Managers as Moral Leaders: Moral Identity Processes in the Context of Work

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how business leaders narrate their personal ways of recognizing, reasoning, and resolving moral conflicts and what these stories reveal about their moral identity processes within organizational contexts. Based on interviews with 25 business leaders, 4 moral identity statuses were identified: achievement (commitment to a personally meaningful moral value framework that had been established through a period of self-exploration), moratorium (selfexploration of one's moral value framework that was ongoing), foreclosure (commitment to a given moral value framework that was present with little or no personal self-exploration), and diffusion (neither clear commitment to nor exploration of a personal moral value framework was present). The moral identity statuses were based on how leaders approached and interpreted moral conflicts and what the influence of the organizational context was in their moral decision-making processes. Some remained steadfast in adhering to their previous value commitments, while others tried to avoid taking any clear moral standpoint. Still others experienced moral conflicts as disequilibrating events that triggered reflective processes and developmental cycles of moral identity change. These moral identity statuses hold implications for facilitating moral identity development among business leaders in the context of work.

Between Multiple Identities and Values: Professionals’ Identity Conflicts in Ethically Charged Situations

“… Nielsen (2016) underlined that moral agency issues are part of the work of professionals and practitioners since they need to choose continuously between different principles and rules at work. In this sense, individuals seek for practical wisdom to define their identities appropriately as moral agents ( Huhtala et al, 2020 ). This is in line with recent research on phronetic identity ( Bardon et al, 2017 ), which is a “narrative in which an individual describes him or herself as questing for the wisdom to make appropriate decisions in ambiguous and equivocal situations, driven by the desire to do what is (notionally) right and good” ( Bardon et al, 2017 , p. 958).…”

“…Professionals possess unique knowledge and skills that can benefit and bring value to society ( Macdonald, 1995 ). Values, such as commitment, fairness and altruism, go beyond self-interest, power and privileges and represent the key moral drivers for professionals’ identities and actions ( Wright et al, 2017 ; Huhtala et al, 2020 ). Since professionals are subject to external demands and societal expectations ( Ramarajan and Reid, 2020 ), they rely on values –and their associated actions–to create and express a sense of being competent when enacting a specific work identity ( Caza et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Since individuals’ behaviors are driven by their identities, values and emotions ( Brown, 2017 ), what people do can significantly reflect what happens in their minds and is felt in their hearts. This is especially true when people are struggling within themselves to be both professionally effective and conscientiously moral at the same time ( Bardon et al, 2017 ; Huhtala et al, 2020 ). Hence, to understand individuals’ behavior in a specific situation, it is important to trace back and link the action to individuals’ values and emotions, and thus explore the identity conflict-behavior relationship.…”

Interpretive leadership skill in meaning‐making by nonprofit leaders

“…In Kohlberg's (1984) theory of moral development, individuals with the highest‐level moral reasoning develop a personal orientation toward communal principles that move beyond mere instrumental interests. Recent studies found that the moral identity development of organizational leaders promotes their ethical competency in social construction (Huhtala, Fadjukoff, & Kroger, 2020; S. Sanders, Wisse, Van Yperen, & Rus, 2018).…”

Honesty as a value in the interpersonal relationships in organizations

“…Now, during the COVID-19 crisis, values seem to play a key role in managing an organization (Błachnio, 2021;Cekuls, 2015;Kirkland et al, 2021;Hannan et al, 2006). The value of honesty is one of the most important values in the context of organizational leadership (Ete et al, 2020;Huhtala et al, 2021; Cardona & Garci'a-Lombardi'a, 2008; Ogunfowora, 2014; Barends et al, 2019). 1 The definitions contained in Table 1 are intended to illustrate the diversity of approaches to the studied phenomenon and not to constitute a systematic discussion of the tested value from the point of view of one selected criterion.…”