ABSTRACT
Ethics and values cover the standards of right and wrong and the personal qualities that support a person’s ability to judge and act upon ethical norms. Ethical standards guide decisions and focus behavior as well as provide motivation and character to sustain action. Values provide the normative framework to evaluate situations, people and environments. They connect persons to the normative purpose of an organization’s mission. Values and character ground organizational culture and operationalize ethics. They are imbedded in neural network-based cognitive frameworks undergirded by emotions and reflective appraisal. The integrated mental frameworks direct and bolster strength of character to act on judgments and learn from consequences. Law and authority legitimize the power and obligations of individuals in public organizations and legitimize organizational missions. Individual ethical integrity supports individuals to model values, uncover ethical slippage and instantiate ethical standards. Individual integrity matters even more in a world of collaboration. The ethical responsibility of managerial leaders is exercised by individuals self-consciously practicing cognitive frameworks to guide judgment. A value driven leading frame involves self-awareness, influencing the meaning of organizational challenges, long-term culture and policy creation and acquiring resources and power to achieve resilient outcomes.
