Rethinking Ethics in Educative Leadership: Towards a Non-Foundational Epistemology for Western Leadership Theories

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the ethical dimensions embedded in Western management and leadership theories in education. It explores the moral philosophies underlying key management and leadership models, including scientific, bureaucratic and human relations management, and transformational, instructional, distributed, ethical, adaptive and culturally responsive leadership. The respective strengths and limitations of these theories are examined in terms of context-specific applicability and pragmatic problem-solving capacities. The analysis reveals that these leadership theories are intricately interwoven with foundational moral philosophies, highlighting their internal conceptual coherence and cultural alignment. However, despite offering principled frameworks for ethical decision-making, this paper argues that these Western theories often lack contextual adaptability and tend to overemphasize measurable outcomes, while the subjectivity of moral character remains an underexplored limitation. Hence, the paper advocates for a non-foundational epistemology as a more flexible and pragmatic approach to theory building about educational management and leadership. This perspective enables leaders to navigate diverse and dynamic educational settings by integrating multiple ethical perspectives and refining practices based on empirical evidence. By moving beyond the constraints of foundational moral philosophies, non-foundational epistemology provides a more responsive and inclusive framework, realigning leadership theory with the complex and evolving needs of educational organisations.