Now in its fourth edition, Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership has become one of the best-selling ethical leadership texts used in colleges and universities today. It blends together an overview of ethics, ethical decision-making, moral leadership processes, and group and organizational dynamics into one reader friendly source. It has case studies, illustrations from films and popular culture, and succinct reviews of the best in scholarship and research on ethics in organizations. I consider it the single best resource for anyone wanting to improve their understanding and practice of ethics. It is especially focused on professional life in organizations and leadership, but also has insight for some personal ethics.
I have used previous editions of this text since 1999 in teaching appropriate professional ethics and moral leadership to teachers and educational leaders; more recently I have seen it useful for my students in business and health care.
The author, Craig Johnson, is a professor and administrator at George Fox University, a Christian university in Oregon that has Quaker roots. The Quaker influence is evident in his use of Parker Palmer and the focus on peace and global justice. Beyond that, however, the use of christian theology and ideas is limited and more peripheral. Instead, he dives into and uses scholarship and research from business, philosophy and the social sciences. this fact makes the book useful for christian leaders who may have read biblical and theological ethics but have not explored other areas of ethics.
While Johnson draws a lot from his first chosen area of research, communication, he is also very effective at reviewing research on morality in group processes and organizational dynamics and in bringing these implications to an understanding of moral leadership.
Each chapter has some activities and useful reflection and application sections. Practicing administrators will appreciate Johnston’s brevity and ability to move past philosophical hair-splitting in applying ethical principled to real contemporary issues.
What is very useful is Johnsonâs ability to set up a chapter and its main components in a logical way that makes reading philosophy easier than most books of this nature. He then can summarize the main aspects of the chapter in very practical ways with clear application. He often offers several ways to approach a topic and for that reason provides a more liberating and generative quality to his ethical critique that is not always evident in other books, some of which can become dogmatic about their approach to ethics.
Those planning on reading Johnson should leave time to view some of the films Johnson recommends or refers to in his moral illustrations. they really drive home some of his points.
To get a fuller appreciation of the value of this book, please see the interview with Johnson in this issue of JACL. Note also that a short section of Johnsonâs chapter on âthe Leaderâs characterâ is used in Traxler and Covrigâs critique of the moral leadership of Andrew Jackson, also in this JACL. We highly recommend this book to Christian leaders.
DUANE M. COVRIG, Ph.D., is Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.