Introduction
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze and summarise an article by Joyce S. Maphosa and Thembinkosi Maphosa. The paper deals with the challenges of organizing schools in the Warren Park-Malbereign District of Harare Region, Zimbabwe, to maximize student performance and educational outcomes. The authors questioned a sample of school teachers and administrators to learn whether organizational development education for staff is necessary or underrepresented. The authors conclude that changes in the corporate culture of local schools would likely lead to improved performance. They recommend that the concept of organizational development be introduced in schools at all levels.
The Main Idea of the Authors
The authors propose the idea that schools are underperforming due to an inefficient organization and a work culture that interferes with their performance. Besides, Maphosa and Maphosa attempt to inspect the influence of demographic factors on the overall environment and the resulting outcomes (2). The authors do not provide evidence of lacking school performance, as their focus lies in improvements for the existing situation. They investigate the school as a structure, devoting attention to teachers and administrators who oversee them and collecting the opinions of both parties. Awareness of the shortcomings of the current system and of the challenges of changing it is necessary to achieve comprehensive advancements in an organization such as a school.
The authors propose the concept of organizational development as a framework for the evaluation and improvement of the school system in the area. According to Maphosa and Maphosa, the approach uses knowledge and various interventions to change the system, focusing on the integration of the interests of the individual into that of the company (2).
The definition is consistent with the one offered by Rothwell et al., which note, however, that organizational development is not a toolkit with predefined measures and should develop organically for every situation (36). Generally, managers and employees collaborate within the framework of behavioral sciences, usually with the assistance of a specialist, offering ideas and putting them into practice. The goal of the authors is to determine whether the method is appropriate for the school environment based on its effectiveness and ease of application.
Approach to the Subject
The authors choose to adopt a theoretical approach to the testing of their hypothesis, gathering responses and information before proposing a plan of action for further research. Maphosa and Maphosa question 50 teachers and 18 school administrators in the Warren Park-Malbereign District in personal interviews assisted by a questionnaire (4). The former would be the primary agents and recipients of change, and the latter must provide leadership to transform the organization (Litchka and Shapira-Lishchinsky 45).
They gather data such as demographics, professional qualifications, views on current organizational culture, decision-making, delegation of duties, and others. Most of the tendencies and opinions were pronounced, with relatively few outliers, which allowed the authors to draw a variety of conclusions from the data they gathered.
The analysis by the authors discovers a considerable prevalence of women in the teaching staff of the schools they inspected, though the majority of staff heads are male. Most teachers are between 31 and 40 years of age, while most leaders are in the 41-50 age range. Most of the teachers and all of the administrators possess ‘O’ or ‘A’ academic qualifications or a degree, and over half of the teachers have a CE/DE professional qualification. Most teachers believe that behavioral change is vital to organizational culture and that teachers should be involved in decision-making.
Almost all participants support the delegation of duties, and most are at least aware of the concept of organizational development. Lastly, the majority of teachers and heads believe that staff development is beneficial and that OD interventions will improve performance and are prepared to participate in the appropriate responses.
Main Issues and Interventions
The authors express concerns over the general performance of schools in the region and associate it with the organizational culture, which is insufficiently corporate and therefore inefficient. They believe that schools would perform better as systems without a strict hierarchy, where heads would delegate duties and involve teachers in the discussion of significant decisions. However, these improvements would be ineffective if the staff or the administrators are opposed to the idea and refuse to participate.
The primary reasons for refusal that the authors choose to investigate are a lack of understanding of organizational development, a negative opinion of its effectivity, and an unwillingness to change or to accept change. The study shows a low adoption rate for all three views above, and the authors suggest that the interventions should be applied.
The recommended approaches include methods that would create organizational development consultants, college curriculum changes, government funding, and further research. The authors suggest that the discipline should be taught in higher education institutions for educators to improve awareness. They propose additional training for existing teachers to grant them the competencies necessary to consult others and assist them in the changes. The government would provide the resources for the measures by funding the Better Schools program. Lastly, the authors call for heads and teachers to become proactive and innovative and to begin introducing organizational change initiatives in their schools.
Lessons Learned
I have learned two essential lessons about organizational development in schools from reading this article. The first is that the technique applies to various types of institutions and can achieve beneficial results with regards to different goals. Organizational development originated in businesses, which primarily aim to maximize profits, but it can be applied to schools, which are government-funded and concentrate on providing high-quality education to students. A change in operating principles and increased involvement of staff at all levels can lead to improvements in desirable statistics regardless of their natures.
The second lesson is that school teachers and heads of staff are mostly aware of the concept of organizational development, but lack the leadership and driving force necessary to introduce it. Members of the faculty are aware of the benefits of cultural changes and would like to see them implemented, but they currently lack incentives and the leadership required to begin working on the matter. Theoretically, school heads are in a position where they can propose and perform such changes, but they choose to postpone or ignore the idea.
Conclusion
The authors propose organizational development as a tool that would change the culture of local schools and improve their performance as a result. They conduct a study, in which they question teachers and school heads on a variety of issues and opinions. The results show that both categories are aware of the concept, believe that the improvements it offers would be beneficial, and are ready to implement them. The authors recommend the proposal to take on a practical form and describe several changes that would help to start the process.
Works Cited
Litchka, Peter R., and Orly Shapira-Lishchinsky. “Planning Educational Policy: Teacher Perceptions of School Principal Transformational Leadership in Israel and the United States.” Educational Planning, vol. 23, no. 2, 2015, pp. 45-58.
Maphosa, Joyce S., and Thembinkosi Maphosa. “The Organizational Development (OD) Interventions that Influence Organizational Culture to Improve Performance of the Schools in the Warren Park – Malbereign District in Harare Region, Zimbabwe.” International Journal of Management, vol. 3, no. 5, 2015, pp. 1-9.
Rothwell, William J., et al. Practicing Organization Development: Leading Transformation and Change. Wiley, 2015.