Questions on Machiavelli: Does the End Really Justify the Means?

Machiavelli believed that the end justifies the means. He taught political leaders that it is more important to be feared than loved, if they cannot be both.

1. Do you agree with either, or both, of his tenets?

2. What choices would you make as a leader at work if you agreed that the end justified the means?

3. Would these choices be effective? How or how not?

4. Would these choices be ethical? How or how not?

5. What might make followers fear a leader?

6. What choices would you make as a leader at work if you agreed that it was more important to be feared than to be loved?

7. Would these choices be effective? How or how not?

8. Would these choices be ethical? How or how not?

Does ethical leadership matter? Followers who rate their leader as more ethical have more favorable job attitudes such as job satisfaction and commitment. They are also less likely to report intentions to leave the organization. Leaders who lead ethically are role models, communicating the importance of ethical standards, holding their employees accountable to those standards, and – crucially – designing environments in which others work and live.