The Importance of Ethics in Leadership

The purpose of this study is to assess the importance of ethics in leadership by conducting a case study of two political leaders who demonstrated ethics in their leadership styles and two leaders who exhibited unethical behaviors. The focus will be on familiar traits of the ethical leaders and purposely lack these traits on the part of the unethical leaders. Similarly, the leadership style of these leaders will be genuinely assessed to determine if ethics matter. Informed analysis and conclusions will be drawn from extensive research on the ethics of these leaders. By studying the traits, ethical theories, and leadership styles of these individuals, the relevance of ethics in leadership can be determined based on evidence as opposed to generalized and commonly accepted norms. Erroneous beliefs and conclusions that are not backed by evidence will also be refuted.

This chapter consists of methodology which indicates how this research will proceed. The superiority of this design over others for this specific study is also explored. The merits and demerits of both quantitative and qualitative research designs are assessed to identify the right design for this study. A few potential qualitative research methods were examined to identify the right approach to conduct this study and solidify the decision. The advantages and disadvantages of the chosen research method namely case study are assessed. The procedure for choice of leaders and methods are undertaken in collecting data are also discussed. Trustworthiness of the research is defended using scholarly evidence. Professional bias is also discussed and minimized.

Research Questions 

This research focuses on the importance of ethics in leadership. Thus, the primary purpose is to answer the question of the relevance of ethics in leadership. The main research question is “do ethics matter in leadership and how are they portrayed in leadership behavior?” Under the relevance of ethics, this study explored similar character traits of the leaders and how the chosen leaders portray them in their leadership. Additionally, the leadership styles of these leaders with relation to the vital topic of ethics in leadership were assessed. Finally, similar ethics demonstrated by the leaders were looked at in an attempt to answer the primary research question of the importance of ethics in leadership. Hence, the three sub-questions include:

What are the characteristics portrayed by the selected leaders?

How do the leadership styles and characteristics of the chosen leaders resonate with ethical theories?

3. How do the leadership decisions of the chosen political leaders together with characteristics align with their ethical beliefs?

Research Design 

Research design refers to the framework chosen to explore all the areas of the study. There are three available research designs, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods. Each design presents different advantages and disadvantages to researchers depending on the area and topic under study. Understanding the theoretical and methodological differences between these designs is crucial in deciding the best choice for a specific study (Yilmaz, 2013). Determining the right research method is informed by the philosophy of the research design (Mayer, 2015). Collecting data and analyzing it to draw useful conclusions which are important aspects of research also depend on the selected research design.

The research design guides the researcher in answering the research questions. When deciding a research design, the researcher must first carefully examine and understand his/her worldview (Yilmaz, 2013). A worldview refers to one’s cognitive orientation otherwise known as a set of presuppositions which is one of the factors that influence human perception to reality and how they interact with that reality (Yilmaz, 2013). As Sternberg (2017) posited, the process of reflecting on critical aspects of research, such as the assumptions about ontology, epistemology, and axiology, the purpose of the study, research instrumentation needed for data gathering, and the result, plays an essential role in establishing the foundation for a research study.

Research designs are rooted in various worldviews, such as positivism, post-positivism, and postmodernism (Mayer, 2015). Positivism as part of the research philosophy relies on scientific thinking of every occurrence affecting aspects of reality (Mayer, 2015). Under positivism, research is limited to observed occurrences. Any research beyond that is speculation. Post-positivism, on the other hand, tests occurrences and measures them before making conclusions (Mayer, 2015). Post-positivism rejects some of the beliefs of positivism by explaining that ways of thinking are not limited to certain approaches, but people chose the approach that is best suited for them. Postmodernism is founded on skepticism where decisions are based on suspicion (Mayer, 2015). The perceptions of people vary, and no single explanation of what is perfect can fit everyone.

Based on this analysis, the qualitative research design, which aligns with the postmodernist paradigmatic framework, is well suited for this study since it provides an opportunity to explore the political leaders in an in-depth manner. Additionally, qualitative research allows for narrowing down of the research to specific areas of interest on the leaders (Field, 2013). While the quantitative research design, which is rooted in the positivist and post-positivist paradigmatic framework, empirically collects data and analyzes it using statistical analysis tools, qualitative study delves into the available knowledge on the topic from scholarly work and other reliable materials by using an inductive approach (Mayer, 2015). The qualitative research design involves gaining an in-depth understanding of a particular topic through extensive study and coming up with conclusions from the data explored (Mayer, 2015).

Appropriateness of Research Method 

Various qualitative research methods exist, such as ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology. Ethnography involves a full passive participation of the researcher in the person’s life to learn and record various aspects of the person’s life that relate to the research topic (Mayhew, 2012). Grounded theory begins with no theory. Instead, the researcher builds his/her own understanding of the phenomenon under study and establish a theory (Mayhew, 2012). The theory then assists the researcher in developing useful information about the person. Phenomenology uses human experiences and transforms these experiences into comprehensible meanings. Thus, individual experiences are analyzed from different perspectives for the researcher to understand the meanings. Phenomenology also applies an investigator stance to understand the person being studied, through interviews and data analysis.

All these methods are not suited for this research. Ethnography demands that the researcher examines the behavior of the participants in specific situations through participation in the lives of the researcher, making it unsuitable for this study since full or partial participation is time consuming and costly. Additionally, the aspects required in the leaders lives most likely occurred in the past. Phenomenology is not suitable for this study because it requires the researcher to conduct in-depth interview with the participants to depict the phenomenon under study. It would be very challenging to interview the selected leaders as an individual researcher who has no personal connection to the political sphere. Grounded theory prohibits the use of any theories at the onset of the research. Considering that this study intends to use various leadership theories and that it is not interested in generating a theory, grounded theory is not appropriate either. Creswell (2003), in his discussion of qualitative research methods to the inquiry, explained that case studies are approaches to cases within contemporary situations with the aim to develop an in-depth understanding of the topic. Case studies are suitable for this research since the research intends to understand the leadership characteristics of the selected leaders. Furthermore, the ethical theories that resonate with the leaders’ characteristics are best understood by performing an in-depth analysis of these characteristics. Case studies will provide the appropriate data for analysis in this study.

Case Study 

In case studies, an individual, a group of people or organizations are studied on specified aspects of the research topic. In the context of this research, using case study as a research method is most appropriate considering the type of study and the preferred outcomes. However, case studies have their critics who argue that case studies are not a method of inquiry but a decision on the topic to be researched (Ketokivi & Choi, 2014). This assertion seems unfounded solely because a researcher already has a topic in mind before embarking on searching an appropriate inquiry method. Case studies have been extensively utilized in social sciences especially in the study of human behavior (Creswell, 2003). Texts, films, participant observation, and other sources are the primary sources of data for case study researchers. In light of that, selecting case study as a research method to assess the leadership styles and traits of the selected leaders was not a challenging decision.

History of case studies in research dates back Foucault’s texts on discipline (Ball, 2013). Thus, case studies have been applied in social sciences for decades. Foucault studied contemporary systems and related them to his topics to provide links between the systems and subject matter of the research. Similarly, the study of ethical leadership follows Foucault’s approach where the leaders are studied on their traits and styles to develop conclusions on the question of whether ethics matter. Consequently, the link between these leadership traits and the ethical standing of the leader is established just like the way Foucault used his systems of thought and knowledge to explain discipline (Ball, 2013).

Case Study Features 

The defining characteristics of a case study that distinguish it from other methods of inquiry are the identification of the specific case together with the intention of conducting the study (Creswell, 2003). Identification of the case is confined to research aspects such as the parameters for conducting the study. The case for this research is defined by the need to study ethical and unethical leaders with the intention to understand if ethics matter. The parameters that this case study is confined to are the ethical theories that the selected leaders have demonstrated. The specific settings are the leaders' traits, ethics, leadership styles and the way they relate to ethics theories. For this study, understanding the aim of the study to explain the relevance of ethics in leadership is vital in shaping the whole study approach. Given that the purpose of this study is to describe the relevance of ethics in leadership and also to determine the ethical theories that resonate with the actions and behaviors demonstrated by the studied leaders, the study needs to focus on leadership characteristics and actions. The purpose of the study helped to shape the objectives of the study.

Research Objectives 

Baskarada (2014) explained that formulating specific research objectives is among the six vital steps of conducting a successful case study. The stages include planning, preparing, design, collecting, analyzing, and sharing. These stages follow the stated order but are interlinked Baskarada (2014). Research objectives emanate from the problem statement of this study. The primary objectives of conducting this study are to assess the ethical traits of the chosen leaders. The selected leaders’ characteristics are deeply studied to understand their relationships with ethics. The other objective is to determine if the ethics theories portrayed by the studied leaders. Additionally, the relevance of ethics in leadership is also explored. From these objectives, the type of collected data and the method used to analyze it are shaped according to the type of data. Again, the relationship between these traits and the leadership style is assessed. Furthermore, leadership decisions and words used by leaders are evidence of their leadership style. Determination of the leader’s style corresponds to the ethical theory that resonates with the leader’s style of leadership.

Influence of Case Study on Data Collection 

Choice of inquiry method hugely influences data sources any research. Method of investigation also determines analysis methods. For example, this research relies heavily on written sources of data. Hence, choice of method to analyze the data was influenced by the form of data itself. Apart from the data sources chosen for this research, the research method also determines the credibility, authenticity, and level of bias for this study (Houghton, Casey, & Shaw, 2013). Available documentation is the principal source of data for this research. Both public and private documents containing relevant data relating to the four leaders are primary research sources (Creswell, 2003). Data analysis methods employed are based on thematic analysis and content analysis (Vaismoradi, Turunen, & Bondas, 2013). These two methods are specifically useful in examining qualitative data. Hence, it is evident that the choice of data collection methods and analysis is heavily influenced by the case study method.

Selection of Cases/Leaders 

Measures developed to assess ethical leadership has their limitations depending on the opinions of those involved in the process (Yukl, Mahsud, Hassan, & Prussia, 2013). Therefore, arriving at a consensus on the measures of ethical leadership is impossible. In light of this, the choice of leaders to use in this case study was a challenge. The process was further complicated by the fact that political leaders are assessed on their ethics using different yardsticks according to their political influence and geographical location. Overcoming these challenges required that the uncorrupted definitions of ethics and leadership traits adhere to the choice of leaders for the case study. Ethics as the ideas that the society considers right or wrong while traits are individual characteristics of the leader. Based on this definition, an ethical leader adheres to societal expectations of morality in his or her leadership style. Unethical leaders, on the other hand, are deviate from societal moral standards in certain aspects of their leadership style.

Informed by these standards, the ethical characteristics that the leaders were evenly assessed based on honesty, justice, positive image, and decision-making aspects. Equally, the leadership traits that this case study focused on are loyalty, service, knowledge, and tact. In leadership study, the line between ethics and leadership traits is often not very clear. However, this study sought to differentiate the two by considering ethics as the desirable characteristics that ethical leaders possess while traits are unique aspects of the leader's personality that set them apart from other people. Thus, the choice of leaders for this study is based on these differences.

Selected Cases/Leaders 

Former Secretaries of State Collin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are the preferred choices of the ethical leader's case study. President Donald Trump and Michael Flynn form the unethical leaders’ duo. The choice of Condoleezza Rice as an ethical leader is due to her high public rating on matters of ethics ( Jentleson, 2012). Due to her position as Secretary of State, she was often scrutinized by a host of people and organizations on her decisions and actions. The fact that her ethical ranking is above that of other former secretaries is evidence of her moral standing. General Powell, on the other hand, has advised the president on security matters during a delicate period. His stand on various matters together with various state commendations to his name makes him an ideal choice for this case study ( Jentleson, 2012). 

The skeptical public’s opinion on current president Donald Trump together with his combative approach to crucial issues like immigration qualifies him as an unethical leader. His speeches together with campaign strategies make him an ideal case study ( Patel & Levinson-Waldman, 2017). The leader's influence also provides crucial data on his leadership style and the theory that he subscribes to. Flynn, too, is embroiled in a sensitive investigation on his role in corrupt dealings with the Russian government. His involvement as a senior military official in the Afghan farther taints his public image ( Patel & Levinson-Waldman, 2017). These two unethical leaders are assessed in this research to understand if ethics matter in leadership. The ethics theory that resonates with the leader’s characteristics is also concluded from their leadership styles, characteristics, and traits.

Data Collection 

Data collection is vital since it provides the relevant data that is analyzed for a deep understanding of the case (Sutton & Austin, 2015). Biographies of the selected leaders are crucial for obtaining necessary decisions and events in their leadership. Biographies have speech excerpts and other key words that are relevant data for this study. Data from reputable websites such as, government-run sites, non-governmental-run websites, and student reference websites form a large part of the study. Websites are essential for this study since they are easily accessible and also provide a large pool of data.

Procedure 

The research procedure for this case study is based on the ethics, traits, and leadership style of the four political leaders. Hence, the procedural design is to gather relevant data on all the three aspects of the leaders. Based on the ethics of the leaders, their view of certain aspects of the society is used to determine their level of honesty, justice, positive image, and decision-making. Such data is obtained from their speeches and documented work. Biographies and commentary on their styles of leadership also offer relevant data. The consistency of their views is also assessed from these sources. Data from websites is considered unreliable for this study except in cases where the websites are run by government agencies or reliable news sources like the New York Times.

The traits of the leaders are also thoroughly assessed. These are the traits portrayed by the leaders in their position. Assessing their traits contributes to the determinations of the leadership theories that resonate with their style of leadership. Traits are determined from key decisions and decision making while in leadership. Additionally, the traits may be determined from the words of the political leaders.

The leadership style of the leaders is also crucial for this study. Data on the leadership styles of all the four leaders are gathered. The most common leadership styles are authoritarian, transactional, paternalistic, and democratic (Edwards & Wayne, 2013). The characteristics of each of the styles are compared with those employed by the chosen leader. The study relates the ethics of the leader to their leadership style. Consequently, these two aspects are compared against the known ethical theories. This research first assesses the ethical characteristics of each of the four leaders concerning the ethical characteristics of decisiveness, positive public image, and justice. After determining the ethical standing of the leaders, their traits are assessed. These three aspects are examined concurrently with various ethical theories to understand how each political leader’s leadership style resonates with them.

Instruments 

Case studies present some challenges in data gathering for analysis. The primary challenge is choice of the most appropriate tools for collecting data that will be used in the study (Creswell, 2003). The selected tools need to be suited for the case study such that only relevant data is collected. Additionally, selected tools should be able to collect data that is extensive and enough for the research. In this study, choice of the tools for gathering data posed a challenge because of the robustness of data on the leaders. Additionally, the choice of the tools needs to eliminate errors and bias that may derail the study or compromise the findings (Anney, 2014). Poor choice of tools certainly compromises the outcome of the study hence the credibility of the whole study. Therefore, to ensure the credibility of this study, instruments used to gather data had to be authenticated beforehand. Documentation on the decisions and actions of the leaders was obtained only from reliable sources like peer-reviewed journals, books, and government websites. Given the risk of accessing biased data even from the mentioned sources, a second opinion on the matters being researched was sought. This was done through comparison of sources discussing similar issues. In all the sources of data used for the study, due mention is made to the creators of the documents.

Since three of the leaders in the study are still influential figures in world politics, international news sources cover their speeches and events. Thus, first-hand data was gathered on their statements and opinions. Sources of this data include YouTube videos and government websites. These data sources are especially crucial in determining the leaders' traits. They offer unbiased firsthand data on the ethics of the leaders (Creswell, 2003).

Data Analysis 

Thematic and content analysis methods are applied in the process of drawing useful conclusions from this study. The thematic analysis consists of techniques that are used in pinpointing particular words or traits that are relevant to the study (Creswell, 1998). By applying this method in this case study, the ethical and personal characteristics of the leaders became apparent from the raw data that was collected. Content analysis, on the other hand, was used to separate relevant data from the less critical data (Creswell, 1998). Computation methods of content analysis were crucial in saving the time consumed in analyzing the gathered information (Gläser & Laudel, 2013).

Additionally, coding processes were also applied in the analysis methods. Coding involves categorizing data according to its relevance to aspects of the research topic (Gläser & Laudel, 2013). In this case, data in the documents were grouped according to its relation to ethics, traits, or leadership styles (Creswell, 1998). The coding procedure consists of reading through the whole articles and noting essential points. After reading all the pieces, those with similar data were clustered together. Codes were then created for related data for easy reference. Data belonging to similar codes were then pulled together and decided to make sense (Gläser & Laudel, 2013). The coding method was especially helpful in determining the traits of the politicians from vast chunks of data gathered.

Ethical Considerations 

Ethics are a vital part of this case study. This research applied methods that avoided intrusion into the research work of others and also prevented alteration of documents penned by others. Similarly, this case study avoided the unwarranted use of information by other researchers without acknowledging their work. Proper citations and references were provided for sources of data that was used for this study. Furthermore, infringement on the private lives of the leaders was also considered. Thus, data gathered and analyzed was maintained at the level of the leader's decisions and actions relating their leadership positions. Thus, the criteria for the case study relates to the importance of ethics in leadership. Therefore, the focus is solely on ethics and ethical theories. Another key consideration is whether the documented data used in this study was penned with ethical considerations of research. Determining the ethical relevance of the information gathered was done at the data analysis stage of the study.

Trustworthiness 

Qualitative research findings are required to be credible for them to be used as references by other scholars (Sutton & Austin, 2015). Aspects that are scrutinized to determine trustworthiness include credibility, dependability, transferability, and conformability (Elo et al., 2014). The credibility of this case study was tested through the sources used for the study. By adhering only to sources that provide trustworthy data like scholarly sources, government sites, and mainstream news sources, credibility is maintained (Gläser & Laudel, 2013). Moreover, credibility is also proven through the expertise of the sources and research methods applied. By applying reliable research methods, only trusted data was considered. Again, dependability of researched information refers to the ability of the information to be relied upon by others (Gläser & Laudel, 2013). This case study is reliable based on the research methods used and the systematic presentation of the findings. Transferability of these findings is hinged on the in-depth research on the topic and clear statement of assumptions of the study (Creswell, 1998). Thus, the reader can use these findings in other contexts. Confirmability of the research is the event in the data collection and analysis methods used (Gläser & Laudel, 2013).

Potential Research Bias 

Research bias may compromise the trustworthiness of case study. Since this research is no exceptions, loopholes that may lead to bias are sealed using various techniques. Professional bias in this case study was voided by applying analysis techniques that incorporate data from credible sources. Another method through which professional bias was avoided is the method of presentation of results. Personal bias, on the other hand, was eliminated by using data from documented sources as opposed to incorporated personal opinions into the study.

Limitations 

Examination of limitations are vital in a case study to provide the readers with an opportunity to understand the design of the study and the way the data is interpreted. Limitations are areas that may make the study to become infective or weak Creswell (1998). The first limitation of this case study is in the type of data collected. Research findings were limited to the data available after analysis. This implies that data that was not collected cannot be used to conclude the research. Other limitations lie in the assessment of similar traits in the leaders. Use of similar ethics narrows the scope of the research to only the characteristics related to these ethics. Considering that ethics are derived from traits, a few traits of the leaders were assessed. Another limitation is in the potential risk of the researcher’s bias in analysis and interpretation of the collected data. Considering that the collected data was from secondary sources, misinterpretation could derail the findings of this research. Secondary sources provide vast amounts of data that need careful interpretation for meaningful conclusions to be determined.

Delimitations 

Delimitations of a specific research are studied to provide the reader with an opportunity to understand the research procedure and also the course of interpretation of the collected data. The specific goals of this study are to understand the ethical traits of the four chosen leaders. Another goal is to learn the ethical theories that the leaders demonstrate their leadership style. Finally, the importance of ethics in leadership is assessed. Therefore, this study was focused on ethics, leadership traits, and their significance. The ethical characteristics that the leaders were evenly assessed based on honesty, justice, positive image, and decision-making aspects. Equally, the leadership traits that this case study focused on are loyalty, service, knowledge, and tact. Based on the specific objectives of this study, other study objectives include the impact of individual traits on the leadership style displayed. Additionally, differences in ethics of these leaders could form part of the research. However, studying the variations of the leaders as well as similar ethics would derail the critical purpose of the study which is to establish the importance of ethics in leadership. Again, studying the impact of these traits will immensely broaden the scope of the study.

Summary 

The methodology chapter outlines the choice of qualitative approach for the case study, statement and design of the research together with research tools, methods and analysis. The choice of a case study as the inquiry method is the most appropriate due to its application in the study of contemporary situations with the intention of developing a profound understanding of a specified topic. Thus, the outcomes of the study were determined by the research parameters. More specifically, the intended outcomes are to assess the importance of ethics in leadership. Hence, the parameters are the ethical traits and leadership style of the political figures. The ethical leaders selected for this study are Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Unethical leaders studied are Michael Flynn and Donald Trump. Data on these leaders is collected from documented sources. The leaders were then compared to their similar ethics and traits. Conclusions are drawn from the ethical theories that resonate with their leadership styles. Furthermore, the trustworthiness of this research is given paramount importance. Research bias was eliminated to enhance the reliability of the research. The limitations of the research based on similar ethics were discussed. Delimitations which would derail the purpose of the study and immensely broaden its scope were discussed.

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