Abstract
The objective of this research is to analyze the characteristics of organizational commitment and affective states to carry out the ethical leadership required in educational centers in the post-COVID-19 era. Recapitulating, the crisis by COVID-19 marked a before and after, where the educational sector adopted distance education through the application of different technological tools and maintaining distance learning. In addition, educational centers were led by adopting different leadership styles, together with training and experiences that supported the implementation of actions to ensure access to online education. However, it was also demonstrated that organizational commitment was affected by the pandemic, causing ruptures in the relationships with the members of the educational organizations, generating distrust and lack of collaboration, hence the importance of reinforcing ethical leadership in each educational institution today.
TopIntroduction
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented economic and social crisis in the history of mankind, affecting various areas. Therefore, measures were adopted worldwide to counteract the contagion and spread of the virus, and one of the main measures adopted was social distancing, which gave way to the home office.
In the educational field, these changes implied the revision of plans, programs, new teaching methods and changes in the organizational structure to generate a new leadership in an environment of uncertainty (Institute for Research on University and Education [IISUE], 2020). Because of the above, the main actors in educational institutions were affected and forced to modify their pedagogical mechanisms and consequently the use of technologies (Serrano-Prato, 2020; Vicentini, 2020).
It was observed in each member of the educational community changes derived from the pandemic that resulted in an abrupt way both in the way of performing their work to be affected interpersonal relationships with their work team, so that such staff needs to be given attention to improve these relationships as this will allow a better performance by these key players in education.
As explained by Salvador-Ferrer (2012), there is a need to strengthen the employee-organization relationship (taking into account the relationship between the teaching staff and the educational center), as well as the lack of an instrument that allows those responsible for personnel management in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) to carry out a diagnosis of the status of the members of the organization with respect to how they feel in that institution, in order to design actions that promote greater involvement of the entire school community that is reflected in adequate quality levels for these institutions.
As well, this relationship and influence must be evaluated as honestly and authentically as possible, since it will be possible to incorporate educational management strategies aimed at strengthening Organizational Commitment (OC) in HEIs to counteract the negative effects of the pandemic and generate an adequate and timely organizational climate and ethical leadership.
Returning to OC, there are several researches focused on its improvement and in some cases they are focused on improvement in educational organizations such as those conducted by Mowday et al. (1982); Meyer & Allen (1990); Meyer et al. (1993); Meyer & Herscovitch (2001); Parfyonova & Meyer (2010); Mowday et al. (2013); Mercurio (2015); Máynez (2016) & May-Guillermo et al. (2020) have suggested the great influence that OC and its other components have had: Affective Commitment (AC), Normative Commitment (NC) and Continuity Commitment (CC), which according to the theory, support the approach on individuals as active agents that interact dynamically with their environment, influencing and being influenced by it, depending on how the organization makes them feel and where emotions play a crucial role in understanding the behavior of employees. In addition, for the integration of all the actors of an educational institution, it is mainly required to improve their relationship, starting from the application of values within the organization.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Leadership Styles: Are classifications that are given to the way a leader manages the organization, they are integrated by their skills, competencies, training, and experiences and are changing to try to reach the most efficient direction throughout the organization.
Educational Quality: It is the way in which students develop the knowledge, skills and competencies that are required in the globalized world and promote individual and social well-being.
Educational Leadership: It is the management that takes place in the educational environment, to transform and change first the main actors of the educational organization followed by innovating processes and making them effective for the institution.
Educational Organizations: These are the institutions that have a building oriented to train human talent and the integral improvement of the educational community, through teaching methods, strategies, and innovation in the systems, which are coordinated by the management team, down to the administrative staff and falling on the teaching staff who instruct students with the necessary tools for the world of work.
Ethical Leadership: It is the equitable behavior that the leader has, which makes decisions based on what is fair and appropriate for the entire community, their actions are established in moral principles.
School Leader: They are responsible for the educational centers, they know how to direct, motivate, and involve the entire educational community to achieve institutional objectives.
Organizational Commitment in Education: It is the commitment that each main member of the educational center has, they feel motivated, and it is perceived in the quality of the processes, in the innovation of learning methods to train excellent human talent that have the necessary tools for the world of work.
Normative Commitment (NC): It is the obligation that a person feels to continue working in the entity, because of the respect and loyalty he/she has with the organization, since he/she feels its policies and values as his/her own.
Affective Commitment (AC): It is the alteration of the mood, which produces a sensation/feeling and causes a motivation or demotivation to work in that institution, regardless of the economic.
Continuity Commitment (CC): It is the will that a person has to continue in the organization, for different reasons such as the opportunities offered by the company such as economic and personal and professional development.
Hybrid Modality: It is an educational method that combines online education with face-to-face education to increase the efficiency of student learning.