Ethics and Organizational Leadership

Much has been written about leadership during the last eighty years, but little attention has been paid to leadership's ethical dimension. This book sets out to redress the balance and develop an understanding of what comprises ethical leadership in organizations. The book explores ideas from leadership theory, moral philosophy, and empirical research in order to discuss themes within leadership ethicality and related moral challenges. It suggests that the route to moral leadership lies in capitalizing on the moral upsides of these themes whilst avoiding their corresponding downsides. Whilst the book advocates a consultative rather than directive leadership style as best placed to achieve this, it also argues that, in meeting these normative criteria, leaders need to go further than the superficial, contingent prescriptions for democratic responsiveness that suffuse leadership and management theory. The book envisages what such leadership might look like and reflects on the chances of such a model being realized in contemporary, Western organizations.