Download Values

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Chapter
6
Leadership and Values
“Leadership cannot just go along to get
along… Leadership must meet the moral
challenge of the day.”
~Jesse Jackson
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, inc. All Rights Reserved
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Introduction
• Personal values may be one of the
most important determinants of how
power is exercised or constrained.
• Mere possession of power leads to
ethical questions about usage of
power.
• The challenge of leadership becomes
complex in a diverse and global
environment.
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Leadership and “Doing the Right
Things”
• Leaders face dilemmas that require choices
between competing sets of values and
priorities.
• Leaders set a moral example that becomes the
model for an entire group or organization.
• Leaders should internalize a strong set of
ethics, principles of right conduct, or a
system of moral values.
• Good leaders tend to align the values of their
followers with those of the organization or
movement.
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Leadership and “Doing the Right
Things” (continued)
• Four qualities of leadership that engenders
trust:
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Vision
Empathy
Consistency
Integrity
• Two contrasting sets of assumptions people
make about human nature:
– Theory X
• Reflects that most people need extrinsic
motivation.
– Theory Y
• Reflects that most people are intrinsically
motivated.
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What Are Values?
• Values: “Constructs representing
generalized behaviors or states of affairs
that are considered by the individual to be
important.”
• They play a fairly central role in one’s
overall psychological makeup.
– They can affect behavior in a variety of
situations.
• Individuals in the same work unit can have
considerably different values.
• We can only make inferences about
people’s values based on their behavior.
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People Vary in the Relative Importance
They Place on Values
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Are there Generational
Differences in Values?
• Pervasive influences of broad forces at a
particular time tend to create common value
systems.
– This may contribute to misunderstandings and
tension between older leaders and younger
followers.
• Each generation is molded by distinctive
experiences at their critical developmental
periods:
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The Veterans (1922–1943)
The Baby Boomers (1942–1960)
The Gen Xers (1960–1980)
The Nexters (1980–)
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Are there Generational
Differences in Values? (continued)
• Research has also found that there is
little evidence of a generation gap in
basic values.
• Research has also identified certain
recurring generational archetypes:
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Prophet generations
Nomad generations
Hero generations
Artist generations
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Moral Reasoning
• An important consideration is how one thinks
about value-laden issues or ethical dilemmas.
• Moral reasoning: Process leaders use to make
decisions about ethical and unethical behaviors.
– Manner by which leaders solve moral problems.
• Value differences often result in different
judgments regarding ethical and unethical
behavior.
• Kohlberg offers that although the development
of moral reasoning is invariant, not all
individuals actually achieve the highest stages.
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Developmental Levels and Stages of
Moral Reasoning
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How Values Impact Leadership
• Values are primary determinants in what data
are reviewed and how leaders define
problems.
• Values affect the solutions generated and
the decisions made about problems.
• Values often influence a leader’s
perceptions of individual and organizational
successes and the manner in which they are
achieved.
• Values help leaders choose right from
wrong, and between ethical and unethical
behavior.
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How Values Impact Leadership
(continued)
• Leaders tend to like followers with
similar values and dislike those with
dissimilar values.
• Leaders must surround themselves with
followers who possess divergent
values.
• Leaders are motivated to act in ways
consistent with their values.
– They typically spend most of their time
engaged in activities that are
consistent with their values.
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Key Work Values
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Leadership Values Profile
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Leadership and Organizational
Values
• Organizational values: Represent the
principals by which employees are to get work
done and treat other employees, customers,
and vendors.
• Organizational culture is affected by top
leadership’s collective values.
• Related to the notion of culture and climate is
the employee “fit.”
• Values are often a key factor in conflict,
especially when choices represent values in
opposition.
• Leader must set a personal example of
values-based leadership.
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Leadership and Organizational
Values (continued)
• Ethical behavior within (or by) an organization is
not only the sum of collective moralities of its
members.
• Cove has developed and popularized an
approach called principle-centered
leadership.
• Unique roles of each level of interdependency:
– Personal, interpersonal
– Managerial, organizational
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Positive Forms of Leadership
• Authentic leadership: Grounded on “to thine
own self be true.”
• It has gained momentum because of these
beliefs:
– Enhancing self-awareness.
– Promoting transparency and openness.
– Fostering more inclusive structures and
practices.
• Servant leadership: Leader’s role is to serve
others.
– Subject to criticism for its tendency to suggest
that serving others is an end in itself.
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When Good People Do Bad Things
• Ways people with firm moral principles may
behave badly without feeling guilt or remorse:
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Moral justification
Euphemistic labeling
Advantageous comparison
Displacement of responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility
Disregard or distortion of consequences
Dehumanization
Attribution of blame
• Darley offers that ethical problems are almost
inherent in systems that measure performance.
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What is Culture?
• Culture: Those learned behaviors
characterizing the total way of life of members
within any given society.
• The most salient aspect of any culture typically
involves behavior.
• Distinctive actions, mannerisms, and gestures
characteristic of a culture.
• Business leaders must become aware and
respectful of cultural differences and cultural
perspectives.
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A Framework for Understanding Cultural
Differences
• Seven fundamental dilemmas that people of
all cultures face:
– Source of Identity: Individual – Collective
– Goals and Means of Achievement: Tough –
Tender
– Orientation to Authority: Equal – Unequal
– Response to Ambiguity: Dynamic – Stable
– Means of Knowledge Acquisition: Active –
Reflective
– Perspective on Time: Scarce – Plentiful
– Outlook on Life: Doing – Being
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Leader Attributes and Behaviors Universally
Viewed as Positive and Negative
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Examples of Leader Behaviors and
Attributes That Are Culturally Contingent
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Implications of Leadership
Practitioners
• Leaders should expect to face a variety of
challenges to their own system of ethics,
values, or attitudes.
• Interacting with individuals and groups
holding divergent and conflicting values is
inevitable.
• Leaders particularly have a responsibility
not to let their personal values interfere
with professional leader-subordinate
relationships.
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Summary
• Values are constructs that represent
general sets of behavior or states of affairs
that individuals consider to be important.
• They are a central part of a leader’s
psychological makeup.
• They impact leadership through cultural
contexts.
– Various attributes and behaviors are regarded
either positively or negatively.
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