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Philosophy of leadership and ethics

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Philosophy of leadership and ethics

Introduction
            Leadership is an act of having a vision, sharing the vision and influencing others to hold up your vision at the same time making their own. On the other hand, Leadership is defined as, the ability to direct others with no force application to a new way or a choice that brings the sense of empowerment and skillfulness. Efficient leadership gives the vision and morale to a team in order to operate as a team towards attaining the ultimate objective, and getting to know the skills and emotions of each person and successfully give morale to workers towards meeting the set of goals. Ethics is moral values that direct individual’s manners. These principles are influenced by cultural traditions, religious beliefs and social values. Ethics also depict values on what is worse and better, what is fair and what is unfair with respect to human matters. Moreover, ethics also gives direction on how people should interact with one another, getting to know each other better and meeting the societal demands (Winkler, 2010). Therefore, Ethics is an avenue by which we can our values and follow them.
Leadership factors
 1.Trust and integrity demonstration
            To achieve effective leadership the leader must be, in a position champion for faithfulness and integrity in service delivery. Further, a leader must obtain a lot of boldness and reverential position principles issues. A leader must always put into practice every single thing that he says for them to achieve all of his visions and show his expert skills rather than views.for the achievement of effectiveness a leader must at all time protect the classified information.

2. The setting of directions
            Leaders must always guarantee precision, ease and regularity in making of goals and initiations of plans. This will allow workers to have a picture of how leadership vision openly relates to firms objectives.

3. Relationships development
            Leaders should keenly listen to employees, find out more from the employees issues and help solve the workers grievances. Leaders should consistently show genuine value and significance of all employees, see workers as human than assets. Leaders must take the opportunity to clear up conflicts and fix spoiled affairs between workers. Leaders should also show the importance of different opinions.
4. Result oriented
            Leaders should be in a position to trace growth towards achieving the desired goals and hold others responsible for their outcome. Leaders must also show great ability to use the accessible scarce resources to achieve the desired goals. Leaders should also Use a methodical procedure to study from and share success and failure of the firm in order to acknowledge the success on a more frequent basis and celebrate the achievements.
5. Capabilities Enhancement
            Constant and correct evaluation of performance by the leaders helps in the provision of positive feedback via training and mentoring of the employees. Leaders should encourage self-assessment and enlarge individual capabilities to meet daily work challenges. Leaders should also Identify, relocate, employ and engage high performing employees always to achieve the desired goal.

Leadership influence and power
            It is general to thinking that power and leadership belong to the persons in charge, but a close study of leadership and power, depicts that power is, in fact, a role of the leader, the workers and the organization (Craig, 2011). In other words, power is a task of affiliation. Workers permit the leader to show the way and leaders get their power from People. Individuals regularly believe that power rest with the leader. Scholars who have researched on leadership and power, however, assert that power is, in fact, a role of the leader, the workers, and the organization. Hence, subscribe to the idea that power is a variable of relationship as workers permit the leader to guide, and leaders get their powers from workers (Jackson, & Parry, 2011).
1. Power of coercion
            this is a type of power that is based on fear. It makes the ruled to develop the panic of being roughly treated, ignored or sucked. This leader makes the people to leave in fear of being punished when they fail to comply.
2. Power of Legitimacy
            This is a power based on the place, office, or designation held by the leader. Usually, the senior the position or class, the more power the leader is capable to obtain from the workers. Example president, directors, or chief executive officers enjoy such powers. A leader tall in legitimate power gets the observance of others because of the feeling that these leaders have the right, by virtue of their positions.

3.  Expertise Power

            This power is based on the facts, gift, and skills of the leader. For these powers to exist, they must be accompanied by respect for that facts, gifts, and skill, besides the assumption that this knowledge is costly to the ruled. A leader high in professional power is depicted as having the skills to assist the work of others. The respect results in compliance with leaders desires.
4. Rewarding Power

             This power is based on the leader’s skill to offer rewards for other individuals. The ruled believe that reward power go side by side with the leader’s opinion and lead to positive incentives. Power of connection, this power is based on the leader’s capability on networking and coalitions that are useful to the objectives of the group. A leader with high connection power gets other individuals to follow because they aim at achieving the support or refrain the disfavor of the influential connection.
Leadership and ethical philosophy
            Leadership philosophy is the process by which we perceive ourselves as leaders. It also helps guiding our proceedings, manners, and our feelings because External and internal forces influence our philosophies. As leaders, we can alter who we are by just changing our leadership philosophy changes as an individual grows to get to know yourself within the Leadership philosophies can change as you grow to understand yourself within the framework of leading. Making or finding once leadership philosophy means you have to discover and foreshadow upon your principles and beliefs about leadership.
            Personal values; this is a leadership quality or characteristics that individuals possess. As a leader, you would rather depart from an organization or give way as a leader once the values are not respected. The leadership values help guide leaders intentions and power on how to lead. When leaders own principles are clear and knowledgeable about them, as a leader you build a strong base for leading.
            Assumptions; these are ideas that are implicit or said to be true. As a leader, it is essential to know what assumptions propel your leadership philosophy. Repeatedly, leaders are not alert to the assumptions since they are working from certain paradigms that will not permit them to observe assumptions.
            Beliefs; these are thoughts that we assert to be right as they outline our realities. If a leader subscribes to the opinion that an individual in a firm can come up with decisions is the administration of staff, then that idea will affect leaders’ treatment of others. Idea can also be insensible; as they are habitual way of viewing and acting hence does not come to our attention that our idea may be keeping us out.
Solving leadership and ethical problems
            Problem-solving needs clear contact where all persons concern airs their opinions freely, because communication is a basic need. Hence when individuals taking part in ironing out grievances at times do not express their opinions as they may fear that their jobs may be at stake, expose their friends hence making the procedure of solution finding to be a problem. Successful contact towards crisis solution happens due to the ability of a leader to assist an open conversation among the warring parting. All the parties should be heard, and once all parties have been listed to and all main views accounted for, the leader can communally single-out a course toward attaining the desired solution. Clear communication needs you to break down silos and allow boundary-less organization with an aim of focusing on the betterment of organization operation. Employees must be allowed to plot a route freely to be able to find clues to solving problems. Te breaking down of silos will allow leaders to fit easily in their employees to solving problems.
            Open-minded individuals are required to be able to break down silos easily. The act of solving a problem requires that people to work together to create and institution. Closed-minded individuals will not only slow down the decision-making process, but also make it seem so complicated when the actually it’s less complicated. Generally, in an organization some people allow pleasure themselves in creating confusions to hide their inefficiencies. In this way, they make the problem-solving process so complicated in efforts to try to make their presence known. Most of the open-minded individuals often see the finer details of a problem. They do not hesitate to tackle issues and thereby solve problems head on.
            The best strategy facilitates evolution through making changes. In order for an institution to solve any problem, there has to be a solid strategy. Identifying the best solid strategy to approach a particular problem is the best way to start in the problem-solving process. Many leaders, however, tend to forget this. To solve a problem, an effective leader has to collect the correct tools needed for the whole process. The process brings the team together hence for a good leader it is deemed as a uniting factor. Leaders must always know how to plot a path to solving a particular problem. This will serve as a foundation in which the problem-solving process will be built. A problem should never be handled half way. The best way to solve a problem is therefore based on the root cause of the problem.
Good leaders always take their time to analyze the problem before starting to solve it. In any organization, a leader is able to detect the type of group they are working with during this process. If the whole process is a failure in that it creates chaos and confusions, then something is amiss somewhere (Yukl & Mahsud, 2010).
Effective communication and collaboration skills
Good leaders should be able to communicate freely with their subordinates. The thoughts and ideas should be articulated using the best methods that can be understood by the organization. Listening is also a key factor. A leader should be a good listener in order to interpret the knowledge passed effectively. Sometimes the communication may also include emotions, feelings; a leader should be able to interpret this.
This is the greatest challenge to leadership in that most leaders fail to work effectively with diverse teams. Great leaders should be flexible and willing to compromise in different situations in order to reach the targeted goals.
Personalities in leadership practice
Judgment; most leaders, make worst decisions when they act under pressure.
Humanity; majority of leaders are always unable to incorporate others in that they view problems and situations fro their own way and tackle them that way. Most of them are insensitive to other people's feelings and, therefore, make them feel alienated.
Injustice; most times leaders, are unable to understand the rights of individuals relating to fairness. During many times, they act in an unfair manner getting the same response from their employees.
Courage; employees usually find hard times during difficult times in that leaders are not always willing to accept flaws. No one is always perfect, and flaws in any organization must be accepted.
Collaboration; efforts of work requiring more than a single input tend to flop when a leader lacks collaboration skills.
Accountability; most leaders do not account for their mistakes and instead end up blaming their employees for this. They blame the subordinates for poor outcomes when in the real sense they are the masterminds behind it.
Humility; leaders, are always very proud people and are not always open to learning from others. They always exercise superiority complex and are often too proud to be corrected.

Case study
Servant leadership
            The term servant leader was first brought to light by Robert k. Greenleaf in 1970 when he said that it all begins with the desire to serve a particular group of people. He had so much faith in servant leadership saying that it could help change the world because both the individual and the leader play a role in this kind of leadership. Unlike any other style of leadership, servant leadership employs the thoughts of employees and delegates more responsibility to them.

            This association begins with a vision. Servant leadership works with the big picture. They project possible problems and design possible solutions by planning ahead of time. They lead by provision of services to the group in the context. Before being given the authority to lead, they make plans that are for the benefits of the individuals. They always devise ways on how they can serve others in the best way (Spears, 2010). The methods they plan to use range from, provision of better environmental conditions to a safe, healthier environment.
            Servant leadership also entails relationships in a society. They may range from employer to a worker or even rules that govern institutions such as families. In this type of leadership, a leader is a more selfless, generous individual that only works to satisfy the needs of the people involved. He always puts the people ahead of everything.
Characteristics of a servant leader
            They are always constructive and people of change. Due to the visions and plans they had in mind, they always make the impossible possible. They calculate their moves before making any step and therefore they are careful.
            Most of the society’s selfless leaders are the ones who understand the other side of life. Most of them experienced troubled childhood lives and therefore always look past the problems. They are always determined to solve problems however hard it may seem and therefore they are persistent. They always turn the worst situations in wisdom and thereby motivate others to do so. They are more of role models
            Most servant leaders encircle themselves with the right group. They work with people who are self-driven and are willing to push to greater heights. These people help them in creating and establishing enormous projects that are rather motivating.
History of servant leadership and examples of servant leaders
            Servant leadership has an ancient origin. It all started with Lao Tzu who existed in 600 BC. During this time, it was referred to as a success where a leader considered success as the success of the whole group. It was described as a selfless feeling of wanting to serve the community. It was a choice that one made and was given a chance to lead. In the Bible, Jesus Christ coins servant leaders in Matthew saying that he who leads is the servant among the whole group. In the recent past, most heads of states were also considered as servant leaders because most of them fought for their countries independence, equal distribution of resource by putting aside their personal interest (Jackson, & Parry, 2011).

            Abraham Lincoln is the best example of a servant leader. During the civil war in the United States of America, he preserved the union selflessly and freed the southern slaves. It was highly regarded as a selfless act that gave him a legacy. He had a choice to let the union end or rather preserve the slave act because at that point it seemed like the best deal. He however chose to fight for the people. During the civil rights movement, Dr Martin Luther King went on a tough road in an attempt to serve the group of people involved. His aim was not to win any prize but to leave behind a legacy that future generations will view. He cared about the people he served rather than the prizes he would get while serving them (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002).

Another example of a servant leader was Mother Theresa of India; she left her job and dedicated her life to serving the less fortunate in the society by providing for them better conditions during sickness. She believed that all people deserved a proper ending to life. When she was awarded the Nobel Prize, she declined it saying that, that amount of money should be dedicated to helping the poor instead.

            Nelson Mandela of South Africa is another great example of a servant leader that selflessly led his people to freedom. He dedicated his life to fighting for the freedom of the South African nation to an extent that he was jailed for 27 years. He sacrificed his youth, dreams and ambitions for the people of South Africa. He was released later on to become the first president of the state.
Leadership theory
            Tragedies in a society are always predictable hence the tendency to come up with solutions before they happen. Most leaders always take advantage of this to step in. They tend to come up with solutions to problems such as poverty, diseases among others by coming up with programs that will eliminate these kinds of problems. Most of them tend to forget the actual people experiencing these problems and thereby fail as leaders since the problems persist. The projects that are set up to solve these kinds of society problems are often expensive requiring reasonable amounts of cash to launch them. Selfish leaders at times exaggerate the prices for them to benefit. Sometimes they fail to launch these programs embezzling the funds for their own benefits.

            Servant leadership philosophy was never explained when looking at leadership characteristics. James Scouller in 2010 explained it in his book the three models of leadership. That tried to change old theories about leadership styles by looking at the psychological aspect. A transformative society has selfless leaders that work to change the poor living standards of the people by providing better services and conditions of living. Most leaders in the present society work towards this and thereby we have experienced numerous cases of development among different countries.
Traits in servant leadership
            Every leader in society possess their own unique way of handling issues and, therefore, each on of them is unique. In servant leadership, we look at the ability of a leader to create change in the society in the context. This involves the coordination of the leaders’ works in relation to their subordinates to serve the society (Spears, 2010). A person of good will serves the people's desire while a servant leader serves the people wit what they deem as the best solution to the societal problems. Important leadership qualities of a servant leader, therefore, range from; his vision and influence to quality services to the community.
Critical success to servant leadership
            Good servant leaders should be able to understand the views and intentions of other people in the society. They should always be ready to sideline their personal views in order to accommodate the views of others. In 2010, Larry spears identified some of the critical characteristics of a servant leader as highlighted below.
            Listening is the key to good leadership. Good leaders must be efficient listeners. They should be able to be good listeners and give full audience to other people. Sometimes listening may involve gestures, emotions and body language hence a good leader must be able to interpret these types of messages.
            Good leader should support emotional health and healing of their subordinates. This will involve getting in touch with their emotions and being willing to help them. This will entail ensuring that they have the resources they need at their disposal all the time. The leader should them motivate them to work and make them feel wanted. A leader should also take into account the people they serve. They should provide their customers or clients with the best services.
            A leader should have self-awareness of them in order serve the people. Something that hurts the leader emotionally or socially has a potential to do the same to another individual hence a leader will know how to deal with people during different circumstances. Self-awareness also entails knowing your merits and demerits thereby letting the people know in order to receive their criticism at times. It will also help the leader to manage their feelings and refrain from doing hurtful acts.
            Persuasion rather than authority in leadership not only encourages fear but also encourages people to act when they are needed. Using persuasion makes other feel wanted and thereby creating relations and motivation to please. Persuasion is accompanied by the power of an expert. In any situation, once a leader is considered an expert, whatever they order is always taken into account.
            A good leader should work hard to develop the best strategy for the bigger picture. The leader must have a vision, a mission and a specific target that is realistic so realistic. A good leader should also have a foresight to be able to tell what the future holds by using the past as a reference, knowing today occurrence and getting to know better the consequences of decisions.
            Stewardship is also an important attribute of a leader and it involves taking responsibility of moves taken by the firm and faithful to all the members that are involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. A leader should take responsibility of anything tat takes places within the firm whether they are formal or informal. They should be able to take time to analyze the values they possess and those of the organization to be able to make a clear judgment on which side to take.
            Any servant leader should be committed to the growth of any individual they affect directly. Programs should be set to access and understand the growth progress in order to do work effectively.
            The leader will achieve his set goals once he or she is able to set up a community of people. People within the organization should be able to interact through events encouraging them to work together without tension. Informal meetings always break communication barriers and with this, people get in touch with the emotions of others through learning.
Conclusion
            A leader has a significant role in the day-to-day operation of any organization. They have a task of formulating a vision, objective and aims that are achieved within the stipulated times. To achieve this set of rules and conducts must be exercised. Leadership is a skill and therefore learning, and practice of these skills creates good leaders. Leaders use these skills to provide a good environment for solving emerging issues in the institutions. Leaders have the tendency of acting in a superior manner since their positions are the top of any organization. This has been the main challenge to leadership and, therefore, different scholars have found different solutions to this problem.

            One of the solutions is self-awareness that helps the leader get in touch with their emotions sand thereby accepting their weaknesses and try to adjust them. Servant leadership is a type of leadership whereby a leader is more committed to the society than to his or her personal interests. They are selfless people whose main objective is to serve the people by giving them what they deem as good. They are more in touch with the emotions of the people than other kinds of leaders.

References

Cherry, K. (2010). Leadership theories-8 major leadership theories. Retrieved from.

Craig, S. B. (2011). Leadership in Organizations by Gary Yukl.

Jackson, B., & Parry, K. (2011). A very short fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about   studying leadership. Sage.

Sendjaya, S., & Sarros, J. C. (2002). Servant leadership: Its origin, development, and application in organizations. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 9(2), 57-64.

Spears, L. C. (2010). On character and servant-leadership: Ten characteristics of effective, caring             leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.

Winkler, I. (2010). Contemporary leadership theories: Enhancing the understanding of the            complexity, subjectivity and dynamic of leadership. Springer Science & Business Media.

Yukl, G., & Mahsud, R. (2010). Why flexible and adaptive leadership is essential. Consulting       Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62(2), 81.