Ethical Approach to Leading Change

Ethics is back in leadership studies, philosophy, literature, politics and organisation theory. This book breaks new ground as part of an emerging 'ethical' turn in the field of leadership development. It is the first study to apply the virtue ethics of MacIntyre to the subject of leading organisational change and to apply an ethical analysis to an in-depth case study in the politically charged sector of healthcare provision. The complexity of factors involved in the healthcare sector means it provides a case study that has within it most of the issues experienced by any organisation. In his seminal thesis on virtue ethics MacIntyre provided us with a diagnosis on the modern condition and made us aware of what we have lost as a society. For MacIntyre that loss means that modern working practices are highly susceptible to being corrupted especially when an institution places money, status or power above the goods of excellence. This book includes empirical material that supports what he and now others are saying in theory and as such has the potential to catch a very powerful wave of questioning not just the changes to the public sector but the lifestyle and financial crisis that we have all bought into being. The considerable practical potential of these insights is explored in the case study that runs through the book. The final chapter contains a detailed application of the findings to a leadership education programme along with a very positive evaluation. Leadership developers, academics, postgraduate students, practitioners and policy makers will find the book of interest because it meets their needs for rigour, practical usefulness and policy guidance. The book will be particularly relevant to people studying, researching or leading organisational change and improvement projects inside or outside the health and social care sector. Those with an interest in narrative methodology will find a helpful literature review and a novel step-by-step narrative research approach.