THE VIEWS OF ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF REGARDING ETHICAL ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SOLUTIONS IN UNIVERSITIES

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Abstract

In the Middle Ages, when universities did not gain their current meaning, they did not refer to a physical area (building etc.) but to a community. Today, universities are expressed as institutions where various stakeholders (students, administrative and academic staff) come together and academic and administrative work/transactions are carried out mostly. These stakeholders are expected to act in accordance with ethical principles in all their behaviors and relationships (Çakırel, 2009). However, various ethical problems can be encountered in universities. The purpose of this research is to reveal the perspectives of administrative staff in universities on ethics, the ethical problems they encounter while doing their jobs heir opinions on the solution suggestions and to develop suggestions based on the findings obtained. The study is a qualitative research with a phenomenological pattern. The study group consists of 9 administrative staff working at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in 2024. For the purpose of data collection, the interview form consisting of standardized open-ended questions was subjected to descriptive and content analysis using the deductive method. According to the findings, it was determined that the most common behaviors experienced by university stakeholders such as indiscipline, fraud, irresponsibility, carelessness and disrespect lead to ethical problems. In order to eliminate ethical problems, it was suggested that all university stakeholders adopt ethical values, avoid unethical behaviors, develop the institution of punishment and reward, frequently direct the personnel to compulsory ethics courses, informative seminars and workshops covering ethical problems-developments and innovations, and thus create ethical awareness in the personnel and include courses on ethics in the curriculum even for students, and take the necessary steps to establish ethical principles in universities and comply with these principles.

Keywords: University, administrative staff, ethics, ethical problem, ethical violation.

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