Ethical Decision Making in School Administration: Leadership as Moral Architecture

Citation

Normore, A.H. (2011), "Ethical Decision Making in School Administration: Leadership as Moral Architecture", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 95-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231111102081

In their book, Ethical Decision Making in School Administration: Leadership as Moral Architecture, Paul Wagner and Douglas Simpson provide a clear and comprehensive set of bell weathers for the betterment of education leadership. Fraught with rich pedagogy, cultural sensitivity, and inclusive demographics, the authors expose educational leaders to an interdisciplinary array of theories from not only education but also from other disciplines including management, economics and moral philosophy.

The book's organization is as straightforward and orderly as the authors' approach to ethical decision making. Organized around eight chapters, the authors provide a litany of case studies, possibilities for thinking “outside the box” to secure organizational commitment, multiple theories of ethics, and a wide range of in‐text learning aids, a complete glossary, end of chapter activities, and thought‐provoking reflections and questions. The book is an engaging, perceptive, and savvy text provoking conscious ethical reflection by educational leaders, their instructors, and other stakeholders. Discussions of ethical decision‐making demonstrate how understanding key concepts can dramatically improve management styles and protocols.

In Chapter 1, titled “Leaders, ethics and schools”, Wagner and Simpson lead the reader on a path in search for clarity and the inherently moral nature of leadership. In their technical use of the term (pp. 10‐12) “the Great Conversation of Human Kind” the authors embrace the idea of a shared search for knowledge and a quest for establishing an understanding of the general will of the human spirit. Further, they introduce the concept of (pp. 3‐7) “moral architecture” to help set the context for the entire book. Chapter 2 presents concise yet comprehensive explanations of the spectrum of “Moral theory”. The discussion on “Moral theory” falls under headings such as (pp. 22‐3) “Virtue theory”, (pp. 24‐6) “Rationality and moral theorists”, (pp. 27‐9) “The social contract”, (pp. 30‐37) “The many camps of universalism”, (pp. 37‐41) “Intuitionism and social sympathy”, and (pp. 41‐4) “Pragmatism”. Lucid definitions, academic citations, key analytical questions, a case study and an activity allow for easy reference and linkages to supplementary reading.

In their expanded discussion of “Leadership as moral architecture” in chapter three, the authors clarify the nature of education and leadership and the four foundational corners of education purpose (i.e., learning, developing attitudes appropriate for participation, acquiring important and reliable information, and dispositions/ responding in predictable ways to hear others out). A theme throughout this chapter focuses on the challenge of sustaining leadership in education and the importance for (p. 49) “understanding the surrounding communities that support or constrain district and school development”. Further capitalizing on this concept the authors assert that (p. 49) “in helping to craft the moral architecture of schools, educational administrators through role modeling, policy, and other discursive directive serve as co‐architects of the local community's future and, more generally, as co‐architects of the nation's future”.

In Chapter 4, titled “Taking on the big challenge of school and district administration”, focus shifts to the role of the educational administrator not only as a leader but also as a manager. According to Wagner and Simpson (2009, p. 67), “leadership and management are not exclusive functions in education […] that each depends on the successful operation of the other”. Through the use of differentiating between an “administrative leader”, “manager” and “boss” the authors make the case that capability in fulfilling one function is no guarantee of skill in fulfilling the other. Moreover, if and when an institution is in trouble assessment and subsequent evaluation for identifying an ineffective or inoperable process or policy should be conducted rather than a review of people. Chapter five focuses on the “Costs and benefits of inclusion”. The theme of this chapter resonates clearly throughout the text – the challenge of acknowledging respect for the autonomy of others and yet still secure equity in meeting the needs for all. Wagner and Simpson reiterate that (p. 86) “paternalism, and equity seemingly lead to conflicts of duty whenever the development of one is pursued to excess and inevitably at the expense of the others”. The case is made that district accounting practices are a meta‐language for describing what is really and truly valued in a district, and (p. 98) “[…] accounting ledgers track the unfolding story” and clearly indicate what districts – oftentimes determined by federal and state legislation – consider to be priorities and ripe with moral implications.

In Chapter six, titled “Factors to consider when making judgments about controversial issues”, Wagner and Simpson build on the content from the previous chapter which essentially highlights that the truly successful administrator cannot survive simply by juggling competing interests. In this chapter, these authors examine ethical conundrums such as zero tolerance policies and (p. 103) “the different treatment of students as other sources of potential turbulence disrupting the administrator's dreams of smooth sailing”. The discussion focuses on ethical issues surrounding special populations, racism, hate speech, and preserving safe school environment, in the context of (p. 103) “building and sustaining moral architecture suitable for schools intent on preserving the Great Conversation”. In chapter seven, “The pragmatic value of justice for all”, focus continues on morality and leadership in practice and morality permeates so much that is often taken for granted as standard administrative decision making. Specifically, Wagner and Simpson present the element of “justice” and how it plays a pivotal role in ensuring universal participation in the “Conversation”. Various theories of justice are introduced (e.g., distributive, restorative, social, retributive, transitional, and compensatory). Of particular significance is the idea that (p. 120) “differential treatment in the name of social or distributive justice should never be confused with granting license to some to treat others disadvantageously”[…] that is, “differential treatment is morally authorized and may even be obligatory in cases where failure to institute such differences because of context or circumstance would strike most ordinary people as patently unfair and wholly counterintuitive”. From a well‐articulated chapter springs a powerful and poignant question for readers (p. 132): What leadership styles and personalities do you think are most helpful in cultivating and elevated and richly textured moral architecture in schools and districts?

Chapter eight, the final chapter and titled “The role of law in moral evaluations” show how moral decision making brings together law, policy, emotive feel, and moral alertness into a very complex decision making process. Some of the concepts presented and discussed at length include jurisprudence, philosophy, practical studies, relationships and implications of school law and ethics, the nature of law, moral courage, wisdom of the law, and order and social justice. Wagner and Simpson detail how public conscience is often exhibited in laws and codes of ethics particular to a community or profession, respectively, the credibility of the leader must always go beyond mere adherence to written dictates. The school administrator who exhibits the wisdom to look beyond the law to see its intent (p. 147) “will greatly increase the potential for building a rich, healthy, and strong moral architecture in schools or districts”. Essentially, in order to sustain a position of moral authority, the leader must be seen as one who understands the spirit of what is written and may even further articulate that spirit through word and action.

The implications of this volume for education are several. Ethical Decision Making in School Administration: Leadership as Moral Architecture is an instructive and approachable resource for facilitating discourse among stakeholders. Wagner and Simpson's practical, no‐nonsense feel for sorting out complex, multilayered quandaries removes much of the emotional Sturm und Drang from ethical analysis. This book is highly recommended for use in leadership preparation programs as a primary source. It is further recommended for use at school sites amongst school administrators, faculty, staff and site‐council members, either in an ongoing roundtable setting or as a periodic spur to discussion when applicable. Teachers can use this text as a model for introducing ethics into secondary and post‐secondary curricula; the paradoxes explored in this volume are germane to nearly every discipline.

The book, though remarkably assistive in ethical decision making, is most progressive in its framing of problems as true ethical dilemmas – ongoing states of uncertainty formed by deep, broad currents of history, culture, and society. Without cataloguing these dynamics, the authors help practitioners see their challenges as part of a much bigger picture and to navigate a sensible, ethical, and professional course through them. They offer several heuristics that will help readers partially avoid the most obvious pitfalls of moral reflection in the practice of leadership. Both authors bring practical insights from their numerous experiences in leadership roles in various contexts. Thus, their writing (p. xiv) “is not limited to erudite scholarship”. Educational leaders in search of an elegant articulation of professional ethical process will find one within this book for it advances the multicultural and multitheoretical thinking of educational leaders concerning the everyday issues faced by schools and districts.