‘Adherence to a set of ethical values is essential to good leadership’. Do you agree? Draw on leadership theories to support your answer.
“The study of ethics is about…right, wrong, good, evil and the relationship of humans to each other…Leadership is a particular type of relationship…By understanding ethics, we gain a better understanding of the leader/follower relationship.”. But to what degree can it be suggested that ethics and leadership are linked and, moreover, intrinsically linked to the extent that having a set of ethical values is essential to good leadership? Despite large amounts of research in the area, leadership has not been defined unanimously. However, for the purpose of this essay it will be defined as the “…means to inspire others to undertake some form of purposeful action as determined by the leader.”. The term “ethical” is referred to as that which is morally good or that which is considered morally right and Kreeft, 1990 furthered this by stating that to be ethical, one must refrain from evil acts or behaviours that harm others. This essay seeks to agree that for good leadership, it is essential to adhere to a set of ethical values by evaluating leaders and their successes using a framework of leadership theories.
It is widely agreed that Muhatma Ghandi is a good leader, practicing non-violent, civil resistance to free India from British rule. Ghandi possesses a transformational leadership style, both motivating and elevating others and acting as a role model to inspire his followers to work together to reach the end goal. According to Bass, 1985, the transformational leader uses influence strategies and techniques that empower the followers, enhance their self-efficacy and change their values, norms, and attitudes, consistent with the vision developed by the leader. Ghandi achieved this after his time in South Africa led him to see the flaws with British rule in India. It is his use of ethical and moral means to reach his end goal that Ghandi is regarded as a good leader.
Trait Theory explores the idea that there is a commonality between all leaders in the form of a set of traits and skills. Stodgill, 1974, identified different personality traits that, in the right combination, lead to a person having the ability to become a leader. It is easy to see that Ghandi, who is widely accepted as a good leader, possesses many of these traits, such as empathy, assertiveness and communication. It is not so easy to accept, however, that a leader such as Hitler also possessed similar traits and, by this definition, should also be classed as a good leader. Yet Hitler is remembered in history for war crimes and mass genocide whereas Ghandi is known for opposing oppression with non-violence. The single factor that differentiates the two in terms of leadership is Ghandi’s ethical set of values used to reach the ends, rather than Hitler’s Machiavellian approach of the ends justifying the means. Hitler allowed greed and self-centredness to take over and pursued his own vision of a pure German race, committing immoral and evil acts. Although he possessed the means to be a good leader and created a large scale following, his lack of ethical values instead created a bully or tyrant, incapable of using his power for the moral good.
It is also important to look at the correlation between ethical values and bad leadership. In the British Army we use values based leadership to instil a team ethos and to maintain discipline. It is a tried and tested method to hold everyone accountable for their actions at all levels. Values based leadership describes “…behaviours that are rooted in ethical and moral foundations”, and can be seen as a form of transformational leadership. Black Hearts portrays the descent into chaos that occurs when a team fails to uphold any ethical or moral values that can be attributed to a lack if competent leadership. It is obvious that in the build up to the events, that saw one of the worst war crimes committed by American troops in recent history, there was a blatant lack of any ethical values being instilled on the unit. An assumption has to be made, despite the many other factors in this case, that if the unit had a strong set of ethical values and morality then their actions may have been questioned prior to the events taking place.
Nelson Mandela is arguably one of the most highly regarded leaders of modern times, not only because of his achievements politically, but because of his unwavering commitment and dedication to a cause he fought for, to motivate and inspire his followers. His moral character allowed him to engage with his followers and “create a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower”, which Northouse, 2013, suggests is the key to transformational leadership. Bass, 1999, recognised that the ethics of leadership rests on three pillars: the moral character, the ethical legitimacy of the values and the morality of the processes, all displayed in Mandela’s lifelong commitment to equality. Similar to Ghandi, his peaceful, non-violent campaign against discrimination undoubtedly shows that a strong ethical backbone sets the conditions for good leadership.
Despite there being much debate in the definition of leadership and especially good leadership, it is possible, by examining several examples of leadership in differing situations, to show a common thread. To display good leadership, the leader must motivate, inspire and empower their followers to know what is right, what is wrong and what must be done to achieve the end goal. It can be seen that without effective leadership, as in the case of Black Hearts, there can be a disastrous outcome. But, with passion and a will to succeed, good can come from bad situations as with the lifelong dedication of Ghandi and Mandela to their causes. The most difficult aspect is to decide whether to be a good leader the motivation, and inspiration, must align with ethical values. As described using Hitler as an example, we see that without ethical or moral direction, despite commanding presence over followers, his leadership cannot be described as ‘good’. Ultimately, the humility and goodness of character needed to create an effective and healthy leader/follower relationship requires an inbuilt set of ethical values to ensure good leadership.