MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HONOR REMEDIATION SYSTEM AT THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY FOR PROMOTING ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

Abstract

This thesis focuses on measuring the effectiveness of the honor remediation program for developing ethical leadership among midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. Grounded in research about developing ethical leadership in the workplace and in other organizations, I seek to understand the areas of development among midshipmen who are found guilty of an honor violation and are successfully remediated through the honor remediation program. This study utilized deductive qualitative analysis (DQA) to thematically analyze 12 anonymous midshipman-written end-of-remediation essays and six interviews of senior remediating officers. Through developing and testing a codebook to identify themes in the data, I concluded that the honor remediation program is effective at developing the moral awareness and moral judgement of midshipmen. Furthermore, there is moderate support that the program is effectively developing moral behaviors and a culture of honor. Finally, there is weak support that the honor remediation program is developing moral perception among midshipmen; specifically lacking is support that other midshipmen and individuals recognize growth from those who participate in honor remediation. Provided in the final chapter are recommendations for the Naval Academy to continue to refine the moral development of midshipmen and potential test instruments that could be used to collect quantitative data on moral development in future research.