Ethics

Ethics

What is Ethics?

Ethics traditionally is defined as the determination of good ends and right means. While “good” and “right” have historically shifted in their meaning over time, the importance of the study of ethics in educational administration preparation has been generally accepted (Beck & Murphy, 1994). This entry will attempt to categorize that study in terms of four key Western philosophical ideals—one's deontological duties, one's teleological desires, individual virtue, and group virtue (Kidder, 1995). All of these philosophical ideals have specific considerations of good ends and right means, and their relevance to leadership theory and application can lend an ethical illumination to the actions and beliefs of, by, and about leaders. Duty-based and desires-based ethics are dependant on the actions of the person. Individual virtue ethics and the ethics of the good group are dependent on states of being, that is to say, they are considered to be desirable characteristics and qualities of an ethical person or group.

Duties-based or deontological (Greek deon, duty) ethics concern what one ought to do. Historically, Immanuel Kant best summarizes the deontological position in his discussion of moral imperatives. Kant divides imperatives into two classes—hypothetical or those that can change based upon the particular needs of a given situation, and categorical or those that are immutable. (Starratt, 1994) Thus, one's immutable belief about one's duty in a given situation is a categorical imperative. Applied to leadership, categorical imperatives are always centered in the actual action that leaders' beliefs lead them to do. This means that if a leader believes rules must be followed, no matter the circumstances, then that leader will always exercise rules-based interpretations of leadership. One key idea of Kant's is that the consequences of categorical imperatives are not to be considered. Rather, categorical imperatives are the type of belief that the person holds in spite of the consequences. Thus, the rules-based leaders referred to above will not be concerned with the consequences of their actions, even if they can see that they might be potentially harmful due to the individual circumstances of the situation. Current ethical writers in leadership often combine other theoretical viewpoints within a deontological framework to define kinds of categorical imperatives or immutable duties. A good example is a social justice or critical social theory framework. Such justice referents often recall immutable duties of leadership.

Teleological (Greek telos, end) desires serve as another framework for defining good ends and right means. This framework attempts to account for what each of us wants. In leadership, this can often be expressed in terms of desired ends or outcomes, but from a more theoretical point of view, desires are best expressed by the utilitarian philosophical ideal. The first great proponent of utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham, stated that good ends should be determined by what gives pleasure or avoids pain. Applied to leadership, this framework leads to seeking the best for the most within the organization. Often, especially in terms of reform movements or change in schools, the rightness of decisions is based upon what the ...