Spiritual Leadership (original) (raw)
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Leadership, character and its development: A qualitative exploration
SA journal of human resource management, 2007
Great leaders throughout the history of man have won battles, called the command of nations and won the respect and admiration of their followers based on their character. People today are seeking to follow leaders that not only demonstrate the necessary leadership competencies, but also leaders that exhibit character, integrity, courage and consideration (Covey, 1997). Character communicates consistency, potential and respect to followers (Maxwell, 1998). Followers then emulate their leaders, which inevitably contributes to the building of character at all organisational levels, and ultimately strengthens the organisation and its bottom-line (Turknett, Turknett & McCusker, 2006). This provides the impetus for this study's exploration of what influences the development of character in leaders. The researchers' interest in studying the development of character in leaders was also roused by a statement made by Joseph Badarocco (1997, p. 2), a leading authority on business ethics. He stated that leaders are suffering from a "dirty hands problem". Badarocco derived this from Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher, who made use of this metaphor in his play of the same name, in which he demonstrated how leaders involve themselves in activities that are morally destructive. Major corporations such as Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Anderson Consulting and Tyco (Klann, 2003; Miller, 2004; Storey, 2003) have seen their leaders suffer from this "dirty hands problem." These organisations, along with others, fell prey to the greed of their leaders in various forms, ranging from "massaging" numbers ("managed earnings") to outright fraud (Beatty, Ewing & Tharp, 2003). These examples of leadership crisis partially stems from the crisis of character in individual leaders (Sankar, 2003). This has resulted in employees losing their jobs, companies filing for bankruptcy (Storey, 2003), the loss of employee life savings plans (Gray & Clark, 2002), increased levels of cynicism and suspicion (Farmer, 2005), and public disenchantment (Storr, 2004). This leadership crisis could be attributed to leaders choosing to operate out of what Cashman (1998) calls persona (leading on the outside), which limits possibilities and potentialities and which is guided by control, fear, self-interest and winning at all costs. Instead, Cashman states that people should be leading out of character (leading from the inside-out), which opens up possibilities and potentialities and allows a leader to be guided by authenticity, purpose, openness, trust and compassion. This problem is further exacerbated by the spirit of this age which revolves around material gain and a consumer mentality (Maxwell, 2002). This consumer drive has caused leaders to pursue performance goals, whereby they forget that enduring positive influence depends on the "type of people they are and not merely on power, titles and positions" (Klann, 2003, p. 4).
Ethical leadership in troubled times
International Journal of Public Leadership
group>2056-4929Emerald Publishing Limited594314<article-id pub-id-type="
Leadership has a moral and ethical aspect. Ethical leadership is not only important because it leads to financial and strategic success for organizations, because it's the right thing for the greater good. Ethical Leaders analyze the decision making process firstly in terms of the long term implications and consequences, and thinking to incorporate the value system in the decision making process and making the process more viable and beneficial for the corporation and people. An ethical leader embodies the purpose and value of the company, people or society in which he/she works. An ethical leader stands out from the crowd and maintains strong ethics in professional and personal matters. An ethical leader performs best of his ability and enthuse energy to the subordinates to do the same. An ethical leader is open to all, honest and ready to face all kinds of situations and deal with all kinds of people. Ethical leaders led by examples and influence others and enthuse consistent energy to the subordinates that remains morally focused, determined and forthright. There are five pillars of ethical leadership namely, commitment, relevance, positive value, influence, and means -not ends. Ethical leaders also need to invest a lot of time in strategy, in working out how to get there. The ethical leaders have good at behaviour, respects others in organisation, transparent and fairness in working, ethical working behaviour, high standard for oneself and others. They work within the set of standard of behaviour and role model for their subordinates and influence by their sets of values through their work. They create an open conversation and working practice that encourages the sharing of ideas, knowledge and vision so that the benefits of the learning are shared. The paper examines the current ethical perspective of leadership. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the construct of ethical leadership by reviewing the relevant literature. The aims of the paper include providing definitions for the construct of ethical leadership and describing an ethical leader's personality. Furthermore, the paper evaluates the major determinants of leader's ethical behavior in a modern organization. The research questions of the paper include: what are major personality characteristics of an ethical leader and what is his typical behavior? What is the leader's role in fostering followers' ethical behavior and how do followers perceive an ethical leader? This paper also provides the results from scarce empirical studies about ethical leaders and the followers' perception of ethical dimension in leaders. The structure of the paper reflects the purpose and follows the research questions.
Ethics and leadership: Enablers and stumbling blocks
Journal of Public Affairs, 2010
Many of the scandals, indiscretions and collapses, over the last few years, at formerly venerated organizations were the results of toxic relationships, dubious economic models, opaque workplace paradigms, as well as questionable collective and individual actions and behaviours of people who, ordinarily, would not be considered 'typically criminal'. The individuals involved have typically been people with good education, caring parents, were community contributors and, by all accounts, appeared to be upstanding members of society. Their involvement, therefore, in corrupt acts and relationships thus brings a numbers of issues under questionan important one of which is their ethical maturity, and the forming of that ethical development through important societal institutions such as: religion, education and the family. We set out to understand what some of the stumbling blocks were that prevent individuals from courageously acting on their sometimes vast bases of theoretical/common knowledge with respect to ethics and morals, but which has not yet become common practice. Additionally, we also sought to understand what the various enablers were for individuals who were able to live and act ethically, to further enhance such ethical and moral living and working. Our research sample was 646 middle managers who were all enrolled on the MBA programs of the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Erasmus University (Netherlands). The research respondents self-reported on both the stumbling blocks and enablers, through writing up their personal experiences for our research. They also reported on what some of the practical actions were that they employed to live and work ethically.