Much has been written about leadership during the last eighty years, but little attention has been paid to leadership's ethical dimension. This book sets out to redress the balance and develop an understanding of what comprises ethical leadership in organizations.The book explores ideas from leadership theory, moral philosophy, and empirical research in order to discuss themes within leadership ethicality and related moral challenges. It suggests that the route to moral leadership lies in capitalizing on the moral upsides of these themes whilst avoiding their corresponding downsides. Whilst the book advocates a consultative rather than directive leadership style as best placed to achieve this, it also argues that, in meeting these normative criteria, leaders need to go further than the superficial, contingent prescriptions for democratic responsiveness that suffuse leadership and management theory. The book envisages what such leadership might look like and reflects on the chances of such a model being realized in contemporary, Western organizations.

在过去的八十年里，关于领导力的文章很多，但很少有人关注领导力的道德层面。本书旨在纠正这种平衡，并对组织中道德领导力的构成进行理解。本书探讨了领导力理论、道德哲学和实证研究的观点，以讨论领导力道德性和相关道德挑战的主题。它表明，道德领导的途径在于利用这些主题的道德正面，同时避免其相应的负面影响。虽然这本书提倡咨询式而非指导式领导风格是实现这一目标的最佳方式，但它也认为，在满足这些规范性标准时，领导者需要走得更远，而不是充斥着领导和管理理论的表面的、偶然的民主反应处方。这本书设想了这种领导可能是什么样子，并思考了这种模式在当代西方组织中实现的可能性。