Ethical Leadership - Traits of Ethical Leaders, Characteristics, Examples and Advantages

Ethical Leadership refers to a leadership style where an individual acts according to his moral principles in his day-to-day professional life.

Ethical Leadership is about showing values, trust, consideration, impartiality, and uprightness in a management position

Traits of Ethical Leaders

1. Open to development
2. Encourages open communication
3. Respects everyone
4. Unbiased meditation
5. Understands the value of ethics
6. A good communicator
7. Lead by example
8. Has an inherent ability to manage stressful situations calmly

Ethical Leadership Characteristics

1. Promotes a sense of team spirit and social belonging within the organization.

2. Takes initiatives and helps employees to prosper and grow.

3. Encourages employees to do the right thing during both convenient and inconvenient times.

4. Impartial and unbiased hence does not give anyone preferential treatment.

5. Has high regard for the opinions of others.

6. Respectful, faithful and honest.

7. Compassionate and kind.

Examples of the type of conduct needed to build soft skills

- Base decisions on principles
- Zero tolerance for ethical violations
- Moral values and principles
- Champion the importance of ethics
- Convey ethics
- Esteem and fairness
- Recruit employees showing ethical traits

Comparison to other Leadership Styles

- Ethical Leadership is partly similar to other styles like authentic leadership, spiritual leadership and transformational leadership.

- Ethical Leadership puts the onus on moral management, Transformational leadership on vision and values and Spiritual leadership on hope and faith.

Ethical Leadership Advantages

- Actions try to minimize any harm
- Promotes consistency
- All decisions, rules, regulations abide by the law
- Positive and flourishing work environment
- Emphasis on diligence
- Sense of responsibility and ownership

Ethical Leadership Disadvantages

- Every ethical leader does not have the charm to influence others.

- Leaders demand complete agreement with each other and this often proves time-consuming.

- The unethical action of a single person impacts everyone negatively.

- Implementation of ethical standards is expensive.

- Varying morals often clash with each other within the organization.

This video is on Ethical Leadership and it has the following sub-topics.

Time Stamps

0:00 What is Ethical Leadership?
00:20 Definition of Ethical Leadership
00:50 Traits of Ethical Leaders
01:13 Ethical Leadership Characteristics
02:38 Ethical Leadership Examples
03:02 Comparison to other Leadership Styles
03:34 Ethical Leadership Advantages
04:34 Ethical Leadership Disadvantages