Humility in Management

Abstract

Although virtues have gained a firm presence in the theory and practice of corporate management, humility is not ranked as one the chief virtues in the business world. In spite of this, it is an important virtue, contributing to the manager's moral and professional quality and the development of the company's human team. This paper explains the basic traits of humility in general and how they manifest in the manager's life and profession, and shows, within the ethics of virtues, that it is not just a personal desideratum but a fundamental quality of a good manager and good management.

Humility: Our Current Understanding of the Construct and its Role in Organizations

“…example, accurate self-knowledge can be manifested intrapersonally as an internal willingness and means for self-improvement as well as interpersonally as a way of relating to others (see Argandona 2015). In contrast, other components appear isolated or narrowly focused or reflect the 'lack of' elements that, as noted previously, may be inappropriate (Tangney 2000).…”

Leader Narcissism Predicts Malicious Envy and Supervisor-Targeted Counterproductive Work Behavior: Evidence from Field and Experimental Research

“…Scholars of business ethics suggested that organizational structures enable resistance to narcissism (Godkin and Allcorn 2011). To inhibit downward spirals between narcissistic leadership, amoral emotions, and unethical behavior, we recommend that organizations adjust their hiring and promotion practices (Lubit 2002), hold leaders accountable to organizational fair-play rules (Ouimet 2010), foster self-awareness and humility in management (Argandona 2015), and monitor deviant behaviors (Grijalva and Harms 2014).…”

The Perceived Impact of Leaders’ Humility on Team Effectiveness: an Empirical Study

“…A growing number of scholars have argued that leader humility is important to organizational/team effectiveness (Argandoña 2014;Owens and Hekman 2012;Vera and Rodriguez-Lopez 2004;Weick 2001). In the modern organizational context characterized by high complexity and requirements for adaptability (Goddard and Eccles 2013;Weick 2001), a greater emphasis on the bottom-up aspects of leadership is necessary.…”

“…Over the last years, however, such negative perspectives of humility have been changing. The significance of humble leadership has attracted more and more interest in recent years, mainly in the wake of corporate scandals attributed to the hubris, narcissism and arrogance of corporate executives (Argandoña 2014;Boje et al 2004;Hühn 2014;Owens and Hekman 2012). The Economist (2013, p. 59) reasoned that "arrogance breeds mistakes" and that "If leadership has a secret sauce, it may well be humility".…”