Chapter 13: Leadership Ethics

  1. Explain the current status of research in leadership ethics.
    1. The current status of research in leadership ethics is mainly on how leaders think, behave, and act. How they act to different events and the choices they make are based on their ethics.
  2. Define ethics, including its connection to Greek philosophers.
    1. Ethics is an individual’s values and morals or it is what appears to be appropriate by society itself. The word ethics means customs, character or conduct. Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos.
  3. Distinguish between Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development.
    1. Kolberg’s six stages of moral development are first led by obedience and punishment. This means that the idea of mortality is external and the rules that follow that purpose are because people are avoiding punishment. The next stage is individual and exchange. This is defined as mortality is interested in themselves, and that people only do things to get something in return. Stage three is interpersonal accord and conformity. This means that the individual acts to what they think society says is good, ideal, and right. Stage four is maintain the social order. This means that individuals do what they think they need to do to make things maintain and support a law. Stage five is social contract and individual rights. This is what individuals act on in what they think is right. The last stage is universal principles. This is when people act in moral ways because they do what they need and think is just.
  4. Describe the differences between ethical egoism, utilitarianism, and altruism. Give an example of each.
    1. Ethical egoism is when someone is only interested in the what would benefit them the most. They are solely interested in benefiting themselves. An example of someone doing this would be someone who works in an office who leads a group project only because they want people to see how great they are. Utilitarianism is when someone strives to have the greatest good for as many people as they can reach out to. An example of this is when a company’s boss puts his own benefits aside and sees what would be the companies best interest to do well. Altruism is when someone helps out other people and expect to get something in return such as a repayment. Jesus Christ is a bad example of this because he helped out the masses and expected nothing in return.
  5. Explain virtue-based theories. How do they differ from teleological and deontological theories?
    1. Virtue-based theories are theories that look to find leader’s characters. This is defined as having a combination of leader’s virtue, moral, and disposition. This type of theory focuses on the leader’s virtues rather than their conduct which is what teleological and deontological theories focus on.
  6. What is meant by the dark side of leadership?
    1. The dark side of leadership is when the leader exploits their power to achieve their own personal goals. These leaders tend to be overly smug, reckless and ambitious. They also tend to have followers who are conformers and colluders.
  7. Explain the toxic triangle. How do the three elements relate to one another?
    1. The toxic triangle is a huge part of the dark leadership composed of leaders. It is comprised of destructive leaders, susceptible followers and conducive environment. The three elements relate to one another by having a destructive leader be charismatic, powerful, narcissistic, and have a negative life themes. They also have desperate followers that are part of an immature group. The followers also have close to the same characteristics as their leader which will result in an unstable environment and will eventually leave them worse off.
  8. Describe Aristotle’s ideas on the virtues of an ethical person.
    1. Aristotle’s ideas on the virtues of an ethical person are virtues, courage, temperance, self-control, generosity, honesty, sociability, fairness, modesty, and justice.
  9. Explain how the influence dimension of leadership creates an ethical responsibility. Why is ethics central to leadership?
    1. The influence dimension of leadership creates an ethical responsibility by having the leader’s job be ethical. This means that the leader needs to want to be good at their job. As a result, the leader needs to be a good example to their followers so that when the leader acts ethically the followers will want to follow in their footsteps. This in turn will help the followers act ethically.
  10. Explain the following concepts: respect for persons, holding environment, and civic virtue.
    1. Respect for persons is when the leader needs to respect their followers. They should believe that people need to be treated equally and they cannot be treated as another person’s tool to reach their own selfish goals. Holding environment means that the leader needs to create a safe space that is feasible for their followers to be able to grow. Civic virtue is one person’s duty to organize and governance their community and the people around them such as an organization.
  11. Explain Heifetz’s perspective on helping followers confront and effect change from conflict.
    1. Heifetz’s perspective on helping followers confront and effect change from conflict was to help their followers confront and change conflict they may have. This in turn will help their followers grow. Heifetz’s believed that creating an encouraging, holding environment will help followers address issues head on.
  12. Explain Burns’s perspective on ethical leadership.
    1. Burns’s perspective on ethical leadership was that in order to be a good leader they would need to be able to address any problems their followers might have. He also believed that a leader’s job is to help the followers be able to grow their morals.
  13. Explain Greenleaf’s perspective on ethical leadership and the concept of “servant leadership.”
    1. Greenleaf’s perspective on ethical leadership and the concept of “servant leadership” was generally based on ethics and altruism. He believed that in order to be a good leader was that you had to be a good listener, be empathetic, and be entirely accepting.
  14. Describe the five principles of ethical leadership.
    1. The five principles of ethical leadership are respect others, serve others, show justice, manifest honesty, build community. Respect others mean to allow for creativity, wants, emotions and thoughts of the people around you. Serve others mean to look for opportunities that could potentially help followers. Show justice means that the leader should always try to act fairly and be just to their followers. Manifests honesty means that the leader should try and be completely honest and encourage honesty from their followers. Lastly builds community is when the leader should try and target their focus on creating a safe environment that is productive and can help their community flourish.
  15. Why might ethics vary from culture to culture?
    1. Ethics vary from culture to culture because each culture has their own sets of morals and set of rules. Each culture is unique in the way they view the world and in the way they view life. This in turn creates different ethical bylaws that people stand by and believe.
  16. How do the ethics of today’s generation of U.S. workers differ from those of prior generations’, according to recent research?
    1. Ethics of today’s generation of U.S. workers differ from those of prior generations’, according to recent research because of how people are raised. From generation to generation how people raise their kids differ which created different atmospheres that kids grow up in. Another reason why ethics are different are because of the advancement in education and in technology. All of the different changes seen in the US from different generations impact people and how they view the world and society, which as a result changes people’s perspective on how to behave ethically.
  17. What are strengths of research on ethics in leadership?
    1. Some of the strengths of research on ethics in leadership are that research has been conducted and it is also a big part for the broader aspect of leadership. Another strength is that research gives a transparent and easy to follow principles on how to become an ethical leader.
  18. What are criticisms of research on ethics in leadership?
    1. Some of the criticisms of research on ethics in leadership are that there are bias driven, there is not much empirical support, and there are not many researchers for this type of leadership

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