THEORIES OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT

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Leading and managing are distinct, but both are important . . . . The challenge of modern organisations requires the objective perspective of the manager as well as the flashes of vision and commitment wise leadership provides (Bolman & Deal, 1997, p. xiii-xiv).

Theories ofEducationalManagement

Theories of Educational Management

Leadership Model

Management Model

• Managerial model
• Participative model
• Transactional model
• Post-modern model
• Contingency model
• Moral model

Bush (2003) classified the main theories into six major models of Educational Management and they are linked to parallel leadership models.

Theories of Educational management

• Formal model
• Collegial model
• Political model
• Subjective model
• Ambiguity model
• Cultural model

Principals power is positional and is sustained only while they continue to hold their posts.

Formal Models

These models gather different approaches and emphasize the official and structural elements of organizations:- Hierarchical systems- Official structure- Goal-seeking organizations- Managerial leadership- Emphasis on the accountability of the organization

As a result, these features are present to a greater or lesser degree in each of the individual theories, which together comprise the formal models.

• structural models
• systems models
• bureaucratic models
• rational models
• hierarchical models

Managerial Leadership

1. It may be unrealistic to characterize schools and colleges as goal-oriented organizations.2. The portrayal of decision-making as a rational process is fraught with diffculties.3. Formal models focus on the organization as an entity and ignore or underestimate the contribution of individuals.4. A central assumption of formal models is that power resides at the apex of the pyramid.5.Formal approaches are based on the implicit assumption that organizations are relatively stable.

Weaknesses associated with formal models:

March and Olsen (1976, p.21)

"Individuals find themselves in a more complex, less stable and less understood world than that described by standard theories of organisational choice."

1. They are strongly normative in orientation.2. Particularly appropriate for organizations such as schools and colleges that have signifficant numbers of professional staff.3. Assume a common set of values held by members of the organization.4. The size of decision-making groups is an important element in collegial management.5. Collegial models assume that decisions are reached by consensus.

Features

These theories emphasize that power and decision-making should be shared among some or all members of the organization (Bush, 2003).These members of the organization determine policy and make decisions through a process of discussion leading to consensus.

Collegial Models

Participative Leadership

1. Collegial models are so strongly normative that they tend to obscure rather than portray reality.2. Collegial approaches to decision-making tend to be slow and cumbersome.3. A fundamental assumption of democratic models is that decisions are reached by consensus.4. Collegial models have to be evaluated in relation to the special features of educational institutions.5. Collegial approaches to school and college decision-making may be difficult to sustain because principals remain accountable to various external groups.6. The effectiveness of a collegial system depends in part on the attitudes of staff.7. Collegial processes in schools depend even more on the attitudes of principals than on the support of teachers.

Weaknesses associated with collegial models:

"Collegiality is an elusive ideal but a measure of participation is essential if schools are to be harmonious and creative organisations."

Features

Political models assume that in organizations policy and decisions emerge through a process of negotiation and bargaining.

Political Models

• These models are characterized by a bargaining process on the desicion-making.
• Analysis focuses on the distribution of power and influence in organizations and on the bargaining and negotiation between interest groups.
• Interest groups develop and form alliances in pursuit of particular policy objectives.
• Conflict is viewed as a natural phenomenon.

1. They tend to focus on group activity rather than the institution as a whole.2. Political models are concerned with interests and interest groups.3. Political models stress the prevalence of conflict in organizations.4. Political models assume that the goals of organizations are unstable, ambiguous and contested.5. Decisions within political arenas emerge after a complex process of bargaining and negotiation.6. The concept of power is central to all political theories.

Transactional Leadership

1. Political models are immersed so strongly in the language of power, conflict and manipulation thatthey neglect other standard aspects of organizations.2. Political models stress the influence of interest groups on decision-making.3. In political models there is too much emphasis on conflict and a neglect of the possibility of professional collaboration leading to agreed outcomes.4. Political models are regarded primarily as descriptive or explanatory theories.

Weaknesses associated with Political models:

(Morgan, 1997, p. 170-171)

"Power is the medium through which conflicts of interest are ultimately resolved. Power influences who gets what, when and how . . . the sources of power are rich and varied"

1. They focus on the beliefs and perceptions of individual members of organizations rather than the institutional level or interest groups.2. Subjective models are concerned with the meanings placed on events by people within organizations.3. The different meanings placed on situations by the various participants are products of their values, background and experience.4. Subjective models treat structure as a product of human interaction rather than something that is fixed or predetermined.5. Subjective approaches emphasize the significance of individual purposes and deny the existence of organizational goals.

Features

Subjective models focus on individuals within organizations rather than the total institution or its subunits.Subjective models assume that organizations are the creations of the people within them.

Subjective Models

Postmodern Leadership

1. Subjective models are strongly normative in that they reflect the attitudes and beliefs of their supporters.2. Subjective models seem to assume the existence of an organization within which individual behaviour and interpretation occur but there is no clear indication of the nature of the organization.3. Subjective theorists imply that meanings are so individual that there may be as many interpretations as people.4. Subjective models they provide few guidelines for managerial action.

Weaknesses associated with Subjective models:

Sackney and Mitchell (2001)

"Leaders must pay attention to the cultural and symbolic structure of meaning construed by individuals and groups . . . postmodern theories of leadership take the focus on vision andplace it squarely on voice"

Features

Participation in policy making is fluid as members opt in or out of decision opportunities.

Ambiguity Models

• These theories assume that organizational objectives are problematic and that institutions experience difficulty in ordering their priorities.

• Sub-units are portrayed as relatively autonomous groups, which are connected only loosely with one another and with the institution itself.
• Decision-making occurs within formal and informal settings where participation is fluid.
• Ambiguity is a prevalent feature of complex organizations such as schools and is likely to be particularly acute during periods of rapid change (Bush, 2003):

1. There is a lack of clarity about the goals of the organization.2. Ambiguity models assume that organizations have a problematic technology in that their processes are not properly understood.3. Ambiguity theorists argue that organizations are characterized by fragmentation.4. Within ambiguity models organizational structure is regarded as problematic.5. Ambiguity models tend to be particularly appropriate for professional client-serving organizations.6. Ambiguity theorists emphasize that there is fluid participation in the management of organizations.7. A further source of ambiguity is provided by the signals emanating from the organization's environment.8. Ambiguity theorists emphasize the prevalence of unplanned decisions.9. Ambiguity models stress the advantages of decentralization.

Contingent Leadership

1. Subjective models are strongly normative in that they reflect the attitudes and beliefs of their supporters.2. Subjective models seem to assume the existence of an organization within which individual behaviour and interpretation occur but there is no clear indication of the nature of the organization.3. Subjective theorists imply that meanings are so individual that there may be as many interpretations as people.4. Subjective models they provide few guidelines for managerial action.

Weaknesses associated with Ambiguity models:

Yukl (2002)

"The managerial job is too complex and unpredictable to rely on a set of standardised responses to events. Effective leaders are continuously reading the situation and evaluating how to adapt their behaviour to it"

1. It focuses on the values and beliefs of members of organizations.2. The cultural model focuses on the notion of a single or dominant culture in organizations but this does not necessarily mean that individual values are always in harmony with one another.3. Organizational culture emphasizes the development of shared norms and meanings.4. These group norms sometimes allow the development of a monoculture in a school with meanings shared throughout the staff - "the way we do things around here."5. Culture is typically expressed through rituals and ceremonies, which are used to support and celebrate beliefs and norms.6. Organizational culture assumes the existence of heroes and heroines who embody the values and beliefs of the organization.

Features

Cultural models emphasize the informal aspects of organizations rather then their official elements. They focus on the values, beliefs and norms of individuals in the organization and how these individual perceptions coalesce into shared organizational meanings. (Bush, 2003)

Cultural Models

Moral Leadership

1. There may be ethical dilemmas because cultural leadership may be regarded as the imposition of a culture by leaders on other members of the organization.2. The cultural model may be unduly mechanistic, assuming that leaders can determine the culture of the organization (Morgan, 1997).3. The cultural model's focus on symbols such as rituals and ceremonies may mean that other elements of organizations are underestimated.

Weaknesses associated with Cultural models:

Sergiovanni (1984)

"Excellent schools have central zones composed of values and beliefs that take on sacred or cultural characteristics"

References

Bush, T. (2006). Theories of Educational Management. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 1(2), n2. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1066693.pdf Bush, Tony. (2007). Educational leadership and management: Theory, policy, and practice. South African journal of education. Vol 27 (3) 391-406. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/426/1/WRAP_Bush_17_366_1_PB1.pdf

ORLANDO ACEVEDO GALVISTask 2 – Theories of Educational AdministrationCOURSE 551030_16EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT - ECEDUUNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA UNAD

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