NKUMBA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION

NAME: OSIPA PAUL

INDEX NO: 2022/FEB /BBA/B230211/DIST

COURSE UNIT: BUSINESS ETHICS

LECTURER: MR. KAMUSIIME SAMUEL

Questions

“What is lacking in society today are virtues”. outline the key aspects of
virtues theory and show how virtues can be instilled in managers and staff
Introduction

Virtue ethics is a fundamental approach in normative ethics. The concept

emphasizes moral character and virtue. Notably, virtue ethics differs from
deontology and consequentialism. The former focuses on duties or rules, while
the latter judges the consequences of actions. From a virtue ethics point of
view, an action is judged right if a morally virtuous person would do the same
under similar circumstances. As such, it is character-based and focuses on the
moral attribute of individuals rather than duties or consequences. Virtue ethics
judges the morality of individual actions and acts as a guiding framework for
the behavior and characteristic a reasonable person should seek.

According to the virtue ethics theory, helping public members to uphold virtue
is more effective in building a good society than implementing laws that punish
and deter bad behavior. James Keenan, a theological expert who proposed
cardinal virtues, suggested that being virtuous is not just about how we act.
Instead, it also involves demonstrating fundamental elements of related virtues
that help individuals live and act with morals. As such, the theory refers to the
way people behave due to their set of virtues. The underlying principles of
virtue ethics stipulate that;

 Virtuous people act with morals.

 An action is right of a virtuous person would act in the same manner
under the same circumstances.
 If an individual possesses and lives the virtues, their actions are
virtuous.
 A virtue is an essential moral characteristic for living well.
Virtues and leadership

People have long been interested in the virtues that matter for good leadership.
The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first Western thinker to
formally catalogue a list of virtues, which he held to be foundational for
effective, ethical leadership and, more generally, for living a (morally) good life.
In his famous Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explained how virtues can be
understood as what we would today call skills, behaviours, actions, attitudes,
habits, and beliefs which are ethically meritorious in nature. Virtuous actions
often give rise to instrumental benefits, but for Aristotle that is not what should
drive someone to act accordingly. Rather, he believed virtue should be pursued
for its inherent goodness, even when doing so involves hardship.

An essential point in Aristotle’s argument is that our habitual ways of thinking

and acting become our character. He therefore proposed that through
disciplining oneself to repeatedly and routinely think and act in ways that are
marked by virtue, one can form oneself into a person of good character. For
him, a leader of virtuous character is one capable of exercising practical
wisdom, or phronesis, which relies on the judgement to know how to enact the
right virtue in the right way at the right time. A virtuous leader influences
others by role-modelling ethically desirable behaviours, thereby inspiring
others to improve their character too.

Following Aristotle, debate about the virtues needed for good leadership
continued in ensuing centuries. In the 20th century, however, attention shifted
away from leader character and virtues and towards leader traits, styles, and
competencies. Instead of focusing on virtues and character, most 20th century
leadership models identify techniques leaders could deploy to extract the
greatest productivity and willing compliance from workers.

More recently, though, there has been a resurgence of interest in the

importance of virtues and character for contemporary leadership. Much of this
can be traced to the sustained crisis of corrupt and inept leadership in
corporations, community organisations, and political leadership. A lack of
virtue and character flaws are evidenced in examples such as Enron, Deep
Water Horizon, child sex abuse by church leaders, the revelations arising from
the Me-too movement, organised doping in elite sport and many more examples
of moral bankruptcy. Too often, virtue is supplanted by other supposed
markers of success, such as large profits, securing appointments to powerful
positions, or gathering masses of dedicated followers. Yet success measured
using those markers alone – without consideration of virtue – is clearly not
enough to ensure good leadership. Instead, as Aristotle argued nearly 3000
years ago, virtues and character matter.

More recently, influential scholars such as Kim Cameron, Ron Riggio, Sean
Hannah, Bruce Avolio, Mary Crossan, Gerard Seijts and Jeffrey Gandz, Rick
Hackett and Gordon Wang, and Joanne Ciulla advocate the importance of
virtues and character for (ethically) good leadership. Virtues-based approaches
to studying leadership have been encouraged by the wider positive psychology
movement, pioneered by professors Christopher Peterson (deceased) and
Martin Seligman, who were also among the earliest of modern scholars to
research issues of virtue and character in respect of leadership. It also aligns to
the greater focus being given in recent years to moral leadership, a
development reviewed by scholars James Lemoine, Chad Hartnell and Hannes
Leroy in their 2019 article ‘Taking stock of moral approaches to leadership’.

Research on virtues and leadership shows that ‘good’ leadership has wider
benefits beyond ethical considerations, with linkages to improved
organisational harmony, stability and learning, greater employee commitment,
empowerment and performance, and an improved ability to navigate change.
These kinds of organisational attributes are more generally known to translate
into better customer satisfaction, growth and retention, and better financial
returns. In other words, there is a strong ‘business case’ for virtues-based
leadership, in addition to its intrinsic ethical merits. That said, the core
concern of a virtues-based approach is to advance leadership that is ethically
sound in its motives, means, and ends.

Virtues inform ethical leadership and encourage numerous positive outcomes

in teams and organisations. Our study demonstrates that virtues also have a
role to play in good crisis leadership. Not only can virtues help to prevent the
crises of unethical and inept leadership, such as those mentioned earlier, we
show here how they can also inform more effective and wise ways of leading
through crisis.

How important is virtue theory for business and management?

Virtue theory helps to develop principles, tactics and procedures of
business. Virtues can play a big role in achieving economic success. Virtues-
driven firms are more likely to maximize profits. However, acting virtuously
does not always result in high profit because there are also many factors in
business life.

Following are the virtues managers need for being effective

1. Communicate

Successful leaders value purpose, they know it can inspire extraordinary

performance from their team members. The first & foremost responsibility of
the managers is to articulate the WHY behind the work that the team is doing.
To put things in perspective, to ensure that everyone is focused on the task at
hand without losing sight of the bigger picture.

2. Celebrate

More often than not, hard working teams party hard. Stellar managers don’t
wait for shot at the moon occasions to celebrate. They are aware of the uplift
that frequent celebrations bring, however small the wins might be. Vital to this
behaviour is the genuine belief of the managers that they are as good as their
team.

3. Inspire

There is a difference between being a leader of the team and leading the team.
To be effective you have to lead from the front. They inspire extraordinary
performances from their co-workers. Ordinary managers order, outstanding
managers inspire! Most of the times this ability to inspire stems from the
manager’s ability to build a positive rapport with the co-workers.

4. Focus

Excellent managers know the value of a streamlined process over a fluke

success that just happened by chance. They know the value of ethics, of not
cutting corners to be successful. They build a sustainable future even if it
meant taking a long & arduous route to the destination. They know, hard work
always pays off in the end.

5. Seek Feedback

Managers who inherently want to better themselves often end up extracting

best out of their teams. Their willingness to get feedback from the people
around them to improve themselves leaves a lasting impression on their team
members. Formal or informal feedback, they wouldn’t care as long as it is
constructive enough.

6. Managers need to Listen

The one virtue that seems to be an integral part of all the high achievers –
ability to listen mindfully, also stands out in the effective managers. They
always try and hear beyond what is being said, in order to empathise with their
team members. They know this is the only way, they can give their colleagues a
safe space for expressing themselves.

7. Learn

Managers are always aware that their ability to manage people, their
aspirations needs to grow and change with the times. They always seek to learn
new concepts in psychology, management methodologies to apply them to
greater effect.

HOW VIRTUES ARE INSTILLED IN MANAGERS AND STAFF

There is no magic formula for turning somebody into a consummate manager.

Though there are exceptions, good managers are generally made over time,
based on the systematic exercise of good habits and routines, and as a result of
accumulated experience of their role and of their relationships.

One of the most promising avenues for becoming a better manager is to

practice management virtues, those operative good habits achieved through
constant exercise, in a similar way to how muscles develop with workout.

Virtues are not innate but acquired. However, some people argue that it is
not possible to learn or develop basic traits of character beyond a certain age.
This view is based on outmoded Freudian theories according to which the basic
features of personality are acquired and fixed before reaching adolescence —
more extreme versions of this say that they are formed in the womb. But a
growing number of contemporary education theorists and cognitive
psychologists accept that many skills and character traits can be learnt and
developed in maturity if the necessary attitudes are cultivated. Indeed, at
business schools we work on the premise that junior and senior managers
cannot only update their knowledge of the latest business tools but also perfect
their skills and further shape their personality - hopefully for the better -
through education and practice, and socializing.

As we exit the pandemic and resume normality, it is an ideal time to take some
time for reflection and self-examination on how you could nurture and progress
in the practice of managerial virtues. I offer here some ideas in case they are
helpful: 

 First, remember that the list of managerial virtues is large and

diverse. The more appropriate virtues to practice depend on your
aspirations and how they match your responsibilities or your company’s
values. Some of the virtues traditionally associated with management
include Wisdom, Resilience, Courage, Temperance, Justice (Fairness)
or Sociability. 
 Second, focus on the practice of those virtues which you are strong
at. Traditionally, one of the objectives of education was to correct deviations
from standard behavior, to overcome personal weaknesses, to teach lefties
to write with their right hand. Fortunately, modern educators have evolved
and respect and value individual intrinsic diversity. In this vein, one of the
interesting contributions of Positive Psychology, whose aim is to “find and
nurture genius and talent” and “to make normal life more fulfilling”,
is precisely to show that it is more productive, potentially successful and
fulfilling to enhance one’s strengths than to try to strengthen one’s
weaknesses. 
 Third, keep track of your evolution in the practice of managerial
virtues. Sometimes writing a diary or keeping an account of your personal
evolution may be helpful and reinforcing. Benjamin Franklin's candid
account of his progress on the thirteen virtues basic to him, along with an
evaluation chart is a very vivid illustration of this effort and has been
commented extensively, also in other LinkedIn posts. 
 Fourth, remember that the main purpose of practicing managerial
virtues is to become a better person, not just a more perfected
management technician. Remember, becoming a virtuous manager is a
question of practice. Are you Ready for the Management Gym?

One of the contemporary exponents of virtue ethics was British philosopher

Philippa Foot. Virtue Ethics focus on the character of the individual and
the way our personality is reflected in our actions and decisions. This is
different to consequentialism, which holds that the outcome or consequences
of a particular action determine whether it is morally acceptable or not. It also
differs from deontology, which argues that the rightness or wrongness of an act
is determined by its nature and its adherence to and consistency with certain
principles or norms.

In practice, the difference between these three alternative models of morality is

how problems are addressed, the way a decision is reached or justified and not
necessarily the final decision reached, with which they might agree. For
example, a consequentialist might argue that stealing is wrong because of the
negative consequences that result from it. A deontologist might argue that theft
is always wrong, regardless of any potential "good" that may come from it.
However, proponents of the ethics of virtue would explain that a robbery stems
from immoral behavior, as opposed to practicing of the virtue of justice, which
demands respect for the property of others.

With its origins in the writings of Plato and Aristotle, the ethics of virtue was
the predominant model in the ancient and medieval worlds. It emphasizes the
character of the individual, of our conscience and will, rather than addressing
rules or the consequences of our decisions. Following this classical tradition,
Foot argued that there are

"three essential features of a virtue :

first, a virtue is a disposition of the will;

second, it is beneficial either to others, or to its possessor as well as to others;

third, it is corrective of some bad general human tendency."

Plato explored the main virtues in The Republic, summarizing them into four,
associated with the different social classes of that time:

 Temperance, applicable to all social classes, but especially workers, a

virtue aimed primarily at containing the excesses of anger and passion.
 Courage, associated with the military class, emphasizes the bravery and
mettle soldiers require.
 Prudence (or wisdom) is a trait required of rulers and should guide law
and leadership in society.
 Justice, which lies beyond social classes and regulates the relationships
between them and among the citizenry.

Foot includes these four cardinal virtues, which she considers essential for the
individual’s development in society, although she expands the list. All must
meet the three defining requirements of the virtues outlined above, although in
some cases Foot's explanations seem lacking. For example, when she talks
about practicing the virtue of charity, which while making us materially poorer,
strengthens our moral qualities; or when somebody who is suffering from
depression gains no satisfaction from practicing virtues. Foot's approach is not
focused on the practice of a particular virtue, but instead on the balanced
exercise of all of them, of a system of virtues that is agreed upon by members
of society.

The ethics of virtue has also influenced psychology. In its origins, psychology
dealt with pathological cases, people who posed a risk to society or to
themselves. However, in recent times the Positive Psychology movement
mentioned before, whose goal is to "find and nurture genius and talent" and
"make normal life more fulfilling" has grown and is part of any number of
personal development programs and business management.  Christopher
Peterson and Martin Seligman, two of the movement’s best-known proponents,
add two virtues to the four cardinal virtues outlined above:

 Humanity, which has to do with the practice of altruism towards our

fellow men and women.
 Transcendence, perhaps the least personal and most elusive virtue,
which refers to the impact our behavior has on the world as well as with
aspects of spirituality.

Conclusion

It’s not hard to anticipate the reception that the analysis of virtues, as reflected
in good business practices, has had on the field of management. One of the
objectives of business education, executive training or coaching is to develop
skills that emphasize leadership or effectiveness in managerial performance,
their measurement, supervision and promotion. These managerial skills are
similar to virtues and even have a certain moral reach.
References.

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Routledge, 1999, p. 22.

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