Are ethical individuals more (or less) likely to be better leaders? Use the theories you have learned in this book to support your arguments.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

? Trait and skills approaches--students may argue that ethical (or unethical) are
more (or less) determined, sociable, have higher levels of interpersonal or
conceptual skills, and so forth.
? Style approach--students may think ethical leaders may be more able to be either
task- or relationship-oriented. Unethical leaders may be more task-oriented and
less relationship-oriented so their leadership style could be less flexible than that of
ethical leaders.
? LMX theory--students may think that ethical leaders are more likely to understand
relationships and therefore, better able to establish high quality relationships with
their employees.
? Transformational and strategic leadership--these theories specifically describe that
a transformational or strategic leader should consider the needs of others and be
ethical.
? Team leadership--students may think that ethical leaders may be better team
leaders since it is easier to see in a team setting that the leader should consider the
needs of the team.
? Authentic leadership--this type of leadership specifically calls for an ethical leader.In some of the earlier theories, ethics are not explicitly considered. One must infer certain
aspects of the theory to determine whether ethics would have an impact. Later theories are more
likely to consider ethics explicitly. The reason for this is likely related to the somewhat recent
visibility of strong, but highly unethical, leaders in government and business.