CAREER CONNECTION: Leadership Development Journal - Final

Running head: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL 0

Leadership Development Journal: Entry #5

Sahaboob Yassin

LDR/535

May 29, 2017

Dr. Terica Pearson, PhD

Introduction

According to Northouse (2013), ethics focuses on different types of values and principles that an individual or a group deems desirable. With that said, ethics is a significant issue especially to those in leadership roles. With an attempt to determine my ethical standards with regard to the perceptions on someone’s conduct, I took a Perceived Leader Integrity Scale, which focuses on recognizing the behaviors which lead to leader’s integrity (Whelan et al., 2013) and scored 35. The following is a summary of the scale:

How I See Myself and My Integrity

The score of 35 indicated that I have moderate ethical standards, with regard to how I perceive the behavior of other employees or followers. I would, therefore, conclude that I possess the required ethical standards of a leader as demonstrated by the scores. With regard to personal integrity, I would state that I am ethical due to a number of reasons. To begin with, the scale indicated that I have respect for my followers since I do not perceive them as selfish in terms of pursuing their own goals at the expense of others or exaggerating the mistakes of others. Northouse (2013) argues that integrity leaders should have respect to their followers by treating them ethically.

It should be noted that the perceived leader integrity scale highlighted that as a leader I do not perceive the behavior of the followers based on the consequences of their performance. For instance, it was indicated that the leader does not believe an individual would violate organizational policies so that other individuals could cover for it, or the belief that an employee would deliberately withhold important information so that other employees would fail. Generally, the scale highlighted that I treat followers with respect and honesty, especially through trusting them, and believing in that their performance is focused towards the success of the organizational.

What the Self-Assessment Indicates About Me

The score of 35 from Perceived Leader Integrity Scale indicated that there was the need to improve my ethical standards. One aspect of integrity that would be improved is to avoid perceiving employees maliciously, such as item 8 and 10. The consequence of prejudging followers would lead to reduced performance. Nonetheless, the scale indicated that the leader did not have problems in trusting the followers, though it was also noted that certain followers would lie to him. In conclusion, the self-assessment instrument indicated that I possess effective ethical standards which are necessary for a functional leadership role, though there is the need to improve.

Reference

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. Los Angeles: Sage.

Whelan, T. J., Stoughton, J. W., Craig, S. B., & Parry, K. W. (2014, May). A short form of the Perceived Leadership Integrity Scale (sPLIS). Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Honolulu, HI.