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Ethical Leadership – How to Integrate Empirical and Ethical Aspects for Promoting Moral Decision Making in Business Practice

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Empirically Informed Ethics: Morality between Facts and Norms

Part of the book series: Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy ((LOET,volume 32))

Abstract

Corporate ethical scandals, the financial and economic crisis of the past several years, and examples of misuse of power by prominent leaders have shocked the business world. They have not only called into question the role of the economic system design at large, but have also raised questions about the role of leaders in influencing ethics and ethical behavior in organizations. It is hardly controversial to state that aspects of management and leadership are crucial in determining the strategical direction and daily operations of an organization. Few would doubt that leaders are key figures in shaping ethical conduct. However, little is known about what constitutes ethical leadership. What are the relevant competencies leaders should acquire? The behavior of leaders and the extent to which they behave with moral integrity has also become a topic of high interest in the media and public discussion. Yet, many people believe that ethical leadership is simply a matter of having good character or having the “right values. “Although character and values are obviously important, the concept of ethical leadership is far more complex than those factors and there is little consensus on what precisely characterizes ethical leadership.In our contribution, we first want to highlight some typical features of the empirical and normative approaches to exploring ethical decision-making and behavior, and to sketch out how ethics and psychology can learn and benefit from each other. Second, based on previous empirical research and our own perspectives, we wish to shed light on some important components and competencies of ethical leaders. While discussing important characteristics of ethical leaders, we also aim to discover some unresolved key questions about ethical leadership. We argue that these questions reflect important points of intersection between empirical and normative approaches, and points where it appears beneficial that normative reflection comes in. These questions and their implications for the practice of moral behavior and leadership will be discussed in the final section.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Priority Program Ethics, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 117, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus Huppenbauer

  2. Department of Banking and Finance, Center for Responsibility in Finance, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse 32, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Carmen Tanner

Authors
  1. Markus Huppenbauer
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  2. Carmen Tanner
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Correspondence to Markus Huppenbauer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus Christen

  2. Anthropological Institute & Museum, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Carel van Schaik

  3. Institute of Social Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Johannes Fischer

  4. University Priority Program Ethics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus Huppenbauer

  5. Department of Banking and Finance, Centre for Responsibility in Finance, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Carmen Tanner

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Huppenbauer, M., Tanner, C. (2014). Ethical Leadership – How to Integrate Empirical and Ethical Aspects for Promoting Moral Decision Making in Business Practice. In: Christen, M., van Schaik, C., Fischer, J., Huppenbauer, M., Tanner, C. (eds) Empirically Informed Ethics: Morality between Facts and Norms. Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy, vol 32. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01369-5_14

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