Leadership

“Real leaders concentrate on doing the right thing, not on doing

things right.”

According to Lashway (1996) this advice is nothing new to school leaders who face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. Although administrators face these dilemmas on a daily basis, very few of them are trained or pedagogically equipped to deal with these conflicts.

To prove the amplitude of this problem Reilly (2006) states that ethical breeches exist and “illegal behaviors happen even in the school yard in the presence of children, the can also serve to distract us from the larger matters to which we must attend” (p. 164). This is not a problem that can merely be swept under the carpet. Instead, administrators must take a look at why they do things, and why they make certain decisions.

Kocabas and Karakose (2009) cite several leading experts that describe the self-examination that an administrator must make when they are faced with an ethical dilemma:

Ethical issues are part of everyday life in schools. They frequently arise from decisions which require value judgments about doing the right thing, or saying the good or best thing in a particular situation. Although doing the right thing seems easy enough most times when an ethically difficult situation arises, it may cause individuals to examine their ethics in practice (p. 126).

The situations that administrators face can cause them to take a close look at why they make certain decisions. Examining one’s own decision can greatly aid the decision making process.

Administrators must examine their own ethics and make ethical decisions because schools are inherently dedicated to the well-being of the children who attend (Lashway, 2006). The ethical climate of the school is the responsibility of the administrator in charge. The relationships that develop ethically in the school between students, staff, and administrators are directly related to the behavior and decision-making of the administrator (Sagnak, 2010, p. 1136).

This leads to the question: What is ethical behavior for an administrator? According to the American Association of School Administrators (2010), there are some behaviors that are required for an administrator to behave ethically. First an administrator must make the educational well-being of the students the fundamental condition of the decision-making process. Also, the administrator must fulfill their professional duties honestly and always act in a responsible manner.

Further, the administrator should allow his positive ethical behavior to carry over to his staff.