” (Johnson, 2016, p. 4).
Ethical Leadership Concepts
Several major concepts were covered in this course, with the need for ethics within
organizations being one of the top concerns. There were numerous examples of bad ethics in the
real world and case studies that demonstrated how leaders came to make those decisions.
Leaders in organizations face many ethical challenges which include; power, privilege,
REVIEW OF OLCU 601 5
responsibility, information management, consistency, and loyalty. When leaders begin to engage
in destructive behavior that is unethical or ineffective they can take on the roles of bad or toxic
leadership.
To combat unethical leadership there are several leadership theories that encourage ethical
behavior within the organization. These theories are transformational leadership, servant
leadership, authentic leadership and benevolent paternalistic leadership. Each of these theories
creates positive leadership through high ethical standards and by focusing on followers.
Ethical Decision Making and Action
When it comes to decision making it is important to understand that we make decisions
based on our principle, vocation, values, character, and spiritual resources. We all have a process
that we use to help us make decisions. When it comes to ethical decision making there are
components that help to enhance the understanding of ethical decision making and behavior.
Components of Ethical Behavior
– Moral Sensitivity (Recognition) – The recognition that an ethical problem does exist. It is
important to understand how your actions could affect others, this attention to detail will
help identify negative consequences (Johnson, 2016, p. 68).
– Moral Judgement – Based on the situation identified we then need to make a decision, to make
that decision we need to use moral judgment to determine which decision is the best for the
situation. One thing to remember with decisions and judgments is that we all have
cognitive biases that could affect the way we look at something.
– Moral Motivation -After recognizing and apply judgment to a situation an individual needs to
have the proper motivation to commit and complete the action. Hypocrisy plays a huge role
in this as we are usually better at saying something than actually following through.
REVIEW OF OLCU 601 6
– Moral Character – Having a strong character relates to how a person makes ethical decisions.
Exercising Ethical Influences
Every person regardless of position has some impact when it comes to ethics. Some
people rely too much on power positions assuming that those positions give them leverage. The
use of “power” as it relates to influence is important to understand. Types of power include
coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent (role model) power. Power is needed to balance
out the levels of control but too much power can be very harmful. Use a variety of power sources
when pursuing worthy objectives. “Position power is the most susceptible to abuse”(Johnson,
2016, p. 137). It is also important to understand the importance of empowerment and people
should not feel powerless just by empowering someone else. Leaders have to convey the right
visions in order for followers to truly believe in a leader, using that power appropriately adds to
the success of a team (DeRue, 2011). Communication of expectations can be one of your most
powerful influences.
Summary
OLCU 601 was an interesting and challenging class and covered many topics that needed
the in-depth look this class provided. The variations of beliefs behind many of the ethical
theories that every person has, regardless of position, has some level of impact when it comes to
making ethical decisions. Having the opportunity to review this material on ethical perspectives
will help us, as leaders, when making ethical decisions in the future.
REVIEW OF OLCU 601 7
References
Apressyan, R. G. (2016). Whether the Golden Rule is in Aristotle’s ethics. Russian Studies In
Philosophy, 54(6), 456-470.
Browning, M. (2014). Virtue ethics: A pathway to excellence in transformational leadership.
International Journal Of Management & Human Resources, 2(1), 109-116.
Covey, S. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic. New
York, NY: Simon & Schuster
Department of the Navy Code of Ethics (2005, November 10). Department of the Navy Code of
Ethics. Retrieved 08 June 2018, from
http://www.secnav.navy.mil/Ethics/Pages/codeofethics.aspx
DeRue, D. (2011). Adaptive leadership theory: Leading and following as a complex
adaptive Process. Research in Organizational Behavior, 125-150.
Johnson, C. E. (2016). Organizational ethics: A practical approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
