In early August 2013, The Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership will launch Phase 1 of Ivey's SSHRC-funded, multi-year, Leader Character Study into the elements and dimensions of good character in business leadership. This research study aims to bring leadership character into mainstream management theory and practice, and to enable approaches to leadership theory, assessment, and development that extend the traditional focus on leadership competencies to embrace the critical components of "good" character.
This research will bridge theory and practice for several inter-dependent audiences, many of whom are looking for more precise and useable definitions of leadership character, greater guidance as to how to apply this knowledge within challenging managerial contexts, and better understanding of, and tools for, character assessment in the selection and development of current and future leaders. These audiences include: researchers and innovators in the field of leadership, business ethics, and leadership development; those responsible for the design and delivery of curricula for business and corporate education programs; as well as, business leaders, practicing managers and consultants especially within human resources management and leadership talent development. These groups are eager for applied theories, best practices, and tools that incorporate high standards of reliability and validity in order to improve the assessment, selection, development, and practice of effective, ethical, and socially responsible business leadership.
It is not an overstatement to suggest that this is of paramount importance. In the aftermath of the recent financial and economic crisis, Ivey's Leadership On Trial research posed the question: Would better leadership have made a difference? In addition to their resounding "Yes!" the 300 leaders who participated in this study also mentioned the importance of improving risk management, corporate governance, executive compensation, learning from previous crises, organizational culture, and social responsibility. However, the main theme the participants discussed was character. A strong consensus emerged that good character is a fundamental requirement of good leadership, along with two related questions:
(1) What is good character in business leadership? and (2) How can it be developed? While these business leaders acknowledged the many challenges, they urged business schools to figure out the answers to both questions.
These questions are the focus of this multi-year study Leader Character Study. This study will employ a variety of complementary research methodologies, administered in a phased approach, to obtain valuable insights from practicing organizational executives and board directors into: (a) the character strengths organizational leaders need to possess; (b) the requisite motivations, capacities, personality traits, and conduct to be developed; and (c) high-leverage educational experiences and interventions that can be offered by business schools, and within organizations, to cultivate "good character." Phase 1 will employ on-line Q-Methodology processes to rate the importance of, and categorize into more general dimensions, a comprehensive inventory of leader character elements. Phase 2 will include follow-up focus groups and individual in-depth interviews to explore and explain the participants' importance ratings and categorizations, the interrelationships among these elements, as well as how "good" character is developed over time. Phase 3 will include several case studies to explore how these elements and dimensions of good character are developed and enacted over time within complex organizational contexts.
At the heart of this Leader Character Study is Ivey's working framework of the elements and dimensions of good character in business leadership. This framework is briefly described in our article, Leadership Character and Corporate Governance (Ivey Business Journal, May/June, 2013):
The research underlying this framework is described in the next article of this series: Good Character in Business Leadership: Pilot Research