Leadership Definition – Term Paper

Leadership skills

Emergency evacuation refers to fast movement or removal of people far away from the threat (Burtles & Noakes-Fry, 2014). In an office or business place, it can be described as the unforeseen occurrence that threatens people.  Emergency evacuation decisions might have a great impact on the environment (Burtles & Noakes-Fry 2014). The damages can either be human-made or physical. Evidently, emergency evacuation usually finds people unaware, and therefore an ethical decision is mandatory to ensure doing the right thing at the right time (Elçi, Sener, & Alpkan, 2013). Hazards that may lead to this situation include fire, hurricanes, tornadoes, chemical spills and explosions among others. While carrying out an emergency evacuation, the leader needs to decide in regards to the culture of people involved. By doing that, it will create an environment and development of corporate culture.  Ethical decisions are of the essence in this case since any single mistake may ruin the entire job.

Importance of Emergency Evacuation Based On Ethical Decision Making

Ethics plays a critical role in ensuring that human respect and culture are upheld by an institution (Lavarias, 2016). Emergency evacuation provides all the people within the threatened environment are safe by avoiding damages and injuries.  They ensure the environment is healthy and in good condition. Disaster events both human-made and natural destructive incidents may put an institution or company in a dilemma (Velotti, Trainor, Engel, Torres, & Myamoto, 2013). That way, people in charge are forced to make decisions prioritizing on the most urgent cases.  Therefore, when preparing an emergency evacuation plan, the leader should ensure that method of reporting the event and availability of removal policies as well as the procedures are in place. Escape procedures and route assignment are also relevant in such cases. With all these in place, a company can easily advocate for safety culture first (Lavarias, 2016).

Ethical decision-making usually focuses on two principles that include justice and beneficence (Lavarias, 2016). These two principles are considered in all resource utilization and triage strategies. Beneficence means all victims involve should benefit from the actions.  In a case where demand is more than the available resources, providers should ensure that all the affected persons benefit. Justice, on the other hand, is fair treatment in light of what is due. Based on these two principles, emergency evacuation can enable the managers to carry out the activities with no biases (Walters & Kettl, 2006). In this case, the poor and the rich will be granted equal treatment. It hinders segregation within a population, and that makes everyone feel equally significant regardless of the class. By doing so, they will avoid many conflicts and hatred that may erupt among the evacuated population.

Emergency evacuation help in reducing vulnerabilities (Burtles & Noakes-Fry, 2014). In a well-organized company, it is imperative to develop ethics practices that offer the essential training and tools to guarantee that their employees globally can make ethical decisions. The tools and training provided will enable the entire staff to carry out logical emergency evacuations when the need arises (Walters & Kettl, 2006).  In most cases, ethical decisions have made the leaders to make extraordinary decisions that come with the best results. For instance, in the event of fire outbreak, the rescue team will try to save as many people as they can by considering those who require urgent attention. Ethically, they will have to pay attention to those who are likely to survive the accident (Elçi, Sener, & Alpkan, 2013). The dead and the people are likely to will come later.  Emergency evacuation team first have to save by prioritizing those that should receive care first, evacuate and then provide them with resources.  In as much as they cannot rescue everyone, they should have the greatest number. They should also consider managing palliative care for those patients with no chance to survive (Elçi, Sener, & Alpkan, 2013).   All these are possible with a trained staff with the knowledge of ethical decision-making. We will not only save the lives of people but also protect the entire environment from damage.

Executing the appropriate evacuation plans for several disasters is one major way of ensuring that the company in question embraces safety-first culture and protection of its staff. Emergency evacuation enables the employers to make an ethical decision while choosing a strategic business location and develop a healthy environment for workers (Elçi, Sener, & Alpkan, 2013). They usually have the staff interest at heart while deciding since any sole negligence may have a great impact on the entire environment.  For instance, when a company is located in a flood-prone area, it comes with various risks. It not only endangers the lives of the workers but also all the properties within the vicinity.  In such conditions, the employer should consider the type of construction used in building since it determines the extent of damage likely to occur (In Jennings, 2016). It is the management’s duty to select a building with less vulnerability to guarantee the development of culture and ethics for employees’ safety.

Poor decision making has negatively affected most groups of people in the recent past (Elçi, Sener, & Alpkan, 2013). Minority groups are usually the most affected here as the powerful receive fast-hand attention. Like in the case of south Miami hurricane, the poor suffered a lot. Ethnic segregation played a huge role here whereby the blacks, Hispanics among others were the most affected. In cases of emergency cases, all these should be unheard of especially in matters of life and death. Such situations can be avoided when ethical decision-making is put in place (Elçi, Sener, & Alpkan, 2013). Another major is an issue that contributes to this is an allocation of resources between the poor and the rich. In this case, the have-nots usually receive more attention than the haves what forces the standard group to fend for themselves. Allocation of resources should be done in all parts since an emergency can erupt anytime. Therefore, while distributing the funds, the manager should ensure that all groups are served appropriately and in an ethical manner. With ethics, assumptions that only the poor require the resources is out.

Adaptive leadership

An individual appointed to a leadership position by his or her superiors has formal authority over the subordinates. Those supervised will never have a choice over the decision since they are not involved in electing the leader. Instead, they will have to follow directives associated with the title and not the individual. On the other hand, employees and not those in management bestow informal authority upon an individual. They have a choice to elect anyone but settle on the best candidate based on trust, respect, expertise, and many more personal attributes. Both forms of authority are important for leaders; however, those appointed to leadership positions in Safaricom Limited make a mistake of seeking power and authority rather than representing the will of the people.

Leaders should understand that authority comes with the position, while the character defines leadership. Therefore, it is right to conclude that authority derives from a formal appointment while leadership is realized through informal authority. Shamir and Eilam-Shamir (2017) concur that the workplace environment has evolved; thus, Safaricom Limited leaders should evoke devotion rather than fear. They should be a positive depiction of the will of the people, hence gaining respect and trust from their subordinates. 

Safaricom Limited leaders should not lead while pitching their success on the authority granted by a position. Instead, subordinates should give power to them as a gift. In this regard, the leaders are sure of cooperation from their subjects, even if their position does not grant them enough power to force employees to cooperate.