Management in English Language Teaching PDF

MANAGEMENT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING S TA N L E Y J. G O N Z A L E Z , M.ED.  D N...

MANAGEMENT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING S TA N L E Y J. G O N Z A L E Z , M.ED.  D N A R U IO V A H E B L A N 2 O I T I T T A N U N N I ME Z A GE G R NA O A M Dawson (1986, p xviii) defines organizations as: Collections of people joining together in order to achieve group or individual objectives. The differences between one organization and another can be based on organizational behaviour theories. The studies of organizational behaviour has developed rapidly over the last 50 years, and it is now considered one of the social sciences. The objective of this chapter is to link the study and theory of organizational behaviour to the needs and realities of language teaching organizations ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE When looking at an organizational structure we are interested in what the organization looks like – both from outrside and from within, how it came to be that way and whether or not the current structure best suits the needs of the LTO. Organigrams also referred to as organograms or organizational charts are the traditional way of graphically illustrating the way in which an organization functions. CHAIN OF COMMAND/COMMUNICATION Typically the organigram illustrates the chain of command. It shows the reporting relationships within an organization and defines who is everyone´s boss. It also gives an indication of span of control, that is to say the number of people under each line manager. (activity) Occasionally an organigram is modified to include the line of communication. Rather than just being a set of formal reporting relationships, it also features lines (usually dotted) that illustrate the formal lines of communication. In an LTO, there is typically no departent relationship between teachers and receptionists, it is usually very valuable to formalize a communication relationship between these two «departents» which are the main points of contact with organization for its clients , the students and/or person or organization funding the course of study. In larger organizations the organigram can be an indication of one of the typical problems that often arise, that of lack of communication within organization, and particularly between departments. Even quite small LTOs can often encounter this problems between the two major branches of the organization: the academic and the admninistrative sides. This lack of communication between departments is referred to as «silo- ization». The departments act as silos, in which everything is contained and the only entrance/exit for information is at the top. If there is little communication in your organization between the academic and administrative silos, ways of engendering communication need to be found. One such way is by staff members working together in teams on projects. INVERTED HIERARCHY/ FRONTED ORGANIGRAM It is important to note that standard organigram tends to mirror the traditional hierarchical structure with the directors at the top of the chart. This standard pyramidical hierarchy is how most of us perceive the organization from within. Inverting this picture, though, can be quite helpful for us to see the organization from another angle. If an organization is defined by its relationship with its customers, as LTOs tend to be, we can end up with the following pictorial representation (Garrat, 2000, p. 48) In this diagram not only are the customers located at the top of the diagram, giving them the prominence they ought to be given, but also one can see that the most important members of an organization are the staff who have the contact with the customers (teachers, receptionist, etc.) and the supervisors, managers and directors are responsible for supporting their work. (*Moment of truth) Charles (1993) in «The Fronted Organigram» prefers a sideways-on model, such that teachers will feel «up front» in the organization and such that there is no clear «up» and «down»; teacher moving into a management position would be moving back stage rather than up ( a little like moving off-satage in the theatre), while those who remain in teaching are «frontsatage», as shown in the service system blueprint matrix. ACADEMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE SIDES OF THE LTO: DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES There are a number of possible reasons for the lack of communication between academic and administrative side of the LTO: 1. Their organizational structure is somewhat different. The academic side tends to have a very flat hierarchy with a number of teachers, all of equal status, reporting to a DOS or academic director. In larger LTOs there may be a level of hierarchy between these two in the for of an asistant DOS (ADOS) or co-ordinator or senior teachers, but rarely are there more than three levels of the chain of command. The administrative side, on the other hand, is typically much more rigidly hierarchical and much less «flat». 2. There is often a cultural difference, in that the academic side tends to see itself as a creative and flexible, while the administrative side tends to work (of necessity) in a much less flexible, bureaucratic way. Finally, there is a tendency for teachers in any school to view their work as being the crux of the business with everyone else merely supporting them, which can of course lead to mistrust of the academic side from the admin side. All these factors, when coupled with the potential for silo-ization between separate departments, mean that it is very important for managers to keep the channels of communication between these two distinct area of the LTO open and use.  OTHER ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE In addition to chain of command, Robbins (2001, p.414), identifies five other elements of organizational structure. Departmentilization How many departments are there? Are jobs grouped together in separate departments or other clusters, or silos? In an LTO, for example, is teaching done through one broad academic department, or are there mini-groupings corresponding to discrete teaching needs (such as Young Learners department, Business English Department, exam courses, grouping by level, etc) ? On the administrative side, are there separate departments for marketing, finance, human resources, customer service, maintenance, etc.? Formalization Teachers by the nature of their work, tend to have a fair amount of autonomy in their work. Once the classroom door has closed, they are more or less on their own and free to fulfil their job responsibilities as they see fit. However, outside of the class, how much leeway do they have? Are there certain forms to be filled in, records to be kept, and, crucially for our discussion, things that need to be communicated in a very defined way (to whom, how, when, etc)? Span of Control This is the second of Robbin´s six elements which can easily be seen by looking at the organigram. This is another commonly found difference between the academic and administrative sides of the organization: often we find a large teaching staff, all of whom report to the same person (pehaps an ADOS) wheras the administrative side, in a more vertical structure, tend to have greater number of layers… Centralization Who makes the decisions? Who has the authority to make decisions? In a very centralized organization, decisions are all made by the director. This can result in complex systems for requesting anything, involving someone at the lower level of the organigram discovering the need of something asking his line manager, who asks her line manager. The director makes the decisión, and then this decisions is passed back down the same chain. By contrast, in a very decentralized organization, decisions can be made by many people within the organization. The director does not need to be consulted and things can be decided at a much lower level on the organizational chart… Work Specialization Typically in LTOs, teachers do a fairly wide range of things, form planning classes, to teaching different levels, Business English and Young Learners courses, to record keeping. Any other? In very small LTOs there is typically a very low level of specialization; everybody is expected to participate in everything, from answering the phone to recruiting new teachers to making the coffee to teaching the classes, whereas in much larger educational organizations there may be a much higher level of specialization. Organizational Design Many factors contribute to organizational design and structure, some of them planned, some of them not. One factor will be the organizational life cycle. Organizational life cycles LTOs typically start out as small organizations which, if they are successful, evolve and grow into large organizations, with multiple centres.  THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION  Peter Senge author of the book “The fifth Discipline” defined learning organization as being “…organiztations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they trully desire, where new and expensive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free , and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.” (Senge ,1990p.3) In short language organization is one which is flexible and dynamic and collectively learns from its actions.  ASPECTS OF THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION Five “disciplines” that can help créate the conditions for a learning organization Personal Mastery If organizations are to learn, then the individuals who make up the organization must also be cosntantly learning and developing their own personal goals. This is a process not an end point, since learning itself is always a process SHARED VISION  If there is a genuine shared vision (not lip-service to something imposed upon people) that the members of an organization collectively understand and “own”, people excel and continue to learn – not because they have to, but because they want to.  The practice of shared vision involves the skills of unearthing shared “pictures of the future” that foster genuine commitment and enrolment rather than compliance. In mastering this discipline, leaders learn the counter – productiviness of trying to dictate a vision, no matter how heartfelt. (Senge, 1990, p.9) TEAM LEARNING  Broadly speaking, this involves dialogue and thinking together. When people are acting/reflecting together, the learning that can come out of this process can trascend anything that can be learned/gained by individuals. The process of brainstorming is often reported as achieving greater progress than individual thought, as thoughts expressed can spark off ideas in others. MENTAL MODELS  Our “mental models “ are the ways we think about the world. These are often assumptions which are so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that we are not aware of them. A good analogy is with cultural awareness: our perceptions of how the world is shaped by our culture, and only when we recognize this model of thinking for what it is.  The key to this discipline then is to unearth these mental models, to reflect upon ourselves and our ouwn thought processes. SYSTEMS THINKING  This discipline, the fith one, underpins all the others and is the cornerstone to Senge´s work. On a very basic level it is understanding the fact that things work as complex systems, rather than as simple linear cause and effect chains. In so doing systems thinking tends to a longer-term understanding of processes and of what would constitute effective action. It does not produce quick-fix solutions to individual problems, which ultimately can lead to long-term costs. APPLYING THE IDEA OF A LEARNING ORGANIZATION TO AN LTO  There are six basic tenets of Sange’s work that can be acted upon and used as tangible and concrete steps towards a learning organization. They could be characterized as follows: Shared Vision Communication Feedback Transparency and participatory decision-making Team building Reflection Professional Development Communication and feedback  Communication, both formal or informal, needs to be endemic and multi- directional at all levels of the organization. If there is a culture of communication in the organization people will discuss their ideas with each other, think aloud about ideas question decisions, explain and outline future steps. In this way, team learning can take place as well as giving people the space in which to challenge and deepen their mental models.  Communication of this multi-directional type is upwards from teachers and admin staff to management, downward from management to staff, and sideways between teachers of different areas and between teachers and administrative staff. Transparency and participatory decision- making  Transparency is closely related to communication Staff need to know why things are happening. This can be at the level of being informed as to why a particular class is in a particular room or can be at the level of what the strategic plans are for the LTO. If staff are left in the dark on any question which matters to them, they will probably asume the worst, or at least feel cut off the organization as a whole.  (Decisions are best taken collectively) Team building  Cross departmental teams increase communication.  An excellent way of building cross-departmental teams is through work on projects.  A project is often structured towards the production of some kind of tangible product, such as a new curriculum, a set of teaching materials in some area, or a new look for the school cafeteria. Reflection  As educators we are familiar with the idea that reflection is an important part of the teaching and learning process. Yet in our work as managers we often forget the importance of giving ourselves time to reflect, being constantly concerned with fighting fires or responding to crises.  The “experimental learning cycle” illustrates how we can build this into our work routine (Kolb,1984;Smith 2001)  Sydanmaanlakka (2002,p.51) proposes a model of “learning by doing” for organnizations in order to embed the experiential learning cycle in the activities of the organization.