Ethical leadership

Based on Starratt's groundbreaking work, I defined the concept of ethical leadership as "a social practice that allows for the independent exercise of professional judgment. As much as ethical leadership is a resource based on three ethical dimensions such as care, justice and critique, it is also an ability, and a power to act in a fully responsible manner.” (Centeno, Lapointe and Langlois, 2013) The three moral dimensions were explored in my doctoral thesis.  The research conducted during my PhD has made it possible to identify and characterize the moral actions attributed to these dimensions.

With my colleagues Professor Claire Lapointe and Professor Pierre Valois, we empirically tested these three ethical dimensions in order to build a quantitatively valid ethical leadership assessment questionnaire. The Ethical Leadership Questionnaire is the result of 10 years of qualitative research aiming at better understanding and identifying moral actions taken to solve ethical dilemmas. This questionnaire has been translated and verified in several languages (French, English, Swedish, Nepali, Turkish, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic).

The ELQ also identifies ethical sensitivity, an essential ability to perceive ethical issues and challenges in a  given situation. This work also confirmed that the ethical dimension of critique predicts ethical sensitivity.

Furthermore, the ELQ provided an opportunity to verify whether the culture of a given organization promotes the expression of ethical leadership.

The ELQ allows, among other things,

• to identify the ethical dimensions that define leadership;
• to assess individual and organizational ethical profiles;
• to distinguish between previously acquired and targeted ethical skills.

Here is an example of a question in the ELQ:

Each statement is accompanied by a classification from “Never” to “Always”. The participant is invited to enter his or her answers, for each statement, according to this scale.

When I think about how I act at work...

1. I follow procedure and rules.
    

   Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often	Always	N/A (not applicable)
   1	2	3	4	5	6	X

   
    

2. I try to preserve everyone’s safety and well-being.
    

   Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often	Always	N/A (not applicable)
   1	2	3	4	5	6	X

   
    

3. I try to make people aware that some situations disproportionately privilege certain groups.
    

   Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often	Always	N/A (not applicable)
   1	2	3	4	5	6	X

   
    

4. I speak out against unfair practices.
    

   Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often	Always	N/A (not applicable)
   1	2	3	4	5	6	X

   
    

5. I seek to protect each individual’s dignity.
    

   Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often	Always	N/A (not applicable)
   1	2	3	4	5	6	X

   
    

6. I know people can make mistakes – it is human nature.
    

   Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often	Always	N/A (not applicable)
   1	2	3	4	5	6	X