Abstract:

The ethical problems truly become managerial dilemmas when they refer to the conflict between the performances related to the duties towards the persons inside and outside the university. The nature of these duties is being submitted to interpretations. The majority of the managers accept the idea that they include the protection of the loyal employees as well as the maintenance of the standards that ensure the quality of education throughout the value of the university’s graduates together with their integration on the labor market. The management dilemma is that these obligations plenary involve both the organization and the manager as a person.

The manager’s dilemma is that of finding the “correct”, “right” and “fair” balance between the performances referring to the obligations towards the persons inside and outside the university.

The unilateral approach providing priority to a certain category of performances is very simple and it does not correspond to the present reality. Fortunately most of the managers admit the impact of their decisions and actions upon the community. There are only few active managers that do not understand the indirect consequences of their actions.

Each ethical problem has several alternatives, with different consequences, perhaps with unknown accomplishing possibilities and with a very diverse personal impact upon the managers.

Making an ethical decision when one is being directly involved is even harder to accomplish. The ethical decisions are not simple choices between “right” and “wrong”. They are complex judgments upon the balance between the obtained performances.

The ethical problems differ depending upon the managerial position. A manager from education has to face ethical problems that are closely related to his field of activity referring both to the educators and to the ones that are being educated. Top managers especially face strategic ethical problems, whereas the one situated on the lower levels face tactical issues that have a moral substratum.

The type of problem the decision maker is facing may influence the ethical quality of the made decision. The managerial ethical problems bare in view both the personal ethics of the manager and the university’s ethics, having a complex character.

The manager’s personal ethics is being influenced by a series of factors like: the personal values, the power, the self control, the stage of moral evolution, the organizational culture.

Any university management also has a moral responsibility that assumes the following: to make proof of high professionalism, to aim at ensuring the quality of education, to lead men towards action in order to attain the goals, to contribute to the ethics within the university (goals, means, culture, rules, customs, practices).

The moral quality of the organization and its personnel will depend, in fact, upon the moral quality and the leading capacities of its managers.

The elements shown in the present paper represent the result of a rich experience in higher education. A few aspects of the ethical management of a higher institution’s management are being highlighted.

Keywords:

ethic, manager, university, management, dilemma.