Ethical Leadership. Literature & Languag. Term Paper

Final Paper Project

Your final paper will consist of a research project of your choice concerning the topic of ethics in leadership.

a) Write a paper outlining the ramifications for questions of leadership of some particular thinker, and comparing that thinker’s position to one or more of the theories put forward in the class.

b) Write a paper on a specific problem of ethical leadership, such as environmental issues, shareholder or stakeholder responsibility, regulatory relationships or sexual harassment or discrimination.

c) Write a paper on the problems of ethical leadership in some particular field, such as education, politics, the military, religion, or the sciences.



Your paper should be 1800 - 2400 words and conform to scholarly standards of style and documentation. You may use APA or MLA format for citations, but remain consistent throughout.



1. The Final Paper Prospectus should be between 500-750 words, and include:

• A title and a brief description of the ethical dilemma you chose to write about.

• The ethical theories/approaches that you think relevant to the case and your take on the issue:

This is your main argument/thesis.

• A review of the literature, how it relates to your issue, and where you intend to ‘go’. This includes the following:

o A working, annotated bibliography of PRINT resources including a summary of the item and the main points [i.e. topic, author point of view, and the main argument(s)].

This bibliography must have at least 5 PRINT sources (in addition to any of the texts from the course that you might use). You’ll be expected to use at least 3 PRINT sources in the final paper you submit.

o A brief outline of how you intend to ‘get there’ i.e.: what you will include and how you will work through your issue—or the set of questions you will work through to test your ides/assumptions.







2. Your final paper will be an extensive research project on an ethical topic in the domain of leadership. There are two options for the final paper (see the document Final Paper). This research paper allows you to explore more deeply some of the issues encountered during the semester.

Final Submission Guidelines

This is your finished and polished end product, a kind of consummation of the course. It should:

• demonstrate that you have addressed any issues or comments received previously from me on your prospectus

• include citations, formatted in either MLA or APA

• be approximately 1800-2400 words in length and includes a[n]:

1. Title Page with your name and course information.

2. Abstract of 100 – 150 words that explains your topic and main points.

3. Introduction that includes your thesis.

4. Clear description of the ethical issues that you are discussing.

5. Critical discussion of how the issues have been treated by the literature (your secondary sources.

6. Critical discussion of ethical theories that might have been used in handling the issue.

7. Discussion of the pros and cons of the way it has been treated.

8. Discussion of the relevant implications of your conclusion or findings in terms of the ethical issue in question, as well as the thinkers, theories, or positions your paper engages with.

9. Conclusion

10. A Works Cited Page (remember, you must use at least 3 PRINT sources).

11. Clean, proofread, college-level prose, with few surface-level errors.



Option one: Comparison paper on two figures or schools of thought



This is, generally speaking, a “compare and contrast” paper. In it you will take up the positions regarding leadership and its ethical content of two thinkers, one and only one of whom is part of our reading list. The other is someone you will research on your own. I expect you to go beyond just the readings we’ve done in class, and your text should draw on between 3 and 8 outside sources, which must be cited and listed in a bibliography (works cited page). At least 3 of your sources must be PRINT (i.e. not from the internet).



Compare and contrast the two thinkers you have chosen by asking and answering questions like these: in what ways do they overlap, in what ways do they conflict? Is one influenced by another? Do they share some common root? How do they view human nature differently? How do they view the ultimate source of ethical value? What does each one claim constitutes a “good leader?” Note that these are just examples of questions you could ask/answer; a good paper will not attempt to answer them all but will focus closely on a concise, specific issue.



Key point: your paper must present an argument and defend a conclusion about the relationship between the two thinkers you are comparing/contrasting. It is not enough to say that one thinker says X while the other says Y. You could argue that one thinker’s position on an issue is stronger than the other’s, or that two positions that appear very different are actually quite similar, or that two positions that appear quite similar are actually significantly different, etc.



The philosophers we considered in this class are:

• S. Mill • N. Machiavelli • Plato • I. Kant



Some other figures you might wish to take up:

• David Hume • Cicero • John Locke • G. W F. Hegel

• Aristotle • Confucius • Seneca • Karl Marx

• Paul Tillich • Marcus Aurelius • John Rawls • Hannah Arendt

• Julius Evola • Benjamin Franklin • Robert Nozick • Milton Friedman







Option two: Application of theory



In this paper, you will take up one of the key philosophical thinkers (Plato, Mill, Kant, or Machiavelli) from this class, and apply his theoretical or historical approach regarding leadership to some particular contemporary issue. I expect you to go beyond just the readings we’ve done in class, and your text should draw on between 3 and 8 outside sources, which must be cited and listed in a bibliography. At least 3 of your sources must be PRINT (i.e. not from the internet).



Some questions you could ask and answer in this paper: How are these theories applicable to contemporary issues? Are there elements of today’s society that are so different as to make these ideas untenable? How might we make use of philosophical insights into leadership to address contemporary problems? Note that these are just examples of questions you could ask/answer; a good paper will not attempt to answer them all but will focus closely on a concise, specific issue.



Key point: your paper must present an argument and defend a conclusion about the issue/thinker you choose. You might argue that Plato has a particularly strong position on leadership in education that could inform contemporary education reform, or that Mill’s utilitarianism is a weak basis from which to build a theory of corporate citizenship capable of addressing a specific contemporary corporate problem, or …the possibilities are endless!



Some issues you might wish to take up:



• Leadership in Religion





• Corporate Citizenship



• Capitalism and Democracy





• Leadership in Education



• Minorities in Leadership





• Leadership at home and abroad



• Parenting as leadership