The Ethical Dilemma of 21st Century Organizational Leadership: A Four-Chapter Critical Review of the book “Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow”

Abstract

The 21st century leader of any organization is faced with a number of ethical dilemmas that may have an overall impact on the performance of the organization regardless of its context. Globalization and its effects count for ethical wellbeing of both leaders and the led as a result of the advent of technology. The contexts in which ethical issues occur assume that the subject has become more imperative to leaders and would be leaders to understand. The ethical issue is even more complicated with the fact that organizations have individuals and groups that may have varying beliefs and values, each carrying their own view about what they need from the organization. Creating an ethical inclusive organizational climate, therefore, becomes imperious in this age and time. The general role of ethics in any leadership setting must be seen to be a very important ingredient for any organizations as leadership without ethics and integrity, combined with personal and corporate accountability can be harmful both for the organization and its affiliates in society. This paper, therefore, reviewed and evaluated how leaders in this modern era and time can shape ethical contexts. It discusses how to build an ethical small group, the notion of ethical organizational climate and how leaders can meet the challenges leaders find in their ethical dilemmas in this global society. It also highlights what studies say about ethical crisis leadership and also argues on the need for the realization of the ‘common good’ by leaders as an important element of ethical leadership.