ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a comprehensive introduction to the concepts, theories and approaches to have emerged from leadership studies. It explores the relationship between leadership and business ethics, focusing on the question of whether the very idea of leadership should include an ethical component. The chapter turns out that, for many scholars, there is a contested and unresolved debate as to whether leadership may be construed in neutral or in ethical terms. It focuses on the main models and theories of "ethical leadership." The chapter also focuses on the personal characteristics of leaders—their character and psychology, vices and virtues. It explores a series of issues related, in a broad sense, to social responsibility, including questions of diversity in corporate leadership. The chapter provides some contemporary work on business ethics and leadership, even as many of these inquiries do not distinguish adequately the ambiguity at the heart of leadership and ethics.
