Decision Making Processes in Educational Institutions

Educational institutions are composed of at least three separate yet inter-related constituencies involved in ethical decision making processes: administrators, faculty and students. This paper explores the ethical responsibilities and decision-making processes of each of these constituencies and evaluates the impact of ethical and unethical decisions on the functioning of a higher education institution. Specifically, the paper explores particular case studies of situations that give rise to ethical decision making in higher education settings in light of published statements of the ethical standards and moral principles that should guide institutionalized behavior in such settings. The paper concludes that ultimately administrators are in the best position, and have the obligation, to set the ethical standards and moral principles that will guide all decision-making processes across the institution.

In 1998, 48 percent of business school deans who responded to an ethics survey admitted that they would admit a clearly unqualified student to their school if the candidate's family donated $1 million. In addition, 37 percent of the deans also admitted that they would help a donor get an improper tax deduction by backdating a $500,000 gift to their school (Fairclough, 1998, A8). Both of the above situations clearly raise ethical concerns. Arguably, the deans' responses in favor of accepting th

. . .
n. Such codes of behavior must be communicated to corporate and government research sponsors at the outset of the research, so any concerns can be addressed then. These situations also demonstrate the futility of situational or postmodern ethical codes of behavior. Such codes, which can be adjusted to meet the particular circumstances of any given situation will not provide clear guidelines to faculty researchers such as Benedict who find themselves caught between competing interests. Conclusion Increasingly, students who come to American universities do so less and less with a common set of cultural experiences and values. For example, although students of European descent still constitute a majority at institutions, one in four undergraduates at Stanford and Wellesley, for example, are Asian-Americans, as are roughly one in five at Harvard, Northwestern and the University of Pennsylvania (Guelcher & Cahalane, 1999, p. 325). The University of California at Los Angeles has an undergraduate student population made up of 40 percent Asian-American students (Guelcher & Cahalane, 1999, p. 325). Of course, many of these students are born and raised in the United States, but many of them also come from international backgrounds.
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
ACPA Statement, Guelcher Cahalane, Alexander Holmes, Leadership Fullan, Bolman Deal, Kouzes Posner's, Choice Rationale, Gallagher Perez-Prado, Alexander Zhao, Abstract Educational, educational leadership, effective leaders, guelcher cahalane, educational institutions, moral principles, 1999 325, guelcher cahalane 1999, cahalane 1999, adult-focused education, distance education, cahalane 1999 325, kouzes posner's, technology distance education, arax burstein 1997, benson arax burstein,
Approximate Word count = 9383
Approximate Pages = 38 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Decision Making Processes in Educational Institutions