There are a number of reasons for dividing work and
creating groups among which are specialised increased skills, increased
efficiency and reduction in time loss.Teamwork involves the
interaction of individuals for a common purpose where the interests of the
individual are secondary to group unity and the efficiency of the group to
perform the task assigned. It is the purpose of this essay to therefore agree
to the phrase or saying that groups and team working are essential and integral
part of the organisation, though people value their individuality for the
mutual benefit of the group. The essay further elucidates how school managers
might best be trained to enhance the contribution and performance of groups.
To
begin with, it important to realize that a school is an organisation that is
made up of many but different individuals who have been employed to achieve the
mission and vision of the school (Robbins 2005). Each of these individuals is unique in terms of the skills
and interests possess. This is the reason people value their own individuality
because they are aware there is no one like them. It is therefore very
important for school managers identify these special abilities and allocate
them where they best suit. However, there is very little we can achieve by
working alone hence the need for a group or team work.
There are a number of benefits when
organisation members work as a team as opposed to working as individuals.
Firstly, the main benefit of group work or a team environment is the ability to
share ideas among the group (Gronn, P. 2000). Perhaps there are several
possible approaches to a project, and as an individual, a staffer may not be sure
of which one to take. However, as a team, each of the members can contribute
pros and cons of approaches to tasks and methods to accomplish key goals. This
kind of collaboration both benefits the project and gives team members an
outlet to bounce around ideas. An example can be in a school where teachers in
a department identifies a challenge and they all come together to find a
lasting solution.
Another key advantage of group work in
the office is that things get done faster and with efficiency (Leithwood et
al,. 2006). When a group attacks a project or task, that task can be done more
quickly and with greater efficiency than if an individual attempted to deal
with it as it might take a group a few hours to work on a task that can take an
individual a number of days. In other words, a group approach can lead to cost
savings for the company, since groups accomplish more, as well as an ability to
meet individual and team goals more quickly, since more people are attacking
the task.
Clarke
(2007) provides another
reason why groups and team working are essential and must be encouraged at all
coast is that:
“team
spirit often produces a healthy dose of friendly competition; not in the sense that each
individual is trying to outdo their colleagues, rather, as the group
contribute to the overall success of the company, team members
will work assiduously to avoid being seen as the weak link in the chain.”
This
will further bring out natural trust in a co-worker’s abilities which enables
him or her to concentrate fully on his or her tasks and responsibilities
without fear of interruption.
The
other benefit is that employees who are able to participate in team building
exercises tend to be less stressed than more isolated workers, resulting in
increased productivity and this further tightens the connection between
individuals; understandably (Gronn (2000). These effects are amplified if regular social
outings are arranged such as sporting activities, dinner, boat cruise and many
more. This therefore implies members will be so open to one another hence organizational
or office disputes will be easier to resolve when team members feel able to
communicate their grievances with each other openly, especially when there’s a
professional and personal association.
School
managers should be trained to make group members to be aware that, before a
collaborative culture can flourish, employees themselves have to make a
concerted effort to foster it themselves. It should also be brought to the
attention of individuals working in a team environment to accept that, to
succeed, they must work in full collaboration with their colleagues; even if
they’re not overly gregarious outside the office (Sammons
et al., 1997). Similarly, employees have to be
aware their performance and attitude can have a significant impact on the effectiveness
of the team, thus they are responsible for others, not just themselves.
Another
thing to bear in mind is that school managers should be trained on how to
advise employees to refrain from office gossip. This will help a lot in limiting
the chances of quarrels breaking out and encourage a positive attitude even in
difficult times, whilst individual team members should endeavour to behave
politely (Clarke 2007).
One
of the key elements for any organisation to flourish is that it should be able
to communicate effectively and openly to each other. It is therefore the task
of school managers to have the skill on how they have to instill a culture of
open communication as its one of the best ways for managers to increase team
spirit amongst their staff.
School managers have goals that need
to address among key elements when designing the institutional structure such
as work specialisation and departmentalisation.The importance of viewing schools as
social systems being built up of interrelated parts which work together to
achieve the objectives of the organization (Robbins, 2005) . This is of course
in line with the systems theory. Just like the human body which is made up
different parts that perform different functions, the organisation’s parts also
include the individuals in the organization, the departments, and even the
environment which forms an important part of the survival of the organization.
As such, school managers have the task of ensuring that every person and every
part of the organization is of equal importance and works in harmony to achieve
school goals.
There
are classroom teachers who have the responsibilities in specific operational
areas, like subject area heads or counselling duties , academic committee;
persons in charge of the curriculum, Guidance and Counselling committee,
production unit committee, preventive maintenance committee, core curricular,
housing committee , boarding, accounts committee , procurement and stores committee
(Day et al., 2008). Each of the mentioned above may be a department or a
committee comprising of two or more members with its head who report to the
school manager on progress of activities undertaken by the committee. School
managers have to work tirelessly to encourage members of the different
committees to each one work hard for benefit of the group and in turn the
school as a whole.
Other committees which school
managers have to encourage to exist are the Parent Teachers Association and the
school board committee which assist a lot in the running of the schools since
these are the eyes of the school in the communities where learners come
actually from. School should be trained
on their major activities in the school known as principles of management which
include: forecasting and planning, organizing, commanding, co-ordaining and
controlling.
In order to
improve teaching and learning in schools, Louis, K.S., etal (2010)
asserts that considerable emphasis has recently been placed
on school leaders’ contributions to building staff capacity in particular. It
is quite easy to capacity build the staff in a group as compared to an individual,
teachers for instance in a department or committee could easily be taught a
skill than teaching each individual at a time. Creating productive
environments where teamwork thrives requires workers with highly developed
communication and interpersonal skills and an organizational structure that
promotes collaboration and partnership instead of competition and rivalry (Christopher D and Pamela S (2014).
This implies that where team work is encouraged, members do not compete and
there is no spirit of opposition or jealous.
|
Mbiti, (2007) asserts that improving
professional development practices in terms of in house trainings, seminars,
workshops, as well as providing them with necessary equipment and resources
can also work as an effective motivational factor. This means school managers
need to be trained on how to organise for the mentioned events above as they
assist a lot in building group work or team work later on effectiveness. Where
distributed leadership and leadership for learning are of concern,
professional development that promotes collaborative work is increasingly favoured
(Hannay and Ross, 1999). This also means continuous professional development
activities should be at the center of every manager’s work plan.
In conclusion, we can say that no teacher is an island as no
matter how good you can teach, you still the input of the other teacher in
another area. Team work and group work is very cardinal for the success of
any organisation including schools. School managers have to be trained in
techniques that encourage their teachers to always work as teams such as
departments or committees so that managers just receive reports from
departments and advice where necessary.
REFERENCES
Christopher
Day and Pamela Sammons (ed.)(2014) Successful
school leadership. United Kingdom: University of Oxford.
Clarke, A. (2007). The handbook of school management.
Cape Town, South Africa: Kate McCallum.
Day, C., J.
Moller, D. Nusche and B. Pont (2008), “The Flemish (Belgian) Approach to System
Leadership”, a case study report for the OECD Improving School Leadership
activity, available at www.oecd.org/edu/schoolleadership and in Pont,
B., D. Nusche and D. Hopkins (eds.), Improving School Leadership, Volume
2: Case Studies on System Leadership, OECD, Paris.
Gronn, P.
(2000) ‘Distributed properties: a new architecture for leadership’. Educational
management and administration, 28(3), 317-338.
Hannay, L M.
and J.A. Ross (1999), “Department Heads as Middle Managers? Questioning the
Black Box”, School Leadership and Management, 19 (3) pp 345-358
Leithwood, K.,
Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A. & Hopkins, D. (2006a) Successful
school leadership: what is it and how it influences student learning. Research
Report 800. London: DfES
Louis, K.S.,
Dretzke, B. & Wahlstrom, K. (2010) ‘How does leadership affect student
achievement? Results from a national US survey’. School effectiveness and
school improvement, 21 (3) 315-336.
Sammons, P.,
Thomas, S. & Mortimore, P. (1997) Forging links: effective schools and
effective departments. London: Paul Chapman.
Mbiti, D. (2007). Foundations of school administration (Rev.
ed.). Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford University Press East Africa.
Robbins, S. (2005). Organizational behavior (11th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment