Deliberation refers to thinking and discussing an issue or a problem carefully during the decision-making process. The deliberation process ensures that an individual gets the best way to tackle a particular problem. Rhee and Vallas greatly used deliberation as one of the tools that assisted them in solving some of their managerial problems and making decisions regarding the problems. Vallas had the aim of making Recovery School District a promoter of both talent and academic work. To achieve this, he used various strategies that included making a good relationship with the students. He also created ease between the staff and himself by making simple jokes and giving them notebooks to note their problems or issues that should be addressed. He strengthened the power of the central office to have more control on facilities, teachers and resource allocation, which helped in the formation of a highly organized management system.
Michelle Rhee was far much friendly to the students than she was to teachers, and she was always very serious when interacting with fundraisers, bureaucrats and other officials. Her behavior made some people acknowledge her as a dictator rather than a chancellor. She liked to be physically involved in everything in her office, and this is seen when she could reply to emails directly from parents, teachers and the staff. She had the belief that teachers’ performances were accountable for the failure of students regardless of the challenges from the children’s surroundings. She kept track of teachers’ performance by analyzing their performance data because of her high skills in data analysis.
Cognitive dissonance is when one avoids conflicting beliefs because it makes them feel uncomfortable, thereby rejecting new information. There was no evidence of cognitive dissonance in Paul Vallas managerial techniques in the schools he dealt with in Chicago, New Orleans and Philadelphia. His strategies were based on a thorough assessment of the present condition and the best strategies to solve the problems. However, Rhee’s’ character of being uncompromising portrays the aspect of cognitive dissonance. Her managerial approach focused on the belief that the teachers were the ones responsible for the failures of students without considering other challenges that may hinder students from performing. She didn’t consider any other factors that could have affected the school apart from teachers’ qualities.
Another factor of decision biasness seen in the management of institutions is group thinking. Group thinking is a phenomenon that may occur within a group of people when they desire peace and uniformity, which results in irrational decisions. Michelle Rhee portrayed group thinking in her management technique because her staff could not object to her decisions. However, with the case of Vallas’ management strategy, there was no instance of group thinking because he gave every member of his department to express their views. He achieved this by involving all the school partners in every aspect of his decision-making process
On the other hand, Rhee is depicted in the research study as having an aggressive attitude with little research or anecdotal evidence to substantiate her ideas. She ignored community leaders’ and professionals’ advice on how to improve Washington’s schools. Instead, she sought counsel from liberals and wealthy persons who could donate to educational programs that were not founded on study or facts. Vallas learned how to deal with varied school systems using information and analysis of the external factors. For example, after Hurricane Katrina, he worked to rebuild a neighborhood in New Orleans and make education a replacement for families.
Rhee and Vallas’ strategic orientations are demonstrated by the notions and the heuristics below:
- According to Strausman and Bozeman four principles, leaders concerned with long- term management tend to form goals and objectives to create an everlasting hierarchy (J. Hill, 2015). The principles acknowledge that planning and strategic management cannot be implemented on their own. They always have an overall perspective that maximizes attempting to influence the change of the environment. The principles try to show that the management strategy of Michelle Rhee makes her not be a strategic public leader while Vallas is.
- Using Bolman and Deal’s structuring paradigm, Rhee’s frame of choice is the human capital frame, which is based on the idea of individual talents, behaviors, and enthusiasm. These are considered to be key resources in determining whether the DC school system succeeds or fails. Vallas’ preferred frame is the sociopolitical frame, which views organizations as a collection of complicated objectives and personalities. Rhee may benefit from a shift in perspective to a social one to shift her perspective from linear to complicated.
- The very first concept, based on Moore’s approach, is a public value. It is critical to generate a feeling of purpose to produce public value. Although there was a need for educational change in DC, the path forward was unclear, and different stakeholders argued that different paths were the best. As the foundation of social value, Rhee picked efficiency and transparency. Vallas believes in many notions of social value, such as a feeling of the people of New Orleans and transforming the character of Philadelphia’s institutions. Rhee’s influence stemmed from unions, the municipality, and her failure to build a public atmosphere to approve her policies, which restricted her performance, according to Moore’s authorizing environment theory. Vallas was a competent leader who struggled to collaborate with others in Chicago but received Philadelphia and New York accolades. In New Orleans, he is known for his ability to collaborate with everyone. According to Moore’s theory of operational capability, leaders are supposed to harness and utilize resources to achieve their objectives (J. Hill, 2015). Rhee limited her progress in DC by firing teachers and principals and refusing to deploy human resources wisely. Vallas was effective in utilizing available resources in New Orleans to construct multiple properties for Hurricane Katrina survivors.
- Rhee did not foresee how difficult her reformation attempts would be. She failed to plan for human capital difficulties, fired employees without cause, and neglected to engage with school administrators and specialists. Vallas, too, failed to predict reforms in Chicago and failed to prepare appropriately. Rhee did not create a good relationship between her and the teachers; she was more friendly with the students than with the students. She depended solely on her decisions and believed that there was a need to have teachers with high qualities for students to perform.
- Both Rhee and Vallas implemented the education system from the ground up. Rhee, for example, overhauled the system in Washington, D.C., allocating resources and removing bureaucrats. The impact was designed by Rhee to track teacher performance and enhance student achievement, resulting in improved teacher responsibility. Vallas altered Philadelphia’s education system by changing people’s perceptions of schools as jails and as blocks of building and mortar. Both executives took a bottom-up strategy, which brought changes at the roots mirrored throughout the system. Given her refusal to compromise and her propensity to use her authority to compel improvements rather than communicate with partners.
- Rhee would not be an enterprising public manager because instead of employing a universal approach across all educational systems, Vallas might be given the designation of enterprising public manager.
- Rhee lacks managerial accountability since she excludes practitioners and education professionals from judgment and failure to account for long-term consequences. Rhee mainly focuses on personal goals and is unwilling to include other parties to help her in decision-making. Vallas can be regarded to have adhered to administrative responsibility ideals as he reacted to changing circumstances. He also involved other parties in making decisions regarding the management of the school.
It is critical that the management personalities and the scenario are compatible. Vallas responded to the needs of a school system, whereas Rhee preferred to apply lessons from past teaching jobs rather than studying the DC education system’s needs. The managerial techniques of Vallas and Rhee are different because one side depends on collaboration, and the other party applies personal decisions. Their differences depict a clear picture of managerial heuristics and their applications in society. Empirical studies show that managers significantly affect the development, quality, and access to public services. The effectiveness of managerial artistry, on the other hand, is questionable, and researchers dispute its significance. For instance, public management expert Norma M. Riccucci found that senior management influence on front service employees’ actions and behaviors was minor in her research of the government Temporary Help for Struggling Families program’s implementation.
Reference
J. Hill, C. (2021). Craft managerial heuristics. In C. J. Hill & L. Edwards, Public management (2nd ed., pp. 342-408). Sage publications.