Honesty

(noun)

A facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness, along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft.

Related Terms

Examples of Honesty in the following topics:

  • Honesty in Leadership: Kouzes and Posner

    • Kouzes and Posner identify five behaviors of effective leadership, with honesty essential to each.
    • Honesty refers to different aspects of moral character.
    • Honesty also implies the absence of lying, cheating, or theft.
    • Honesty also brings a degree of transparency to a leader's interaction with others.
    • The need for honesty is woven throughout the primary activities of effective leaders.

  • Other Important Trait Theories

    • An example of a central trait would be honesty.
    • The six factors are generally named Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extroversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O).

  • Leadership Traits

    • Some of the inherent leadership traits in Zaccaro's model include extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, honesty/integrity, charisma, intelligence, creativity, achievement motivation, need for power, oral/written communication, interpersonal skills, general problem-solving, decision making, technical knowledge, and management skills.

  • Defining Values

    • If an employee values honesty, hard work, and discipline, for example, he will likely make an effort to exhibit those traits in the workplace.

  • How Values Influence Behavior

    • If a person values honesty, then he or she will strive to be honest.

  • Setting Transparency Norms

    • Organizations that value honesty, trust, and ethical practices encourage accuracy and thereby increase their transparency.

  • The Trait-Theory Approach

    • This model contends the following traits are correlated with strong leadership potential: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, honesty, charisma, intelligence, creativity, achievement motivation, need for power, communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, decision-making skills, technical knowledge, and management skills.

  • Promoting Ethical Behavior through the Planning Process

    • Companies must also use promotion methods that avoid negative advertising and promote truth and honesty about a product.