Abstract
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.
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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.
Appendix A: iWAM Tests for Cognitive Patterns14
Appendix A: iWAM Tests for Cognitive Patterns14
1. Action Level (2 scales)
Is the person proactive or reactive? How quickly does the person start taking action? How much patience does this person have?
2. Action Direction (2 scales)
How well can this person maintain focus on the goals? Are they able to recognize the problems, which would interfere with obtaining those goals?
3. Evaluation Reference (2 scales)
What are the sources of motivation for this person? Do they decide for themselves or do they need others to give advice or even make the decision?
4. Task Attitude (2 scales)
Does this person follow procedures or do they generate alternatives?
5. Task Orientation (2 scales)
When working with information, how small or large is the information this person naturally thinks about? Do they tend to work with large, medium-sized, or small pieces of information?
6. Communication Sort (2 scales)
Does this person primarily focus on the “content” of the message when communicating? Does the individual communicate using and listen to/for non-verbal communication?
7. Work Environment Type (2 scales)
Does this person want to work around other people? Would the individual prefer to work alone?
8. Work Assignment Type (2 scales)
Does this person want sole responsibility for the work results or do they want to share that responsibility?
9. Relationship Sorting (3 scales)
How does this individual view change? Does this person like things to remain stable for a long period of time? Do they show a tendency to want to improve things? What is their perspective on major change? Also, what is this person’s cycle time for maintaining interest in and motivation toward projects, tasks, and jobs?
10. McClelland’s Motivational Types (3 scales)
What are the basic motivation factors for this person? Is it Power, Affiliation, and/or Achievement?
11. Work Approach (3 scales)
What is the internal process this person uses when approaching or working on a task or project? Do they focus on theory/understanding, organizing/structuring, and/or use/implementation?
12. Temporal Processing (3 scales)
When working on a project/task or when thinking about or organizing something, how do they relate and refer to time? Do they remember the past, think about the present, or plan/project into the future?
13. Norming – Rule Structure (4 scales)
How does this person deal with the unwritten rules or the social contract in the workplace? Do they feel the need to tell others how they should act? Do they tend to want to follow others’ rules? How to they feel about others’ out-of-the-box behavior?
14. Convincer Patterns: Input Representation (4 scales)
How is this person convinced about something or someone new? How do they gather the data to be convinced?
15. Convincer Patterns: Interpretation Process (4 scales)
What do they do with that data to be convinced? How do they process it? Become convinced about it?
16. Interest Filters (8 scales)
What does this person attend to in the environment? What does this person need in work to feel successful?
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Harshman, C.L., Harshman, E.F. The Gordian Knot of Ethics: Understanding Leadership Effectiveness and Ethical Behavior. J Bus Ethics 78, 175–192 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9318-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9318-8