Introduction
St. Martin de Porres High School was founded in 2003 to educate underprivileged youth (Mumby & Kuhn, 2019). Students worked on corporate internships to be able to pay for their education. However, the school faced many problems related to administrative management. To be able to address these issues, it is important to address the issue of effective management and a culture of empowerment.
The School’s principal (Odiotti) and assistant principal (Seiberlich) established what is known as adaptive leadership aimed at mobilizing a group of people. In this way, together they can solve problems and support change (Howard et al., 2017). The main focus of the model lies in new ways of participating in collaborative leadership (Heifetz & Linsky, 2017). It also emphasizes on opportunities and recognizing leadership as an activity which mobilizes individuals to tackle these tough problems.
Problems Faced by the Organization
The school staff accused the students of being systematically late, which worsened their grades. Tardiness is the habit of being late or delaying arrival. Being late as a form of misconduct may be formally punishable in various arrangements, such as workplace, school, etc. An opposite personality trait is punctuality (Donovan & Thielman, 2017). Teachers have a tendency to place most of the blame for poor performance on students.
The Status Quo
As a result, the school faced the status quo and could not change it for a long time, which led to long-term problems. Cases of pupils being late were on the increase, resulting in a permanent decline in academic performance. This lowered their rating and led to a constant misunderstanding of the topics of the lessons. In addition, this contributed to a longer education, students stayed for additional academic years, and, accordingly, graduated late. At the same time, inefficiency and poor management in the educational institution played a role in this. The inability to organize work and school activities led the administration to the fact that the original mission of helping poor students began to lose its shape.
General Solutions and Management Strategies
Here are the changes proposed for better organization. The changes should apply to teachers and students, as they are the leading figures in the education exchange. For this reason, four points are proposed here, two of which relate to teachers and the other to students. To resolve problems, effective solutions are required, aimed at the organization of the staff and the interest of the students. A possible option would be the introduction of an assessment for teachers, which will be monitored once a year in the format of attestation. In addition, the introduction of a student feedback system will help to identify communication problems at an early stage of their occurrence. In addition, the administration may introduce an automated process in which teachers can apply technological innovations to motivate students (Connolly et al., 2019).
This will be a way to interest them and improve their academic performance in subjects. From the point of view of change management and organizational communications strategies, it is important to introduce a communication plan, which will include points on how often information will be transferred between departments. In addition, it is important to establish communication cultures within which students and teachers feel comfortable. A progress tracking system is vital to change management and considers positive and negative impacts.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be said that the school needs to improve management. The organization faced problems with the attitude of teachers towards students. In addition, the overall academic performance has been reduced, and because of this, the graduation age is increasing. To improve teacher interaction, it is important to establish a system of accountability and review, as well as a communication plan. This can increase the level of trust and respect for each other.
References
Burga, R., & Rezania, D. (2017). Project accountability: An exploratory case study using actor–network theory. International Journal Of Project Management, 35(6), 1024-1036.
Connolly, M., James, C. & Fertig, M., (2019). The difference between educational management and educational leadership and the importance of educational responsibility. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47(4), 504-519.
Donovan, W., & Thielman, J. (2017). Cristo Rey schools: A Model Of 21st-Century Catholic Education. White paper no.174. Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research.
Heifetz, R., & Linsky, M. (2017). Leadership on the line, with a new preface: Staying alive through the dangers of change. Harvard Business Press.
Howard, L. L., Berger, G., & Waikar, S. (2017). Creating a culture of empowerment and accountability at St. Martin de Porres high school (B). Kellogg School of Management Cases.
Mumby, D. K. & Kuhn, T. R. (2019). Organizational Communication: A Critical Introduction. (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.