Accountability and technology are another issue with leaders. The issue of the loss of ethical decisions is the focus of education to have the highest grades in the class no matter what. In this environment, students are pressured to succeed, no matter what the ethical cost. Cheating has greatly increased over the past decade. Americans live in a goal and power driven society. Students look for highest GPA, the most competitive school, and the greatest success among classmates as the ultimate goal, regardless of how they achieve that feat. With this failure of academic integrity and understanding its underlying ethical component, academia is failing to impart its ethical code onto it students. Without reinforcement, the sense of “right” and “wrong” is diminished. When these students go out into the workplace, they will lack that sense of accountability.
As an administrator at a graduate school, I am already seeing this lack of accountability in our students and our workforce. When one student was questioned as to how she had arrived at a research paper so similar to one that another student had presented a year earlier, she admitted that she had copied it off the lab computer of that student. She saw nothing wrong with changing the name and a couple of citations and calling it her own work. She had no idea that this consisted of plagiarism. “People did it all the time in undergrad” was her response.
No accountability, pressure to succeed, and apathy all reduce the code of ethics so necessary to promote a healthy social culture. Administrators need to allow instructors to instruct students on how to resist the easy routes to success, which, more often than not, leads to a crumbling of the social code of ethics, and the loss of “right” and “wrong”. They need to bring students to see the computer, internet, and other technologies as a right but not a way to cheat for success. This cheating leads to a failure in responsibility on the part of the leaders as well as the students.
ethics and technology in the university. Leading into the right
What are the ethical problems in university technologies? Nothing. It is not the technology that has ethics, but the people around these electronic gadgets. People make the decisions to know if copying a compact disk or downloading a copyrighted piece of music is a good or bad choice. This is an ethical dilemma that needs an ethical, technologically savvy leader to show the correct path.
When assessing an ethical dilemma, one needs to consider both the emotional and intellectual aspects of a situation. Moral values, which are based on emotion, need to be part of a solid, ethical leader.
In both my personal and professional lives I find that I mix both my emotions and my mind in developing a final thought. I have found that over the years I have developed a balance between gut instinct and common sense.
There is truth in the saying “it feels right”. This is a nod to the empathic aspect of an ethical decision. On several occasions in my life, I have been offered what seemed a fabulous employment position. One position had a fantastic salary, good working locations, and fabulous benefits. The problem was: it didn’t feel right. The person offering me the position, for lack of a better descriptor, didn’t have the right attitude.
This instinctive sense that something was askew led me to spend more time looking into the company. It turned out that the company was overextended and had a poor reputation in the industry. Six months after refusing them, the company went bankrupt.
Leadership is based on both empathic and learned skills. Without the ability to emotionally connect to an environment, a leader’s growth is stunted, perhaps without them realizing the situation. Nurturing empathetic tendencies is hard in this technological world. I find that I have a better grasp on a situation when dealing with them face-to-face. This allows for an overall judgment by examining body motion as well as verbal or written cues. A good mixture of heart needs to be stirred into this modern age of sterile communications. With out it, the human aspect of ethical codes can be lost.
When assessing an ethical dilemma, one needs to consider both the emotional and intellectual aspects of a situation. Moral values, which are based on emotion, need to be part of a solid, ethical leader.
In both my personal and professional lives I find that I mix both my emotions and my mind in developing a final thought. I have found that over the years I have developed a balance between gut instinct and common sense.
There is truth in the saying “it feels right”. This is a nod to the empathic aspect of an ethical decision. On several occasions in my life, I have been offered what seemed a fabulous employment position. One position had a fantastic salary, good working locations, and fabulous benefits. The problem was: it didn’t feel right. The person offering me the position, for lack of a better descriptor, didn’t have the right attitude.
This instinctive sense that something was askew led me to spend more time looking into the company. It turned out that the company was overextended and had a poor reputation in the industry. Six months after refusing them, the company went bankrupt.
Leadership is based on both empathic and learned skills. Without the ability to emotionally connect to an environment, a leader’s growth is stunted, perhaps without them realizing the situation. Nurturing empathetic tendencies is hard in this technological world. I find that I have a better grasp on a situation when dealing with them face-to-face. This allows for an overall judgment by examining body motion as well as verbal or written cues. A good mixture of heart needs to be stirred into this modern age of sterile communications. With out it, the human aspect of ethical codes can be lost.
technology, the public, and shared usage
As a university employee, part of our code of conduct training is to make the school’s environment friendly to all who wish to learn, teach, or work on any campus. Part of this is making sure that people do not violate the basic rules that university issues to encourage learning on campus. When the school spends so much of its budget on technology, it would be nice to have people appreciate it.
Two weeks ago I attended a meeting in the main campus library. This is a joint use facility that is open to the pubic and all members of university. That day, when I came out of the meeting on the fourth floor, I smelled hot, greasy food. As there is no food or drink allowed in the library, I decided to investigate. An older man was eating steaming hot black beans and rice, fried chicken, and rolls with butter, dropping crumbs and grease all over the keyboard and screen of one of the library’s public computers. There were people all around watching him. Although one woman was holding her nose, no one said anything.
My first impulse was to ignore the situation, but that would not benefit the environment. Even though this is not my local workplace, it is part of my work environment. I went up to the man and identified myself as a university employee. I informed him that this is not a restaurant, but a library that does not allow food and drink in the area. I asked him to please put away the food and wait until he left the premises to finish his lunch.
His first question was if I was a member of public safety. I again informed him that I was an administrator at university and would he please put away his food. I told him that if he did not put it away I would contact public safety as this was a flagrant violation of the libraries rules. I could see that the others in the area were glad that I was talking to him, but they made no comments. He continued to eat in front of me as I asked him to stop for the third time. He said, “sure” and continued eating.
I realized that he would not stop until someone in a uniform specifically asked him to stop. I went to the reference desk and informed them that a man was eating a full dinner in the middle of the library over a public computer. Her response was to say, “Well, I don’t want to disturb the patrons. You can tell public safety if you want, just don’t get me involved.” I did go to public safety and reported the man for violating the rules. He was asked to leave the facility.
I learned that sometimes you must make a stand. I realized that what he was doing was unethical, a violation of others rights. This man did not care how his behavior affected others. This was an unacceptable event in a learning environment and had to be corrected for the benefit of all library patrons. Shared technology is just that, something to be shared equally. How would you like to find your computer covered in greasy fingerprints and the keyboard unusable?
Two weeks ago I attended a meeting in the main campus library. This is a joint use facility that is open to the pubic and all members of university. That day, when I came out of the meeting on the fourth floor, I smelled hot, greasy food. As there is no food or drink allowed in the library, I decided to investigate. An older man was eating steaming hot black beans and rice, fried chicken, and rolls with butter, dropping crumbs and grease all over the keyboard and screen of one of the library’s public computers. There were people all around watching him. Although one woman was holding her nose, no one said anything.
My first impulse was to ignore the situation, but that would not benefit the environment. Even though this is not my local workplace, it is part of my work environment. I went up to the man and identified myself as a university employee. I informed him that this is not a restaurant, but a library that does not allow food and drink in the area. I asked him to please put away the food and wait until he left the premises to finish his lunch.
His first question was if I was a member of public safety. I again informed him that I was an administrator at university and would he please put away his food. I told him that if he did not put it away I would contact public safety as this was a flagrant violation of the libraries rules. I could see that the others in the area were glad that I was talking to him, but they made no comments. He continued to eat in front of me as I asked him to stop for the third time. He said, “sure” and continued eating.
I realized that he would not stop until someone in a uniform specifically asked him to stop. I went to the reference desk and informed them that a man was eating a full dinner in the middle of the library over a public computer. Her response was to say, “Well, I don’t want to disturb the patrons. You can tell public safety if you want, just don’t get me involved.” I did go to public safety and reported the man for violating the rules. He was asked to leave the facility.
I learned that sometimes you must make a stand. I realized that what he was doing was unethical, a violation of others rights. This man did not care how his behavior affected others. This was an unacceptable event in a learning environment and had to be corrected for the benefit of all library patrons. Shared technology is just that, something to be shared equally. How would you like to find your computer covered in greasy fingerprints and the keyboard unusable?
paper to paperless? Why is it so hard?
In 1999 the university decreed that the school would be completely paperless by 2001. In 2008 we are using more paper than ever even with fast scanning technologies. The legal department requires that we have paper copies on hand for most details. This is a constant problem in technology. The law is constantly behind in understanding what is happening in technology updates. Data storage is becoming more secure, but it needs find a place in the legal realm.
I think part of this wish for remaining in the paper realm is two fold: you can hold paper (tactile benefits) and you may lose it on your desk, but you know it didn’t vanish into the electronic ethos. How many times has a paper disappeared due to not saving it before the lights went out? If your write on a piece of paper, unless your pen explodes, you are pretty sure that writing is still there.
I have noticed a common trend in email signatures these days that I like: “please think if you really need to print this out – save a tree”. I hope that this will join in with the many greening ideas that this country needs to have a paradigm shift into conservation living and not living to excess.
I think part of this wish for remaining in the paper realm is two fold: you can hold paper (tactile benefits) and you may lose it on your desk, but you know it didn’t vanish into the electronic ethos. How many times has a paper disappeared due to not saving it before the lights went out? If your write on a piece of paper, unless your pen explodes, you are pretty sure that writing is still there.
I have noticed a common trend in email signatures these days that I like: “please think if you really need to print this out – save a tree”. I hope that this will join in with the many greening ideas that this country needs to have a paradigm shift into conservation living and not living to excess.
technology, leadership, and FERPA in the university
When dealing with technology and a university, a vision of the future is needed to support the students, researchers, administrators, and general public. The vision of a university is to offer a wider array of educational opportunities to support the needs of the students, using emerging technologies to enhance the students’ learning environment, creating a group of alumni that can operate in a culturally diverse arena, allowing students to see how research at the university enhances society as well as their education, and expanding higher education access to a greater percentage of minorities. This vision allows the board of trustees and upper administration to focus on projects that will enhance a university. By adhering to the vision statement, the administration can show goals to potential donors and raise awareness of future needs of the university.
Part of this process is to provide training to all employees. Training needs to be mandatory and take place in an online format, allowing all personnel equal access, no matter their location. In addition to this training, employees working with student records must be knowledgeable about the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, known as the Buckley Amendment. FERPA must become second nature to all university personnel.
Part of this process is to provide training to all employees. Training needs to be mandatory and take place in an online format, allowing all personnel equal access, no matter their location. In addition to this training, employees working with student records must be knowledgeable about the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, known as the Buckley Amendment. FERPA must become second nature to all university personnel.
greening of technology
The greening of society is in part based on the increased use of technology. Greening is a catch phrase used to signify areas and business that are making an effort to create a workspace that minimally impacts its environment. Sustainable resources are the items that allow the greening of today’s businesses. Technology helps this process by allowing information to be stored, captured, and processed electronically. This minimizes paper usage and reduces the storage footprint required in all businesses. Current technology has allowed businesses to conduct and store secure transactions without the use of ink and paper. Using less paper reduces the need for harvesting trees while less ink allows for a smaller chance of water pollution.However, most businesses and their leaders do not simply choose sustainable technology for its environmental impact. Leaders must see a positive economic side to these events. There is a principle in science called “Occam's razor”. Named after a 14th century logician, it usually summed up that if there is a choice between two items, and with all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best. If the leadership of an area can see how small environmental friendly changes can positively impact the bottom line, then leaders tend to look for other areas to “go green”.
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