Ethical Dimensions of Leadership

"This book's practical orientation, in addition to the conceptual framework, offers practitioners and consultants strategies for effective leadership - such as empowerment - together with how leaders prepare for ethical leadership. It will be of valuable to enhance leadership courses in business schools or executive development programmes." --Financial Express "This volume is a timely, interesting, and courageous call for attention to moral standards that cross organizational and cultural boundaries, making it a worthwhile purchase for comprehensive general and academic management collections." --Choice The beliefs and values, the vision, and, above all, the actions of the leader of an organization set the ethical tone and standards for the organization. It is this fundamentally crucial role of the leader that is the basis of this book. Ethical Dimensions of Leadership proposes that one's understanding of leadership is severely incomplete, if not deformed, if one does not also consider the ethics or morality of leadership. The book examines the various modal orientations of leadership and demonstrates that true, effective leadership is that in which the leader's behavior and exercises of leadership processes are consistent with ethical and moral values. The book argues for an end to the traditional separation of personal and public morality. It also argues that the ethics of leadership is consistent with the spirituality of the different religious traditions. The practical orientation, in addition to the conceptual framework, offers practitioners and consultants strategies for effective leadership--such as empowerment--together with suggestions of how leaders can prepare for ethical leadership. Ethical Dimensions of Leadership will serve the needs of business education programs, business consultants, and researchers. The exhaustive and integrated conceptual treatment of the leadership phenomenon, consistent with ethical and moral values, will greatly enhance leadership courses in business schools or executive development programs. It is also of interest to students in business ethics, organization behavior, and managerial skills development. The inclusion of the cultural contingencies in leadership, in the context of non-Western socioculture environments, extends its suitability and usefulness for courses in international business and international management.