DO WE REALLY WANT MORE LEADERS IN BUSINESS

In this article, we focus on the concept of leadership ethics and make observations about transformational, transactional and servant leader ship. We consider differences in how each definition of leadership out lines what the leader is supposed to achieve, and how the leader treat s people in the organization while striving to achieve the organizatio n's goals. We also consider which leadership styles are likely to be m ore popular in organizations that strive to maximize short run profits . Our paper does not tout or degrade any of these leadership theories. Instead, it points out which theories allow reason to play more than a minimal role in ethical decisionmaking, as well as those that are mo st consistent with a firm's desire to achieve efficiency in the short run. We explain our view that the way leadership is practiced in large , bureaucratic organizations suggests that ethics is often absent from the leader's decisionmaking process. Consequently, we suggest that be fore we engage in a meaningful dialogue about what kind of leaders we might really want in business, we must consider how much short-run pro fit we are willing to forego in exchange for more ethical corporate cu ltures.