I am first a servant of God and second an administrator in training. In decision-making, I would rely on the Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word to guide me. With that being said, I would first ask the Holy Spirit to help me.

Learning Goal: I’m working on a article writing multi-part question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Please respond to lydia with 200 words and you must support your assertions with at least 1 citation per reply.

I am first a servant of God and second an administrator in training. In decision-making, I would rely on the Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word to guide me. With that being said, I would first ask the Holy Spirit to help me. Second, I would make decisions based on what would honor God, do the most good for the institution, and benefit the most people. King Solomon was faced with a dilemma when two mothers both claiming that a living baby was their own were brought into his court. Using his God-given wisdom, Solomon was able to determine who the rightful mother was (English Standard Version, 2001, 1 Kings 3:16-28). True wisdom comes from the Lord, so I would have no choice but rely on His wisdom. Other important steps in framing my decision-making would include hearing all sides of the story to get the facts correct before making my final assessment (Dobrin, 2012). Next, I would ensure that I am being objective and leaving emotions out of my decisions. Morris (2019) said that administrators must be aware of any blind spots that could affect their decision-making. Lastly, remaining humble and not assuming my decision is the best or only correct way would be as equally important (Mitchell, 2019).

Examples of complex issues that administrators would be required to address include the department being extremely short-staffed in a very busy time of the semester and the administration being asked to allow a group of staff time off for religious holiday observance. Not allowing these staff members time to observe their religious holiday would violate their religious freedom, but their absence would mean more work on an already overwhelmed skeleton crew. Another example of a complex issue would be if a wealthy donor gave a significant amount of money to fund a scholarship but then wanted to put biased stipulations on which students could be awarded the scholarship. Not honoring the donor’s request would risk upsetting the person or organization and losing those scholarship monies. Honoring the donor’s request would mean ignoring the bias and allowing the scholarship to go to students who may not be the most deserving of the scholarship (Mitchell, 2019). Lastly, administrators will have to know how to respond to negative press. An example at my last institution included accusations from the local news station that a prominent staff member was involved in a certain organization. The university conducted an investigation and found no criminalizing evidence; therefore, the university administration took no action against the staff member. Students, however, believed the accusations were true and many students and their parents protested against the university’s decision.

Resources:

Dobrin, A. (2012, July 13). Five steps to better ethical decision making. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/am-i-right/201207/five-steps-better-ethical-decision-makingLinks to an external site.

English Standard Version. (2001). Crossway Bibles.

Mitchell, P. A. (2019). Ethical decision-making: Cases in organization and leadership. Myers Education Press.

Morris, L. V. (2019). Complexities in ethical decision-making. Innovative Higher Education, 44(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-019-9456-4