Organizational Theory: A Synthesis and Term Paper

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Rigidity rather than responsiveness has increasingly become the norm.

In a McDonalds-style approach to education, efficiency and speed when serving the customer and demonstrating that the customer is being served through quick and demonstrable statistical results, is most important. A McDonalds-style institution must meet uniform standards, rather than create a shared 'meal' or experience -- this is the goal of the McDonald's enterprise, and sadly, far too many schools and school administrators and legislatures, in terms of how they measure student, classroom, and teacher performance.

As schools can exhibit some of the worst as well as the best qualities of bureaucracy, the McDonaldization or franchise, factory system of quality standardization must not hold sway. Ideally, an educational organization should be not a franchise, even a healthy franchise like Subway, but a learning organization. Learning organizations actively seek input from all involved parties, which in the case of the school, would be teachers, students, and parents, rather than simply dispensing hierarchical authority. Learning organizations are responsive to the environment and are capable of change. For example, a learning organization would allow a teacher of proven excellence to do a several-weeks module involving students learning about local Native American tribes, building Indian homes based upon their research, reading Indian myths, doing fieldwork in the woods and presenting a final performance to the school, rather than to 'teach' a standardized test to the students. On the other hand, to inject a certain element of caution (or contingency theory) to one's enthusiasm for a learning approach to educational organizations, when teachers need more guidance because of youth, inexperience, or intransigence, or students are learning-resistant because of difficult socioeconomic circumstances, a leadership style that is stronger, more dominant, and sets very specific institutional goals in a task-oriented fashion may be more appropriate, if the leader can shift his or her personal style to meet the needs of the situation (Northouse, 2007, p.111).

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True leadership is about encouraging all persons in the organization to maximize their capacities. Leadership is a process that occurs in groups, to meet ever-shifting goals, and much like teaching it encourages people to do better through influence, not through dictation, thus leadership is at its core a transactional event (Northouse, 2007, p.3). But different types of influence and motivation may be required, depending on the situation. Ideally, however, fostering professional growth is preferred. A teacher leads the classroom by learning about the needs of the students, and tailoring the lessons to meet those needs, and a good administration provides guidance and encourages dialogue between teachers, students, and parents to maximize every student's learning opportunity. Intelligence, integrity, determination, sociability and self-confidence are required, and setting a certain inflexible benchmark is not enough, rather a leader must understand the people he or she is leading and serving (Northouse, 2007, p.19).

Excellence in leadership is not a fixed trait, much like the ability to learn it exists within the grasp of all students. But it is not just the students who have a responsibility to learn. Teachers must learn from the students and learn from one another, using teamwork to create professional dialogue. A good leader's ability to lead is contingent upon a wide variety of circumstances, including the resources of the district and the social and economic status of the students. A good educational leader will not reiterate where the school should be statistically, but assess the abilities of the persons around him or her, and attempt to use a style and create a situation that facilitates the evolution of the organization in a positive direction (Northouse, 2007, p.113).

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