Ethical Dilemma "Do the Ends Justify the Means?"

Leaders are usually judged solely on their end achievements. Leaders who desire to be ethical want to serve others and are honest and just; these protocols are a central part of their management philosophy. Enderle writes that "If managerial leadership means deciding responsibly in a complex situation, the ethical dimension of leadership has to be clarified by the leader"(Enderle, 2007). Contingency theory says that leadership qualities of a leader are matched to the setting to be successful; if they are not then they will fail. But leaders are not judged on their intentions to want to be ethical but for their achievements. Leaders are the social architects for their companies; as they lead they interpret and direct for their companies' personnel (Robbins, 2007). Landers writes that we judge the "effectiveness of leaders by their results - whether it's the profitability of a company or the win / loss ratio of a head coach" (Landers, 2006).

It is human nature to applaud the successful person in almost any activity. When employees, shareholders, and society forgive leaders that use questionable means to make a company successful it is understandable and in our human nature (Enderle, 2007). Soctries writes that "executives might be guilty of committing crimes of their own free will" and their ethical standards were left out of the method (Soctries, 2003). It would be difficult for a stockholder to argue against the processes a business uses if the business posts high quarterly profits benefiting that stockholder (Enderle, 2007).

Enderle writes that "being responsible for the effect of one's decisions on human beings is important (Enderle, 2007). Free will would dictate that leaders could choose to refuse to do unethical actions and their levels of experiences would give them the understanding and ability to find ethical ways to achieve successes but in most cases that proves to be too difficult. Consider the recent stories concerning Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski or Kenneth Lay and Enron. These two ethical incidents had different subjective and objective results relating to the public's perceptions and the application of US laws. Bill Clinton framed his words carefully to keep the public focus on his charismatic leadership and divert attention from his possible criminal misdoings. Kenneth Lay attempted to divert blame to the corporate employee structure to lessen the effects for himself but was not successful in gaining public sympathy or diverting US laws (Blamm, 2007; Landers, 2003). Consider how the US public perceives these men now that time has passed. We vilify Enron and Mr. Lay and most Americans admire Mr. Clinton. But I think both did unethical things. I find it interesting that these two leaders managed to appear so different while they were in the midst of their public situations (Enderle, 2007).

I think the possibility of self-delusion persists in all of us; the public and our leaders. We want out leaders to be trustworthy, forthright and knowing even if they are not. I think our leaders want to be trustworthy, forthright and knowing even if they are not. The nature of a leaders' behavior is related to their actions not necessarily their ethical beliefs (Blamm, 2007). No, "the ends do not justify the means" (Robbins, 2007). The reality is that most times in this world; the ethics of a leader is compromised by internal and external forces (Landers, 2003).

References

Blamm, L. (2007, January 9). We're all still Here. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from Strike the Root.com Web site: http://www.strike-the-root.com/71/log/log1.html

Enderle, G. (1987). Some perspectives on managerial ethical leadership. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from Journal of Business Ethics Web site: http://www.springerlink.com/content/p717km688r506725

Landers, B. (2006). Ethical Leadership. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from Money-zine.com Web site: http://www.money-zine.com/Career-Development/Leadership-Skill/Ethical-Leadership.htmRobbins, S. P. & Judge, T.A. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Soctries, P. (2003, December 12). The Ends Do Not Justify the Means, Part I. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from Journal of the Association of Future Philosophers Web site: http://www.calstatela.edu/orgs/afp/ethical.htm