CHARASMATIC LEADERS: Ethical vs Unethical Leadership

1. CHARASMATIC LEADERS:
Ethical vs Unethical Leadership
by Lilit Tadevosyan Kirsh

2. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to
inspire. People follow a leader because they trust you.
Lee Iacocca
Overview:
Charismatic business leaders are often heralded as corporate heroes by orchestrating
turnarounds, launching new enterprises, engaging in organizational renewal or change,
and obtaining extraordinary performance from individuals. The effectiveness of these
leaders may be interpreted by executives as an unqualified recommendation for such
leadership in their organizations. However the risks involved in charismatic leadership are
at least as large as the promises. What is missing from current discussions about charisma
is consideration of its darker side.
Charisma can lead to blind fanaticism in the service of megalomaniacs and dangerous
values, or to heroic self-sacrifice in the service of a beneficial cause. (Howell &
Avolio,1992)

3. History has great examples of charismatic leaders who achieved
their ideas because they were able to influence the public. Here
some leadership quotations that are inspiring and compelling. One
of the best known by American black civil rights leader once said:
“…Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the
difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that
one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal.”, -Martin Luther King Jr., 1963.

4. Individual Qualities of Ethical and Unethical Charismatic Leaders
Unethical Charismatic leader Ethical Charismatic Leader
•Uses power only for personal gain or Uses power to serve others
impact Aligns vision with followers’ needs and
•Promotes own personal vision aspirations
•Censures critical or opposing views Considers and learns from criticism
•Demands own decisions be accepted Stimulates followers to think independently and
without question to question the leader’s view
•One-way communication Open, two-way communication
•Insensitive to followers’ need Coaches, develops, and supports followers;
•Relies on convenient external moral shares recognition with others
standards to satisfy self-interests Relies on internal moral standards to satisfy
organizational and societal interests

5. Charismatic Leaders: Some Uncommon Denominators
When we research the history of the leadership we come to an understanding that the most
charismatic and powerful leaders were the ones who serve their people. The leaders who have
integrity, charisma, courage, character, humanity; who communicate his or her vision, set a good
example, encourage employees, support them, recognize and reward creativity are called “Ethical
charismatic's”.
The leaders who promote self-interest and manipulate their followers to achieve their own goals are
called “Unethical charismatic's”.
Exercising power
Charismatic leaders can affect people’s minds, coordinate their actions, and that is the
power that needs to be used to master areas of innovation, talent, creativity,
understanding, respect and trust because those are areas that will become a stepping
stone toward an effective leadership. The good leader will be an example and will
inspire his followers. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Leadership: the art of getting
someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
Exercising power or influence varies among ethical and unethical charismatic leaders. Ethical charismatic
leaders use power in socially constructive ways to serve others.
In contrast, unethical charismatic’s exercise power in dominant and authoritarian ways to serve their self
interests, to manipulate others for their own purposes, and to win at all costs. Power is used for personal
gain or impact. (Howell & Avolio,1992)

6. Creating the Vision
Ethical and unethical charismatic leaders differ in how they create and express their
vision. Ethical charismatic leaders express goals that are follower driven; their visions
are ultimately responsive to the interests and desires of their followers.
Unethical charismatic leaders communicate goals that promote their own personal
agenda often to the disadvantage of others.
Communicating with Followers
To set agendas that represent the interests of their followers, ethical charismatic
leaders continuously seek out their viewpoints on critical issues. Open
communication is the key principal.
Unethical leaders are one-way communicators, close –minded to input and
suggestions from others.
Accepting Feedback
.
If there is an objective criticism Ethical charismatic leaders must take it for consideration and not
personally. They must look into the problem and find a solution. A good leader will be the one who
can overcome his ego and admit his mistakes. People usually have more respects for those who are
strong enough to admit their mistakes and learn from them.
Ethical charismatic leaders are realistic in their appraisal of their own abilities and limitations. They
learn from criticism, rather than being fearful of it.
Unethical charismatic leaders have an inflated sense of self-importance, thriving on attention and
admiration from others and shunning contrary opinions. Such leaders attract and gravitate towards
loyal and uncritical followers.

7. The charismatic leader needs to so serve and put the
interest of his employees first. If one were more
concerned about his own affairs he will never be the
effective leader who has the respect and trust of his
employees. Lao Tsu once said, “A leader is best when
people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his
aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”
Stimulating Followers Intellectually
Ethical charismatic leaders encourage their followers to view the world from different perspectives which they themselves
may not have previously considered.
Unethical charismatic leaders expect and even demand that their decisions be accepted without question.
Developing Followers
Unethical charismatic leaders are insensitive and unresponsive to followers’ needs and aspirations, while ethical charismatic
leaders focus on developing people with whom they interact to higher levels of ability, motivation, and morality.
Moral Standards
Ethical charismatic leaders follow self-guided principles which may go against the majority opinion. They posse’s three
primary virtues: courage, a sense of fairness or justice, and integrity.
Unethical charismatic leaders follow standards if they satisfy their immediate self-interests. They are adept at managing an
impression that what they are doing conforms to what others consider “the right thing to do “.

8. “Beware charisma! But to beware does not necessarily mean or entail “Avoid”…
be Aware! Then choose “
C. Hodgkinson
The Impact of Charismatic leaders: Developing or Enslaving Followers
Ethical charismatic leaders convert followers into leaders. By expressing confidence in followers’ abilities to accomplish
collective goals, and by encouraging followers to think on their own and question the established ways of doing thing, they
create followers who are more capable of leading.
Unethical charismatic leaders select or produce obedient, dependent, and complaint followers. They undermine followers’
motivation and ability to challenge existing views, to engage in self-development, and to develop independent perspectives.
The failure of Success
Ethical charismatic leaders have developed a value system that will help avoid the trappings of success. Moreover, the
promotion of the followers to higher stages of development provides the ethical charismatic leader with critical input that may
keep them from straying down the wrong path.
The unethical charismatic leaders tend to believe the praises heaped upon them. Rather than focusing on next challenge,
they become preoccupied with maintaining an aura of greatness.
Creating and maintaining Ethical Charismatic Leaders
“As a transforming force, charisma is charged with explosive, unpredictable potential that, like the genie when released from
the bottle, is beyond our control.”(Roberts &. Bradley, 1988) Executives and managers need to be aware of the risks of
unleashing its darker side as well as the promises of cultivating its brighter side. Without awareness of the key behaviors,
moral standards, and effects distinguishing ethical and unethical charismatic leaders, appointing a charismatic to a
leadership position can be dangerous. The attributes which contribute to the unethical charismatic leader’s success in
aggressively ascending the corporate ladder may contribute his or her ultimate failure as a leader.

9. How ethical charismatic developed in the organization?
Six key factors are:
 Top management commitment to a clearly stated code of ethical conduct
that is continually enforced helps establish acceptable standards or boundaries
for employee conduct (Hegarty & Sims. Jr., 1979).
 Recruiting, selecting, and promoting managers with high moral standards
are ways of creating a culture of ethical responsibility.
 Developing performance standards and rewards that emphasize, for example, respect for people as individuals.
 Providing leaders with education and training that teaches them how to integrate diverse point of view. Being
able to see the interrelationships among new perspectives and old, lies at the source of moral development (Trevino,
1986).
 Training individuals with necessary personality characteristics, social skills, and motivation to acquire ethical
charismatic leader behaviors (Howell & Frost, 1990). Training in ethical leadership skills must be consistent with the
philosophy of the top leadership in the company and the company culture.
 Identifying heroes or heroines who exemplify high moral conduct. Such heroes or heroines need to be heralded
by top management as essential to the long term success of the organization (Kahn, 1990).
 In conclusion, building internal ethical standards in leaders is challenging undertaking which requires formal
codes of ethical conduct, top management who subscribes to and practice ethical behavior, systems that reinforce
ethical behavior and role models who exemplify high moral standards. In fact our ethical charismatic leaders
reported that the most significant factor influencing their development of values and priorities was role models with
whom they had very direct personal contact.

10. Conclusion: A Look Towards Future
We can just say that charismatic leaders of the past,
current and future need to have the ethical values
described in this presentation to be an effective and
successful. Times, technology can change but the core
values will remain the same. Ethical charismatic
leaders will be called only the ones that motivate their
followers, stay true to core values and set good
example. Each student of this class will read and
share many examples of charismatic leaders with great
values, and leaders who used the power to lead
nations to wars and disaster. What kind of leaders we
choose to be will depend on our values and our vision
of being successful leaders.

11. References
Hegarty, W.H and Sims. Jr., H. P. 1979. “Organizational Philosophy. Policies, and
Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A laboratory
Experiment,” Journal of Applied Psychology.
Hodgkinson, C. (1983). The Philosophy of Leadership. New York
Howell, J.M. and Frost, P.J. 1898. “A Laboratory Study of Charismatic Leadership”
Kahn, W.A. 1990. “Toward an Agenda for Business Ethics Research”.
Nahavandi, A. (2009). The Art and Science of Leadership. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall.
Pettinger, T (2007). “Do you have the Characteristics of an Effective leader?”. Oxford
Roberts, N.C. and Bradley R.T. (1988). “Limits of Charisma.” San Francisco
Trevino, L.K. 1986. “Ethical Decision Interactionist Model.” New York.
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