The first five chapters of Ethics, The Heart of Leadership, edited by Joanne B. Ciulla (2004), serve to establish the scope of the issues (in two chapters) and to consider the moral relationship between leaders and followers (the next three chapters). This essay will discuss the key concepts advanced in these chapters. Each chapter presents a unique approach to crucial aspects of the intersection between leadership behaviors and ethics.
The first chapter is authored by Ciulla (2004) herself and is titled "Leadership Ethics: Mapping the Territory." In this chapter Ciulla (2004) considers how ethics are treated in the study of leadership. Initially, the author discusses the treatment of ethics within existing research in leadership studies and notes that relatively little energy has been spent on this topic. Secondly, Ciulla (2004) considers several discussions concerning the definition of leadership and places ethics within those definitions. Finally, Ciulla (2004) examines the normative leadership theories of transformational leadership and servant leadership, arguing that these two normative theories should be at the heart of further research on leadership ethics.
It is important to recognize, commented Ciulla (2004, p. 4), that the term leadership ethics refers "to the study of ethical issues related to leadership and the ethics of leadership." This introduces the notion further advanced by Al Gini (in Ciulla, 2004) that there is a vital role for moral leadership in the business arena. Gini (in Ciulla, 2004) makes the case that morality has long been understood as an essential ingredient in human behavior and that ethics refer to reflective conduct which ought to occur virtually automatically. This particular author suggests that ethics tries "to find a way to protect one person's individual rights and needs against and alongside the rights and needs of others" (Gini, in Ciulla, 2004, p. 29).
Gini (in Ciulla...