Moral Leadership: The Theory and Practice of Power, Judgment and Policy (J-B Warren Bennis Series)

Moral Leadership brings together in one comprehensive volume essays from leading scholars in law, leadership, psychology, political science, and ethics to provide practical, theoretical policy guidance. The authors explore key questions about moral leadership such as: How do leaders form, sustain, and transmit moral commitments? Under what conditions are those processes most effective? What is the impact of ethics officers, codes, training programs, and similar initiatives? How do standards and practices vary across context and culture? What can we do at the individual, organizational, and societal level to foster moral leadership? Throughout the book, the contributors identify what people know, and only think they know, about the role of ethics in key decision-making positions. The essays focus on issues such as the definition and importance of moral leadership and the factors that influence its exercise, along with practical strategies for promoting ethical behavior. Moral Leadership addresses the dynamics of moral leadership, with particular emphasis on major obstacles that stand in its way: impaired judgment, self-interest, and power. Finally, the book explores moral leadership in a variety of contexts?business and the professions, nonprofit organizations, and the international arena. Moral Leadership: The Theory and Practice of Power, Judgment, and Policy 7 Contents 11 Foreword 13 INTRODUCTION: WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP IN MORAL LEADERSHIP? 17 Moral Leadership Defined 20 The Historical Backdrop and Current Need for Moral Leadership 26 Doing Good and Doing Well: When Does Ethics Pay? 31 Individual and Contextual Dimensions of Moral Conduct 36 Strategies of Moral Leadership 49 Promoting Moral Leadership 57 Part I: ETHICAL JUDGMENT 71 Chapter 1: MAKING SENSE OF MORAL MELTDOWNS 73 The Ethical Dimension: Adversarial Ethics 74 The Cultural Dimension: America’s Love Affair with Winners 77 The Economic Dimension: The Feudal and Socialist Character of American Capitalism 79 The Psychological Dimension: Cognitive Dissonance and Moral Compass 83 Lessons for Leaders? 90 Chapter 2: THREE PRACTICAL CHALLENGES OF MORAL LEADERSHIP 93 Time 96 Ambivalence 100 Sense of Self 106 Conclusion 109 Chapter 3: ETHICAL JUDGMENT AND MORAL LEADERSHIP 111 Ethical Fading 113 Contextualizing Ethics 118 The Need for Moral Courage 122 Conclusion 126 Chapter 4: MORALS FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS 127 A Priori Versus Conventional Ethics 130 Individual-Level Morality Versus Institutional Arrangements 132 Political Versus Legal and Regulatory Agency Control 133 Division of Labor in Official Ethics 134 Conflicts of Interest 137 Three Potential Distortions 138 Conclusion 140 Part II: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF POWER 143 Chapter 5: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF POWER 145 Locating Evil Within Particular People: The Rush to Judgment 146 Blind Obedience to Authority: The Milgram Investigations 148 Ten Steps to Creating Evil Traps for Good People 150 On Being Anonymous: Deindividuation and Destructiveness 151 Cultural Wisdom: How to Make Warriors Kill in Battle But Not at Home 153 Moral Disengagement and Dehumanization 154 Suspension of the Usual Cognitive Controls Guiding Moral Action 155 The Hostile Imagination Created by Faces of the Enemy 156 Can Ordinary Old Men Become Murderers Overnight? 157 Educating Hatred and Destructive Imaginations 158 The Stanford Prison Experiment: Institutional and Systemic Power to Corrupt 159 The Evil of Inaction 162 Torturers and Executioners: Pathological Types or Situational Imperatives? 163 Suicide Bombers: Mindless Fanatics or Mindful Martyrs? 165 Summing Up Before Moving On 167 Understanding What Went Wrong in Abu Ghraib Prison 168 Promoting Civic Virtue, Moral Engagement, and Human Goodness 171 Chapter 6: TAMING POWER 175 Candidate Variables for Taming Power 176 Social-Structural Candidate Variables 183 Taming Power: An Analogy and a Vision 187 Chapter 7: POWER AND MORAL LEADERSHIP 193 Status Endowed: The Rise of the Impulsive 195 Power and the Pursuit of Self-Interest 196 Power and the Ideology of Self-Interest 198 Power and Solipsistic Social Environments 201 Leveling Mechanisms 207 Conclusions and Future Directions 210 Part III: SELF-SACRIFICE AND SELF-INTEREST 211 Chapter 8: ORCHESTRATING PROSOCIAL MOTIVES 213 Motives as Goal-Directed Forces 214 Four Types of Prosocial Motivation 214 Conflict 225 Orchestration 226 Conclusion 228 Chapter 9: SELF-SACRIFICE AND SELF-INTEREST 229 Adherence to Rules 229 Models of Human Motivation 231 Alternative Models 233 Evidence for the Value-Based Approach 234 Procedural Justice 237 Implications for Moral Leadership 238 Defining Procedural Justice 240 Conclusion 242 Part IV: SERVING THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE PUBLIC SECTOR 243 Chapter 10: STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY AND ITS MALCONTENTS 245 The Idea of Strategic Philanthropy 246 Two Qualifications 252 In Defense of Strategic Philanthropy 254 The Critique of Venture Philanthropy and the Value of General Operating Support 261 Chapter 11: ETHICS AND PHILANTHROPY 265 Funding Ethics 267 Foundation Accountability 268 Philanthropy and Public Goods 274 Part V: MORAL LEADERSHIP 281 Chapter 12: EXERCISING MORAL COURAGE 283 Who Are the Management Students? 284 Unlearning the Myths of the Inexperienced 287 Doing the Right Thing: Powerlessness Corrupts 292 The Role of Business as a Societal Force 296 Moral Leadership: Expanding the Zone of Acceptability 299 Chapter 13: PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL MORAL LEADERSHIP 307 What Is Global Moral Leadership? 307 Who Is a Global Moral Leader? 308 Characteristics of a Global Moral Leader 311 What Are Global Moral Values? 312 Conclusion 316 Notes 317 Acknowledgments 375 About the Authors 377 Index 385

Praise for Moral Leadership

"The role of ethics in the conduct of business, the professions, and politics is very properly receiving increased attention in a world characterized by relations among distant and disparate agents. This pushes to the forefront the moral obligations of leaders. This book draws together the leading analysts of moral leadership, and the many aspects of moral leadership are synthesized in a masterful introduction by the editor."
—Kenneth J. Arrow, Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and professor of operations research, Stanford University; winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

"Deborah Rhode and colleagues take aim at the vacuous platitudes that pass for moral insight in much of today's writing on leadership. Anyone with a serious interest in moral leadership will appreciate this headlong dive into its complexities and challenges."
—Lynn Sharp Paine, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; author, Value Shift

"I'am struck by the ability of this collection to tell us 'about aspects of human behavior that are surprises to most' of us and aid our understanding of moral leadership."
—Max H. Bazerman, Straus Professor, Harvard Business School; author, Predictable Surprises and Judgments in Managerial Decision Making

"An unusually sophisticated and informative analysis of the 'formidable challenge of promoting ethical leadership in organizations.' It deserves to be widely read by both those who teach and study ethics, and those who aspire to lead'and create more responsible organizations."
—David Vogel, Solomon L. Lee Distinguished Professor of Business Ethics, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley; author, The Market for Virtue

This book features preeminent scholars from a variety of disciplines. Through a variety of different perspectives, this book provides an overview of the field of moral leadership, focusing on issues such as its definition and importance, the factors that influence its exercise, and strategies for promoting it. The contributors address the dynamics of moral leadership, with particular emphasis on the obstacles that stand in its way: ethical judgment, self-interest, and power. Finally, they explore moral leadership in its contexts: business and the professions, non-profit organizations, and the international arena. -- Publisher's Description The wave of corporate scandals that began in 2001 produced a remarkable parade of business executives partaking in what has become an American ritual: the Perp Walk.