5-1Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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Leadership Ethics and Values

“Leadership cannot just go along to get along… Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day.”

~Jesse Jackson

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Introduction

• Personal values may be one of the most important determinants of how power is exercised or constrained.

• Mere possession of power leads to ethical questions about usage of power.

• The challenge of leadership becomes complex in a diverse and global environment.

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Leadership and “Doing the Right Things”

• Leaders face dilemmas that require choices between competing sets of values and priorities.

• Leaders set a moral example that becomes the model for an entire group or organization.

• Leaders should internalize a strong set of ethics, principles of right conduct, or a system of moral values.

• Good leaders tend to align the values of their followers with those of the organization or movement.

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Leadership and “Doing the Right Things” (continued)

• Four qualities of leadership that engenders trust:– Vision

– Empathy

– Consistency

– Integrity

• Two contrasting sets of assumptions people make about human nature:– Theory X

• Reflects that most people need extrinsic motivation.

– Theory Y• Reflects that most people are intrinsically

motivated.

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What Are Values?

• Values: “Constructs representing generalized behaviors or states of affairs that are considered by the individual to be important.”

• They play a fairly central role in one’s overall psychological makeup.

– They can affect behavior in a variety of situations.

• Individuals in the same work unit can have considerably different values.

• We can only make inferences about people’s values based on their behavior.

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Are there Generational Differences in Values?

• Pervasive influences of broad forces at a particular time tend to create common value systems.– This may contribute to misunderstandings and

tension between older leaders and younger followers.

• Each generation is molded by distinctive experiences at their critical developmental periods:– The Veterans (1922–1943)

– The Baby Boomers (1942–1960)

– The Gen Xers (1960–1980)

– The Nexters (1980–)

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Are there Generational Differences in Values? (continued)

• Research has also found that there is little evidence of a generation gap in basic values.

• Research has looked at how GenXers impact leadership:– Define leadership as removing obstacles and

gioving followers what they need– Believe leaders have to “earn their stripes”

rather than advance by seniority

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Moral Reasoning

• An important consideration is how one thinks about value-laden issues or ethical dilemmas.

• Moral reasoning: Process leaders use to make decisions about ethical and unethical behaviors.

– Manner by which leaders solve moral problems.

• Value differences often result in different judgments regarding ethical and unethical behavior.

• Kohlberg offers that although the development of moral reasoning is invariant, not all individuals actually achieve the highest stages.

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Developmental Levels and Stages of Moral Reasoning

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Biases Affecting Moral Decisions

Research has identified 4 biases that affect our moral decision making:

• Implicit prejudice – subconscious prejudices that affect our decisions without us being aware of them

• In-group favoritism – doing acts of kindness and favors for those who are like us

• Overclaiming credit – overrating the quality of our own work and contributions

• Conflicts of interest – we often discount the effects of a conflict of interest

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Examples of Rushworth Kidder’s Four Ethical Dilemmas

• Truth versus loyalty – when honestly answering a question may compromise confidentiality.

• Individual versus community – compromising the rights of an individual for the good of the community.

• Short-term versus long-term – balancing time with children verses on career.

• Justice versus mercy – for ex excusing a person’s behavior due to extenuating circumstances

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Kidder’s Principles for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• Ends-based thinking – “Do what’s best for the greatest number of people.” Also known as utilitarianism.

• Rule-based thinking – “Following the highest principle or duty.”

• Care-based thinking – “Do what you want others to do to you.” Also known as The Golden Rule.

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Ways people avoid feeling guilty

Good people sometimes do bad things. Here are some ways people avoid guilty feelings associated with those actions:

• Moral justification

• Euphemistic labeling

• Advantageous comparison

• Displacement of diffusion of responsibility

• Disregard or distortion of consequences

• Dehumanization

• Attribution of blame

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Authentic Leadership

• Founded in Greek philosophical notion of “to thine own self be true.”

• Strong ethical convictions that guide behavior

• Not so much avoiding doing what is “wrong” as much as trying to do what is “right”

• Has gained momentum recently because• of beliefs that

– enhancing self-awareness can help people in organizations find more meaning and connection at work

– Promoting transparency and openness in relationships builds trust and commitment

– fostering more inclusive structures and practices can help build more positive ethical climates

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Servant Leadership

• Leadership role is serving others

• Stems in part from the teachings of Jesus

• 10 characteristics describe servant leaders:

• Listening• Empathy• Healing• Awareness• Persuasion• Conceptualization• Foresight:• Stewardship• Commitment to others’ growth• Building community:

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Leading by example…

• One of the most quoted “principles of good leadership”

• Research shows that ethical role models are characterized by four general categories of attitudes and behaviors:– Interpersonal behaviors : show care, concern, and compassion for

others.

– Basic fairness : fairness shown to others

– Ethical actions and self-expectations: hold themselves to high ethical standards

– Articulating ethical standards: articulate a consistent ethical vision and are uncompromising toward it

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Formal Leadership Roles

Formal leadership roles impose unique ethical responsibilities and challenges.

Leaders more than followers:

•Possess unique degrees of both legitimate and coercive power

•Enjoy greater privileges

•Have access to more information

•Have greater authority and responsibility

•Interact with a broader range of stakeholders who expect equitable treatment

•Must balance sometimes competing loyalties when making decisions

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Creating and sustaining an ethical climate5 “fronts” of leadership action are required to create an

ethical climate:

• Formal ethics policies and procedures – formal statements of ethical standards and policies, reporting mechanisms, disciplinary procedures, penalties for ethical violations

• Core ideology – organization’s purpose, guiding principles, basic identity, and most important values have to have an ethical focus

• Integrity – can’t be just plaques, posters or declarations… ethics has to be enacted through personal integrity

• Structural reinforcement – organization’s structure and systems should encourage higher ethical performance and discourage unethical performance

• Process focus – how goals are achieved is as important as achievement

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Principle–centered Leadership

Fundamental interdependence between the personal, interpersonal, managerial, and organizational levels of leadership

Unique roles of each are:

•Personal – be a trustworthy person in terms of both character and competence.

•Interpersonal – a lack of trust leads to self-protective efforts to control and verify each other’s behavior.

•Managerial – empowering others requires a trusting relationship and requires team building, delegation, communication, negotiation, and self-management.

•Organizational – creativity requires the organization’s structure, systems (e.g. training, communication, reward), strategy, and vision be aligned and mutually supportive.

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Summary

• There is a relationship between ethics, values and leadership

• More than just the content of what one believes is right and wrong, how one makes ethical decisions is critical.

• Ethical dilemmas often involve a choice between two “rights” rather than right and wrong.

• Recent research has explored the interdependencies between effective leadership and particular value systems