Staff and the Supervision of Higher Education Essay

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staff and the supervision of higher education staff members?

It is the primary assumption regarding the staff as well as the supervision of higher education staff members that they should influence the people around them in such a manner that they would work for the welfare of all rather than working for their own personal causes (Yukl, 2006). This staff acts as a leadership and therefore, they should have high ethical standards along with intrapersonal and interpersonal skills so that they can guide and influence the people around them in a positive manner and prove to be effective leaders (Jossey-Bass, 2003, p. 253).

Assumptions are opinion instinctively created to simplify a persons' rationale for considering and accepting something that one thinks to be right (Ruggiero, 2004, p. 94-95). I was given the responsibility to consider and decide a number of things regarding the current staff working in the higher education at the time that I was made the supervisor. I continued to improve my leadership style by getting ideas from not only my professional life but my personal life as well. This has helped me a lot over the years as even today when I work as a Special Emphasis Program Manager, I'm still try my best to be an ideal leader and example for the staff members.

In my personal opinion the supervisors are appointed by the senior management based on their personality and managing skills that they posses. A supervisor is selected based on his/her abilities to run an organization in a proper manner and ensuring that all the members or employees of that organization have been allotted their own jobs and responsibilities and that those responsibilities are being fulfilled in an effective manner.

A supervisor should not only have skills to handle the troubled situations but he should also have sufficient knowledge of the employees working him so that in case of misunderstandings and office troubles he could act in an effective manner to resolve the situation.

There are a number of factors that a person takes oath to follow when he/she is made a supervisor from an employee. These factors are:

Getting to know your staff in such a manner that you not only know their strong but weak points as well

Know what his duties as a supervisor are and how to properly perform them

Refraining from being bias towards the employees or any other official issues and not behaving in an inappropriate manner with the employees.

Knowing what the proper protocols are to all the various aspects of the job.

Therefore, with regards to the staff as well as the supervision of higher education staff members it is a primary assumption that the supervisor will have control over the employees in such a manner that they would act upon the orders given to them by their leader and help in taking the organization forward. Similarly, the supervisor should make sure that the employees are assigned the duties in a manner that enhances their work efficiency.

2. Do you align more closely to Theory X or Theory Y in your basic assumptions about employees? Why?

I believe that I align more closely to the Theory X which is basically the collaborative approach. The reason behind this is the fact that as a supervisor I like to arrange collaborative meetings with the staff as well as the parents. This helps me in getting the perspective of both the employees and the clients (parents of the students studying in the school). this helps me in formulating better supervision as well as education strategies.

A statement was once made by Jean Jacques Rousseau in which he said, "Cultivation shapes the plants and education shapes men... We are born feeble, we require strength; we are born completely unprovided, we require support; we are born stupid, we require opinion. All the things that we don't posses at the time of our birth but which we actually need are given to us by education." Therefore, it can be concluded from this statement that it is of utmost importance to teach and groom the students to think and talk properly in order for them to be able to understand and reason out the truths. Hence, in order to achieve all this an administrator needs to not only believe in value but also be dedicated to educating all.

The school staff and principals need to act as an all rounder individual who is not only well informed but flexible as well. A 'teacher friendly' philosophy should be instituted by them. This would help them in encouraging dialogues, conflict solving and problem solving etc.

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Self-awareness is another important quality that a successful supervisor should posses as, this would enable him/her to know their weak points and collaborate with their staff to overcome those issues.

It should also be kept in mind here that supervision doesn't just mean the supervision of students, teachers, counsellors, paraprofessionals and the assistant principals. It also includes the front line staff, custodians, cafeteria workers and rest of the people who form a school unit. Hence, all of these things together form an organization or school and for it to run smoothly it is very important that all of its parts run in a synchronized manner, for this reason it is important for the supervisor to adopt a collaborative approach as in this manner he/she will be able to get continuous feedback from the employees and parents and will be able to formulate more effective strategies.

3. How do your basic assumptions affect your leadership style and methodology?

In my opinion my basic assumptions about the leadership style and methodology have a substantial amount of affect on my leadership style. It has been mentioned in the text, SuperVision and Instructional Leadership as well where Glickman, Gordon, and Ross-Gordon have explained four supervisory approaches. These approaches are: nondirective, collaboration, directive informational, and directive control. Each one of these approaches is based on a particular quantity of supervisory control. The text clearly states that the level of control which is implemented by the supervisor is either substantial or modest.

Collaboration has been proved to be an effective approach when it comes to building a friendly yet authoritative environment as it takes into account all the keys players in an organization like the employees, teachers, parents, students etc. This approach has proved to be very effective in situations such as teachers training programs, creation of the learning goals, grade level meetings where the examination data is talked about etc. Hence, the approach that should be adopted by a supervisor should not only be facilitative but also 'teacher friendly'. Therefore, my basic assumptions about the leadership style and methodology have a substantial amount of affect on my leadership style.

4. Based on information from current research, are your basic assumptions more likely to be viewed as assets or liabilities in the higher education setting? Why?

Based on information from current research my basic assumptions are more likely to be viewed as assets higher education setting because as it has been discussed above that a leader is a very crucial part in the smooth and effective running of an organization.

"It is the wish of teachers to enhance the attitude, achievements and behaviours of their students," in that similar manner supervisors hope to enhance the achievements, attitudes and behaviours of the teachers and faculty" (Glickman, Gordon, and Ross-Gordon, pg. 95). From this statement it can clearly be seen that it is very important for a supervisor to adopt an appropriate education philosophy as, this will enable him/her to adopt a suitable supervision philosophy. There were ten questions listed by Glickman, Gordon, and Ross- Gordon in the text, SuperVision and Instructional Leadership that should be kept in mind while formulating the education guideline. These questions are as follows:

1. What should be the purpose of education?

2. Who should be in control of the learning environment?

3. What are the things that should be included in the contents of school curriculum?

4. What kind of a relationship should there be between the teachers and students?

5. How do you define effective learning?

6. What are the things that motivate students to be at their best in the school?

7. What are the conditions that make student learning more effective?

8. How do you define a good school?

9. How should the student learning be assessed by his/her teacher?

10. What are the personal characteristics that should be there in a successful teacher? (2010, pg. 94-95).

Collaborative meetings with the community as well as the school can help in providing questions to many of the above mentioned questions. Therefore, a supervisor with effective leadership qualities will prove to be an asset to the organization as he/she will not only be able to handle the everyday tasks in an effective and efficient manner but improve and develop the organization as a whole in the long run too.

5.Does the view of your assumptions differ from faculty to….....

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