Leadership Ethics

Leadership studies scholar and ethicist explains how leaders justify breaking rules

November 5, 2009

Leadership Ethics: An Introduction uses moral theory to explore the justifications provided by leaders who break the moral rules.

Author Terry L. Price, associate professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, identifies for readers the moral distinctiveness of leadership. Written for a range of audiences from academics to professionals to students without a background in philosophy, Leadership Ethics holds a unique position as the first single-authored philosophical text designed to introduce the central problems of leadership ethics. The book was released this fall and is published by Cambridge University Press.

"Among the many books on leadership, this one stands out as having something new and compelling to tell us,” says Dean Sandra J. Peart. “The question of whether leaders consider themselves to be morally special, and why, is one that all of us who care about leadership ethics should examine."

Price combines classic philosophy and empirical psychology with contemporary examples to explore critical questions. Are leaders morally special? Is there something ethically distinctive about the relationship between leaders and followers? Should leaders do whatever it takes to achieve group goals?

To answer these questions, the book introduces readers to the moral theories that are relevant to leadership ethics: relativism, amoralism, egoism, virtue ethics, social contract theory, situation ethics, communitarianism, and cosmopolitan theories such as utilitarianism and transformational leadership. Unlike many introductory texts, the book does more than simply acquaint readers with different approaches to leadership ethics. It defends the Kantian view that everyday leaders are not justified in breaking the moral rules.

Price teaches leadership ethics at the Jepson School, where he serves as associate dean for academic affairs at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. He is the author of Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership, also published by Cambridge University Press, and a series editor of Jepson Studies in Leadership.

Cambridge Press http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521875837
Excerpt http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521875837&ss=exc
Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Ethics-Introduction-Terry-Price/dp/0521699118
Buy.com http://www.buy.com/prod/leadership-ethics-an-introduction/q/loc/106/208165575.htm

Article ID: 491