Moral Decision Making in Leadership

Leadership is not an easy task. This is mainly because in every situation, the leader is expected to make some decisions that determine the direction that his company takes. As such, if he makes a mistake, there is a very great possibility that the whole organization will be misled (Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes 2). As such, the leaders need to be very effective in their decision making skills.

This is mainly because if they. An indecisive leader is an ineffective leader there is no way that he can lead the organization to success.A leader needs to be very decisive so as to rally support from his staff (ubalt. du 1).

As such, efficient decision making is needed in order to make an effective leader, mainly because there is no way that leadership can be separated from decision making. The two are intertwined and there is no way that leadership can exist without decision making (Vroom and Jago, 3; Great Leadership 6). However, it is clear that making a decision is not an easy task. There are many factors that need to be considered in order to come up with a decision. It is no wonder, therefore, that most of the successful leaders often need time to meditate and deliberate before making a firm decision.This is not just in vain; rather, it is required for effective decision making.

It is a skill that many need to acquire (af. mil 2; George are not sure of the decision, then the whole organization would be confused. To a void such a situation, it is necessary that the leaders overcome the problem of indecisiveness 5). With such an insight, it is worth noting that decision making is a skill that cannot be traded for anything else within an organization. It is through sound decisions that a company gets to move forward. One of the major factors to consider when making a decision is the moral value of whatever decision is being made.

Unless the decision has some moral founding, it is bound to come across challenges here and there. As such, the leaders need to have a high moral fiber even as they go on their managerial activities (Velasquez 63). Especially in the business field, there is the need for the operators to be well conversant with the ethical issues. These are both in the concern of the individuals as well as the society. As such, as the leader makes the decision, the society should not be negatively affected by the decision that has been made.Similarly, the individuals within the organization should not be affected negatively by the decision that has been made.

This is what is referred to as an ethical decision (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell, 23). However, mastering the skill of making ethical and morally upright decisions is not an easy task. Rather, many people find themselves struggling on what they can do in order to make ethical decisions. Therefore, it is important to look at some of the issues that comprise of an ethical decision. Definition In everyday life, people always make decisions that affect the manner in which they act or behave towards others.

As such, it can be taken that decision making is an aspect that has to be practiced by everyone at one time or another in life (Brenkert and Beauchamp, 32). This proves that decision making is not for a specific group of people. Rather, it is a part and parcel of everyone’s life. It is only the manner in which the decision is made and its repercussions or effects that differ.

This is where the issue of ethics comes in; in the manner in which an individual’s decision affect other people or the society in general (McDonald 3). At times, people do make selfish decisions, those that do not benefit anyone else but themselves.Often, these people do not put into consideration the effects that their decisions might have on the people around them. Before knowing what a moral decision is, it is important to first look at the definition of morality itself.

McDonald defines a morality as “a system of rules that modifies our behavior in social situations. It is about the doing of good instead of harm, and sets some standards of virtuous conduct” (1). From this explanation, it is clear that there are some facts that an ethical decision has to consider. First of all, it has to consider the social setting.

In the workplace, a leader had to consider his workmates as well as his subordinates. As such, the decisions made should not negatively impact the lives of these people. Rather, they should serve to add value to the manner in which they live and also add value to their work (Anusorn, Scott and Kenneth 251). This can go a long way in improving the productivity of the workers. There is also the aspect of the code of conduct. This indicates that even as the leaders make their decisions, they have to act within the boundaries of their work ethics.

This brings about the issue of professionalism.It is well known that in every profession, there is the code of conduct that should be followed by all the individuals. As such, the leaders should comply with the code of conduct as they make their decisions. This is the practice of professionalism. Unless the leaders follow these regulations, they are bound to make decisions that are not ethical. In a nutshell, it has come out quite clearly that there are two factors to be considered when making a decision, so as to make it ethically and morally correct.

One of these is the social set up and the second one is the code of conduct.These two should always be observed by leaders as they make the decisions. In the long run, the results would be beneficial to both the leader and to the society, and it would end up reaping more benefits for the organization and improving the work relations within the organization. Process of Making the Moral Decision As already observed above, the leaders have the responsibility of making the decisions in the firm. They should consider the ethical as well as moral aspects as they make the decisions, and should be sure to make decisions that lead to the benefit of the parties involved.

In order to make such decisions, there is need to observe some procedures as indicated in the essay below. One of the models that can be used in making ethical decisions is the Rest Model (Jones 3). This involves four steps. One of them is recognizing the moral issue. This is where the leader has to know the moral issue of concern to the people, and therefore as he makes the decision, these issues will be considered.

These issues can be identified through various forums such as dialogue with the people, data collection and analysis as well as looking at previous cases that have been handled on the same issue (Norcia 4).Secondly, the model posits that the leader should make a moral judgment. This means that he analyzes the issue at hand and looks at the possible outcomes of whatever decision he makes. From the definition of what a moral decision is he should ensure that the decision leads to the good rather than harm to the people involved. Any decision that can bring negative outcomes should be automatically neglected, even if it appears as if it is the right thing to do.

In this case, the end justifies the means, and the end here should be benefit to the people and the organization.As such, the means, which is the decision made, also has to be acceptable to the people. The third step is making a moral intent. That is, the leader places the moral concerns ahead of all the other concerns that he has. It is only then that he can make a decision that will not affect others negatively. Failure to consider this can lead to improper decision making which might appear as if it is right, only to have gross negative effects.

As such, the moral intent should never be left behind when the decision has to be made (Tucker 4).For instance, in a situation where the doctor has to consider the benefit to a patient as well the moral aspect of the decision to be made, the moral aspect should always prevail. This is the same argument that is used against mercy killing; because it s morally wrong. Lastly, the leader acts on the moral concern. This is where he concludes that the decision made is right and will have no negative effects. He then goes ahead, approves it and require it to be implemented within the organization (Jones 4).

This indicates that making a moral decision is not an easy task. It is something that has to be well thought and seriously considered.Sources of Ethical Standards All along, this essay has explained how leaders can make ethical decisions by considering the ethical standards within the society. However, it is important to identify the various sources of ethical standards that the leaders can draw from (Velasquez 302). There are various sources of these ethical standards, but this essay will highlight only five of the most crucial ones.

However, it should be noted that the sources are not limited to those stated below, but can be as numerous as might be necessary for the individual leader. The utilitarian approach is the first consideration (scu. du 4). As already explained above, the decision made by the leaders should be ethical in nature.

It should have positive impacts on the people and the organization.This is the logic behind the utilitarian approach. It has it that the decision should always have positive impacts on the people. If the leader considers this, then his decisions will always be morally upright. There is also the rights approach. This implies that as the leader makes the decision, he should careful to ensure that in the long run the decision does not violate or compromise the rights of the people.

Rather, it hould be bound by the constitution as well as the professional guidelines. In essence, it should be acceptable by the individuals as well as by the society as a whole. Only then can it qualify as an ethical decision.Third to consider is the fairness and justice approach (scu.

edu 5). This borrows from the Aristotle’s policy that all are equal and should therefore be treated equally. As such, when a leader makes a decision, it should not be biased or individuals favoring certain at the expense of the others. This is mainly because such an act can compromise the good working relations among the people.

If some individuals are favored, then the others are bound to be critical about the issues, creating mistrust and divisions among the employees. The common good approach is the other factor to consider. It is self explanatory just as it is. That is, the idea behind making moral decisions is ensuring that there are positive benefits for all the parties involved. In this case the employees as well as the company should ideally benefit from the decision that the leaders make.

Lastly, another source of ethical standards is the virtue approach. Every society has its values which are embedded in the virtues that the society observes.As the leaders make the decisions, they should be in a position to consider all the ethical virtues in the society. These virtues should be observed in a broad manner. That is, they should be considered right from the formulation, implementation and evaluation as well as the outcomes of the decision made (Velasquez 405). If these factors are not considered, then the decision cannot be said to be morally upright.

Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be seen that a morally upright decision is not easy to make. There are a lot of factors that need to be considered as the leader makes the decision.In explaining these issues, the essay has looked at various aspects of a moral decision. First of all, it explained what a moral decision is, then gave the various ways through which a moral decision can be reached at. Due to the fact that a moral decision has to be based on ethical standards, the essay went on to look at the various sources of ethical standards available for the leaders.

It is therefore expected that the essay would be of great benefit to leaders as they seek to make decisions that can propel their institutions to high scales of success.