The character of Australian leaders
The meaning of character
The study
Character dimensions
The meaning of character
This article examines the concept of character in Australian business leaders. Research indicates that successful organisations are often the direct result of good leadership, and that this leadership is often the result of character.
Character originates from the Greek word charassein, which means to scratch or engrave. Aristotle (384–322 BC) believed that character helped explain a person’s past actions and could predict future behaviour. Character helps identify who we really are on the inside, and is the yardstick by which people identify us as either trustworthy or as rogues.
The study
In order to identify the nature of character in Australian leaders, we conducted an online survey with the support of the Australian Institute of Management (AIM). Of the 238 managers who responded, 23% were senior executives, with both public and private sector businesses well represented. Another 56 managers around Australia were also interviewed for their views on what attributes of leaders they believed contributed to character.
Character dimensions
From these two studies, 17 attributes of character were identified. These attributes, in their order of ranking, are: integrity, cooperativeness, fairness, self-discipline, honesty, spiritual respect, respectfulness, employee loyalty, humour, passion, competency, organisation loyalty, compassion, courage, selflessness, wisdom, and humility. That is, Australian business leaders identified the character attribute of integrity as the most important indicator of their leadership and themselves. At the other end of the scale, Australian leaders did not believe that humility was a major ingredient in their career success.
The essential nature of integrity in leadership character is important. Integrity is both a test of moral good and ethical behaviour, as well as the cornerstone of good citizenship, social responsibility, and psychologically healthy organisations and societies. Other attributes also need consideration, and could become useful tools for building more sustainable and cooperative workplaces. For instance, the top five attributes of integrity, cooperativeness, fairness, self-discipline, and honesty if combined in any one leader in any one organisation should make for a world of difference in performance as well as employee morale. The challenge of course is bringing all of this together.
We then aggregated these separate attributes into three overall factors—Universalism, Transformation and Benevolence. Universalism represents an understanding, appreciation and tolerance for the welfare of people generally. The character attributes of respectfulness, fairness, cooperativeness and compassion were mainly associated with Universalism. This approach is consistent with the proposition that leaders may significantly influence change beyond the workplace and into the culture of society.
The dimension of Transformation is consistent with the concept of transformational leadership as an activity that inspires others in the achievement of long-term, visionary goals. The character attributes of courage, passion, wisdom, competency and self-discipline comprise this factor.
The third dimension, Benevolence, focuses on concern for the welfare of others through one’s daily interactions. Selflessness, integrity, and organisational loyalty are the character attributes through which benevolent leadership is enacted.
As a process, Transformation can be seen as the link between Universalism as the externally-focused manifestation of leadership character, and the internally-focused benevolent intentions of Benevolence. So in effect, transformational leaders achieve a number of ‘hits’—with colleagues in their organisations, as well as in the wider community. These findings tell us that we need leaders whose character profiles comprise an element of courage and passion, as well as integrity and a sense of fairness. How will you measure up? Whatever the final outcome, it makes good sense (financially and morally) to cultivate leaders of character in our businesses and beyond (our schools, charities, homes, government).
|
James C. Sarros is Professor of Management, Monash University, Victoria. He received his PhD from the University of Alberta, his MEd from the University of Melbourne, and his BA, Dip Ed from La Trobe University. His research interests are organisational leadership, culture, values, and character, and he has had over 200 articles and conference papers, six books and seven book chapters published in the area. His latest book is entitled The character of leadership: what works for Australian leaders – making it work for you. Milton, QLD: Wiley (2006). Contact: james.sarros@buseco.monash.edu.au . |