Summarize Laurence Kohlberg's three levels of personal moral development. Imagine that you manage a local gym, and explain how your management style or techniques would be different at each level.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Kohlberg's three levels of personal moral development are preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.

Level 1, preconventional—follow rules. People who have achieved this level of moral development tend to follow rules and to obey authority to avoid unpleasant consequences. Managers of the Level 1 sort tend to be autocratic or coercive, expecting employees to be obedient for obedience's sake. As a gym manager who operates at Level 1, you would probably expect all of your personal trainers, class instructors, and front-desk staff to be extremely punctual and to do as you say without questioning you. 

Level 2, conventional—follow expectations of others. People whose moral development has reached this level are conformist but not slavish, generally adhering to the expectations of others in their lives. Level 2 managers lead by encouragement and cooperation and are more group and team oriented. Most managers are at this level. As a gym manager who operates at Level 2, you will consider your employees a team, and you will work with them to achieve the goals set by corporate, such as selling a certain number of new memberships per month, or booking a certain number of hours of personal training per week. To achieve the former goal, you might call meetings of your sales/marketing staff to discuss ways to achieve the new-membership goal, and you might meet with your trainers as a team to discuss ways for them to network and bring new personal-training clients into the gym.

Level 3, postconventional—guided by internal values. The farthest along in moral development, Level 3 managers are independent souls who follow their own values and standards, focusing on the needs of their employees and trying to lead by empowering those working for them. Only about a fifth of American managers reach this level. As a gym manager who operates at Level 3, you might be more willing to "talk back" to the corporate office, communicating when you believe goals are not achievable rather than slavishly adhering to them and forcing them on your employees. You might also advocate for your employees, trying to find ways for them to advance in their careers and earn more money.