This book points to a necessary relationship between ethics and business; the success of such an alliance depends directly on sound business leadership. Without the sort of leadership that upholds the dignity and rights of employees and clients, as well as the interests of shareholders, even the most meticulously prepared ethics statements are destined to founder, as evidenced at Enron and elsewhere. Over the past 30 years or so, since business ethics became established as a discipline in its own right, much progress has been made in the ethical conduct of business at all levels. In short, business people, like politicians, doctors and church leaders, have come to realize that it is not possible to avoid involvement in ethics, for much of what business people do and cannot do may be subject to ethical evaluation. While the history of business ethics as currently practised may be traced to the medieval and ancient periods; our principal concern is with developments in the ?eld over recent decades. A consideration of how the topic has been treated by the Harvard Business Review, the business world’sleadingprofessionaljournal,provideshelpful insights into past progress and present challenges. In 1929, just as business ethics was beginning to evolve, Wallace B.

Are leaders morally special? Is there something ethically distinctive about the relationship between leaders and followers? Should leaders do whatever it takes to achieve group goals? Leadership Ethics uses moral theory, as well as empirical research in psychology, to evaluate the reasons everyday leaders give to justify breaking the rules. Written for people without a background in philosophy, it introduces readers to the moral theories that are relevant to leadership ethics: relativism, amoralism, egoism, virtue ethics, social contract theory, situation ethics, communitarianism, and cosmopolitan theories such as utilitarianism and transformational leadership. Unlike many introductory texts, the book does more than simply acquaint readers with different approaches to leadership ethics. It defends the Kantian view that everyday leaders are not justified in breaking the moral rules.

This book brings together a wide range of topics in leadership ethics and business ethics. It approaches these topics from the perspective of the humanities as well as the social sciences. About half of the book is on leadership and the other half on topics in business ethics. Besides these general areas of research, the book explores how to teach and study ethics in both business ethics and leadership studies. Specifically, it examines issues ranging from the nature of ethical leadership, to studies of authenticity, virtue, and the public and private morality of leaders. In business ethics, the subjects covered span from moral imagination, to casuistry, meaningful work, and workplace ethics. The book includes a section on the importance of liberal arts for studying and teaching ethics in business and professional schools. It concludes with a reflection on the ethical challenges of leaders and followers in a world where some leaders have inverted moral values.

The Ethical Leader showcases the necessity and practicality of using an ethics-based business model for competitive advantage and long-term organizational success. Ethical behaviour by businesses, or their staff, is often seen as the corporate and social responsibility icing on an organizational cake – something that is nice to do but never really essential. But by turning this view around – and making ethical behaviour a primary focus – Witzel shows how businesses can create and maintain long-term competitive advantage. Trust and respect among key stakeholder groups, particularly employees and customers, cannot be overstated in their importance to an organization's success: trust engenders loyalty and good reputation, which in turn builds brand value. However, while ethical behaviour is key to trust-building, in order for an organization to see lasting, positive outcomes it needs to go deeper than something managers do out of a sense of moral duty. The Ethical Leader shows why ethical practice has to be the platform on which a strong and enduring business can be built, and leaders and managers need to provide the necessary tools and insights to enable this to happen. Witzel offers a practical introduction to some of the key concepts in ethics, including how to deal with ethical paradoxes and making ethical decisions. The book explores the specifics of what makes an ethical leader, and how leaders can communicate values and standards across an organization in order to engage the trust of employees, consumers, shareholders and the wider community.

This is a practical guide on how to navigate the complexities of ethical leadership in sport, while recognizing the increasing pressure placed on individuals and organizations to win and be exemplary role models. While you and most leaders know right from wrong, giving voice to your values isn’t always straightforward. This book explores how to approach the ethical decisions, dilemmas, and valuebased conflicts that emerge for leaders in sports organizations in order to make good choices, drive a sound culture, and reduce the risk of going awry. The approach in this book is two-fold: Coaching to help you learn how to make and act on an ethical decision when faced with a dilemma, and an exploration of those deep personal values and beliefs about sport that underpin your actions. This book considers ethics in the context of modern sport and highlights the classic ethical traps and cultural slippery slopes to avoid using case studies and examples.

This illuminating and practical collection of essays addresses the increasingly important topics of corporate ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability in the context of effective global business strategies. Instead of condemning business, or exhorting corporate leaders to "do good," the authors deal with the "hot button" issues of our time in a cool and rational manner, seeing them as opportunities rather than as problems. As the authors illustrate, there is no necessary trade-off between business leaders doing the right thing, on one hand, and the profitable thing, on the other. They demonstrate that ethics is not peripheral, or in addition to, the central concerns of business. To the contrary, ethics and good citizenship are at the heart of all good business strategies, decisions, and organizational cultures. These essays offer useful examples of how executives can create strategies and cultures that are, both and at the same time, ethical and effective--the essence of GOOD BUSINESS. A PUBLICATION OF THE INSTITUTE FOR ENTERPRISE ETHICS Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

Ethical leadership has come to the forefront of management thought in the twenty-first century in the wake of breaches of judgement and integrity that have plagued international markets. This volume assembles an international cadre of management scholars to explore questions surrounding ethical leadership. Using a variety of methods and approaches, this collection of studies examines how people determine the ethicality of their leaders, the complex connection of trust and those perceptions, and how that affects positive employee outcomes in the private and public sectors. Issues are explored both from the standpoint of behaving unethically and behaving ethically at the individual and firm levels. The diversity of approaches and penetrating insight makes this a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of ethics and leadership. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Change Management.

Top academic scholars ponder the question of ethics as it pertains to all aspects of leadership in business, government, and nonprofit organizations. If leaders were defined by their influence on history, Hitler would be on par with Gandhi, Lincoln, and Mother Theresa. Yet most of us believe that our superiors have a responsibility to exercise power with a purpose far greater than any political agenda and a motive more noble than personal gain. This thought-provoking collection of essays explores the ethical challenges that leaders face in their relationships with followers, the choices they make, and the ways in which they influence others. Joanne Ciulla and her contributors examine the traits and characteristics of top-tier leaders. She questions the assumption that moral fortitude is an inherent part of being in charge; analyzes the roles that charisma, morality, and delegation play in the leadership paradigm; and considers whether individuals who want to lead with integrity but are sometimes forced to get their hands dirty for their constituents can be called "moral leaders." Readers will gain an appreciation for how ethics is not an add-on to the practice of leadership but rather an integral part of it—an element that informs the very idea of what it means to lead and to lead well.

Perhaps the fundamental question in CSR is: What are the responsibilities of businesses and business leadership to society? Moreover, do the responsibilities of business change in times of social and political turmoil? The chapters in this book tackle several aspects of these questions with chapters on business and politics, the environment, technology, and immigration; along with broader questions about leadership, governance, and the very nature of CSR.

This book links ethical leadership theory to the implementation of improved leadership practices, particularly in highly operational environments. It builds on the recognition that bad forms of leadership lead to declining motivation and consequently to problems in the social climate and quality of work in organizations and the personal health of employees. It is based on a qualitative study from 100 in-depth interviews using inductive categorization, retrieving deep, rich and unprompted data from a highly developed and advanced production facility. The book reviews the current state of research in this field and describes the setup of the underlying study, linking it to the author’s professional experience. It discusses the research design, its testing and its adaption to organizational practice. The book presents the findings of the study, introduces specific issues arising from the analysis, then critically discusses the interpretation of the findings and matches these with theoretical concepts. One finding of the study is that CSR and ethics are too often implemented with a focus on governance, process and reporting, without looking at leadership on all levels as the critical component. Finally it discusses the conclusions and implications derived from the findings. Overall, the book critically assesses how ethical leadership can be practically implemented in business organizations as a means of transforming organizations into better-governed institutions that exhibit ethical behavior. Foreword by Prof Dr James F. O'Kane, Dean of The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University /div