Leading by Example: Values-Based Strategy to Instill Ethical Conduct

Years of research clearly shows that relying on traditional organizational power bases is not effective when companies want to promote business ethics and performance. It is not only that the use of legitimate power to establish ethics codes and coercive power to punish employees who do not comply d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2017-09, Vol.145 (1), p.133-139
Main Authors: Nygaard, Arne, Biong, Harald, Silkoset, Ragnhild, Kidwell, Roland E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Business
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Codes of conduct
Coercion
Companies
Corporate culture
Education
Employee behavior
Ethical conduct
Ethics
Financial performance
International organizations
Leadership
Leadership training
Management
Metal industry
Mixed methods research
Organizational power
Philosophy
Quality of Life Research
Retail industry
Supermarkets
Teams
Values
Work
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Summary:Years of research clearly shows that relying on traditional organizational power bases is not effective when companies want to promote business ethics and performance. It is not only that the use of legitimate power to establish ethics codes and coercive power to punish employees who do not comply does not work; this study—based on a multi-method research approach in the retail industry—indicates that the classic iron fist leads to unethical business values and lower service performance. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel for forwardlooking managers. The ethical attitudes and behaviors of employees within international organizations is a dynamic variable that is possible to change by the use of valuesbased leadership. Our extensive study of a large grocery store chain owned by a multinational corporation indicates that managers who lead by example will boost team values and commitment.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-015-2885-9