Order Description

Prepare a two-page paper on the relevance of understanding pseudo-transformational leadership in the workplace.

How prevalent is this in organizational settings?

How does this impact the organization?

ETHICS, CHARACTER, AND
AUTHENTIC TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR
Bernard M. Bass*
Paul Steidlmeier
Binghamton University
The morality of transformational leadership has been sharply questioned, particularly by libertarians,
“grass roots” theorists, and organizational development consultants. This paper argues that
to be truly transformational, leadership must be grounded in moral foundations. The four components
of authentic transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation, and individualized consideration) are contrasted with their counterfeits in
dissembling pseudo-transformational 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 related 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 transcendence, agency, trust,
striving for congruence in values, cooperative action, power, persuasion, and corporate governance
to establish the strategic and moral foundations of authentic transformational leadership.
ETHICS, CHARACTER AND AUTHENTIC
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Are Bill Gates and Lou Gerstner transformational leaders? What about “chainsaw”
Al Dunlap? For many moral analysts, leadership is a many-headed hydra that
alternately shows the faces of Saddam Hussein and Pol Pot as well as those of
Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa. The stories that recount the accomplishments
* Direct all correspondence to: Bernard M. Bass, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902–6015;
email: bbass@binghamton.edu.
Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 181–217.
Copyright Ó 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ISSN: 1048-9843
182 LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY Vol. 10 No. 2 1999
of such leaders raise moral questions concerning both the character of the leaders
as well as the legitimacy of their programs.
Following Rogers and Farson (1955), Conger and Kanungo (1988, ch. 11) worried
that charismatic leadership (which they defined similarly to transformational leadership)
of self-serving leaders could result in deception and exploitation of followers,
but argued that most leaders pursued both personal and organizational interests.
Subsequently, Conger and Kanungo (1998, ch. 7) reviewed the dark side of charismatic
leaders: narcissicism, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, flawed vision, a
need for power coupled with lack of activity inhibition and promotion among
followers of dependency, personal identification, and lack of internalization of
values and beliefs. In this article, we attempt to differentiate such leaders from
authentic charismatic and transformational leaders in terms of ethical discussions
of character and authenticity as well as the major themes of the modern Western
ethical agenda: liberty, utility, and (distributive) justice.
The ethics of leadership rests upon three pillars: (1) the moral character of the
leader; (2) the ethical legitimacy of the values embedded in the leaders vision,
articulation, and program which followers either embrace or reject; and (3) the
morality of the processes of social ethical choice and action that leaders and followers
engage in and collectively pursue. Such ethical characteristics of leadership have
been widely acknowledged (Wren, 1998; Kouzes & Posner,1993; Greenleaf, 1977;
Conger & Kanungo, 1998). Transformational leaders set examples to be emulated
by their followers. And as suggested by Burns (1978) and demonstrated by Dukerich,
Nichols, and associates (1990) when leaders are more morally mature, those they
lead display higher moral reasoning. But not all leadership fits the same pattern and
ethical analysis shifts with varying leadership modalities. Two forms of leadership
behavior, transactional and transformational, and their components will be analyzed
here in terms of moral issues.
COMPONENTS OF LEADERSHIP AND RELATED MORAL ISSUES
Moral discourse is normative; it is captured in our language of right/wrong, good/
bad, should/ought, good/evil. While meta-ethical discourse is concerned with a
critical analysis of the foundations of moral judgments—the worldview and ontological
rationale that confers legitimacy upon a set of normative criteria and values—
practical ethical discourse is primarily focused upon two issues (Table 1): analysis
of the moral agent and analysis of types of moral action.
A moral agent is evaluated as praiseworthy or blameworthy in light of three
primary considerations: his or her (1) developmental level of conscience; (2) degree
of effective freedom; and (3) probity of intention. A moral act is evaluated as a
type of behavior no matter who the agent may be. Behavior such as taking property
or breaking a promise is judged to be right or wrong in light three principal components:
(1) the end sought; (2) the means employed; and (3) the consequences.
The pivotal issue in making moral judgments is the legitimacy of the grounding
worldview and beliefs that grounds a set of moral values and criteria. Depending
upon such worldview and beliefs, a religious leader may morally justify a holy war
and a Marxist may justify class warfare and dictatorship of the proletariat. As a
Transformational Leadership Behavior 183
Table 1. Components of Moral Analysis
Moral Agent
Conscience Stage of values development, mediated by personal,
familial, social, spiritual and cultural factors
(Kohlberg, 1981); moral theories of conscientious
objection
Degree of Freedom Responsibility mitigated by factors such as compulsion
or coercion; moral theories of existential freedom
vs determinism
Intention The agent’s goal and anticipated outcomes; moral
theories of maleficence and beneficence and
egoism vs altruism
Moral Action
Ends sought Nobility of purpose of the action and whether it is
aligned with core transcendental values, whether
religious, philosophical, cultural
Means employed Whether the end justifies the means
Consequences Whether the benefits and burdens of an action are
fairly distributed among those affected
result, moral analysis always exhibits a two-fold nature, which combines (1) the
radical critique of underlying worldviews and grounds of moral legitimation and
(2) practical judgments of praiseworthy or blameworthy agents and right and wrong
behavior within a concrete socio-cultural and historical milieu, as well as within
the limitations of socio-historical conscience and freedom. Ethical analysis is further
complicated by the fact that it applies not only to content (taking another’s property
is wrong; telling the truth is good) but to processes (especially those that affect the
freedom and conscience of participants)
Ethical content focuses upon values, which highlight the issue of standards and
criteria of ethical behavior. While cultural relativities surely apply, foundational
moral discourse rests upon polarities found in both moral intention (egoism versus
altruism) and in moral consequences (benefits and costs for self and others). Kanungo
and Mendonca (1996, ch. 3) argue persuasively for the centrality of altruism,
where everyone has moral standing and the interests of “the other” matter. Indeed,
something like the Western human rights tradition, which has grown out of the
defense of the dignity of the individual, mandates a minimal degree of altruism by
safeguarding inalienable human rights not just of self but of all others, even in the
face of majority social choices.
The morality of processes reflect the legitimacy of both influence processes on
the part of leaders and empowerment processes on the part of followers as they
engage in dynamic self-transformation (Kanungo&Mendonca, 1996, ch. 4). Modern
Western ethics has been preoccupied with moral processes, especially the relationship
between the individual, collectivities, (including families, states, business enterprises,
religions and other socio-cultural organizations) and society as a whole. Its
major themes of liberty, utility and distributive justice attempt to specify what
individuals owe each other, what individuals owe to the group and what groups
owe to individuals.
184 LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY Vol. 10 No. 2 1999
The moral analysis of leadership contains all of these dynamics. It provides
critique of both agents and actions. This makes it challenging to morally evaluate
charismatic leaders such as the Ayotollah Khomeini or Mao Zedong in realms of
religion and politics, and Andrew Carnegie or Steve Jobs in the marketplace. There
are clearly many leadership issues and styles that relate to questions ranging from
the legitimacy of their authority and informed consent by followers to conscience,
freedom and intention, and to ends, means and consequences.
There are two distinct but interrelated ideal types of leadership: transactional
and transformational. In what follows we first clarify these concepts and then discuss
ethical problems related with each. We conclude with an examination of Bass’s
proposition (1998a), which is consistent with Burns (1978), that authentic transformational
leadership must rest on a moral foundation of legitimate values. The
opposite is inauthentic or pseudo-transformational leadership, that of leaders who
consciously or unconsciously act in bad faith (Sartre, 1992).
Transformational and Transactional Leadership
Transactional leadership involves contingent reinforcement. Followers are motivated
by the leaders’ promises, praise, and rewards, or they are corrected by negative
feedback, reproof, threats, or disciplinary actions. The leaders react to whether the
followers carry out what the leaders and followers have “transacted” to do. In
contingent rewarding behavior leaders either make assignments or they may consult
with followers about what is to be done in exchange for implicit or explicit rewards
and the desired allocation of resources. When leaders engage in active managementby-
exception, they monitor follower performance and correct followers’ mistakes.
When leaders engage in passive management-by-exception, they wait passively for
followers’ mistakes to be called to their attention before taking corrective action
with negative feedback or reprimands. Laissez-faire leaders avoid leading.
Transformational leadership contains four components: charisma or idealized
influence (attributed or behavioral), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation,
and individualized consideration (Bass, 1985, 1998; Bass & Avolio, 1993). Followers
identify with the charismatic leaders’ aspirations and want to emulate the leaders.
Shamir, House, and Arthur (1993), Conger and Kanungo (l988, 1998), Kanungo
and Mendonca (1996) conceive of the same components as all falling under the
category of charismatic leadership.
For the purposes of discussion, we will speak of transformational and transactional
leaders when, in fact, most leaders have a profile of the full range of leadership
that includes both transformational and transactional factors. However, those whom
we call transformational do much more of the transformational than the transactional.
In their defining moments, they are transformational. Those whom we label
as transactional leaders display much more transactional leadership behavior. They
are more likely to have attitudes, beliefs, and values more consistent with transactional
leadership, but they still may be likely to be transformational at times.
Each component of either transactional or transformational leadership has an
ethical dimension. It is the behavior of leaders—including their moral character,
values and programs—that is authentic or inauthentic. Most leaders are likely to
Transformational Leadership Behavior 185
Table 2. Leading Moral Components of Transactional and
Transformational Leadership
Transactional Leadership
Leadership Dynamic Ethical Concern
Task Whether what is being done (the end) and the
means employed to do it are morally legitimate
Reward system Whether sanctions or incentives impair effective
freedom and respect conscience
Intentions Truth telling
Trust Promise keeping
Consequences Egoism vs altruism—whether the legitimate moral
standing and interests of all those affected are
respected
Due process Impartial process of settling conflicts and claims
Transformational Leadership
Idealized influence Whether “puffery” and egoism on part of the leader
predominate and whether s/he is manipulative
or not
Inspirational motivation Whether providing for true empowerment and selfactualization
of followers or not
Intellectual stimulation Whether the leader’s program is open to dynamic
transcendence and spirituality or is closed
propaganda and a “line” to follow
Individualized Whether followers are treated as ends or means,
consideration whether their unique dignity and interests are
respected or not.
display a mixed moral profile; so, when we speak of authentic transformational
leaders or authentic transactional leaders, we are labeling leaders who generally
are more authentic than inauthentic.
Ethical Issues in Transactional Leadership
Both styles of leadership, transformational and transactional, have strong philosophical
underpinnings and ethical components (Table 2). In individualist philosophies,
where leaders and followers each rationally pursue their own self-interests,
it is generally thought that leaders should be transactional. A free contract is often
assumed as a model of transacting between leaders and followers. A contract has
to have moral legitimacy (Donaldson & Dunfee, 1994). The moral legitimacy of
transactional leadership is demanding in many ways. It depends on granting the
same liberty and opportunity to others that one claims for oneself, on telling the
truth, keeping promises, distributing to each what is due, and employing valid
incentives or sanctions. It recognizes pluralism of values and diversity of motivations
(Rawls, 1971).
Ethical Issues in Transformational Leadership
Transactional leadership models are grounded in a worldview of self-interest.
But the exclusive pursuit of self-interest is found wanting by most ethicists (Gini,
186 LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY Vol. 10 No. 2 1999
1995, 1996; Rosenthal & Buchholz, 1995). Authentic transformational leadership
provides a more reasonable and realistic concept of self—a self that is connected
to friends, family, and community whose welfare may be more important to oneself
than one’s own. One’s moral obligations to them are grounded in a broader conception
of individuals within community and