Reflections on ethical leadership

Abstract

This chapter discusses why ethical behavior is more of a challenge than it would first appear to be. In particular, ethical behavior requires a person to (1) recognize that there is an event to which to react; (2) define the event as having an ethical dimension; (3) decide that the ethical dimension is significant; (4) take responsibility for generating an ethical solution to the problem; (5) figure out what abstract ethical rule(s) might apply to the problem; (6) decide how these abstract ethical rules actually apply to the problem so as to suggest a concrete solution; (7) enact the ethical solution, meanwhile possibly counteracting contextual forces that might lead one not to act in an ethical manner; (8) deal with possible repercussions of having acted in what one considers an ethical manner. In some ways, therefore, behaving ethically is nontrivial in the same ways as is bystander intervention, itself an ethical challenge. The challenges are put in the context of a theory of ethical leadership. © 2009 Springer-Verlag US.