Instructor Resource
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Lecture Notes
Chapter 12: Addressing Ethics in Leadership
Learning Objectives
1. Define ethical leadership
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
A. Moral leadership is the need of the day.
II. Leadership Ethics Explained
A. Ethical leadership is the influence of a moral person who moves others to do the
right thing in the right way for the right reasons.
B. Ethical leadership is a process by which a good person rightly influences others to
accomplish a common good: to make the world better, fairer, and more humane.
III. Leadership Ethics in Practice
A. The Character of the Leader
i. The character of the leader is a fundamental aspect of ethical leadership.
Instructor Resource
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
ii. A leader can act in many different ways to accomplish goals; each of these
actions has ethical implications.
a. Showing respect: To show respect means to treat others as unique
human beings and never as means to an end.
C. The Goals of the Leader
i. How a leader uses goals to influence others says a lot about the leader’s
ethics.
D. The Honesty of the Leader
i. People want honesty in their leaders. Being honest is synonymous with
being ethical.
ii. Dishonesty is a form of lying, a way of misrepresenting reality.
Dishonesty may bring with it many negative outcomes, the foremost of
which is that it creates distrust.
E. The Power of the Leader
i. Power is the capacity to influence or affect others. A leader has power
because he or she has the ability to affect others’ beliefs, attitudes, and
courses of action.
Instructor Resource
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership, 5e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
F. The Values of the Leader
i. Values are the ideas, beliefs, and modes of action that people find
worthwhile or desirable.
IV. Culture and Leadership Ethics
A. Different cultures have different rules of conduct, and as a result, leadership
behaviors that one culture deems ethical may not be viewed the same way by
another culture.