How ethical leaders deal with values conflicts

David Rude, MA, CPCJanuary 12, 2011

"[To] do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time,with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for everyone nor is it easy;

wherefore goodness is both rare and laudable and noble."(Aristotle, Ethics II.9)

What we’ll cover today:

1. Why same or similar problems often reappear;

2. Why focusing on problems as ends in themselves may hinder the process of achieving personal and professional as well as organizational goals;

3. Why reframing problems as dilemmas offers new and different possibilities;

What we’ll cover today, continued

• One impact of this reframing is that, over time and with persistence, followers can learn to engage in purposeful behaviors that forge a set of shared values which will enable them solve their problems on their own (DiBella & Nevis, 1998).

Why same or similar problems often reappear

• The reason is that the organizational leader has not addressed (or, at least, not adequately addressed) the fundamental conflict of values embedded in the problem or issue.

• What organizational leaders and followers need to deal with, Cuban believes, are not the "problems" but the "issues."

• The issues are not focal, what is focal is the conflict of values at the heart of those responsibilities and differences.

• Dealing with these and building a set of shared values is what promotes the type of "organizational learning" (DiBella & Nevis, 1998) wherein followers engage in behaviors where they learn to solve their problems (McWhinney, Webber, Smith, & Novokowsky, 1997).

• By likening "problems" to "issues," Cuban's (1992) insight suggests that organizational leaders would be better off spending their time attending to the underlying causes of organizational dysfunction—the fundamental conflict of values.

• To do so requires organizational leaders to change how they think about and approach problems in their organizations.

Reframing "problems" as "dilemmas

• Problems might be defined as those recurring and frustrating “glitches” and “snafus” which impede smooth organizational functioning.

• They also hinder the process of achieving personal and professional as well as organizational goals.

• When organizational leaders focus exclusively upon problem solving, they tend to identify and select a technique or a series of techniques which promise to solve the problem in the most efficient and effective manner.

• To this end, organizational leaders will spend no small amount of time and money endeavoring to develop expertise in problem solving.

• When will organizational leaders realize that these solutions are nothing more than temporary fixes?

• One reason for this requires that organizational leaders understand how intentions, circumstances, and situations vary greatly and what might well have proven itself effective in one context might prove itself to be equally ineffective in another context.

• A second reason has to do with methodology. Instead of studying the skills and techniques associated with "problem solving," organizational leaders can look at the bigger picture. This shift in thinking can create real change instead of only temporary fixes.

• While the symptoms (and not the problems) are addressed nothing is really changed; people continue to point fingers of blame at one another and make accusations about whose fault it is for the now ongoing situation they were told was "fixed."

Ethical Dilemmas, defined

• An ethical dilemma is defined as a fundamental conflict of values embedded in (or masked by) and motivating recurring organizational problems.

Ethical dilemmas

An ethical dilemma emerges in a context of conflict between at least two values which require different responses.

Reframing problems as dilemmas

• A dilemma, then, requires organizational leaders to deal with the conflicts of values at the heart of conflicts if they are to solve organizational problems. Reframing a "problem" as a "dilemma" requires these leaders search for and to identify what really is showing up in the symptoms of organizational dysfunction.

• To be successful, organizational leaders must have the courage to challenge themselves and others to identify, look into and even beyond the problem to see clearly the deeper issue that the problem manifests.

The impact of reframing

• The impact this reframing can have in organizations is that, over time and with persistence, followers can learn to engage in purposeful behaviors that forge a set of shared values which will enable them solve their problems on their own (DiBella & Nevis, 1998).

• To achieve this outcome, however, requires not only courage but also the willingness to engage in self-change and to inculcate virtue in oneself and others.

• This provides the solid foundation upon which people can engage in ethical and principled decision-making whereby they solve problems as they emerge because the people involved possess a common purpose and set of values.

• Cuban (1992) asserts that improving the issue embedded in organizational problems is more likely to reduce the probability that organizational problems will re-emerge because ethical leadership (that is, organizational leadership built upon a base of shared purpose and values) requires a form of compliance that is based upon shared norms (Etzioni, 1975).

• Over time, Cuban (1992) argues, people will gradually change as they accept their responsibilities and solve their problems ethically. In short, putting out fires, though sometimes necessary, is very different from engaging in fire prevention. Ethical leaders engage in the latter with the goal being that their followers will engage in the former.

• Ethical dilemmas present organizational leaders with two questions: "What ought I do?" and "Why ought I do it?" It is likely that different organizational leaders will select different resolutions to an ethical dilemma presenting itself depending upon the situation, intentions, and the circumstances.

Ethical leadership

• Since conflicts between values cannot be waved away as if they don’t exist, ethical leadership, then, involves learning to reframe problems as dilemmas.

• Ethical leadership also requires organizational leaders to recognize that their primary concern ought to be the acquisition of virtue not technique and character not expertise.

• Ethical leaders, then, are those women and men who possess an abiding interest in forging a shared purpose and set of values among contending factions of followers in practice episodes, not making them subservient and acquiescent functionaries.

• Generally speaking, leadership ethics focuses upon making wise decisions in the organizational context within which people operate.

• Reframing problems as dilemmas offers the possibility that leaders can build vibrant and purposive organizations characterized by shared values and genuine human relationships.

And so…

• Instead of becoming demoralized by an organizational culture that is characterized by impersonal rules and functional relationships (as well as ethical minimums), organizational leaders and followers can demonstrate courage because they are authentic characters who stand for shared ethical principles.