Ethics, Moral Character and Authentic Essay

The four components of authentic transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration) are constrasted with their counterfeits in the dissembling pseudotransformational leadership on the basis of 1) the moral character of the leaders and their concerns for self and others; 2) the ethical values embedded in the leaders’ vision, articulation, and program, which followers can embrace or reject; and 3) the morality of the processes of social ethical choices and action in which the leaders and followers engage and collectively pursue. The literature on transformational leadership is linked to the long-standing literature on virtue and moral character, as exemplified by Socratic and Confucian typologies. It is linked, as well, to the major themes of the modern Western ethical agenda: liberty, utility and distributive justice Deception, sophistry, and pretense are examined alongside issues of transendence, agency, trust, striving for the congruence of the values, cooperative action, power, persuasion, and corporate governance to establish the strategic and moral foundations of authentic transformational leadership. Contracts can be skewed in favor of those with more resources, contacts and â€Å"bargaining power. † People often appreciate leadership which points the way out of dilemmas whether it comes from others within their own collective or from external authority. Leaders as divergent in their politics as Mao Zedong and Shimon Peres agreed that the task of leadership is to sense the problems of their followers and to articulate solutions which satisfied their interests. Rost, reminiscent of Nozick and Rand, asks for leader-follower distinctions be erased to reach true participative democracy. Burns (1998) partially agrees and would substitute for leaders and followers, initiators, supporters and opponents. But the counterarguments are that if everyone in a group is responsible for its leadership, no one is responsible. Furthermore, if a group is initially leaderless, the members compete with each other for leadership. One or more leaders emerge who initiate and propose more than the other members. Followers emerge who are responsive to the leaders, and non-responsive isolated persons remain who are passive (Bass, 1954). If trying to align the values of members of an organization with the good of all stakeholders is unethical , then it is unethical to contingently reward prison inmates with time off for good behavior or for transformational teachers to move pupils to internalize the values of good citizenship for the benefit of society. â€Å"Libertarians would agree that one’s life plans are paramount but they are close to espousing anarchy as are the OD extremists who charge immorality if the transformational leader intervenes in the individual follower’s life plans†(Bass, 1998A, p. 79). With this line of thinking that it is immoral to align the values and behavio