Leading in a changing world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leading in a changing world - Essay Example This paper tends to discuss the importance of ethical leadership in business, with focus on fashion industry, and how unethical leadership leads to business failure. Ethical leadership means â€Å"ethically motivating others in ethical directions† consisting of both â€Å"procedural† and â€Å"substantive† (character-based) aspects (Chumir 1992). The procedural dimension of ethical leadership includes problem-solving and decision-making techniques within the circle of ethics. The substantive aspect of ethical leadership includes knowledge, strong standards and courage to follow ethical directions despite strong opposition. Dr. Bill Grace (2007), the founder of the Center of Ethical Leadership, has put forth a â€Å"4-V Model of Ethical Leadership† that correlates the substantive (inner values, principles and standards) with the procedural (words, actions and deeds) dimensions of ethical leadership so that effective decision-making can be done. The substantive virtues include values, voice, vision, virtue; and, procedural virtues include framing actions according to ethics, task scheduling, problem solving, and decisio n making. Ethical behavior of leaders is just as important in the fashion industry as in any other field (Paulins and Hillery 2009). Fashion industry is based on fashion marketing and fashion buying- processes which must be based on ethics to get the fashion reach the hands of common people. Ethical procedures in fashion merchandising retail are necessary to make the product reach the department stores and hi-fi boutiques. Fashion industry is such a high-end business where unethical behavior proves to be fatal for the company. High-end profits in fashion industry make it very tempting for company owners and business to get involved in unethical behavior (Xaxx 2013). There are many brands in the market which use sweatshops and