Effective School Management

Figure 17.2
Domainal map for a mathematics department

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
READINESS AND  CAPABILITY
Further definition of the present scenario is needed under the heading
‘readiness and capability to change’. Any organizational change will encounter
resistance from people, forces and systems and will depend on finding
countervailing influences that will help to promote the desired change. In the
previous example of the maths department, the children, with their
predilection for computer games, may be one such influence. Other key factors
may be the head, staff-room opinion, Phyllis, the recruitment system, the exam
system, etc. Remember that some of the factors that need to be influenced will
be external to the school, because organizations are always embedded in an
environment with which they interact.
Having identified the key individuals, groups, forces or systems that
might influence the change, positively or negatively, we next consider
(1) how ready is he/she/it to change in the desired direction (high, medium,
low)? Readiness is to do with willingness, motives and aims; and
(2) irrespective of readiness, how capable is he/she/it of making or helping
the change? Capability is about power, influence, authority and
resources like equipment and skills.
Figure 17.3 is sometimes useful in categorizing people or departments
confronted with change. It indicates a distribution along the spectrum of
resistance to or enthusiasm for change, with most people following the herd.
This is fortunate, because it means a smaller ‘critical mass’ who have to be
persuaded to accept change. It is seldom profitable to concentrate on the ‘total
resisters’ or those who ‘try anything’; given some choice in the matter, aim for
the ‘early change drivers’, that is, people who have developed a reputation