The Virtuous Administrator

The virtuous administrator is MacIntyre's solution — partial and contested — to the problem of how practices can be sustained through institutions that are structurally oriented toward external goods. The administrator who grasps the purpose of her institution — that it exists to serve a practice, not to maximize external goods — exercises the virtues of justice, courage, honesty, and practical wisdom in defense of the conditions under which the practice can continue. She protects mentoring time against pressure to fill it with tasks. She keeps the team at full size against arithmetic that favors cutting. She insists on the cultivation of judgment rather than mere production of output. This work is not rewarded by markets and may be punished by them; the virtuous administrator does it anyway, because she understands what the institution is for.