A Critical Incident Challenging Leadership Ethics and Virtues

By using the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a research case study, this chapter introduces the concept of the ethical and moral dilemmas faced daily by leaders. It is important to note how these dilemmas can include the social and economic impact of their decision-making to the environmental impact from operations. Vignettes are provided in this chapter that were used to understand how military leaders cope and respond to ethical dilemmas in the most extreme situations. The impact or influence of an individual’s subject positions and the tensions and conflict they create in extreme situations are revealed. Topics include bureaucratic barriers to battlefield decision-making; individual moral and social identities and their impact on subject positions and decision-making; and the tension that is caused by the public gaze of perception and reputation. The disconnect between the executive levels to the lower levels of leadership is revealed and how this incommensurability creates tensions and contradictions.