000			02409nam a2200217 4500
999			_c52492 _d52492
003			OSt
005			20190826115312.0
008			190826b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aSanders, Paul _95842
245			_aThe interplay of the Dirty Hands of British area bombing and the wicked problem of defeating Nazi Germany in the Second World War – A lesson in leadership ethics
300			_a271-295 p.
520			_aThe British area bombing of Germany in the Second World War 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’ 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.
653			_aArea bombing _aDirty hands
653			_aHarris, _aVirtue ethics
653			_aSecond World War
653			_aLeadership
653			_aWwicked
700			_aGrint, Keith _934343
773	0		_029449 _976467 _aCOLLINSON, DAVID _dNEW DELHI SAGE PUBLICATION PVT. LTD. _o55510720 _tLEADERSHIP _z1742-7150
942			_2ddc _cJA-ARTICLE