Write an essay explaining;
Why teaching children how to be future leaders is important
Ethics in leadership
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Leadership involves people influencing others to bring change and make things happen. According to Daft (2022) “leadership is an influence relationship between the leader and the followers whereby the followers intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes (p.7). Leadership starts with small changes whereby they initiate change and inspire the others to follow their ways. One way which leader can do this is through emergent leadership. Emergent leadership refers to “the extent to which an individual with no formal status or authority is perceived by members of a group as demonstrating leader-like influence” (Daft, 2022, p.7). Leadership in any institution or facility plays an essential role in the operations of the institution. Daft (2022) also stated that “most large companies today have employed trained psychologists to develop competency models to aid them in identifying, training, and promoting likely stars in the leadership firmament” (p.4). Leaders should motivate the others positively. According to the study of leadership began in the 20th century with the “great man” perspective; This saw our history as being shaped by the exceptional individuals. He also stated that certain characteristics differentiated the leaders from the non-leaders. In today’s society, promoting leadership among children and ethical leadership is attracting more attention.
Children of all ages should be encouraged to take up leadership roles and responsibilities. Learning institutions is the first formal organization that children can have the opportunity to practice leadership because they spend 12 years in school. According to Karagianni et al. (2018) “research concerning leadership development has focused almost exclusively on adult leadership and there is gap in the literature with regard to how we should develop children to be young leaders (p.2) Karagianni et al. (2018) suggest that “secondary school students have the ability to develop leadership skills via decision-making, getting along with others, learning the organization of self, self-awareness, and working with groups through taking part in many youth leadership organizations in school and/or community activities” (p.3). By promoting leadership of children, leadership behaviours are exhibited later in the workplace as an adult. Karagianni et al. (2018) also stated that children who were young leaders are more likely to take up managerial positions when they become adults, and leadership skills developed early on when they were young can have a positive impact on their future wages. According to Karagianni et al. (2018), one example of this was a project that was conducted called Talent male student. The project surveyed high school students in 1960 and followed them for 11 years after high school. The “men who were either team captains or club presidents between 1958 and 1960 earned 3.0–4.3% higher wages 11 years after high school graduation, comparative to men who were only members of teams and/or clubs” (Karagianni et al., 2018, p.3). It was identified that the men who were both a captain and a president, during their careers earned 6.9% much more than those who had participated in both teams but did not hold any leadership position (Karagianni et al., 2018). Thus, children should be taught on how to be future leaders because the leadership skills developed early on when they were young can have a positive impact on their future wages.
Ethical leadership should be encouraged. Ethics means identifying the rights and the wrongs. Ethics enables one to know what they should do and what they should not do as good members of the society. Ko et al. (2018) stated that ethical leadership refers to the “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making” (p.3). Babalola et al. (2018) stated that ethical leadership involves “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making’’ (p.4). Ethical leadership entails, the leader’s traits, their ethical behaviours and value-based management. An ethical leader is perceived as a moral person by their followers. According to Ko et al. (2018) “over the past decade, ethical leadership has increasingly become one of the most popular topics in the areas of leadership and business ethics” (p.2). According to Ciulla et al. (2020) “in leadership, we see morality and immorality magnified, which is why the study of ethics is fundamental to the study of leadership” (p.4). Thus, ethical leaders influence their followers’ behavior by setting an example to them in order to morally guide them and encourage them act well.
In conclusion, leadership is an essential aspect of humanity where one leads and the rest follow. Leadership should be encouraged in children at a young age in order for them to get the qualities of an effective leader earlier on. Ethical leaders always encourage their followers to have moral behaviors in the work by the leaders’ role modeling appropriate behaviors. Role modeling enables people to become more confident in their ability to act in an ethical and moral manner and also in resolving the challenges that may arise when socially interacting with the other people. In ethical leadership, leaders are to act as role models and show their followers how to deal with conflict and how to successfully manage conflicts. Ethical leaders are regarded by others as trustworthy and genuine by their followers because they allow them to feel safe in voicing potential differences of opinion and expressing their ideas.
Babalola, M. T., Stouten, J., Euwema, M. C., & Ovadje, F. (2018). The relation between ethical leadership and workplace conflicts: The mediating role of employee resolution efficacy. Journal of Management, 44(5), 2037-2063.
Ciulla, J. B., & Ciulla, J. B. (2020). Ethics and effectiveness: The nature of good leadership. The search for ethics in leadership, business, and beyond, 3-32.
Daft, R. L. (2022). The leadership experiences. Cengage Learning.
Daniel, G. (2018). What makes a Leader. In Contemporary issues in leadership (pp. 21-35). Routledge.
Karagianni, D., & Jude Montgomery, A. (2018). Developing leadership skills among adolescents and young adults: a review of leadership programmes. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 23(1), 86-98.
Ko, C., Ma, J., Bartnik, R., Haney, M. H., & Kang, M. (2018). Ethical leadership: An integrative review and future research agenda. Ethics & Behavior, 28(2), 104-132.