What is the role of ethics in an ideal leadership style?

Abstract

Changing labour market requires a new type of leadership. A reasonable question in this situation: what is a good leader like, who can meet these requirements? While previously a high level of professional knowledge and intelligence was expected, today, as human resources requirements have become even more emphasised, soft competences are placed into focus. Staff commitment and ethical leader behaviour are frequently addressed issues if effective leader skills are viewed from the point of view of successful organisational performance. In recent years, we have conducted a bilateral research to know the views of the staff and the leadership on the relationship between expected leader characteristics, ethical management and leadership. The qualitative and quantitative research provided an opportunity to compare results and to contrast the views of the two sides. The aim of the research was to observe whether organisations deal with the consequences of ethical leadership, and if so, to what extent. Our theoretical model was tested in 3 neighbouring countries. The electronic questionnaire survey was carried out on staff level, whereas interviews were made with managers. Simple and complex statistical tools (with SPSS program) and a content analysing method were applied to the evaluation. Results show that ethical behaviour has a significant role in everyday company practice, but the consequences of the lack of it are not dealt with on the level of leadership. According to the responses from the 3 countries, there was a significant difference between leader characteristics, expectations towards leaders and ethical behaviour, which may be attributed to cultural differences.