Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between, the moral development of leaders and their leadership style. It tested Graham's work using Rest's DIT P Scores. Row's leadership styles, commanding and inspirational, were used because they conceptually corresponded best to Graham's thesis. Additional independent variables were included and were considered to be related to human development in general. Historical and contemporary leadership theories were examined for a relationship between leadership styles and moral development. Leadership style was viewed as developmental and hypothesized as changing in relation to one's moral development. There were 285 first, middle, and executive level managers surveyed with 158 managers responding. Results indicated a very weak correlation between leadership style and level of moral development and between moral development and the other independent variables. There was a significant difference between first-level and executive-level managers and their stage of moral development. The executive-level managers indicated greater principle-based decision making as compared to the first-level managers. First-level managers were predominantly conventional stage three and four, while executives, tended to be postconventional stage five. This study raised questions about Graham's theory and the validity of the instruments measuring leadership style and moral development. Research should be conducted to develop new leadership and moral development instruments that are theoretically linked to a developmental theory. A leadership style instrument more directly linked to Graham's theory of leadership development needs to be used. Also a more sensitive instrument to measure moral growth that better differentiates the moral development of leadership needs to be developed. Kohlberg's research was based mainly on youth and does not differentiate adults well. This study should be replicated with other populations of leaders. Executives should begin to view moral development as an important factor in the selection and training of leadership for their organizations.