ABSTRACT

In recent years, the news has been occupied with reports of corporate scandals, unethical leadership and the questionable morality of executive leadership. In order to understand unethical leadership, it is first important to understand what ethical leadership is. Ethics in leadership is what defines the leader's ability to influence others through beliefs, values and behaviors to achieve organizational goals. Leaders who display unethical behaviors do not consider their stakeholders and how their decisions will impact others. A common quality found in dysfunctional leaders is their lack of consideration for ethics, which then relates to unethical behavior. Unethical leaders use power for personal gain and for self-promotion. The use of control and coercion is used to impose their goals while incorporating censoring of opposing views or the opinions of others. The literature associated with unethical leadership can also be termed corrupt leadership when the leader and at least some followers lie, cheat or steal to a degree that exceeds the norm.