It is commonplace to focus on good leadership and fail to go into the details on bad leadership. However, a focus on dark leadership is important in getting a broader perspective of leadership since leaders who cast shadows are also common in society, and the impacts of their actions are far-reaching. This paper addresses the various dark leadership theories, the reasons for shadow casting, resolution of ethical dilemmas, ethical decision making and the impact of moral choices made by leaders.
Various scholars have advanced different dark leadership theories. Johnson (2017) documents the dark leadership theories developed by scholars such as Parker Palmer, Jean Lipman-Blumen and Barbara Kellerman, amongst others. Palmer compares dark leadership to the conditions in hell by the very nature in which the acts of dark leadership can lead to significant harm. Lipman-Blumen describes dark leadership using the term toxic leadership, which refers to the destructive and defective traits exhibited by leaders. Kellerman explains dark leadership by stating the ineffectiveness and unethical conduct exhibited by poor leaders. A common statement that is made by these scholars is that it is prudent to focus on the dark leadership phenomenon when seeking good leadership. The impression depicted from these theorists is that dark leadership is prevalent in societies and should not be ignored. This is because leaders have the potential to create dark shadows in as much way as they can illuminate the lives of the followers.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
There exists a plethora of reasons as to why leaders cast shadows instead of light. According to Johnson (2017), some of the reasons why leaders cast shadows include the wrong motivations, poor decision making, personality disorders, negative group pressures, and ethical inexpertise. The wrong motives which can cast shadows are labelled as monsters, and they include features such as insecurity, greed, fear, military mentality amongst others. Johnson notes that different reasons may not necessarily act independently. They may be interrelated. An example is poor decision making which may be influenced by the absence of ethical expertise in a leader.
I have encountered various ethical dilemmas as a leader. One of the dilemmas involved a company employee in an electronic company who had bagged a senior project manager position using falsified academic credentials. The long-serving employee was amongst the best performing employees. She had significantly contributed to the success of the company through increased revenues. Through the reporting of one of the employees, the company learnt that she had falsified that she had an MBA degree, a requirement for the senior project manager position. The employee consented that she had committed the fraud 15 years ago when she applied for a lower cadre job at the company. Although she had enrolled for the master degree, she had never gotten to complete the degree. As one of the leaders in the human resources department, we were at a dilemma whether her employment at the company should be terminated.
A situation is classified as an ethical dilemma if it involves deciding between two undesirable alternatives (Kabeyi, 2018). In our case scenario, the two main alternatives that would be taken included terminating her employment or retaining her at the company. The termination of her employment would rid the company an experienced and excellent employee. Her retention in the company would set a bad precedence to the other employees and would be going against the company’s policies and standards on fair hiring practices. As one of the leaders in the human resources department, we used Fernando’s strategy of solving ethical dilemmas (Kabeyi, 2018). Fernando’s strategy makes a consideration of the utility, rights and justice. The deontological and teleological approaches were used. The deontological approach considers the human rights of all persons involved, while the teleological approach favors the actions that bring in more benefits over the other alternative (Kabeyi, 2018). Consequently, the company decided to retain her employment on the condition that she commits to complete her MBA in two years.
This week’s readings have significantly impacted my view on leadership. The readings are useful in sensitizing both leaders and followers on the need to be on the lookout for leaders that cast shadows. Most importantly, the reading highlights some of the reasons that leaders make ethical failures or cast shadows. From the reading, I have learnt that in order to make ethical decisions, one needs to have the intent to change the factors that contributed to unethical actions in the past. My take-home from the reading is that ethical skills need to be learnt so that one acquires the necessary experience to make ethical decisions (Johnson, 2017). The ethical skills focus on ethical sensitivity, ethical judgement, ethical focus, and ethical actions.
The American President, Bill Clinton is one public figure whose moral choices were brought to public scrutiny. President Clinton’s relationship with one of the White House intern staff, Monica Lewinsky, tainted his presidency (Murphy & Graham, 2018). Clinton was accused of having engaged in perjury and obstruction of justice in his attempt to conceal the details about their relationship. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives, only to be acquitted by the Senate (Murphy & Graham, 2018). Clinton was accused of having influenced some of his staffers to give false testimony. The incident points to the high moral standing to which leaders are held accountable for. The moral choice that President Clinton made is relevant to some of the teachings covered in this lesson. These include the shadow of power and mismanaged information that is wielded by leaders. Clinton might also have engaged in moral disengagement. Despite having been acquitted, the incidence indicates that leaders are held to high ethical standards due to the trust bestowed to them (Mihelic et al., 2010). Subsequently, they should strive to live up to those expectations.
Conclusively, chapter 1 and 2 readings cover some crucial aspects about leadership. The readings document the different shadows that may be cast by leaders, the reasons for shadow casting and some of the ethical developments that may be adopted to overcome unethical actions. By focusing on bad leadership, the readings sensitize both leaders and followers on the importance of good leadership.
References
Johnson, C. (2017). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow (6th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Kabeyi, M. (2018). Ethical and unethical leadership issues, cases, and dilemmas with case studies. International Journal Of Applied Research , 4 (7), 373-379. https://doi.org/10.22271/allresearch.2018.v4.i7f.5153
Mihelic, K., Lipicnik, B., & Tekavcic, M. (2010). Ethical Leadership. International Journal Of Management & Information Systems (IJMIS) , 14 (5). https://doi.org/10.19030/ijmis.v14i5.11
Murphy, C., & Graham, D. (2018). The Clinton Impeachment, as Told by the People Who Lived It . The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/clinton-impeachment/573940/ .
