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Ethical Leadership for Machiavellians in Business

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dc.contributor.authorLam, Vanessa
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-13T15:35:56Z
dc.date.available2016-10-13T15:35:56Z
dc.date.issued2016-10-13
dc.date.submitted2016-10-07
dc.description.abstractDespite some progress in instilling ethics into business practice, businesses continue to make decisions that result in incredible harms to people and the environment around the world. Academics, the public, and the media have often singled out business leaders as unethical and responsible for the vast harms that their companies have done. As a result, some have looked to ethical business leadership as one avenue of approach to making businesses act more ethically. This thesis explores two leadership styles. The first is Machiavellian leadership, which has a reputation for being one of the least ethical leadership styles, and the second is transformational leadership, which has a reputation for being one of the most ethical leadership styles. This thesis attempts to align the ethical components of transformational leadership with Machiavellian leadership so that Machiavellian leaders will have reason to behave more ethically. The hope is that some component of transformational leadership theory can inspire Machiavellian leaders to behave more ethically. However, I argue that transformational leadership is not as ethical as it seems, since transformational leadership can result in both ethical and unethical behaviours. Ultimately, I conclude that there is nothing in transformational leadership theory that can inspire Machiavellian leaders to behave more ethically. The frightening implications of this conclusion are discussed.en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10012/10992
dc.language.isoenen
dc.pendingfalse
dc.publisherUniversity of Waterlooen
dc.subjectbusiness ethicsen
dc.subjectleadership ethicsen
dc.subjectethical leadershipen
dc.subjectMachiavellianismen
dc.titleEthical Leadership for Machiavellians in Businessen
dc.typeMaster Thesisen
uws-etd.degreeMaster of Artsen
uws-etd.degree.departmentPhilosophyen
uws-etd.degree.disciplinePhilosophyen
uws-etd.degree.grantorUniversity of Waterlooen
uws.comment.hiddenRevised - formatting changes as requested.en
uws.contributor.advisorDoucet, Mathieu
uws.contributor.affiliation1Faculty of Artsen
uws.peerReviewStatusUnrevieweden
uws.published.cityWaterlooen
uws.published.countryCanadaen
uws.published.provinceOntarioen
uws.scholarLevelGraduateen
uws.typeOfResourceTexten

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