Ethical leadership and its role in promoting sustainable businesses
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Ethical leadership is the practice of leading by guiding others with a sense of integrity, fairness, and moral principles. Ethical leaders make decisions based on ethical values like honesty, accountability, respect, and fairness. They prioritise doing the right thing over personal gain. Its key aspects are integrity, fairness, and accountability.
Research has shown that ethical leadership helps promote startups sustainable performance by contributing to the following main factors:
- Organisational culture
- Corporate social responsibility
- Financial profitability
In recent years, the number of startups facing closure has risen steadily across the globe. Notable examples include WeWork and Byju’s. Many of these failures have been linked to “inadequacies of its founders”. Taking cognisance of this growing problem, this study seeks to explore the importance of ethical leadership in ensuring business continuity and sustainability. We conduct interviews of 10 startup owners whose ventures have been in operations for five continuous years in order to identify the key aspects of leadership which have placed a role in their survival and/or growth. Emphasis will be drawn on the constituents and importance of ethical leadership.
Identify the factors of ethical leadership, accountability, and transparency in business
Aim: The purpose of this goal is to conduct a literature review and find out the meaning, aspects and impacts of ethical leadership in business sustainability, especially in new business ventures. Factors will be identified from the literature review in the form of a conceptual framework.
Method: Literature and empirical review of past studies to identify the factors.
To contribute and publish select a pending milestone.
Completed
The importance of accountability and transparency in businesses
Aim: This is the first milestone of this study. It establishes the background by explaining the basic elements, i.e., “accountability” and “transparency” in businesses. Both of them are key aspects of leadership today. The purpose of this milestone is to explain the meaning of accountability and transparency and their importance in new businesses’ sustainability.
Method: Perform a Literature review from 15-20 sources of secondary data. Use only journal articles for the review. They must not be older than 2015. Explain each factor individually.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to “accountability” and “transparency” in context of businesses
- Aim of this milestone
- Meaning of “accountability” in businesses
- Importance of “accountability” in new business ventures
- Building trust among stakeholders
- Enhances company culture and employee motivation
- Minimising risk of mismanagement
- Encourages responsibility and ownership
- Improves decision-making and problem-solving
- Drives continuous improvement
- Meaning of “transparency” in businesses
- Importance of “transparency” in new business ventures
- Attracts and retains investors
- Enhances customer loyalty
- Facilitates better internal communication
- Reduces risk of mismanagement
- Conclusion
Ethical leadership and its importance in new business ventures
Aim: Ethical leadership is the practice of leading by guiding others with a sense of integrity, fairness, and moral principles. In this milestone, the meaning and context of ethical leadership will be established. Its importance will also be explained with reference to new business ventures.
Method: Perform a Literature review from 15-20 sources of secondary data. Use only journal articles for the review. They must not be older than 2015. Explain each factor individually.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to “ethical leadership” and its meaning/ definition
- Aim of this milestone
- Constituents of ethical leadership
- Accountability
- Fairness
- Empathy
- Transparency
- Meaning of sustainable business
- Importance of ethical leadership in new businesses
- Long term profitability
- Organisational culture
- Social responsibility
- Investor confidence
- Legal issues
- Brand reputation and customer loyalty
- Conclusion
Pending
Methods of enabling transparency and accountability in new business ventures
Aim: In this milestone, the process of ensuring transparency and accountability, particularly in new business ventures will be explained. Strategies, processes and frameworks will be discussed by reading relevant literature. The goal is to identify the factors which represent ‘accountability’ and ‘transparency’ process for the conceptual framework.
Method: Perform a Literature review from 15-20 sources of secondary data. Use only journal articles for the review. They must not be older than 2015. Explain each factor individually.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to the importance of accountability and transparency in new businesses
- Aim of this milestone
- Methods of ensuring transparency and accountability in new businesses
- Conclusion
Impact of transparency and accountability on business sustainability
Aim: In this milestone, the outcomes of accountability and transparency in businesses will be explained, particularly in the context of sustainable performance. The goal is to identify the factors representing the ‘impact’ of these business practices for the conceptual framework.
Method: Perform a systematic review from 15-20 sources of secondary data. Use only journal articles for the review. They must not be older than 2015. Explain each factor individually.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to the constituents of accountability and transparency
- Aim of this milestone
- Methodology
- Sources of data
- Keywords used
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Discussion: Outcomes of transparency and accountability in business sustainability (Table + text)
- Conclusion
Importance of ethical leadership for business sustainability
Aim: In this milestone, an attempt will be made to connect ethical leadership and business sustainability by explaining the elements of ethical leadership that ensure long term survival of the firm through profitability, positive work culture, healthy stakeholder relationships, and social responsibility.
Method: Perform a Literature review from 15-20 sources of secondary data. Use only journal articles for the review. They must not be older than 2015. Explain each factor individually.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to ethical leadership in new businesses
- Importance of ethical leadership in new businesses
- Profitability
- Stakeholder relationships
- Organisational culture
- Social responsibility
- Innovation and improvement
- Conclusion
Validate the impact of ethical leadership on sustainability of new business ventures
Aim: The purpose of this goal is to empirically investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and sustainability of new business ventures.
Method: Interviews of 10 new business owners will be conducted with the condition that these businesses have been in continuous operations for five years. A structured, open-ended questionnaire is to be used. Analysis method includes thematic analysis with NVIVO software.
To contribute and publish select a pending milestone.
Pending
Methodology for examining perspectives of business owners on ethical leadership
Aim: In the previous goal the factors representing ethical leadership, its processes, and outcomes were identified. The goal of this milestone is to justify the methodology undertaken for empirical examination of business owners to validate the secondary findings. The following elements will be presented:
- Conceptual framework
- Research gaps
- Proposed research methodology
- Questionnaire
Method: Drawing from the previous milestones, and fresh literature review related to research methodologies, explain the approach adopted for empirical examination in this study, i.e., interviews.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000 words article in the below format.
- Introduction to the aim of this study
- Conceptual framework
- Research methodology
- Research types used
- Data types used
- Sampling plan
- Data collection method
- Data analysis method
- Questionnaire
- Conclusion
Thematic analysis of the impact of ethical leaders’ accountability practices on business sustainability
Aim: From the data collected from new business owners, themes will be drawn related to their accountability practices and its impact on business sustainability using NVIVO software. The purpose is to address the main aim of the study, i.e., to explain the impact of ethical leadership on business sustainability.
Method: Use NVIVO software for finding the patterns and themes from the transcripts.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to the empirical investigation and its purpose
- Themes related to “accountability” from NVIVO analysis
- Theme 1
- Theme 2
- Theme 3
- And so on
- Conclusion
Thematic analysis of the impact of ethical leaders’ transparency practices on business sustainability
Aim: From the data collected from new business owners, themes will be drawn related to their transparency practices and its impact on business sustainability using NVIVO software. The purpose is to address the main aim of the study, i.e., to explain the impact of ethical leadership on business sustainability.
Method: Use NVIVO software for finding the patterns and themes from the transcripts.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000-words article in the below format.
- Introduction to the empirical investigation and its purpose
- Themes related to “transparency” from NVIVO analysis
- Theme 1
- Theme 2
- Theme 3
- And so on
- Conclusion
Recommendations for improving sustainability in new business ventures through ethical leadership
Aim: This is the last milestone of this study. The goal is to draw conclusions based on secondary and primary studies conducted in this study and provide recommendations to improve sustainability of new businesses.
Method: Review all the previous milestones. Although it is not necessary to use fresh sources, use it to support any new findings/ statements you state in this milestone.
Structure: To achieve this milestone, write a 1000 words article in the below format.
- Introduction to the goal of this study
- Findings from primary study (in connection with secondary findings)
- Role of accountability in business sustainability
- Role of transparency in business sustainability
- Role of ethical leadership in business sustainability
- Recommendations for new business owners