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19 - Ethical leadership: The socially responsible use of power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2010

By
Annebel H. B. de Hoogh  and
Deanne N. den Hartog
Edited by
Dean Tjosvold  and
Barbara Wisse
Dean Tjosvold
Affiliation:
Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Barbara Wisse
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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Summary

Powerful leaders can have a substantial impact on the lives of followers and the fate of groups, organizations, and even societies. The potential for beneficial use or misuse of power has led researchers to focus on the ethical aspects of leadership. A recent series of unprecedented media scandals regarding ethical lapses of high-level business managers has placed the ethical aspects of leadership at the forefront of everyone's attention. Despite this growing interest, however, there is very little theoretically driven research that examines which types of leader behavior should be seen as ethical. Moreover, although preliminary research on ethical leadership suggests positive effects of such leadership (e.g., Brown et al. 2005), it does not yet explain when and why ethical leadership has its effects. Finally, why some people in a leadership situation choose to behave in a principled and ethical manner whilst others (at times) do not, is not yet sufficiently clear. Here, we deal with these points from a power and influence perspective.

The use of power and leadership are intertwined concepts, the power to influence others forms a part of most definitions of leadership. Thus, not surprisingly, the power concept contributes to our understanding of ethical leadership in important ways. First, the socially responsible use of power is a key element of ethical leadership, and, in this chapter, we discuss ethical leadership from this perspective.

Type
Chapter
Information
Power and Interdependence in Organizations , pp. 338 - 354
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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