Explanation Ethical Leadership Components in Islamic Republic of Iran's Defense Industry Organization with a Qualitative Approach

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student of behavioral management, Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

3 Professor of Management Department, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

4 Associate Professor, Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to introduce those characteristics of ethical leaders. This research uses an interpretive philosophy, a qualitative approach, and a grounded strategy based on Glaser’s emergent approach. The study population was the Defense Industries Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In addition, comprehensive interviews were conducted with 22 senior and ethical managers of the organization who were knowledgeable about the components and characteristics of ethical leaders. The sampling method was based on snowball sampling. Since the data were collected using interview method, the data analysis method was based on the Glaser’s coding method, and the results of interview analysis and coding in two stages of actual and theoretical coding showed that ethical leadership components included religiosity, ethical personality, being revolutionary and having analytical insights. Each of these components comprises categories that totaled 4 components, 43 categories, and 698 concepts. Overall, considering the ethical leadership components in this indigenous study, ethical leaders in this organization have characteristics that encourage Defense Industries Organization executives to achieve these benchmarks to cope with enemy threats as well as international and economic constraints and attain organizational excellence as well as modernization and transformation in the organization so that they can drive organization employees toward organizational goals with better motivation and more efforts.
Introduction
Ethics and ethical leadership is one of the topics that has always been of interest to individuals and organizations and has recently been extensively studied and researched as an interesting topic (Laajalahti, 2018). The abundance of research in this area is evidence of the importance of ethics (Maroto-Sánchez, 2012). On the other hand, one of the issues that has been the concern of organizations and researchers for the past four decades is leadership styles. It is also important for government and government agencies to examine the issue of organizational ethics (Joseph et al., 2009), because research results indicate that the weakness of organizational ethics will reduce the sense of responsibility in the organization, reduce productivity, increase organizational costs and lead to the spread of unethical behavior in the organization (Duh et al., 2010). Therefore, due to the importance of ethical issues in the workplace (Caza et al., 2004), ethics has become an essential element in organizations (Trevino & Nelson, 2016), because ethical leadership can influence the formation of an ethical environment in an organization, which in turn affects and reduces deviant behavior in the workplace.
Theoretical framework
Experts and scholars have examined the term leadership from various perspectives and provided various definitions of it. Mohammed et al. (2014: 89) consider the leadership as an essential and dynamic element of employee satisfaction and organizational performance that is seen as an important issue in employee job satisfaction and as a critical factor for organizational success. Ho et al. (H2016: 160) define leadership as a process of social effectiveness through which the leader seeks to create a voluntary participation of followers to achieve the organization's interests and goals. Some others have also identified the leader as a determinative, motivating, driving, mobilizing, influential person for followers to make them perform their tasks to achieve specific organizational goals (Elbaz & Haddoud, 2017).
Ethical leadership, through demonstrating ethical behavior and consequently the development of ethical behavior, leads to commitment in followers (Caldwell, 2017). Ethical leadership was conceptualized by Brown, Treviño, and Harrison (Brow, et al., 2005) as follows: demonstrating normative appropriate behavior through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and promoting such behavior for followers through empowerment, decision making, and two-way communication. Kalahan (1998) also provide a definition of theoretical normative ethics, especially virtue ethics, which focuses on the actions and practices of ethical factors, which is in line with the definition of Brown et al. (2005). The definition of ethical leadership provided by Brown, Treviño, and Harrison (Brown et al., 2005) has been accepted as the benchmark definition and has therefore been used by subsequent researchers (Brown & Treviño, 2014; Neubert et al., 2009; Piccolo et al., 2010; Stouten et al., 2012).
Materials and Methods
This research uses an interpretive philosophy, a qualitative approach, and a grounded strategy with an emergent approach, and its analysis method is based on the Glaser’s coding approach. Trustworthiness of the findings (validity and reliability) of the research was also assessed through four criteria of Guba and Lincoln that included validity, transferability, reliability, and verifiability.
According to the examinations by the researchers of this study in relation to the interrelations between the concepts, it seems that in this study, the "dimensions" family in the emergent approach may best combine concepts and categories. The model of this study is embedded in the “dimension coding family”. As mentioned, the components of ethical leadership include 4 components, 43 categories, and 698 codes or concepts. The first component is religiosity, the second one is ethical personality, the third is to be revolutionary, and the last one is to have analytical insights.
Case Study
The study population is the Defense Industries Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In fact, the study population consisted of the employees and experts of the Defense Industries Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran who had theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject matter and had sufficient dominance over the examined phenomenon and had experienced ethical leadership.
Conclusion
Ethical leadership generally consists of the components that efforts are made to achieve them. These components are in the form of traits that moral leaders possess. However, these components do not exist in all ethical leaders, but an ethical leader must possess all these components to necessarily and sufficiently benefit from these qualities, otherwise he may not fully implement ethical leadership. However, some traits per se enable one to become an ethical leader. For example, the religiosity feature can improve other features.
Another component of ethical leadership is ethical character. Consistent with the results of this study, one author described the dimensions of ethical leadership as honesty, compassion, and fairness (Karami et al., 2016). Kalshoven (2011) also consider some aspects of ethical leadership as fairness, honesty, ethical guidance, democracy, and power sharing.
Other characteristics of ethical leaders include being revolutionary and having analytical insights. A revolutionary leader puts the values ​​of the revolution at the forefront. With the insight and vision gained through his competencies, this leader can make the best decisions at the right time and properly guide employees and the organization as a leading person.

Keywords

References

منابع فارسی
آزاد، اسدالله.(1386). لزوم پایبندی به اصول اخلاقی در اطلاع رسانی، فصلنامه اطلاع­رسانی، شماره 1 و 2، صص 39-29.
دانایی­فرد، حسن؛ الوانی، سیدمهدی؛ آذر، عادل.(1392). روش شناسی پژوهش کیفی در مدیریت: رویکردی جامع،نشر اشراقی، تهران.
راهداری شمالی­، الهه.(1390)­. رهبری اخلاقی در سازمان، اولین کنفرانس بین المللی مدیریت، نوآوری و کارآفرینی، شیراز.
رفیعی، مجتبی؛ علی احمدی، علیرضا؛ موسوی، محمد؛ کرمانی، محمد.(1392). رهبری اخلاق مدار، ثمره پارادایم مدیریت اسلامی، فصلنامه پژوهش­نامه اخلاق، 6(20)، 49-76.
ساغروانی، سیما؛ مرتضوی، سعید؛ لگزیان، محمد؛ رحیم نیا، فریبرز.(1393). تحمیل نظریه به داده­ها یا ظهور نظریه از داده ها: نظریه‌پردازی در علوم انسانی با روش شناسی نظریه داده بنیاد. پژوهش نامه مبانی تعلیم و تربیت، 151، 1.
سیادت، سید­علی؛ نصر اصفهانی، علی؛ الهیاری، سمیه. (1389). رهبری اخلاقی در سازمان­های آموزشی، ماهنامه مهندسی فرهنگی، 5 (45 و 46)، 46-38.
صالح نیا، منیره. (1391). اثر رهبری اخلاقی بر فضای اخلاقی سازمان‌ها، فصلنامه اخلاق در علوم و فناوری، 7(2)، 13-1.
کرمی، محمدرضا؛ میرکمالی، سیدمحمد؛ پورکریمی، جواد.(1395). بررسی و تبیین رهبری اخلاقی و ابعاد آن (مورد مطالعه: کارکنان دانشگاه تهران)، فصلنامه رسالت مدیریت دولتی، 7(22)، 34-17.
نصر اصفهانی، علی؛ غضنفری، احمد؛ عامری­نسب، سیامک.(1392). رابطه بین رهبری اخلاقی و توانمندسازی کارکنان، دو فصلنامه پژوهش­های مدیریت منابع انسانی دانشگاه جامع امام حسین(ع)، 8(1)، 107-128. 
 
References
Ahanchian M. R., Yazdani P., Sadeghian S. (2017). The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Satisfaction Life and Well-Being by Mediation of Satisfaction Job: The Case of Private Hospitals in Mashhad City, Public Management Research, 10 (38), 171-196. (In Persian)
Anderson, C., Spataro, E., Flynn, F. (2008),Personality and Organizational Culture as Determinants of Influence’, Journal of Applied Psychology 93,p 702-710
Aryati, A. S., Sudiro, A., Hadiwidjaja, D., & Noermijati, N. (2018). The influence of ethical leadership to deviant workplace behavior mediated by ethical climate and organizational commitment. International Journal of Law and Management, 60(2), 233-249.
Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Walumbwa, F. O., Luthans, F., & May, D. R. (2004). Unlocking the mask: A look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors. The leadership quarterly, 15(6), 801-823.
Avolio, B., & Luthans, F. (2003). Authentic leadership: A positive development approach. Positive organizational scholarship, 241-258.
Avolio, BJ & Luthans, F.(2006), The high impact leader: Moments matter in accelerating authentic leadership development, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Bass, B. M., & Steidlmeier, P. (1999). Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior. The leadership quarterly, 10(2), 181-217.
Bertland, A. (2009). Virtue ethics in business and the capabilities approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 84, 25-32.
Brown, M. E., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Ethical and unethical leadership: Exploring new avenues for future research. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(4), 583-616.
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The leadership quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Role modeling and ethical leadership. In Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA.
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2014). Do role models matter? An investigation of role modeling as an antecedent of perceived ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(4), 587-598.
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 97(2), 117-134.
Caldwell, C., (2017). Lakota virtues and leadership principles: insights and applications for ethical leaders. Journal of Management Development, 36(3), pp.309-318.
Caza, A., Barker, B. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2004). Ethics and ethos: The buffering and amplifying effects of ethical behavior and virtuousness. Journal of Business Ethics, 52(2), 169-178.
Christopher, C. O., Ogunyomi, P. O., & Badejo, A. E. (2012). Promoting ethical human resource management practices in work organizations in Nigeria: Roles of HR professionals. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 2(2), 116.
Ciulla, J. B., & Forsyth, D. R. (2011). Leadership ethics. The SAGE handbook of leadership, 229-241.
Danaei-Fard, H., Alvani, S. M., Azar, A. (2013). Qualitative Research Methodology in Management: A Comprehensive Approach, Eshraghi Publication, Tehran. (In Persian)
Den Hartog, D. N., & Belschak, F. D. (2012). Work engagement and Machiavellianism in the ethical leadership process. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(1), 35-47.
Duh, M., Belak, J., & Milfelner, B. (2010). Core values, culture and ethical climate as constitutional elements of ethical behaviour: Exploring differences between family and non-family enterprises. Journal of business ethics, 97(3), 473-489.
Elbaz, A. M., & Haddoud, M. Y. (2017). The role of wisdom leadership in increasing job performance: Evidence from the Egyptian tourism sector. Tourism management, 63, 66-76.
Engelbrecht, A. S., Heine, G., & Mahembe, B. (2017). Integrity, ethical leadership, trust and work engagement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(3), 368-379
Gino, F., L.L. Shu, and M.H. (2010) Bazerman, Nameless+ harmless= blameless: When seemingly irrelevant factors influence judgment of (un) ethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 111(2), 93-101.
Glaser, B. G. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory: Sociology Pr.
Glaser, B. G. (1998). Doing grounded theory: Issues and discussions. Sociology Press.
Glaser, B. G., & Hon. (2005). Staying open: the use of theoretical codes in grounded theory The Grounded Theory Review, 5(1), 1-20. http://groundedtheoryreview.com/2005/11/21/1487/
Graham, J. W. (1995). Leadership, moral development, and citizenship behavior. Business ethics quarterly, 43-54.
Harsanyi, J. C. (1982). Rule utilitarianism, rights, obligations and the theory of rational behavior. In Papers in Game Theory (pp. 235-253). Springer, Dordrecht.
Ho,  N. T. T., Ross, H., & Coutts, J. (2016). The  Influence of Leadership in Fisheries Co- Management: The   Case of  Tam Giang Lagoon, Vietnam.  Society and  Natural Resources, 29(12), 1405-1420.
Hursthouse, R (2012), Virtue Ethics, Summer 2012, edn,<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/ethics-virtue/%3E.
Jory, S. R., Ngo, T. N., Wang, D., & Saha, A. (2015). The market response to corporate scandals involving CEOs. Applied Economics, 47(17), 1723-1738.
Joseph, J., K. Berry, and Deshpande, S.P. (2009). Impact of emotional intelligence and other factors on perception of ethical behavior of peers. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(4): p. 539-546.
Kalshoven, K., Den Hartog, D. N., & De Hoogh, A. H. (2011). Ethical leadership at work questionnaire (ELW): Development and validation of a multidimensional measure. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 51-69.
Karami, M. R., Mirkamali, S. M., Pour Karimi, J. (2016). Investigating and Explaining Ethical Leadership and Its Dimensions (Case Study: University of Tehran Staff), Quarterly Public Administration Mission, 7 (22), 17-34. (In Persian)
Laajalahti, A. (2018). Fostering Creative Interdisciplinarity: Building Bridges between Ethical Leadership and Leaders’ Interpersonal Communication Competence. In Public Relations and the Power of Creativity: Strategic Opportunities, Innovation and Critical Challenges (pp. 23-55).
Lampe, P. (2010). Ethical education. Teaching and Learning, 24(2), pp. 48.
Lampe, P. (2010). Ethical education. Teaching and Learning, 24(2), pp. 48.
Leroy, H., Anseel, F., Gardner, W. L., & Sels, L. (2015). Authentic leadership, authentic followership, basic need satisfaction, and work role performance: A cross-level study. Journal of Management, 41(6), 1677-1697.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage Publication, London, England.
Maroto-Sánchez, A. (2012). Productivity in the services sector: conventional and current explanations. The Service Industries Journal, 32(5), 719-746.
McShane, L., & Cunningham, P. (2012). To thine own self be true? Employees’ judgments of the authenticity of their organization’s corporate social responsibility program. Journal of business ethics, 108(1), 81-100.
Menzel, D. C. (2007). Ethics Management for Public Administrators: Building Organizations of Integrity. Translated by: Ahmadi, A.A., Siahkalroudi, M. and Nikzad. A., Tehran: Mahkameh.
Nagel, T. (2016). The possibility of altruism. Princeton University Press.
Neubert, M. J., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Roberts, J. A., & Chonko, L. B. (2009). The virtuous influence of ethical leadership behavior: Evidence from the field. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(2), 157-170.
Neves, P., & Story, J. S. (2013). Ethical leadership and reputation: combined indirect effects on employee organizational deviance. In Academy of Management Proceedings 2013(1),158-78). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Okpozo, A. Z., Gong, T., Ennis, M. C., & Adenuga, B. (2017). Investigating the impact of ethical leadership on aspects of burnout. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(8), 1128-1143.
Palanski, M.E. and F.J. Yammarino, (2009), Integrity and leadership: A multi-level conceptual framework. Leadership Quarterly, 20 (3): 405-420.
Piccolo, R. F., Greenbaum, R., Hartog, D. N. D., & Folger, R. (2010). The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(2‐3), 259-278.
Poff, D., & Caldwell, C. (2018). Ethical leadership and the role of scholars. International Journal of Public Leadership, 14(1), 59-62.
Rafiei, M., Ahmadi, A., Mousavi, M., Kermani, M. (2013). Ethical Leadership, A Fruit of the Islamic Management Paradigm, Quarterly Journal of Ethics, 6 (20), 49-76. (In Persian)
Ren & Chadee, (2017). In China: the moderating role of guanxi. Personnel Review, 46(2), pp. 371-388.
Resick, C.J, Hanges, P.J, Dickson, M.W., Mitchelson, J.K., (2006).A cross-cultural examination of the endorsement of ethical leadership. Journal of business ethical 63, 345-359
Saghrvani, S., Mortazavi, S., Legzian, M., Rahimnia, F. (2014). Imposing Data Theory or The Emergence of Data Theory: Theoreticalization in the Humanities Using the Theory of Data Theory. Research Principles of Education, 151, 1. (In Persian)
Saleh-nia, M. (2002). The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Organizational Ethics, Journal of Ethics in Science and Technology, 7 (2), 13-1. (In Persian)
Siadat, S. A., Nasr Esfahani, A., Elihari, S. (2000). Ethical Leadership in Educational Organizations, Journal of Cultural Engineering, 5 (45 & 46), 46-38.  (In Persian)
Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2003). Consequentialism, https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/entries/consequentialism/
 Stouten, J., Van Dijke, M., & De Cremer, D. (2012). Ethical leadership, Journal of personel psychology, 11(1), 1-6.
Tkaczynski, A., & Arli, D., (2018). Religious tourism and spiritual leadership development: Christian leadership conferences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 35, pp. 75-84.
Trevino, L. K., & Brown, M. E. (2004). Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths. Academy of management perspectives, 18(2), 69-81.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Treviño, L. K., Brown, M., & Hartman, L. P., (2003). A qualitative investigation of perceived executive ethical leadership: Perceptions from inside and outside the executive suite. Human relations, 56(1), pp. 5-37.
Treviño, L. K., Brown, M., & Hartman, L. P., (2003). A qualitative investigation of perceived executive ethical leadership: Perceptions from inside and outside the executive suite. Human relations, 56(1), pp. 5-37.
Yang, Q., & Wei, H. (2017). Ethical leadership and employee task performance: examining moderated mediation process. Management Decision, 55(7), 1506-1520.
Yang, Q., & Wei, H. (2018). The impact of ethical leadership on organizational citizenship behavior: The moderating role of workplace ostracism. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(1), 100-113.
Yukl, G., Mahsud, R., Hassan, S., & Prussia, G. E. (2013). An improved measure of ethical leadership. Journal of leadership & organizational studies, 20(1), 38-48.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics