Download Unit Four - Coastal Bend College

Phi Theta Kappa Leadership
Development Studies
Unit 3
Understanding Ethical Leadership
Reflect ~ Focus
“To be a moral leader is to reason, directly or
indirectly with others, to expand their sense of
the possible, the desirable, the undesirable, and
so at times to restrain others, warn them of
dangers, even as one is alerting them to
possible gains, achievements: to uplift, to try to
help enable ideals, give them the life of a
personal and social reality.”
~ Robert Coles
What are Ethics?
• Ethics are NOT morals
• They are an outgrowth of morality
• Ethics are actions based on a concept of
right and wrong.
» Sheila Murray Bethel
» “A Leader has High Ethics: Building Trust with Your
Followers”
Universal Human Values
Finding an Ethical Common Ground – R. Kidder
• Love
• Truthfulness
• Fairness
• Freedom
• Unity
• Tolerance
• Responsibility
• Respect for Life
Values Approaches to Leading
Ethically
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The Utilitarian Approach
The Rights Approach
The Fairness or Justice Approach
The Common-Good Approach
The Virtue Approach
» Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, Meyer, and Meyer
» “Thinking Ethically: A Framework for Moral Decision
Making”
Utilitarian Approach
• Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, 19th century
• Ethical actions are those that provide the
greatest balance of good over evil, an action is
morally right if and only if it produces at least as
much good (utility) for all people affected by the
action as any alternative action the person could
do instead.
Rights Approach
• John Locke, Immanuel Kant, 18th century
• People possess absolute rights, and actions
which violate these rights are unethical. e.g. it is
a violation of human dignity to use people in
ways they do not freely choose.
• Other rights – to truth, to privacy, not to be
injured, to what is agreed
Fairness or Justice Approach
• Aristotle
• “equals should be treated equally and unequals
unequally.” ~Aristotle
• “each getting what he or she is due.” ~
Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Common Good Approach
• Plato, Aristotle, Cicero
• Common good “refers to those arrangements
that promote the full flourishing of everyone in
the community.” ~Cambridge Dictionary of
Philosophy
Virtue Approach
• Aristotle, Plato, and Aquinas (Renaissance)
• Assumes there are certain ideals toward which
we should strive, which provide for the full
development of our humanity.
• Classical virtues: courage, wisdom,
temperance, justice (and piety for Aristotle)
• Renaissance virtues: reason, and Aquinas adds
theological virtues – faith, hope, charity
Determining the Ethical Course?
The Authors of the article suggest asking ourselves five
questions when considering what action will be the
ethical course, and thus consider all five approaches:
1) Which alternative leads to the best overall
consequences?
2) What rights are involved and which alternative best
respects those rights?
3) Which alternative does not show favoritism or
discrimination?
4) Which alternative advances the common good?
5) Which alternative develops moral virtues?
Billy Budd
• Is Captain Vere behaving/leading
ethically?
Film Study: Miss Evers’ Boys
• Is Dr. Brodus behaving/leading ethically?
• Is Nurse Evers behaving/leading ethically?
Check the time!
• If 20 – 30 minutes remains, go on to
“Whom to Choose”
Whom to Choose?
The 25 patients include
• A baby
• The baby’s parents
• The baby’s grandparents
• 2 toddlers, ages 2 and 3
• 5 school age children,
ages 5, 6, 8, 11, and 14
• A single mother of two
• 2 thirty-something
couples
• A teacher
• 2 of the medical office
employees
• 3 recent retirees
• The couple who own the
convenience store/gas
station