Forming independent and socially responsible children: A challenge to education

Bella Ramos

                        Instructor, Mariano Marcos State University and PhD Development Education Student of Divine Word College of Laoag.

Abstract

The purpose of education is not only to transfer knowledge but it is an instrument of transformation. Education should be able to transform a person to be individual and social human being. Individuality is shown in their uniqueness and independence that can help themselves in the future. Sociality is characterized by their relationship with others and their concerns for others or the world which can be shown through commitment, integrity, solidarity, flexibility, efficiency, openness, self-growth, accountability, initiative, proud to be Filipino and spirituality.    

Key words: formation, independence, sociality, empowerment.  

 

 

INTRODUCTION

The changing context of education in the Philippines defines the kind of education that must be provided to students. Any educational institution, particularly State universities and colleges, since these normally accommodate more students compared to the privately owned ones, should be declaring that today’s education is primarily to educate students for personal renewal and social transformation. Education is essentially to enable students develop their potentialities to the fullest for their holistic development. Students are helped to develop uniqueness or independence, and at the same time be made to realize the urgency to be socially responsible to others.

There are however social impediments towards attaining such end. The road is not easy. One obvious impediment is the readiness and availability of facilities in the educational arena in this country is in deep scarcity.  The physical plant is not ready to accommodate the desired changes in education. It needs more budget to come up with its actuality.

Experts in education talk about lack of vision among educational systems and institutions, which includes the students. The absence of a vision that gives a sense of direction and motivation to improve and develop oneself is a serious impediment to the realization of true education.

Another problem is the conviction that education is only geared to individual development. It begins with the self and ends with the self.

These impediments are serious but they have to be remedied. The urgency to respond to the imperative that students are educated to become change agents to improve society as it manifests itself in different and expanding environments such as family, community, workplace, nation, and the world is a calling that has to be accomplished now. Education for social transformation requires that students are aware of their own humanity, conscious and adequately informed of their environment and actively engaged in making themselves and their society responsive in promoting everyone’s well being and holistic development.

 

INDIVIDUAL FORMATION

The context of education described above defines the knowledge, values, and skills that students must possess to enable them to become renewed individuals and eventually transformative teachers or agents.

It is the VISION of every teacher and educational institution that students are formed as individuals or unique persons. Students must have a vision that leads them to the knowledge of the self and the development of a moral character. Students are to be molded as strong and independent individuals for the present society is complex and requiring firmer breed of people in order to survive.

In order for this vision to be in place, Educational institutions have to look at themselves as a vital force and move for their own empowerment and development. It is hoped that soon they shall be known nationally and internationally as the primary centers of excellence in the transformation of people and leadership in the country and in Asia. As the established producer of knowledge, they shall be the primary sources of high-quality professionals and managers that can directly inspire and shape the quality of Filipino life.

1.      EMPOWER THE TEACHERS. According to Association for Curriculum Development (1996), they must see their profession also as change agents. Today’s teachers must possess the following dimensions:

a.      exercise effective communication

b.      manifest professional competence

c.       possess adequate knowledge of the discipline

d.      observe professional ethics

e.       welcome progressive innovation and change

f.       exhibit a deep sense of nationalism

g.       radiate a caring attitude for others

h.      engage in problem solving and decision making, and

i.        demonstrate personal integrity.

According to Lawrence Kohlberg (1979), Teachers possessing these characteristics are expected to be:

a.      Expert - demonstrates depth and breadth in their field of discipline to exercise flexibility to select and organize pedagogical content knowledge

b.      Mediator – facilitates a teaching-learning process that helps students to become independent, critical, and reflective learners who construct meaning by synthesizing new information with their own background knowledge

c.       Professional – displays disposition and behavior that adhere to the highest standard of professionalism and teacher’s code of conduct

d.      Organizer – plans dynamic educational activities, organizes the learning environment, establishes and maintains a positive learning climate and implements effective intervention strategies to enhance learning.

e.       Worker for Change – initiates activities that encourage school-home-community partnership and engages in educational activities that promote personal renewal and social transformation

f.       Effective Communicator – uses appropriate and varied media to communicate effectively in the discipline.

g.      Researcher - seeks to improve the educational practices within one's own school setting by conducting inquiries to serve students more effectively; and generates knowledge that enhances the discipline.

h.      Evaluator – maximizes students' learning by applying diagnostic and assessment strategies and techniques to guide the teaching and learning process.

i.        Decision-Maker –addresses problem situation proactively and makes things done the best way possible, makes decisions for the best interest of the learners.

2.      EMPOWER THE STUDENTS

The direct result of teacher empowerment would be the empowerment and development of students. The result of empowerment of students can be shown in the following indicators:

1.       Quality students/quality output.

2.       Have the ability of knowledge creation and application.

3.       Are able to generate a Culture of Sharing and Service.

4.       Learn the value of Growth, Efficiency and Accountability.

 

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

In the pursuit of a solid individual formation, the word “service” is a logical consequence (Ennis, 1969). What complete good education are service or the possession and application of the value of social responsibility.

According to Campbell and Bond (1989), Students must be able to have the following values:

1. COMMITMENT. The students are to uphold the dedication and responsibility of pursuing their desired degrees and their promise of service that leads to common good.

2. INTEGRITY. The students are to maintain the highest standard of morality in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.

3. SOLIDARITY. With the helped of their parents/family, teachers and even perhaps their fellow students, they (they students) are to nurture the value of shared responsibility and the spirit of collaboration in all its undertakings.

4. FLEXIBILITY. Each student recognizes the significance of changing contexts that may require modifications in its operations.

5. EFFICIENCY. Each student, in cooperation with their teachers, invests on holistic and strategic planning in determining what might be the appropriate courses of action to facilitate growth and development within available resources.

6. OPENNESS. Students and their leaders should encourage consultative processes to arrive at informed decisions.

7. SELF-WORTH. Each student believes in the potential of every member of the community in contributing to the attainment of its mission.

8. ACCOUNTABILITY. Students and their leaders must advocate transparency at every level of operation.

9. INITIATIVE. Each student promotes self-reliance, ingenuity and resourcefulness in its search for means to carry out programs.

10. PRIDE IN BEING A FILIPINO. Students in this country must take pride in being able to attain and maintain excellence in Filipino universities imbued with the cultural values of its people.

11. SPIRITUALITY.  Students must realize the value of entrusting themselves, their undertakings and aspirations into the hands of the Divine Providence for their realization.

CONCLUSION

            The development of vision, character, and competence in the young people of today is necessary to allow the nation to survive the challenges of the 21st century (Pitchard, 1988). Side by side with this is also the development of the sense for social responsibility. It is so true that students must learn how to survive amidst sudden twists and changes of the society in particular and the world in general. This does not happen however when individuals work alone. They are to help one another. They are to share their resources. They are to develop the ambiance of caring for one another, that of being socially responsible.

The experiences of Egypt, Iran, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain as seen in history are perfect examples that challenge everyone to be firm and be knowledgeable in swaying and dancing to the demands of the times. These countries have failed to dance with the signs of the times as nations united and one, and therefore relegated now as former world powers, that is other countries have taken their places now in history. Each of these former world powers failed to keep pace with the changing demands of the world around them. In many cases it was not a failure of the economic or material aspect of society, but rather a failure on the human, social, political, or spiritual aspects (Mizzer, 1995). They were economically prepared yet their “preparedness” was at the expense of their people.

The educational systems and institutions must prepare individuals to progress in order to attain the development and the sustainability that everybody wanted. Therefore, character development or individual formation and the development of social responsibility must be seen as an organic process in the development of the material/physical, human/psychological, and spiritual/transcendental aspects of every human being.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (1996). Schools as partners in character development (Press release). Arlington, VA: Author. Retrieved December 1999, from http://www.ascd.org/today/position/part.html

Campbell, V., & Bond, R. (1982). Evaluation of a character education curriculum. In D. McClelland (ed.), Education for values. New York: Irvington Publishers.

Ennis, R. (1969). Logic in teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Kohlberg, L. (1976). The cognitive-developmental approach to moral education. In T. Lickona (Ed.), Moral development and behavior: Theory, research and social issues. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 

Mizzer, T. (1995, December 15). The school bell: Teaching the whole child. The Hill Rag. Washington DC.

Pritchard, I. (1988). Character education: Research prospects and problems. American Journal of Education, 96(4), 469-495.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethical Leadership and Employees’ Accountability: A Way of Moving Organization Forward

Fr. Damianus Abun, SVD, Ph.D

Introduction

Many people have discussed leadership and its role in the life of an organization. The position of leadership is essential to the management and the direction of an organization. Organization cannot move forwards without its leadership. Thus, we talk about leadership, we talk about the direction. The direction of the organization is primary responsibility of a leader. His/her role is not just leading but leading must have a direction, a long-term vision to be achieved.  

In order to achieve long-term vision, a leader may apply different kind of leadership styles, leadership skills and values. Why do I include values? It is because of the very reason that if a leader has no moral or ethical values, then there is a tendency to ignore human aspect of the organization. These three areas are essential component of leadership if leadership is to be successful. In this case, a leader should know an appropriate style to be applied when he/she manages or leads people. However, such styles cannot work well without skills. A leader-manager should possess skills to execute his duties as a leader. Skills may include planning skills, communication skills, human relationship skills, etc. Many experts have claimed that leadership styles and skills do not guarantee the success of a leader if the leader has no moral values. These leadership styles and skills have to be exercised in an ethical manner. Therefore leader should be a moral leader to be effective.

There has been much work attempting to develop a general theory of leadership. Trait, transactional, transformational, path-goal, contingency and situational theories, all abound. These theoretical constructs seek to both define and explain leadership. There is no generally accepted or even widely disseminated theory of ethical leadership. There have very little research has been published on theoretical foundation of leadership ethics.  Without a theoretical foundation of support, the concept of ethical leadership is impotent to guide human behavior.

Many studies have been conducted along leadership styles, skills and still we have few studies related to ethical leadership and employee’s accountability. Thus, we need to support ethical leadership with theoretical foundation on ethics and leadership. The exercise of leadership has an effect on other people or employee’s behavior. Thus we try to examine using available literatures and studies to support the argument or our hypothesis that there is a relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ accountability.

Ethics

Ethics is derived from the Greek word: “ethos” which means “characteristic way of acting”, “habit”, “custom”. The Latin word is mos, mores which mean moral and morality. Thus, ethics studies the characteristics behaviour of man as endowed reason and free will. In other words, ethics is the science of the morality of human acts. It is the study of the behaviour of man as moral being, who is able to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad.

Ethics and morality is sometimes overlapping. In ordinary conversation, the tendency is to separate the two with different meaning. But actually the two terms are for the same thing.  Morality is originated from Latin word: “moralitas” which means “manner, character, and proper behaviour. Thus morality refers to a code of conduct, by which human beings regulate their lives. Thus, when we talk of ethic, we actually talk about morality.

There are three different theories of morality: descriptive morality, normative morality and meta-ethics. Descriptive morality is a code of conduct endorsed and adhered to by society, group and individuals. Moral codes in this sense differ from society to society, within society, and among individuals. So, in its descriptive sense, morality is whatever a society, group or individual say it is. It is not consistent in their application (relativism (Articulo, 2004).  Thus, in its descriptive sense, morality refers to the codes of conduct regulating how people behave and without inquiring as to whether they ought to adhere to these codes because that is the primary concern of anthropologists, historians and sociologist but not philosophers.

While normative morality is a code of conduct that would be put forward by society and accepted by all rational people under certain idealized conditions. In other words, morality is the set of correct moral principles which ought to be adopted by all rational agents and applied to all rational agents beyond the borders. Precisely, this is the concern of moral philosophy which seeks, firstly, to formulate a set of principles with which all rational agents ought to comply. Secondly, to explain the reason why the system is ought to be adopted. It involves the question of validity of the code of conducts by which people adhere to.      

Under normative morality, there are three different ethics: virtue ethics, deontology and consequentialism ethics (Wikipedia free encyclopedia). Virtue ethics is actually a way of being; it is desirable moral characteristics that a moral or a virtuous   person embodies. Possessing those virtues is what makes a person moral, not his actions. An action is only an expression of his/her inner morality. While deontological ethics is referred to as duty ethics. It places an emphasis on adhering to ethical principles or duties. In this case, a moral agent ought to do his/her moral duty which is established by some kind of moral imperative (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). It is imperative that you ought to help the sick people who are nearly dead on other corner of the road. If deontological ethics emphasizes on doing one’s moral duty, consequentialism bases the morality of an action upon the consequence of the outcome. Instead of saying that one has a moral duty to help the sick people, the consequentialist would say we should help the sick people because it causes undesirable effect, the person will die. Thus, consequentialism determines what desirable outcome is. The greatest happiness of John Stuart Mill is one of the most common adopted criteria. The determinant of the desirable action is the net amount of happiness it brings, the number of people it brings to happiness, and the duration of the happiness.   

Unlike the normative ethics, meta-ethics does not propound any moral principles or code of conducts but it involves entirely in philosophical analysis. It is concerned with the nature of judgment of right and wrong and defining ethical terms such as “good” and “bad”. In other words, meta-ethics attempt to answer epistemological, logical and semantic questions relating to ethics. 

Leadership

Leadership is a process of how a person leads and influences people under his leadership move forward in achieving common objectives/goals. This definition is similar to Northouse's (2007, ) definition — Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Such definition is related to traditional definition of leadership. A traditional definition of leadership is an interpersonal influence directed toward the achievement of a goal or goals. Three important parts of this definition are the terms interpersonal, influence, and goal.
· Interpersonal means between persons. Thus, a leader has more than one person (group) to lead. Then, Influence is the power to affect others. While Goal is the end one strives to attain.  Basically, this traditional definition of leadership says that a leader influences more than one person toward a goal.

The above definition refers to different styles of leadership by which a person influence others to follow him/her to achieve a common goal. Different styles of leadership are described under behavioral theory of leadership. In the behavioral theory of leadership, leadership is determined by the action or what they are doing, not by “who they are” or their trait.

Consistent with such definition, thus leadership styles refers to styles that are being used by different leader on how to lead and influence their followers to attain the common objectives/goals. Looking into different styles, the new mid-century researchers sought more observable, measurable aspects of effective leadership rather than the metaphysical "qualities" of earlier trait theory (Yukl, 2006).  Thus the thrust of behavior theorists ignored inner traits (what leaders are) and focused upon the actual behavior of leaders, what they did, how they operated. Behavior theory's main form of research became typology, classifying leader behaviors into convenient "types" or "styles." As early as the 1920s when trait theory research was dominant, a dozen researchers identified behavior "types" such as

• Autocratic Style (authoritative, power-oriented)

• Persuasive Style (explains, sells, inspires)

• Democratic Style (consults, invites group participation)

• Intellectual Style (the expert, leads by superior knowledge)

• Executive Style (administrator, activist, systems).

Another influential project advancing behavior theory was the work of Rensis Likert's group at the University of Michigan. Likert's two major works in the 1960s provide full details about the Institute's work.   Summarizing it here, Likert fine-tuned by degrees the measurement of leadership styles using scales (such as his now common "l-to-9" scale); and also used four new style definitions instead of the LBDQ's two. He called them "Systems of Management 1, 2, 3 & 4," as follows:

• (1) Authoritative Exploitive

• (2) Authoritative Benevolent

• (3) Consultative

• (4) Participative.

Likert was convinced that future research would prove that his System 4 (the participative leader) was the one best leadership style. His influence was so great that in the 1960s, 1970s and even later, huge segments of the management training industry built massive training programs urging System 4 upon all managers.

The "participative" manager was "in," the "autocratic, authoritative" manager was "out." Despite clear cautions by Likert himself about past research voided by the possible situation factors ("contingency"), enthusiastic management trainers over-simplified System 4 as the new magic solution to painfully poor leadership in their organizations, "sold" the concept to top management and got the funds to teach and promote it.

This "one best leadership style" dominated many training departments and entire organizations for decades.There are many more leadership styles that can be presented all here; however, our purpose is not to present all leadership styles but to see what leadership is and how it relates to people. Leadership does not exist in vacuum but it relates to people and situation. Since leaders are exercising influence that emanates from their position, then ethical aspect of leadership must be the concern. In this case how leaders exercise their influence over their people is the ethical leadership concern.

Ethical Leadership

Given prominent ethical scandals in virtually every type of organization, the importance of an ethical dimension of leadership seems obvious. However, in order to understand this leadership phenomenon and its relationships with antecedents and outcomes, we must first know what “it” is. Philosophers have answered the question “what is ethical leadership” from a normative perspective, specifying how ethical leaders “ought” to behave (Ciulla, 2004). By contrast, our social scientific approach to the topic is focused more on describing ethical leadership as well as identifying its antecedents and consequences. Observers have long believed that personal traits such as integrity would be important to perceptions of leadership effectiveness and research has borne that out. For example, survey research has linked perceived leader effectiveness with perceptions of the leader's honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness (Den Hartog, et.al, 1999, Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991, Kouzes & Posner, 1993, Posner & Schmidt, 1991)  And, cognitive trust (the exercise of care in work, being professional, dependable; MCAllister, 1995) has been associated with effective styles of leadership as well (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002). Building on this work, Trevino, et.al (2000, 2003) conducted exploratory research designed to understand what the term ethical leadership means to proximate observers of executives. Through structured interviews with twenty senior executives and twenty ethics/compliance officers in a variety of industries, the researchers asked informants to think about an ethical leader with whom they were familiar, and to answer broad questions about the characteristics, behaviors, and motives of that leader.

In line with ethical leadership, Heifetz(1994)  argued that ethical leadership has something to do with what leaders do and who they are.  In such a case, ethical leadership is concerned with leader behavior and their virtuousness. Their virtuousness will be reflected in the way they decide certain issues affecting people and organization. What choices leaders make and how they respond in a particular circumstance are informed and directed by their ethics.

His approach emphasizes how leaders help followers confront conflict and effect changes from conflict. It is about helping followers deal with conflicting values that emerge in rapidly changing work environments and social cultures. He understands leadership not as position power but it is an authority to mobilize people to face tough issues facing organization. Along that line, leader provides conducive environment in which there is a trust, nurturance and empathy. His duty is help followers in coping up with the change and their personal growth.   

In line with idea of Heifetz is the idea of  McGregor Burns (1978). His idea on ethical leadership is contained in his view on transformational leadership. Transformational leadership places a strong emphasis on followers' needs, values, and morals. Raising followers’ value and moral is not by teaching but by example. Thus, one of the characteristics of transformational leadership is idealized influence. Idealized influence means influences followers not by authority but by example. A leader leads his follower by his moral values. The followers emulate their leader because of his values.  And It is  also the responsibility of the leader to help followers assess their own values and needs in order to raise them to a higher level of functioning, to a level that will stress values such a liberty, justice, and equality.

Along with the concerns for followers, Robert K. Greenleef (1904–1990) developed a paradoxical approach to leadership called "Servant leadership" in 1970s. It has a strong altruistic ethical overtone and emphasizes that leaders should be attentive to concerns or their followers. He argued that leadership was bestowed on a person who is by nature a servant. The way an individual becomes a leader is by first being a servant. A servant leader focuses on the needs of the followers and helps them become more knowledgeable, freer, and more autonomous and more like servants themselves. As a servant leader, she/he has a social responsibility, to be concerned with the have-nots and to recognize them as equal stakeholders in the organization. In the exercise of leadership he places a great deal of emphasis on listening, empathy, and unconditional acceptance of others (Wikipedia free encyclopedia). Many of these ethical theories emphasize that the relationship between leader-follower is an "ethical" one and it s related to the "caring principle.

Principles of Ethical Leadership

Northouse (2007) has listed five principles of ethical leadership. Actually the origins of these can be traced back to Aristotle.    These principles provide a foundation for the development of sound ethical leadership. According to these principles, ethical leaders respect others, serve others, are just, are honest and build community. To be an ethical leader, one must be sensitive to the needs of others, treats others in ways that are just, care for others, treat others fairly, no cheating and lying and building a harmonious working relationship.

Accountability

Based on dictionary, accountability is the obligation of an individual or organization to account   for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. It also includes the responsibility for money other entrusted property (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/accountability.html#ixzz22uudXrgX). Or accountability is taking or being assigned responsibility for something that you have done or something you are supposed to do.  An example of accountability is when an employee admits an error she made on a project. When an employee is given the task of making sure a project goes right and knows she will be blamed if it doesn't, she can also be said to have accountability for the project. (http://www.yourdictionary.com/accountability)

The concept of accountability has been discussed and expanded to many aspect of society. It includes political accountability, administrative accountability, financial accountability, ethical accountability, individual accountability and many more kinds of accountabilities.  However, for our purpose, we define aaccountability as a concept in Ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving (Dystra (1939). As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector, nonprofit and private (corporate) worlds. In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences (William, 2006).

Sinclair (1995) define accountability as a term related to governance, accountability has been difficult to define. It is frequently described as an account-giving relationship between individuals, e.g. "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct". Accountability cannot exist without proper accounting practices; in other words, an absence of accounting means an absence of accountability.

Accountability is not just for the sake of reporting but it has an ethical aspect. Within an organization, the principles and practices of ethical accountability aim to improve both the internal standard of individual and group conduct as well as external factors, such as sustainable economic and ecologic strategies. Also, ethical accountability plays a progressively important role in academic fields, such as laboratory experiments and field research (Dykstra (1939).

Studies on Ethical Leadership and Accountability

After searching studies on ethical leadership and its relationship with employees’ accountability, the writer found that not many studies have been done along this line. However, several related studies have been found. Lenny Van den Akker, Leonie heres, Karin Lasthuizen & Frederique Six (2005) have conducted the study on the effect of different ethical leadership behaviors as perceived by the followers on the trust that those followers have in their leader. They explore ethical leadership along role modeling, demonstrating morally, securing ethical behavior, contextualizing success, transmitting organizational values and encouraging transparency and accountability. Using web based survey with nearly 500 respondents from the European business corporations; they found that most ethical behaviors of leaders are positively related to trust. Employees trust their leaders when they observe their leaders are exercising ethical leadership. In this case, they argue that the more leaders act in a way that followers feel is the appropriate ethical leaders’ behavior, the more leaders will be trusted. 

Flora Richards –Gustafson (2013), in her study on accountability and leadership integrity, found that leadership integrity is to be related to accountability. Accountability is being responsible or answerable for an action. Integrity leadership is a leadership behavior that makes a choice to commit to honesty before she/he is faced with choosing between right and wrong. According to her without value of integrity in the workplace, the culture within the company is at risk for poor organizational development. Employee’s accountability is affected by leadership behavior. If employees are not seeing leadership integrity exercised by their leaders, it could affect the accountability of employees toward their work.

In terms of commitment, the same study emphasizes that when employees and leaders active practice accountability and integrity in the workplace, they tend to feel more pride and ownership in the company. Managers, however, must set the stage for this to happen by treating all employees as valued members of a team who each have an integral role in helping the company achieve its goals. According to the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Research, when employees feel pride in their place of employment because of the accountability and integrity practiced, they are more likely to work more efficiently, reduce risks and have better loss control.

In relations to organizational stability, the study revealed that mangers acting with integrity and practicing accountability are more likely to project a sense of stability to employees, which is important for employee retention. Along with a sense of stability, employees with bosses who have integrity and are accountable to those who work for them know that their managers will share company information regarding goals. When a company does not provide its employees with stability through accountability and integrity, there is a higher chance the culture will be one of fear and that every employee must fend for herself. Additionally, an unstable work environment may give employees the impression that their boss plays favorites, does not encourage professional growth and creates an environment that does not promote high performance and productivity.

Flora Richard explains that one of the best ways to lead is by example. If management allows its leaders to act without accountability and integrity, other employees will follow suit. The leaders of a company serve as the foundation of a company, so it is vital that this foundation is built on accountability and integrity. This is because a manager with weak values is more likely to produce employees who emulate his unwanted values. Conversely, a company supported with strong values will produce a culture that has an environment that performs well.

Conclusion

We have presented the ideas on leadership, accountability and ethical leadership and how it affects the accountability of employees toward their work. We can say that leadership is the exercise of influence over the followers but these influences must be good influence and exercised in ethical manner. Studies have proven the relationship between ethical leadership and accountability of employees. It shows that the more the leader is exercising ethical leadership,   the more the employee will be accountable to their works and results. If the manager/leader is honest, the more the employee will be honest in their work. Leading by example is a key to influence employees over their accountability. Indirectly such exercise bring the organization forward toward the attainment of its vision-mission and objective.

References

Articulo, C. Arcimedes. 2004. Moral Philosophy. Great Books Publishing: Manila.

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.

Ciulla, J. B. (2004). Ethics, the heart of leadership (2nd Ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger

Flora Richard-Gustafson . 2013. Importance of Accountability and Integrity in the Workplace. http://www.ehow.com/info_7854666_importance-accountability-integrity-workplace.html#ixzz2snyJfu28.

Den Hartog, D. N., House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., Dorfman, P. W., et al. (1999). Culturally specific and cross-culturally generalizable implicit leadership theories: Are attributes of charismatic/transformational leadership universally endorsed? The Leadership Quarterly, 10, 219−256

Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? Academy of Management Executive, 5, 48−60.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1993). Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.

Lenny Van den Akker, Leonie heres, Karin Lasthuizen & Frederique Six. 2005. Ethical Leadership and Trust: It is All About Meeting Expectations. IJLS: International Journals of Leadership Studies, downloaded, Feb 9, 2014)
Posner, B. Z., & Schmidt, W. H. (1992). Values and the American manager: An update updated. California Management Review, 34, 80−94.

McAllister, D. J. (1995). Affect- and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 24−59.

Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2002). Trust in leadership: Meta-Analytic findings and implications for research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 611−628.

Treviño, L. K., Brown, M., & Hartman, L. P. (2003). A qualitative investigation of perceived executive ethical leadership: Perceptions from inside and outside the executive suite. Human Relations, 55, 5−37.

Conger, J.A., & Kanungo, R.N. (1994). Charismatic leadership in organizations: Perceived behavioral attributes and their measurement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 439–452.

Ronald A. Heifetz. 1994. Leadership Without Easy Answers. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard Press.

Northouse, G. (2007 Leadership Theory and Practice (3rd ed.) Thousand Oak, London: Sage Publications, Inc.

Heifetz, Ronald A. 1994. Leadership without Easy Answers. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Burn, McGregor. 1978.  LEADERSHIP. New York:  Harper & Row,  

Dykstra, Clarence A. 1939. "The Quest for Responsibility". American Political Science Review (The American Political Science Review, Vol. 33, No. 1) 33 (1): 1

Yukl, Gary. 2006. Leadership in Organizations. Sixth Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: New York.

Williams, Reyes(2006) Leadership accountability in a globalizing world. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sinclair, Amanda (1995). "The Chameleon of Accountability: Forms and Discourses". Accounting, Organizations and Society 20.

Understanding the Eastern and Western Ways of Living Freedom and Teaching Children to Live the Freedom within Social Context and Values

   Jeanna Albano, MBA

 

A Doctoral student in Developmental Management of the Divine Word College of Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Abstract.

Understanding and applying the concept of freedom is contextual. Living life freely within the social context. Thus, since it is within the social context, freedom is not a license to do whatever you want to do, it is not an absolute. Your freedom ends when you cross the boundaries of the freedom of others and cultural, social and moral values. Western society and eastern society may understand and apply freedom in different way, not necessarily the same.  The purpose of education is to teach children to live their freedom within the context where they are.    

   Key Words:  Freedom, social context, values.

Introduction

Freedom is one of the most frequently used words in our time and often it is misused. Thus it is necessary to be defined and well understood. Proper understanding of freedom will help us to conduct ourselves properly.

Different societies often time emphasizes different meaning of freedom. Western and eastern societies may emphasize different freedom. One might emphasize outer freedom and the other inner freedom. Outer freedom is freedom of action, political or social freedom. Inner freedom is freedom of the mind, freedom from the bondage of ignorance of human nature and its potentialities. Ignorance breeds fear, suspicion, hatred, and confusion.  

However, in order to function in the society, one must give up his identity, conform to anonymous authorities and adopt successful roles (Monte Mayor, 1999). Thus he escapes from inner freedom. The more he escapes from his inner freedom to act according to his will, the more powerless he feels and the more meaningless his life seems to be. If life loses its meaning because it is not lived, man becomes desperate. The ideas of freedom and democracy deteriorate into nothing but irrational faith once they are not based upon the productive experience of each individual but are presented to him by parties and states which force him to believe in these ideas.

This article would like to discuss further the meaning of freedom and how we are going to live this freedom within context and teach the children to live freely within context. In this article, the context that the researcher wants to emphasize is eastern context.

Freedom Defined.

           What is freedom? Freedom is not license to do whatever we want. The word freedom has many different meanings depending on the context. Each person's construction of meaning for their own life depends on freedom. There are two kinds of freedom: The first is freedom of thought, freedom of mind or freedom of conscience.  This is what we call inner freedom, a function of maturate growth or maturity or self-actualization. The second is freedom of choice or freedom of action. This is called outer freedom. The two are interrelated. True freedom emerges when true inner freedom translates into authentic outer freedom. 

       The definition of freedom varies with the cultural context. The principles of freedom and democracy are based on responsible freedom which is freedom of thinking and feeling derived from the activity of the human conscience. Inner freedom is a function of morality; it means maturation of personality integration of conscience. Conscience is the biological mechanism for maintenance of integration of the human personality in a complex social environment. The human conscience is a free conscience and development of the human conscience depends on fulfillment of human needs for unconditional love, work etc. Morality is a function of moral development. Moral development is a function of the development of the human conscience. The human conscience is the human spirit. It is the guardian of the integration of the human personality. It is the core of human values which have evolved through natural selection as a result of its survival value to the human organism's need to adapt to a complex social environment. It is a biologically based intrinsic valuing system which is developed as a protection for the integrated human organism. It is the result of evolutionary processes. The human organism depends on the conscience and the spirit; it is for survival of the individual organism and survival of the species.  Development of the human conscience results in humanistic morality or free morality as opposed to authoritarian morality. Free morality is morality based on inner freedom. Development of free morality is a result of development with inner freedom. And it is the biological basis of the so-called higher values.

       Still in line with the meaning of freedom, according to Mortimer Adler (1963), there are three distinct meanings of freedom: 1) an individual is said to be free when external circumstances permit him/her to act as he wishes for his own good; 2) an individual is said to be free when he/she has acquired enough virtue or wisdom to be able willingly to do as he ought, to comply with the moral law, or to live in accordance with an ideal befitting human nature. This kind of freedom resides in an individual’s state of mind or character; and it is quite independent of all external circumstances; 3) all men are said to be free because they are endowed by nature with the power of free choice, the power to decide for themselves what they shall do or become.

The Western Concept of Freedom

       The Western concept of freedom is a freedom of choice. In the Western world, freedom is perceived in terms of the ability to satisfy personal desires and impulses for self-expression in the absence of obstructions and restraining influences of authoritarianism.  The emphasis is on external factors of freedom as they relate to the outer aspects of life or politics - freedom of expression, autonomy, self-determination, self-dependence, self-regulation and democracy.

       Such concept of freedom has influenced economy and political concepts. The freedom and capitalism denigrate the value of true freedom in American capitalist society. In American culture, the ideals of political freedom are used by the propaganda machine in the interests of capitalism to divert people's attention to the choice of products which they as consumers can buy. In the consumer society people are kept ignorant of the real meaning of freedom and conditioned to think that they enjoy the freedom to choose.  Freedom of choice as outer freedom is not the translation of freedom of thought. The inner freedom is to act from conviction and internal harmony according to one's own will or conscience.

Freedom of conscience is not encouraged or even allowed. Freedom of capitalist society is the outer freedom which emphasizes the outer aspect of life and is often confused with political and social freedom. As a result of suppression of inner freedom, the individual does not know what he wants, what he thinks or what he feels. He is not free according to his own will, acting from inner harmony and conviction. In order to function in the society, he must give up his identity, conform to anonymous authorities and adopt successful roles. The more he escapes from his inner freedom to act according to his own will and conscience, the more powerless he feels and the more meaningless his life seems to be. Freedom as inner freedom emphasizes the inner aspect of life and can be likened to the German word for freedom - 'freiheit' in which the root 'heit' refers to the inner condition or state of mind or consciousness state. The closest English equivalent would be 'freedom hood' meaning 'freedom of one's consciousness state, the conscious inner struggle for inner freedom for which all human beings striving for understanding and knowledge of one's connectedness with the world and other beings in the world (Maguigad, 2005). 

 The Eastern Concept of Freedom

The Eastern concept of freedom is a freedom of the mind. In the Eastern world freedom is perceived in terms of the ability to act according to those convictions which result from internal harmony and freedom of conscience or free will. Emphasis is on internal factors of freedom as they relate to the inner aspects of life or the inner life - freedom from conditioning, freedom from fear, freedom from desire, and freedom from sorrow. Inner freedom is not a question of will but of observation and contemplation. Inner freedom is based on the ability to see reality as it is, with a sense of responsibility or caring i.e. love in the sense of loving-kindness, wisdom of compassion and creative intelligence. Creative intelligence is functional in normal growth and development of social. Social intelligence is a function of optimal mental health. Social intelligence is also a capability to sense social reality and taking social reality into consideration when making decision or action.  Education for social intelligence is education for cultivation of the total human being; example is the holistic education. Holistic education is responsible education which allows for freedom to learn from experience or experiential learning.

Teaching the Children to Live Freedom within the Eastern Context and Values

To teach the right meaning and practice of freedom can be done through holistic perception and holistic education.   It should be reminded that freedom is the most important condition necessary to ensure the cultivation of natural development - not freedom as license but freedom with control and responsibility. Although freedom in the eastern context is the freedom of the mind, the ability to act according to the conviction which results from internal harmony and freedom of conscience, however, the application of such freedom is not absolute, in the sense that someone cannot just act based on his conviction alone but social realities and moral values are factors to tame freedom. In the eastern context, freedom is not regarded as free ticket to do whatever you want to do but freedom that is placed within the social context.   Such concept should be inculcated in the beginning of childhood. Since childhood, a child is oriented what it means to be free within the context.

Learning is a natural function of the brain and the healthy mind. There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education functions either as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. The development of an educational methodology that facilitates this process will inevitably lead to tension and conflict within our society. But it could also contribute to the formation of a new man and mark the beginning of a new era in Western history.

Real freedom is a consequence of development and education; it is the consequence of latent guides, aided by education. It is the construction of the personality, reached by effort and one's own experiences; it is the long road which every child must take to reach maturity. Development cannot be taught. Freedom does not consist in keeping up an uninterrupted and unimpeded external activity, but is something achieved through conquering, by personal reflection, the difficulties that prevent immediate overflow into action and spontaneous success and genuine freedom is intellectual. It rests on the power of thought. To cultivate unhindered, unreflective, external activity is to foster enslavement, for it leaves the person at the mercy of appetite, sense and circumstance (Kesson, 2010).

The result of good education must be to produce a mature person. A mature person would be a person who knows how to use his freedom in the proper context. Though the concept of freedom is universal but the application of such freedom is contextual. Contexts are always different depending where you are in this world. When you are in western culture, the application of freedom should be adjusted to western context and when you are in the eastern world, the application of freedom should be adjusted within eastern context. Western culture may emphasize individuality and independence, while eastern culture would emphasizes social harmony, interdependence. As a consequence, the application of freedom for the eastern would be limited by the concept of harmony. Your freedom ends when you destroy the harmony and the social relationship. It is not like ‘mind your own business’ and don’t mind my business as in the western culture. Thus children must know where they are and learn how to exercise freedom within the context where they. It is like a Filipino behaves like American and American behave like a Filipino. It is what is happening. Besides there can be no freedom independent of social, moral and cultural context. For the human individual in a cultural context, the nature of reality is determined by the nature of the cultural environment. The nature of the cultural environment is determined by the cultural values, moral values and belief systems.

Teaching Methodology

Teaching children about such freedom is not an easy job; given the fact the world has no boundary because of technology. Internet has communicated directly to the children or students what is happening around the globe. However, such situation is not an excuse for educator to teach children about the meaning of freedom within their cultural values and social values. Human are product of its environment.   

In line with that idea, educators must analyze the cultural context in which they are doing their work of educating. There can be no educational policy or practice independent of a social and cultural context and therefore there is no such theory as objective educational theory. For the human individual in a cultural context, the nature of reality is determined by the nature of the cultural environment. The nature of the cultural environment is determined by the cultural values and belief systems. Stimuli from the cultural environment are directly related to the basic assumptions underlying the values of the culture. They are peripheral to the stimuli in the field of focused attention. As peripheral stimuli, they are processed by the brain at the subconscious level. The cultural values are a product of the cultural belief systems which make up the cultural consciousness. The cultural belief systems are a product of the history of the culture. The cultural history forms the basis of the cultural consciousness, source of the peripheral stimuli processed subconsciously by the individual in a cultural context. The individual's thought and behavior patterns are influenced by the subconsciously processed peripheral stimuli from the cultural environment. Unconsciously perceived and processed by the brain, peripheral stimuli from the cultural environment are inherent in the so-called cultural consciousness. The educational process for the individual within a cultural context involves conscious thought patterns in the framework of unconsciously processed environmental stimuli of the cultural consciousness. The learning process combines the processing of environmental peripheral stimuli with conscious thought processes involved in cognition. Educational policies are formulated in the context of a prevailing cultural worldview which is inherent in the prevailing cultural belief systems and values. Cultural belief systems are created in the framework of the basic assumptions underlying the cultural view of the world - the reality which is perceived from the point of view of the people living in their own time. The individuals within a given culture perceive their own world from their own point of view, with the technology, the resources and the education accessible to them. They identify with the belief systems of their culture and perceive the world from the point of view of the cultural belief systems. An individual educated within the context of given cultural belief systems internalize the cultural values. The cultural values are derived from the cultural beliefs (Miller, 2005)

Conclusion

From the concept of freedom alone shows a difference between the west and the east. Thus human conduct must be different too. Human are product of its environment or society. Eastern world emphasizes social relationship and harmony and while western culture emphasizes on individuality. Such concepts naturally influence how human from two different context live life differently. Thus, the application of the concept of freedom is then contextual. For the western, freedom is absolute but for the eastern, freedom is not absolute. In that case, social context, values, cultures defines the boundary of freedom.   

References

Maguigad, R. B..2005. Philosophy of Man. Libro Filipino 90-D N. Ramirez Street, Galas, Quezon City

Montemayor, Felix M. 1999. Introduction to Philosophy Through the Philosophy of Man revised Edition. Navotas Press, Navotas, Metro Manila

Kesson, Kathleen. 2010. Critical Theory and Holistic Education: Carrying on the Conversation. http://wwwholisticeducation.com

Schaull, Richard. 2008. Introduction of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. http://www.paulofreire.com.

Miller, John. 2005. Holistic Education in a Prophetic Voice in Worldviews, Educational Orientations and Holistic Education. http://www.holisticeduactor.com

http://www.holisticeducator.com/freedom.htm

http://www.holisticeducator.com/culturalcontext.htm