Organizational Change and Moral Values

Leadership and Ethical Decision-Making

• Involves challenging assumptions and testing new approaches, requiring leadership at all levels to bring about changes in behavior, attitudes, and beliefs
• Leadership in technical work is about coordinating and overseeing the implementation of known solutions, while adaptive challenges require mobilizing people to address them collectively

Resonant Leadership

• Involves taking the heat rather than restoring the status quo, focusing attention on the issue, and learning from resistance and factions that emerge
• Requires creating and nurturing networks of people to call on, work with, and engage in addressing the issue at hand

Orchestrate the Conflict

• Surfacing relevant conflicts and acknowledging unacknowledged differences in perspectives, visions, values, and views is essential

Give the Work Back

• Involves placing the work where it belongs, not providing answers from a position of formal authority, and being willing to be part of the challenge rather than directing its solution

Hold Steady

• Requires the ability to observe and learn from resistance and factions that emerge, focusing attention on the issue, and letting the issue ripen

Principles of Ethical Leadership

• Ethics refers to the principles, values, and standards of conduct that guide individuals and organizations in determining what is right, fair, and morally acceptable behavior
• Ethics provides a framework for evaluating and making decisions that consider the impact on individuals, communities, and society as a whole

Morals, Morality, and Ethics

• Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong
• Ethics refers to rules provided by an external source, such as codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religion

The ALIR: Imperatives of Ethical Reasoning

• Accountability: the readiness or preparedness to give an explanation or justification to stakeholders for one's judgments, intentions, and actions
• Legality: the state or quality of being in conformity with the law; adherence to or observance of the law
• Integrity: consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, and principles, expectations, and outcomes
• Responsiveness: ensuring that citizens are served helpfully, responsibly, and in a timely manner by government agencies and officials

Steps in Ethical Dilemma Resolution

• Determine the facts
• Identify the stakeholders
• Articulate the dilemma
• List the alternatives and options
• Compare options with principles or values
• Weigh the consequences
• Make a decision

Leadership Theories

Servant Leadership Theory

• The most effective leaders are servants of their people
• Gets results for their organization through wholehearted attention to their followers and followers' needs
• Emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and ethics

Heroic Leadership Theory

• Founded on the principles of heroism, which involves voluntarily taking actions that are deemed exceptionally good or directed toward serving a noble principle or the greater good
• A hero is defined as an individual who makes a significant sacrifice and takes a great risk

Resonant Leadership Theory

• Reinforcing sound by moving on the same wavelength, having a positive effect on the emotional states of people around them
• Leaders have the power to impact the emotional states of people around them, using their emotional intelligence to direct feelings to help a group meet its goals

Leadership and Culture

• Culture is a system of learned and shared beliefs, language, norms, values, and symbols that groups use to identify themselves and provide a framework within which to live and work
• Leadership and headship are interchangeable terms in Southeast Asian cultures

The Concept of Spirit

• Spirit refers to the non-physical essence or energy that animates living beings.
• Spirituality encompasses the subjective pursuit of meaning, connection, and personal growth.

The Spirit of Leadership

• Emphasizes the qualities, attitudes, and behaviors that leaders embody in their actions and interactions with others.
• Refers to the presence of positive attributes such as inspiration, empathy, integrity, and vision within the leader themselves.
• Encompasses the collective values, norms, and beliefs that shape how leadership is understood and practiced within a particular context.

Spirit in/of Leadership

• "Spirit IN leadership" focuses on the qualities exhibited by individual leaders.
• "Spirit OF leadership" encompasses the broader context and culture that influence how leadership is perceived and practiced within a group or organization.
• Both are important considerations for understanding and cultivating effective leadership within any setting.

Counter-Proposition

• Leadership is not just a role, but a dynamic journey shaped by experiences and self-reflection.
• To improve competency, commitment, and character, engage others in action, conversations that challenge assumptions, foster honest communication, and weave together diverse viewpoints to foster shared understanding and stakeholder engagement.

Adaptive Challenges

• No adequate response has yet been developed.
• Requires learning attitudes and habits/behavior.
• Compared to technical problems, adaptive challenges require learning, imagination, and discernment by the organization or community.

Leadership Practice

• Centralization: patriarchal right to decide what is best for the organization, limiting involvement of subordinates in decision-making.
• Secrecy: didactic leadership, non-sharing of information.
• Protection of dominance: seeking to protect one's position through various tactics.
• Non-emotional ties, social distance: preventing development of emotional bonding, shielding and protecting leader's dignity, mystery, and authority.

Leadership Strategies and Tactics

• Reputation-building: promoting one's reputation, building up good relationships.
• Non-specific intentions: not explicit to subordinates in revealing what is expected or the lines of action intended to pursue.
• Avoidance of formality: not setting clear boundaries, refusing to create explicit agreements about how the leader-follower relationship will be defined.
• Patronage & nepotism: using power and resources to dispense favors, placing family members, kin, close friends in key positions.
• Cliques, political manipulation: using divide-and-rule tactics, manipulating and being manipulated through followers.

This quiz explores the role of moral values and ideals in driving organizational change, both within individual organizations and in the broader society.