Honesty in Leadership: A Case of the Czech Republic

Abstract

Purpose — This chapter aims to present the way how to think about honesty in leadership, practically and simply on an example of the Czech Republic.Design/methodology/approach — This chapter discusses what (dis)honesty in leadership is, how it manifests and how it is perceived in the Czech Republic. It is illustrated with corruption statistics and a short interview with a Czech top manager from Microsoft.Findings — Contemporary leadership models accentuate soft side of leading personalities, including emotion, integrity, communication, networking, and serving others. Honesty belongs to necessary characteristics of effective leaders. Among Czech culture standards, several values are associated with integrity and honesty, particularly generosity, care about relatives, and confidence based on social relations as well as high evaluation of human behavior. The main weaknesses are low acceptance of formal structures and rules, the importance of informal communication, a strong tendency to conflicts and personal interpretation of any criticism.Originality/value — The complexity of (dis)honesty in leadership (encompassing its nature and impact factors) has received relatively little research attention.

Citation

Dvorakova, Z., Shippen Bright, E. and Muehlfeit, J. (2013), "Honesty in Leadership: A Case of the Czech Republic", Vissak, T. and Vadi, M. (Ed.) (Dis)Honesty in Management (Advanced Series in Management, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 227-241. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1877-6361(2013)0000010014