Price Book Explains Immoral Leadership
October 28, 2005
Why do leaders fail ethically? Why do leaders act as if they think they are special and as if ordinary rules do not apply to them? Those are among the difficult questions applied ethicist Terry L. Price explores in
Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership.
Dr. Price rejects the standard view that leaders behave unethically simply because they are selfish. "Leader immorality is more a matter of belief and knowledge than a matter of desire and will," Price says. "Unethical behavior cannot be fully understood in terms of putting self-interest ahead of what people know to be the requirements of morality. Leaders can come to believe that they are morally justified in making exceptions of themselves."
What justifies these exceptions? Price argues that leaders allow group goals to override ordinary moral requirements. He also notes that leaders sometimes act on the belief that people who are not members of a leader's group, organization or nation "should not receive the same protections of morality that the rest of us deserve."
Both of these mistaken belief systems can show up in the political sphere. A political appointee may lie or withhold the truth to further a political party's goals. Or, leaders may justify ill treatment of imprisoned suspected terrorists because "they don't merit the same protections as those we give to U.S. citizens or even prisoners of war," Price explains.
Price also offers criteria that a leader might consider prior to making an exception that they believe to be morally justified. One of the checks he puts forth is the principle of publicity, which holds that exception-making behavior should be made public and open to scrutiny and debate.
In the first such book-length philosophical treatment of leadership, Price draws on cognitive and social psychology, history of political thought, leadership studies, management, organizational theory and religion. "The analysis can be applied across leadership contexts -- in public, private, and non-profit sectors," Price says.
The author's multi-disciplinary, liberal arts-based approach to this subject reflects the scholarly foundations of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, where Price is an associate professor.
At the Jepson School, Price specializes in leadership ethics; moral psychology; social, political, and legal theory; and applied epistemology. His next book project in on ethics and responsibility in everyday leadership.
Price holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Arizona and degrees in philosophy, politics, and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Oxford.
Back to top
| 
