How Positive and Neo‐Aristotelian Leadership Can Contribute to Ethical Leadership

• Date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Alejo José G. Sison,Marcel Meyer,Ignacio Ferrero
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1511
• Published date: 01 September 2019

How Positive and Neo-Aristotelian Leadership

Can Contribute to Ethical Leadership

Marcel Meyer*

University of Navarra

Alejo José G. Sison

University of Navarra

Ignacio Ferrero

University of Navarra

Abstract

Virtuous leadership is crucial for advancing leadership

ethics. By comparing Positive Leadership and its notion of

virtuousness with neo-Aristotelian leadership based on

virtue, this article sheds light on this research f‌ield. We

expound on the differences and commonalities between the

two and present possibilities of how they can enrich each

other and further ethical leadership theory. Our f‌indings

concern the purported Aristotelian roots of virtuousness,

the relative strengths and weaknesses of the positive and

the neo-Aristotelian approaches, and the interplay between

technical skills and ethical excellence in leadership. We pro-

pose the adoption of practical managerial tools and proce-

dures from Positive Leadership, making them dependent

upon the virtues to achieve f‌lourishing within organizations

and society at large. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wi-

ley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: ethical leadership, positive leadership, virtue

ethics, virtuousness

Résumé

Le leadership vertueux est indispensable pour faire

progresser l’éthique du leadership. En comparant le leader-

ship positif et sa notion de vertu avec le leadership néo-

aristotélicien fondé sur la vertu, les auteurs de cet article

jettent la lumière sur ce domaine de recherche. Ils expliquent

les différences et les similitudes entre les deux forment de

vertu et montrent comment elles peuvent s’enrichir

mutuellement tout en permettant de mieux cerner la théorie

du leadership éthique. Leurs résultats portent sur les

prétendues racines aristotéliciennes de la vertu, les forces

et les faiblesses relatives de l’approche positive et de

l’approche néo-aristotélicienne et l’interaction entre les

compétences techniques et l’excellence éthique dans le lead-

ership. Ils proposent l’adoption d’outils et de procédures

pratiques de gestion issus du leadership positif et inf‌luencés

par les vertus af‌in de permettre aux organisations et à la

société dans son ensemble de s’épanouir. © 2018 ASAC.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés: leadership éthique, leadership positif, vertu

éthique, caractère vertueux

Introduction

Spiralling business scandals and environmental destruc-

tion together with poverty and inequality demand a new

framework for more ethical leadership. Although attention

on ethics in business has increased (Palmer, 2015), ethical

leadership is far from being fully explored (Brown &

Treviño, 2006; Byrne, Crossan, & Seijts, 2017).

Crossan et al. (2017) point to virtuous leadership as a

new approach to remedy the above-mentioned maladies.

However, literature on virtuous leadership is still marginal

(Avolio, Walumbva, & Weber, 2009; Crossan, Vera, &

Nanjad, 2008). By comparing two leadership approaches

within virtuous leadership, we hope to shed new light on this

under-researched area.

The f‌irst approach is Positive Leadership, the applica-

tion of positive psychology to organizations and manage-

ment theory. Positive Leadership has developed its own

research f‌ield, methods, foci, and objectives. Central to this

theory is the interpretation of Aristotle’s notion of virtue as

positive (organizational) virtuousness.

The second is neo-Aristotelian leadership, so called

to distance itself from certain preconceptions of the

original version regarding women and the status of manual

workers and children (Hursthouse, 1999). The study of

*Please address correspondence to: Marcel Meyer, University of Navarra,

Philosophy Department, Institute for Enterprise and Humanism, Campus

Universitario, 31009 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. Email: mmeyer@alumni.

unav.es

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

36: 390–403 (2019)

Published online 16 July 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1511

Can J Adm Sci

36(3), 390–403 (2019)© 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 390