Maintaining Core Values of Academic Ethos
Elements of Maintaining Core Values of Academic Ethos
The subsequent phase of core values of the academic ethos managerial process refers to their maintenance. Discovering and defining core values by an academic community, writing those values in the form of declarations, establishing policies, procedures and codes, or even communicating them throughout the world is not enough to manage core values of academic ethos in an effective and conscientious way. A school of higher education does not only exist; rather, it happens, becomes, and transforms.
During such “happening” of higher schools, ways of conduct inside it may maintain and protect core values of academic ethos or, quite the opposite, they may cause hindering, forgetting, and eroding of those values.
An important role in maintaining core values of academic ethos is ensured by the following actions:
1. Protection of core values of academic ethos ensured by:
• recruitment—the way of choosing employees;
• actions taken in order to explain core values;
• trainings on core values for members of academic community;
• the way of awarding and promotion system.
2. Control over of behavior compliance of academic community members with the behaviors ascribed to core values of academic ethos (systems of control and power).
3. Redefinition of core values of academic ethos.
Protection of Core Values of Academic Ethos
Recruitment
Recruitment is understood as employing people with necessary personality traits and fundamental abilities required for implementing core values. Recruitment has always been perceived by organizational executives as the main success determinant. However, the emphasis was put on professional qualifications of applicants while those requirements usually may be fulfilled by more than one person. A higher school that wants to protect its core values of academic ethos should pay attention to the so-called cultural adequacy of an applicant. It means that the school should ensure that the core values of a prospective employee are the same as that of the school; it should employ people who believe in similar values (substantially compliant with organizational core values) and exhibit most, if not all, of these values. Beyond particular abilities connected with a particular post, a university’s attention should also be focused on the personal traits of applicants, their personal value scale, and similar factors. Those actions should be taken in order to find people who fit a university’s culture and image.1
The business world (e.g., American Express, Disney Corporation, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble) as well as the science world provide us with many examples of approaches to the recruitment process. The chain of Ritz-Carlton hotels is an exemplar for many companies, especially in the areas of service quality and treating clients with attention and respect. The chain uses the following criteria of prospective employees selection: ethics in work, self-respect, persuasiveness, ability to establish interpersonal contacts, team work ability, recognition of the term “service,” empathy, health, and precision.2
One of the core values of Texas A&M University is defined as follows: “We seek excellence in all we do.” To protect this value in the recruitment process, Texas A&M University formulates the following statement:
Recruiting processes should be focused on excellence. An excellent sabbatical program is also required. Job opportunities for spouses, given the dual-career nature of today’s families, must be enhanced on and off of the campus. Lose no faculty to other institutions for reasons that do not involve sound professional decision making.3
It also clearly states that the university should quadruple the number of faculty who are members of the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, or fellows in academic and professional societies. It is one of the main objectives: realizing the values of excellence in Texas A&M University.
A similar approach is evident with Northern Kentucky University.4 One of its core values is described as “the high standards of excellence in every dimension of our work.” They understand that great universities depend on outstanding faculty and staff committed to the full breadth of the institution’s mission and core values. That is why it was decided to develop recruitment, performance planning, and evaluation procedures based on the university’s mission, core values, and strategic priorities.
The process of recruit selection also provides additional information about a university. Those applicants who notice a conflict between their own personal values and the values of a higher school may withdraw from the recruitment process on their own. In this way, a recruitment process is realized in two directions as it enables both employer and applicant to withdraw before establishing a formal relation when they realize their values are not compatible. The recruitment process maintains organizational culture by eliminating those applicants who potentially could attack or question fundamental values of an organization.5
Explaining Core Values
Explaining core values of academic ethos is the next action aimed at particular values protection. Through such explanations, systemic actions are directed toward current and new participants of academic community; they are aimed at providing information about what are the values of academic ethos, why they are so important for a higher school, and what conduct is expected from an academic community. Lack of understanding what academic ethos really is may cause nonconformist behavior that sometimes results in one’s exclusion from the community. A college or university should strive for a systematic renewal of knowledge about core values among its employees and students through meetings, academic events, or university publications.
Each public appearance of a university’s authorities, such as at an inauguration of the academic year, graduation (or diploma) day, or other celebrations should serve as pretexts for explaining and underscoring the core values of a particular academic institution. It is especially important that the explanation of those values be a part of events such as new student conferences, first meetings for every course, new faculty orientation, graduate teaching assistant training, or faculty/staff in-service training.
Detailed explanations of values of academic ethos as well as desired or reprehensible behavior connected with them should be constantly present in basic organizational documents of a university, such as faculty/staff job application materials, the faculty/staff handbook, catalog, admissions application material, student rules and handbook, schedule of classes and course syllabi as well as Advisor’s Handbooks, the institution’s website, student calendars, welcome letters to new students, posters, and bookmarks.6
Including the message explaining academic values in the documents and aforementioned events should be aimed at creating and increasing the level of awareness about the values of academic ethos in the academic community. The awareness of academic ethos values is not just a matter of organizational visibility, but it is also an adoption by participants regarding the level of core values (acceptance by particular groups constituting the academic community). Core values of a higher school will gain the status of Durkheim’s cultural facts only if they are organizationally visible (exposed inside and outside organization) and shared by the organization’s participants.7 Those values become separate from those who had formalized them and are something external to the individual awareness. This awareness (through core values articulation and their transparency) creates a sense of order, predictability, regularity, and safety. It results in a common trust at the school. Chaotic, poorly articulated core values, on the contrary, can result in accidental, unpredictable actions by an organization. It creates a sense of anarchy, uncertainty, or even threat.8
Training on Core Values of Academic Ethos
A higher school not only should explain the essence of its core values but should also educate its employees (the new ones as well as the current ones) and students to help them understand the importance of values and how to develop them through proper training. Such training helps the employees recognize ethical dilemmas, broadens their knowledge of ethical issues determining their actions, and confirms an organization’s expectations on ethical conduct from its members.9 It is not enough if an organization means well and formulates clear standards and excellent policies or procedures. Without appropriate capabilities, success is not possible. Competent employees will not maintain their abilities on the same level forever. Those abilities can weaken and may become outdated. Higher schools should equip new employees and students with abilities to behave in compliance with the core values of a particular university. An exemplar for such trainings is the program of U.S. Marines, which includes an obligatory recruit training camp during which every recruit reveals his or her involvement. Another example is a practice at Disneyland: during the first 2 days of work, employees watch films and attend lectures on what appearance and conduct is expected of Disney’s employees.
Higher schools may be also proud of their exemplar solutions of trainings shaping the capabilities to act in accordance with a particular core values. Texas A&M University not only declares “diversity” as one of its core values, but also has founded the Diversity Training Institute:
DTI is a dynamic and interactive 3-day training program that combines theory and practice to give participants the essential tools necessary to design, promote and present a variety of diversity education activities. The Institute is designed for people interested in the development, management or training components of diversity education initiatives. Facilitators will share methods designed to promote general cultural awareness, as well as ways to facilitate effective dialogue.10
Higher schools should not forget about cyclic trainings on values of academic ethos for their current employees. There also should be a standard to attend obligatory trainings for new employees in this field (e.g., within 30 days of a person’s date of employment).
Furthermore, training on values of academic ethos for students is very important. Although we assume that the members of academic community are familiar with core values, as well as its policies, procedures that support those values (such as faculty/student handbook, catalogues, or other documents) and actions aimed at explaining those values, we should not conclude it in advance that they acquired the knowledge on those values. We should be aware that both employees and students may have not necessarily read those documents describing policies, procedures, or codes that are tools for core values enacting. It is worth mentioning here that, according to Kibler’s study,11 few higher schools that were analyzed used a proactive way to inform and train on a value such as integrity. Only 22% of schools required including information on “integrity” in syllabi and 36% organized seminars and discussions on this matter. Even if the values of academic ethos are explained to the members of academic community, we should be aware of the fact that human memory is volatile and they may simply forget about those values. The additional threat is visible when we talk about students as even if they read the materials explaining the values of academic ethos, they may not understand them thoroughly as data collected on two campuses reveal that only one student in 20 believed he or she had a working knowledge of their school’s academic honesty policy.12
Colleges and universities should not forget that the values of academic ethos are heritages that live, evolve, and work in harmony with the world around them. That is why it is so important to organize trainings for employees in a form of cyclic seminars, discussions, and dedicated correspondence, including information not only about all the actions aimed at implementing values of academic ethos, but also about the suggestions for enhancing the current policies and procedures. Similarly, the training for students is crucial to the same extent. Effort for enacting and maintaining core values with the appropriate strategies should also be directed toward those two groups of university stakeholders. Carnegie Mellon University, for example, characterizes those strategies in the following way:
1. for students13
• understand the expectations;
• get organized and stay organized;
• manage your time;
• know your resources;
• identify alternatives.
2. for instructors14
• addressing cheating behaviors;
• planning writing assignments;
• communicating your expectations;
• considering cultural variations.
Training on values of academic ethos that is dedicated to students is aimed at ensuring that students know and understand particular values as well as the expectations regarding those values. Such training may be divided into actions that can be realized during classes or out of it.
Fostering Values of Academic Ethos in the Classroom
The employees’ involvement in enacting values of academic ethos is a result of top management’s engagement (and its visibility) in this process (walk the talk). Quite similar to this, students’ involvement is a result of behavioral patterns they acquire by interpreting their teachers’ behavior. So, the first step of the teacher to train students in the values of academic ethos is establishing a positive classroom climate, which “is a term that refers to the social–psychological context of student–teacher interactions usually defined in terms of the students’ perceptions of the teacher.”15 By interpreting a teacher’s behavior, a student learns about values serving as a base for this behavior. So, if one of the university core values is integrity, it requires that a teacher show respect and treat students seriously by fulfilling the following minimal standards of conduct:16
• come to class on time, and not leave early;
• not waste class time, but use it well to fulfill the objectives of the course;
• both encourage you and give you an equal opportunity, to participate in class discussions;
• respect the views you express and not make fun of you or of them;
• not allow others to ridicule you or your ideas, or you to do the same to them;
• tell the class a little about your personal and professional background;
• when you attend professional meetings, especially if you have to miss class, tell the students a little about what happened at the meeting;
• give students your e-mail address and encourage comments and questions. Reply promptly to the student and discuss selected messages with the class (keeping the sender anonymous, of course);
• be proactive about inviting students to visit during office hours.
A teacher should also demonstrate care and concern for students by learning and using their names, conversing with them before and after class, thoughtfully responding to all germane questions with clear and thorough answers, and mentoring students who are struggling so that they can achieve higher academic goals. In addition, the teacher must hear out valid student complaints, sift out invalid complaints, and act on the needs of students when logically necessary.17 The practical example of a concern for students is, for example, ATMentors:
ATMentors is an organization of faculty, staff, and administrators who volunteer extra office hours to make themselves available to students who just want to talk to someone. We have over 200 current mentors in almost every department on campus.
ATMentors have offices all over campus. To help students readily identify them, Mentors display ATMentors door plaques. Students can trust that faculty and staff members who display an ATMentors door plaque are willing to help students in need.18
A very important tool that may be used in a classroom in order to teach values of academic ethos and the behaviors that threaten them is and should be a syllabus. The syllabus serves as a contract between instructor and student, and it should not only offer precise information about objectives of a particular academic subject but also enumerate precise expectations and reprehensible behavior that could occur while learning a particular subject. The challenge for teachers should not only be teaching against academic dishonesty (“low academic values” like cheating or plagiarism), but also including in syllabi the declarations that explain to students that the teacher knows that academic dishonesty exists and that he or she will take these matters seriously. The teacher should be specific about what behaviors create academic dishonesty during the course and make it clear to students that: (a) academic dishonesty is ethically wrong; and (b) that students are personally responsible for honesty.19 Teachers should shape syllabi in order to be able to educate students in “high academic values,” such as honesty, integrity, fairness, truth, and excellence.20
Taking the effectiveness of the educational process on values of academic ethos into account, it is recommended to include in syllabi at least the following elements:
• a brief, general statement about the importance of core values of academic ethos; a personal statement declaring instructor’s commitment to academic ethos core values;
• a brief list of the types of behaviors that may support and destroy core values of academic ethos;
• a brief list of campus resources that may help to reduce the risk of unethical behaviors or behaviors that destroy academic ethos;
• a brief description of academic policy that is based on academic core values and is developed to support the process of their enacting (with reference to what the complete policy can be found).
The University of Central Florida (UCF) publishes on its websites an exemplar declaration that should be included at the beginning of every syllabus. Its short version is as follows:
As reflected in the UCF creed, integrity and scholarship are core values that should guide our conduct and decisions as members of the UCF community. Plagiarism and cheating contradict these values, and so are very serious academic offenses. Penalties can include a failing grade in an assignment or in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the university. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with and follow the University’s Rules of Conduct (see http://www.osc.sdes.ucf.edu/).21
A similar syllabus statement can be found on Georgetown University websites:
Georgetown University—Georgetown allows each faculty member to describe his/her adherence to the overall academic integrity policy, and the Provost and Honor Council send a letter to all faculty every year, which includes the following statement that tells about the Honor System, general best practices, and encourages the inclusion in all syllabi of the piece in quotation marks/blue text:
The goal of the Honor System is to achieve the highest level of integrity without need to invoke these procedures. To approach that goal, faculty must communicate forthrightly and persuasively to students the importance of academic honesty. Please plan to spend at least a few minutes of your first class meeting enunciating the basic principles you expect to see enacted, and please reinforce this message in your syllabus.22
Instructors should also train students on the values of academic ethos through discussion. As stated by Whitley and Keith-Spiegel, discussion means a complete explanation by the instructor plus input and feedback from students.23 It is based on research that people are more likely to accept and comply with the policies and procedures when they understand their purpose even when they disagree with the statements included in those policies and procedures.24 Aiken found that 55% of his respondents thought that discussing the problem of academic dishonesty would be an effective means to prevent dishonesty.25 Through an open discussion with students, teachers may strengthen relations, creating alignment on interpretation of values of academic ethos, behaviors that determine them, and behaviors resulting in academic ethos erosion. In the educational process, it is very important to teach how to prevent behaviors not compliant with those values, especially behaviors that may be characterized as examples of academic dishonesty.It is not enough to say that plagiarism is bad. It is necessary to explain it is so, indicate possible situations in which it may occur during classes, and clearly communicate what the consequences are for inappropriate behavior. The essence of inappropriate behavior must be explained with the use of particular examples that equip students with appropriate abilities, enabling them to avoid unethical behavior. Teachers should not assume in advance that a student knows what plagiarism is and how to use data sources in order to avoid plagiarism.
Discussions with students (and employees) on the values of academic ethos may be conducted during classes as well as in residence halls, student organizations, and during new faculty/student member orientations. The side effect of such a discussion may be a new version of policies and procedures regarding enactment of academic ethos that occur on a university’s website in the “FAQ” section, where the most frequent dilemmas of faculty members and students are presented with explanations. Those elements may also occur as extras in print versions of a university’s policies and procedures.
Fostering values of academic ethos out of the classroom
In the process of explaining the values of academic ethos to students, a university and its teachers should use all their creativity and propose the newest educating methods that go beyond the course frameworks and classes. For many years we have known the maxim about the effectiveness of learning through play. We should do everything possible in order to teach them in the most intelligible, simplest, and most entertaining way. There are many examples of amusing ways for communicating information about core values of a university. One of the easiest mechanisms is organizing contests for the best T-shirt design that presents one of the values of academic ethos. Another possibility is to announce a contest for the best slogan, poster, or cartoon describing what may be called the university’s DNA, namely its core values, and espousing the benefits of behavior that works in accordance with academic core values, for example, emphasizing the advantages of honesty and disadvantages of dishonesty. Examples of posters created for this purpose can be found on Clemson University websites.26
Today’s technology provides us with other solutions in this area. Chatbot placed on the university’s website may not only answer a question in a FAQ section but can also become a partner in a discussion on values of academic ethos. Another example may be a movie festival, including films concerning ethical dilemmas (e.g., Quiz Show, Wall Street I, Wall Street II, The Firm, and Margin Call) coupled with a discussion on issues that occurred in presented movies. Seminars, symposia, lectures of scientific personages, or discussion panels for both students and faculty are other ways of teaching values of academic ethos. Panels may address issues such as:27
• academic dishonesty in online courses: preventative strategies;
• grade inflation and its potential impact on academic integrity issues;
• techniques for students to avoid intentional and unintentional plagiarism and write better essays/papers;
• simplified procedure for reporting and appealing academic integrity violations, and discuss potential upcoming changes to the Academic Integrity Policy;
• the role of integrity while applying for jobs and graduate schools.28
Motivating and awarding
The last element of core values protection is combining formal and informal awards for actions compliant with the core values of academic ethos. University authorities should do everything in order to reward behavior compliant with core values and punish unethical behavior. The evaluation of employees’ effectiveness should include not only the achieved success in their scientific, educational, or organizational activity but also the compliance of their actions and decisions with policies, procedures, and codes responsible for enacting the values of academic ethos. Members of an academic community that behave in accordance with the mentioned documents should be awarded for their behavior in a visible way (by gaining diplomas, verbal or written praise, awards, etc.). On the contrary, those who cause erosion of academic ethos should be punished in the way that attracts attention.
In East Chapel Hill High School:
“Members of the Student Academic Integrity and Leadership (S.A.I.L.) club instituted a new recognition of students, the Honor Scholars Award. The Integrity Committee along with S.A.I.L. asks each teacher to nominate one student who demonstrates values of honesty, integrity, and responsibility. Academic achievements are not part of the criteria for this nomination. Everyone will have the opportunity to nominate students confidentially. Once the nominated students are approved through the cross-referencing process, they will be notified of their achievements. Seniors will be recognized in the graduation program. This award will be annual, and students will be able to cite this recognition.”29
Bucknell University:
“…recognizes the exceptional contributions of faculty and staff with a number of honors. These include the Barry R. Maxwell Award for outstanding contributions to the Bucknell community, the John F. Zeller Award for support staff excellence, the Walter C. Geiger Award for administrative staff excellence, and the Burma-Bucknell Bowl for outstanding contributions to intercultural and international understanding within the Bucknell community. The Stephen W. Taylor Medal, the University’s most significant award, honors those who render extraordinary service to the University. Annual awards presented during Reunion or Homecoming Weekend recognize alumni for loyalty, service to humanity, and outstanding professional achievement.”30
Equally important as rewarding behavior compliant with core values and its public exposure is punishment for reprehensible behavior and reporting on violations of existing principles in academic community. All actions that threaten values of academic ethos and violate existing procedures and standards should be published in a university’s bulletin, website, or in special brochures describing particular cases of core value violations.
The subsequent components of the phase of maintaining values of academic ethos are:
• control, understood as a systemic monitoring, supervision and evaluation of the compliance with core values of actions taken by employees, and
• core values redefinition.
Control of Core Values of Academic Ethos
Adapting particular policies and procedures by a university is connected with the necessity of constant monitoring. Monitoring is indispensable if the code has normative functions. Moreover, as noted by Schein, “If the president of an institution and faculty and student governance groups request periodic reports on academic integrity issues, then members of the institution will place more importance on academic integrity than in the absence of such interest.”31
Universities have been conducting research on employees’ and students’ familiarity with basic documents elaborated for core values implementation as well as on cases of inappropriate behaviors and violations of adopted procedures and principles. The research is aimed not only at generating information about the current situation and progress of the core values implementation process, but also at taking actions of revising the current policies and procedures.
Recommendations for evaluating effectiveness of core values implementing became especially important after the year 2002 and a series of spectacular bankruptcies initiated by Enron. However, multiplication of controlling systems has also had negative results. As suggested by Stansbury and Barry, formalization regarding making ethical decisions may potentially have some harmful effects.32 Forms of controlling, especially the compulsory ones that are assumed in policies and codes of ethics, may paradoxically limit their own effectiveness and, in extreme situations, they may cause the atrophy of employees’ competency.
Redefining Core Values of Academic Ethos
Core values of an organization are its heritage, its past that exists in its present time. However, this past should not result in an organization’s stagnation, its moving back. It should result in the organization’s development. Core values are like lodestars, stable and unchangeable. However, their definitions should change in order to stay relevant. A definition of a core value is an element that links an organization’s past with its future. In 1890, Sears defined its core value “Customer Service” as customer’s satisfaction or the guarantee of money back.33 But after years the guarantee of money back became a common behavior of many organizations. If Sears had not redefined its core value, this value would have resulted in its failure rather than in its present success.34
In the archives of many long-standing universities we may find a few different versions of their missions, visions, and core values. All of them express the same principles, but the words being used differ as they reflect various requirements of a particular time and conditions in which they existed. Definitions of core values that do not reflect current social expectations become stale, old, like a ball and chain that make organizations slow and make them fall into oblivion. Values are unchangeable, but words describing them need to change toward business reality. An organization’s ability to develop is conditioned by its ability to redefine its core values and to maintain them as compliant with business reality. Hultman and Gellerman propose to check reality of core values by asking the following questions:35
• Is a particular value beneficial for both organization’s and individual’s increase?
• Is it clearly defined?
• Does it encourage people to achieve their potential for development?
• Is it based on trust?
• Does behavior ascribed to it bring positive results?
• Does it fulfill needs and desires?
• Does it take a long-term perspective into account?
It is hard to answer the question of how often a college or university should redefine its core values, but some warning signals may be identified. Those signals suggest a necessary facelift of core values. The first symptom is stagnation: an organization seems to be burned out and its main effort is focused on maintaining the status quo. The lack of effectiveness and failure to realize strategic objectives are subsequent signals. Bad communication between top management and employees causes the lack of trust, cynicism, and pessimism on organization’s future, lack of confidence that a university has any future, and the lack of enthusiasm or involvement among employees, culminating in an attitude described as “I’ll do what I have to do and nothing more.”36
Values of academic ethos need to be continually redefined; sometimes the supplementing of a core values set is highly important, especially in instances such as a merger, a university’s development, or changes in the university’s environment. We have to remember that values of academic ethos are not given once and for all. Donnelly said, “Ethos then is not that which is formally stated or documented but is a process of social interaction; it is not independent from the organization but inherently bound up within it. It is a product of organizational interaction and will be produced and reproduced over time.”37
As a result, academic ethos values management should be understood as the ongoing process of negotiating, during which an academic community tends to agree on who we are, what is important for us, and how should we behave in order to pass our identity (that constitutes our uniqueness) to the future generations.
Through actions such as recruitment or training, a school of higher learning protects its core values and effectively provides members of its academic community with new abilities required to achieve particular core values. It also creates a motivation system utilizing formal and informal awards for people who are the exemplars of conduct compliant with core values. Moreover, it establishes new information programs that explain the essence of core values. Those programs are for both current and prospective participants of academic ethos.
After many years of functioning formal systems of actions described in this chapter, values gradually become so rooted in people and organizations that external systems of execution become needless. There is an atmosphere of pressure from co-workers that guards core values on their own. Core values become a part of institutionalized environment. The following years result in a situation in which people in an organization (as they are willing to do this) automatically fulfill organizational expectations of deeply established core values. Such individuals internalize core values of an organization to the greatest extent and these values become their personal values as a whole; in effect, they become built into their own personality. Employees start to accept the importance of living in accordance with a university’s values, even if there is no external pressure. Those people recognize such conduct as an element of good work. Individuals become great carriers and implementers of a university’s core values. This implementation may be likened to the metaphor of the French political scientist of the second part of the nineteenth century, Alexis da Cacu Willa, who used the term “cardiac reflex.”38 However, such behavior is very rare—an ideal that may be approached by management of a higher school’s identity through the use of the instruments of Academic Ethos Management.39