Ethical Decision making by School Principals Essay Example for Free

Ethical Decision making by School Principals Essay Principals are faced with the challenge of managing schools and there is need for them to be ethical, respectful, inspiring, creative and knowledgeable about methods of instruction and the culture of the school and curriculum. These principals are also faced with the challenge of knowing and identifying areas of support that is able to enhance the school’s mission and also manage the areas that impede the achievement of a stated mission of the school. Since the needs of students are ever changing, they should also be in a position to make both smaller and larger adjustments that could be beneficial to the school and easily manageable by the organization in the management of these decisions. (Sousa, 2003, pp. 195-198). A decision is termed as ethical when it is able to bring about positive results and does not harm other people or the third party. These decisions are able to bring forth respect, trust, fairness and caring, responsibility and demonstrate good citizenship. When a decision accomplishes the needs of people together with their purposes, it is then termed as an effective decision. Ethically sound decisions are mostly advanced by two critical aspects namely discernment and discipline. For a decision to poses the aspect of discernment, it requires judgment and knowledge. The strength of character on the other hand, makes up a good decision and this takes moral change and the will power to be able to do what needs to be done (Hoy Tarter 2004, pp. 56-60). Ethical decision making calls for good leadership from principals. Leadership may be described as the authority or ability of an individual or individuals to lead others towards the achievement of a goal. It involves directing and influencing others towards the accomplishment of the stated common objectives and involves responsibility and accountability for the group. There are various leadership styles that are used today in many organizations and institutions. The autocratic type of leaders apply unilateralist while dominating their team-members in order to achieve a particular objective. However, this method often results to resistance from the team- members, as this style generally requires constant pressure and a lot of direction to get things done. On the other hand, this style could be more effective in urgent situations requiring urgent action (Schiminke, 1998, pp. 107-110). In the Laissez-Faire leadership, little control is exercised by managers over their groups. This allows the team-members to sort out their duties and obligations but the manager is not in any way involved with them. This style of leadership however is ineffective at certain circumstances since the team is left floundering with limited motivation and direction. Laissez- faire is effective in cases whereby a manager leads a team that is highly skilled and motivated and these people have in the past produced excellent work. The Democratic leader on other hand often uses participation and the groups’ teamwork towards attaining a collaborative decision. This style focuses on communication between the leader and the team and hence a positive climate for achieving results is created. The leaders consult their teams before making a decision while still in control of the team. These leaders allow the team to make decisions on how certain duties will be carried out and by whom (Schiminke, 1998, pp. 107-110). In addition, a good democratic leader is one who approves participation by team members and delegation of duties or tasks is done wisely. This kind of a leader values the points put forward from them and also encourages any group discussion. He also empowers the team through motivation. On leadership styles include a coercive leader, authoritative. Leader, affiliative leader, pace setting and a coaching leader. A coercive leader demands obedience, which should be instantaneous and applies initiative, achievement and self-control. In times of crisis or company turn around, this style is considered to be more effective but it mostly creates a negative climate for the performance in an organization. The authoritative leader on the other hand is considered to be one of the most effective as this leader inspires employees to follow a vision, facilitate change and creates a strong organizational climate that results in positive performance. The affiliative leadership values people, their emotions and their needs and relies on friendship and trust to promote flexibility, innovation and risk taking. A pacesetting leader can create a negative climate because of the high standards he or she sets. This style works best in attaining quick results from highly motivated individuals who value achievement and take the initiative. Lastly, the coaching leader builds a positive climate by developing skills that will foster long-term success. This type of leader also delegates responsibly, and is skillful in issuing assignments that are quite challenging. Leadership entails organizing people in a bid to achieve the stated goals of the group. It is therefore essential that leaders should posses certain basic qualities that will enable them to be effective leaders in whatever situation or task they undertake (Guy, 1990 pp. 105-107). Leaders should display a good work ethic that will enable other employees to emulate. A good work ethic includes: being on time, being organized giving praise to employees, being well prepared for meetings and having good communication within the venture that will go a long way towards achieving emotional and financial success. Therefore a leader should set an example with an ethical set of values for other managers and employees. For a leader to be effective, he/she should be willing to constantly learn at the same time integrate the knowledge they have acquired through learning into their leadership style. They must also develop skills that will promote them into being good leaders. Another quality of a good leader is that they should constantly keep up with the current trends in leadership and be aware that the leadership styles are constantly changing. In other words these leaders should be open to change. A good leader should also be able to mobilize people and acquire their trust in the process. Good leaders should also have the ability to communicate effectively with their subordinates communication is an essential aspect since it involves both listening and sending messages or telling others what needs to be done. Moral leaders are in a position to produce good moral leadership. They mostly apply restraint and power in their leadership. They are willing to accept any results without imposing control on other people. This is stewardship. It enables leaders to accept their faults which are human instead of shielding themselves under their authority and status. Ethics can be described as the codes of conduct that guide on how one should behave regarding moral duties and virtues. These moral principles guide a person in determining what is wrong or right. Morality by principals can be termed as personal ethics. This is because personal ethics reflect the expectations of people of all works in the society. Ethics has got two aspects: the ability to determine right from wrong, propriety from impropriety and good from evil. The second perspective concerns the commitment to perform an action that is proper, right and good. The principles of personal ethics include: trustworthiness and honesty, concern for the well being of others preventing harm refusing to take unfair advantage, respect for the autonomy of others and basic justice. Ethics as displayed by principals in schools or any other leaders could be classified as under written and unwritten codes of ethics: codes of ethics are the efforts which are systematic in nature and are used in defining the right conduct. They also provide guidance and help in the installation of confidence in various aspects of life from the government and all organizations. The main guidance is reflected in the decision making process especially where values seem to conflict. Written codes of ethics can be made known by an organization, professional or jurisdiction. On the other hand unwritten codes that exist and that help us in our lives are more effective than the written ones. Un written codes of ethics include rules such as honesty, security, loyalty among others. These unwritten codes of ethics mostly arise from family and cultural tradition and can also be found in workplace. These written and unwritten codes of ethics mostly arise from family and cultural tradition and can also be found in workplace. These written and unwritten codes of ethics are found in the society and they help one in establishing their personal belief system. Ethical behaviors should be a part and parcel of an individual’s daily routine (Murphy McMurty, 2000. pp. 110-115). I believe that Principals need to make strategic decisions since society and environment are dynamic and this provides them with a means that is strategic in nature that could enable them consider the external environment by focusing on the strength of the school organization, reducing weaknesses in school and also identify all the available opportunities that could put the school at a better position to be able to gain a competitive advantage. School principals are able to make an ethically defensible decision when the decision is well thought considering all the formal possible angels meaning that everybody takes part in decision making. In addition, ethically sound decisions in corporate all the possible solutions regarding the positive and negative outcomes of the decision. The decisions made by school principles need to involve a consultative process, team or group process or delegated duties to the staff members. This will help principals to come up with an ethically sound decision that will have a positive impact to all the members of the society which includes the students. Today, school leaders are the people who are accountable ethically, legally and morally for any decisions that they make in schools. Dempster and Parry (1999) note that the schools pressure mainly arise from four sources that is pressure of involving non-educationalists in the decision making in schools; changes in the growth of knowledge and applying the new advanced technology in learning processes; increased social problems such as suicide, violence and unemployment. This means that school leaders are constantly faced with ethical dilemmas while making decisions in schools hence resulting in conflicting ethical principles. Therefore how ethics/morals impact on decision-making is profound as this could easily change the way society operates. Foster (1986) also notes that it is the actions by the officials of the school that will strongly determine personal codes of ethics and values (Shapiro, 2000, pp. 120-125). On the ethical decision making by principals in schools, Denig and Quinn (2001) proposed a philosophical model with two moral principles namely; care and justice. They argue that most of the decisions that are made by school leaders, are mainly based on formalism which is policy and law and this is aimed at bringing about the greatest good to all (utilitarianism). In other words, this approach clearly views decision making as a rational approach that involves the use of universal principles. The decision maker performs what is right that could result in good deeds to all rather than individualism hence equity becomes the desirable outcome. They also point out that it is only through making decisions by collaborative means that these leaders can be able to analyze the dilemmas and get prepared to encompass the principle of working together with the school system and this eventually results in making decisions that are ethical (Sousa, 2003, pp. 195-198). Greenfield (19991) on the other hand argues that school leaders experience distinct sets of demands concerning ethics. He notes that schools being moral institutions are designed to bring for the social norms and other principles. They should be able to make decisions that are morally acceptable. He further notes that although schools are charged with the responsibility of creating moral values and making moral decisions by dedicating themselves to promote the well-being of their students, it is surprising that the same students have virtually no right to express themselves to what goes on in their schools and it is for these reasons that the conduct of these school leaders need to be moral (Kowalski, 2001, pp. 5-98). Robert Starratt (1991) also talks of equality in social arrangement benefits by arguing that today’s social arrangement results to unequal benefits among people. He argues that school principles should not only behave ethically but also be responsible individuals. Lastly, Green field argues that the authority of the principal is moral and teachers should be convinced that the decisions make by the principal reflects all the values that they support (Nutt, 2002, pp. 50-54). Kidder (1995) defines an ethical dilemma as the responsibilities that people face in making choices between two rights cherished values that conflict are the principle cause of dilemmas. For instance a principal is bound to be faced with a dilemma if at all he/she cherishes both the teacher and student and the teacher decides to enact a policy that will result in low expectations. Some philosophers and thinkers have come up with a number of guidelines that could help to solve these dilemmas faced by school leaders. They argue that leaders should be able and willing to act along the set standards of ethics. They could also address and also should be caring and conscious reflection whenever they lead other people (Nutt, 2002, pp. 50-54). School leaders could also form ethics committees to help them solve ethical dilemmas as these committees could prove helpful in raising the awareness concerning ethical issues, advising educators and also in the formulation of codes of ethics. A quality decision that is made by a school principal will depend on a number of factors made, extent to which others are able to generate a quality solution, how the problem is structured and the degree of commitment. Moreover, decisions made in schools require a lot of staff decision and support. School principals also need to understand the culture of their schools while attempting to make any decisions as this will establish whether the decision made is appropriate for the school. Therefore, these head teachers need to analyze and comprehend any relevant and comprehend any relevant information presented to them together with data. They also need to gather and measure evidence, issue judgments and finally make the necessary decisions. Creativity is essential as these will help in solving any anticipating problems hence development of opportunities for the school. Finally, school principals should be in a position to demonstrate quality judgment. This will enable them to know how and when they need to make any decisions among others. Decisions made by school principals could be autocratic, consultative, Group or Delegated decisions. An autocratic decision is that which the school principal makes it himself / herself by use of the available information or gathered from other groups or people. This therefore requires these school leaders to make appropriate and quick decisions when expected to do them at a particular point in time consultation on the other hand means that a problem has to be shared amongst individuals in order to obtain collective views or ideas but the school principal has to make the final decision afterwards.

Trip to Florida :: essays research papers

It's hard to decide which entertainment to see near Orlando, Florida first.Universal has a lot for kids, Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, Popeye water rides, some of the rides you can only go on with a child so this was the first time I got to ride them with my sister's kids. I guarantee you will want to come back. This was my first time at SeaWorld and it was a lot to see in 1 day, luckily we had the second day free to spend more time, and I still didn't see it all. It is good if kids like to see animals (like zoos and aquariums) and touch and feed them (dolphins and stingrays and sea lions) and watch shows. WDW is actually 4 parks and it is impossible to see in just 1 day. Magic Kingdom has the classic rides (Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of Carribean, etc) mostly slow (but sometimes dark & scary) for kids and adults. Epcot has different countries represented, but not many rides, except the new one "Mission Space" (more for adults); not as entertaining as MK. MGM has a good selection of rides for kids and shows and a couple adult rides (Rock-n-roll coaster, Tower of terror); my first time there was 2 years ago and it was fun but not as much fun as MK. Animal Kingdom is "nahtazu" (not a zoo) but had few rides for kids and adults (safari, dinosaur); it was as interesting as a zoo, but not as fun as MK. They also have water parks if you go in summer, and a racetrac/sports park, I've never been to yet. Obviously my favorite is Magic Kingdom. I definitely wouldn't go to Orlando without spending time at Universal/IOA too, I love Jurassic Park ride, and Back to the future ride, and ET ride, and new Mummy ride, and Men in black ride. (They're rides are related to movies or TV) I went to Busch Gardens years ago, but my sister said they improved it a lot. It's not just flowers and plants, it has lots for kids to ride too (more like fair rides).

United Cereals

In general, every firm is confronted with some basic issues such as. ; – in which markets to operate what products to offer and – how to distribute these products The â€Å"standard way† united Cereal used to enter the European market consisted of three main steps, namely acquisitions of companies in deferent European countries (1), introduction of products from the United Cereal US product line (2) and promoting organic growth through the adoption of these products to local market conditions by a respective country manager In charge (3).The advantages of establishing national subsidiaries by acquiring laid primarily In an effective and fast way of gaining market share in a particular market. Thus, in 2009 the market share of US in Europe amounted to 20%, only 6% below the market share of its main competitor Kellogg. Considerable benefits could also be achieved due to local expertise and reputation of the established companies in respective countries in terms of marketing focus, local tastes, targets, competitors, brand loyalty as well as legal framework.Other advantages were realized from already existing distribution networks, providing access to local logistics companies as well as cooperation with local retailers and wholesalers. However, there also were certain risks concerning the suitability of the distribution partner to the Introduced products as the exploitation of particular sales channels varied considerably across countries (e. G. Germany with 80% vs.. Italy with 17% as mentioned above).Further rolls/dilettantes of this strategy (although not stated in the text explicitly) might be associated with the integration and implementation costs, caused by adoption of the foreign business to the united Cereals business and its values concerning the â€Å"US Way†. The next step of he United Cereals' standard way was the introduction of products from the existing product line, which comprised more than 100 brands. Thus, the compan y profited from the possibility to launch its successful US brands also in the European market.This strategy was enforced especially by high demand for US products which were very much in vogue at that time, especially in ass and ass. Furthermore, as there was no need In developing a completely new product line this fast and cheap access Into local competition enabled united Cereals to achieve a solid organic growth. However, due to differences across European markets there still were costs, associated with customization of products and adjustment of manufacturing processes when US brands did not correspond to the local market tastes.Introduction of US line in each decisions and determining, which products from United Cereals could succeed and make profit in that country. With a broad understanding of the market the country manager was able to adjust products perfectly to local market conditions, while respecting the â€Å"US Way'. Such country level approach coupled with high susc eptibility and flexibility led to a very high motivation of country managers as well as profit minimization in most national markets. However, over time inconsistency in positioning the products, e. . Positioning a product as high-end in Germany, but as a low-end in I-J, became a matter of concern. Redundancies due to individual marketing campaigns in separate countries for different products led to expenses 25% higher than in the U. S. Operations. Especially, in the light of a global recession in 2008-09 and more competitive markets, forcing market participants to provide lower- ricer products cost reductions and cost efficiency, became a major focus of United Cereals.Further risks were associated with country managers, preferring product extensions rather than new product introductions in order to reduce costs and maintain profits in their country. Reasons for this behavior were above all lack of resources and too high costs of launching and developing new products. Thus, the â₠¬Å"US standard way' is not sustainable anymore and new market strategy combined with cost effective and more efficient processes should be considered.

Gender Stereotyping in Media Advertisements Essay

The tremendous influence of the media as an important cultural vehicle on the preservation and reinforcement of existing societal norms, beliefs, and behaviors has been under increasing scrutiny from academics, scholars, and feminists in an attempt to understand the code and language within which the media operates and its impacts on various audiences. (Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau, 2003; Silverstein, Perdue, & Kelly, 1986; Gamble 1997) Lately, there has been a growing concern over the role of the media in helping to maintain the long-standing inequality between sexes in the way that it continues to exploit gender stereotypes overtly as in the case of television programming, to the subliminal messages conveyed by product advertisements, music videos, and other forms of visual entertainment which now include fashion spreads and magazines. (Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau: 336; Gamble 272) This concern comes amidst allegations that the media, specifically product advertisements, is somehow responsible for the proliferation and reinforcement of unhealthy attitudes and biases against women and women’s bodies, for instance, in warping the definition of physical attractiveness to that of ‘thinness’(Silverstein, Perdue, & Kelly: 519; Gamble 272) and of self-worth to being ‘pretty’ or desired by the male (Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau: 247). In its many forms, product advertisements, through graphic, in-text, and non-graphic representation, are guilty of exploiting the prevailing societal concepts of femininity and masculinity in their sole objective of increasing demand for the products which translates to increased profit margins. (Wiles, Wiles, & Tjerlund: 35) Product advertisements are also a cause for special concern in that they are easily accessible and are barely constrained by censorship and other legislation. The fact that they are ubiquitous in almost all forms of media—be it print, broadcast, video, and the internet—make them doubly powerful in molding, or warping, the minds of individuals young and old. Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau (2003) point out, for instance, how â€Å"elements of the pornographic can be located in advertisements,† (p. 336) referring not only to graphic sexual acts or innuendos but to specific representations of female and male constructs and of power relationships between and within these constructs that are seen in advertisements. It is argued that masculinity and femininity are always constructed in the â€Å"conventional† way: that the male is â€Å"bigger, stronger, and has the ability to hurt the women† (Dines, et. al. 336) or in a position of greater power over the women, who are always depicted or associated with the weak, delicate, and passive role. (Gamble 272) In the same manner, women are often portrayed as inferior to men through the use of the following graphic illustrations: â€Å"women appear shorter; men instruct women; women appear to be drifting in deep thought while men? Eyes are focused purposely; and women appear helpless. †(Wiles, Wiles, & Tjerlund, 36) Indeed, one need not look further than the nearest perfume advertisement to see how men and women are portrayed as predator and prey, respectively, signifying the women’s degraded position in the gender stratification. More notable is the apparent absence of ‘others’ in the gender spectrum which may not be totally accepted by societal standards: bisexuals, lesbians, and gays, who barely make it to product advertisements except for those products specifically intended for their market. Furthermore, results of Wiles, Wiles, & Tjerlund’s (1995) study of the portrayal of women in magazines in three countries which include the United States, the Netherlands, and Sweden supported the contention that â€Å"role portrayals presented in magazine advertising depict cultural biases and stereotypes† which tended to portray men in active roles and women as men’s sexual objects or in decorative, passive positions. If art imitates life and culture, this only goes to show the extent to which gender inequality remains as much a challenge to overcome in real, reel, and the simulated world of advertising. Works Cited: Dines, G. , Humez, J. M. M. , Hoynes, D. W. , & D. Croteau. Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text Reader. Sage Publications, 2003. Gamble, T. K. & M. W. Gamble, â€Å"Gender and Non-verbal Language. † Contacts: Communicating Interpersonally. Boston, M. A. : Allyn and Bacon, 1997.

911

911 It was a tuesday morning the date was 09-11-01 and their was about 40-50 students in the cafeteria and about 150 students on the field and a commercial plain flew over the school going faster than the speed of sound.A sonic boom shook the school like a wrecking hitting the school. All the students started going crazy. Thirty minutes later one of the teachers started on her way out yelling "I cant believe that happened." "I cant believe that happened." Finally a fellow teacher asked her what happened the teacher said a commercial plain crashed into Luke Air Force Base.The plain crashed into the most important part of the base. The part that the captain and all of the pilots were meeting and training. After lunch was over every one was shook up and hysterical.Because something like that has never happened.Every one was back in class when the teacher came to every class and informed everyone that another plain of the same type Crashed into the silo that kept all of the new bombs and gun s.944th FW logo

Long Run or Short Run

Long Run or Short Run I read a Facebook post this week where people were bragging about the largest daily word count theyd ever written. Some were slinging numbers like 10,000, 13,000, even 16,500. Most admitted that wasnt a sustainable number to maintain, yet they interpreted numbers like that as the means to writing a book in two weeks or less. And many of them are then publishing those books. In this day and time, with the crazy array of self-publishing tools available to writers, we can sense a pressure to publish a book a month. Yes, Im not exaggerating. Out of curiosity, Ive read them. I can see the rush in the sentences, read the overzealousness in the syntax, miss the depth of plot. No, you cannot write deep and publish in a month. But there is a market for some of this type of work. Some readers like light reading. Some authors are making five figures from slinging out a large number of books. And therein lies the crossroad. Downstream, when you are more gifted, wiser, and more astute, are you wanting those books forever on Amazon? Are you wanting to publish your quick writing for the public? Or do you prefer to write fast and hold onto it in an effort to write it deeper? Or consider those pieces practice to learn from for your next, more intense work? We are under such acute influence to write now, write fast, and write a lot. Funny, but as I was writing this, I noticed Seth Godins latest blog post. He echoed what I said, only better. https://seths.blog/ First, fast and correct All three would be great. First†¦ you invent, design, develop and bring to life things that haven’t been done before. Fast†¦ you get the work done quickly and efficiently. Correct†¦ and it’s right the first time, without preventable errors. Being first takes guts. Being fast takes training. And being correct takes care. All three at once is rare. Two would be great. And just one (any one) is required if you want to be a professional. Alas, too often, in our confusion about priorities and our fear of shipping, we end up doing none and settling for average instead. Amen, Mr. Godin. Amen indeed.

Summary Of The Platos Allegory Of The Cave Personal Statement

Summary Of The Platos Allegory Of The Cave - Personal Statement Example The prisoners shall take the names of the objects whose shadows they see, but to see the real objects they are referring to the need to turn their heads around which is not possible for them. They are in fact names of those things which do not fall before our vision but we can comprehend them only with our minds. Plato says that if the prisoners are released, then they would be able to turn their heads to see the real objects and, therefore, realize their error and in the real sense, and only then the prisoners would be able to grasp the objects. The implication of these terms in our real life lies in the point similar to the turning of the prisoner’s head and comprehending the real objects through grasping it with our minds. Plato intends to describe through the Allegory of the Cave that it is essential for the human mind to attain the understanding of the objects at the reflective realm. But despite this fact, it is quite true that the ability of the human being to think and speak depends on the understanding of the forms. The prisoners might mistake any object with the name of some other object if they are really not aware of the name of that particular object that they have seen. And in a very similar fashion, human minds might obtain the knowledge of the concepts by our inherent and perceptual experience of our physical objects. But at the same time, human mind might mistake any object if it is thought that the concepts human mind is grasping are equal with the objects perceived.