Effective School Management

partnership working with John Byrne and Brathay, supporting the peer-
coaching triads, and securing additional funding to develop the peer
coaching to include teachers with leadership roles at all levels within BCLP
and NLC schools.
By the same token it can be enormously helpful to bring in an external
consultant or ‘facilitator’ to the transition management structure, such as an
LEA adviser, a local training manager or a college lecturer with appropriate
experience (Gray, 1988; Weindling, 1989); few major organizational changes
in ICI were ever accomplished by the former divisions pulling themselves up
by their own bootstraps. More and more LEAs and schools are using
consultants. Even if a consultant is used, it is also important to provide training
for people in the transition management structure. Fullan (1982) recommends
no less than 27 days of training per staff member per year, and warns that too
little training can be dangerous, because it brings problems to the surface
without solving them. This may be a counsel of perfection, but industrial
experience would suggest that a lead operator in the management of change
should have about a month’s training. Unfortunately, current provision of
such training in the public sector is far from adequate in quality or quantity.
Whatever option is chosen for setting up a transition management
structure, there needs to be some system for informing, consulting and
involving people affected by the change. Any change creates anxieties, and
the transition managers have to explain fully what is happening, in order to
build up wide ‘ownership’ of the change and to motivate people to let it
happen and make it work. The communication must be two-way, so that the
managers are provided with reliable information about the real impact of the
change. At one school visited by one of the authors, an otherwise very
capable transition manager (a new deputy head) seemed to be short of
intelligence about how the change was really perceived by the scale 1 and 2
teachers, so he assumed an unrealistic degree of commitment to the change.
The shrewd manager pokes ‘climate thermometers’ into the organization at
several levels, since he or she wants to deal with things as they really are, and
not as they are intended to be.
PERSONAL APPLICATION
Consider a potential major change problem involving your school. What transition
management structure would you set up to handle it? What problems would your
choice create? How would you handle them?
TASKS FOR THE TRANSITION MANAGEMENT
The kind of tasks that will fall to the transition management structure will

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depend on the nature of the change. Consider, for example, the amalgamation
of two schools, with representatives of each school and of the LEA managing
it:
(1) Plans need to be developed to manage
(a)
the period of the change;
(b)
any unaffected systems (e.g. a youth wing on one site);
(c)
organizational integration and operational effectiveness during the
change (i.e. managing the ‘present state’); and
(d)
the future situation, when amalgamation is complete.
(2) Because change can be unsettling to people, their apprehension has to be
recognized and assuaged as far as possible. Rumours may spread, so
clear information about the future state and its effect on people inside
and outside the school must be supplied.
(3) Planning needs to cover changes in structures, roles, tasks, people and
formal and informal systems. Many attempts at change go wrong when
these elements are treated in isolation, so make sure that there is
consistency and integration.
(4) The person leading the change needs to be visible, and available to give
guidance and support, especially in connection with any conflicts that
arise. Any negative energy (frustration, anxiety, threat) needs to be
managed so as to encourage constructive behaviour.
(5) People need help in understanding the nature of change. There will
always be uncertainty, since at the outset only broad outlines can be set,
and the details usually require the involvement of many people.
(6) Communications and information systems need to be effective and to
operate in both directions, since: (a) role expectations will need
clarifying; (b) norms and assumptions need to be brought into the open
and examined; and (c) implications for workloads and job satisfaction
need to be understood. Especially important are sensitive areas such as
job security and rewards.
(7) Empathy with those affected by the change is important: the ‘death’ of
one of the schools in an amalgamation may induce a sensation akin to
mourning, and people need time to disengage from the present state and
adjust to the future. In these circumstances some counselling may be
needed.
These needs can place a high demand on management and lead to emotional
strain if they are not planned for in advance. Admittedly, the amalgamation
of two schools is a somewhat extreme example of change, but it is surprising
how people can be disturbed and upset by even relatively modest changes, if
they feel threatened or disadvantaged in any way. As Fullan says (1982, p.
120), you have to understand the subjective world of the role incumbents as a
necessary precondition for engaging in any change effort with them: you must
understand what reality is to those in each role. To do this, personal contact is
essential, with time for discussion and reassurance.

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
It is therefore of critical importance that organizational arrangements to
provide the time and skill required are carefully thought out and designed.
These arrangements then need to be communicated so that everyone
concerned understands how the change is being managed.
DEVELOPING A PLAN
Using a ‘crisis management’ approach to cope with change is not to be
recommended, as it is extremely stressful for all concerned. It is far better to
draw up a strategic plan to deal with the process of change. Burnes (2000)
states that successful organizations spend 90 per cent of the time planning
and organizing change and 10 per cent implementing it. Effective planning
does not come naturally to many teachers, although anyone who has
constructed a school timetable will obviously have valuable expertise. In the
authors’ experience teachers tend to confuse decisions or intentions with plans,
so that specificity is lacking.
A process plan is like a road map for the change effort. It contains detailed
statements on who is to do what by when; it clarifies objectives and sets
mileposts along the path to their achievement. It unambiguously specifies
the means of its own implementation, and it incorporates ways of checking
and monitoring progress. The characteristics of an effective plan can be
summarized as follows. It is
(1) purposeful:  the activities are clearly linked to the change goals and
priorities;
(2) task specific: the types of activities involved are clearly identified rather
than broadly generalized, and responsibility for carrying them out is
unambiguously assigned;
(3) temporal: target dates are specified and achievement is monitored;
(4) integrated:  the discrete activities are linked to show interdependencies
and sequencing networks;
(5) adaptable:  there are contingency plans and ways of adapting to
unexpected problems, such as time slippage and unforeseen resistance;
and
(6) cost-effective: in terms of the investment of both time and people.
There is one further point. The people who are assigned responsibility for
implementing the various activities in the plan usually have their normal work
to perform as well: the change activities are an added extra. Management
may see the additional responsibilities as an enrichment of their normal work.
However, if the change activities do not bring with them a pressure to achieve
targets equal to that which applies to operational work, then they will not be
regarded as fundamental to the job. So if change activities are inadequately
recognized or rewarded, those involved will give a higher priority, in the
direction of their energy, to the area which provides the intrinsic rewards, e.g.
classroom teaching. Therefore management should be explicit in regarding

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work on change as part of the primary work of the people concerned, and
attempt to recognize, reward or punish it accordingly. In some circumstances
this may involve negotiation and the temporary transfer, curtailment or
postponement of operational work.
PERSONAL APPLICATION
Reflect carefully on the adequacy of any plans for major change or other projects
with which you have been associated. What went wrong? Which of the characteristics
of an effective plan were wanting? Can you generalize about the shortcomings that
most often recur? What can you resolve to do about it?
HIERARCHY OF OBJECTIVES
There are two main approaches to the development of tension and energy in
organizations. The first is the use of controls and the second is the use of
purpose, goals and objectives. Controls are effective only if they are backed
by a rigorously used reward and punishment system, which can lead to the
development of negative energy if mishandled. Purpose, goals and objectives
generate tension by developing hope for achievement and of a better condition
in the future. However, once a goal is achieved, tension is relaxed and there is
no further generation of energy. In order to maintain tension continuously, it
is necessary to establish a hierarchy of objectives and to update them regularly.
It is possible to identify four levels of objectives: