Leaders are faced with ethical and moral dilemmas daily, like those within the military who must span from large-scale combat operations to security cooperation and deterrence. For businesses, these dilemmas can include social and environmental impact such as those in mining; and for governments, the social and economic impact of their decision-making in their response to COVID-19. The move by Western defence forces to align their foundational principles, policies, and “soldier” dispositions with the changing values of the countries they serve are starkly illustrative of challenges faced by all leaders. While admirable, such changes face the apparent contradiction of enhancing individual moral agency within a hierarchical organization that maintain enforceable codes of conduct. Ethical leadership theory provides aspirational goals, but lacks empirically based guidance on how to implement policies that facilitate values-based behavior. Using a discourse theory analysis of a moral dilemma vignette with Royal Australian Air Force personnel, this research identifies important aspects of agency and subject position that must be addressed if such policies are to succeed. These findings show that the potential contradiction can be addressed by acknowledging the contrasting tendency to bureaucratic process by leaders at upper levels, while lower-level leaders address moral issues by incorporating their subjectivity and making a conscious deontological choice between humanity and comrade loyalty.

领导人每天都面临道德和道德困境，就像军队内部的人必须从大规模作战行动到安全合作和威慑一样。对于企业而言，这些困境可能包括社会和环境影响，例如采矿业；对于政府而言，他们在应对 COVID-19 时做出的决策所产生的社会和经济影响。西方国防军将其基本原则、政策和“士兵”部署与他们所服务的国家不断变化的价值观保持一致，这清楚地说明了所有领导人所面临的挑战。虽然令人钦佩，但这些变化面临着在维护可执行行为准则的等级组织内增强个人道德能动性的明显矛盾。道德领导理论提供了理想的目标，但缺乏关于如何实施促进基于价值观的行为的政策的基于经验的指导。本研究通过对澳大利亚皇家空军人员的道德困境小插曲进行话语理论分析，确定了这些政策要成功必须解决的机构和主体地位的重要方面。