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The interplay of the Dirty Hands of British area bombing and the Wicked Problem of defeating Nazi Germany in World War II - a lesson in leadership ethics
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Sanders, Paul and Grint, Keith (2019) The interplay of the Dirty Hands of British area bombing and the Wicked Problem of defeating Nazi Germany in World War II - a lesson in leadership ethics. Leadership, 15 (3). pp. 271-295. doi:10.1177/1742715017751532 ISSN 1742-7150.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715017751532
Abstract
The British area bombing of Germany in World War II has provided for enduring ethical controversy. Eschewing conventional approaches, we present area bombing as a Dirty Hands leadership response to the Wicked Problem of Britain’s wartime strategic predicament. Using historical methodology, we establish two distinct phases in area bombing: 1942-1944, when this was ethically contentious but politically necessary; and 1944-1945, which lacks a Dirty Hands legitimation. The second phase follows upon a six-month lull in area bombing during Bomber Command’s assignment to Overlord (D-Day) duties. It is characterised by credible alternatives to area bombing, a waning sense of proportionality in Bomber Command activity, and intensifying death and destruction without justifiable purpose. We relate the breaching of the boundaries of Dirty Hands in Phase II to a precise date - September 1944. This coincides with the mutation of the strategic Wicked Problem into a Critical Problem, visible in the stalling of the Allied land campaign in France. Mistaking this for a Tame Problem, the C-in-C of Bomber Command, Arthur Harris, exploits the political context to escalate his commitment. Following Watters’ (2017) alignment of Critical Problems with Virtue Ethics, we argue that Harris’ leadership in Phase II is not consistent with Virtue Ethics (of which recognition of the boundaries of Dirty Hands is a function). Harris is the archetype of the leader who gets away with exploiting a Wicked Problem because his superiors have let down their guard. In the final instance, his failure of ethical leadership becomes their own.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D731 World War II H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HM Sociology U Military Science > U Military Science (General) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | War--Moral and ethical aspects, Command of troops , Leadership , World War, 1939-1945 , World War, 1939-1945--Moral and ethical aspects, World War, 1939-1945--Moral and ethical aspects--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Germany, Military ethics , Leadership--Moral and ethical aspects | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Leadership | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Sage | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1742-7150 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | 1 June 2019 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 15 | ||||||||
| Number: | 3 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 271-295 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/1742715017751532 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 4 December 2017 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 6 March 2018 |
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