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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
A Review of “Meeting the Ethical Challenges of
Leadership”
James L. Morrison
To cite this article: James L. Morrison (2011) A Review of “Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership”, Journal of Education for Business, 86:6, 364-365, DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2010.529957
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2010.529957
Published online: 29 Aug 2011.
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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 86: 364–365, 2011 CopyrightC Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2010.529957
Book Review
Johnson, Craig.Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leader-ship(3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. (2009). 381 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4129-6481.$55.95
Ethical leadership is very much on the minds of many indi-viduals, especially with the recent display of public anger in regard to the degree of risk taking undertaken by those in the financial industry that resulted in millions losing their jobs, homes, and personal investment capital. InMeeting the Chal-lenges of Ethical Leadership, Johnson addresses this reality that there are consequences for those leaders who choose to behave unethically. By alluding to toxic leaders as examples of what occurs when individuals ignore societal values and expectations, he quickly gets the reader’s attention. In this regard, the challenges associated with developing an ethi-cal workforce are carefully delineated at the beginning of the text. To Johnson, effective leadership is critical to the success of an organization; however, at the same time, leaders often assume ethical burdens that test their moral values. There-fore, he attempts to equip the reader with knowledge, skills, and techniques for generating a momentum whereby proper ethical conduct becomes a reality. A particularly important aspect to the text is the reliance on a variety of self-assessment tools for analyzing not only personal attributes but also re-sponses to ethical issues that are likely to arise in today’s organizations.
The target audiences for the text are not only graduates and undergraduates majoring in business at the university level, but also professionals and administrators in for- and nonprofit organizations. In this regard, Johnson attempts to have the reader develop a personal strategy that results in reducing the likelihood that he or she will join the ranks of fallen leaders such as those at Enron, WorldCom, HealthSouth, AIG Insurance, and Goldman Sachs. Accordingly, Johnson draws examples from a variety of perspectives for illustrating the ethical dilemmas associated with leadership responsibilities, including those aligned with sports, business, government, and the military.
Johnson definesethicsas the study of the capacity of in-dividuals to determine whether personal human behavior is right or wrong. Within this framework, he categorizes ethical leadership as involving personal values and moral influence. Therefore, ethical leadership relates to individuals possess-ing such character traits as compassion, justice, humility, and decision making. In addition, Johnson depicts leaders
as also being responsible for the ethical behavior of others they employ. This aspect of ethical leadership focuses on how leaders influence their colleagues by advancing an orga-nizational climate that expects individuals to carry out their tasks with a great respect for honesty and integrity. In other words, followers behave according to how they perceive their leaders.
The content provided in the text is organized into four parts that include 10 chapters. Intriguingly, Johnson guides the reader through a variety of learning exercises in an effort to sensitize future leaders to recognizing destructive behav-ior. Each of the chapters in the text identifies an ethical hurdle often faced by leaders. For example, Part I of the text focuses on the shadow side of leadership. Specifically, in Chapter 1 Johnson introduces the reader to the toxic leadership by illus-trating the ethical challenges before leaders such as abusing power, betraying loyalties, and using deceptive information. By focusing on these destructive behaviors, the differences between moral and immoral leaders are delineated. Chapter 2 continues with identifying ethical deficiencies of leaders as depicted as one lacking moral values, unhealthy excessive greed, or lack of good personal judgment.
Part II of the text shifts attention to the more positive side of ethical development by comparing a leader’s char-acter traits with the capacity to combat evil. In Chapter 3 Johnson promotes the premise that character development affects the capacity to lead ethically. Topics discussed relate to the need for courage, integrity, optimism, and compas-sion, among other traits, resulting in those virtues that form the foundation for ethical action. In Chapter 4 Johnson con-fronts a destructive evil motivation that can undermine the personal values of a leader at any time. The faces of evil are identified as deception, vulnerability, inflicting pain on others, dehumanizing colleagues, and accepting evil as the ordinary. This chapter concludes with a discussion of how a leader can use the capacity of forgiveness to overcome evil when it emerges in the workplace.
Part III fixes the reader’s attention on how ethical stan-dards may be developed and strategies applied for assuring ethical decision-making by those exhibiting leadership in an organization. Specifically, in Chapter 5, Johnson iden-tifies several well-known theories for explaining the basis for ethical leadership, such as utilitarianism, altruism, and ethnocentrism. He argues that those exhibiting leadership need to develop a viable personal ethical framework based
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on well-established theories for promoting honesty and trust. In Chapter 6, the advantages and disadvantages to transfor-mational leadership and servant leadership, among others, are stipulated. These approaches are used as examples of how leaders may adopt the underlying values associated with more team-oriented approaches to leadership for creating an ethical climate in an organization. Finally, in Chapter 7 John-son introduces the reader to the idiosyncrasies of problem solving and how moral judgment and character play a role in formulating ethical conduct. He introduces the reader to Kid-der’s Nine Ethical Checkpoints for reacting to ethical dilem-mas as they arise. In addition, the SAD Formula (Situation
definition,Analysis of the situation, andDecision-making)
is analyzed as an aspect of critical thinking that results in ethical solutions to problems as they arise.
In Part IV Johnson focuses on how to build an effective organizational climate that enhances ethical accountability. Specifically, in Chapter 8 Johnson emphasizes that lead-ers must resist groupthink by encouraging open dialogue among participants. Defensive versus support communica-tion is compared in terms of assuring ethical accountability, especially when conflict arises. In Chapter 9, specific ethical climate-building tools such as adopting appropriate core val-ues, designing comprehensive codes of ethics, and attending to ethical advancement on a daily basis are illustrated in great detail. There is particular importance attached to building the capacity of workers to resist unethical behavior by cautioning the reader to be sensitive to the consequences of practicing evil. In the final chapter of the text, the issue of workplace diversity is introduced. In this regard, in order to arrive at the best decisions, leaders have the responsibility to foster diver-sity in their organization. This responsibility includes a need to understand how cultural values and ethical expectations combine for presenting not only opportunities but also con-flict. Such cultural issues as perceptions of privilege among a select few, mismanagement of information resulting in de-ception, inconsistent expectations because of economic and social disparities, and misplaced loyalties all have impact on how ethical values are defined and applied in the workplace. The strength of the text is the cutting-edge content that Johnson conveys in the form of new perspectives, theory, and research that enlightens the reader to an expanded study of the topic. In addition, the text provides the reader with numer-ous opportunities to self-assess individual traits, values, and beliefs. Similarly, numerous case studies, learning exercises, and examples in motion pictures enable the reader to become directly involved in the learning process. What is presented in print is expected to be applied by the reader. A variety of innovative resources on a CD-ROM accompanies the text,
including a syllabus, test bank, and variety of teaching strate-gies. Although Johnson presents a very comprehensive look at ethical conduct, he adapts a writing style that is more in-formal though insightful. This aspect of the text makes it feasible for instructors to have their students engage in dis-cussion for internalizing the concepts being introduced. At end of the text, there is an impressive list of references, which is conducive for having students expand their knowledge be-yond the text. Finally, a variety of learning boxes have been systematically integrated throughout the text to reinforce the reader’s understanding of moral reasoning, follower ethics, and organizational altruistic behavior.
One of the ethical challenges in today’s organizations is developing formal assessment rubrics that clearly delineate individual accountability. This may complement the more indirect assessment strategy described in the text. Although Johnson touches on aspects of accountability, no discrete strategy alludes to on how leaders may be formally assessed, especially as part of an annual performance review. Typically, boards of directors in organizations have the responsibility to assess how effective their leaders are in generating an ethi-cal operational climate. This topic is only slightly addressed, although it is a very integral part of determining how effec-tive a leader is in promoting ethical conduct throughout an organization. With boards of directors now being pressured to verify the ethical actions of their leadership, the inclusion of examples of some new formal annual performance assess-ment strategies, techniques, and practices to be used by such organizational trustees would have resulted in a complete instructional package.
The text is a definite read for individuals interested in learning about the challenges associated with assuring an ethical work environment. The manner in which Johnson en-gages the reader through numerous learning exercises, and yet maintains a scholarly feel, results in very comprehensive study of ethical leadership. The discussion of ethics on the personal level as well as the moral effect on others provides undergraduate and graduate students as well as business prac-titioners with a multilevel analysis of ethical responsibility. The text plays an important role in assisting future leaders in gaining insight into varying perspectives on the topic while at the same time providing specific strategies for addressing ethical issues as they arise. Johnson has done an admirable job taking a very complex topic and breaking it down into aspects with which most individuals can relate.
James L. Morrison
University of Delaware Newark, Delaware, USA
