Eithics in Leadership - Short Answer Essay Questions - Midterm

Lesson Two: Leadership Qualities and their Ethical Implications

Lesson One discussed and introduced the topics of ethics and morality as they are understood from the perspective of the individual and society in general. Lesson Two will introduce the concept of leadership as well as leadership qualities and their ethical implications.

Leadership and Management

First, it is important to note that, within the context of business organizations of all types and sizes, leadership is thought of as an aspect of management. In fact, leadership is considered one of the well-established four functions of management, along with planning, coordinating, and controlling (Norman, n.d.). The other important thing to understand on this concept is that not all managers are good leaders, and conversely, not all leaders are good managers. Some managers excel in technical areas of management but fail to effectively motivate and control the work of subordinates. And likewise, some leaders can do an excellent job of inspiring their followers but lack other skills such as accounting, asset management, and budgeting. Regardless, the key takeaway from this concept is that all of these functions are necessary to the proper operation of a business.

No Such Thing as a Leadership Recipe

Formal management and leadership research began in the early 20th century. And some of the first work in this field was directed at trying to determine whether or not there were characteristics (physical and psychological) of human beings that were sufficiently correlated with successful leadership so as to infer causation (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991). In other words, were there any attributes that all successful leaders possessed, and which would inform a “recipe” for successful leaders?

The answer, predominantly, was no. The research was largely unsuccessful at finding any qualities which correlated perfectly with successful leadership. In terms of physical characteristics, there were none that even looked generally promising. Indeed, leaders come in all different shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, genders, abilities, etc. However, in terms of psycho-social elements, while there were no qualities that were consistently present among all the successful leaders of recorded human history, the researchers did find eight qualities which could be loosely associated with leadership success (Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002):

Drive: Generally speaking, successful leaders usually have high levels of energy, ambition, and drive for success. They are typically highly-motivated and very persistent with respect to their goals. Considering the level of effort which would ordinarily be necessary to achieve levels of greatness sufficient to earn one’s self a prominent place in the annals of history, this quality is not surprising.

Desire to Lead: In addition to possessing a high level of drive, successful leaders often have a strong desire to lead others, rather than follow from behind. They enjoy the influence that they can exercise over others in pursuit of goals, and are not afraid to take responsibility for other people.

Honesty and Integrity: Most successful leaders are honest with their followers and consequently develop very high levels of trust and credibility among the people they lead. There is also a high degree of consistency between words and actions. Naturally, this is not to say that all successful leaders have been so honest and consistent, as there are obviously plenty of cases that would disprove such a hypothesis.

Self-Confidence: Generally, leaders who are successful portray a high level of self-confidence, and minimal self-doubt. This translates directly to followers, so that they are not concerned as to the ability of their leaders to accomplish stated goals. Note, here, that such appearances of self-confidence may not in fact be genuine, but so long as the leader is perceived to be genuine, follower commitment and loyalty will be the same.

Intelligence: Most successful leaders need to possess a fair degree of intelligence, and a commensurate ability to process large amounts of complex data and make important decisions from an informed perspective. In today’s organizations, such data is far too voluminous and complicated for any one leader to manage it all. Instead, he or she will rely on a team of supporting experts to provide the most relevant macro-level conclusions from data, and recommend courses of action. Thus, in this sense, even intelligence may not be a barrier to successful leadership, so long as the leader can a) appear intelligent, so as to maintain credibility, and b) surround him or her self with adequate help.

Job-Relevant Knowledge: In addition to the ability to process information (intelligence, discussed immediately supra), successful leaders must also have a sufficient level of knowledge about the nature of the position they occupy, and the challenges that exist therewith. In the business world, this may equate to a history of adequate experience in one’s field. However, as with intelligence, this too may be essentially faked so long as a leader has good help.

Extraversion: It is true that most leaders are highly energetic, outgoing, gregarious people who thrive in environments that involve a lot of social interaction (Van Vugt, 2006). They are also generally assertive with their positions and influence. However, a strong caveat is warranted with respect to this quality, as history has shown that some of the very best leaders are far from extraverted. Perhaps the quintessential example is President Abraham Lincoln, who is well-documented as having been someone who abhorred the spotlight, and preferred quiet seclusion to the constant interaction that accompanied the presidency. Yet, Lincoln managed to repress his preferences and lead the country through one of the most difficult periods in its 200+ year history. Additionally, he is hardly remembered for his quiet and reserved persona, save for historians and their readership. Thus, Lincoln serves as an example that introversion mustn’t always inhibit a leader from achieving even the very highest levels of success and notoriety.

Accountability: Finally, most successful leaders have a strong sense of accountability for the results of not only their own efforts, but also those of their followers. In this sense, they are happy to share credit when things go well, but also to accept blame when things don’t. When asked about how to reconcile successes and failures as a leader, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell once said “Share the credit, take the blame, and quietly find out and fix things that went wrong. Whenever you place the cause of one of your actions outside yourself, it’s an excuse and not a reason.” (Executive Leadership, 2013).

Ethical Implications of Leadership Qualities

Now that we’ve listed and discussed these eight leadership qualities, and explained that none are strictly dispositive insofar as success is concerned, we can examine the ethics of leaders exhibiting these attributes in different contexts.

Drive: Drive might be considered an admirable quality, but what if a leader’s drive for success is placed in higher priority than ethical conduct? In other words, what if goals are considered to be more important than altruism? Additionally, what if goals don’t align with ethical conduct? This is not an uncommon situation, as professionals who are paid for performance (e.g. commission positions, etc.) are frequently pushed to deliver results without much regard for the means by which it is accomplished.

Desire to Lead: Desire to Lead is usually a prerequisite for successful leadership, but one should consider the motivations behind such a desire to lead. If the purpose is to help followers achieve more together, this is arguably a more ethical motivation than, say, a desire to control others and wield power.

Honesty and Integrity: Provided that these qualities are genuine, they are, on their faces, objectively ethical. However, are there ever cases where lying is a superior ethical choice to honesty? For example, if embellishing the truth about the state of a business’s financial solvency is necessary to keep employees comfortable, motivated, and productive, is such dishonesty truly unethical if it serves to benefit employees by preventing such a company from going under? These are difficult questions to be sure, but absolute rules of conduct are rare in the world of ethics.

Self-Confidence: Confidence may be a powerful force of persuasion for followers, but over-confidence can lead to dangerous positions of underestimating threats and rendering a team vulnerable to failure. Additionally, creating false impressions of confidence may give followers an imprudent sense of trust in their leader.

Intelligence: Intelligence can hardly be described as an unethical quality for leaders to possess. However, as discussed supra, intelligence is something that may be effectively feigned by a talented charlatan, and this always presents a unique danger to the stability of teams. In another way, intelligence possessed by a leader which is genuine but vastly superior to that possessed by the typical follower may be used to take advantage of followers and manipulate them for personal gain, so exceptionally talented leaders must self-regulate their own conduct in this respect.

Job-Relevant Knowledge: Like intelligence, job-relevant knowledge is something that may be faked for personal gain at the expense of a team, or used in a way that takes advantage of those who are less knowledgeable. For example, financial experts who grow to understand accounting procedures at a level that no other employees do (or can) may be tempted to use this knowledge to commit undetectable theft. Cases of such behavior are not uncommon.

Extraversion: As discussed previously, extraversion is a typical quality among successful leaders, but not all successful leaders. Extravert leaders must be conscious of the way in which their personalities may be perceived as overly-assertive, aggressive, or even overbearing by more introverted followers. This kind of leadership dynamic can sometimes lead to a culture of resentment or fear within teams.

Accountability: Accountability is perhaps the one quality which is unlikely to lead to unethical behavior, regardless of its degree of influence over an individual’s behavior. Accountability is essentially the very embodiment of ethics, and so long as one’s own perceptions about right and wrong, good and bad, etc. are reasonable and appropriate, an emphasis on personal responsibility and even guilt-proneness is unlikely to lead such a leader to unethical conduct.

Conclusion

In this lesson, we discussed leadership as well as some qualities that are generally associated with successful leadership and their ethical implications. In Lesson Three, we will discuss the most prominent theories of ethics applied to philosophical debate today, and apply a famous ethical problem for analysis.

References

Executive Leadership (2013, June 26). Colin Powell’s rules to live by. Business Management Daily. Retrieved from http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/32161/colin-powells-rules-to-live-by

Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), pp. 765-780.

Kirkpatrick, S. A. & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits really matter? Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), pp. 48-60.

Norman, L. (n.d.) What are the four basic functions that make up the management process? Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-basic-functions-make-up-management-process-23852.html

Van Vugt, M. (2006). Evolutionary origins of leadership and followership.Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(4), 354-371.