Episode 3 Transcript - Ethics Reflected in Transformational and Servant Leadership

Hello and welcome back to episode 3 of Breakdown, the show that helps our listeners to break topics down through easy-to-understand conversations. I’m your host, Veronica Franco. In today’s episode, we will discuss how ethics are reflected in transformational and servant leadership theories.

There is a greater emphasis on understanding the psychological effects of ethics on leadership roles and followers. Researchers are trying to comprehend how ethical values influence successful leaders to create highly motivated followers. Influential leaders are not limited to a one-size-fits-all personality. They come in various forms and utilize different leadership theories based on their personal beliefs, values, and character traits. Today we will analyze, two popular relational leadership theories, transformational and servant leadership, to understand the reflection of ethics in leaders’ actions and decision-making. In our discussion we will describe the general characteristics of leadership theory, critical components of ethical leadership practices, and analyze the connection between transformational and servant leadership theories to ethical leadership practices to create motivated followers.

Leadership Theories & Ethics

Leadership theories define the characteristics of influential leaders and their management style applied to followers. Generally, leadership theories emphasize two main types of behavior leaders exhibit: consideration and initiating structure (Sniezek, 2021). Consideration refers to the trusting relationship between the leader and followers, where open communication between both parties occurs in the decision-making process (Sniezek, 2021). On the other hand, initiating structure refers to a leader whose primary concern is improving the work performance of the followers by creating a highly structured and organized environment (Sniezek, 2021). All modern leadership theories utilize a mixture of consideration and initiating structure. However, the differences between various leadership theories are how leaders decide to balance these two contrasting behaviors when interacting with their followers, community, and shareholders.

Ethics Influence on Leadership Theories

Influential leaders cannot manage their followers without their ethical beliefs. Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is defined as “the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad” as well as what is “morally right and wrong” (Singer, 2021, Introduction section, para. 1). The ethical view of a leader is directly related to what they culturally value and believe are positive and negative virtues. Personal ethics influence how a leader critically analyzes situations and impacts how they choose to lead their followers.

Trevino and her colleagues (as cited in Zhu et al., 2015) cataloged ethical leadership into two main categories known as the "moral person" and the "moral manager" (p. 82). A moral person is a leader with characteristics or traits that reflect their high moral character, including "honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness" (Zhu et al., 2015, p. 82). This type of ethical leader uses their ethical values to do what is right based on their cultural values and create objective decisions with the effects it will have on their community in mind (Zhu et al., 2015). On the other hand, a moral manager is a leader who becomes a visual embodiment of ethical conduct to inspire their followers. Moral managers openly share their values with their followers to encourage them to utilize the same ethical principles in their decision-making processes (Zhu et al., 2015). Although these two categories seem relatively interchangeable, the significant difference is that moral managers expect their followers to adhere to the ethical principles that the leader models. Regardless of the leadership theory, leaders' ethical beliefs influence their decision-making processes.

Transformational Leadership Theory

Transformational leadership is "a style of leadership that emphasizes the ability of the leader to inspire and motivate others" (Scott Zimmer, 2021, Abstract section, para. 1). The transformational leadership theory is significantly rooted in the previously mentioned consideration leadership trait due to the leader's strong relationship with their followers. These optimistic leaders use the durable bond with their followers to promote creative collaboration and reinforce the validation of their workforce. A better way to define transformational leadership is through the "four I's," which stand for the following: individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, and inspirational motivation (Scott Zimmer, 2021).

First, individualized consideration moves a step further from the previously mentioned consideration definition by ensuring that the leader builds an intimate relationship with all their followers, regardless of the number of followers (Scott Zimmer, 2021). Followers feel a sense of importance when their leader has engaged in their interests. They also appreciate the opportunities that transformational leaders offer to enhance their expertise in their field. Through mutual respect, transformational leaders inspire their followers to create goals for themselves and care for the needs of their coworkers and their organization (Scott Zimmer, 2021).

Second, intellectual stimulation describes how engaged the follower is with their work and whether they are intellectually challenged (Scott Zimmer, 2021). Being intellectually stimulated motivates the followers to find creative ways to solve problems and allows for the follower to go through a stage of personal growth and development. Creating a stimulating environment is an essential factor in leaders’ ethical decision-making and encourages the use of moral manager ethical characteristics. Transformational leaders will embody the virtuous qualities they wish their followers to engage with and help structure their work environment to set everyone up for success.

The third and fourth I's of transformational theory work in tandem to create highly motivated followers. Idealized influence is when the characteristics of a leader are role models for the followers to emulate (Scott Zimmer, 2021). Inspirational motivation creates a shared vision among leaders and followers to guide their organizational work practices (Bak et al., 2022). Followers become inspired by their leaders’ vision who openly discuss their values and feel motivated to reach their maximum potential. Both of these leadership traits go hand-in-hand with the ethical philosophy of a moral manager. Leaders who consistently follow their philosophy and ethics inspire others to adhere to the same standards. Through this consistency, transformational leaders instill trust, admiration, loyalty, and respect in their followers, resulting in higher work performance and increased motivation (Benson, 2021). This inspiration motivates others to seek professional development opportunities to grow with their company.

Servant Leadership Theory

Servant leadership “is a term used to describe a philosophy and a series of practices based on the concept of the servant-leader, who focuses on being a servant first” (Mazzei, 2020, para. 1). The main focus of servant leadership is “on serving followers through humility, authenticity, and acceptance, rather than achieving goals to improve an organization’s bottom line, or adhering to prevailing norms” (Lan et al., 2021, p. 1). Like transformational leadership theory, servant leadership theory's foundation utilizes the previously mentioned consideration trait. However, servant leadership uses a balanced moral person and moral management approach within servant leadership as servant leaders have a set ethical code they live by and expect others to adhere to their embodied personal beliefs.

Larry Spears (n.d.) defines ten ethical characteristics of servant leadership as follows: 1) listening, 2) empathy, 3) healing, 4) awareness, 5) persuasion, 6) conceptualization, 7) foresight, 8) stewardship, 9) commitment to the growth of people, and 10) building community. These characteristics are influential in the leaders’ ethical decision-making process. Innovative leaders actively listen to their followers and understand how to empathize and help transform their followers’ broken spirits (Spears, n.d.). These leaders utilize moral management when reflecting on their actions within the organization and convincing others to remain positive as they balance broader-based thinking (Spears, n.d.). Servant leaders motivate their followers because they understand their follower’s needs and address those needs for the followers to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, transformational and servant leadership theories are similar in their ethical foundations but succeed differently, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1:

Both approaches believe that focusing on the interpersonal relationships between the leader and the follower is critical in achieving lasting success within the workplace. Transformational leaders tend to focus more on creating a stimulating environment with complex work to increase intrinsic motivation and satisfaction within the workplace. On the other hand, servant leaders tend to motivate their followers by understanding their follower’s needs and addressing them in order for them to perform their job to the best of their ability. Influential leaders learn to be flexible; utilizing their strengths and ethical values are critical components of any leadership theory foundation and influence how leaders interact with others.

References

• Bak, H., Jin, M. H., & McDonald III, B. D. (2022). Unpacking the Transformational Leadership-Innovative Work Behavior Relationship: The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital. Public Performance & Management Review, 45(1), 80-105.

• Benson, J. D. (2021). Leadership and Motivation. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

• Lan, Y., Xia, Y., & Yang, L. (2021). Effects of servant leadership on the leader’s innovative behavior. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 49(10), 1-13.

• Mazzei, M. (2020). Servant leadership. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

• Scott Zimmer, J. (2021). Transformational Leadership. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

• Singer, P. (2021, December 15). ethics. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/ethics-philosophy

• Sniezek, J. A. (2021). Leadership and social psychology. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.

• Spears, L. C. (n.d.). Ten Characteristics of a Servant-Leader. The Spears Center for Servant Leadership. https://www.spearscenter.org/46-uncategorised/136-ten-characteristics-of-servant-leadership

• Zhu, W., Zheng, X., Riggio, R.E., & Zhang, X. (2015). A Critical Review of Theories and Measures of Ethics-Related Leadership. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2015(146), 81-96.