Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Discussion Questions
Chapter 15: Leadership Ethics
2. How is moral development related to ethical leadership?
3. How does a person move from one stage of moral development to another?
4. Distinguish between the three theoretical approaches in Figure 15.1. Which comes closest to
your view of ethical leadership?
5. Distinguish/describe the differences between Heifetz’s and Burns’s perspectives on leadership.
Choose the one that you think is most valuable and explain why.
6. What workplace outcomes are related to destructive leadership?
7. What is the difference between conformers and colluders?
8. How can an organizational environment become conducive to destructive leadership? Relate
9. Define and describe the principles of ethical leadership. Which two of the five covered in this
chapter do you think are the most important? Why?
10. Complete the Perceived Leader Integrity Scale. Based on the assessed scoring of your
supervisor, do you agree with the measure? Give examples to support your assessment.
12. How are ethical leaders different from charismatic or transformational leaders?
13. Are ethics caught or taught? What is the best way to teach ethics? What are the challenges?
What would you include in an ethics curriculum?
14. What are some of the ethical issues students face? Does your university have a formal honor
code for students? Why or why not? How do students on your campus learn about academic
integrity?
15. For students who have traveled outside the United States, have they observed any differences
in ethical behavior among people in other countries (e.g., respect for people, serving others, and
building community)?
16. Do millennial students agree with the characterization of their generation as being more