Literature Review

According to social learning theory, for leaders to be perceived as ethical by their followers, they must be attractive and credible role models. This approach can also explain how and why ethical leaders can influence their followers, as people learn by paying attention to and emulating credible role models.

In the scholarly literature, much has been written about ethical leadership which suggests, from a theoretical point of view, what leaders ‘‘should’’ do. There has also been a great deal of work which considers the personality traits that are believed to be important to ethical leadership and its effectiveness. For example, research has linked perceived leader effectiveness with attributed honesty, integrity and trustworthiness (Den Hartog et al., 1999).

Trevino et al, (2000) explored what the term ethical leadership means to observers of executives. Using structured interviews, their research identified a number of personal characteristics that were related to ethical leadership. Amongst these were descriptors such as; honesty, trustworthiness, fairness and being principled. The study progressed further than simple perceptions and stated that a leader’s proactive efforts to influence follower’s principled and unprincipled behaviour also formed a key part of what Trevino et al, (2000) tagged the “Moral manager dimension”.

One essential leadership function is to help the organisation adapt to its environment and acquire resources needed to survive (Hunt, 1991). Adaptation is improved by gathering and interpreting information about the environment, identifying core competencies that provide a competitive advantage, developing helpful tactics, promoting favourable image of the organisation and its products and gaining cooperation and support from outsiders (Yukl, 1999).

Methodology

The design of this toolkit involves a qualitative methodology approach. This approach comprised administration of questionnaires, and distributed to managers operating in the organisation in Nigeria. The organisation used is Guinness Nigeria PLC. The questionnaire was distributed by email to a sample of ‘‘sensitized’’ managers (i.e. those already committed to the development of socially responsible leadership through their ability to lead and network). After the questionnaires were collected, it was analysed based on the results that were answered or gotten from the questionnaires.

The reason why the toolkit involved the use of a qualitative methodology is because it involves the use of detailed questionnaires which was prepared and sent through the use of e-mail due to geographical distance.

Based on the survey carried out, the use of 360-degree feedback is used to help improve employee performance because it helps the evaluated staffs see different perspectives of their performance. Specific practices that were reviewed include 360-degree feedback and executive coaching, mentoring and networking, and job assignments. This practices and research are framed in terms of a general need which is linking leadership development primarily based on enhancing human capital, with leadership development that emphasizes the creation of social capital in organizations.

It was also found out that these leaders agreed that to improve the growth of an organisation, leadership development programs must be inculcated in the organisation's plan and the staffs needs to be motivation so as to bring out the best performance which they can offer. some leaders also believe in personal development to go along way helping them individaully so as to impact their personal knowledge and skills on people who they lead and make them better people who can handle leadership positions.

The interviews were conducted with managers in Guinness Nigeria PLC at Ikeja branch, Lagos State which is also the head office in Nigeria. The interview focused on obtaining evaluation insight on how leaders in organisations promote or help in the success and growth of the organisation. The interview was also intended to find out if workers’ performance in an organisation could be attributed to the development of its leaders and organisation performance.

Brown and Trevino (2006) suggest that influences and individual characteristics are moderate through the ethical context of leadership behaviour whereby the need for power and the moral reasoning of the leader contributes to the effectiveness of staffs and their performance.

Who the Toolkit is for

This toolkit is a managerial toolkit specially designed to be used by managers or leaders in an organisation to improve and educate themselves; for organisations seeking to develop their staffs; and it also serves as a training toolkit for consultants wishing to train leaders in organisation.