Moral Recovery and Ethical Leadership

Abstract

Research on ethical leadership generally falls into two categories: one celebrates individual leaders and their ‘authentic’ personalities and virtuous stewardship of organizations; the other decries toxic leaders or individuals in positions of power who exhibit ‘dark’ personality traits or dubious morals. Somewhere between these extremes, leadership is ‘done’ by imperfect human beings who try to avoid violating their own ethical standards while at the same time navigating the realities of social and organizational life. This paper discusses the concept of ‘Moral Recovery’ as an ethical leadership process that begins in moral failure, but enables eventual personal, organizational, and social change. It builds on the concept of ‘Moral Injury’ from the work of the psychiatrist Johnathan Shay and refers to the experiences of armed service personnel traumatized by experiences where either they, or their leaders, violated their own values. ‘Morally injured’ parties recover their sense of wellbeing through engaging with restorative communal actions which address the social causes of unethical practices. The process of Moral Recovery requires restorative communal actions which address the social causes of unethical practices. This paper will outline the concept of ‘Moral Recovery’ as a form of practical ethical leadership and change. It will illustrate its relevance to ethical leadership practice with reference to one high-profile case; Ray Anderson of Interface. As this paper is primarily conceptual, avenues for future research are identified, and implications for teaching practice are discussed.

Ethical Leadership at Work and Workplace Well-Being of Employees in a Coal Power Plant

“…Ethical leadership is a process that does not go out of style [16]. Ethical leaders are wanted in a world with corruption and disloyalty to service, especially in government service [17]. Moreover, where leadership is ethical, members become ethical [18], and the workplace becomes a breeding ground for innovation, productivity, and success [19].…”

Ethical challenges faced by healthcare workers in pediatric oncology care during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia

“…Importantly, this distress has the potential to become morally injurious. The concept of moral injury originates from a military context but has been expanded to describe the same phenomenon within other contexts, including the healthcare setting 21,29 . While related to moral distress, moral injury describes the ongoing impaired functioning that results from morally distressing experiences 21 …”

“…The concept of moral injury originates from a military context but has been expanded to describe the same phenomenon within other contexts, including the healthcare setting. 21,29 While related to moral distress, moral injury describes the ongoing impaired functioning that results from morally distressing experiences. 21 Moral injury has the potential to result in not only lingering psychological distress due to a sense of failing to uphold ethical values and standards, but also the appraisal that one's sense of self has been irreparably damaged, leading to poor self-esteem and a lost sense of identity.…”

Moral distress and moral injury and their interplay as a challenge for leadership and management: The case of Croatia

“…Therefore, nursing managers need to include the ethical dimension into their decision‐making, leading toward ethical leadership and focusing more on ethical decision‐making given the many ethical challenges facing modern‐day nursing (Gallagher & Tschudin, 2010). We may conclude that ethical leadership might serve as a preventive measure against moral injury and as a part of moral recovery as a healing process from moral injury (Cullen, 2022).…”

“…In these cases, as a part of the healing process, interventions such as acceptance and commitment therapy are needed to help nurses address the potential for moral injury and repair its effects (Beck, 2022). One of the approaches to start is moral recovery, in which individuals will recover their sense of well-being through engaging with restorative communal actions which address the social causes of unethical practices as a form of practical ethical leadership (Cullen, 2022).…”