Auli Korhonen
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN EVERYDAY SPORTS COACHING
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Philosophical Faculty
Master’s Thesis in Adult Education March 2021
Faculty
Philosophical Faculty
School
School of Educational Sciences and Psychology Author
Auli Korhonen Title
Ethical Leadership in Everyday Sports Coaching
Main subject Level Date Number of pages
Adult Education
Master’s Thesis x
3.3.2021 75 pages + 5 appendices Minor subject Thesis
Bachelor’s Thesis Intermediate Studies Thesis
Abstract
Sports reflects and reinforces the predominant norms and values of societies and provides a place to learn life skills. In sports, the moral intensity of ethical decisions can be high. Coaches have been identified as the most critical stakeholders when it comes to impacting the moral behaviour of athletes. The experiences gathered from childhood to adulthood in sports shape the athletes’
knowledge and moral reasoning over the years. Coaches set an example for the athletes in ethical behaviour.
The purpose of this study is to produce knowledge for sports management and coaching education by finding out how ethical leadership emerges in sports coaching, and to interpret how the coaches see themselves as ethical leaders. The main goal of the study is to find out good, positive practices in everyday coaching. The findings of the study can be applied in coaching education.
The theoretical framework of the study grounds on the definition and theory of ethical leadership, which emerges from a combination between leader behaviours and characteristics engaging in normatively appropriate behaviour and explains the influence of leaders’
ethical behaviour on that of their followers. Effects of ethical leadership have been discussed through the notions of cascading effect and ethical blindness. The framework is put into the context of sports, into the context for learning and for the coach-athlete relationship.
The two main research questions are: 1. How does ethical leadership in sports coaching emerge? and 2. What kind of perceptions and interpretations do coaches have about them being ethical leaders? The sub-questions guiding the research process are: 1.1 What kind of ethical issues or challenges do coaches face during the everyday coaching? 1.2 How do the coaches deal with ethical challenges in coaching? 1.3 What kind of support do the coaches need and/or have available when facing ethical dilemmas? 2.1 How do the coaches promote ethical behaviour in their coaching practices? and 2.2 What kind of experiences do the coaches have about their ethical behaviour flowing down to athletes? The study design is a hermeneutic phenomenological study focusing on lived experiences. The target group of the study is Finnish female ball sports coaches. Data has been collected with semi-structured thematic interviews.
Five coaches were interviewed using an online conferencing tool and the interviews were transcribed for a six-phase thematic analysis.
The results demonstrate how ethical leadership in daily operations emerges in coaching practices, coaching atmosphere, and in coaching environment. Coaches see themselves as ethical leaders through their own activities. Coaching as a function and as a process can be interpreted as interaction. Values and coaching culture are the two catalysts having an influence behind and between the setting, where a coach can be viewed as an individual but also as a part of a network. Self-reflection, two-way feedback, positive reinforcement and continuous self-development interpret the activities of promoting ethical behaviour. Peer-support as well as support from the athletes and clubs are important for coaches in dealing with any ethical issues in practice. Promoting an atmosphere which appreciates open, two-way communication supported by the jointly agreed values demonstrates good leadership and ethical behaviour. Maintaining positive team spirit and pushing the team to do its best, allowing room for mistakes and development, and enabling ways to address concerns lead to a good result in promoting the athletes’ ethical behaviour.
In conclusion, three ideas for contributing to the discussion on educational structures in sports are presented. First, it is suggested that peer-groups should be created to discuss the matters and mentoring and mental training should be made available to the coaches.
Second, it is suggested that coaches need to be educated to self-reflect and that creating tools and methods to do so should be created for this. Third, it is suggested that a culture is established where intervening is possible at a low threshold without losing face or facing any negative consequences and a tool to do so is found or created.
Keywords
Coaching, sports, leadership, ethical leadership, ethical behaviour, ethical blindness
Tiedekunta
Filosofinen tiedekunta
Osasto
Kasvatustieteiden ja psykologian osasto Tekijä
Auli Korhonen Työn nimi
Ethical Leadership in Everyday Sports Coaching
Pääaine Työn laji Päivämäärä Sivumäärä
Aikuiskasvatustiede
Pro gradu -tutkielma x
3.3.2021 75 sivua + 5 liitettä Sivuainetutkielma
Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä
Urheilu heijastaa ja vahvistaa yhteiskunnan arvoja ja normeja ja tarjoaa paikan opetella elämän taitoja. Urheilukokemukset lapsuudesta aikuisuuteen muokkaavat urheilijoiden tietoa moraalisesta käyttäytymisestä. Urheilussa eettisten päätösten moraalinen intensiteetti voi olla korkea ja valmentajien onkin todettu olevan kriittisimmässä asemassa vaikuttamassa urheilijoiden moraaliseen päättelyyn. Valmentajat näyttävät eettisen käyttäytymisen esimerkkiä urheilijoille.
Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on tuottaa urheilujohtamiseen liittyvää ja urheiluvalmennuskoulutusta tukevaa tutkimustietoa selvittämällä, miten eettinen johtajuus näkyy arjen urheiluvalmennuksessa sekä tulkitsemalla, millaisia käsityksiä valmentajilla on omasta tehtävästään eettisinä johtajina. Tutkielman tavoitteena on löytää hyviä, positiivisia käytäntöjä eettisyyden edistämiseksi päivittäisvalmennuksessa. Tutkielmasta tuotettua tietoa voi hyödyntää eettisten asioiden käsittelyssä koulutettaessa valmentajia.
Tutkielma perustuu eettisen johtajuuden määritelmään ja teoriaan. Eettinen johtajuus ilmenee johtajan normatiivisesti hyväksyttävän käytöksen ja ominaisuuksien yhdistelmänä, ja se selittää johtajien eettisen käyttäytymisen vaikutusta alaisten eettiseen käyttäytymiseen. Eettisen johtajuuden vaikutuksia on käsitelty valumisvaikutuksen ja eettisen sokeuden käsitteiden myötä.
Viitekehys on tuotu urheilukontekstiin oppimisen ja valmentaja-urheilijasuhteen näkökulmasta.
Tutkielman kaksi pääkysymystä ovat: 1. Miten eettinen johtajuus ilmenee urheiluvalmennuksessa? ja 2. Millaisia käsityksiä ja tulkintoja valmentajilla on heistä itsestään eettisinä johtajina. Tutkielmaprosessia ohjaavat alakysymykset ovat: 1.1 Millaisia eettisiä haasteita valmentajat kohtaavat päivittäisessä valmennustyössään? 1.2 Kuinka valmentajat käsittelevät eettisiä haasteita valmennuksessa? 1.3 Millaista tukea valmentajat tarvitsevat ja/tai heillä on saatavilla eettisissä kysymyksissä? 2.1 Kuinka valmentajat edistävät mielestään eettistä käyttäytymistä käytännöillään? ja 2.2 Millaisia kokemuksia valmentajilla on eettisen käyttäytymisensä jalkautumisesta urheilijoille?
Tutkielma on lähestymistavaltaan hermeneuttis-fenomenologinen tutkimus, jossa huomio kohdistuu elettyihin kokemuksiin.
Kohderyhmänä tutkielmassa ovat suomalaiset palloilulajien naisvalmentajat. Aineisto on koottu puolistrukturoiduilla teemahaastatteluilla. Viisi valmentajaa on haastateltu verkkovälitteisen kokoustyökalun avulla ja haastattelut on litteroitu ennen kuusivaiheista temaattista analyysiä.
Tulosten mukaan urheiluvalmentamiseen liittyvä eettinen johtajuus ilmenee valmennuskäytännöissä, valmennusilmapiirissä ja valmennusympäristössä. Valmentajat tulkitsevat eettistä johtajuuttaan omien toimintojensa kautta. Valmennus toimintana ja prosessina tulkitaan vuorovaikutuksena. Arvot ja valmennuskulttuuri toimivat katalyytteinä vaikuttamassa asetelmaan, jossa valmentaja nähdään yksilönä mutta myös osana verkostoa. Itsereflektointi, kahdensuuntainen palautteenanto, positiivinen vahvistaminen ja jatkuva itsensä kehittäminen tulkitaan eettistä käyttäytymistä edistävänä toimintana. Valmentajat kokevat vertaistuen sekä urheilijoiden ja seuran tuen tärkeinä ratkaistaessa eettisiä kysymyksiä. Yhteisesti sovittujen arvojen tukemaa avointa, kahdensuuntaista kommunikointia arvostavan ilmapiirin suosiminen ilmentää hyvää johtajuutta ja eettistä käyttäytymistä. Positiivisen joukkuehengen ylläpitäminen ja parhaansa tekemiseen kannustaminen, virheiden ja kehittymisen salliminen ja asioihin puuttumisen mahdollistaminen matalalla kynnyksellä edistävät urheilijoiden eettistä käyttäytymistä.
Tutkielman johtopäätökset voi tiivistää kolmeen ajatukseen. Ensimmäisenä on ehdotettu vertaisryhmien luomista asioista keskustelemiseksi sekä mentoroinnin ja mentaalivalmennuksen saamista valmentajien käyttöön. Toiseksi on ehdotettu kouluttamaan valmentajia itsereflektointiin ja laatimaan siihen tueksi työkaluja. Kolmanneksi, matalan kynnyksen puuttuminen on mahdollistettava siten, että puuttumisesta ei aiheudu ilmoittajalle negatiivisia vaikutuksia, ja tähän on rakennettava työkaluja.
Avainsanat
valmennus, urheilu, johtajuus, eettinen johtajuus, eettinen käyttäytyminen, eettinen sokeus
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT TIIVISTELMÄ
1 INTRODUCTION ... 1
2 ETHICS AND DECISION MAKING ... 4
2.1 Ethics, morals and ethical theory ... 4
2.2 Ethical decision making ... 6
2.3 Ethics in leadership ... 8
3 ETHICAL LEADERSHIP ... 10
3.1 Framework for ethical leadership ... 11
3.2 Effects of ethical leadership ... 14
3.3 Ethical blindness ... 17
4 ETHICS IN SPORTS CONTEXT ... 19
4.1 Sports as a context for learning ... 19
4.2 Ethical leadership in sports coaching ... 21
4.3 Teaching and measuring ethical decision making in coaching ... 24
5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ... 26
6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ... 28
6.1 Methodological approach ... 28
6.2 Target group ... 31
6.3 Data collection ... 31
6.4 Data analysis ... 36
6.5 Ethics, reliability and validity ... 46
7 RESULTS ... 49
7.1 Views on ethical leadership in coaching ... 49
7.1.1 Ethical challenges in everyday coaching ... 49
7.1.2 Methods, tools and support for dealing with ethical challenges ... 55
7.2 Coaches as ethical leaders ... 58
7.2.1 Promoting ethical behaviour in coaching practices ... 58
7.2.2 Promoting athletes’ ethical behaviour ... 61
8 CONCLUSIONS ... 64
9 DISCUSSION ... 67
REFERENCES ... 71 APPENDICES (5)
1 INTRODUCTION
Sports can be a relatively safe environment for athletes of all ages to learn several lessons about participation, commitment, teamwork, skill development, fair play and other benefits of competition. It also provides an opportunity for risk-taking behaviour that can contribute to personal development and growth. (Hemphill 2011, 113.)
While sports culture has shifted from a moral laboratory in which to learn life skills (Hardman, Jones & Jones 2010, 345) to a win-centered multimillion dollar industry combining fierce loyalty, high expectation and an emotionally charged arena, the win-at-all- costs attitude has perpetuated. This has spurred discussion into ethical behaviour in sports (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 507).
Non-professional sports is facing all sorts of ethical issues. Many of the ethical issues such as racism, verbal and physical violence, and abuse are diverse, far-reaching and rooted (Constandt, De Waegeneer & Willem 2018, 185). Ethics in sports has mainly been considered in media and in coffee table discussion through the negative phenomena (i.e.
competition manipulation, inappropriate behaviour on and off the field, corruption in clubs or federations, cheating, spectator violence etc.).
The idea for this study goes back to spring of 2018, when I received the BA degree in Adult Education, and I was finishing my studies of Sports Psychology. At that time, I decided to continue the studies (alongside with a full-time job) at Master’s level holding on to the sports perspective in Adult Education. My professional interest in ethical issues arose first in 2016−2018, as I was invited to assist the World DanceSport Federation Presidential Task
Force to Combat Competition Manipulation, led by Mr. Lukas Hinder (SUI), President of the World DanceSport Federation at that time.
While dealing with many negative aspects of ethics in sports during my work with the Task Force, I found it intriguing to start turning the tables and to find out and to introduce the positive aspects of ethics into a public discussion. In collaboration with Ms. Nina Laakso, Research Manager of the Finnish Center of Integrity in Sports, and Ms. Sari Tuunainen, General Secretary of the Finnish Coaches Association the idea for the main theme of the study began to emerge. Ms. Laakso had only some time earlier finished her study (Laakso 2016) about leadership in sports, Ms. Tuunainen was involved in a long-running project with female ball sports coaches, and the framework began to shape through these three lenses.
People in leading positions have been carrying the burden and the responsibility to be pro- active and effective in creating and maintaining a safe and ethical environment in their sports clubs (Burton, Welty Peachey & Wells 2017, 229). However, an organizational climate fostering unethical behaviour has been more the norm than the exception in sports organizations (Burke 2001, 236). This has resulted in devastating stories of abuse or other kind of unethical behaviour experienced recently in USA Gymnastics, Finnish Synchronized Skating, and Finnish Gymnastics, for example.
While current leadership research is moving towards a stronger focus on the leader-follower interaction, studies in sports organizations have shown a need for different types of leadership beyond the traditional transformational and transactional leadership. (Wang, Waldman & Zhang 2014, 192; Welty Peachey, Damon, Zhou & Burton 2015, 582.)
Practising any sports might be the first encounter for many children and juveniles with ethical issues, and the experiences gathered from childhood to adulthood in sports shape their knowledge and moral reasoning over the years. Coaches have an influence, and they set an example for the athletes also in ethical behaviour. Hardman and Jones (2011, 2) underline this by pointing out that coaching is fundamentally a moral practice involving human relationships and interpersonal interaction. “Coaches work with persons, not machines” (Hardman & Jones 2011, 2).
While sports knowledge is sometimes regarded as exclusive possession granted to the coaches, who then use it as a power tool over the athletes, it can also be seen as power “for”
others, guiding the athletes to make informed, meaningful and creative decisions of their own. Sports can contribute to the development of personhood, and coaches have an important role in this process. (Hemphill 2011, 113−114.)
The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to produce knowledge for sports management and coaching education by finding out how ethical leadership emerges in sports coaching, and to interpret how the coaches see themselves as ethical leaders. The main goal of the study is to find out good, positive practices in everyday coaching.
The main theme of this study is to highlight the positive lens of ethical leadership in sports.
It would be easy to focus on the negative features of ethics, the unethical side of the story.
However, in this study I would like to bring out its positive aspects, to find out how important good ethical leadership is in coaching, and to explore how the positive effects of ethical leadership can be maintained and delivered from coaches to athletes in everyday coaching.
In the next two chapters, I will define the main concepts, i.e. ethics, ethical decision-making, ethical leadership and ethical blindness. Then, I will relate these concepts to sports context and introduce one model for evaluating ethical leadership in chapter four. In the fifth chapter, I will describe the research questions, and the sixth chapter provides the research design and methodology. The results of the study are presented in chapter seven, following conclusions in chapter eight and discussion in chapter nine.
2 ETHICS AND DECISION MAKING
This chapter presents a theoretical framework for ethics, ethical decision making, and leadership before leading the topic fluently towards the main subject of this thesis, ethical leadership, which will be presented in chapter three. The central concepts and notions are described and discussed, and earlier research within the framework is introduced.
The purpose of the chapter is to discuss and define the central concepts and terms as well as the ontology and epistemology of the thesis, and to serve as a guide throughout the research process.
2.1 Ethics, morals and ethical theory
Ethics refers to the specific branch of philosophy that critically clarifies, examines and reframes the basic concepts and presumptions of morality and ethical theory. However, the term is mainly used as being concerned with human conduct, and issues of right or wrong in it. (Malloy, Ross & Zakus 2003, 54−55.)
The term ethics has its roots in ethos, a Greek word meaning conduct, customs or character.
While ethics discovers and discusses the foundational principles, such as the kinds of values and morals which are desirable and appropriate and is concerned with the virtuousness of individuals and their motives (Northouse 2016, 330), morals focus more on values (Bowen, Katz, Mitchell, Polden & Walden 2017, 1). Morals refer to behaviour and the principles that guide them. While morals is a central concept of ethics, it is not the whole of it. It often
refers to certain absolute and universal claims and principles (e.g., thou shalt not kill).
(Malloy et al. 2003, 55.)
The distinction between morality and ethics lies on the perspective: ethical principles discuss what is “right” or “good”, or how one ought to act, or what is authentic and not authentic whereas morals express a set of values, such as importance of truth telling, fair play, or integrity. Ethics is concerned with the notions of obligation, duty, and moral responsibility, and as such, ethics is manifested in behaviour and assessed through critical moral reasoning and ethical inquiry. Ethics and morality are not matters of opinion or taste, but go beyond that with logical defence. Ethics prescribes what should be done, but compared to a law, which says what must be done, there is a clear difference between the two notions. (Bowen et al. 2017, 1; Malloy et al. 2003, 55.)
Two other notions arising in connection with ethics are values and norms. Values are the deeply held views and individual beliefs which motivate and guide behaviour and set out the path of life we follow. They can be positive or negative, although when serving as describing something they usually have a positive connotation. Norms, however, refer to group or societal standards or a generally held criteria for an acceptable conduct. These criteria can be used as a maxim or a measurement to assess behaviour. (Malloy et al. 2003, 57.)
Juxtaposing values, norms and ethics clarifies the relationship between the three notions (see Table 1). Any action can be analysed to a) identify the values held by the agent, and b) compare the act to the norms of the situation. Ethical theories can then be used as objective criteria upon which to render the moral judgements. (Malloy et al. 2003, 57.)
TABLE 1. The interrelationship between Values, Norms, and Ethics (adapted from Malloy et al. 2003, 56)
VALUES NORMS ETHICS
Individual beliefs which motivate and guide behaviour.
Group or societal standards or generally held criteria for acceptable conduct.
Objective basis upon which judgements are rendered regarding right or wrong, good or bad, authentic or inauthentic behaviour.
The development of ethical theory dates back to Plato and Aristotle (427−347 b.c. and 384−322 b.c., respectively). Northouse (2016, 330) summarizes: “Ethical theory provides a system of rules or principles that guide us in making decisions about what is right or wrong or good or bad in a particular situation. It provides basis for understanding what it means to be a morally decent human being.”
This interplay between rules and principles, and right or wrong in decision making leads us to further explore the mechanisms of ethical decision making.
2.2 Ethical decision making
The capacity to think about both what is right and why (moral reasoning) is related to ethical decision making (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 508). Forsyth (1980, 176) has introduced a concept of individual moral philosophy composed of two components (idealism and relativism) as a guide for moral judgements and decision making. While making ethical judgements individuals adopt one of the four different approaches (situationism, subjectivism, absolutism, or exceptionism) as described in Table 2 below, depending on whether a person espouses idealistic or non-idealistic values and considers moral rules as universal or relative. (Forsyth 1980, 176.)
Individuals high in idealism avoid harm to others at all cost, even that of the outcome, whereas those low in idealism believe that harm is sometimes necessary to produce good.
Individuals high in relativism make moral judgements based on the situation, their own personal values and others involved, whereas individuals low in relativism hold on to the universal moral rules. (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 509.)
TABLE 2. Four individual moral philosophies (adapted from Forsyth 1980, 176; Thompson
& Dieffenbach 2016, 509)
Relativism
Idealism High Low
High Situationism: rejects moral rules, analysis of each act in each situation
Absolutism: The best possible outcome can always be achieved by following universal moral rules
Low Subjectivism: Appraisals based on personal values and perspective rather than universal moral principles
Exceptionism: Moral rules are useful guidelines, but remains open to exceptions to the moral absolutes
Individuals interpret moral situations based on the influencing elements such as social context, attitude, previous experience, and other factors. Individual moral philosophy serves as one additional factor maintaining consistency in how people come to ethical judgements and decisions. Adding to Forsyth’s theory (1980), Thompson and Dieffenbach (2016, 510) refer to Rest et al.’s (1999) theory of the four components of morality (moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral motivation, and moral character) which manifest themselves in a person’s behaviour. The complexity surrounding ethical decision making is demonstrated by the incongruence between psychological processes, beliefs, and actual behaviours.
(Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 510.)
Jones (1991) introduces a different perspective into ethical decision making: an issue-related component of ethical behaviour. He argues that ethical decision making is dependent both on the issue itself, and the characteristics (i.e. moral intensity) of the moral issue itself. For example, the magnitude of consequences is perceived as an important determinant in behaviour and ethical decision making (Jones 1991, 366, 371). Moral issues vary in strength and saliency, and they impact ethical reasoning and moral awareness involved in the situation (Zheng, Witt, Waite, David, van Driel, McDonald, Callison & Crepeau 2015, 732).
The perspectives of ethical decision making lead us closer to the main subject of this thesis, ethical leadership. First, however, it is relevant to enter behaviour and character influences into the equation and to discuss ethics in a context of leadership in general.
2.3 Ethics in leadership
In leadership, and in any decision-making situation, ethics is involved in what leaders do and who leaders are: the nature of leaders’ behaviour and with their virtuousness (Northouse 2016, 330). In other words, when studying ethics and leadership, the ethical theories fall within two broad domains: theories about leaders’ conduct and theories about leaders’
character (Northouse 2016, 333).
The ethical theories about leaders’ conduct can be divided into two types: the deontological theories that emphasize the rules or duty governing the actions, and the teleological theories which stress the consequences of leaders’ actions (Northouse 2016, 333).
The teleological theories question “what is right?”, and they answer the question by focusing on the consequences the leaders produce with their conduct. The consequences of the actions determine the goodness or badness of the behaviour (Northouse 2016, 334). Malloy et al.
(2003, 70) call this set of theories consequentialism. Ethical egoism states that the behaviour should be determined by the best self-interest and greatest good for the decisionmaker himself. Utilitarianism states that the behaviour should create the greatest good for the greatest number; the morally correct action would be the one that maximises the benefits and has the best result for the largest number of people. Related to utilitarianism and opposite to ethical egoism, altruism suggests the actions are moral if the purpose is the best interest of others. A leader may be called to act against his own self-interest, for the benefit of others.
(Northouse 2016, 334−335.)
The second approach to ethics based on looking at the behaviour of the leader is the deontological theory (Malloy et al. (2003, 70) refer to non-consequentialism), which determines whether a given action is ethical by focusing whether the action itself is good, independent of the consequences. Keeping promises, telling the truth, respecting others and being fair are examples of inherently good actions. The deontological perspective focuses on the actions of the leader and the moral obligations and responsibilities to do things right.
(Northouse 2016, 335.)
Another set of ethical theories, the virtue-based theories, focus on the leaders’ character:
who leaders are as persons (Northouse 2016, 335). Virtues are rooted in the individual, but
the moral values, such as courage, generosity, self-control, honesty, modesty, fairness and justice can also be developed and trained. In essence, virtue-based ethics is about becoming and being a good, worthy human being. The virtues are present in one’s disposition, but when practiced, the good values become habitual. (Northouse 2016, 336.)
Malloy et al. (2003, 57−58) add yet another dimension to ethical theory, existentialism, where the attention lies on the individual. Each individual act is evaluated on the basis of authenticity, integrity and genuineness, i.e. how true the leader is to oneself in that particular context and at that particular time. Existentialism differs from the virtue-based theories by consisting of one criterion only – authenticity. All choices will be made from within the will or the soul of the individual. This leads to complete honesty with oneself and with all others who may be influenced by one’s actions. (Malloy et al. 2003, 84−85.)
Ethics is central to leadership, not only because of the influence dimension of leadership, but also because of the impact leaders have on establishing and reinforcing organizational values. Leaders have more power and control, but also responsibility on their followers in engaging and utilizing them to accomplish mutual goals. (Northouse 2016, 336−337.)
This shifts the focus of the theoretical framework to ethical leadership. Ethical leadership and its effects are presented in the following chapter.
3 ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Ethics in leadership has been attracting an increasingly wide interest among scholars during the past 20 years (Lawton & Paez 2015, 639; Northouse 2016, 330). In a search conducted via the University of Eastern Finland library database UEF-Primo in February 2020, a vast number of international peer-reviewed articles were found. With search words “ethical leadership” the result was 297301 hits. After narrowing the search for peer-reviewed texts only (175291) and again narrowing it to articles (166041) the result was overwhelming. The number of international peer-reviewed articles published in the years 2000 - 2020 was 142705, and between 2010 - 2020 there were 101913 hits.
A search for “ethical leadership sport”, however, brought only 7485 peer-reviewed international articles, of which 6743 have been published between 2000 - 2020, and 5004 between 2010 - 2020. This result indicates that ethical leadership in sports is a rather new perspective on ethical leadership, which, in turn, is a relatively recent topic in leadership studies.
This chapter continues building a theoretical framework for this thesis. By defining the concept of ethical leadership, clarifying how it is understood in the context of this thesis, and by exploring its effects, we come to an understanding of the ontology, which we can then process further in the sports context.
3.1 Framework for ethical leadership
Brown, Treviño and Harrison (2005) provide ethical leadership with a definition that makes it easier to understand the characteristics of ethical leadership and its relationship with other variables. Burton and Welty Peachey (2014, 2) regard this definition as the most recognized one there is, being grounded on social learning theory. Brown et al. (2005, 120) define the notion “as the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making”.
Mayer, Kuenzi, Greenbaum, Bardes and Salvador (2009, 1) point out that the definition by Brown et al. (2005, 120) differs from other leadership theories with ethical components in a number of ways. First, the focus on ethics in some other leadership theories is ancillary, representing only one aspect of leadership style, while ethical leadership as conceptualized like this has “a sole and explicit focus on the ethical aspect of leadership” (Mayer et al. 2009, 1). Second, ethical leadership does not only highlight the traits of ethical leaders (as a moral person), but it also highlights the influence of the leaders’ behaviour. By setting an example, the leaders can make their followers behave in a positive and ethical manner (as a moral manager). (Mayer et al. 2009, 3.) While ethical behaviour serves as a component in number of leadership theories, the ethical leadership theory explains the influence of the leaders’
ethical behaviour on that of their followers (Brown & Treviño 2006, 597; White & Rezania 2019, 461).
In line with their definition, Brown et al. (2005, 130) found in their research how ethical leadership emerges from a combination of leader behaviours and characteristics, which include a considerate and fair treatment of employees, holding them accountable for ethical conduct, and demonstrating high ethical standard and integrity by themselves. They also emphasize that in order to be able to influence an employee, the ethical leader must be viewed as a credible and an attractive role model, who makes the ethics message relevant and engages in normatively appropriate behaviour (Brown et al. 2005, 130).
Mayer et al. (2009, 10) agree with this view and point that it is their leaders and the day-to- day interaction with the leaders that plays the more important role in the positive behaviours of employees, mostly through modelling behaviour and through creating, enforcing and
interpreting policies. In addition, as Brown et al. (2005, 132) mention, the ethical leaders are able to use a reward system to hold the employees accountable.
As a further contribution to this discussion, Eisenbeiss (2012, 793) has defined four central cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary orientations as normative reference points for ethical leadership: humane orientation, justice orientation, responsibility and sustainability orientation, and moderation orientation. The first two, humane and justice orientation, focus on the interpersonal influence process reflecting on how leaders exert their control on followers and other stakeholders. Responsibility and sustainability orientation tap the component of goal setting and strategic decision making while reflecting the leaders’
concerns about long-term success, environmental protection, and welfare of the wider community. Moderation orientation taps both the influencing process and the goal setting and strategic decision making components. (Eisenbeiss 2012, 794−795.)
Eisenbeiss (2012, 793) criticizes the definition of Brown et al. (2005, 120) for being conceptually too vague and not specifying any norms that ethical leaders could refer to. In addition, she criticizes the Western-based perspective and the focus on the leadership component of influencing others. She continues to argue (2012, 797, 805) that the definition by Brown et al. refers implicitly to justice orientation (fair decision-making) and humane orientation (listening and taking into account the followers’ interests) but neglects to consider the moderation orientation (balance and self-control) and the responsibility and sustainability orientation.
Levine and Boaks (2014, 231) contribute by arguing that leadership is grounded in pursuing human flourishing; and by requiring all the perfections of a character it aims at eudaimonia.
They translate eudaimonia as a goal of living virtuously and the only way to achieve real happiness. They (2014, 232) consider leadership in a broadly Aristotelian way as a master virtue subsuming other goals ending in eudaimonia and gaining its ethical value and content from promoting eudaimonia. In this way they show the intrinsic connection between leadership and ethics, and how high the bar is set, as very few people will be able to clear it (Levine & Boaks 2014, 240).
Lawton and Páez (2015, 640) have identified three dimensions of leadership in their attempt to develop a framework for ethical leadership. The first dimension, leadership in, involves
the activity and curiosity to seek challenges and see where the imagination will take them.
The second dimension, leadership of, involves the engagement and responsibilities to and for others. The third dimension, leadership for, involves the pursuit of some organisational goal. To these dimensions they have adopted a holistic approach, a framework of purposes, practices and virtues (see Figure 1 below) to draw together the different dimensions of who, why and how of ethical leadership.
FIGURE 1. Dimensions of ethical leadership by Lawton & Páez (2015, 645)
According to Lawton and Páez (2015, 645) “the interplay of virtues, practices, and purposes will lead to different forms of ethical leadership”. To achieve ethical outcomes, authentic and virtuous leaders build trust and act responsibly with integrity in their relationships with others. Lawton and Páez (2015, 646) refer to previous studies where ethical leadership has been grounded in the “moral person” of the ethical leader with traits such as authenticity, openness, and moral courage. However, they conclude by reminding that whilst virtues may focus on the individual, they will also be found in the context of organisational practices and shaped by the wider goals of the organisation (Lawton & Páez 2015, 646).
The interplay of practices, virtues and purposes and the promotion of ethical conduct through interpersonal relationships will be explored next in the effects of ethical leadership.
Practices
Purposes Virtues
3.2 Effects of ethical leadership
Mayer et al. (2009, 11) demonstrate in their research how ethical leadership trickles down in organizations from the top-level management to the middle managers, and from the immediate supervisory level to employees. They have discovered that the followers tend to mimic and imitate management behaviour through social interactions. Through this role- modelling process and because of the rewards and punishment system both the top management and supervisors become important determinants of employee behaviour. Mayer et al. base this phenomenon on social learning theory and social exchange theory. (Mayer et al. 2009, 2−3.)
According to the social learning theory the individuals learn by witnessing and then duplicating the credible and attractive values and behaviours of the role models. Ethical leadership also affects the followers through social exchange processes, which are based on obligations and reciprocity. A transactional social exchange is based on economic exchange of resources, while a socioemotional exchange is based on the exchange of interpersonal treatment, such as fairness or trust. (Mayer et al. 2009, 3−4.) Ethical leadership is based on socioemotional exchange because ethical leaders are likely to be regarded as fair and caring, engendering a high level of trust (Brown & Treviño 2006, 607). Employees count on ethical leaders treating them fairly and are likely to reciprocate such treatment by behaving in a way that benefits and refraining from behaviour that would be detrimental to the group, supervisor or organisation (Mayer et al. 2009, 3−4).
Employees rely on others, outside themselves, for ethical guidance especially during times of change, ambiguity, or uncertainty (Brown et al. 2005, 117; Mayer et al. 2009, 11). The cascading effect of ethical leadership trickles down in the organisation hierarchy from the top to employees ultimately influencing the employee behaviour. However, the supervisors mediate the relationship between the top management and employee behaviours. The relationship will most likely be the strongest when their supervisors display positive ethical behaviour. (Mayer et al. 2009, 9−10.)
By engaging in behaviours which are transparent, fair, and caring, and suggest altruistic motivation, leaders can become a well-founded source of information about an appropriate ethical conduct, and they can be considered “legitimate and credible role models” (Brown
et al. 2005, 120). The immediate supervisors have the most direct influence on the ethical behaviour of employees, and they are the lens through which employees see the organisation’s values (Mayer et al. 2009, 11).
While ethical leadership has been considered important in most organisations, ethical leadership is particularly prominent in situations where the pressure for performance is a core element and the magnitude of possible consequences of the decision is high. Zheng et al. (2015) have found out that ethical leadership lessens emotional exhaustion and benefits follower well-being by enhancing group cohesion. They also reported that follower conscientiousness moderated the effects of this psychological process, remarking that follower personality traits may also influence the effects of ethical leadership. However, the effects of ethical leadership do not hold among individuals with a low level of conscientiousness, and, on the other hand, highly conscientious individuals are more sensitive and more prone to emotional exhaustion, because they value rule-adherence and performance outcomes. Highly conscientious individuals become exhausted when ethical leadership is low, as they must spend their own resources to maintain the desired performance level. Low levels of group cohesion and ethical leadership are situational cues that activate conscientiousness. (Zheng et al. 2015, 743.)
While the study of Zheng et al. (2015, 743) reinforces the conclusion that ethical leadership has considerable effects on follower well-being, it also highlights the importance of regular and proactive communication addressing ethical issues with all followers. Their study suggests that leaders reap the benefits and rely on highly conscientious followers because of their effectiveness, but they may overlook the level of support and the needs of the conscientious followers who might be emotionally vulnerable when the situation inhibits their conscientiousness. The research group also calls for the need for communication infrastructures enabling individuals to seek help in unethical situations or situations involving unethical leaders. (Zheng et al. 2015, 743.)
A study by Walumbwa, Morrison and Christensen (2012, 956) has found evidence on ethical leadership fostering a higher level of group voice by affecting two core beliefs, efficacy and safety. When someone believes that his/her input will be paid attention to and acted upon, he/she is more likely to speak up. However, they are more unlikely to exhibit voice behaviours if they feel that their input will not be taken seriously or fear that their input will
be later used against them. Walumbwa et. al. (2012, 960) have also found evidence of ethical leadership and group in-role performance: if a leader was viewed by the group members as displaying high levels of ethical behaviour, the group performed more effectively, which could accumulatively lead to a better organizational performance.
Wright and Quick (2011) and Wright and Huang (2008) add yet another perspective of the leader’s strengths of character to this discussion. The ability to self-control and to constrain personal needs in order to achieve greater societal good (moral discipline), commitment to something greater than herself (moral attachment), and the capacity to make ethical decisions freely and selflessly on their own volition, i.e. having the discretion and judgement skills to act morally (moral autonomy), are the three dimensions of character defining the interpenetrable and habitual qualities within a leader. (Wright & Quick 2011, 976; Wright
& Huang 2008, 983.)
Based on the three dimensions above, Wright and Quick (2011, 977) argue that the defining and central feature of ethical leadership is good character. Good character may positively have influence on both leader and follower well-being and health, as well as the long-term well-being of the organisation and for the greater societal good. Wright and Quick (2011, 977) also refer to other studies indicating relationships between well-being and such strengths of character as kindness, humility, forgiveness, and gratitude. Wright and Huang (2008, 985) refer to studies which add vitality and psychological well-being to the list of strengths of character beneficial to influencing others to perform their duties without losing their good relations with the group.
Normally, we associate what individuals do to their character. Decisions are assumingly made deliberately by rational actors by making calculations and comparing risks and advantages following the decision. Having a good character, however, does not automatically mean that a person is behaving ethically. In fact, individuals might behave unethically without their own conscious awareness. (University of Lausanne 2021.) This kind of behaviour has been termed ethical blindness, which will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter.
3.3 Ethical blindness
People might engage in unethical actions or behaviour without being aware of it. While they are doing it, they are blind to see it, or they don’t recognize anything wrong, or any harm in it. Many times, they are shocked with their own behaviour when confronted with it.
(University of Lausanne 2021.) Palazzo, Krings and Hoffrage (2011, 324) term this ethical blindness, which means “the decision maker’s temporary inability to see the ethical dimension of a decision at stake”. They continue by describing this inability as “a psychological state, where people are temporary blind to ethical dimensions in a decision- making situation” (Palazzo et al. 2011, 324).
Ethical blindness has three driving factors. First, it assumes that people depart from their own principles and values after attempting to live up to them in the past. Second, it is context- bound and temporary, as for certain reasons (for example context pressure and context forces) integrity and moral reasoning as normal capacities are not available while making a decision. Third, it is unconscious. (Palazzo et al. 2011, 325.)
Sezer, Gino and Bazerman (2015, 77) have concluded that people are subject to predictable and systematic ethical blind spots. The unconscious attitudes can deceive people to act against their own values, and they do so without a conscious awareness by maintaining an illusion of objectivity and by viewing themselves incorrectly as more objective than others.
Fairness judgments are egocentric and self-serving, affected by self-interest. In addition, individuals ignore others’ unethical behaviour if it benefits them, if they fail to recognize their own conflicts of interest, or if they order or influence another person to carry out the decision. (Sezer et al. 2015, 77−78.)
Treviño, den Nieuwenboer and Kish-Gephart (2014, 637) also contribute to the discussion by arguing that the decision-making people in organizations are acting under organizational, leader and peer influences and constrains. People rely on others and look for guidance outside themselves when they are deliberating how to react to an ethical dilemma and when they are making ethical decisions.
How to avoid ethical blindness? Treviño et al. (2014, 649) refer to an earlier study, which suggests that taking time to make a decision reduces unethical behaviour, because the effect
of a loss versus a gain frame disappears. Being more aware of decision frames should help to avoid using decision frames which lead to unethical behaviour, and support framing issues so that they enhance ethical behaviour (Treviño et al 2014, 649).
Palazzo et al. (2011, 335) argue that a democratic atmosphere of open and critical deliberation serves as the most effective cure. Sezer et al. (2015, 79) admit that joint evaluation may not always lead to a positive behaviour change, and that at an institutional level ethical codes draw people’s attention to ethical values. However, the strategies should be consistent with other policies at the institutional design (Sezer et al. 2015, 79).
4 ETHICS IN SPORTS CONTEXT
This chapter broadens the discussion on ethics and ethical leadership and places it into the context of sports. Regardless of the sports at hand, ethical leadership manifests itself in coaching practices, which is the main framework of this study.
In the first section of this chapter, sports will be described as a place for learning life skills.
Then, ethical leadership is discussed in the context of sports, as perceived in everyday coaching within the coach-athlete relationship. Finally, a tool for evaluating coaching education programs and for teaching ethical decision making is introduced.
4.1 Sports as a context for learning
Sports can contribute to the development of personhood (Hemphill 2011, 114). Sport reflects and reinforces the predominant norms and values of the societies. It is not only great entertainment and an arena for building positive collective identities; it can be also justified as a positive arena of socialization and as means towards social and health integration.
(Loland 2011, 15.)
Participation in organized physical activities can contribute positively to physical, social, and emotional well-being. Engagement in youth sport, in particular, has been perceived so valuable that governments around the world keep on investing money in its promotion.
(Bailey & Toms 2011, 150.)
Participation in sports allows participants and spectators to experience the full range of human emotions. Contestants are honour-bound to strive for the win in accordance to the rules but winning cannot be the only value. Winning and losing are on the same range of human experiences from which we gain in many ways, irrespective of the result. While sports is a form of play, it is still a play. (Malloy et al. 2003, 136−137.)
Ethical frameworks for sports go back to ancient times and the ancient Olympic Games, as the ideas of sports as a means of building one’s character and sports as a sphere of morality have existed since those times. The Olympic ideal for sports as a physically, socially, and morally cultivating force for the individual and for society articulates the contemporary view of sporting activities as a priori good. (Loland 2011, 20.)
Two familiar terms, sports spirit (previously sportsmanship) and fair play, have been employed as general ethical guides in sports. However, they are vague concepts and difficult to define. Malloy et al. (2003) make an attempt to elaborate on this by conceptualizing four ethical sports principles: Promise Keeping, Respect for Persons, Responsibility and/or Duty, and Balance. These principles apply to all life, not only sports, and including sports. (Malloy et al. 2003, 137.)
The way sports is practised is influenced by many factors, such as the significance of the cultural and social context, the characteristics of different sports and the basis of sports values among participants. The primary agent in this respect is the coach, who not only sets the performance standards but also sets the motivational climate and the moral standards to be respected and acted upon. A reflective coach rejects cynical and relativistic schemes of morality, and what counts is not only the result but also the way in which it will be achieved.
In order to handle the many moral dilemmas and challenges of competitive sports, a coach needs practical wisdom, phronesis, (e.g. Standal & Hemmestad 2011), to take account of the particularities of the situation and to be able to weigh different kinds of insights and facts against each other in sound and reasonable ways. Anchoring coaching practices in ethical perfectionism and in the ideals of sports itself empowers athletes to explore their own talents through effort and hard training and creates a moral climate in which unethical conduct is considered unacceptable as it undermines the athletes’ status as free and responsible moral agents. (Loland 2011, 15−16, 20−21.)
This demonstrates ethical leadership in coaching. As the ethical leadership is the central topic of this thesis, and for the purpose of completing the theoretical framework of ethics, ethical decision making, and ethical leadership with its pitfalls, the following chapter discusses ethical leadership in sports coaching in further detail.
4.2 Ethical leadership in sports coaching
In the contexts such as sports, in which the moral intensity of ethical decisions is high, the leaders can demonstrate ethical leadership to their followers, leading to a greater consensus among the follower perceptions of ethical leadership through observation (Brown et al. 2005, 132; Zheng et al. 2015, 743). Mayer et al. (2009, 3, 10) note that the followers also come to understand how to behave and what is expected of them through direct experience in interaction with their immediate supervisors. Most lower-level employees rarely socialise with the top-level executive in large organisations (Brown et al. 2005, 131), and the same is true of sports organisations. Athletes seldom interact with the club owners, and the perceptions and opinions of their ethical leadership may rely on public information only.
Coaches as their so-called supervisors have a crucial role in modelling ethical behaviour, using a reward and punishment system, and holding the athletes accountable. Therefore, it is hypothesized in this study that coaching includes ethical leadership and a coach serves as an ethical leader for the athletes.
The potentially positive role of leadership in proactively counteracting unethical behaviour in sports can be found especially in the coach-athlete relationship. Studies have shown how coaches, especially youth coaches have a great influence over the athletes, even greater than parents or teachers. (Burke 2001, 229; Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 508.)
According to White and Rezania (2019, 461), coaches are “thrust into positions of leadership because of their influence on the actions and behaviours of athletes”. They set priorities, objectives and goals, and establish and direct strategies for themselves and their athletes.
They also measure performance and direct the athletes’ behaviour. Meanwhile, they are supposed to follow the accepted norms and honour their contracts for all stakeholders, from a single athlete to professional associations and broader society. (White & Rezania 2019, 460.)
Coaching is a moral enterprise, and at its heart, sports coaching aims to affect the behaviours, attitudes and values of athletes both towards each other, and in how they play sports. The meaning of being human, the desire to exercise free will and the pursuit of autonomy have an impact on how we want to live our lives, making the notions of autonomy and freedom of choice cornerstones of ethical discourse in the context of sports coaching as well. Coaches express their value judgements in how they normatively decide what, why, whom, and how they coach, and then manifest them in the manner they interact with those they coach in complex interpersonal activities. This gives rise to a shared sense of motivation and meaning towards how one should participate in sports. (Hardman & Jones 2011, 2.)
Martinkova and Parry (2011, 182) point out that the coach is not a value-neutral agent who simply organises the sporting activities of the athletes. The coach is following his/her own objectives and inhabiting his/her own social context. One of the objectives is to help the athlete to enhance and improve her/his performance. The coach may also seek to earn a living, to have social contacts, to gain public recognition, to travel, or to be in charge. For a healthy coach-athlete relationship it is essential that the coach’s and athlete’s objectives are made clear. (Martinkova & Parry 2011, 182.)
A coaching session can be described as an environment where the children and older athletes
“develop and test the moral dimensions of their evolving characters”. In this way, the coach influences the moral ground during sports practices. (Hardman et al. 2010, 345.)
White and Rezania (2019, 469) have contributed to this discussion recently by exploring how a high level of ethical behaviour by coaches results in the athletes’ feeling more accountable and more willing to speak up. Through this felt accountability, the athletes experience that their efforts are important and others are dependent on them, which makes them more motivated to succeed. These athletes express their opinions more willingly and are more likely to give input and intervene in issues that affect the team’s quality of life and their overall performance. (White & Rezania 2019, 469−470.)
Ethical leadership supports excellence. The increasing pressure from fans, parents and administrators to achieve success should not perpetuate unethical behaviour as a means to achieve it. The administrators should support ethical leadership behaviour in their coaches,
as it positively impacts the outcomes of coaching by leading individual athletes to success.
(White & Rezania 2019, 471.)
Many national and international major sports organizations have their own codes of ethics for coaches. However, as these codes have often been produced as a response on current issues and relating to “what not to do” and because they lack standardization, they cannot prepare coaches for every possible ethical situation, which limits the usability of such codes.
(Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 509.)
McNamee (2011, 23) argues that these codes demonstrate moral conservatism, moving back to the language of moral certainty, and of obligations, duties, rules and principles. He also notes that when applying such codes it is a commonplace to search for authoritative support for ethical commitments and to put one’s finger on the clashes between permissible and impermissible conduct (McNamee 2011, 25).
The existing codes offer apparent simplicity and clarity, they set out standards and criteria, they offer a framework for resolving conflict or ambiguity, and they allow exclusion to anyone who will not conform to the code. In practice, the codes are a safety-net of catching the unethical conduct and enabling the punishment or expulsion. However, they do not have any great effect in ensuring ethical behaviour per se. (McNamee 2011, 25, 39.) McNamee (2011, 25) refers to Williams’s (1985) comment “blame is the characteristic reaction of the morality system” meaning that the series of obligations of increasing power must be met for fear of incurring blame and a possible punishment.
Constandt, De Waegeneer and Willem (2019, 631), however, argue that clubs should adopt an ethical code succeeding with further actions, including enabling whistle-blowers to inform any ethical issues, and to providing an interaction tool for people with questions.
They also confirm that ethical leadership in clubs is a strict prerequisite for translating the ethical code into the daily practice.
Mayer et al. (2009, 10) have also found out that the formal ethical codes might not have effective influence on the follower behaviour. Instead, they argue, ethical training for leaders is more important, as the daily interaction with managers has a bigger impact in the followers’ perceptions and behaviours.
According to Mallett, Trudel, Lyle and Rynne (2009, 331), the most common pathway to coaching is from an athlete to a coach via formal or informal education. In the worst case the recurrent cycle allows the normalization of questionable behaviour in sport, as ethical training is still rare in modern coaching education (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 508).
The value and importance of ethical leadership and coaching ethics are universally recognized. Measuring professional ethics provides tools for the educators to evaluate coaching education programs and to teach ethical decision making. A tool, originally based on six coaching scenarios, is presented in the following chapter. The tool is partially used in the empirical part of this study.
4.3 Teaching and measuring ethical decision making in coaching
Ethical behaviour has been an important organisational topic in major sports organisations around the world, both in the National Olympic Committees and International Sport Federations. Unfortunately, as demonstrated in the previous chapter, the complex nature of coaching limits the utility of ethical codes of conduct created by these organisations. It has been suggested for a solution to adopt a value-based education model. (Hardman et al. 2010, 350; Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 509.)
While the value of coaching ethics from both an awareness and developmental standpoints is reckoned important in the sports federations and by the coaches themselves, holding the coaches accountable for their ethical conduct has also been suggested. Measuring professional ethics helps educators to identify topics and track changes throughout the coaching education programs, and to target those topics where the educational effort has been successful. (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 510.)
Thompson and Dieffenbach (2016) have created an initial tool for measuring professional ethics in coaching, the Professional Issues in Sport Coaching Questionnaire (PISC-Q). The authors have analysed previous research to identify several issues which coaches regard as ethical pitfalls in the coaching profession. These issues include, for example, playing when they are injured, pushing the rules, enforcing rules, and using offensive language. With the help of these topics, the authors have created six scenarios, reflecting the high-school sport
system in the United States. When using the PISC-Q, the coaches are instructed to read each scenario and then respond to four follow-up questions, which reflect Rest et al.’s (1999) four-component model of morality (see page 7). (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 512.) An example of a scenario and follow-up questions is illustrated in Figure 2.
Scenario 6: Coach King is the coach for a high school soccer team in a large metropolitan city. Because of the large number of schools, the coaches are in contact frequently. Every time Coach King speaks with him, Coach Barnes has something bad to say about one of the other coaches in the league. Coach King is considering confronting Coach Barnes about his words.
Coach King should talk to Coach Barnes about his words.
Strongly agree (SA)
Agree (A) Neutral (N) Disagree (D) Strongly disagree (SD) Coach King has an ethical
responsibility in this situation.
SA A N D SD
I would say something to Coach Barnes.
SA A N D SD
I feel this is an important issue in coaching.
SA A N D SD
FIGURE 2. An example scenario in Professional Issues in Sport Coaching Questionnaire (PISC-Q) (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 522)
Thompson and Dieffenbach (2016) underline the need for increased opportunities for specifying “the most challenging areas of ethical decision making” for ethics education in coaching training. They refer to previous research which recommends using case studies and self-reflection assignments to teach ethical decision making, as these methods would be utmost valuable for young coaches, in particular. (Thompson & Dieffenbach 2016, 518.)
5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Previous research suggests that ethical leadership in sports comes into a broad daylight in coaching practices. Coaches have a prominent role in this through their personal actions and through promoting such conduct to athletes. This study will investigate this aspect further with a presumption that coaching includes ethical leadership and a coach serves as an ethical leader.
The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to produce knowledge for sports management and coaching education by finding out how ethical leadership emerges in sports coaching, and to interpret how the coaches see themselves as ethical leaders. The main goal of the study is to find out good, positive practices in everyday coaching.
The central theme of this study is to highlight the positive perspective of ethical leadership in sport. While the negative aspects are well-known through the media and majority of sports management literature, this study contributes to the positive angle, and places emphasis on the positive perspective in dealing with ethics in sports.
The two main research questions with sub-questions are:
1. How does ethical leadership in sports coaching emerge?
1.1 What kind of ethical issues or challenges do coaches face during the everyday coaching?
1.2 How do the coaches deal with ethical challenges in coaching?
1.3 What kind of support do the coaches need and/or have available in case of ethical dilemmas?
2. What kind of perceptions and interpretations do coaches have of themselves as ethical leaders?
2.1 How do coaches promote ethical behaviour in their coaching practices?
2.2 What kind of experiences do the coaches have about their ethical behaviour flowing down to athletes?
It is recommended in the literature on methodology and research techniques (e.g. Creswell
& Poth 2018, 137; Hirsjärvi, Remes & Sajavaara 2013, 126), that a researcher reduces the entire study to one over-arching and broad central question and several subquestions. The answers received to subquestions help the researcher to reply to the central question (Hirsjärvi et al. 2013, 128).
In this study, however, there are two angles to view the phenomenon. The two core problems addressed in this study are how ethical leadership in coaching emerges and how the coaches perceive themselves as ethical leaders. The subquestions guide the research process towards finding answers to the core questions.
The first set of research questions focuses on describing how the phenomenon studied, i.e.
ethical leadership, emerges in everyday coaching through the coaches’ experiences. The meaning of lived experience will be explored and interpreted, and the ways in which the coaches make sense of their experiences will be brought together and analysed by drawing meanings from their stories.
The second set of research questions concerns the perceptions and interpretations of the coaches themselves as ethical leaders. Ethical leadership as a phenomenon will be subjectively interpreted through the coaches’ own actions, and the ontological possibilities will be preserved. The concept of being will be searched and the meanings embedded in everyday occurrences will be explored.
Focusing on positivity is a choice made by the author, although it may be possible that the positive perspective can be hard to observe during the process. That is why positivity has not been mentioned in the research questions. It only serves as a guideline and as an instrument to shift focus from the negative to the positive side of the phenomenon.
6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, the way in which ethical leadership emerges in sports coaching and the coaches’ perceptions of themselves as ethical leaders are explored by interviewing five informants. Understanding of the phenomenon, ethical leadership in everyday sports coaching, is constructed by interpreting the stories of the informants using a thematic analysis.
In this chapter, I will define the research design, including the methodology, target group and data collection. I will also describe the process of analysis and let the readers follow through it as I discuss the choices I made and the intuitions that guided my work. Finally, I will discuss the ethics, reliability and validity of the research process.
6.1 Methodological approach
The methodological approach to this study is qualitative. As this is a study of interpretive nature, the participants’ multiple perspectives and meanings, holistic account, and reflexivity will emerge in this research process, and as there is a phenomenon, i.e. ethical leadership in everyday sports coaching, which needs to be explored, qualitative research provides a complex, detailed understanding of the phenomenon. (Creswell & Poth 2018, 43−45;
Hirsjärvi et al. 2013, 161.)
Qualitative research is conducted when individuals are empowered to share their stories, perceptions and voices, and when the contexts and settings in which participants address the issue needs to be understood (Creswell & Poth 2018, 45). The aim is to understand and
