The Four Stages of Moral Development in （道德发展的四个阶段）.pdf

The ADM James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership United States Naval Academy The Four Stages of Moral Development in Military Leadersi Joseph J. Thomas Lakefield Family Foundation Distinguished Military Professor of Leadership United States Naval Academy (410) 293-6548, jjthomas@usna.edu ABSTRACT The development of the moral element of leadership is very often ignored in the training and education of military officers—non-commissioned, staff non- commissioned, and commissioned. This is partly due to the lack of understanding of the developmental stages in the career of a service member. 1 The ADM James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership United States Naval Academy Of the three dimensions of leadership—moral, physical and intellectual—the most difficult to harvest is moral development. The physical attributes of leadership— courage, bearing, endurance, and even appearance, can be cultivated through disciplined training. The intellectual aspect of leadership can be cultivated through intensive study of human nature, crisis management, leadership and managerial technique, philosophy, logic, and so on. The moral aspect of leadership—personally understanding, embracing, and inculcating ethical conduct in others is far more difficult to develop in leaders and can be far more time consuming. In spite of decades of highly publicized moral/ethical failures on the part of its military members, the DoD has not achieved a satisfactory method for addressing the moral development of servi