This presentation was made by me in a management conference in IIT Kharagpur.

1. Role of Ethics and
Spiritualism in Corporate
Leadership
Dr. Deepanjali Mishra
KIIT University

2. • “Unlimited Power is apt to corrupt the
minds of those who possess it”
• -- William Pitt, former Prime Minister of
• Britain

3. Concept of Leadership
• Leadership is a process of
social influence, which
maximizes the efforts of
others, towards the
attainment of a goal set
and an effective leader is
the one who provides the
vision and motivation to a
team so they work
together toward the same
goal.

4. • It also means understanding the talents
and temperaments of each individual
and effectively motivating each person to
contribute individually their best toward
achieving the group goal.

5. • He / She is someone who stands up
willingly at the forefront to be either the
target or the hero to take responsibility
for the success or failure of a given goal.
Though many leaders are competent yet
few qualify as being remarkable.

6. ATTRIBUTES OF LEADERSHIP
• Awareness
• Decisiveness
• Empathy
• Accountability
• Confidence

7. AWARENESS
• They organize themselves in a way that
sets them apart from their employees--not
in a manner that suggests they are better
than others, but in a way that permits
them to retain an objective perspective on
everything that's going on in their
organization.

8. DECISIVENESS
• The leaders must make tough decisions
which goes with the job. They understand
that in adverse situations, difficult and
timely decisions needs to be taken in the
best interests of the entire organization,
decisions that require a firmness,
authority, and finality that will not please
everyone

9. EMPATHY
• A good leader is the one who has the
ability to step into another's shoes, and
compassionate towards the sufferings of
his employees. Extraordinary leaders
praise in public and address problems in
private.

10. ACCOUNTABILITY
• Extraordinary leaders take responsibility
for everyone's performance, including
their own. When things are going well,
they praise. When problems arise, they
identify them quickly, seek solutions, and
get things back on track.

11. CONFIDENCE
• Employees are naturally drawn to them,
seek their advice, and feel more confident
as a result. When challenged, they don’t
give in too easily, because they know
their ideas, opinions and strategies are
well-informed and the result of much
hard work.

12. OPTIMISM
• The very best leaders are source of
positive energy. They communicate
easily. They are intrinsically helpful and
genuinely concerned for other people’s
welfare. They always seem to have a
solution and always know what to say to
inspire and reassure.

13. HONESTY
• The leaders are extremely ethical and
believe that honesty, effort, and reliability
form the foundation of success. They
embody these values so overtly that no
employee doubts their integrity for a
minute. They share information openly
and avoid spin control.

14. INSPIRARTION
• A leader inspires his followers in
attaining the goal. Put it all together and
what emerges is a picture of the truly
inspiring leader: someone who
communicates clearly, concisely, and
often, and by doing so motivates
everyone to give their best all the time

15. Ethics and Leadership

16. Role of Ethics in Leadership
• Ethics consists of
judging by an individual
about right and wrong
from moral point of
view. Decisions taken
within an organization
may be made by
individuals or groups,

17. contd
• but whoever makes them will be
influenced by the culture of the company.
Attract customers to the firm’s products,
which means boosting sales and profits
• Make employees want to stay with the
business, reduce labour turnover and
therefore increase productivity

18. • Attract more employees wanting to work
for the business, reduce recruitment costs
and enable the company to get the most
talented employees
• Attract investors and keep the company’s
share price high, thereby protecting the
business from takeover.

19. • Maintaining ethics is extremely beneficial
for the investors because knowing that
the company they deal with has stated
their morals and made a promise to work
in an ethical and responsible manner
allows investors’ peace of mind that their
money is being used in a way that
arranges with their own moral standing.

20. • When working for a company with strong
business ethics, employees are
comfortable in the knowledge that they
are not by their own action allowing
unethical practices to continue.

21. Spiritualism and Leadership

22. Role of Spiritualism in
Leadership
• Spirituality has been defined as, “That
which is traditionally believed to be the
vital principle or animating force within
living beings; that which constitutes
one’s unseen intangible being; the real
sense or significance of something”

23. • Spirituality in the
workplace is about
people seeing their work
as a spiritual path, as an
opportunity to grow
personally and to
contribute to society in a
meaningful way.

24. • It is about learning to be more caring and
compassionate with fellow employees,
with bosses, with subordinates and
customers. It is about integrity, being true
to oneself, and telling the truth to others.

25. • In-order to gain a systemic understanding
of how workplace spirituality—through
transcendence and value congruence
among organizational, team, and
individual values—impacts
organizational effectiveness, one must
focus on the interconnectedness and
interplay across these levels.

26. Guidelines for leading from a
spiritual perspective
• Know Yourself
• Act with Authenticity
• Respect and Honor the Beliefs of
Others
• Winning trust of your employees
• Spiritual Practice

27. Balance Between Ethics and
Spiritualism

28. • Many people today are finding that
there’s more to life—and business—than
profits alone. Money as the single
bottom line is increasingly a thing of the
past. In a post-Enron world, values and
ethics are an urgent concern. The hottest
buzz today is about a “triple bottom line,”
a commitment to “people, planet, profit.”

29. • Some people say it’s all about bringing
your spiritual values into your workplace.
A poll published in USA Today found
that 6 out of 10 people say workplaces
would benefit from having a great sense
of spirit in their work environment.

30. • Workplace ethics is harnessing the
characteristics of the “spirit” in the work
environment and conducting business in a
socially responsible manner which
promotes internal and external co-
creation and development.

31. • Marglis and Walsh clearly demonstrate
the positive correlation between an
organizations 'socially responsible
behaviour' and its financial performance
throughout their study.

32. Conclusion
• The sustainable business, social
investment and spirituality in business
movements are one of the hopeful signs
that business, as the most powerful
institution in world today, may be
transforming from within. What is
emerging is a new attitude towards the
workplace as a place to fulfil one’s
deeper purpose.

33. • The transformation process may take
time, but at the end of it the reward of
'Increase in Sustainability' awaits the
organization in terms of societal support,
enhanced brand value and enthusiastic
investors waiting to invest in the or
organization.