Moral leadership and the influence of prosocial versus egoistic motives

¶ … Moral Leadership

The major message of this chapter is that morality is an important function of leadership for a number of reasons. First, prosocial motives help establish leadership as moral because the motives behind the leadership activities come from a moral place that wants to progress the society in a positive direction. Moral leadership demands moral behaviors from those who follow it. When leaders act morally, they are socializing those under them by implanting within them the foundation for moral actions. On the other hand, egoist motives can cause leaders to stray away from moral actions and thus teach those beneath them to do the same, which can often cause conflict and tension within a society.

There are also a number of keywords within the chapter that help define the major message of the text. Motive is a major keyword that represents the main reasons for why people behave and act the way they do (197). The represent the inherent reasons for behavior that later result in actions. There is also the notion of prosocial motives, which represent motivations that also have a positive affect on society. These types of motives help others within the society act according to morals and other norms that serve as the foundation for prosocial motives (199). On the other hand, there are egoist motives, which are much more selfish (199). These types of motives are self-centered and often do not help the society progress in a positive manner, but rather may actually conflict with prosocial motives. Moral leadership is another concept that explains the concept of leadership from a prosocial motive stance. In this sense, the leader acts morally and then passes these morals onto those he or she leads (212). Finally, there is the term of social learning, which dictates the process of socialization where those being led learn how to behave from their leaders (202). If moral leadership is in place, inferiors learn moral tendencies; yet, if egoist motives are behind leadership, they may learn immoral tendencies.

Key Sentences

"when motives cause people to act morally, what I shall call prosocial motives, then we can play on these motives to get people to act more morally" (198).

"The challenge of moral leadership, I take it, is to get people to act more morally" (197).

"Well-intentioned appeals to act morally for egoistic motives can backfire by undermining other forms of prosocial motivation" (210).

"The presence of self-beneficial inducements may lead people to interpret their motivation as egoistic" (210).

"Egoism and altruism may be of limited use in encouraging action to meet these needs" (205).