ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

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ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

• Implications for the new generation
• of Nigerian academic leadership.
• Presented by
• Msgr Prof Dr Obiora Ike
• UNN leadership Mission, Vision and Action
  Workshop
• September 2010

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• Ethics refers to the rational basis for human
  action on a normative level (what ought to be)
  and on an empirical level (what actually
  happens).
• Ethical leadership is like a business strategy
  that promotes sustainable, competitive advantage
  of organizations (innovation, trust, stakeholder
  satisfaction and reliability) despite fierce
  competition.

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• Ethical leadership is the power of ethical trust
  which is stable and resilient.
• Ethics helps leaders build high trust and high
  performance in organizations for competitive
  excellence.
• It offers leaders sharp examples as to how values
  in the hearts of people not only guide day to day
  activities but get them pursue strategy
  consistently, reliably and flexibly in the face
  of unforeseen events.

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• A CEO who sticks by his principles, even at the
  toughest times earns trust and credibility.
• Ethics brings a special type of trust into an
  organization for both the individual and the
  group.
• Ethical leadership has competitive advantage if
  it is adopted for its own sake, not as a means to
  an end.
• Ethics leads to trust and trust leads to
  sustainable competitive advantage.

5

• Culture, values and norms are critically
  important to ensure ethical behavior
  (internalized values offer the most effective
  form of behavior and self governance.
• Ethical behavior arises deep from within people
  from positive motivation rather than negative
  regulation (you cannot legislate against
  dishonesty. It is a value from within).

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• Less regulation and more inspiration from leaders
  results in self-discipline.
• The best form of governance is self- governance.
  The best business is Ethics.
• values are a set of core beliefs as to how we
  should or ought to behave in a broad range of
  situations.
• Ethical companies and institutions are reliable
  and survive the tempest.

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• A leaders greatest challenge is to embed values
  in the organizations culture. It is dangerous to
  ignore this challenge.
• Consistency is essential in a competitive
  environment.
• The true test of an ethical organization is how
  it behaves in tough times when unethical behavior
  is tempting.
• Reliability is one of the most important factors
  in business and leadership.

8

• A business, society or any group of people living
  together express its preferred values by means of
  behavioral norms.
• Socially-praised worthy behavior is about living
  and working together harmoniously and
  interdependently.
• Trust is the bond of society. Trust is hard to
  build and easy to break down. Deception is the
  most dangerous enemy of trust.

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• A business culture that actively rejects
  deception will nurture trust.
• The best checks on deception are active enquiry,
  checking of information, accessing evidence and
  accessing whether good reasons for trust exists.
• Deception is the prime enemy of trust, but any
  act of bad management erodes trust.
• Placing trust is risky. Not trusting is also
  risky. Distrust is part of authentic trust.

10

• Team concern is ethical. Members of a great team
  do things for the members of the group. They have
  WE intentions. Good teams make sacrifice for
  mutual benefits.
• Cohesion pushes productivity. Belonging boosts
  identity. Bonded interdependence leads to well
  being and high performance.
• To make a stand for what is right for others is
  one of the most self-defining things we can do.

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• A spontaneous sense of obligation by the leader
  to do the best for the organization is a key
  factor for sustainable competitive advantage.
• Normative trust is about trusting one another to
  do what is right. Ethical trust cuts transaction
  costs, simplifies complexity, facilitates
  creativity, networking and membership pride.
• Generalized reciprocity is the most reliable kind
  of trust in business.

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• Ethical leadership implies ability to Think
  Strategy, Think Structure, Think Culture.
• To be competitive, you must innovate or else you
  die. Good leaders coordinate people and resources
  through inspiration.
• Good strategy is a never ending preoccupation. It
  is long term, sustainable in competitive
  advantage and is not short cut.
• The leaders own personal ethics and
  trustworthiness are essential to his tasks.

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• The new generation of Nigerian academic
  leadership is private sector driven, not civil
  service or public sector oriented.
• Private sector values are result oriented,
  innovative, enterprising and profitable.
• Time is of essence in ethical leadership and
  management is by example.
• Stakeholder understanding of business involves
  community, entrepreneur and environment beyond
  shareholder value.

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• Ethical leadership in education speaks the
  African voice by retrieving the past, engaging
  the present and shaping the future.
• The university as a teaching institution trains
  skilled personnel and does not manufacture
  unemployment.
• Research systems elicit responsibility which
  point to the way forward.
• Indigenous philosophies and spiritually centered
  wisdoms are within the academy.

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• Ethical leadership in African education exhibits
  a mirror of humanity.
• Africanisation of knowledge explores mathematical
  and scientific experience embedded in local
  cultural practices.
• Indigenous revolutionary education utilizes local
  content in curriculum development, practical
  discourse and liberation philosophies.

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• Thank you for your rapt attention as I now look
  forward to a lively discussion within available
  time.