Ethical Dimensions of Leadership
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The purpose of this synthesis paper is to provide a brief overview of the concept of ethical leadership and the reason leaders require followers in order to lead. In the last twenty or more years, numerous books, thousands of articles have been written on leadership styles, styles of management, motivation, and related topics. The main thrust of most of these writings has been that some form of participative management or non-authoritarian leadership style, as opposed to an authoritarian style of management, will result in improved organizational performance. The belief is business success is realized when organizations are built on a foundation, an ethical foundation. It is further believed that an ethical culture will guide organizations through difficulties and decision they face. Not everyone has the same moral code and awareness of rules and laws. In the so-called ôethics eraö of the 1990s (Smith, 1995), morality is no longer thought of as an issue peripheral to the activity of a business. Rather, as institutions become responsible to society for meeting consumption needs in the content of societyÆs ethical and spiritual expectations, ethical issues are ôassuming a level of importance approaching the more traditional managerial and strategic concerns of marketing inquiryö (Reidenbach and Robin, 1998). The concern about ethics in business is closely related to the issue of social responsibility, which refers to ôthe doing of societal good unrelated or minimally rela
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ardless of moral issues.
Ethics of Charismatic Leadership
The word charisma is derived from a Greek word meaning ôgift of graceö. For years, social scientists have analyzed and debated the origin of charisma and why people gravitate towards charismatic leaders. Influential sociologist Max Weber was one of the first to study the theory of charismatic leadership. According to Weber, social actions are controlled and directed by a general belief on the part of the members of a society that a legitimate social behavior will be oriented in terms of that order constitutes is the basis for its authority. There is an intimate relationship between emotion and ethics. It reflects back to the nature of the relationship between leaders and the led. Following may be as active and autonomous a choice as leading. Ethical leadership is essentially based on an emotional relationship, with the emphasis on charisma replaced by the notion of trust. Charisma derived in its current usage from the German sociologist Max Weber, it is perhaps the only such term that so explicitly refers to the emotional quality of leadership. ôThus it is those who would follow, not those who lead, who are the ultimate power in any leadership relationshipö (
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Henry Kissinger, Howell Avolio, John Kennedy, , Brenner Molander, Kouzes Posner, Max Weber, Reidenbach Robin, Business Review, According Weber, jones 1991, ethical leadership, charismatic leaders, brenner molander, brenner molander 1977, ethical leaders, marketing ethics, molander 1977, marketing vol, charismatic leadership, ethical decision, harvard business review, american marketing association, marketing american marketing, journal marketing vol,
Approximate Word count = 3236
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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