Ms. Rose Catacutan-Adjunct Lecturer School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) shares insights of Deans Ethical Dilemmas in Academic Administration, on an article she published in the Sage Publications entry under the Educational Management Administration and leadership segment (EMAL). EMAL journals- part of Sage’s publications’ holds a 0.405 impact factor, a ranking made from 2013, by Thompson Reuters Journal Citation Reports.

Her article titled: Bridge over Troubled Waters, is drawn from one of her research topics; Phenomenologizing Filipino College Deans’ Ethical Dilemmas in Academic Administration. Her background as a teacher in philosophy, with outlined specialization in the fields of ethics, philosophical anthropology, together with social and political philosophy, clearly tells of the richness in her understanding of both ethical and behavioral dilemmas.

Ms. Catacutan, currently based in Manila- Philippines, is pursuing her doctoral studies in Educational management at the University of Santo Tomas. She attributes her well woven scholarly work to the excellent supervision of her research advisor Prof. Dr. Allan de Guzman.

Explain your journey to getting your article published by SAGE publication

Recently, the Graduate School –where I am doing my doctoral studies, introduced the dissertation-by-article style which allows Ph.D candidates to author manuscripts designed for journal publication during the term of their studies, instead of producing a single manuscript at the conclusion of their program as done in the Traditional format. This option is currently being offered in many universities all over the world. In the University of Santo Tomas, this initiative was introduced by my research adviser Prof. Dr. Guzman, who has a lot of experience in writing for international publications both as a contributor and an editor of some journals. So I guess I am just lucky to be mentored by an expert in the field of research.

Highlights and findings derived from the paper scope.

 

My paper basically gives a glimpse of the moral issues that beset the practice of academic administration in an Asian setting, particularly in the Philippines. Employing the descriptive phenomenological design, this study brought forth a typology of the ethical dilemmas experienced by Filipino college deans, the critical incidents that trigger these dilemmas, and the value conflicts embedded in them. My study also portrayed the difficulties that these respondent deans face as they get personally implicated in those ethical dilemmas. Equally portrayed are the challenges they experience as they become aware of the seriousness and extent of their responsibility over decisions that may have caused unintended harm in the lives of people under their care. This paper also intends to create awareness of the need for academic deans to be cognizant of the moral dimension of their work and integrate ethical considerations in their management decisions. 

What is your paper based on?

This paper is actually based on my dissertation. My dissertation proposal consists of four research questions and this paper is the first segment of my dissertation which is about ethical decision-making in educational administration.

 

Having worked as an academia for many years, I realized the importance of academic administrators as policy makers in the universities. As a teacher in ethics, I have also noted that our students learn ethics not only in our classrooms but also–and more importantly perhaps- through the institutional policies and decisions taken by the university administrators. These institutional policies and decisions create the ethos that is transmitted to every person working and studying at that institution. Decisions of university administrators have a lot of influence in the lives of individuals under their care. I think we all know the impact of these decisions -it is common experience that teachers, staff, and students get more motivated to work hard and work well for the benefit of their institutions when they feel supported and cared for by their academic administrators. So I guess it is important to sensitize people about the need for ethics in academic administration by providing training to those in leadership positions, through formal courses in ethics or mentoring programs.

 

What are some of the benefits that come along with getting your paper published from such a journal?

It is the realization of being able to communicate one’s ideas to a wider audience and in a way acceptable to the academic community.

What would you advice other scholars with regards to research in your area of study and the essence of publicizing scholarly work?  

I think my teaching has helped me a lot because I often integrate my teaching with my research and I consider my classes as a laboratory to test my ideas. I also try to incorporate recent research into my teaching notes and in this way, I somehow get a pool of new ideas and insights after each semester that I have taught. Scholars from the academia could borrow this method and implement them in their area of study.

 

Besides, access to international journals should not be a problem for people working and studying in Strathmore because the university has invested a lot of resources in equipping its library with electronic resources that should enable researchers to access these journals.

 

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