nd organizational demands, as part of the leadership role.
Within this perspective the leader with character would be able to deal with organizational demands and remain ethical. The leader with character has principles that will enable them to rise above self- or other-interests that conflict with organizational goals. This leader is able to transform other leaders and followers into people who adhere to moral values and goals. Character is essential for transformational leadership and it can be developed through the study and understanding of ethics as taught in the college classroom. The ethical leader provides an ethical culture within the organization and in turn the organization reinforces this behavior. The ethical organization has a strong character with integrity that interacts with the community. The opposite of this is the leader without character who creates chaos, despair, and a lack of trust for the organization and everyone involved (Calabrese & Roberts, 2002).
According to Trevino, Hartman, and Brown (2000), the leader must develop and maintain a reputation for ethical leadership. This is done by exhibiting moral personal behaviors and acting as a moral manager. The moral person must be predictable across time and situations so that the follower is able to describe the leader in specific terms. Honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity must be visible in the leader. To be able to trust a leader, he/her must be consistent, credible, and predictable in personal relationships. Behaviors must speak of morality. The ethical leader must treat each individual with dignity and respect.
A solid set of ethical values and principles, which include goals to be fair and objective, must be applied to decision-making. The ethical person does the right thing while treating individuals with respect and they must make the right thing known to everyone. As a moral manager, the ethical leader must apply ethics an...