LASA: Applying Organizational Consulting Strategies 7.2

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, Issue 66, 2016, 373-388

Influence of School Managers’ Ethical Leadership Behaviors

on Organizational Culture: Teachers’ Perceptions¹

Esef Hakan TOYTOK*

Saduman KAPUSUZOGLU**

Suggested Citation:

Toytok, E. H., & Kapusuzoglu, S. (2015). Influence of school managers’ ethical

leadership behaviors on organizational culture: Teachers’ perceptions.

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 66 373-388

http://dx.doi.org/10.14689/ejer.2016.66.21

Abstract

Problem Statement: Frequently researched, organizational effectiveness is

influenced by leadership, organizational culture and climate,

organizational commitment, and job satisfaction; additionally, for

effective, sustainable management, ethical leadership, which also

influences organizational culture, is emphasized. To our knowledge, no

previous studies exist on the relationship (and predictiveness) between

ethical leadership and organizational culture. Therefore, this study’s

general purpose was to identify the influence of school managers’ ethical

leadership behaviors on organizational culture as perceived by teachers.

Purpose of the Study: The general purpose of this study is to identify the

influence of ethical leadership behaviors of school managers on

organizational culture as perceived by teachers. It thus aims to fill a

scientific gap in this field and make a contribution by sharing results and

suggestions based on our findings.

Method: Based on the relational screening model, this descriptive study’s

participants were 3302 teachers serving in 323 schools in the city of Duzce

and its districts during the 2013–2014 school year. The Ethical Leadership

Scale (ELS) and the Organizational Culture Scale (OCS) were used as data

collection tools. Ethical leadership (and its sub-dimensions)was

considered the independent variable, while organizational culture (and its

¹ This study was presented at the 2nd Eurasian Educational Research Congress in Ankara, 8–10 June, 2015 *Corresponding author: Asst.Prof.Dr., Siirt University, Department of Educational Sciences,Siirt, Turkey 56100, [email protected] ** Asoc.Prof.Dr., Hacettepe University, Department of Educational Sciences, Ankara, [email protected]

374 Esef Hakan Toytok, Saduman Kapusuzoglu

sub-dimensions)was the predicted dependent variable. Regression

analysis was performed to discover to what extent these variables were

predicted.

Findings: We found a fairly high level of positive significant correlation

between ethical leadership and organizational culture. Regression analysis

showed that ethical leadership is a strong predictor of organizational

culture.

Conclusion and Recommendations: We found a moderate-to-high positive

significant correlation between ethical leadership and organizational

culture. Regression analysis showed that ethical leadership strongly

predicts organizational culture. Our findings revealed a positively

significant correlation between ethical leadership behaviors and

organizational culture; ethical leadership is a strong predictor of

organizational culture. The more ethical leadership behaviors managers

display, the more teachers’ perceptions of organizational culture

positively increase. Recommendations are to implement social and

distributional justice among teachers and the fair distribution of awards

and punishments, along with transparent inspection.

Keywords: Management, Leadership, Ethical Leadership, Organization,

Organizational Culture.

Introduction

Organizations arise as a result of the actions takenby people and construct their

own structures. These structures create their environments through activities. That

means organizations play an active role in building the environment that deals with

itself (Tsoukas&Chia, 2013). The effectiveness of an organization mostly depends on

the effectiveness of its management. Organizational effectiveness appears to be one

of the most fundamental management problems of our time because many studies

have been conducted to determine factors that increase it. By drawing upon

employees’ limited but diverse skills, each organization ensures that its employees

complement one another (Aydin, 2010). But the fact that leadership, organizational

culture and climate, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction—in addition to

employees—influence organizational effectiveness is reported by both foreign

(Mintzberg, 2014; Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2013; Robbins & Judge, 2013;Hoy&Miskel,

2010) and Turkish (Elci, Sener&Alpkan, 2012) researchers. A person working alone

does not need any coordination mechanism because he or she can simply consider

what is needed and adjust appropriately. When two or more persons are involved,

however, the situation changes, and coordination among thoughts and

considerations must be accomplished. This is where leaders and leadership are

needed (Mintzberg, 2014). Furthermore, organizational management is not only the

management of visible resources but also of organizational members’ “meaning

worlds”(Sisman, 2011). In other words, the science of management relates directly to

human behaviors. According to current management understanding, however,

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 375

analyzing only procedural organizational structure or human behaviors does not

suffice for understanding an organization (Basaran, 2008). Just as each human

fingerprint differs, in cultural terms, each organization is unique in its formation and

operation. This ensures or requires each organization to develop its own unique

leadership role (Yukl, 2002).

This understanding of uniqueness has also shaped leadership approaches.

Initially, based on the theory of characteristics, leaders were considered to possess

innate characteristics. Subsequently, however, the theory of human behavior has

revealed that leadership is more about displayed behaviors and actions taken in the

course of such behaviors (Baron& Greenberg, 2000). Finally, the theory of

contingency has shown that no series of best leadership characteristics or behaviors

actually exists and that effective leadership depends on the conditions of a given

organization (Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2013). Thus, the understanding that leadership

skills are not innate but learnable and improvable has been adopted (Haq, 2011). In

addition, leadership necessitates high ethical and moral standards (Eisenbeiss, 2012)

because ethical principles ensure that managers not only abstain from disputable

actions but also avoid approaches that are not right but only appear attractive. Such

principles also serve as an important compass showing others what is right and what

is not. Therefore, Ozbag (2016) concluded in his research that ethical leadership is

mentioned in two important dimensions as a personal moral dimension and moral

administration. While its first dimension reflects personal properties such as honesty

and reliability, its second dimension aims to reduce the probability of involvement in

the unethical behaviors of workers by being a role model in moral relationships

between administrators and workers. Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005) defined

ethical leadership as interpersonal relationships, the demonstration of normatively

appropriate conduct through personal actions, and the promotion of such conduct to

followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making. On

the other side, Riggio, Zhu, Reina, and Maroosis (2015) determined the motivations

behind leaders’ ethical behaviors and focused on “cardinal virtues”. Yet, rather than

focusing on the intent or motivation of ethical leaders, most research on ethical

leadership draws on Brown et al.’s (2005) work that defined ethical leadership in

terms of behavior. Thus, the importance of ethical values has been steadily increasing

for both leaders and organizations. Furthermore, ethical leadership or its absence can

influence the formation and development of organizational culture.

The researchers could not locate any studies on the relationship (or

predictiveness) between the two important concepts of ethical leadership and

organizational culture. Therefore, this study aims to fill a scientific gap in the field

and make a contribution by sharing results and suggestions based on teachers’

perceptions of the influence of school managers’ ethical leadership behaviors on

organizational culture. It is hoped that the current study will help educational

organizations create an effective culture and shed light on school managers’ active

roles in this process.

376 Esef Hakan Toytok, Saduman Kapusuzoglu

Method

Research Design

This is a descriptive study based on the relational screening model. Descriptive-

relational screening studies describe a situation or event as it is and show the

relations between variables that caused the situation, their effects and rates (Kaya,

Balay & Gocen, 2012).

Research Sample

Study participants were 3302 teachers who served in 323 schools in the city of

Duzce and its districts during the 2013–2014 school year. Table 1 displays schools in

the city center and districts and the number of teachers involved.

Table 1.

Distribution of Schools and Teachers in Duzce City Center and Its Districts

Districts No. of

Schools

No. of

Teachers

No. of Schools

that Received

Scale

No. of Teachers

that Received

Scale

Number of

Returned

Scales Central 231 2118 38 905 446 Akcakoca 19 395 13 335 250 Cumayeri 13 136 13 112 68

Cilimli 8 106 8 106 89 Gumusova 8 108 8 108 76

Golyaka 21 149 16 95 64 Kaynaslı 14 146 14 146 105 Yigilca 11 144 11 144 81 Total 325 3302 121 1843 1179

Because all of the provinces of Duzce differ in socioeconomic status and

geographic features, etc., but people living in the same province have similar

characteristics, a non-random purposive sampling procedure is employed to achieve

maximum heterogeneity among respondents while representing all residents of

Duzce to the fullest extent possible. Considering that the study participants were

heterogeneous or that they had different ideas and thoughts, values of p=0.5 and

q=0.5 were adopted, and the sample was calculated to be 807, according to the

formula by Yazicioglu and Erdogan (2004). Data obtained relating to participating

teachers are shown in table 2.A total of 1179 scales are returned. After excluding

122forms that failed to follow the instructions, 1057 teachers’ opinions are included

in the research.

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 377

Table 2.

Data Relating to the Participating Teachers

Frequency (N) Percentage (%)

Branch Class Teacher 359 33.87 Branch Teacher 698 66.13 Marital Status

Single 307 29.04 Married 750 70.96 Sex

Female 568 53.74 Male 489 46.26 Age

30 or below 378 35.76 31 to 40 432 40.87 41 to 50 190 17.98

51 or above 57 5.21 School Type

Primary School 359 33.96 Secondary School 344 32.54 High School 354 33.49 Seniority in years

9 or below 518 49.01

10 to 19 375 35.48 20 or above 164 15.51 Total 1057 100

Research Instruments and Procedure

The Ethical Leadership Scale (ELS) and the Organizational Culture Scale (OCS)

were employed as data collection tools in this research. The ELS was developed by

Yilmaz (2006) and includes44 items in four domains. The OCS was developed by

Firat (2006) and includes 48 items in four dimensions. Both researchers reported

Cronbach’s alpha value (α) as the reliability evidence as .98 for the ELS and .95 for

the OCS.

Validity and Reliability

As evidence of structural validity, we found in our research that 61.139% of the

total variance in responses to the ELS is explained in four dimensions. The first

dimension explained 21.525% of the total variance; the second dimension explained

14.208% of the total variance; the third dimension explained 14.638% of the total

variance; and the last dimension explained 10.798% of the total variance. The

reliability evidence was obtained by calculating Cronbach’s alpha value (α) for the

overall responses and each dimension. The overall Cronbach’s alpha value (α) value

was .98. The Cronbach’s alpha (α) values for each of the four dimensions as

378 Esef Hakan Toytok, Saduman Kapusuzoglu

Communicational Ethics, Climatic Ethics, Decision-Making Ethics, and Behavioral

Ethics were .96, .91, .91, and .94, respectively.

Moving to the validity and reliability evidences for the OCS, we found in our

research that 40.08% of the total variance in responses to the OCS is explained in four

dimensions. The first dimension explained 27.556% of the total variance; the second

dimension explained 5.65% of the total variance; the third dimension explained

3.75% of the total variance; and the last dimension explained 3.13% of the total

variance. The reliability evidence was obtained by calculating Cronbach’s alpha

values (α) for the overall responses and each dimension. The overall Cronbach’s

alpha (α) value was .91. Cronbach’s alpha values (α) for each of the four dimensions,

as Democratic Management and Participation, Cooperation, Support and Trust,

School-Environment Relationship, and Integration and Belonging were .77, .67, .87,

and .71, respectively.

Data Analysis

Ethical leadership (and its sub-dimensions) was considered the independent

variable, while organizational culture (and its sub-dimensions) was the predicted

dependent variable. Regression analysis was performed to find these variables’ levels

of prediction. Regression analysis determined whether an independent variable or

variables significantly predicted a dependent variable or, in the case of multiple

independent variables, their relative significance to the variable (Buyukozturk, 2009).

Information about predictive and predicted variables is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. The model of the relationship and predictiveness between ethical

leadership and organizational justice

Results

Teachers’ perceptions, gathered to determine the influence of school managers’

ethical leadership behaviors on organizational culture, from the Ethical Leadership

and Organizational Culture Scales’ sub-dimensions are presented in Table3.

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 379

Table 3.

The Arithmetic Mean Values of the General Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture

Scales and Their Sub-Dimensions

Ethical Leadership X Organizational Culture X Communicational Ethics 3,96 Democratic Management and Participation 3,79

Climatic Ethics 3,86 Cooperation, Support and Trust 4,00

Decision Making Ethics 4,07 School-Environment Relationship 3,55

Behavioral Ethics 4,03 Integration and Belonging 3,99

General Ethic Leadership 3,98 General Organizational Culture 3,83

Table 3 shows that the arithmetic mean relating to ethical leadership is 3.97= X ;this mean corresponds to the perception “I agree“ on the ELS range-value scale.

Accordingly, teachers serving in Duzce can be said to consider their managers ethical

leaders. As for data on mean and standard deviation values relating to sub-

dimensions, the following mean values were found: communicational ethics, 96.3X ;

climatic ethics, 86.3X ; decision making ethics, 07.4X ; and behavioral ethics,

03.4X . According to these values, teachers perceived all dimensions relating to

school managers in the range of “I agree” but perceived them at a higher level in the

sub-dimension of “decision making ethics” and at a lower level in the sub-dimension

of “climatic ethics.”

Furthermore, table 3 shows that the arithmetic mean relating to organizational

culture is 86.3X ;this mean corresponds to the perception of “I agree” in the range-

value scale. Accordingly, teachers serving in Duzce seem to consider their school

cultures to be high. As for data on the mean and standard deviation values relating

to sub-dimensions, the following mean values were found: democratic management

and participation, 79.3X ; cooperation, support, and trust, 00.4X ; school

environment relationship, 55.3X ; and integration and belonging, 99.3X .

The question “According to teacher perceptions, is there a correlation between

ethical leadership and its sub-dimensions, on the one side, and organizational culture

and its sub-dimensions, on the other?” was analyzed within this study’s scope.

Pearson correlation analysis, symbolized by the letter “r”, was conducted to answer

the question and show the size of correlation between the two variables, its direction

and significance. This coefficient ranges from r−1 to r+1;as it draws near 1, the

correlation between two variables becomes stronger (Erdogan,1998). Thus, +1.00

indicates a perfectly positive correlation;−1.00 indicates a perfectly negative

correlation; and.00 indicates no correlation. In terms of range, .00 to .30 indicates a

low level; .30 to .70 indicates an average level;and.70 to 1.00 indicates a high level

(Buyukozturk, 2009). The data obtained in this study are shown in table 4.

380 Esef Hakan Toytok, Saduman Kapusuzoglu

Table 4.

Correlation Analysis Scores Relating to Ethical Leadership and Its Sub-Dimensions and

Organizational Culture and Its Sub-Dimensions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1.gen.ELS 1

2.gen.OCS .654*** 1

3.dim1ELS .969*** .614*** 1

4.dim2ELS .947*** .646*** .885*** 1

5.dim3ELS .928*** .626*** .857*** .853*** 1

6.dim4ELS .951*** .601*** .902*** .865*** .871*** 1

7.dim1OCS .697*** .917*** .677*** .683*** .638*** .639*** 1

8.dim2OCS .595*** .947*** .551*** .585*** .587*** .548*** .814*** 1

9.dim3OCS .421*** .779*** .373*** .447*** .411*** .377*** .605*** .689*** 1

10.dim4OCS .553*** .908*** .513*** .536*** .546*** .516*** .767*** .857*** .632*** 1

*P< .050, ** P<.010, ***P<.001 (N=1057)

NOTE:genELS: Ethical leadership general value; genOCS: Organizational culture general value;

dimension1ELS: Communicational ethics dimension of ethical leadership; dimension2ELS:

Climatic ethics dimension of ethical leadership,dimension3ELS: Decision making ethics dimension of ethical leadership; dimension4ELS: Behavioral ethics dimension of ethical

leadership; dimension1OCS: Democratic management and participation dimension of

organizational culture; dimension2OCS: Cooperation, support and trust dimension of

organizational culture; dimension3OCS: School-environment dimension of organizational

culture; dimension4OCS: Integration and belonging dimension of organizational culture.

Table 4 shows significant differences with positive (+) Pearson correlation

coefficient (r) scores at P<.001 in both the ELS and OCS and in their sub-dimensions.

In general terms, a positive and significant correlation at r=.654 was found between

ethical leadership and organizational culture, and this “r” score indicates a

moderate-to-high correlation. A positive and significant correlation at r=.697 was

found between ethical leadership in general and the democratic management and

participation dimension of organizational culture; this rate indicates an average

correlation but is even closer to a high level. Positive and significant correlations

were found between ethical leadership in general and the cooperation, support, and

trust dimension (r=.595); between ethical leadership in general and the school-

environment relationship dimension (r=.421); between ethical leadership in general

and the integration and belonging dimension (r=.553) of organizational culture—all

three rates indicating average correlation. These findings show positive, significant,

and average correlations between ethical leadership in general and all sub-

dimensions of organizational culture. However, the least correlation (r=.421) was

found between ethical leadership in general and the school-environment relationship

dimension of organizational culture, while the highest (r=.697) was found between

ethical leadership in general and the democratic management and participation

dimension of organizational culture.

Findings regarding the question, “According to teacher perceptions, to what

extent is organizational culture predicted by the communicational ethics, climatic

ethics, decision making ethics, and behavioral ethics dimensions of managers?” are

presented in table 5. Multiple regression analysis, a statistical method to determine

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 381

explanation of multiple independent variables (Balci, 2002), was performed to obtain

these data.

Table 5.

Multiple Regression Analysis Results Relating to Organizational Culture in Terms of the

Communicational Ethics, Climatic Ethics, Decision-Taking Ethics, Behavioral Ethics

Behavioral Dimensions of Managers As Perceived by Teachers

Predicted Variable (Organizational Culture)

Predictor Variable

(Ethical Leadership

Behaviors)

Dimensions β (Beta) t P

General Ethical

Leadership .654 28,071 .000***

Communicational Ethics .085 1,375 .169

Climatic Ethics .368 6,703 .000***

Decision Making Ethics .249 4,773 .000***

Behavioral Ethics -.011 -0,175 .861

R² (R Squared) =.440 R= .663 P=.000***

R² (Adjust R²) =.437 F=206,328

*P< .050, ** P<.010, ***P<.001

Table 5 shows data on the prediction rates of perceptional levels of organizational

culture by teachers’ perceptions of their school managers in terms of ethical

leadership and its sub-dimensions, including communicational ethics, climatic ethics,

decision making ethics, and behavioral ethics. Ethical leadership in general and its

four sub-dimensions predicted organizational culture at 44% (R²=.440). As for

specific sub-dimensions of ethical leadership, climatic ethics and decision making

ethics significantly predicted organizational culture (P< .001), but communicational

ethics and decision making ethics did not. β (Beta) and t points were assessed to

determine sub-dimensions that best predicted organizational culture. Accordingly,

these were climatic ethics with β (Beta)=.368 and t=.703 and decision-taking ethics

with β (Beta)= .249 and t = 4.773. The behavioral ethics sub-dimension of ethical

leadership did not appear to provide any significant influence in accounting for

organizational culture (for P< .050, P<.010 and P<.001).

Discussion and Conclusions

According to the study’s findings, teachers perceived their managers’ ethical

leadership behaviors at high levels. According to Dhar (2016), ethical leadership

behaviors encourage employees’ performances and innovative behaviors in an

organization. Specifically, however, perceptions about behaviors in the ethical

leadership sub-dimension “creating a positive climate in school” were at a lower

level, while those in the “decision-making ethics” sub-dimension were highest. Thus,

according to these findings, school managers in the city of Duzce display ethical

behaviors in “decision making” but need to expend effort regarding behaviors for

382 Esef Hakan Toytok, Saduman Kapusuzoglu

“creating a positive climate in their schools.” When the general arithmetic mean of

the ethical leadership behaviors scale of teachers’ perceptions was compared with

other studies, it was found to be higher than those by Turhan (2007), Karagoz (2007),

and Aktoy (2010), but lower than that by Ugurlu (2009). In addition to those studies,

various correlational studies are also performed regarding the relationship between

ethical leadership and numerous variables. Akdogan, Arslan, and Demirtas (2016)

concluded in their research that there is no significant relationship betweenethical

leadership and social responsibility. Chen and Hou (2016) concluded in their

research that ethical leadership and creating an innovative and creative work climate

have a small positive relationship. Finally, Kelidbari, Fadaei, and Ebrahimi (2016)

mentioned that ethical leadership has an indirect effect on workers’ performance.

When the results of teachers’ perceptions on the OCS were examined, all sub-

dimensional means corresponded to the “I agree” range, but no data were obtained

for “I completely agree”. Therefore, none of the OCS’s four sub-dimensions elicited

completely positive perceptions. The lowest among them was “school–environment

relationship.” Subsequently, based on these findings, schools experience difficulty in

school–environment relationships in organizational culture. The highest sub-

dimension was “cooperation, support, and trust,” suggesting that teachers perceive

that they can establish communication and cooperation; in other words, they have a

high level of confidence in the decisions that are made. When the general arithmetic

mean of OCS sub-dimensions was compared with other studies, it was at a much

higher level than the mean found by Firat (2007).

Based on the results obtained to the question, “According to teacher perceptions,

is there a correlation between ethical leadership and its sub-dimensions, and

organizational culture and its sub-dimensions?” Pearson correlation coefficient (r)

scores showed an average level of correlation. Therefore, ethical leadership

significantly and positively influenced organizational culture. In this context, we can

conclude that any positive increase in teachers’ perceptions of ethical leadership also

positively increased their perceptions of organizational culture; conversely, any

negative perceptions of ethical leadership also caused perceptions of organizational

culture to change negatively. As for comparison of these findings with those of other

studies, Firat (2007) found significantly positive correlations between teachers’

perceptions of organizational culture and other value systems, while Yuksel (2009)

found significantly positive correlations between teachers’ perceptions of

organizational culture and their perceptions of organizational trust. Turhan (2007)

found positive, significant correlations between ethical leadership and social justice,

Onen (2008) between ethical leadership and emotional intelligence, Ugurlu (2009)

among ethical leadership, organizational justice, and organizational commitment,

Yildirim (2010) between ethical leadership and organizational justice, and Kursun

(2011) between ethical leadership and organizational image. In addition to these

studies, ethical leadership positively affect organizational identification, justice and

self-sufficiency (Walumbwa, Mayer, Wang, Wang, Workman,& Christensen, 2011)

and organizational social responsibility, organizational ethical values and

organizational behaviors (Aslan & Sendogdu, 2012). As a result of these findings, we

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 383

can conclude that behaviors of leaders and employees directly influence

organizational culture.

With regard to findings regarding the question, “According to teacher

perceptions, to what extent is organizational culture predicted by managers’ ethical

leadership behaviors?” the independent variable of “ethical leadership behaviors of

managers” predicted the dependent variable of organizational culture at 43%.

Accordingly, managers’ ethical leadership behaviors influence organizational culture

almost by half, and these findings were found significant at both P<.050 and P<.001.

When these findings are compared with other studies, we see that Yılmaz (2006)

found, in an analysis of the power of ethical leadership in explaining organizational

trust, that ethical leadership significantly explained organizational trust in all sub-

dimensions; Ugurlu (2009) found that ethical leadership explained organizational

justice at a significant and high level; and Yildirim (2010) showed that, in some sub-

dimensions, ethical leadership accounted for organizational justice at a significantly

high level.

Consequently, although ethical leaders are described as intractable, stable, and

intransigent persons and ethical leadership behaviors are required as a result of

employees’ perverted behaviors (Stouten, van Dijke, Mayer, De Cremer & Euwema,

2013), the more leaders develop their ethical characteristics and display those

characteristics as behaviors, the more they can positively influence organizational

culture. The fundamental reason that, recently, almost all organizations have wanted

to strengthen and improve their ethical codes and principles through certain

regulations and incentives is that doing so helps create the desired organizational

culture and level of effectiveness. The validity and accuracy of this is supported by

the current study’s findings. Teachers have raised their expectations for educational

leaders to meet their standards of trust, impartiality, and justice. The most effective

way of doing so is to ensure that leaders understand the importance of ethical

leadership and create sufficient awareness of its principles.

Those with the power to affect school management should implement policies

and leadership that will enable social and distributional justice among teachers, fair

distribution of awards and punishments, and participative and cooperative decision

making. In addition, such implementations should undergo transparent inspection.

Finally, it is recommended that researchers analyze organizational culture and

leadership approaches to compare their influences, correlations, and predictions with

those of ethical leadership.

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Özet

Problem Durumu: İnsanlar var oluşlarından bu yana yaradılışları gereğince birlikte

yaşama ve çalışma gereksinimi duymaktadırlar. Çünkü ne kadar birlikte olurlarsa o

kadar güçlü olacağını bilirler. Grup içerisinde her birey özelliği ve gücü nispetinde

katkı sağlar ve bu katkılar tümleşik bir yapıda bir amaç etrafında doğru koordine

edilirse hatrı sayılır bir değerde güç oluştururlar. Zaten birlikte yaşama ve işbirliği

yapılması altında yatan amaçta budur. Bu durum formal ya da informal örgüt ve

yönetim yapılanmalarının temelini oluşturmaktadır. Bu anlamda bakıldığında örgüt

ve yönetim birlikte var olan iki kavramdır. Formal örgüt bir yapı olarak kabul

edilirse, yönetim bu yapının harekete geçirilmesi sürecidir. Belli amaçları

gerçekleştirmek üzere oluşturulan formal bir örgütün amaçları, örgütteki insan ve

maddî kaynakların amaçlar doğrultusunda yönlendirilmesi, denetlenmesi ve

değerlendirilmesi gibi eylemlerle gerçekleştirilir. Bu eylemler bütünü, yönetim

kavramı ile açıklanabilmektedir. Yönetimin özünde temel unsur olarak insanı

etkilemek yatar. Yani herhangi bir yerde bulunan kişileri etkilemek için başvurulan

yaklaşımlar, o yerin yönetiminin özünü oluşturur. Bu nedenle yönetim bilimi insan

davranışları ile doğrudan ilişkili bir bilimdir.Yönetim alanında en çok araştırılan

konular arasında yer alan örgütlerin etkiliği konusu günümüzün en temel

problemlerinden biri olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu nedenle bir çok araştırmanın

örgütlerin etkililiğini arttırmak için etken olan yapıları belirlemek amacıyla

yapıldığını görmekteyiz. Örgütlerin etkililiği üzerinde liderlik, örgüt kültürü ve

iklimi, örgütsel bağlılık, iş doyumu gibi yapıların oldukça etkili olduğu

bilinmektedir. Bunlara ek olarak son zamanlarda bir diğer öne çıkan kavram olarak

etik değerleri görmekteyiz. Bu nedenle olumlu bir örgüt kültürü yaratmada etik

ilkelerin bir örgütte hayata geçmiş olmasının önemi her geçen gün daha da hissedilir

derecede artmakta olduğu görülmektedir. Hele birde son zamanlarda yönetici yerine

liderlik kavramının öne çıkması ile artık örgütlerde yönetici yerine lider anlayışına

geçilmiş olup ve Lider - örgüt arasında ilişki yapılan birçok araştırmada kendisini

göstermiştir. Araştırmacının dikkatini çeken örgüt kültürü-liderlik-etik kavramları

araştırılmış, bu konularla ilgili araştırmalar ve çalışmalar incelenmiştir. Liderlik

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research 387

yapıları içerisinde birçok liderlik yaklaşımları olduğu görülmüş olup, bu

yaklaşımlardan özellikle 2000'li yıllarda değer yapısının öne çıkması ile etik liderlik

kavramı popüler olmuştur. Günümüzde etik liderlik kavramı ve diğer kavramlarla

ilişkisi halen çalışılmaya araştırılmaya devam etmektedir.Etik liderlik ve örgüt

kültürü gibi bu iki önemli kavram arasındaki ilişki ve bunların yordayıcılığına dayalı

olarak alanda, araştırmacının ulaşabildiği kaynaklar çerçevesinde herhangi bir

araştırmaya rastlanmamıştır.

Araştırmanın Amacı: Bu araştırmanın genel amacı, öğretmen algılarına göre okul

yöneticilerinin etik liderlik davranışlarının örgüt kültürü üzerine etkisini

belirlemektir. Bu araştırmada sonucunda elde edilen bulgular; örgütün etkililiğini ve

verimininarttırması, örgüt sağlığının korunması ve gelişmesinin sağlaması, iş

görenlerin örgüte bağlılığının ve iş doyumunu arttırması, örgütsel adalet algılarının

kuvvetlenmesi, etik değerlerin önemi ve etkisinin algılanması için ışık tutabilecek

bulgulara ulaşmasını sağlama açısından önemlidir. Bu sayede alanda bir bilimsel

boşluğu doldurmayı, bulgulara dayalı sonuçlar ve öneriler getirerek alana katkı

yapmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Yöntem: Araştırma betimsel nitelikte ilişkisel tarama modelinde bir çalışmadır.

Araştırmanın evrenini, Düzce ilinde ve ilçelerinde 2013-2014 Eğitim-Öğretim yılında

323 okulda görev yapan 3302 öğretmen oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada Etik liderlik

ve alt boyutları bağımsız değişkeni yordayıcı değişken olarak, örgüt kültürü ve alt

boyutları bağımlı değişkeni yordanan değişken olarak alınmış, bu değişkenleri ne

kadar yordandığına bakmak için regrasyon analizi yapılmıştır.Bu araştırmada okul

yöneticilerinin etik liderlik özelliklerini belirlemek için Etik Liderlik Ölçeği (ELÖ) ve

örgüt kültürü düzeylerini belirlemek içinde Örgüt Kültürü Ölçeği (ÖKÖ)

kullanılmıştır. ELÖ güvenirlik analizi için öncelikle Cronbach Alpha (α) katsayısını

kullanmıştır. Aynı zamanda Cronbach Alpha (α) iç tutarlılık katsayısını hem ölçeğin

tümü hem de alt boyutlar için ayrı ayrı hesaplamış ve güvenirliğin bir ölçütü olarak

belirlemiştir. Ölçeğin toplamında güvenirlik katsayı olarak Cronbach Alpha (α)

değerini .98 olarak bulmuştur. Ölçeğe ilişkin dört alt boyuta ilişkin güvenirlik

analizinde Cronbach Alpha (α) değerleri sırasıyla iletişimsel etik .96, iklimsel etik .91,

karar vermede etik .91 ve davranışsal etik .94 olarak bulunmuştur. ÖKÖ güvenirlik

analizi için Cronbach Alpha (α) iç tutarlılık katsayısını hem ölçeğin tümü hem de alt

boyutlar için ayrı ayrı hesaplamış ve güvenirliğin bir ölçütü olarak belirlemiştir.

Ölçeğin toplam güvenirlik katsayısını .94 bulmuştur. Dört alt boyutun kendi

içlerinde hesaplanan güvenirlik katsayıları; Demokratik yönetim ve katılım alt

boyutunda .89; İşbirliği,destek ve güven alt boyutunda .88; Okul-çevre ilişkisi alt

boyutunda .79 ve Bütünleşme ve aidiyet alt boyutunda ise .82 olarak bulmuştur. Bu

bulgular bize her iki Ölçeğinin güvenirliğinin olduğunun bir göstergesidir.

Bulgular: Araştırmada elde edilen bulgulara göre etik liderlik ve örgüt kültürü

arasında neredeyse yüksek düzeyde pozitif yönde ve anlamlı bir ilişki olduğu

görülmüştür. Regrasyon analizi sonucunda etik liderliğin örgüt kültürünün güçlü bir

açıklayıcısı olduğu görülmüştür.

388 Esef Hakan Toytok, Saduman Kapusuzoglu

Sonuç ve Önermeler: Araştırmada elde edilen sonuçlara göre yöneticilerin etik liderlik

davranışları ile örgüt kültürü arasında pozitif yönde anlamlı ilişkisi olduğu ve etik

liderliğin örgüt kültürünün güçlü bir yordayıcısı olduğu görülmüştür. Yöneticiler ne

kadar yüksek oranda etik liderlik davranışları sergilerlerse, öğretmenlerin örgüt

kültürü algılarının da o düzeyde artış gösterebileceği söylenebilinir. Uygulayıcılara

okullarda, öğretmenler arasında sosyal ve dağıtımsal adaletin sağlanması, ödül

ve cezaların adil şekilde dağıtılması gibi uygulamaların şeffaf bir şekilde yapılıp

denetlenebilmesi sağlanabilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Yönetim, Liderlik, Etik Liderlik, Örgüt, Örgütsel Kültür.

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