A crisis of leadership: towards an anti‐sovereign ethics of organisation. (17th December 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wray‐Bliss, Edward
• Is Part Of: Business ethics. Volume 22:Number 1(2013:Jan.)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 101
• Publication Date: 2012-12-17
• Subjects: Business ethics -- Periodicals; Business ethics -- Europe -- Periodicals; 174.4
• DOI: 10.1111/beer.12010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0962-8770

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>A common reaction to crises experienced within or brought about by business is to identify a corollary 'crisis of leadership' and to call for better (stronger, more thoughtful or, indeed, more ethical and responsible) leaders. This paper supports the idea that there is a crisis of leadership – but interprets it quite differently. Specifically, I argue that the most ethically debilitating crisis is the fact that we look to leadership to solve organisational ethical ills. There is, I argue, a pressing need to conceptualise a business ethics that is not constrained by the straitjacket of official hierarchy – a need to denaturalise 'leadership' as the normal or rightful locus of ethical regulation and renewal in business organisation. To this end, I explore a Levinasian ethico‐politics of responsibility and proximity as the basis of an alternative, anti‐sovereign, ethics of organisation.</p> </abstract>