for conduct. The challenge for an organisation, and especially for
those in command, is to comply with established values. It is in
everyday duties that those in charge demonstrate whether they
serve as examples for others, and whether they comply with their
organisation’s ethics and morals. And subordinates normally fol-
low the lead of their superiors.
Aristotle, one of the Western world’s most influential moral
philosophers, maintained that people should nurture four vir-
tues: wisdom, justice, bravery and moderation. The conventional
picture of leadership primarily contains bravery and justice. But
wisdom and moderation point to another approach: a careful and
balanced manner of dealing with decision making situations, es-
pecially when issues become problematic from an ethical perspec-
tive. The significance of wisdom and moderation should in other
words, not be underestimated.
Ethics deals with justice, with what is right or wrong and with
which rules one establishes for responsible conduct between indi-
viduals and between groups. The word ethics stems from the Greek
word ethos: shared fundamental traits, which are typically expres-
sed in attitudes, habits and beliefs. Morals in turn comes from the
Latin word moralis, which concerns customs and embraces the
aspects of norms and values that form the basis for what is good or
bad, right or wrong. Morals normally designate the actual pattern
of behaviour, while ethics have come to designate moral doctrines
or thought on morals (Lundberg, et al., 1997). Morals are demon-
strated in a person’s manner of living up to his or her ethics.
Ethics can be divided into normative ethics, which stipulate
how one should conduct oneself in various situations; descriptiveThe fire brigade’s
leading star, where
each point represents
something worth
striving after.
In many countries,
the Maltese Cross is
used as the insignia of
the fire service. The
eight points represents
symbolize the
Beatitudes given in the
Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5:3-10).