8.2 Themes that emerged from the data generated
8.2.6 Collaborative leadership (stakeholders’ involvement)
Linked to teamwork, collaboration is the essential means through which ethical principals ensure that decisions are reached by consensus rather than by division or conflict. Therefore,
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this study established that school principals canvas the advice of their colleagues before making a decision; simply put, the process of decision making is one of consultation. Thus, the school principals seemed to have full understanding of the essence of collegiality as the establishment of a participatory culture in decision-making within the school environment. Ethical principals seemed to believe that power has to be shared with staff in a democracy rather than remaining the preserve of the principal as a leader (Bush, 2003). The foregoing suggests that, for the school principals to lead their schools effectively, they require the support of staff members and other stakeholders. This study established that, despite challenging contexts, ethical principals encourage participation and the input of the educators. However, they understand that sometimes they must take decisions that will not satisfy every employee yet not be harmful to anyone. The advantage of ethical principals is that they are caring and compassionate and go beyond professionally developing their subordinates and ensure that they actively avail themselves to their staff members. Moreover, ethical principals show concern for their staff personal issues that affect them and dedicate themselves to assisting them to get through their challenges. In reciprocity, the educators are bound to comply with and honour the decisions of their principal, if these are fair and ethical. Moreover, if educators know their principal is fair and encourages them to speak out their opinions without fear of retribution; their behaviour then shows confidence and trust to their principal, thus teamwork and synergy amongst educators is honed.
Studies conducted by Hester and Kilian (2010) and Andrew (2015) arrived at similar conclusions to those of this study, that ethical leadership is founded on relationships, therefore for relationships to thrive there must be synergy between the moral values of leaders and followers. School principals seem to comprehend that ethical leadership is not solely the province of the principals of schools; instead principals as ethical leaders have to create ethical awareness, delegating tasks to the subordinates, and adopting participatory and democratic leadership, creating a positive organisational climate that is suitable for the organisational prerequisites, and being honest and reliable to gain the support of the staff members (Katranci, Sungu, & Saglam, 2015). Principals as ethical leaders encourage educators to voice their opinions and suggestions, both on ethical matters and other work-related processes and work context, because ethical principals convey high moral standards to staff members (Vu &
Nguyen, 2017).
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Steyn and Van Niekerk (2002) reiterate the participants’ assertion that the best weapon that educators have against uncertainty and change in education is working together. Therefore, school principals emphasise the importance of teamwork or collaboration among staff members. Principals seemed to understand that team building is essential for proper collegiality, as the effectiveness of staff members is attainable through satisfying the desires of staff members. As Mr Mnguni, the principal of Intuthuko put it, staff members’ collaboration brings about the smooth functioning of the school and also enhances the skills of staff members, their knowledge and abilities while working collaboratively. In addition, when educators work together, they become more efficient and professional, thus the quality of their work as colleagues and their learners is enhanced. Similar sentiments were shared by Caroselli (2000), who posited that ethical principals don’t work in isolation. Instead they establish connections with their immediate followers, but also network with others at various levels inside and outside their organisations.
Further, ethical principals solicit buy-in from the stakeholders well in advance of the implementation of the idea. Collaboration is important for establishing a professional culture in schools. As educators share information about learners, teaching and learning and their roles as parents and teachers, they become more effective and the learners benefit as a result (Steyn
& Van Niekerk, 2002). Educators get motivated when they are afforded an opportunity to use their own discretion and are also shown that they are trusted by being given authority to make decisions and by being held accountable for the work of others (Steyn & Van Niekerk, 2002).
It is common knowledge that, when the leader shows trust to the subordinates, the subordinates go an extra mile to please the leader who appreciates them.
However, for the school principals to successfully gain the confidence of their educators, they seemed to understand that astuteness and good communication are vital features for effective collaboration. Without good communication, employees can become demotivated (Steyn &
Van Niekerk, 2002). Through collaborative enactment, school principals promote ethical behaviour and empower their educators, through providing them with the necessary opportunities to enable them to carry out their work as they learn from one another. Principals ensure that they treat their subordinates equally and promote fair and principled decision making. Thus, the study concludes that ethical principals involve their subordinates in decision- making processes and facilitate the well-being and potential growth of educators (Engelbrecht et al., 2014), through collaboration.
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