The Ethical Leader (Coursera)

The first part of this course introduces students to the classical literature in philosophical ethics, including consequentialist, regularian, deontological, and virtue theory approaches. This includes exploration of the ethical responsibilities leaders have toward themselves, corporations, the government, and the public. In the second part of the course, students apply decision- making frameworks, drawing from theories of leadership, and gain experience in decision-making surrounding ethical issues. Finally, students will consider the moral challenges that artificial intelligence poses to ethical leaders.
To complete this course successfully students should be able to analyze college-level readings and audio/visual presentations into understandable parts, including premises and conclusions; synthesize the results of the analysis into coherent and accurate summaries; and evaluate the results for accuracy and practical applicability.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to
• Identify ethical principles for leadership practices
• Compare theories of leadership in terms of their ethical strengths and weaknesses
• Apply ethical principles for leadership practices
• Compare and contrast industry standards and techniques of ethical leadership practices
Course 1 of 3 in the Leadership: An Introduction Specialization.

What You Will Learn

• The history of leadership theory
• Types of leadership
• The difference between ethical and unethical leadership

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Introduction; Moral Agency I: Introduction and the Logic of Moral Decision-Making
This module introduces you to the course, the concept of moral agency, and the logic of moral decision-making. It consists of this introduction and two lessons: Moral Agency and The Logic of Moral Judgments.
Module 1-Moral Agency I-- includes a video introduction to the course and two lessons. Lesson 1-Moral Agency-Challenges and Tools--includes two readings and one lecture. Lesson 2-The Logic of Ethics--includes one reading and five lectures. The work you will do for this module includes watching the course introduction and six lecture videos; reading two book chapters and one article; and taking brief quizzes on each lecture, and a longer assessment at the end of the module.

WEEK 2
Moral Agency II: The Tools in the Moral Toolbox--Moral Theories and Moral Responsibility
This is the second module of this course and the second to consider moral agency. It covers tools in the moral toolbox. The three theories of moral conduct: consequentialism, regularianism, and deontology. And the theory of moral character- Virtue theory—the tool-o-matic in our moral box of tools. It consists of four lessons, each devoted to one of the tools in the moral toolbox.
Module 2 - Moral Agency II: includes a video introduction to the module and four lessons. Lesson 1-Consequentialism --includes one required reading, five recommended readings, and three lectures. Lesson 2 – Regularianism-- has one reading and one lecture. Lesson 3 – Deontology --has one required reading, one recommended reading, and four lectures. Lesson 4-Virtue and Responsibility-An Aristotelian Approach—has one required reading, eight recommended readings, and five lectures. The work you will do for this module includes watching the module introduction and 13 videos; reading four book chapters (not counting the recommended readings); and taking brief quizzes on each lecture, and a longer assessment at the end of the module.

WEEK 3
Leadership Theories I: Three approaches to Leadership Traits, Skills, and Behaviors; Three Theories of Leadership
We spend the first part of this module on the traits, skills, and behaviors of the leader. In doing so, we follow the historical path of scholarship on leadership. The second part of this module looks at three theories about the leader-follower relationship, with each theory increasing the followers’ responsibilities for a successful relationship: situational leadership, path-goal theory, and leader member exchange. In this module there are five lessons (1) Defining Leadership; (2) Trait, Skill, and Behavioral Approaches to Leadership; (3)Situational leadership; (4) Path-Goal Theory; and (5) Leader-Member Exchange Theory.
Module 3 - Leadership Theories I –includes a video introduction to the module and five lessons. Lesson 1-Defining Leadership—includes three required readings, three recommended readings, and two lectures. Lesson 2-Three Approaches to Leadership: Traits, Skills, and Behaviors—includes seven primary readings, three recommended readings, three recommended videos, and six lectures. Lesson 3-Situational Leadership—includes two primary readings, two recommended readings, one recommended video, and one lecture. Lesson 4-Path-Goal Theory—includes two primary readings, one recommended reading, one recommended video, and one lecture. Lesson 5-Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory—includes two primary readings, one recommended reading, one recommended video, and one lecture. The work you will do for this module includes watching the module introduction and 11 lectures; reading 16 essays (not counting the recommended readings or videos); and taking brief quizzes after each lecture, and a longer assessment at the end of the module.

WEEK 4
Leadership Theories II: Transformational and Authentic Leadership; Servant and Adaptive leadership; Followership; Team Leadership; and Inclusive Leadership
Current scholarship gives prominence to four theories of leadership: transformational, authentic, servant, and adaptive. PART ONE of this this module looks at these.
As we progress through the theories of leadership, we see increasing attention being paid to the followers and PART TWO of this module takes the next logical step in this direction: a study of followership. We will also consider team leadership. Up to this point it appears as if the leaders and followers were uniform in their demographics, talents, and needs. In this age of globalization, nothing could be farther from the truth. Similarly, much of the research into leadership ethics seems biased toward Western thinking. The research would be richer and more informative if it took into account all cultures, and different subcultures within the western world. Thus, PART THREE of this module looks at inclusive leadership. In this module there are four lessons: Transformational and Authentic Leadership; Servant and Adaptive Leadership; Followership and Team Leadership; and Inclusive Leadership Module 4 - Leadership Theories II—includes a video introduction to the module and four lessons. Lesson 1-Transformational and Authentic Leadership-- includes four primary readings, four recommended readings, two recommended videos, and two lectures. Lesson 2-Servant and Adaptive Leadership—includes four primary readings, two recommended readings, two recommended videos, and three lectures. Lesson 3-Followership and Team Leadership—include four primary readings, four recommended readings, two recommended videos, and four lectures. Lesson 4-Inclusive leadership includes four primary readings, four recommended readings, two recommended videos, and three lectures. The work you will do for this module includes watching the module introduction and 12 lectures; reading 12 essays (not counting the recommended readings or videos); and taking brief quizzes after each lecture, and a longer assessment at the end of the module.

WEEK 5
Artificial Intelligence and the Ethical Leader
In this module we pick one current topic, Artificial Intelligence, identify its general moral challenges, and then consider what this means for the ethical leader. This should give us insight into a topic that is interesting in its own right, while demonstrating how one might address in a similar fashion other topics challenging today’s ethical leader and the leader of the future.
This module has two lessons. Lesson1 identifies moral challenges that current and future AI pose. Lesson 2 addresses the need for ethical AI leaders in the face of such challenges, as well as the characteristics required of such leaders. Module 5 - Artificial Intelligence and the Ethical Leader—includes a video introduction to the module and two lessons. Lesson 1 – The Ethics of AI—includes two primary readings, one primary video, and five lectures. Lesson 2 – Leadership and AI—includes four primary readings and two lectures. The work you will do for this module includes watching the module introduction and seven lectures; reading six essays; watching one video; and taking brief quizzes after each lecture, and a longer assessment at the end of the module.