Ethical Theories Of Ethical Leadership

Ethical leadership is the process of influencing employees through standards, philosophies and beliefs that are based on established standards in the organizational behavior ( Hasan, 2013; Buble, 2012). Additionally, it holds the responsibility of dealing conflict of followers by directing them right (Frank, 2002: Hesselbein & Goldsmith, 2006). Contrastingly, Cumbo (2009) focuses on leader when defining ethical leadership thus consider a leader ethical when inner virtues direct the leader’s decision making process. However, the complexity of ethical leadership is not in adhering law or doing things right but rests in the grey areas which determines the accountability of individuals dealing with problems (Plinio, Young & Lavery, 2010). Accordingly, researchers agree ethical theories reveal the significance of ethical leadership when it is associated to varied leadership styles (Dion, 2012). Building on from that idea the below table 1 presents different ethical theories.
Consequently, along with the above theories perspectives of three predominant thinkers
Further, transformational leadership style is characterized by deontological orientation as transformational leaders act with duty conscious towards individuals (Kanungo, 2009). Additionally, this perspective would highlight values such as liberty, justice and equality within the organization and produce leaders with self-confidence and a strong vision thus enhance organizational performance (Ciulla, 1998).Nevertheless, it does not imply Burns perspective on transformational leadership are necessarily ethical as there have been critics on deciding the better set of moral values (Banerji & Krishnan, 2000). Similarly, Hamilton (2009) critiqued the perspective as leaders might focus on the wider picture and forget