Introduction

Leaders can use power for good or bad

• Leader’s personal values and ethical code may be the most
important determinants of how that leader exercises available
power sources

• Recent scandals involving political, business, and religious figures

highlight the need to consider values and ethics in terms of
leadership

• Scholarly and popular literature have turned greater attention to

the question of ethical leadership
Leadership and “Doing the Right Things”, Part 1

• Leaders face dilemmas that require choices between

competing sets of values and priorities
• Leaders set a moral example that becomes the model for an entire
group or organization
• Leaders should internalize a strong set of ethics, which are principles
of right conduct or a system of moral values
• Gardner and Burns stressed the centrality and importance of the
moral dimension of leadership
Leadership and “Doing the Right Things”, Part 2

Qualities of leadership that create trust

• Vision
• Empathy
• Consistency
• Integrity

McGregor's styles of managerial behaviour

• Theory X asserts that most people need extrinsic motivation

because they are not naturally motivated to work
• Theory Y asserts that most people are intrinsically motivated by
their work
Values, Part 1

People in an organization vary in the relative importance they

place on values:

• Instrumental values: Modes of behavior, such as being helpful or

being responsible
• Terminal values: Desired end states, such as family security or social
recognition
 Moral Reasoning and Character-Based Leadership, Part 1

Moral reasoning: Process used by leaders to make decisions about ethical

and unethical behaviors

▪ Value differences among individuals often result in different

judgments regarding ethical and unethical behavior
▪ Not everyone fully develops their moral judgment

Image Source: https://pointofview.net/viewpoints/moral-reasoning-and-ethics/

Moral Reasoning and Character-Based Leadership, Part 2

Common but challenging ethical dilemmas involve choosing

between two rights
Rushworth Kidder identified the following common ethical dilemmas:
• Truth versus loyalty: Honestly answering a question that may
compromise real or implied promise of confidentiality to others
• Individual versus community: Protecting the confidentiality of
someone’s medical condition when the condition itself may pose a
threat to the larger community
• Short-term versus long-term: Balancing spending time with family
against making career investments for future benefits
• Justice versus mercy: Deciding whether to excuse a person’s
misbehaviour because of extenuating circumstances or a conviction
that he or she has learned a lesson

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Moral Reasoning and Character-Based Leadership, Part 3

Rushworth Kidder offers the following principles for resolving ethical

dilemmas:

• Ends-based thinking: Doing what’s best for the greatest number of

people
• Known as utilitarianism
• Rule-based thinking: Following the highest principle or duty
• Consistent with Kantian philosophy
• Care-based thinking: Doing what one wants others to do to him or her
• Similar to the Golden Rule of conduct common in many world
religions

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Good People Sometimes Do Bad Things

Some ways people avoid guilty feelings:

1. Moral justification - Re-interpreting immoral behavior in terms of
higher purpose
2. Euphemistic labeling - Terrorists calling themselves “freedom fighters”
3. Advantageous comparison - we aren’t as bad as them
4. Displacement of responsibility - just following orders
5. Disregard or distortion of consequences –
Global warming – I think it’s getting colder!

6. Attribution of blame – It’s their fault…

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Moral Decision Making – When in doubt, ask yourself…

1. What does my conscience—that "little voice" inside my head—say about it?

2. Could it hurt anyone—including me?
3. Is it fair?
4. Would it violate the Golden Rule? (How would I feel if somebody did it to
me?)
5. Have I ever been told that it's wrong?
6. Deep down how do I feel about it?
7. How will I feel about myself later if I do it?
8. What would peers I respect say about it?

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Character-Based Approaches to Leadership, Part 1

Authentic leadership
1. Authentic leaders exhibit consistency among their values, beliefs,
and actions
▪ Are self-aware
▪ Self-consciously align their actions with their inner values

2. Study of authentic leadership has gained momentum because of

the following beliefs:
▪ Enhancing self-awareness can help people in organizations find more
meaning at work
▪ Promoting transparency and openness in relationships builds trust and
commitment
▪ Fostering more inclusive structures and practices can help build more
positive ethical climates

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Character-Based Approaches to Leadership, Part 2

Servant leadership views serving others as being the

leader’s role

Characteristics of servant leaders

• Listening • Conceptualization
• Empathy • Foresight
• Healing • Stewardship
• Awareness • Commitment to others’ growth
• Persuasion • Building community

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Ethics and Project Management

Ethical Dilemmas—situations where it is difficult to determine whether conduct is right

or wrong
• Padding of cost and time estimations
• Exaggerating pay-offs of project proposals
• Falsely assuring customers that everything is on track
• Being pressured to alter status reports
• Falsifying cost accounts
• Compromising safety standards to accelerate progress
• Approving shoddy work

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PMI Code of Ethics

Project professionals interact with many different types of people

and are often faced with ethical dilemmas:
• Interpersonal project team conflicts
• Challenges with project sponsors
• Vendor negotiations
• Cultural differences
• Government regulations

READ: Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct by PMI

https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics

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Summary

• There is a relationship between ethics, values, and leadership

• It is not just the content of what one believes is right and wrong
but how one makes moral or ethical judgments
• Ethical dilemmas often involve a choice between two “rights”
rather than choices between what is right or wrong
• Recent research has explored the interdependencies between
effective leadership and particular value systems

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