A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Endorsement of Ethical Leadership

The western-based leadership and ethics literatures were reviewed to identify the key characteristics that conceptually define what it means to be an ethical leader. Data from the Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (GLOBE) project were then used to analyze the degree to which four aspects of ethical leadership – Character/Integrity, Altruism, Collective Motivation, and Encouragement – were endorsed as important for effective leadership across cultures. First, using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses measurement equivalence of the ethical leadership scales was found, which provides indication that the four dimensions have similar meaning across cultures. Then, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests each of the four dimensions were found to be universally endorsed as important for effective leadership. However, cultures also varied significantly in the degree of endorsement for each dimension. In the increasingly global business environment, these findings have implications for organizations implementing ethics programs across cultures and preparing leaders for expatriate assignments. Christian J. Resick is Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Florida International University. His research is aimed at understanding how people interact with and influence various aspects of their work environments, including cultures, climates, leaders, and teammates along with the implications for various aspects of organizational behavior. A particular focus of Christian’s work examines ethical leadership and the critical linkages between leadership and organizational ethics. He received his Ph.D. from Wayne State University. Paul J. Hanges is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland and the head of the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program in the department. He is an affiliate of the Cognitive Psychology program and the R. H. Smith School of Business. Paul’s research focuses on three topics (a) social cognition, leadership, and cross-cultural issues; (b) personnel selection, test fairness, and racial/gender discrimination; and (c) research methodology. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Psychology and The Leadership Quarterly and is a fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the American Psychological Association. Marcus W. Dickson is Associate Professor of I/O Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. His research generally focuses on issues of leadership and culture (both organizational and societal), and the interaction of those constructs. He is a former Co-Principal Investigator of the GLOBE Project, and his work has appeared in Journal of Applied Psychology, Applied Psychology: An International Review, and The Leadership Quarterly, among others. Jacqueline K. Mitchelson is a doctoral candidate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Wayne State University. Her current research areas are leadership, organizational culture, individual differences and work-family conflict.     

Development and validation of a situational judgement test of Japanese leadership knowledge

ABSTRACT

Leadership research has accumulated a wealth of empirical findings about what leadership behaviours are effective in various business environments. We took advantage of these empirical findings to develop a situational judgement test (SJT) of leadership knowledge with correct answers. The SJT contains four leadership dimensions: task-focused, relationship-focused, transformational, and developmental leadership. Item response theory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the psychometric properties of the SJT, based on a sample of 658 Japanese college students. Ultimately, we confirmed a four-factor model and retained 21 of 53 situation questions for the final SJT.     

How Positive and Neo‐Aristotelian Leadership Can Contribute to Ethical Leadership

Virtuous leadership is crucial for advancing leadership ethics. By comparing Positive Leadership and its notion of virtuousness with neo‐Aristotelian leadership based on virtue, this article sheds light on this research field. We expound on the differences and commonalities between the two and present possibilities of how they can enrich each other and further ethical leadership theory. Our findings concern the purported Aristotelian roots of virtuousness, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the positive and the neo‐Aristotelian approaches, and the interplay between technical skills and ethical excellence in leadership. We propose the adoption of practical managerial tools and procedures from Positive Leadership, making them dependent upon the virtues to achieve flourishing within organizations and society at large. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The leadership disease. . .and its potential cures

Leadership development and executive education have taken on increased prominence in recent years. The natural tendency is to approach the subject of leadership as a hierarchically-based process that is focused on higher-level individual leaders influencing lower-level followers. This tendency is consistent with myths surrounding charismatic and heroic visionary leaders who are often portrayed as single-handedly inspiring and directing their organizations to new heights. Unfortunately, these simplistic portrayals of leadership are promulgated by the media and desired by the consuming public. However, this kind of framing of leadership is dangerous: it lays the seeds of centralization of power, which can have innumerable detrimental outcomes. Accordingly, we explore two potent antidotes to this simplistic hierarchical formulation of leadership that have become an increasing focus of leadership research: self-leadership and shared leadership.     

加强我国高校大学生领导力教育研究

领导力是一种有效地促进社会变革、推动社会进步的力量,是一种未来社会所不可或缺的能力。领导力是当代大学生必备的基本素质,高校作为社会主义培养合格建设者和可靠接班人的重要阵地,在大学生中开展领导力教育是十分迫切的重要任务。探索了大学生领导力教育的内涵及构成要素,分析了高校加强大学生领导力教育的必要性,并从高校宏观层面和大学生微观层面提出了加强大学生领导力教育的有效举措。     

领导排斥对员工亲组织非伦理行为的影响：自我提升动机的中介作用

基于自我提升理论，从自我提升动机和马基雅维利主义视角出发，探讨了领导排斥对员工亲组织非伦理行为的作用机制。通过对两阶段收集的451份问卷进行数据分析，结果发现：领导排斥对员工亲组织非伦理行为具有显著正向影响；员工自我提升动机在领导排斥与员工亲组织非伦理行为关系中起中介作用；员工马基雅维利主义调节了其自我提升动机与亲组织非伦理行为间的关系，即员工马基雅维利主义水平越高，其自我提升动机对亲组织非伦理行为的正向影响越强；员工马基雅维利主义正向调节员工自我提升动机在领导排斥与亲组织非伦理行为间的中介作用，即员工马基雅维利主义水平越高，其自我提升动机的中介作用越强。研究结论不仅拓展了领导排斥理论的研究，也为管理者正确认识领导排斥、管理员工遭受领导排斥后的认知与行为提供了新思路。     

Understanding Responsible Leadership: Role Identity and Motivational Drivers

This article contributes to the emerging discussion on responsible leadership by providing an analysis of the inner theatre of a responsible leader. I use a narrative approach for analyzing the biography of Anita Roddick as a widely acknowledged prototype of a responsible leader. With clinical and normative lenses I explore the relationship between responsible leadership behavior and the underlying motivational systems. I begin the article with an introduction outlining the current state of responsible leadership research and explaining the kind of magnifying glasses used to examine the case. I continue with a brief summary of Anita Roddick’s development from childhood to adulthood, which provides the biographical background for exploring her motivational systems as a leader. Against this backdrop, I analyze the relationship between motivational drivers and a responsible leadership identity as revealed by Roddick in different behavioral leadership roles. I conclude the article by providing a number of lessons learned for responsible leadership and the development of future global leaders. Dr. Nicola M. Pless is a former Vice President of leadership development at a large financial services institution. Currently she is Reader in Responsible Leadership at the University of St. Gallen and Research Director of the HSG-INSEAD Initiative on Responsible Leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in organizational theory and social issues from the University of St. Gallen and a diploma in clinical organizational psychology from INSEAD where she is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow. She is editor of “Responsible Leadership”, published by Routledge in 2006.     

GLOBE: A twenty year journey into the intriguing world of culture and leadership

Since its inception in the early 1990s, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project has investigated the complex relationship between societal culture and organizational behavior. The focus of this paper is on leadership, specifically what we know and have learned from the GLOBE project so far. Among other findings, we demonstrate that national culture indirectly influences leadership behaviors through the leadership expectations of societies. In other words, executives tend to lead in a manner more or less consistent with the leadership prototypes endorsed within their particular culture. In turn, leaders who behave according to expectations are most effective. We also found that some leadership behaviors are universally effective such as charismatic/value-based leadership; others are much more culturally sensitive such as participative leadership. Finally, we identified truly superior (and also truly inferior) CEOs by the degree to which their behaviors exceed (or fail to meet) their society's expectations. All in all, understanding national culture gives us a heads-up as to which kinds of leadership will likely be enacted and effective in each society. We believe that the GLOBE journey has helped us understand the complex, tricky, and fascinating relationships among societal culture, organizational behavior, and leadership processes.     

Emergent Leadership in Self-Managed Virtual Teams

The issue of leadership in virtual teams is an increasingly important one for many modern organizations, because these teams – typically project-based with a finite lifespan and specific deliverables – are frequently self-managed, having no designated leader within the team (Yukl 1998). While such teams may have increased flexibility in setting goals and achieving them, the virtual context may hinder team members' abilities to coordinate activities and influence others (Manz and Sims 1993). Longitudinal data were collected over the course of a semester from virtual teams, comprised of students from three North American universities. Our results suggest that high performing self-managed virtual teams displayed significantly more leadership behaviors over time compared to their low performing counterparts. Specifically, these teams displayed significantly more concentrated leadership behavior focused on performance (i.e. “Producer” behavior) and shared leadership behavior focused on keeping track of group work (i.e. “Monitor” behavior) than the lower performing teams. Interestingly, these behaviors emerged strongly during the first half of the groups' lifespan, and stayed throughout the life of the groups, but steadily dissipated in strength over time.     

Systemic Leadership and the Emergence of Ethical Responsiveness

The author of this paper argues that the responsibility to nurture and encourage a relationally responsive ethical attitude among the members of an organizational system is shared by all who participate in it. In the dynamic environment of a complex adaptive organizational system where it is impossible to anticipate and legislate for every potential circumstantial contingency, creating and sustaining relationships of trust has to be a systemic capacity of the entire organization. Leadership is socially constructed, as the need for it arises within the complex interactions between individuals and groups within organizations, and can therefore not be described as a set of traits or behaviors possessed by only certain individuals who occupy positions of authority. If the sharing of this kind of relational responsiveness to the everyday realities of organizational life is to be properly understood, it is important to consider it in its concrete institutional manifestations. The last section of this paper therefore explores how an organization, in which leadership is understood in relational terms and is shared by all, looks and functions.     

家长式领导风格与高管团队行为整合的关系

家长式领导是一种具有较强的纪律性和权威性,并伴有慈父般的仁爱以及崇高的道德品行的领导方式,它包含权威、仁慈、德行三个维度,且各个维度对高层管理团队行为整合的效用有所不同.权威领导强调的是严厉的控制和教诲,仁慈领导强调的是对员工工作和生活需要的关注,德行领导强调的是领导者个人的品行和美德.首席执行官权威领导风格对企业高层管理团队行为整合具有显著的负向影响,仁慈领导风格和德行领导风格则具有显著的正向影响.     

Determinants of organizational performance: some implications for top executive leadership in Korean firms

ABSTRACT

Leadership, although commonly assumed to be greatly significant, is not typically studied in terms of structural characteristics accounted for in organizational performance. The effect of top executive leadership is explored here as a key factor that reflects organizational characteristics by offering a new framework and presenting an empirical test of Korean business firms. This research can be possibly made by focusing on the size of the leadership which explicates the difference between structural, resource and contextual variables in organizations. The multivariate regression analysis shows that firm size, leadership, debt and export significantly affect organizational performance, as measured by net income. The mechanism of Korean business firms needs to readjust to the new environment for organizational performance.     

Culture,leadership and motivation in two Commonwealth Caribbean countries: One look at the African Diaspora

Little is known of Caribbean people's views on their culture or of their beliefs regarding leadership and motivation. This study reports the results of a Delphi Technique with people in leadership positions and focus groups. Across groups, responses were relatively consistent: ethnicity and culture are described as influenced by religion, and Christianity in particular; African roots and country of origin are important; effective leaders are charismatic, visionary, results oriented, and they motivate others, lead by example, and develop vision and goals. Leaders believe motivation comes from making a difference for others. Nonleaders believe leaders are influenced by financial rewards and self‐fulfilment; nonleaders are motivated primarily by financial rewards. The results are generally similar to Western beliefs, but some interesting differences are identified. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Responsible Leadership in a Stakeholder Society – A Relational Perspective

We understand responsible leadership as a social-relational and ethical phenomenon, which occurs in social processes of interaction. While the prevailing leadership literature has for the most part focussed on the relationship between leaders and followers in the organization and defined followers as subordinates, we show in this article that leadership takes place in interaction with a multitude of followers as stakeholders inside and outside the corporation. Using an ethical lens, we discuss leadership responsibilities in a stakeholder society, thereby following Bass and Steidelmeier’s suggestion to discuss “leadership in the context of contemporary stakeholder theory” (1999: 200). Moreover, from a relational and stakeholder perspective we approach the questions: What is responsible leadership? What makes a responsible leader? What qualities are needed? Finally, we propose a so-called “roles model” of responsible leadership, which gives a gestalt to a responsible leader and describes the different roles he or she takes in leading stakeholders and business in society.     

The art of retaining seasonal employees: three industry-specific leadership styles

The majority of leadership studies have centered on various leadership approaches, but there is limited research that has focused on seasonal employee leadership (SEL) in the hospitality literature. Hence, there is a need to develop a new leadership model which could help to understand how to retain seasonal employees in the hospitality industry. This study divided seasonal employees into three types by using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. These are suspended employees (Type-A), seasonal trainee (Type-B), and spoon-feeding employees (Type-C). Three different leadership styles were developed according to each type of seasonal employees; suspending leadership for type A, mentor leadership for type B, and spoon-feeding leadership for type C. The study makes an important contribution to the leadership literature by aligning employee types with different leadership styles in the hospitality industry.     

Charismatic leadership in IT firms in Taiwan: an empirical study

This study aims to look at charismatic leadership and management innovation in a sample of Information Technology firms in Taiwan. The literature on such leadership was examined because it reveals how leaders serve as key agents who stimulate others with their vision of the potential of an innovation. Theoretically, we suggest that charismatic leadership behaviour can help management innovation but only when certain conditions are met. Empirically, we find that charismatic leaders must create a higher level of trust in their subordinates at all levels of the organizational hierarchy, based on common perceptions of the firm as a trustworthy entity.     

The Virtuous Manager: A Vision for Leadership in Business

This article seeks to contribute to a vision for leadership in business based on a recovery of virtue. The vision for leadership articulated here draws principally on the writings of the classical philosopher Aristotle and of the contemporary philosopher Josef Pieper. Without discounting the ever-increasing complexity of modern business, this essay will attempt to reconstruct Aristotle’s emphasis on virtue and moral character, and argues for the philosopher’s relevance to modern management and corporate leadership. The paper concludes that the message of virtue is a message of hope and attempts to find plain language to articulate its value to those engaged in business or concerned with the formulation of government policy. Gabriel Flynn teaches at Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University in Dublin. He holds higher degrees in moral and systematic theology. He received his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He is editor of Leadership and Values for Business: European and American Perspectives (New York/Berlin: Springer, forthcoming 2007). He has contributed scholarly articles to Louvain Studies, Concilium, New Blackfriars and elsewhere.     

Does Trust Matter? The Relationship Between Equity Sensitivity and Perceived Organizational Justice

The present research study was designed to extend our knowledge about issues of relevance for business ethics by examining the role of equity sensitivity and perceived organizational trust on employees perceptions of procedural and interactional justice. A model was developed and tested, and results revealed that organizational trust and respect mediated the relationship between an employees equity sensitivity and perceptions of procedural, interactional, and social accounts fairness. A discussion of issues related to perceptions of trust and fairness is presented, as well as recommendations for leaders and future scholarship.Jill Kickul, Ph.D., is the Elizabeth J. McCandless Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Simmons School of Management. She teaches courses on Entrepreneurship the New Venture Management, Contemporary Entrepreneurial Opportunities, and Strategic Analysis for Competing Globally. She has taught entrepreneurship internationally for the Helsinki School of Economics and for the International Bank of Asia (Hong Kong MBA Program). Her research interests include entrepreneurial intentions and behavior, strategic and innovation processes in start-up ventures, and women in entrepreneurship. Her articles have appeared in publications such as Journal of Management, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Journal of Small Business Management, and International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.Lisa Gundry, Ph.D., is Professor of Management in the Charles H. L. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University where she teaches courses in Creativity in Business and Entrepreneurship Strategy. She has authored three books on entrepreneurship and innovation, and written numerous journal articles for publications including Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Management, Human Relations, Organizational Dynamics, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship and Family Business Review. Her research interests focus on entrepreneurship strategy and growth, and creative and innovative processes in organizations. She is Director of the Leo V. Ryan Center for Creativity and Innovation at DePaul University.Margaret Posig, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University, where she teaches courses in Leadership and Change Management. Her research interests are in the areas of organizational leadership and change management, workplace stress, and women in leadership. Her publications appear in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Women in Management Review, Journal of Managerial Issues, and Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, among others. Dr. Posig is an Industrial/Organizational psychologist, with a Ph.D. from DePaul University, and directs the Leadership and Change Management concentration. Her consulting focuses on management development and workplace stress management.     

The Gordian Knot of Ethics: Understanding Leadership Effectiveness and Ethical Behavior

Recent ethical misconduct in American business has resulted in volumes of written commentary, various legislative responses, as well as litigation by those identified as victims. While legislators, judges, juries, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pursue an increasing number of cases, there is little attention devoted to understanding what drives executives and other leaders to behave in ways that violate the ethical and legal standards of business in the United States. This understanding is a prerequisite to selecting leaders and designing interventions that prevent future misconduct. Understanding leadership’s nature and functioning is one key to understanding the ethical behavior of an organization as a system and of the people who lead the organization. Two models or frameworks provide the foundation for this paper. The first is a model of leadership competencies. This model identifies five key areas of competence related to overall, long-term leadership success. The second model targets leadership effectiveness. This model has three components – motivational patterns, decision criteria, and competencies. Using the Leadership Effectiveness Model to frame the discussion, the authors describe the nature and importance of the models, with particular focus on motivational patterns. Research suggests these patterns often account for 40–60% of overall leadership effectiveness. This article defines motivational patterns and describes key patterns that may impact ethical behavior of leaders. The article concludes with a discussion of how to use data on motivational patterns in leadership selection, development, and evaluation processes. Carl L. Harshman, Ph.D. is president of Harshman & Associates, Inc., an organizational and leadership development firm and founder of the Institute for Work Attitude and Motivation, an organization performance and research institute. He researches and writes in the areas of individual and organization performance, team development, and leadership and ethics. He can be contacted at carl@harshman.com. Ellen Harshman, Ph.D., J.D. is dean of the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University and associate professor in management. Her research interests include leadership, individual and organizational ethics, and issues in employment law. She can be reached at harshman@slu.edu.