| Course | LDR-3050 Foundations of Leadership |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 10 |
| Paper type | Module 10 reflection assignment: ethics and leadership |
| Length | About 499 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for LDR 3050 Module 10
Rounding Down: An Overtime Request and What Ethical Leadership Asks of a Supervisor
Student Name
Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, Thomas Edison State University
LDR-3050: Foundations of Leadership
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Rounding Down: An Overtime Request and What Ethical Leadership Asks of a Supervisor
The Request
Our building ran over its labor budget in the third quarter. At a supervisors' meeting, an assistant manager suggested that when selectors clock out a few minutes past the hour, we could adjust their punches down to the quarter hour. "It's only a few minutes each," he said. "Nobody notices." Across my 24 people, it would have cut several hours of overtime a week.
Looking at It Through the Chapter
Northouse (2020) describes ethical leadership in terms of the leader's character, actions, goals, honesty, power and values. The request failed on almost every count. In action, it meant taking pay people had earned. In honesty, it meant falsifying records. In power, it meant using my control of the time system against people who could not check it. And in goals, it put a budget number ahead of the people the budget exists to support. It also likely violated federal wage law, which requires paying for all time worked, but I did not need the law to see it was wrong.
Why It Was Tempting
I would be lying if I said I did not consider it. My bonus depends partly on labor costs, and the suggestion came from someone above me. The pressure was real and the harm felt small. Treviño et al. (2000) found that executives earn an ethical reputation only when others see them both as moral people, honest and principled, and as moral managers, who makes ethics visible through role modeling, communication and rewards. If I rounded the punches quietly, I would fail as a moral person; if I refused quietly and said nothing, I would miss the chance to be a moral manager.
What I Did
I told the assistant manager I would not adjust punches, and I said why: it was taking people's pay and falsifying records. I then took the labor budget problem to my operations manager with three alternatives: stagger end-of-shift tasks so fewer people run over, cross-train two loaders so we stop calling in overtime on heavy nights and post the next day's volume earlier so I can staff it correctly. Two of the three were adopted.
How Followers See It
Brown et al. (2005) defined ethical leadership as demonstrating appropriate conduct through personal actions and encouraging the same conduct in followers by talking with them, reinforcing it and making decisions that reflect it, and found that followers' perceptions of ethical leadership were related to their trust in the leader and their willingness to report problems. My crew never knew about the request. But they will see whether their punches are accurate, and that is where trust starts.
Conclusion
The request was small, and that is why it was dangerous: small wrongs become habits. Ethical leadership for a supervisor is not about grand decisions. It is about doing the right thing with the timecards, and then helping the organization solve the problem that created the pressure.
References
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002
Northouse, P. G. (2020). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (5th ed.). Sage.
Treviño, L. K., Hartman, L. P., & Brown, M. (2000). Moral person and moral manager: How executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership. California Management Review, 42(4), 128-142. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166057
Reading the LDR 3050 Module 10 assignment instructions
The Module 10 reflection asks what ethical leadership means and how it applies to your own decisions. Expect to examine an ethical challenge you faced, using the chapter's dimensions of character, actions, goals, honesty, power and values, and to explain what you did and why. Be honest about the pressures and temptations involved, since that is where ethical leadership is tested. Support the reflection with research on how leaders come to be seen as ethical, and describe how you turned the decision into something that helps the organization. You do not need a dramatic dilemma; everyday pressures, such as budgets, deadlines and requests from above, are where most leaders meet ethical choices.
Inside the LDR 3050 Module 10 example
The reflection opens with a specific request and its stakes. A section examines the request through each of the chapter's dimensions and notes the legal issue without resting on it. A section admits the temptation and uses research on moral persons and moral managers to frame the choice. A section describes the refusal and the alternatives the writer proposed. A section connects the decision to followers' trust, and the conclusion explains why small ethical choices matter. The writer is candid about his bonus and the pressure from above, which makes the reflection credible. Three practical alternatives to the request show the writer acting as a moral manager, not only refusing as a moral person.
Reading the LDR 3050 Module 10 grading rubric
An ethics reflection earns its marks through the chapter's six dimensions used correctly, an honest account of a real challenge, research support and a thoughtful response. Reflections that admit temptation and explain the pressures show genuine self-examination. Going beyond refusal to propose alternatives demonstrates the moral manager role. Connecting the decision to followers' trust shows understanding of why ethical leadership matters for the team as well as the leader. Reflections that explain what made the wrong choice tempting, and still choose well, demonstrate the kind of ethical reasoning the module is designed to build. Accurate citations complete the work. Linking the decision to followers' trust, through research, shows why it mattered.
LDR 3050 Module 10 help from the desk
Students lose points by choosing a dilemma with no real tension, by describing themselves as having no temptation or by stopping at what they refused to do. Others list the chapter's dimensions without applying them. Pick a real challenge with real pressure. Apply each dimension to it. Explain what made the wrong choice tempting. Describe what you did to address the underlying problem. Remember that the goal is to show how you reason, not to appear perfect. Describe what you did after the decision, since ethical leadership includes fixing the problem behind the pressure. A free first sample on your own LDR-3050 Module 10 reflection is available on request.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
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LDR 3050 Module 10 questions, answered
Where can I find a free LDR 3050 Module 10 sample paper?
Refusing to round down overtime punches, and what to propose instead, is the reflection above.
What dimensions of ethical leadership does Northouse describe?
Character, actions, goals, honesty, power and values.
What is a moral manager?
A leader who makes ethics visible to followers through role modeling, communication and rewards, beyond personal integrity.
Why do small ethical choices matter?
Small wrongs become habits and erode followers' trust.
How do followers come to see a leader as ethical?
Through the leader's own conduct and through how the leader communicates about and rewards ethical behavior.