LEADERSHIP CHAP12PP

Learning Objectives Explain why ethical leadership is so important in organizations..  Describe major ethical issues that leaders face and approaches for addressing those issues.. 

CHAPTER TWELVE

LEADERSHIP ETHICS

AND DIVERSITY

Learning Objectives

 Explain why ethical leadership is so

important in organizations.

 Describe major ethical issues that leaders

face and approaches for addressing those

issues.

 Explain how leaders can create an ethical

climate in their organization.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

do the following:

Learning Objectives

 Describe the role of spirituality in creating an

ethical organizational climate.

 Explain the competitive and advantages of

diversity for organizations.

 Describe leadership strategies and behaviors

for creating a multicultural organization.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

do the following:

An Example of Leadership Ethics

The collapse of Enron

 Enron executives developed a deceiving web of

pseudo-partnerships with newly created “investment

companies” that were actually Enron subsidiaries

 The executives had encouraged and modeled an

organizational culture of individualism, innovation,

aggressive cleverness, and excess at the expense of

compassionate, honest, and responsible leadership

 These unethical leaders demonstrate the importance of leadership in establishing an ethical climate in an

organization

 Leaders are the prime example that followers emulate

when it comes to ethical or unethical behavior .

Ethics and Leadership

Ethics is the study of morality and the moral

choices people make in their relationships

with others

 Ethics concerns how we should behave in

the roles that society gives us.

 Leaders are often in roles that can determine the well-being of others and they sometimes influence the broader good

 technically good (effective)

 morally good

Power is the basis for a leader’s influence on followers

 the more power a leader has, the more likely that

followers will comply with the leader’s wishes

 the greater a leader’s power, the greater the potential for abuse

Corrupting influences of power

 Power may become desired as an end in itself and be sought at any cost

 Power differences may cause followers to give the

leader false positive feedback and create an elevated sense of self-worth on the leader

 The leader may devalue followers’ worth and to

avoid regular contact with followers or mistreat them

A leader’s failure to acknowledge the ethical limits

of power causes a loss of credibility and trust and

does devastating damage to the leader and his

constituency

Moral Consistency

If leaders’ behavior does not match

their stated values, they will lose the

trust of their followers and colleagues

• A leader’s moral inconsistencies are

open to public scrutiny

• Leaders who do not behave consistently with their stated ethical values risk

being labeled hypocrites.

Approaches to Ethical Behavior

Virtue Ethic

Virtue Ethic

Categorical Imperative

Follow universal moral laws

Categorical Imperative

Follow universal moral laws

Approaches to Ethical Behavior

Approaches to Ethical Behavior

Moral Learning

Persistent efforts

to be just,

prudent, & truthful

Moral Learning

Persistent efforts

to be just,

prudent, & truthful

Utilitarianism

Greatest good for greatest number

Utilitarianism

Greatest good for greatest number

Creating an Ethical Climate

Rewarding ethical and punishing unethical behavior.

Rewarding ethical and punishing unethical behavior.

Socially responsible

charismatic/transformational

leadership.

Socially responsible

charismatic/transformational

leadership.

Role modeling important values and behaviors.

Role modeling important values and behaviors.

Creating an Ethical Climate

Creating an Ethical Climate

Spiritual awareness

as a guide to action

Spiritual awareness

as a guide to action

Directing ethical policies and practices

Directing ethical policies and practices

Charismatic/Transformational

Leadership and Ethics

Charismatic/transformational leaders are considered

unethical when their behavior reflects a self-serving or

egotistical bias rather than altruistic values.

unethically because they are so committed to other-oriented values that they mistakenly believe

generally applicable moral requirements do not

apply to them.

followers are ignorant and leaders have superior

knowledge and insight this encourages leaders to

believe that normal ethical requirements do not

apply to their behavior

 Spirituality is part of our nature as humans,

 The content of our work and the context

(environment) help determine our total work experience,

 the work context and/or content today are

often injurious to the human spirit and may

be getting worse,

 Embracing spirituality at work may help

counteract these injurious trends and

benefit organizations, their members, and

communities

Diversity refers to the

multiple social, cultural,

physical, and environmental

differences among people

that affect the way they

think, feel and behave

Competitive Advantages

of Diversity

Creative Ideas

Creative Ideas

Flexibility in

Flexibility in

Outstanding Human

Resources

Outstanding Human

Resources

Competitive Advantages

of Diversity

Competitive Advantages

of Diversity

Cost Savings

From Experience

At Integration

Cost Savings

From Experience

At Integration

Effective Marketing Strategies

Effective Marketing Strategies

Leadership for Diversity

Leadership for Diversity

Leadership for Diversity

Rewarding and

recognizing

those who

promote and

participate in

diversity

programs.

Participating in training

and in discussions on

diversity issues and Boundary-spanning

Directing all employees

to participate in diversity training and seminars. Supportiveness through

creation of flexible

personnel policies and mentoring.