Explicating the Moral Component of Moral Forms of Leadership

Abstract

A leader’s morality is a starting point in the making of a leader. It is one of the oldest debates in the philosophy of management. Since many positive outcomes have been associated with leader morality, a host of moral forms of leadership have been suggested and implemented in the organizations. The 21st century has particularly seen a rise in the moral forms such as ethical leadership, servant leadership and authentic leadership. The paper attempts to integrate the overlapping literature in this domain, to offer clarity in the construct of ethical, authentic and servant leadership, especially on their foundational principle of morality. A review of literature, with an agenda to juxtapose it with moral theories and moral development, has been undertaken. Deeper delving helps in constructing parallels between consequentialism, virtue ethics and deontology with servant, authentic and ethical leadership respectively as points of distinction. Along with a discrete moral identity and moral sensitivities, moral motivation and moral action as other matter of differential outlook of the leaders. Despite these perceived differences, the moral forms of leadership converge on the aspect of care. So while we may see separate branches in the moral forms of leadership, they share a common root of morality.