chapter 4 050213 124236

COURSENOTES

COURSE TITLE: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION

COURSE CODE: EPB2033

PREPARED BY: TENGKU NOORAINUN TENGKU SHAHDAN

COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATIONFACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

TOPIC 4: Culture and Climate in Schools

(Textbook Chapter 5)

4.0 Introduction

This topic will explain the organizational culture and organizational climate. Culture and climate are two contemporary perspectives for examining the distinctive character of schools. Learners should be able to give examples of: (a) a school culture; and (b) a school climate. At the end of this topic, learners should be able to explain how strong organizational cultures can improve or hinder the effectiveness of an organization.

4.0.1 Overview

School cultures of efficacy (the ability of produce the result/outcome), trust and optimism (feeling that good thing will happen) will promote student achievement, whereas a culture of humanistic control supports the socio-emotional development of students. However, organizational climate is a relatively enduring quality of a school that manifested in teachers’ collective perceptions of organizational behaviour.

4.1 Key Contents

4.1.0 Definition of Organizational Culture

There are many definitions of organizational culture. One such definition considers the following:

Henry Mintzberg (1989) refers to culture as organization ideology, or the traditions and beliefs of an organization that distinguish it from other organizations and infuse a certain life into the skeleton of its structure.

Stephen Robbins (1998) defines organization culture as “a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations.

Edgar Schein (1992, 1999), however, argues that the culture should be reserved for a “deeper level of basic assumptions, values, and beliefs” that become shared and taken for granted as the organization continues to be successful.

Our general definition of organizational culture is a system of shared orientations and beliefs that hold the unit together and give it a distinctive identity. Orientations are norms, values, and tacit assumptions.

Version: 01Date: 18/03/2011

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4.1.1 Level of Organizational Culture

(a) Culture as Shared Norms

Norms by definition are usually unwritten and informal expectations that occur just below the surface of experience. Norms directly influence behaviour. Norms are also communicated to participants by stories and ceremonies that provide visible examples of what the organization stands for. Norms determine the way people dress and talk; the way people balance self-interests with organizational interests.

(b) Culture as Shared Belief and Values

Values are beliefs of what is desirable. Shared values define the basic character of the organization and give the organization a sense of identity. Success of these organizations was not as much a matter of technology as it was of managing people. The core values of the culture are the dominant values that most of the organizational members accept and share. In strong cultures, beliefs and values are held intensely, shared widely, and guide organizational behaviour.

(c) Culture as Tacit Assumptions

Tacit assumptions are abstract premises about the nature of human relationships, human nature, truth, reality, and environment (Dyer, 1985). For example, is human nature basically good, evil, or neutral? How truth ultimately determined is – is it revealed or discovered?

4.1.2 Functions of Culture

Culture serves to guide and shape the attitudes and behaviour of organizational members.

Robbins (1991) summarizes a number of important functions performed by the organization’s culture:

o Culture has a boundary; it creates distinctions among organizations,o Culture provides the organization with a sense of identity,o Culture facilitates the development of commitment to the group,o Culture enhances stability in the social system, ando Culture is the social glue that binds the organization together; it provides

the appropriate standards for bahavior.

4.1.3 Elements of Culture

Seven primary elements that shape the culture of most organization;

Innovation: the degree to which employees are expected to be creative and take risks.

Stability: the degree to which activities focus on the status quo rather than change. Attention to detail: the degree to which there is concern for precision and detail.


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Outcome orientation: the degree to which management emphasizes results. People orientation: the degree to which management decisions are sensitive to

individuals. Team orientation: the degree of emphasis on collaboration and teamwork. Aggressiveness: the degree to which employees are expected to be competitive

rather than easy going.

4.1.4 Schools Culture – The Metaphor

• The Family• The Machine• The Circus• The Factory• The Jungle• The Zoo• The Fad Shop• The Academy• The Club

4.2 Organizational Climate

Climate was initially conceived as a general concept to express the enduring quality of organizational life. Organizational climate of school is a set of internal characteristics that distinguish one school from another and influence the behaviour of each school’s member. More specifically, school climate is a relatively enduring quality of the school environment that is experienced by participants, affects their behaviour, and is based on their collective perceptions of behaviour in schools.

B.H. Gilmer (1996) defines organizational climate as “those characteristics that distinguish the organization from other organizations and that influence the behaviour of people in the organization’.

George Litwin and Robert Stringer (1968) introduce perception into their definition of climate: “a set of measurable properties of the work environment based on the collective perceptions of the people who live and work in the environment and demonstrated to influence their behaviour.”

4.2.1 A Climate of Citizenship

Organizational citizenship is behaviour that goes beyond the formal responsibilities of the role by actions that occur freely to help others achieve the task at hand. The prototype of a climate of citizenship is a school in which teachers help each other and new colleague by giving freely of their own time. Teachers are conscientious and routinely go beyond the prescribed duties of the job. They also avoid complaining as they engage in productive efforts to improve teaching and learning. In such a school, teachers treat each other with courtesy by giving advance notice of change and reminders and by respecting each other as professionals.


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4.2.2 Open and Close Climate

Open climate is marked by cooperation and respect within the faculty and between the faculty and principal. Principal listens and is open to teacher’s suggestions, gives genuine and frequent praise, and respects the professional competence of the faculty (high supportiveness). Principals also give their teachers freedom to perform without close or thorough examination (low directive) and provide facilitating leadership behaviour (low restrictiveness).

Close climate is appear the principal and teachers go through the motions, with the principal stressing routine trivia and unnecessary busywork (high restrictiveness) and the teacher responding minimally and exhibiting little commitment (high disengagement). The principal’s ineffective leadership is further seen as controlling and rigid (high directive) as well as unsympathetic, unconcerned and unresponsive (low supportiveness).

4.2.3 A Climate of Organization Health

Specifically, a health organization is one in which the technical, managerial, and institutional levels are in harmony. The organization is both meeting its needs and successfully coping with disruptive outside forces as it directs its energies toward its mission.

The healthy school is protected from unreasonable community and parental pressures. The principal of a healthy school provides dynamic leadership – leadership that is both task oriented and relations oriented. Such behaviour is supportive of teachers and yet provides direction and maintains high standards of performance. Moreover, the principal has influence with his or her superiors as well as the ability to exercise independent thought and action. Teachers in a healthy school are committed to teaching and learning. They set high but achievable goals for students; they maintain high standards of performance; and the learning environment is orderly and serious.

The unhealthy school is vulnerable to destructive outside forces. Teachers and administrators are bombarded with unreasonable demands from parental and community groups. The principal does not provide leadership; there is little direction, limited consideration and support for teachers, and virtually no influence with superiors. Moral of teachers is low. Teachers feel good neither about each other nor about their jobs. They act suspiciously, and defensive.

4.3 Summary

a) Schools have distinctive cultures, core values and beliefs, which provide members with a sense of organizational mission and identity.

b) Strong cultures can be good or bad because they can promote or to delay or to stop a progress of effectiveness.

c) Culture calls attention to the symbolic nature of organizations; often what is said or done is not as important as what it symbolizes.


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d) Cultures of efficacy, of trust, and of academic optimism promote student achievement.

e) A custodial culture of pupil control impedes the socio-emotional development of students.

f) The organizational climate of a school is the set of faculty perceptions of the dominant behaviors of organizational participants.

g) Openness of organizational climate is positively related to loyalty, trust, and commitment of teachers.

i) The health of organizational climate is positively related to openness in member interactions as well as school effectiveness.

j) Strong academic emphasis in the school climate promotes school effectiveness and student achievement.

k) Changing the culture or climate of a school is usually a difficult, continuous, and long-term process.

4.4 Tutorial Activities

4.4.1 Activity 1

Interview six or more teachers in your school and determine the culture of your school in terms of the core values most teachers shared. Describe the shared values and beliefs of the faculty in terms of innovation, stability, attention to detail, outcome orientation, and people orientation.

4.5 REFERENCES

Wayne K. H, & Cecil G. M. (2008). Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and Practice. Eight Edition -International Edition. New York: McGraw – Hill Companies.


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