Negative correlation between power and ethics

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

Published: 25th of June 2014

Thanks for your post.

In real fanaticism, your conclusion section is important to me. You made known that some leaders who are strong in power might not necessary be ethical. That is a real-life fact as you have presented with some of your examples.

In both research and practice, power has always been ascribed with dirty words. Take for instance the e Enron scandal (McLean & Elkind, 2003). As such, it becomes so easy to think of leaders that have misused power for unethical or immoral purposes (Brown, 2006; Flynn, 2011; Price, 2009). However, the question still remains why are they doing such? This can be found in the common understanding that those who have power deny it; those who want power act like thy are not seeking it; and those who are good at acquiring power are very secretive of the way the acquired such power (Robbins & Judge, 2011). Power overrules everything. It is a totally different feeling when you are the one directing and when you are the one being directed. Thus, it is not surprising when people begin to abuse power because power chances the way they think. They want to be respected, wanted, worshiped, and obeyed at all time. Thus, they are likely to engage in unethical behaviors in order to make such that their desires becomes a reality.

This is the main reason why ethics in leadership is linked to authenticity and humility. An ethical leader must always be his or her self and very humble to his or her follower. Such leader must not be carried away by the huge influence he or she can make, instead the focus should be on making sure that such influence is positive and beneficial to the general public. That is exactly where Hitler and co failed, but also the same place where Mandela and co passed.

References

Brown, M. T. (2006). Corporate integrity: Rethinking organizational ethics and leadership. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

McLean, B., & Elkind, P. (2003). The smartest guys in the room: The amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Price, T. L. (2009). Leadership ethics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational behavior (14^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.