Ethical Management of Teams and Groups in Organizations- Distinctions, Strategies, and Best Practices

Ethical Management of Teams and Groups in Organizations- Distinctions, Strategies, and Best Practices

A group is a collection of people classified together but working towards their individual goals. However, a team is a collection of people classed together and working towards collective goals. In other words, in a team, the members set collective goals where each one strives to ensure they achieve the goals (Cartwright, 2012). However, in a group, every member sets their own goals and strives to achieve them individually. Ethical decision-making is one important aspect of both team and organization leadership. Ethical decision-making is the process of evaluating and making decisions that are consistent with ethical principles (Soltes, 2017). Therefore, while making ethical decisions, team leaders or organization leaders are supposed to perceive and eliminate unethical options and select ethical options in line with ethical principles.

Making ethical decisions needs a trained sensitivity towards ethical issues and practicing methods of exploring the ethical aspects of the decisions and weighing whether they meet the ethical standards required (Rajana, 2016). Peter Drucker came up with the theory of management, which postulates that managers or team leaders should, above all, be leaders rather than dictators. Drucker argued that instead of setting strict timelines for team members and supervising them strictly as they carry out their respective assignments, leaders should opt for a more flexible and collaborative approach to their team leader. Drucker’s management theory emphasizes knowledge work, management by objectives, and decentralization of management, where the leaders delegate duties to the team members (Changeboard team, 2019). In his theory, Drucker also emphasized the issue of ethical decision-making. He asserted that leaders need to engage their team members to work collaboratively to make ethical decisions that align with ethical principles.

When leaders make ethical decisions, they are likely to foster social responsibility. Social responsibility is an ethical theory that requires people to be accountable for their civic actions. Thus, according to this theory, people in society must act or make decisions to benefit the whole society. In other words, there must be a balance between the economic growth and welfare of society. Business organizations are not only required to pursue profits but are also required to practice corporate social responsibility (Emery, 1994). From the ethical point of view, besides pursuing economic growth, business organizations are required to engage in social activities geared towards improving the social welfare of the communities in which they operate. Therefore, social responsibility goes hand in hand with ethical decisions making (Cartwright, 2012). Team leaders or managers will only manage to participate in social responsibilities if they know how to make ethical decisions within their organizations. Team leaders must be sensitive and considerate of the decisions they make to ensure that they arrive at decisions that will benefit both the organization or the team and the community.

He must use certain types of leadership styles for a leader to manage a team successfully. As discussed earlier, a team is a collection of individuals who have a common goal. Thus, a team leader should be leading the team members to work towards achieving the team goals. To do this, a team leader should employ a democratic style of leadership. The democratic leadership style is a leadership style where team members take more of a participative role in the decision-making process (Cartwright, 2012). A leader who uses a democratic style allows the team members to make the team’s decisions. Everyone is given a chance to give an opinion, and the members debate the issues to make decisions without much influence from the team leader. Thus, the democratic leadership style is an effective leadership style that team leaders and managers can use to manage teams successfully.

Transformative leadership is another leadership style that is known to be effective when it comes to team management. Transformative leadership style is a style where leaders encourage, inspire, and motivate team members to innovate and create necessary changes to bring positive outcomes (Cartwright, 2012). Transformative leaders identify the needed changes in an organization, create a vision, and help in guiding the team members in the change process through inspiration and encouragement. The leader goes further by executing the changes in tandem with the committed members of the team. The transformative leadership style is the most recent style of leadership that many corporate leaders are adopting to effect changes in their organization. It is believed that this style of leadership is very effective in helping a team or organization to attain its goals.

Therefore, both democratic and transformative leadership styles are the most effective leadership styles that leaders should employ to lead their teams successfully. However, for leaders to exhibit these two leadership styles, they should practice several things. First, these leaders should consider diversity in their team (Changeboard team, 2019). To successfully lead a team, a leader needs to embrace diversity since team members come from different backgrounds. Embracing diversity will cultivate trust and enhance the cohesiveness of the teams.

Secondly, leaders are required to master conflict management skills. Conflicts always arise in teams. Therefore, leaders should be equipped with various conflict management and dispute resolution skills to keep their teams together and functional (Changeboard team, 2019). Thirdly, team leaders should learn how to make ethical decisions. As discussed earlier, ethical decisions within an organization or a team help the organization align its decisions with the required ethical principles (Soltes, 2017).  When leaders act ethically and make ethical decisions, they will generate and sustain trust, respect, fairness, self-responsibility, and caring. The leaders are required to encourage ethical decision-making to lay the foundation for better decisions in the future.

References

Cartwright, R. (2012). Mastering Team Leadership. London: Macmillan Education UK.

Changeboard team. (2019). Ethics in decision making – what leaders need to know. Retrieved from https://www.changeboard.com/article-details/16962/ethics-in-decision-making-what-leaders-need-to-know/

Emery, E. (1994).  Ethical behavior, Leadership, and Decision Making. Walden University Scholar Works

Rajana, M. (2016). Leadership: Personal Effectiveness and Team Building, 2nd Edition Vikas Publishing House

Soltes, E. (2017). Why It’s So Hard to Train Someone to Make an Ethical Decision. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/01/why-its-so-hard-to-train-someone-to-make-an-ethical-decision

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Instructions

Write a research paper that analyzes methods used to manage teams and groups within organizations ethically. In your research paper, be sure to include the following elements:

Ethical Management of Teams and Groups in Organizations- Distinctions, Strategies, and Best Practices

• Distinguish between a group and a team.
• Discuss ethical decision-making in team leadership that promotes social responsibility.
• Discuss leadership styles and traits that are effective for successful management of groups and teams.
• Include a discussion on any aspect of leadership covered in the course that was of particular interest to you. All topics do not need to be included; yet, followership, ethics, leadership styles, multicultural leadership, and conflicts of interest are all topics that have been studied, and any one (or more) that you found particularly interesting could be incorporated into the discussion.

Your research paper should be a minimum of three pages in length, not including the title and references pages. Utilize the CSU Online Library to locate a minimum of three sources to use as references that support your research paper. All sources used must be cited and referenced according to APA guidelines.

Be sure to include the rubric elements from the guidelines below.

• Your introduction should engage the reader and clearly present the thesis and a summary of the main points to clarify your point of view.
• The review of the literature should present a critical analysis and synthesis of the existing research.
• The discussion should reveal an insightful analysis of the research.
• A summary should be present that reviews or summarizes key points and provides a smooth transition between sections.
• The writing should be clear and concise with proper sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation, and it should be free from spelling errors.
• The number of academically credible sources should meet the requirements and should be properly cited, per APA standards.