Ethical Leadership: Building and maintaining an ethical culture

The senior executive levels of organisations carry significant responsibility for ensuring that organisational goals and objectives are achieved. Experienced and qualified leaders and managers are in greater demand as organisations strive for greater efficiency and effectiveness. A review of senior position advertisements reveal that post graduate and doctoral qualifications are becoming mandatory criteria for appointments, particularly in the public sector. Yet many questions are being asked of senior executives in the light of scandals across sectors and recent corporate collapses. Within the Australian context the Australian Wheat Board scandal in 2006, the resignation of University of Queensland Vice Chancellor Paul Greenfield in 2011 amidst allegation of interference in the student selection process, and the arrest of six senior managers from the Australian companies Securrency and NotePrinting, both directly linked to the Australian Reserve Bank, over bribery and corruption scandals highlight that the challenge of acting ethically is just as real in the public sector as it is in the private.