Consistency or discrepancy? Rethinking schools from organizational hypocrisy to integrity

Consistency in statements, decisions and practices is highly important for both organization members and the image of an organization. It is expected from organizations, especially from their administrators, to ‘walk the talk’ – in other words, to try to practise what they preach. However, in the process of gaining legitimacy and adapting to the organizational environment, discrepancies and even outright contradictions can arise between statements and real practice, and these paradoxical relations may lead to organizational hypocrisy in educational organizations. One of the mechanisms that eliminate the negative results of organizational hypocrisy in schools is ensuring organizational integrity. However, the number of theoretical and empirical studies on which parameters are affected by organizational hypocrisy, and what kind of outcomes it gives birth to in school contexts, are limited. In view of this, this study aims to evaluate organizational hypocrisy and organizational integrity theoretically, and make some inferences as regards schools.