Ethical leadership, ethical dilemmas and decision making among school administrators

Abstract

Ethical dilemmas are an inevitable element in decision making. For school organizations, the emergence of an ethical dilemma in decision making is almost a daily occurrence. The purpose of this research is to reveal the impact of ethical leadership on leaders’ decision making by comparing two samples of school administrators in the Israeli education system using the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire. The research questions were about the factors that influence ethical decision making. They were used to investigate whether or not personal characteristics have any influential role on ethical decision making and whether there are any differences between the two cultures that affect ethical decision making and the dimensions of ethical leadership. The results of this study revealed that ethical leadership and the moral behavior of school members have only positive effects on the evaluation and interpretation of social values, the better treatment of moral dilemmas and the enhancement of ethical decision making. Moreover, in both cases, high positive correlations were found with the variables ethic critique, sensitivity and culture, and the ethic of care. The dimensions of ethical leadership, and hence the ways ethical dilemmas are handled, present similarities between the two cultures.

Exploring Value-driven Leadership: Perspectives From School Leaders

“…For instance, ethical leadership was found significantly influence professional learning communities via teacher obligation coupled with the interaction effect of teacher participation in school decision making in China (Liu & Yin, 2020). Similarly, Arar and Saiti (2022) supported that value-driven leadership, referring to ethical leadership have significantly influenced Israeli school leaders’ practices and their interpretation of social values.…”

Ethical Leadership in Education: A Uniting View Through Ethics of Care, Justice, Critique, and Heartful Education

“…Through the ethic of care, justice, and critique, these educational administrators try to create schools where all individuals feel taken care of, a sense of justice and fairness in the decisionmaking process, and a feeling of being heard is promoted. This model of multiple ethical paradigms includes other paradigms, such as culture, and decision-making (Arar et al, 2016), profession (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2022), utilitarianism (Eyal et al, 2011), or sensitivity (Arar & Saiti, 2022). Ethical schools apply, implement, and emphasize these moral paradigms so that the values they represent building a culture of respect, understanding, and empathy.…”

“…• Studies (Eyal et al,2011;Kutsyuruba & Walker, 2013;Arar et al, 2016;Arar & Saiti, 2022) showed that a multiple ethical paradigms model helps school leaders implement effective policies and develop a caring, fair, sensitive, practical, inspiring, and compassionate culture. Also, implementing these multiple ethical paradigms is crucial to solving the ethical dilemmas that arise in schools (Norberg & Johansson, 2007).…”

“…Another interesting finding revealed that less experienced educational leaders valued the ethic of critique the most. Arar and Saiti (2022) conducted a study in 2018 in school organizations in two different regions of Israel. This research aimed to determine the impact of ethical leadership on educational leaders' decision-making process.…”

Advancing Ethics within Public Administration

“…Public management refers to choices that involve ethical commitments and decisions. Ethics is significant for managerial discretion (Dobel, 1998), for enhancing public service motivation as positively related to organizational commitment (Potipiroon & Ford, 2017), and supporting ethical organizational climate and culture, enabling the employees to develop ethical behaviours (Arar & Saiti, 2022). The ability of public manager is to identify needs of citizens, and communicate actively with them, involving the decision makers in the management process, providing assistance to them, and empowering the employees to build up a team work (Reichard, 1998).…”