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What are the advantages of using the Internet as the infrastructure for electronic commerce and electronic business?

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 23:31:00 -0700

Internet has change the way of life of many people worldwide. From the fields of communication, science and technology, trade and commerce, Internet plays a great responsibility. With the advent of such technological advancement, it brings convenience and easy mode of information transfer among people of diverse locations. The Internet, as one of the most popular form of new mass communication technology, has long been of full use and advantage to all sorts of businesses especially those who are in need of efficient and wide market reach on which to channel their promotional messages. Business, information and entertainment have been communicated with ease through such technological revolutions.
Today, the business sector uses Internet predominantly. It serves as the infrastructure for electronic commerce (e-commerce) and electronic business (e-business). Primarily, Internet is remarkable with the so-called “click-the-button” strategy. Within a single click of information searching, various data will appear in a significant time allocation. Speed may be considered as one of Internet’s feature in the e-commerce and e-business. Through the speed that the Internet possesses, it enables business to automate many operations and create worldwide, 24-hours per day presence at low cost. Increasing competition worldwide, increasing demands made by customers, and the rapid pace of change in technology are forcing companies to review the way they do business, the kinds of products and services they offer, and the speed with which they release products to market. That is the reason behind worldwide companies decision to engage to e-commerce or e-bussiness.

The internet enables businesses to automate many operations and create a worldwide, 24-hour/day presence at low cost. At the same time it empowers customers to e-shop across the globe, greatly increasing their choice of products and their information about prices.

Cybercash: The Coming Era of Electronic Money. Contributors: Robert Guttmann - author. Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 85.

The advantages of e-cash are expected to be speed, cost savings, and convenience and simplicity for the consumer. Existing technologies (personal computers, telephone, fax-back) allow customers to focus their resources and make decisions through a series of self-service interactions with government. The potential for growth in e- commerce is very large and very rapid.
Trust and Loyalty in Electronic Commerce: An Agency Theory Perspective. Contributors: Zeinab Karake-Shalhoub - author. Publisher: Quorum Books. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 74.

electronic commerce has the important advantages of being dynamic and decentralized
Consumer Marketing Information. The technology of Internet shopping has generated new types of markets for information. Consumers who move through a Web site leave behind two types of data
Who Rules the Net?Internet Governance and Jurisdiction. Contributors: Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. - editor, Adam Thierer - editor. Publisher: Cato Institute. Place of Publication: Washington, DC. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 160.

American consultant James Moore announced the 'death of competition' in 1996, arguing that the business environment of the future would be made up of 'ecosystems' in which groups of companies would come together to provide solutions for the complex problems that cross traditional market boundaries (electronic commerce, which involves banks, telephone companies, Internet-based firms and hardware suppliers to name but a few, being a good example.
Business in a Virtual World: Exploiting Information for Competitive Advantage. Contributors: Fiona Czerniawska - author, Gavin Potter - author. Publisher: Macmillan. Place of Publication: Houndmills, England. Publication Year: 1998. Page Number: 36.

the Internet provides a very good global marketing application. e-Business enthusiasts will be well aware of the technical and financial advantages of e-Commerce. Internet -based business activities are opening up markets, improving information provision about different products, including non-corporate information. (For example, typing ‘Nike’ into a search engine finds company pages as well as sites about Nike products alleging human rights abuses by the company. ) The Internet allows consumers much greater access to information, opening up the market and undermining monopolies.

E-Business Fundamentals: Managing Organisations in the Electronic Age. Contributors: Peter M. Eckersley - editor, Lisa Harris - editor, Paul Jackson - editor. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 137

Learning

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 06:29:00 -0700

Introduction

For the past two years, I have been studying in a university and currently working at a primary school in London. During this period, I have encountered experiences, which had thought me several new learnings. These in turn have allowed me to become a better individual. Through the significant changes that happened to me, I was able to enhance my behavior and skills. The experiences I had during those years are also likely to help me develop into an effective professional in the future. In this paper, I will discuss the stages of my professional development including the specific learnings and changes that I was able to gain for the past two years. Furthermore, my professional development will be analyzed and evaluated through the use of relevant learning theories.

Knowledge and Understanding

Presently, I am studying at a university while working in a primary school in London located in London. For the past two years of studying and working, I was able to achieve significant changes in my personal and professional life. During my first year, most of my focus was centered on adaptation, particularly to the academic demands of my chosen course. Considering that I would have to attend my classes, submit requirements and study for examinations, the first year of the professional development allowed me to develop my time management skills. Through this change, I was able to learn how to make study plans that works for me. Moreover, I was able to budget my time and allot sufficient attention to more important priorities.

This professional development was passed on to my second year; however, aside from developing the ability to budget my time and set priorities, I was also able to develop a certain degree of confidence and perseverance towards my studies and other responsibilities. This perhaps is attributed to the fact that I was able to employ studying and working pattern that suit my needs. Having been exposed to the actual work load that the university and my work site demand, I was able to perform without the need for adjustments. With this, I realize I am able to concentrate more on what I have to do and accomplish.

Considering that it has been my second year, academic works have naturally become more challenging; nonetheless, compared to last year, I am more calm and organized in handling them. During my first year, I was able to develop study skills, personal capabilities and values through the different demands of my course. Having learned these important skills, I was able to utilize them easily to my second year academic demands. During this time, I have also become more sensitive to my inner strengths; I was able to make full use of my self-awareness and self-evaluation capabilities, especially in performing different tasks in school and at work. Through self-evaluation, I was able to clearly identify what my goals are and how I could improve myself to achieve them.

Within two years of my professional journey, I was able to learn how to optimize various learning opportunities. One of which is through the participation to various seminars. Through this learning opportunity, I was able to learn by means of asking questions and discussing relevant topics. The seminars allowed me to become open to different ideas as well. Tutorial is another learning opportunity that contributed to my professional development. This has generally helped me to progress through my course; moreover, this has also taught me how to plan for the sessions. Setting and meeting deadlines are also additional skills that I gained from this learning opportunity.

One of the important skills I gained from doing tutorials is to integrate my studies and school experiences together with my work at the primary school. Specifically, I was able to understand more of the different situations I encountered at work and was able to resolve them through learning application. Likewise, I was able to understand my course more through my work experiences. In general, I was able to develop professionally during my second year as I was able to improve both my studying and working achievements by integrating my experiences and learned skills effectively.

Analysis

The description of my knowledge and understanding has clearly shown how I developed personally and professionally for the past two years. To support this description, certain learning theories can be used. Howard Gardner is one of the known theorist on learning styles and intelligence. Among his known works include the theory on Multiple Intelligence. According to Gardner (1983), intelligence is pertains to the ability of an individual to solve problems; in addition, intelligence can be defined through different categories. Some of these classifications of intelligence include spatial, musical, mathematical and linguistic abilities.

One of the intelligence types identified by Gardner was personal intelligence. Based from my professional development, much of my development had been through the use of this intelligence category. In particular, I was able to optimize my intrapersonal intelligence, which focuses on understanding one’s feeling and motivations. Through this intelligence category I was able to clearly identify my goals and work to achieve them. Aside from this, I was also able to use spatial intelligence to develop personally and professionally. Spatial intelligence refers to the generation of mental images to resolve certain problems. In order to overcome the issues I have encountered at work, I made use of my learnings at the university as a student. Through this, I was able to make practical applications of my studies. On the other hand, spatial intelligence also allowed me to understand my course more through my work experiences. Through Gardner’s theory, I could say that my journey towards professional development is enhanced through the utilization of my inherent skills and mental capabilities.

I recently took a learning style questionnaire assessment to understand my learning capabilities and potentials more. The result indicated that I am a reflector. According to Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (1986), learning styles can be classified in accordance to how individuals prefer to learn. These styles include the activist, theorist, reflector and the pragmatist. The theorists describe reflectors as those who learn from activities while listening and observing. These are the individuals who prefer to be given the chance to gather and analyze the information first before acting or commenting; they tend to spend time to review the situation before developing a conclusion.

The preference of the reflectors to ponder on experiences or situations enables them to analyze things though various perspectives. Individuals considered as reflectors are thoughtful and take into account all possible options or angles of the situation before making a move. As they tend to collect situational data first and delay the generation of conclusions, they are often described as the cautious type. During meetings, reflectors often take the seat at the back; while people are in action, they appear to enjoy observing their movements. Whenever there is a discussion, reflectors tend to listen to others’ ideas first before formulating their own. In general, they are the individuals who are slightly distant and tolerant; moreover, they seem to prefer a low profile when tasked on group activities.

This learning style typology speaks so much of my professional development for the past two years. Specifically, the learning opportunities that I have participated in showed my features as a reflector. Rather than insist on my own ideas, I tend to listen and observe more. By means of the ideas of others, I am able to learn the different aspects of a subject matter; in turn, this allowed me to become more open-minded and knowledgeable on certain topics. Moreover, my preferred learning style allowed me to combine my own and other’s ideas, resulting to a generalization that I could easily understand and relate to.

A relevant learning theory is Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Model (ELM). According this model, the learning cycle is made up of four modes of learning. These include concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualization (AC) and active experimentation (AE). These learning modes are placed at the ends of two interconnecting continua, forming quadrants. This then became the basis of Kolb for his learning styles, which are derived from the combination of two learning modes. These learning styles include the diverger (CE and RO), the converger (AC and AE), the assimilator (RO and AC) and the accommodator (AE and CE). Basically, the divergers prefer learning that involves imaginative problem-solving; convergers are more on practical solutions; assimilators prefer rational theory building; and accommodators are into hand-on experience.

Based from Kolb’s learning modes, my professional development and learning is more patterned on the reflector mode – one who learns through perception. Atkinson and Murrell (1988) described this learning mode further by stating that reflectors are observers who formulate ideas by incorporating their observations into logical theories. Similar to the theory of Honey and Mumford, Kolb (1985) noted that reflectors are learners who analyze situations and ideas through their different angles in order for them to form opinions. Reflectors are the type of learners who prefer lectures and other similar learning activities. In group tasks, they attempt to comprehend the different perspectives raised by their group members. When asked to write essays, reflectors would typically prefer to conduct preliminary research first before making the content of the paper. For examinations, reflectors tend to prefer compare-contrast and argumentative questions as these would require the analysis of both side of the issue. Among Kolb’s learning style, my professional development is characterized by the features of an assimilator. Holley and Jenkins (1993) stated that this learning style rely more on the use of logic and inductive reasoning to build theories. Assimilators are effective in understanding a wide range of information and organizing them into logical forms.

Kolb’s theories on learning styles emphasize that the development of a person is significantly dependent on their learning preferences and inherent capabilities. It is then my ability to observe and integrate my observations for my own development that serve as an important contributor to my development as a person and as a professional. The process of my professional development is also influenced by my own potentials as well as the learnings I gained from my experiences at work and in school. As a reflective learner, I was able to effectively integrate all these learning, which in turn allowed me to develop my own skills, behavior and values.

Evaluation

From the description of my two-year experience as a student and worker, I was able to undergo various positive transformations. Most of these developments were centered on the improvement of my studying skills and attitude. Initially, I was more focused on adjusting and learning various methods to make myself a better student and individual. However, as time goes, I was able to concentrate more to my studies and work responsibilities as I was already able to develop ways on how to cope with such challenges. Using various learning theories I was able to realize that the use of inherent potentials and intelligence can greatly influence the outcome of ones professional development. Moreover, theories stressed that using my preferred learning style enabled me to integrate my learnings and experiences in my school tasks as well as in handling various work situations.

Through all these, I was able to manage my time wisely, develop effective study plans as well as enhance my listening and observing skills. In general, it is then important that individual clearly determine their own inherent skills and learning preferences; these should then be used in order for them to adapt effectively to varying situations. By doing so, more useful skills can be obtained, leading to a more fruitful professional development.

[Essay] Teaching Mathematics

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Wed, 2 Jul 2014 23:17:00 -0700

Introduction

This paper discusses the “Factors Affecting the Academic Performance of Children in Math particularly in counting”. Basically, the research will analyze and investigate the different variables that affect the learning capabilities of the students. This shall include a discussion on the positive and negative variables related to the academic performance of the students in mathematics; an analysis of performance of the Allfarthing Primary school students in relation to mathematics education stability was also conducted. Particularly, the research will focus on examining the impact of these variables to the progress of both the student and education system.

Discussions

In this changing world, those who understand and can do mathematics will have significantly enhanced opportunities and options for shaping their future (NCTM, 2000). On the other hand, Mevarech, Z. and Bracha Kramarski (1997) developed the instructional strategy that can be applied to heterogeneous classrooms in their study "IMPROVE-Multidimensional Method for Teaching Mathematics in Heterogeneous Classrooms". The strategy, IMPROVE, (Introducing new concepts, Metacognitive questioning, Practicing, Reviewing and reducing difficulties, Obtaining mastery, Verification, and Enrichment) has been proven to keep mathematics progress at a constant pace throughout the school year. The academic group as a whole continued to progress, and the progress of one academic group does not come at the expense of the other groups. It is important for teachers to have consistent strategy they could use in their teaching. The study of Alsup, J.K. and Sprigler, M.J. (2003), shows that the classroom teacher's perspective should consider the cost and time being spent by teachers and school district to implement reform math. Moreover, a reform mathematics curriculum is expensive to implement; teachers must be trained and supplementary kits must be purchased. Such expenses, in the author’s opinion, are questionable, since a reform mathematics curriculum did not promote an increase in the student achievement. In classroom, a traditional mathematics curriculum was superior with regard to teaching skills and procedural competency and, thus, would help students at the high school level, since success in high-school math courses in school district is "built upon the foundation of facts and procedures." Alsup, J.K. and Sprigler, M.J. (2003). Basically, Alsup, J.K. and Sprigler, M.J. (2003) statement should be considered since it depicts the future of mathematics education. In connection to cost and time being spent to receive quality education, the teachers and school administrators should give extra effort in designing teaching strategies that is applicable to London education. On the other hand, in relation to the variables of learning, the school environment is the broader context of the school that allows for classroom instruction and student learning (Tunney, 1996). A transformation to a community should take place throughout the school wide environment by maximizing the number of positive interactions with students and parents. Teachers are capable of producing profound and positive changes in student behaviours and learning by effectively modeling the positive processes, skills, and attitudes that parents teach (Hindle, 1996).

School Size

Recent research on the effect of school size on student achievement indicates that a small school strategy may be a powerful school improvement model. While there is no single definition of “smallness,” some research indicates that an effective size for an elementary school is in the range of 300-400 students and that 400-800 students is appropriate for a secondary school (Cotton, 1996). Lee and Smith (1996) argue that slightly larger secondary schools, from 600-900 students, are necessary for good curricular diversity. On the other hand, small school advocates such as Deborah Meier and Ted Sizer of the Coalition of Essential Schools, believe that no secondary school should exceed 300 students (Cushman, 1997). For both elementary and secondary students of all ability levels and in all kinds of settings, research has repeatedly found small schools to be superior to large schools on most measures and equal to them on the rest. A recent review of 103 studies identifies the relationship of school size to various aspects of schooling (Cotton, 1996): Academic achievement in small schools is at least equal, and often superior, to that of large schools. The effects of small schools on the achievement of ethnic minority students and students of low socioeconomic status are the most positive of all. Student attitudes toward school in general and toward particular school subjects are more positive in small schools. Student social behavior, as measured by truancy, discipline problems, violence, theft, substance abuse, and gang participation, is more positive in small schools. Levels of extracurricular participation are much higher and more varied in small schools than large ones. Student attendance is better in small schools than in large ones, especially with minority or low SES students. A smaller percentage of students drop out of small schools than large ones. Students have a greater sense of belonging in small schools than in large ones. Interpersonal relations between and among students, teachers, and administrators are more positive in small schools than in large ones. Student academic and general self-regard is higher in small schools than in large schools. Students from small and large high schools perform comparably on college-related variables, such as grades, admissions, and graduation rates. Despite the common belief that larger schools have higher quality curricula than small schools, no reliable relationship exists between school size and curriculum quality. Larger schools are not necessarily less expensive to operate than small schools. Small high schools cost more money only if one tries to maintain the big-school infrastructure (e.g., a large bureaucracy). Apparenlty, in order to provide an optimal learning environment for students, one must first work to establish a classroom community (Au, 1993). A classroom community provides each child with space to develop specific capabilities and to experience a sense of inner balance and wholeness in a community with others. The school environment is the broader context of the school that allows for classroom instruction and student learning (Tunney, 1996). A transformation to a community should take place throughout the school wide environment by maximizing the number of positive interactions with students and parents. Teachers are capable of producing profound and positive changes in student behaviors and learning by effectively modeling the positive processes, skills, and attitudes that parents teach (Hindle, 1996). Bringing members of a class together for certain activities engenders the feeling of belonging to a group and in turn establishes class spirit (Bergin, 1999). With this, students who feel that they belong to a group have power in decision-making and have freedom of choices (Tunney, 1996). The classroom community can be developed by a number of means. Students should develop a process of understanding, sharing, compassion and empathy. The classroom should be referred to by the teacher as "our classroom" rather than "my classroom". The development of a community is moving from doing things TO students to doing things FOR students (Tunney, 1996).

Developmental Skills and Abilities of Children

Basically, knowledge of child development traditionally has been viewed as a core component for designing activities and evaluating curriculum in early childhood education (Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, & DeWolf, 1993 and Hyson, 1996). In addition, a considerable body of research indicates that teacher beliefs influence decision-making in the classroom (Fang, 1996). In addition, the consideration of the learning skills of the students in mathematics particularly to counting should be understood. Due to the considerable speed and interrelated nature of development during early childhood, early childhood educators tend to approach their mission from a more holistic perspective than do educators of older children. This philosophy of educating the whole child has led early education theorists to emphasize the importance of addressing children's social and emotional needs as well as their cognitive and physical ones (Biber, 1984 and Hendrick, 1996). Echoing these sentiments, the current dominant approach to early education (i.e., developmentally appropriate practice) stresses that education practice should be tailored to fit the developmental level of the children being served (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). This approach argues that the educational outcomes that teachers focus on should change with children's developmental level, and it cautions against introducing academic content so early in the educational process that children have not attained the requisite developmental skills and abilities to allow comprehension of that content (Bredekamp & Shepard, 1989; Elkind, 1987; Katz, 1994). This early introduction of academic content is not only believed to be ineffective in terms of longterm learning goals, but also leads to increased levels of stress in children (Burts et al., 1992), and likely has a negative impact on their dispositions towards learning and the development of their self-conceptions, Katz & Chard, 1989). On the other hand, early childhood teachers' beliefs about educational practice are shaped both by the training they receive (Brown & Rose, 1995) and by their personal experiences working with children in the classroom (Williams, 1996). Examining these beliefs is important because research indicates that teachers' beliefs influence classroom practice. Measures of teachers' beliefs related to developmentally appropriate practice have been found to be related to their use of instructional methods that are consistent with that approach (Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, Thommason, Mosley, & Fleege, 1993). Similar relations between teachers' expressed beliefs and classroom practices related to literacy instruction (Wing, 1989) and children's play (Spidell, 1989) also have been observed. Despite these findings linking teachers' beliefs to classroom practice, it should be noted that this relation is often less than isomorphic, and that some studies report considerable inconsistency between teachers' expressed beliefs and the teaching methods they use (Sharp & Green, 1975;). Part of this inconsistency can be attributed to the fact that teachers do not always feel free to put their beliefs into practice because of constraints that they feel are imposed on them by administrators, parents, and the demands of standardized testing (Brown & Rose, 1995; Hitz & Wright, 1988). Insufficient professional training also may contribute to the observed inconsistency between teachers' expressed values and classroom practice, because teachers may not always have the skills and abilities they need to bring their beliefs to fruition. Apparently, knowing more about how teachers rate the importance of various developmental skills and abilities is crucial for several reasons. First, it helps researchers and policymakers consider how other factors affecting the early childhood classroom, such as administrative directives and assessment issues, either support or conflict with teachers' beliefs. Second, in that teachers tend to emphasize those skills and abilities that they consider important, knowing what those items are can provide us with valuable insights into teacher decision making. Third, policymakers and educators can highlight particular areas of teacher education and training programs, based on teachers' beliefs concerning the importance of various developmental outcomes. Finally, considering teachers' extensive clinical experience interacting with children on a daily basis, knowing which skills and abilities they see as important can help bring about valuable insights about children and child development (Zimiles, 1993).

Student’s Readiness

In connection to the factors that lead to errors in counting of children, student’s readiness should be considered. Apparently, there are many factors that directly affect the learning capabilities of the students particularly in counting i.e. external factors (students background), individual differences, teaching methods, learning setting, and behaviour. Thus, the teacher should facilitate an appropriate teaching method that suits to the learning capabilities of the students. In providing a quality teaching method, the teacher should construct a very capable and appropriate lesson plan (see appendix for sample mathematics lesson plan). The term 'readiness in school' is used to describe a number of different understandings of what constitutes the ingredients necessary for a child to make a successful transition from preschool or other prior-to-school setting to the formal school environment. Initially it was regarded as a child characteristic (e.g. Ilg & Ames, 1969). Later, the role of environment in children's early learning became a focus of interest (Graue, 1993) with contemporary conceptions incorporating both views. Currently, the predominant view is that school readiness is an interaction of child characteristics and school capacity to be flexible in meeting the individual needs of children in their initial year(s) of formal schooling (May & Kundert, 1997; Peterson, 1994). Basically, preschool teachers are influential in determining the day-to-day experiences of children in the year(s) before formal schooling as well as in decision-making about whether a child should progress to school (Tanner & Galis, 1997). It is clear that many teachers believe maturation is crucial to the development of skills necessary for a successful transition to school, with many supporting delayed-entry for some and boys being more likely to be retained in preschool than girls (May & Kundert, 1997). Investigations of teacher views of skills considered to be important for successful transition to school have found an emphasis on language abilities, including listening skills, self-confidence and social skills, with academic skills having a relatively lower priority (Lewitt & Baker, 1995). Moreover, for preschooler, adults can nurture preschooler's positive self-esteem by helping them discover what they are good at doing. Part of a child's self esteem comes from feeling competent and skilled at something she or he enjoys. You can play a big role in helping children to be successful and feel good about themselves. A place to start is by creating opportunities for children to explore different objects, activities, and people. Early in life, children show personality traits and preferences for what they like and dislike. By planning learning opportunities with children's unique personality styles in mind, you nuture their positive feelings about themselves. In addition, children learn about the world in many different ways. One educator, Howard Gardner (1995), believes that children's ways of learning can be grouped into different categories. To help children discover their personal abilities and learning preferences, you can provide opportunities that cover the eight different types of learning. Some children have many interests and want to learn about a variety of things; other children are satisfied with one or two kinds of learning and want to focus mostly on them. All children are unique; what is important is that you help them to learn what they are good at, what they enjoy and what makes them feel good about themselves. Recognizing children's unique personality styles can help adults to better understand children and to plan activities that children can learn from and enjoy. Research shows that a child's emotional style, activity level and social nature are present during the first few months of life and are unlikely to change much over time.

Synthesis

This world is a tremendously huge place. It is a fact that in your existence you will never identify all there is to recognize. But learning is the greatest gift you can give to yourself. Basically, by learning about the world around you, you’re giving yourself the chance to understand just how far we have come since the beginning of man. If it weren’t for learning, you wouldn’t speak or write, you wouldn’t be able to communicate through the use of language, you wouldn’t have the use of things like telephones, televisions, bicycles, cars, and any man-made invention that exists today. In connection to learning development, researches reveal that preschooling is one of the most important stages of brain development which is the considered factors in learning. There is more happening in colorful, wonderfully busy preschools than meets the eye. Fun, role playing, block building, finger painting, laughter, negotiating, singing and dancing are just a few of the types of activities you will see in good preschool programs. Basically, this simple program has a great impact to the learning process of the children. Children are developing the critical but important skills, which are the foundation for life. For the children, families and community it is very important to consider the quality childhood programs. A growing body of research indicates that children who attend high quality early childhood programs benefit socially, emotionally and cognitively. Research shows that children enrolled in good preschool programs tend to have a positive transition into kindergarten, are more successful in later school years and show higher verbal and intellectual development than children who do not attend high quality programs (www.encylopedia.com). Moreover, these children (preschool learners) demonstrate high levels of social competence - self-esteem, social behavior, and motivation - a critical predicator of adult adaptation. Under the guidance of responsive and consistent teachers in a nurturing environment and communication with parents, children learn important social skills such as initiating and developing satisfying relationships with adults and peers; developing the ability to regulate emotions; communicating needs, desires and difficulties; and engaging in age appropriate problem solving; are all acquired. Socially competent preschool children are not only more likely to have success throughout their school years, but are also more likely to make positive contributions to our community. Social competence, along with intellectual and physical development is facilitated in high quality preschool programs by providing children with lots of opportunities to engage in play. Responsive teachers follow children's lead and provide them with developmentally appropriate opportunities to use their imagination, listen to stories, make choices, explore and understand materials and the environment, and exercise their bodies. Preschool programs experience maximum success when they support children and their families. High quality preschool programs make important contributions to our community by nurturing the unique strengths of each child thereby allowing children to reach their full potential. After successfully completing preschool we hope children will have an increased love for self and for learning, and be prepared for a promising future. Ultimately it’s up to the parent to decide what they believe is best for their child, but research shows that starting school at an early age will positively effect their learning process.

An Evaluation: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts of British Petroleum (BP) towards their Global Business Operations

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Wed, 2 Jul 2014 23:03:00 -0700

Introduction

The first chapter focuses mainly on the issue that the study explored which is the role of corporate social responsibility in the operation of British Petroleum. Main areas are covered herein including background, the problem, aims and objectives and importance of the conducted study. In this chapter, the researcher established the dimensions related to corporate social responsibility.

Background of the Study

As contemporary organisations move into a more ethical global business environment, trickling down of corporate social values and mission to the greater public is now deemed a requirement. Regardless of corporate beliefs and culture, the economic or productive value of modern organisations is nonetheless derivative from its worth and its extension of organisation’s profundity for wealth-profit index by which serves as the competitive measure to sustain its very existence (Henriques, 2003). In simpler terms, corporations are now perceived in the forefront to promote sustainable social development by sharing its resources for the projects, programmes and initiatives which have a social cause. Dubbed as corporate social responsibility or CSR, companies at present are obliged to act responsibly and expected to be sensitive about ethical issues (Carroll, 1979, p. 500).

Businesses around the globe are continuously developing to respond to the needs of their customers. It is very vital for them to develop creative ways that will maintain their competitiveness. The corporate world is characterised by paramount restrains, high demands and expectations on productivity, and excessive competition where management members necessitate the familiarity and importance of business ethics and social responsibility. Considering the trends in the corporate world, many employees are pressured to cut corners, break standards and rules, and engage in other forms of questionable practices so as to do away with a number of inconveniences and achieve outcomes the fastest way possible while neglecting the provision of appropriateness and fairness. With respect to this, this paper will evaluate and discuss the concept and role of business ethics and social responsibility in application to the business practices of British Petroleum or simply BP.

Brief Background of British Petroleum

Headquartered in London, BP Plc is considered as one of the world’s largest energy companies which provide consumers with fuel and energy as well as petrochemical products. Evidently, British Petroleum is one of the six “supermajors” or the International Oil Company (IOC) along with ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhilips and Total SA. Since operating an oil company is too risky a venture, British Petroleum embarked on a frenetic growth strategy through continued divestiture and merger and acquisition. BP plc therefore transformed from being a local oil company into a global energy group wherein over 80,000 people are employed to main its operation on more than 100 countries worldwide. Today, there are three core strategies that British Petroleum commits itself such as exploration and production, refining and marketing and alternative energy.

Currently, there are six brands that make up BP plc namely BP, Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm and Wild Bean Café (BP online, 2010). BP plc, as an organisation, also claims to be structured for success through the two key business segments which are the exploration and production and refining and marketing and the alternative energy business known as the BP alternative energy. In line with these strategies are different business activities that include finding, extracting and moving oil and gas, making and selling fuels and products, generating low carbon energy and working responsibly. Of all these activities, working responsibly embodies BP plc’s commitment on the betterment of communities where it operates. Roughly, BP plc is operating in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North and South America (BP online, 2010).

BP plc is positioning itself to be a frontrunner in the future pertaining to the need to meet the world’s continued demand for fuel, energy and petrochemicals. BP plc intends to play a central role in creating long-term options for the future in new energy technology and low carbon energy businesses. Likewise, BP plc is enhancing its capabilities in natural gas which is regarded to be a vital source of relatively clean energy. This is more so because the goal is to transition to a lower-carbon economy and beyond. Desirably, BP plc wants to be recognised as a “green” company which consciously puts initiatives to eradicate climate change at the centre. In essence, BP plc is currently operating through environment-friendly technologies.

Statement of the Problem

Organisational characteristics unique to BP plc is opposing, however, wherein on one hand BP plc is recognised to be a key figure in addressing climate change and on the other hand BP plc is also accused of greenwashing because of its less environment-friendly operations. What is clear though is that BP plc is responsible and accountable for serious oil scandals in the history with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the most recent despite the ongoing initiatives to achieve sustainability. With the oil scandals that are glooming the confidence of the consuming public as well as the investors, BP plc can only rebuild its image while focusing towards becoming a green oil company. The last may seemed to be impossible for an oil company to green its entire operation. This may be also the reason why BP plc is likely to greenwash the media and the general public.

In retrospect, BP plc was caught and perceived to be involved in “greenwashing” when in July 2006, after the media had discovered a 270,000 crude oil spill in Alaskan tundra, the company admitted that it is facing criminal charges. Relative lack of press coverage regarding the spill is a proof that BP plc had successfully greenwashed the image it is communicating with the public. BP plc was also subjected to criticisms after it was proven that it is involved in environmentally unsound practices. While BP plc is publicly affirming its commitment to investing in alternative energy sources minimally, in reality, majority of its investment is devoted to fossil fuels (Monbiot, 2006; Frey, 2007; Milmo, 2007; Green, 2007).

In lieu with this, this research answers the following queries:

• What advantages are there for a company to be ethical?

• How important is it for British Petroleum to consider corporate social responsibility and be ethical?

• How can unethical actions be prevented through the introduction of the necessities of corporate social responsibility efforts in British Petroleum?

• How can BP implement corporate social responsibility in its strategy?

Aims and Objectives

The study evaluates the corporate social responsibility efforts of British Petroleum (BP) towards their global business operation. Generally, the complexity of today’s global market is different from the past years but still, BP’s business efforts still shows positive impact to their consumers. To determine the various challenges that the company managed to solve is however, might contribute in the company’s action in their formulation of strategies. Through learning the strategies being implemented within the organisation, there is a positive approach on what are the factors that might contribute to the long-term success of the company. With this, the following are the objectives of the study.

• Examine the corporate social responsibility efforts associated with the growth of British Petroleum (BP).

• Understand how BP has developed and grown into very success business despite of the issues relating to business ethics.

• Determine how BP achieved growth and development through the process of efficient corporate social responsibility.

Organisation of the Thesis

This research study will be divided into five chapters in order to provide ease and consistency on the discussion of the topic. The first part will be discussing the problem uncovered by the researcher and provide sample background on the topic. The chapter will constitute an introduction to the whole research study, the statement of the problem in order to present the basis of the study, a discussion on the scope of its study, as well as its effects to individuals and its significance to the society as a whole. The second chapter will be discussing the relevance of the research study in the existing literature. It shall provide studies on the background of the company, corporate social responsibility efforts, and environmental issues. After the presentation of the existing related literature, the researcher shall provide a synthesis of the whole chapter in relation to the study.

The third part of the research study shall be discussing the methods and procedures used in the study. The fourth chapter will be an analysis of the collected information from the secondary sources. Secondary Information assessment will be made in order to uncover BP’s corporate social responsibility stance and to address the statement of the problem noted in the first chapter. The last chapter shall comprise of three sections, namely, the summary of the findings, the conclusion of the study, and the recommendations. With these three portions, this chapter will be able to highlight the implication of the findings in relation to the data obtained.

Literature Review

According to Robbins & Judge (2007), many employees are confronted with instances where they need to define and decide right and wrong conduct. The characteristics of good ethical behaviours have never been clearly projected in the recent management literatures where the line that differentiates right against wrong conduct has become even more blurry. Managers and leaders respond to ethical behaviour issues (De Mesa Graziano, 2002).

It is provided that when analysing the role and meaning of ethics and social responsibility from the internal and external perspective of a company, Kline, (2006) states that,

“There is a potential problem ...with attaching the duty of managers to the specific desires of shareholders. If anything, moral constrains are meant to constrain desires. Desires are fickle and not always moral”.

Kline’s statement holds veracity and openness provided that business ethics and social responsibility is concerned. In a globalised economy, in both local and international setting where tough competitions occur among businesses, companies are exploiting the benefits of social responsibility and business ethics. These social activities: include charitable contributions, discounts to senior citizens, expenditures on employee alcoholism and substance abuse treatment, responses to customer complaints, product warranties, processes for exchanging purchases, community service in volunteer or governance capacities, employee education, child care or flexible hours for employees with children, advertising or promoting community events, sponsoring sports teams, recycling, special services to the handicapped, and so forth (Suderman, 1999).

Global corporations in which BP belongs view social responsibility as a corporate investment that will result in a long-run corporate profit and not a corporate expense. According to Cotton (1998) businesses supporting social responsibility activities claim that it is in the best long-run interest of the business to become intimately involved in and to promote and improve the communities in which it does its business. Moreover, McCarty & Bagby, (1990) also argued that it can and should improve the corporate and local image of the company, and it is in the stockholders best interest. Further, companies believe that by making communities a better place to live in, it can entice superior and happier workers to the company who in turn will put out better products and increase profits (Michalos, 1995). However, it is important to point out that the primary reason why businesses turn into socially responsible activities is to maximize their profits; public interest comes in second.

The question now is why CSR is relevant today for companies. The answer lies in the four identifiable trends of CSR, which seem likely to continue and grow in importance: increasing affluence, changing societal expectations, globalisation and free flow of information and ecological sustainability. As customers are increasingly endowed with the access to various products and services, responding to affluence is now a strategic objective hence putting a premium to a trusted brand was realised. These customers expect more from the companies where they would afford products and services, implicating public trust and public confidence in the ability of companies to restrict and control own corporate excess. Media, further, are empowered in bringing the public the information of the lapses in CSR. Such situation also empowers activist groups and like-minded people in spreading messages and providing the means to coordinate collective action. Evidenced proved that earth has ecological limits with impacts on the environmental responsibilities that are likely to be criticised and penalised when not performed thoroughly (Werther and Chandler, 2006, pp. 19-20; McComb, 2002, p. 5).

According to Epstein (1987, pp. 99-102), corporate social responsiveness focuses on the individual and organizational processes for determining, implementing, and evaluating the firm’s capacity to anticipate, respond to, and manage the issues and problems arising from the diverse claims and expectations of these stakeholders. The moral argument for CSRstates that CSR ‘broadly represents the relationship between a company and the principles expected by the wider society within which it operates’ (Werther and Chandler, 2006, p. 16; Lea, 2002, p. 10).

Word Business Council for Sustainable Development defines social responsibility as the continuing commitment to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while also improving the quality of life of its workforce, their families, and the local community and the society at large. Corporate Responsibility Index claims that social responsibility is achieved when a company has effectively and sustainably built a lasting, meaningful relationship within its sector where it belonged and its immediate community (Scott, 2007). In other words, social responsibility concerns the social environment and the ever-changing social contract. Importantly, the underpinning is that a company should consider the societal impacts of its decisions and actions. Sims (2003, p. 43) argued that companies must act to protect and improve the welfare of the general public. The businesses must aim not only on organizational effectiveness but on existence to address the needs of society.

As social responsibility is intertwined with the issue of accountability, it can be considered as both critical and controversial. Critical because a for-profit company could be the largest and most innovative part of any free society’s economy as it can drive social progress and affluence. However, it is also controversial because the question – what is the purpose of business within a society? – remains to be unanswered (Werther and Chandler, 2006, p. 8). Having thought deeply of such a question, striking a balance between corporate and social responsibilities should be a strategic focus. To become accountable, a company has economic, legal and ethical responsibilities wherein not only the company has to make profit in order to survive, but the company is also obliged to its stakeholders to maximise earnings and operate efficiently, complying the best of the standards. The underpinning is that a company should provide a quality, sustainable living to both internal and external stakeholders.

Speaking of social contract, social responsibility transcends beyond mere obligation between a company and its workforce. Instead, the social responsibility of a company also extends to individuals, groups and other organisations, government and the society as a whole, comprising the stakeholders of a company. Sharplin (1985) states that social responsibility refers to the set of written and unwritten rules and assumptions in a corporate manner and these rules are applied to its immediate community including the people within that community. Gossy (2008, p. 6) also identifies primary and secondary stakeholders and active and passive stakeholders. Primary stakeholders have a vital in the company while those secondary stakeholders may not actively participate but the company could still exist. People who seek to participate in the activities of the company are considered active stakeholders such as managers and employees. Most shareholders, the government and the local communities are, in contrast, considered as passive stakeholders.

Proaction is considered as the highest level of responsiveness to social issues where companies actively seek to improve and contribute to society. Companies with proactive philosophy will try to carry out discretionary responsibilities (as cited in Harila and Petrini, 2003, p. 32). Proaction is an approach to corporate social responsibility that includes behaviours that improve society. Organizations that assume a proaction strategy subscribe to the notion of social responsiveness. Proaction according to Carroll (1979, p. 501); Joyner and Payne (2002, p. 298) involves actively addressing specific concerns of stakeholders and anticipating social problems before they arise or are officially recognized, and developing strategies to deal with these issues.

Lane, Mendenhall and McNett (2004) state that organisational values are found on vision and mission statements which drive strategy. Strategy and ethics are linked through the idea of purpose. Managers understand purpose in quite personal ways as a guide for their personal action. For the mutual benefit of the organisation, managers’ actions are activated by agreement with others especially that correlates with the organisation. It would be necessary to note that managers are put in their position to diffuse responsibility. Managers do understand the purpose of their organisational activities in terms of their own personal engagement with and responsibility for them. Likewise, managers also understand purpose as it applies to their connection to others, in and beyond the organisation, people who agree to responsibilities related to their shared goals. The purpose of an organisation is ethical in nature and is influenced by culture. When such assumption is left in tacit, misunderstandings could arise (Sharma and Bhal, 2004). To be effective then, values should reside at the operational levels in the thoughts and actions of those who implement the strategy whom are the managers. It is important then for managers to understand others and own implicit culturally influenced ethical assumption.

Organisations are often structured as a collection of functions and roles that have decentralised operational responsibility. Holian (2002) relates that managers are then responsible on performance of subordinates’ performance. The diversity in functions and roles could have challenging ethical issue. Once the demarcation among these functions and roles became an issue, managers could miss the opportunity to make ethical decisions. Managers are in a response mentality as moral action may be a part of the problem’s solution of a different order than ethical decision-making. Because organisations are made integrated, managers are confronted with the challenge of the tendency to be problem-oriented which may confound ethical problems in the organisational level (Carroll, 1990).

According to Casali (2007), organisations may encourage managers to be unethical in forceful and implicit ways via disincentives. The reward of quantity over quality is an example of this as well as the bottomline pressure for profits at any cost, open door policies but closed door practices, punishment for reporting policy violations, promotion of managers known to be less ethical and patterns of deception throughout management. As such, the way performance maybe measured may put pressure on managers to act for the short term rather than to choose what might be the right approach for the organisation in the long run. Hence, the lesson for managers is to set and manage reasonable performance expectations (Vardi and Weitz, 2004).

References

BP 2010, About BP, retrieved on 21 September 2011, from http://www.bp.com/marketingsection.do?categoryId=2&contentId=7013628.

BP 2010, Environment and Society, retrieved on 21 September 2011, from http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=2311&contentId=7060022.

BP 2010, Investors, retrieved on 21 September 2011, from http://www.bp.com/investorhome.do?categoryId=132&contentId=2004195.

Carroll, A B 1979, ‘A Three Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 4, no. 4, p. 500.

Carroll, A B 1990, ‘Principle of Business Ethics: Their Role in Decision Making and an Initial Consensus,’ Management Decision, vol. 28, no. 8.

Casali, G L 2007, ‘A Quest for Ethical Decision Making: Searching for the Holy Grail, and Finding Sacred Trinity in Ethical Decision Making by Managers,’ Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 50-59.

De Mesa Graziano, C. (2002). ‘Promoting Ethical Conduct: A Review of Corporate Practices’, Strategic Investor Relations, Fall, 29-35

Epstein, E M 1987, The Corporate Social Policy Process: Beyond Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Responsiveness, California Management Review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 99-114.

Frey, D 2007, How green is BP? New York Times.

Green, J 2007, BP: The Big Polluter, Green Leaf Online.

Harila, H and Petrini K 2003, Incorporating Corporate Social Responsibility: Case Studies of Four MNCs, Lulea University of Technology.

Henriques, A 2003, ‘Ten things you always wanted to know about CSR (but were afraid to ask); Part One: A Brief History of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Ethical Corporation Magazine, March 26.

Joyner, B E and Payne, D 2002, ‘Evolution and Implementation: A Study of Values, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol 41, pp. 297-311.

Kline, J. (2006). Ethics for International Business, Routledge.

Lea, R 2002, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: IoD Member Opinion Survey’, The Institute of Directors, UK.

McComb, M 2002, ‘Profit to be Found in Companies that Care’, South China Morning Post, April 14.

McCarty, E.W. & Bagby, J.W. (1990). ‘The Legal Environment of Business’, Irwin, Boston, MA, in Fox, J (2000) ‘Approaching managerial ethical standards in Croatia's hotel industry’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12: 1, 70-74

Michalos, A.C. (1995). A pragmatic approach to business ethics. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.

Milmo, C 2007, The Biggest Environmental Crime in History, The Independent.

Monbiot, G 2006, Behind the spin, the oil giants are more dangerous than ever, The Guardian, London.

Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T.A. (2007). Organisational Behavior, 12th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ

Suderman, N. (1999). Business ethics. Emporia State University. Accessed August 03, 2011 from http://www.academic.emporia.edu

Vardi, Y and Weitz E 2004, Misbehaviour in organisations: theory, research and management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Werther, W B and Chandler, D 2006, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in the Global Environment, Sage Publications Inc., London.

International Banking Risks in China

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:24:00 -0700

Introduction
Back in 1970s, the implementation of various economic reforms was the focus of China. These reforms in turn resulted to a number of effects not only to the country itself but to other foreign countries as well. Before these reforms were implemented, China originally practices the command-type of economy where a significant portion of the Chinese economic outputs are regulated and distributed by the administration. The Chinese government used to be in charge of controlling market prices, establishing production objectives and allocating resources as well. While implementing this economic approach, China encountered several problems especially when the industrial period arrived. In order to cope with this period’s challenges, the country allocated large scale investments on its human and physical resources. Due to this movement, majority of the country’s industrial production was operated by state-owned enterprises (SOE); this however, prevented foreign investors and other private companies to operate in China. The purpose of letting the state own most of the economic resources is to prevent China from depending from foreign support, making the country self-sufficient. International trade was then limited to the importation of goods that was not available or produced in the country.

The constrictive Chinese policies however led to economic inactivity and inefficiency; there were limited profit incentives derived from both business and agricultural sectors. In addition, with this type of economic system, no competition was observed. As a result, progress was unattainable. This system also made the living standards in the country lower than other developing nations. The outcome of the traditional economic system then encouraged the Chinese government to come up with effective reforms that will augment the people’s living standards and the overall economic state. With the implementation of reforms, China’s major economic sectors naturally went through significant changes and development. While the reforms could have resulted to positive outcomes, certain risks are still likely to affect it and its neighboring countries. In this research, focus will be placed on the country’s financial sector, particularly on its foreign banking opportunities. The different risks involved in establishing foreign banks in the country as well as the ways on how to address them will also be highlighted in this discussion.

The Chinese Financial Sector
It was during the early 1980s when China first implemented reforms on its banking sector. This reform was focused mainly on the creation of four specialized banks separate from its central bank. The banks worked under monopolistic operations, concentrating the competition on acquiring more depositors. Eventually, bad loans started to affect the system, which resulted to quality deterioration of assets, excessive risk-taking and inflationary credit expansion (Cheng & Cheng, 1998). China then implemented new banking reforms in 1993. This time, the focus is on asset quality improvement, reestablishment of public confidence and development of genuine commercial banks. Though several analysts noted that the current Chinese banking status and general financial sector are still underdeveloped, the reforms had given the country several benefits like increased GDP and foreign direct investment. With these changes, international countries are very mush interested in putting up businesses like foreign banks in China. In addition, the country’s entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) further increases the opportunity of foreign countries in accessing the large Chinese market. Nonetheless, analysts warn foreign investors of the different risks involved in establishing banks in the country.

Operational Risks
Among other types of risks, the operational aspect is perhaps the most complex as several factors (e.g. management, political, governance) are involved. One of the main operational risks that foreign investors can encounter in putting up banks in China is the problem on extensive administrative influence as well as the instability of regulations. As claimed by various foreign investors, the success of firms in China appears to be connected to government relations rather than to the market forces. Moreover, due to inadequate rules and regulation, problems such as investment misallocation, financial speculation as well as corruption had been rampant. International firms, particularly those in the west, usually encounter difficulty in operating in China due to lack of consistent laws. The improper enforcement of the contract as well as the lack of protection granted for intellectual properties are typical concerns as well (Morrison, 2005).
While banking entrepreneurs become attracted to the Chinese market economy, they must prepare themselves to various legal risks and issues. As pointed out earlier, the Chinese government has a significant authority over the country’s businesses. Policies and regulations applied in the Chinese business industry are subject to changes; hence, foreign entrepreneurs must be prepared to adjust. Considering that the country’s economic regulations and bureaucratic framework are still developing, changes are then inevitable (Humberg, 2003). The legal and regulatory aspects of the Chinese banking business are relatively unstable despite the reforms and developments conducted (Hu & Hope, 2005). Some legal practices in China are also different from the other common international practices. The issuance of a contract for instance, is a final matter in western cultures. However, contracts can change unexpectedly in China (Overby, 2000).

According to Hu and Hope (2005), the internal operations of Chinese banks are also problematic. The corporate governance of the country’s banks for example, is not very conducive for checks and balance systems. This problem is mainly rooted on the inadequacy of effective board members and independent directors. The banks’ culture on full disclosure should also be developed based on best and effective standards. This problem can greatly affect foreign bank operations since it is likely that its main workforce will be derived from the Chinese workforce pool, considering that it is less costly this way. If this will be done, employees and the board will expect usual corporate governance practices. Though foreign entrepreneurs can do some changes on its own banking governance once they start operating in China; the problem is whether these changes will be allowed or tolerated.

Interest, Credit and Liquidity Risks
China is relatively weak in terms of its credit or loan systems, considering its observed poor performance. The banking sector of the country is neither appropriately regulated nor properly managed. For instance, greater than 22% of the loans held by the state commercial banks are bad; young stock markets are also suffering the same state (Wu, 1998). Due to the poor state of China’s banking sector, Chinese reformers became even more hesitant to offer its banking sector to foreigners. In banking and loans, political connection is an important element; this in turn worsens the corruption within the country’s banking system. In addition, this practice widens the economic inefficiency of China as savings in general are not allocated based on the possibility of returns (Morrison, 2005). If no improvements will be done for China’s financial sector, instability is a possibility.

In order to resolve its problem on bad loans, China had decided to implement a new loan system (five-classification loan-grading system) that is based on international standards. Initially, China practices the four-classification system, which gravely defective. With this old system, endless speculations had been raised primarily on non-performing asset levels and inadequate provision of loans. While the new loaning system may benefit the country and resolve some of its financial issues, the effect of which is yet to be observed and evaluated. The possible success of this new approach is largely dependent on how Chinese regulators can effectively administer its execution (Hu & Hope, 2005). For new entrepreneurs, new systems that are not yet fully tested and guaranteed can be risky. It is then difficult to believe on the efficacy of this alternative unless concrete outcomes have already been obtained.

In terms of interest rate, regulations tightly control this banking aspect for foreign banks, making them less attractive for the market. In addition, the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, is greatly protecting local banks particularly the four major banks developed during the initial reform for the financial sector. This then allows the country to cover about ninety-percent of the total lending activity (The Banker, 2001). The risk for liquidity is also a matter of concern for entrepreneurs planning on investing a banking business in China. Considering that the country had just gone through a major financial crisis during the latter part of the 1990s, liquidity in the country was greatly reduced, along with the decreasing GDP, falling export rate, declining retail price index and the slowing down supply of currency.

Market Risks
The market risks involved in foreign bank establishment in China is mainly caused by the country’s entry to the WTO. Before China joined the WTO, foreign banks that have renminbi (yuan) licenses were only supposed to lend renminbi from their deposits; access of these banks to interbank market was also prohibited, which greatly affects their capability to make loans. However, when China entered the WTO, the right to lend renminbi became limited to foreign banks that had been allowed to do this type of business. The provision of the licenses however, was only given to few selected banks. This in turn, makes the access of foreign banks to the Chinese market very restricted (The Banker, 2001).

The access to market is also greatly affected by China’s protection to its domestic firms. Local companies, including banks, had been complaining to the Chinese government and claimed that the policies implemented by the administration greatly favor foreign firms. For example, if a major foreign bank operates in China, most of the local companies offering similar financial services have no option but to close down. Eventually, as more foreign investors enter the country and operate within its banking industry, majority of the players will be foreigners. The Chinese administration is then concerned that if this will continue, more domestic industries will suffer (Chen, 1998). Hence, the government decided to control the entrance of the foreign firms in the country.

This in turn led the government to reduce the policies in favor of the foreign enterprises. In 1996 for example, the Chinese administration decided to cut down the value-added tax refund among foreign companies for exported goods from 17% to 9%. China has even planned to take out the privileges granted to foreign investors for importing capital equipment tax. This clearly implies that the country’s government has been more selective in accommodating foreign firms, which greatly limits foreign banks’ access to market (Chen, 1998).

Banking Risks in other Nations
Establishing a bank in other parts of the world such as those belonging in the European Union may be more advisable for some entrepreneurs. There are many reasons for this judgment. One of which is the fact that the European Union is a vast region of countries whose level of development varies. This means that EU offers business areas that are less developed than the other, giving better opportunities for foreign banks. Rules and regulations are likely to be more stabilized in some European regions as compared to the Chinese business setting. Tariffs or barriers to entry like taxes may also be lower in other European countries, making foreign entry less difficult. Most importantly, market diversity in EU is far larger than in China, making access to opportunities and market growth easier.

Nonetheless, it should also be considered that certain risks can also hinder the development of a foreign bank within EU. For instance, the presence of higher competition level is likely, considering that multiple local and foreign banks will be operating within the region. Moreover, though laws and regulations may be stable, differences in banking policies, operational practices and other relevant factors may make market access not as easy. From this standpoint, it becomes clear that establishing a bank in any foreign country has its advantages and downsides. This suggests that foreign entrepreneurs must be skilled in handling this possible business risks.

Means of Addressing the Risks
China and its banking sector have a lot to offer for foreign investors; however, the country and its administration must improve some of its banking aspects not only to make China more appealing to entrepreneurs but also to prevent business issues. One of this means would be the stabilization of its business laws and banking legislations. The country must have a definite ruling for both domestic and foreign banks in such a way that both will benefit from. While the Chinese government is protecting its local banking sector, it must also employ means that will make foreign bank investors less cautious. The restrictions should also be implemented at a reasonable level (Chen, 1998).

China has in fact, conducted several changes so as to be more open for foreign banks. For instance, it has attempted to improve its corporate governance by requiring and encouraging banks to introduce governing boards. Moreover, approved accounting firms are now used for auditing. Operational risks are also being handled by strengthening balance sheets; financial statement definitions are also slowly being accomplished based on international standards (Moreno, 2002).

The foreign investors themselves can apply certain means to safeguard their businesses from these recognized risks. One of the important strategies that firms should consider is to operate alongside a local business partner (Overby, 2000). This will help the firm adapt easily to the Chinese business environment. A local partner can also assist in learning the Chinese culture, practices, regulations and means of interaction. More importantly, a Chinese business partner can also help in achieving progress faster. Training the staff becomes even more important in foreign business ventures. The workforce must be supported fully particularly in adapting the business’ new concepts, standards and technologies. The management should ensure that the local staff is also well-adjusted to the new system so as to encourage them to contribute more for the business (Humberg, 2003).

In general, the investors can start off by analyzing the business environment they wish to invest on. It is important that business entrepreneurs are aware of the distinct features of each foreign setting; in this way, the investors will know how to address in the most effective way. If for example the foreign bank entrepreneur is from the West, establishing a bank in China will naturally make western and eastern difference apparent. As discussed by Ambler and Witzel (2003), Western and Chinese origins have distinct differences on various aspects like politics, philosophy, society and history. Hence, it is imperative that entrepreneurs understand their foreign prospects well. From this aspect, learning and adaptation are perhaps the two most important factors that should be present.

Conclusion
China is very appealing for entrepreneurs particularly because it offers low labor costs and a large market; similar factors have also encourages foreign banks to operate and establish branches in the country. Nonetheless, operational, credit, liquidity, interest and market risks are present, which can greatly affect foreign investors’ business goals. If banks will be established to other regions, the type and degree of risks may be different; however, risks in the banking business, irregardless of the environment, are omnipresent. For this reason, the foreign countries open to international trade as well as the investors themselves should have the appropriate qualities that will promote harmonious business relations. In conclusion, successful foreign business operations are not solely dependent on capital, connections and people but on the ability to learn, change and adapt as well.

References:
‘Knock Knock’, 2001, The Banker, May 1, viewed 4, January, 2006, .

Ambler, T & Witzel, M, 2003, Doing Business in China, Routledge, London.

Chen, R, 1998, ‘An analysis of China's economic development policies and prospects’, Business Economics, July, pp. 29-34.

Cheng, E & Cheng, Y, 1998, ‘Banking Reform and the Separation of Policy and Commercial Loans in China’, MOCT-MOST, no. 8, pp.5-21.

Hu, F & Hope, N, 2005, 'Can Foreign Entry Transform China’s Banking System?', SIEPR Policy Brief, November.

Humberg, C, 2003, ‘Successfully Moving In and Setting up Business in China’, TUV Rheinland World News, pp. 4-5, viewed 4, January, 2006, .

Moreno, R, 2002, ‘Reforming China’s Banking System’, FRBSF Economic Letter, no. 200-17, May 31.

Morrison, W, 2005, ‘China's Economic Conditions’, CRS Issue Brief for Congress, July 1.

Overby, S, 2000, ‘Taming the Dragon’, Inc.com, viewed 4, January, 2006 .

Wu, R, 1998, ‘Which Way for the Chinese Economy?’, World and I, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 40+.

Career Management in an Organisation

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:38:00 -0800

Literature Review

With the fast paced and unprecedented development of the workplace, every organisation must grow in correspondence with the changes (Hall & Moss 1998; Metcalf & Briody 1995; Watts 1996). In order for an organisation or industry to be more competitive in the marketplace, the management must always see to it that they use a management system and strategy that would sustain the capability, strength and competitive position (Pearce & Robinson 2000; Thompson & Strickland 2003). Industries which consider changes with their management system or any other critical aspects of their business operation are those industries which are aware of the positive benefits that these changes may bring (Yee 1998). Hence, the emergence of effective career management is vital and goes hand in hand with career development.
Career management (Wikipedia 2006) is the process of making career choices and decisions, managing the organizational and boundless careers, and taking control of one’s personal development. As applied to an organisational level, it is the key to achieve goals of ensuring the skills and competencies of people for future employment and management of new work and life realities (Moses 1995). For organisations need people who are multitalented, effective in managing changes, and adaptive to new organisational directions, career management serves as the key for individual and organisational development.
In view of this, the researcher has referred to several existing articles and studies that have presented different views on how career management affects an organization. The gathered literatures have been compared, collated and referenced by the author. It is greatly believed that the cited literatures have sought to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the effects of career management, thus they have been included in this review.
By conducting this literature review, the researcher may: discover precise recommendations for further research and thus may find justification for one’s own research objectives; avoid repeating works that has been already done; gain noteworthy insights into the aspects of one’s research objectives; and, discover research approaches, strategies and techniques that may be appropriate to one’s own research (Gall et al. 1996).

Career and Career Management
    Career is a course of a person’s successive situations in his/her work life (Wikipedia 2006). For the past decades, it has been figured out by experts to plan and design career. Hence, career management was innovatively introduced to serve as the blueprint for success.
    On an interview, Rowan Manahan of Fortify Services, he believed that: “full-on career management requires professionalism, total commitment and large reserves of enthusiasm and energy every step of the way.” He added that career management is not an innate talent but a process to be learned. It is not a ‘frivolous luxury’ but a ‘necessity’ in the workforce. Career management is, at its most fundamental level, all about survival in these increasingly uncertain times. It is about carefully building and nurturing people’s skills and reputation (Manahan 2004).
The concept of career management has expanded in recent years because of ‘simple economics’. (Manahan 2004) People recognise a need for it. A comprehensive review of how diversified organizational career management techniques influence business strategy was documented by Stumpf (1988). Literatures on individual and organisation career planning indicate the variation of goals and responsibilities of each. The extent of career management creates stronger organisational incentive to promote efficiency; firms are likely to restructure employment relationship toward more meritocratic distribution of material rewards and career chances (Pfeffer & Salancik 1978). Individual and organisational career management offers advances for career progression. The most excellent career management systems combine these advances in order to achieve its respective objectives (Schein 1978; Vardi 1980). For instance, in building alternative career management systems on future officer (Berends et al. 2001), organizations used variations available to policymakers in the design features of four personnel functions such as accessing, developing, promoting, and transitioning. These personnel functions integrate the individual's capabilities with the requirements of the position and affect outcomes. Manipulating personnel functions can provide variation within a career system depending on the choices made about the system's various aspects.
Furthermore, Ornstein and Isabella (1993) and Chartrand and Camp (1991) presented extensive literature reviews from the employee's perspective, while Feldman (1989) and Russell (1991) provided summaries of the research from the organizational perspective. In connection to the role of human resource management, Vaughn and Wilson (1994) described a technique to help human resource specialists, line managers and interested employees identify previously uncharted career paths for internal transfers using Job Trees. In this article, the authors combined some of the traditional skill identifications with organizational trait characteristics, work flow patterns, and existing internal and external relationships representing how the organization actually operates.
The prevalence of formal employment in the urban economy necessitates a fine-tuned fundamental model that takes organizations into account (Stolzenberg 1978). Although spontaneous routines may indeed emerge in response to state plans and other external demands (e.g., Stark 1986), insofar as bureaucratic control dominates organizational design
    The anthologies of researches and studies on career management obviously tackle to the systematic and progressive growth of people’s and organisation’s careers. It primarily dealt on the subjects of individual and organizational development and improvement. Using such references, it could be supposed that career management is applied as essential aspect of management in order to go along with the current changes of the competitive marketplace.

Planned Happenstance Theory
    In the discussion of career management, the presence of Planned Happenstance Theory is expected. It provides a strong framework from which to research career management. As a career theory, planned happenstance offers an additional dimension to Krumboltz's (1979) career decision-making model (Mitchell, Levin, & Krumboltz 1999). Within this career theory, there are several individual attributes and attitudes acknowledged as potentially helpful in managing careers in the often chaotic world of work. As understood, the ideas of curiosity and openness from this theory is a commitment to continuous learning and skill development–which involves ongoing self-assessment and realistic feedback from others, as well as “benchmarking” skills and keeping them current. This is central to most literature on career management (Bridges 1997; Hill 1998; Kaye 1997; Kidd 1998; Moses 1995, 1999; Porter, Porter, & Bennett 1998; Shahnasarian 1994).
    There are five attitudes that are essential to recognizing, creating, and using chance as an opportunity (Hagevik 2000):
1. curiosity - which will prompt you to explore new learning opportunities;

2. persistence - which means you exert extra effort despite setbacks;

3. flexibility - which enables you to change attitudes and circumstances;

4. optimism - which will allow you to view new opportunities as possible and attainable; and

5. the willingness to take risks, which will enable you to act in the face of uncertainty.

A good career management theory must account for the limited degree to which workers have control over their own career experiences and satisfaction and organizations have control over the work environments that they provide. Gelatt (1991) spoke of approaching careers with an attitude of “positive uncertainty.” Further, Savickas (1997) suggested that “career adaptability” may be the core construct in Super’s life-span, life-space theory. Literature from employer surveys that flexibility, adaptability, and problem solving skills are held in high regard in the corporate world (Business Council of British Columbia 1999; Corporate Council on Education 1992). Many recent articles have recognized the impact of “serendipity” on career management, especially in these times of rapid change (Krumboltz 1998; Watts 1996; Williams et al. 1998).

Effects of Career Management in Organisations
The issues of career mobility and employment relationship cannot be adequately addressed without systematic incorporation of organisations. Given the longstanding theoretical and practical interests in markets and economic development (e.g., Bates 1989; Evans 1995; Sachs 1992), important questions related to the impact of career management on organisational practices in hiring, promotion, and compensation have yet to receive their share of attention. However, career management effects on every organizational environment are undeniably useful.
One persuasive reason on why organizations offer career management is that the process serves as a means to recruit and retain the best employees for the job to sustain competitive advantage. Believing that the most important asset of a business is the people, appropriate recruiting and retention of workforce to achieve sustained business success is vital. Therefore, the crucial role of human resource professionals in career management must include employee recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits, professional development, safety and health, forecasting, and labour relations (Lipiec 2001). David Baxter (2000 p.1) warned every organisation that “the challenges of retaining and recruiting human resources will become a paramount in the operations” more so that many sectors of every company is entering an era of critical labour shortages. And with effective career management, human resource and its scientific process will not be at risk. Vaughn and Wilson (1994) described a technique to help human resource specialists, line managers and interested employees identify previously uncharted career paths for internal transfers using Job Trees. In this article, the authors combined some of the traditional skill identifications with organizational trait characteristics, work flow patterns, and existing internal and external relationships representing how the organization actually operates.
Recruiting the best person to occupy a position in a company means higher chances of efficiency. Retaining company’s best work assets is sustaining the growing competitive edge of the organisation. Hence, by doing such career management, productivity and progression is ensured. This is another reason why organizations engage in career management is productivity. The quality of the workforce predefines the possible outputs of the organisation. A weak workforce means poor labour while a strong workforce is more. Productivity is the measurement of organizational growth. By utilizing career management systems, the productivity of the organisation is near at hand. Orpen (1994) stated that productivity may come from a dedicated and well-motivated workforce. Through motivation, it can be assumed as the reason or the force behind why a person does well in work. Sometimes, it is also a means to make the person perform better and more efficient. Basically there are three assumptions in human motivation established in research. The first one assumes that motivation is inferred from a systematic analysis of how personal, task and environmental characteristics influence behaviour and job performance (Wiley 1997). The next one infers that motivation is not a fixed trait; but rather it refers to a dynamic internal state resulting from the influence of personal and situational factors (Wiley 1997). This means that motivation may change with changes in personal, social or other factors (Wiley 1997). Finally, motivation affects behaviour, rather than performance (Nicholson, 1995; Wiley, 1997). Wiley explained: “Initiatives designed to enhance job performance by increasing employee motivation may not be successful if there is a weak link between job performance and an employee’s efforts” (p.263). Additionally, productivity also comes from the workforce that is equipped and prepared with the right mixture of talent and skills or ‘hot skills’ to do the work required by an organisation (Cole-Gomoloski 1998; Griffith 1998; Hayes 1999; Young 1999). By means of effective recruitment and employee motivation, development is workable.
Aside from organizational results, career management may also help individuals to balance their work and family life, and link their personal career goals to the emerging needs of their employer, industry, or community (Moses 1995; Simonsen 1997). By means of balancing work and life of employees, the contributions in the progression of the organisation is focused and defined. Since market-dependent firms have more at stake in maintaining a high level of employee competence, these organizations should be more likely than others to adapt effective career management processes in favour of human capital. In order for an organisation to take advantage on the effects of career management, career managers and administration should equip people to benchmark their skills, anticipate upcoming skill demands, and commit to continuous learning (Kaye 1997; Moses 1995; Simonsen 1997). During these rapid and competitive changing times, employees as well as organizations need to help each other to facilitate the achievement of company’s goals and objectives. Organizations must identify specific skills and competencies that will maximize the company’s growth.
Lastly, career management may also help individuals to balance their work and family life, and link their personal career goals to the emerging needs of their employer, industry, or community (Moses 1995; Simonsen 1997). Balance is not so much a career management variable as it is a life management variable that permits one to achieve career success while remaining satisfied. This explanation would support Moses’ (1999) call for workers of the future to take time to recharge. However, the idea that every employee possesses a succinct picture of the goals and objectives s/he wants to achieve is finite.
    Career management affect the organisation in terms of the workforce and its productivity. The bottom line is the effectiveness of the process in making career choices and decisions, managing the organizational and boundless careers, and taking control of one’s personal development.

Career Development vs. Career Management
    Poehnell and Amundson (2000) argued that the term “management”. The term has been traditionally used but it seemed to be problematic when applied to careers. It may entail a degree of control over career development that is unrealistic in today’s climate of unprecedented organizational change. Although the terms career development and career management are used somewhat interchangeably in career-related literature, in the present study the term “career management” is preferred as it tends to emphasize an active, purposeful approach. However, the interconnectedness of the two synonymous terms is both vital. In an organizational perspective, the application of such concepts is equivalent to the nature of the organizational success.
Career development in an organisation is directed on ‘how individuals manage their careers within and between organizations and how organizations structure the career progress of their members’ (Wikipedia 2006).
In developing effective workforce, the management should always bear in mind that they are accountable for the growth and development of the organisation and the employees as well. Employees must be given a chance to develop their career in the organisation, not only for the advantages that they can get for themselves but also for the organisation. One of the obligations of the an organisation, specifically the management is to be able understand that the primary goal of career development is to help employees analyze their abilities, skills, and interests to better match personnel needs for growth and development to the needs of the organisation (Johnson & Scholes 1997). Secondly, the company must be able to identify the factors in maintaining a successful career development program. There are three type of planning which is relates to career development: Broad Life Planning, Development Planning and the Performance Planning. The organisation should incorporate each of these into the career development program. Moreover, the human management of the company should be able to identify their general obligations in the area of career development as well as their specific responsibilities to their employer and the organisation (Gallie 1998).The management should also be able to identify methods for improving the harmony between the individual and the organisation related to the development of their career. Lastly, the management should be able to apply career development in the setting of the organisation (Henderson 1996).
There are organisational activities designed to enhance the career development. These include the following: the establishment of the job posting system, the development of career resource centres, the training of managers as career counsellors, the planning, and implementing of career development workshops, human resource planning, and forecasting, utilizing performance appraisals and developing career pathing programs (Eggland, Gilley & Wesley 1998). According to Zenger (1981), the organisation maintains several fundamental responsibilities regarding career development. The organisation must be able to agree that that career pathing is a vital part of the organisation.
    Career development describes the structure and longitudinal nature of career behaviour, as well as the psychological, cultural, economic, and political influences that involvement strategies might transform in order to facilitate more positive and purposeful career behaviour than would likely occur randomly (Borgen & Young 1990). Furthermore, agility, strength, precise movement and the ability to deal with continuous change are key attributes in career development (Aldisert 2000).
    Meanwhile, in a study conducted by Magnuson, Norem and Wilcoxon (2003), professional growth provided support for applying the planned happenstance theory of career development to leadership development. With the presence of the aspect of continuous learning in this theory, learning in the organisation occurs.

Career Management Strategies and Attitudes
    In line with the Planned Happenstance Theory, there are some management strategies and attitudes to be applied in career. Among these are:
    Continuous learning – continuous learning makes work interesting and satisfying. It allows employees to achieve success to some specified points in their careers. However, it may not be directly related in preparing them for upcoming changes in their occupations or organization.
    Planning – appears to be foundational to effective career management (Blustein 1997; De Voe 1998; Kaye 1997; Moses 1995; Orpen 1994; Shahnasarian 1994). Corporate managers have long recognized the importance of planning to the long-term success of their organizations (Wack 1985). It helps individuals and organizations enhanced their coping ability with tumultuous change.
    Risk-taking – risk-taking is another valued attribute for career management (Hakim 1994; Posen 1998). Hakim provided a significant number of examples on employees who set boundary in their career potential by refusing to take risks.
    Flexibility, Optimism, and Persistence – these attributes and attitudes serves a predictors and indicators of a career success (Champy & Nohria 2000;
Posen 1998).
Work-Life Balance – The importance of achieving balance between work and other life roles has also become an emerging topic in the career management literature (DeVoe 1998; Moses 1995, 1999; Shahnasarian1994). This aids the employee to focus on the achievement of the goals imposed by the organisation and to his/her self.
    Networking - networking is an effective strategy used more consistently by individuals who actively engaged in either job search (as promoted in such programs as job clubs) or in building their careers in the organisation where they belong.

The combination of specific individual attitudes, attributes and strategies emerges an effective career management. A dedication to lifelong learning (based on ongoing and realistic self-assessment), alertness to opportunities and the ability to keep diverse options open (adaptability and flexibility), persistence, optimism, the willingness to take risks, and planning are all personal attributes theorized to foster career management success. In addition, networking and balancing work with other significant life roles are seen as important components of a systematic approach to career management. The outcome of effective career management is expected to be successful careers that meet the needs of the individuals, their employers, and the organisation they belong.

Consultancy
    Consultancy is becoming more pervasive in career management in an organisational level for two main reasons. In the first place, it is a trend which reflects the increasing complexity of business. Secondly and partly as a result of this growing complexity, the line which has traditionally separated consultancy advice from management action is becoming blurred (Czerniawska 1999). Career management consultancy is an independent and objective advisory service provided by qualified persons to clients in order to help them identify and analyse management problems or opportunities. Career management consultancies also recommend solutions or suggested actions with respect to these issues, and help, when requested, in their implementation (Barcus & Wilkinson 1995).
Consultancy means taking the ideas, suggestions, recommendations from those people who are knowledgeable enough in the implementation of change management process or those who have devoted themselves in analysing different approaches and strategies to ensure successful implementation of changes. In this case, job searchers, employees, or even managers may seek help from other consultancy companies available or establishing a management team which are experienced in this kind of venture.

Suggested Topics of Future Researches
There are several numbers of researches done in career management. These studies are exploratory in nature and offer a fundamental understanding of effective career management in the changing world of work. There are no experimental researches or studies in the interpersonal aspects of career management. Basing it from the records of literatures obtained, there are no indications of any applications or tools used in career management. To this point in time, there has been limited interface between theories in the fields of career counselling and corporate management. As such, there has been little research testing the effectiveness of career management in achieving its stated goals.
Hence, future research on career management should tackle the incorporation of interpersonal variables such as management styles and contextual variables such as personal crises. A qualitative design of research that would facilitate individuals telling their own career management stories is necessary to consider.
Another functional centre for future research would be to development of dynamic, scientific and better measures for career management. It may also include some variables for career success and job satisfaction. It would be helpful for career practitioners and coaches to have an easily available, concise assessment tool to screen effective career management attributes, attitudes and behaviours. Further, it could be useful in directing individuals’ career management involvement or resources that would become the most suited element in promotion and enhancement of their job or career success.

Word count: 3514 (includes the title and in-text references)
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Implementation of Organizational Innovations

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:37:00 -0800

What is Innovation?
          There are three types of innovation (process, product/service, and strategy) each of which can vary from incremental to radical and from sustaining to discontinuous. There are also important relations between these types of innovation. For example, a strategy innovation may necessitate process, and/or product innovations.

General Frameworks for Adoption of Innovations
          The adoption of innovations has been conceptualized in many different ways in the literature, most commonly focusing on culture, processes, or people and roles. A major problem in a change initiative is how to get innovations or new ideas adopted. There are many change models or frameworks presented that try to explain changes in culture, processes, or people.
          Rogers (19xx) takes a systematic approach focusing on four main elements in the diffusion of innovations: (1) innovation, (2) communication channels, (3) change over time, and (4) social systems. The innovation-decision process begins with a knowledge component, proceeding through persuasion or development of an attitude towards or away from the innovation, a decision to adopt or reject the change, implementation of the innovation, and confirmation of the decision to adopt. People in the social system make their choices to adopt, modify, or not adopt changes at different rates thus are classified as innovators, earlier adopters, early majority, late majority, or laggards. The rate of adoption is influenced by the communication channels, degree of homophily in the social system, and time.
          Evans’ (1996) approach is to provide practical advice on problem-solving, communication, and staff motivation by presenting a conceptual framework for understanding human behavior and organizational functioning in regards to a leadership model that builds a framework for cooperation, not conflict, between leaders and the people they depend on to implement innovations. One of his unique contributions is the concept of the authentic leader. According to Evans (1996), "Transformation begins with trust. Trust is the essential link between leader and led vital to, followership" (p 183). The authentic leader exhibits personal ethics, vision, and belief in others and he or she translates these strong values into organizational visions that others buy in to and are inspired to adopt.

Types of Innovation
          There are three main types of innovation (process, product/service, and strategy), each of which can vary in the degree of newness (incremental to radical) and impact (sustaining versus discontinuous).

Process Innovation
          Process innovation became an important topic with the rise of the quality and continuous improvement movements and, then again, with the more recent attention directed at change management, organizational learning and knowledge management. Also, it has been argued that organizational processes and structures oriented to incremental product innovation are not the same as those needed to foster and facilitate new product development. The current wisdom it is necessary to separate these activities and to introduce wholly new process innovations that will help promote and speed-up radical product innovation.

Strategy or Business Concept Innovation
          It is, of course, possible to incrementally improve one’s business strategy but Hamel (1996, 2000) contends that radical business concept innovation is now paramount. He claims that the current environment is hostile to industry incumbents and hospitable to industry revolutionaries. The fortifications that protected the industrial oligarchy have crumbled under the weight of deregulation, technological upheaval, globalization, and social change. What is now required to ensure organizational success is to continually revolutionize the basic organizational strategy, which progressively typically requires: radically re-conceiving products and services, not just developing new products and services, redefining market space, redrawing industry boundaries.

What is the problem? Implementation, not efficacy
          The problem for many of these innovations is not that they didn’t work, but that the organization could not figure out how to implement and sustain the innovations as an organizational change (Repenning 2002)
Why do programs succeed?

1. They have a champion who builds support and assembles the necessary people, skills, training, and resources.
2. The planning process involves the right people (Ansoff, p. 428).
3. Top management offers continuous commitment which creates an adequate foundation of support and power to implement and sustain the proposed change (Ansoff, p. 427, Senge).
4. They gain the support of opinion leaders, top officials, groups likely to adopt (Rogers, pp. 281, 326). Innovators and early adopters support the program. This result is enough power to effect change.
5. Build organizational capabilities: people, budget, time, and training to match the proposed change (Ansoff, p. 428)
6. The program works over time.
7. They become self-sustaining, reaching critical mass (Rogers, p. 313)
8. Behavioral and systematic resistance is managed (Ansoff and McDonnell, 1990, p. 418).
9. Management creates a psychologically safe environment for people to explore and learn (Senge).
10. Early shortcomings are addressed, adaptations made (Rogers, p. 394)
11. Create climate and culture that overcomes organizational defense mechanisms (Argyris, 1990).
12. The program becomes sustained/normalized as part of the organization’s routines (Rogers, 399).

Why does implementation fail?
          One key reason why implementation fails is that practicing executives, managers and supervisors do not have practical, yet theoretically sound, models to guide their actions during implementation. Without adequate models, they try to implement strategies without a good understanding of the multiple factors that must be addressed, often simultaneously, to make implementation work. (Okumus, 2003, p. 871)

Drivers of Innovation
          The primary drivers of innovation include: financial pressures to decrease costs, increase efficiency, do more with less, increased competition, shorter product life cycles, value migration, stricter regulations, industry and community needs for sustainable development, increased demand for accountability, community and social expectations and pressures (giving back to the community, doing good, etc.), demographic, social, and market changes, rising customer expectations regarding service and quality, greater availability of potentially useful new technologies coupled with the need to keep up or exceed the competition in applying these new technologies and he changing economy.
          Although cost reduction has been a major driver of innovation, other drivers are also important. Regulatory drivers have become more important in the last several decades. In addition, companies increasingly feel they must promote their image and this has become a major driver of environmental and sustainable development innovations. A good image can help promote both large organizations have attempted to foster intra-preneurships within the company but, increasingly, large organizations are creating small entrepreneurial spin-offs to enhance their capacity to innovate. Hamel (2000) offers suggestions for larger firms to become incubators of innovation (internally, externally, and via appropriation) and sees no inherent contradiction in being both a large and an innovating organization.

Organizational Impacts and Desired Performance Results
          Undoubtedly organizational innovations will cause some level of change but the extent and effect of this change is no longer a given. In Schumpeter’s original sense of this term, an innovation by definition had a substantial economic impact. An innovation was something that changed the market place in a profound way. The innovating organization was, thus, likely to become the new market leader and to gain an immense advantage over its competitors. With the broadening of the term to include small to radical innovations, sustaining as well as discontinuous innovations, and the capacity to create as well as to quickly adopt new technologies, the impact of innovation is no longer a definitional issue. The impact of innovations has become an empirical for a company to be good at innovation and that, as Hamel (2000) claims, companies need to focus on developing innovation as a core competency. But there are some indications that even those companies that are good at innovation may experience problems in the long run. Christensen (1997) notes that great companies that have sustained innovation over a long period of time can, and do, fail. He refers to this as the innovator’s dilemma, which is the title of his insightful book. As he explains, this dilemma results from the rational business practices of focusing on the most promising markets and listening to one’s customers. Focusing on the most promising markets and listening to its customers can blind a company to discontinuous innovations that, though they may not have a promising market in the near term and may not currently perform as well as the existing, highly perfected products, may nevertheless transform the market in a way that progressively displaces the incumbents. A key feature of this displacement process is that the emerging or transforming market is incompatible with the incumbent’s business requirements (size of project, price, profit levels, facility characteristics, and staff skills).
          To combat this dilemma, innovative companies can try to focus on discontinuous as well as sustaining innovation. An established company can attempt to identify and develop discontinuous innovations, especially through spin-off organizations that are not bound by the contingencies that govern the larger firm. However, this strategy will not ensure that the company will be successful in identifying the next major innovation to affect that industrial sector. An established company can also actively scan potentially relevant developments in order to make sure it responds to and adapts to potentially threatening new technologies in a timely manner. In may be that an established firm, even if aware of potentially threatening changes in its environment, will not be able to change fast enough or dramatically enough. In these cases, the best strategy seems to be for the organization to create a separate organizational entity that has a business model appropriate for the emerging market and external environment.

Adoption by Individuals
          People are not passive recipients of innovations. Rather and to a greater or lesser extent in different persons, they seek innovations, experiment with them, evaluate them, find or fail to find meaning in them, develop feelings positive or negative about them, challenge them, worry about them, complain about them, work around them, gain experience with them, modify them to fit particular tasks, and try to improve or redesign them often through dialogue with other users. This diverse list of actions and feelings highlights the complex nature of adoption as a process and contrasts markedly with the widely cited adopter categories (early adopter, laggard) that have been extensively misapplied as explanatory variables. There is little empirical support for these stereotypical and value-laden terms, which fail to acknowledge the adopter as an actor who interacts purposefully and creatively with a complex innovation.
According to Roger’s extensive overview of the wider literature on adoption (1995), there are seven aspects of adopters and the adoption process.

          General Psychological Antecedents. We identified a large literature from cognitive and social psychology on individual traits associated with the propensity to try out and use innovations (example tolerance of ambiguity, intellectual ability, motivation, values, and learning style). This evidence has been largely ignored by researchers studying the diffusion of innovations and was beyond the scope of our own study, but it is ripe for review in relation to this research question.
          Context-Specific Psychological Antecedents. An intended adopter who is motivated and able (in terms of values, goals, specific skills, and so on) to use a particular innovation is more likely to adopt it (for strong direct evidence, see Ferlie et al. 2001; Gladwin, Dixon, and Wilson 2002; and Yetton, Sharma, and Southon 1999). If the innovation meets an identified need by the intended adopter, he or she is more likely to adopt it (for strong indirect evidence, see Hall and Hord 1987; and Wejnert 2002).
          Meaning. The meaning of the innovation for the intended adopter has a powerful influence on the adoption decision (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Dearing 1994; and Timmons 2001). If the meaning attached to the innovation by individual adopters matches the meaning attached by top management, service users, and other stakeholders, the innovation is more likely to be assimilated (for moderate indirect evidence, see Eveland 1986). The meaning attached to an innovation is generally not fixed but can be negotiated and reframed, for example, through discourse within the organization or across inter-organizational networks (for strong direct evidence, see Ferlie et al. 2001). The success of initiatives to support such a reframing of meaning is variable and not easy to predict (limited evidence).
     The Adoption Decision. The decision by an individual within an organization to adopt a particular innovation is rarely independent of other decisions. It may be contingent (dependent on a decision made by someone else in the organization), collective (the individual has a “vote” but ultimately must acquiesce to the decision of a group), or authoritative (the individual is told whether or not to adopt it) (Rogers 1995). Authoritative decisions (e.g. making adoption by individuals compulsory) may increase the chance of initial adoption by individuals but may also reduce the chance that the innovation is successfully implemented and routinized (for moderate indirect evidence, see Rogers 1995).
          Adoption is a process rather than an event, with different concerns being dominant at different stages. The adoption process in individuals is traditionally presented as having five stages: awareness, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation (Rogers 1995). However, we found that a lesser-known model, the Concerns Based Adoption Model developed for innovation in schools, better explained the findings of empirical studies of complex service innovations in an organizational context. This model provided three components for our model.
Concerns in Pre-adoption Stage. Important prerequisites for adoption are that the intended adopters are aware of the innovation; have sufficient information about what it does and how to use it; and are clear about how the innovation would affect them personally, for example, in terms of costs (for strong indirect evidence, see Hall and Hord 1987).
Concerns during Early Use. Successful adoption is more likely if the intended adopters have continuing access to information about what the innovation does and to sufficient training and support on task issues (i.e. about fitting the innovation to daily work) (for strong indirect evidence, see Hall and Hord 1987).
Concerns in Established Users. Successful adoption is more likely if adequate feedback is provided to the intended adopters about the consequences of adoption (for strong indirect evidence, see Hall and Hord 1987) and if the intended adopters have sufficient opportunity, autonomy, and support to adapt and refine the innovation to improve its fitness for purpose (for strong indirect evidence, see Rogers 1995).

System Readiness for Innovation
          An organization may be amenable to innovation in general but not ready or willing to assimilate a particular innovation. Formal consideration of the innovation allows the organization to move (or perhaps choose not to move) to a specific state of system readiness for that innovation. The elements of system readiness are as follows:
     Tension for Change. If staff perceive that the current situation is intolerable, a potential innovation is more likely to be assimilated successfully (for moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003).
          Innovation-System Fit. An innovation that fits with the organization’s existing values, norms, strategies, goals, skill mix, supporting technologies, and ways of working is more likely to be assimilated (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003; Rogers 1995; and the related concept of “fuzzy boundaries”).
Assessment of Implications. If the implications of the innovation (including its subsequent effects) are fully assessed and anticipated, the innovation is more likely to be assimilated (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003; and Rogers 1995). Most of the following implementation issues are amenable to advance assessment and planning:
Support and Advocacy. If the supporters of the innovation outnumber and are more strategically placed than its opponents are, it is more likely to be assimilated (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Champagne et al. 1991; Gustafson et al. 2003; Rogers 1995; and also “champions” ).
Dedicated Time and Resources. If the innovation starts out with a budget and if the allocation of resources is both adequate and continuing, it is more likely to be assimilated (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003; and Rogers 1995).
Capacity to Evaluate the Innovation. If the organization has tight systems and appropriate skills in place to monitor and evaluate the impact of the innovation (both anticipated and unanticipated), the innovation is more likely to be assimilated and sustained (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003; Plsek 2003; and Rogers 1995).
Implementation and Routinization
          Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata define implementation as “the early usage activities that often follow the adoption decision” (1999, 295). The evidence regarding the implementation of innovations was particularly complex and relatively sparse, and it was difficult to disentangle it from that regarding change management and organizational development in general. Implementation depends on many of the factors already covered in relation to the initial adoption decision and the early stages of assimilation. At the organizational level, the move from considering an innovation to successfully routinizing it is generally a nonlinear process characterized by multiple shocks, setbacks, and unanticipated events (Van de Ven et al. 1999). The key components of system readiness for an innovation are highly relevant to the early stages of implementation. In addition, a number of additional elements are specifically associated with successful routinization.
Organizational Structure. An adaptive and flexible organizational structure, and structures and processes that support devolved decision making in the organization (e.g., strategic decision making devolved to departments, operational decision making devolved to teams on the ground) enhance the success of implementation and the chances of routinization (for strong indirect and direct evidence, see Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata 1999; and Van de Ven et al. 1999).
Leadership and Management. Top management support, advocacy of the implementation process, and continued commitment to it enhance the success of implementation and routinization (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Green 1998; Gustafson et al. 2003; Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata 1999). If the innovation aligns with the earlier goals of both top management and middle management and if the leaders are actively involved and frequently consulted, the innovation is more likely to be routinized (for moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003).
Human Resource Issues. Successful routinization of an innovation in an organization depends on the motivation, capacity, and competence of individual practitioners (for moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003). The early and widespread involvement of staff at all levels, perhaps through formal facilitation initiatives, enhances the success of implementation and routinization (for strong indirect evidence, see Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata 1999; for moderate direct evidence, see Kitson, Harney, and McCormack 1998). When job changes are few and clear, high-quality training materials are available, and timely on-the-job training is provided, successful and sustained implementation is more likely (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Green 1998; Gustafson et al. 2003; Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata 1999; and McCormick, Steckler, and Mcleroy 1995). Team-based training may be more effective than individual training when the learning involves implementing a complex technology (for moderate direct evidence, see Edmondson, Bohmer, and Pisano 2001).
Funding. If there is dedicated and ongoing funding for its implementation, the innovation is more likely to be implemented and routinized (for strong direct evidence, see Elliott et al. 1998; Fitzgerald et al. 2002; Green 1998; Gustafson et al. 2003; and Hughes et al. 2002).
Intra-organizational Communication. Effective communication across structural (e.g., departmental) boundaries within the organization enhances the success of implementation and the chances of routinization (for strong indirect evidence, see Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata 1999). A narrative approach (i.e. the purposeful construction of a shared and emergent organizational story of “what we are doing with this innovation”) can serve as a powerful cue to action (for moderate indirect evidence, see Gabriel 2000; for limited direct evidence, see Bate 2004).
Interorganizational Networks. The more complex the implementation that is needed for a particular innovation, the greater the significance of the inter-organizational network will be to the implementation’s success (for moderate indirect evidence, see Meyers, Sivakumar, and Nakata 1999; and Valente 1995).
Feedback. Accurate and timely information about the impact of the implementation process (through efficient data collection and review systems) increases the chance of successful routinization (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Green 1998; and Grimshaw et al. 2004).
Adaptation/Reinvention. If an innovation is adapted to the local context, it is more likely to be successfully implemented and routinized (for strong indirect and moderate direct evidence, see Gustafson et al. 2003; Ovretveit et al. 2002; and Rogers 1995).

Linkage among Components of the Model
There is some empirical evidence (and also robust theoretical arguments) for building strong links among the different components.
Linkage at the Development Stage. An innovation that is centrally developed (e.g. in a research center) is more likely to be widely and successfully adopted if the developers or their agents are linked with potential users at the development stage in order to capture and incorporate the users’ perspective (for strong indirect evidence, see Rogers 1995). Such linkage should aim not merely for “specification” but also for a shared and organic (developing, adaptive) understanding of the meaning and value of the innovation in use and should also work toward a shared language for describing the innovation and its impact.
Role of the Change Agency. If a change agency is part of a dissemination program, the nature and quality of any linkage with intended adopter organizations will influence the likelihood of adoption and the success of implementation (strong indirect and moderate direct evidence). In particular, human relations should be positive and supportive; the two systems should have a common language, meanings, and value systems; they should share resources; the change agency should enable and facilitate networking and collaboration among organizations; and the consequences of innovations should be jointly evaluated. The change agency should have the capacity, commitment, technical capability, communication skills, and project management skills to assist with operational issues. This is particularly important in relation to technology-based innovations, which should be disseminated as augmented products with tools, resources, and technical help, and so on (for moderate direct evidence, see Lomas 2000; and Rogers 1995).
External Change Agents. Change agents employed by external agencies will be more effective if they are (1) selected for their homophily and credibility with the potential users of the innovation; (2) trained and supported to develop strong interpersonal relationships with potential users and to explore and empathize with the user’s perspective; (3) encouraged to communicate the users’ needs and perspective to the developers of the innovation; and (4) able to empower the users to make independent evaluative decisions about the innovation (for strong indirect and limited direct evidence, see Rogers 1995).

Conclusion
    For most organizations, innovation simply means managing the elements of the innovation process and maintaining an innovative culture within the company. Actually, managers have been added the responsibility of managing innovation as the premise for doing business in the 21st century. With the proper handling of such a delicate task, the organization is given the edge that it needs to retain or improve its competitive position in the increasingly complex and globalized market. The challenge of today’s organization, therefore, lies in the need to innovate on technology and business models, deal with uncertain environments, cutbacks and massive worldwide economic, political and social shifts (Daft 2003). This wide array of new concerns for the organization’s management may increase the complexity of doing business in this day and age, but it certainly improves the company’s ability to survive in the cutthroat field of enterprise.

References

The Relationship between School Culture, Leadership and Educational Change

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:36:00 -0800

Introduction

    This dissertation will determine and analyze the significant interrelationship between the school culture, leadership and change through a specific example chosen by the author. In this discussion, Hong Kong’s educational restructuring through its major school reforms will be taken into account. Its relation to the topic will be the main argument of this paper. The effect of the teachers and school administration’s commitment to these school reforms will be analyzed in terms of student achievement, teacher productivity and overall improvement of educational quality.
    For the purpose of understanding the discussion, the author finds it necessary for a brief overview of certain terminologies that will be used for this paper.
School Culture
    One thing that the field of education lacks is a clear and consistent definition of school culture. It has been used synonymously with a variety of concepts such as climate, ethos and saga (Deal, 1993). The concept of culture came to education from the corporate workplace with the notion that it would provide direction for a more efficient and stable learning environment.
    For centuries, scholars have argued about the meaning of culture. Clifford Geertz (1973), a noted anthropologist, has made a large contribution to the current understanding of the term. According to him, culture represents a historically transmitted pattern of meaning. Those patterns of meaning are expressed both explicitly through symbols and implicitly in our taken for granted beliefs. Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson (1990) noted that the definition of culture includes deep patterns of values, beliefs and traditions that have been formed over the course of history. Paul Heckman (1993) reminds us that school culture lies in the commonly held beliefs of teachers, students and principals. These definitions go beyond the business of creating an efficient learning environment. They focus more on the core values necessary to teach and influence young minds.
    Hence, school culture can be defined as the historically transmitted patterns of meaning that include the norms, values, beliefs, ceremonies, rituals, traditions and myths understood, maybe in varying degree, by members of the school community (Stolp and Smith, 1994). This system of meaning often shapes what people think and how they act.
    The impressive results of school culture have long been compiled by researchers. One result noted that a healthy and sound school culture is strongly correlated with increased student achievement and motivation as well as the productivity and satisfaction of the teachers.
    In a study by Fyans and Maehr (1990), they looked at the effects of five dimensions of school culture namely academic challenges, comparative achievement, recognition for achievement, school community and perception of school goals. In their survey of 16, 310 students from 820 public schools, they found support for the proposition that students are more motivated to learn in schools with strong cultures.
    In line with a project at improving elementary student scores, Jerry L. Thacker and William D. McInerney (1992) studied the effects of school culture on student achievement. The project they studied focused on creating a new mission statement, goals based on outcomes for students, curriculum alignment corresponding with those goals, staff development and building level decision-making. The results were significant as the number of students who failed an annual statewide test dropped by as much as 10 percent. These results are consistent with other findings that suggest the implementation of a clear mission statement, shared vision, and school wide goals promote increased student achievement.
    School culture was also found to be correlated with teachers’ attitudes towards their work. Yin Cheong Cheng (1993) made a study which profiled effective and ineffective organizational cultures. In this research, Cheng found out that stronger school culture results to better motivation for the teachers. Thus, in an environment with strong organizational ideology, shared participation, charismatic leadership and intimacy, teachers experienced higher job satisfaction and increased productivity.
    In general, the findings of these studies proved how important school culture is in many aspects of the educational system.
Leadership and Educational Change
    By definition, leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals toward a common goal. Leadership is also process which implies that a leader must continuously grow and develop both in character and competence. In the same way, an educational leader or reformer must possess such qualities as a leader.
    Traditionally, the task of schooling has been to transform children into full functioning adults capable of succeeding in the culture of the time. Educational reformers from antiquity to the present have attempted to prod educational institutions to modify and change fundamental tasks and processes. Changing a subject matter can be difficult, however, reforming the infrastructure of schooling and the dynamics of those human interactions is monumental. This is the challenge and focus of the contemporary educational leader. Thus, leadership is more than a position or role. Leadership at its core is fundamentally a dynamic, chaotic, human relational process. The leader, follower and context are the three structural dimensions involved in this process. How each individual engages in that process; perceives or defines each of the dimensions of the process can significantly shape the personal and collective metaphors that guide individual and collective action (Richford, 2001). Hence, movement is essential in educational leadership in order to bring about educational changes.

Case Study: Hong Kong’s Educational Restructuring and its Major Reforms
    As mentioned in the introduction, the correlation of school culture, leadership and change with the educational reforms in Hong Kong will be given focus in this paper.
The Leader: Hong Kong’s Policymakers
    Since the beginning of the 1990s, Hong Kong has experienced similar pressures for school restructuring as many English-speaking Western countries. Policy transforming Hong Kong’s schools initiatives have been introduced which bear close similarity to those of other systems, notably England and Wales, Australia and the USA. This is not surprising since Hong Kong’s policy makers looked to these countries for the blueprints on which to base school management reform. Although school and curricula reforms in Hong Kong have been commonplace since the 1970s, the reform agenda of the 1990s, as in other systems, represents a wholesale and comprehensive effort to restructure (Dimmock and Walker, 1998).
    After several decades of education policy focused on quantitative and logistical concerns, focused on coping with student numbers, the Hong Kong Government, in 1991, turned its attention to improving the quality of education, a theme which has dominated policy for most of the final decade of the twentieth century, not only in Hong Kong, but throughout many Western and Asian countries (Dimmock and Walker, 1998).
Initiation for Change: The Implemented Major Reforms
    In the 1990s, the current wave of restructuring is centered on three major policy initiatives. These reforms include the School Management Initiative (SMI) (Education and Manpower Branch and Education Department, 1991); the target-oriented curriculum (TOC) (Education Department, 1994); and Quality School Education (QSE), best known as ECR7, or Education Commission Report No. 7 (Education Commission, 1997). In common with the restructuring of school systems elsewhere, these initiatives can be conceived as two-pronged, one aimed at reforming the administrative, managerial and governmental aspects of schools, the other targeting curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment.
    The formation of these reforms was derived from the identification of some of the weaknesses of Hong Kong schools which includes inadequate management structures and processes, poorly defined roles and responsibilities and the absence or inadequacy of performance measures. The need for an emphasis on detailed controls rather than frameworks of responsibility and accountability as well as an emphasis on cost control at the margins rather than cost effectiveness and value for money were also identified (Education and Manpower Branch and Education, 1991, p. 9).
In the international context of school restructuring, Hong Kong’s SMI is the equivalent of the “local management of schools” (LMS) in England and Wales, “school-based management” in the USA and the “self-managing school” concept in Australia. As previously noted, the SMI is to be seen within the context of general reform of the public sector with its greater emphasis on accountability for performance. However, it is also to be seen within a second context, namely, that of school effectiveness, with its characteristic features of devolution and delegation of decision making according to the principles of subsidiary. Typically, such restructuring involves complex changes in roles, rules and relationships of stakeholders. While delegation of financial responsibility to schools provides them with greater flexibility of resource use, curricular frameworks often turn out to be more centrally controlled than before. School accountability increases not only to the central office, but also to community representatives on school boards and councils. Hong Kong’s SMI displays all of these hallmarks. The SMI aimed to define more clearly the roles of those responsible for administering schools, particularly sponsors, managers and principals; to provide for greater participation by teachers, parents and former students in school decision making and management; to encourage more systematic planning and evaluation of school activities; and finally, to give schools more flexibility in the use of their resources (Dimmock and Walker, 1998).
    On the other hand, the strong thrust of ECR7 (Education Commission, 1997) is to develop schools with quality school cultures, and to introduce a framework by which to monitor and assure quality. The marked change in nomenclature from “effective schools” to “quality schools” is in line with shifts in English-speaking Western countries, and with recent developments in relevant academic literature. Problems in the school system are recognized by the commission to center on the lack of a quality culture. In support of this claim, the commission cites as evidence the fact that many schools do not have development plans linked to goal achievement; most schools do not have clear targets for both academic and non-academic students; and many do not have appraisal systems to assess the performance of principals and teachers. In addition, there is poor support for schools in promoting a quality culture. Moreover, principal preparation and teacher training programs are regarded as inadequate in preparing a cadre of professionals who can cope with the changes required, and the Education Department does not promote quality development in schools (Dimmock and Walker, 1998).
    While the SMI and ECR7 initiatives embody Hong Kong’s attempts to reform school governance, management and administration, the so-called target oriented curriculum (TOC) constitutes their parallel in curriculum reform. TOC is a major curriculum reform aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Its phased introduction began in 1995 and eventually it will permeate all primary and secondary schools to cover the years of compulsory schooling. TOC is based on the following features (Morris et al., 1996):
• Planned and progressive learning targets and objectives for four key stages of learning;
• Development of curriculum content, teaching and learning strategies, and assessment related to the learning targets;
• Balanced development of students’ higher thinking abilities, skills and attitudes, in addition to a sound base of subject knowledge;
• A developmental approach to student capabilities and integrative use of knowledge;
• A learner-centered approach in all aspects of curriculum planning, teaching and assessment;
• The construction of knowledge through the processes of learning is as important as the product of these activities, thereby shifting the emphasis of teaching and learning;
• Five interdependent ways of learning and using knowledge are emphasized: communicating, inquiring, conceptualizing, reasoning and problem-solving;
• Individual differences and the needs of individual students;
• Criterion-referenced assessment with systematic formative and summative assessment procedures (rather than norm-referenced assessment);
• Charting and reporting of students’ progress through the four key stages with reference to learning targets.
    TOC therefore advocates the use of learning and assessment tasks with systematic reporting procedures instead of just exercises, tests, and examinations presently adopted in Hong Kong. Having described the major administrative and curriculum reforms over the past decade, it is instructive to consider their outcomes to date (Dimmock and Walker, 1998).

Educational Change: The Effects of the Educational Reforms
    Of the three major policy initiatives, only two – SMI and TOC – have been implemented for a length of time sufficient to gauge reactions and effects at this juncture. ECR7 was published in 1997 and its acceptance by the Government will see its staged implementation from 1998 onwards. It should not be long, therefore, before its effects begin to permeate the system.
    Based on the findings of the Task Group Evaluation of the SMI Scheme (1997), they found out that on the best case scenarios, there was evidence that participation in school management had enabled teachers to cope more easily with changes and that standards of teaching had risen due to professional development. Equally, more systematic planning and reporting of school activities had resulted in teachers having a better job orientation and making more competent professional judgments. In addition, greater flexibility in the use of resources enabled teachers to access facilities more promptly to support their teaching practice and was conducive to their participation in budgeting their teaching plans. In turn, greater teacher participation seemed to encourage more student-centered activities while increased resource flexibility led to the closer match between resources and the needs of students. However, the relationship between all of these effects and student learning outcomes was found to be tenuous and somewhat inconclusive (Dimmock and Walker, 1998).
    Most agree that SMI, as an initiative in school-based management, provides better opportunities and contexts for building school cultures in which teachers and principals feel professionally empowered and motivated to improve the management of schools. This, in turn, has the potential to feed through to benefit classroom teaching and learning, but there is no guarantee that such connections will be forged. Many intervening processes are critical if the potential is to be realized (Dimmock, 1995). The actual effects of SMI therefore vary from school to school, depending on the particularities of each.
    At the school level, TOC has had beneficial effects in the following respects. More cooperation and teamwork between teachers has improved school climates, more professional development opportunities have resulted and the school TOC coordinator has become a focus of curriculum reform and leadership. At the classroom level, however, more problems than benefits have emerged. Teachers are experiencing great difficulty in getting beyond the rhetoric and operational key elements of TOC, such as, task-based learning, criterion-referenced assessment, individualization and group work. While these are early days in a major reform which will take years, and while all reforms will deviate in practice from policy intention, the warning signs are already apparent. The success of TOC will ultimately be judged by its penetration into classroom practice.
Conclusion
    From this concrete example of the education reforms in Hong Kong, the interrelation of the school culture, leadership and educational change is very evident. The Hong Kong policy makers which serve as leaders of the educational system were able to formulate such reforms as the SMI and TOC after they have studied the current state of Hong Kong schools. This is by far, one of the most important steps in implementing school reforms and that is, analyzing the present school culture. By being able to do this vital step, the administration and the students were able to adapt to changes brought about by the implemented reforms. Thus, the educational change, which in this example is quality education, was achieved, thus resulting in the encouragement of student participation and achievement, motivation of the teachers and improvement of school management.

References:
Cheng, Yin Cheong. (1993). "Profiles of Organizational Culture and Effective Schools." School Effectiveness and School Improvement. 4, 2 pp. 85-110.
Deal, Terrence E. (1993). "The Culture of Schools." In Educational Leadership and School Culture, edited by Marshall Sashkin and Herbert J. Walberg. Berkeley, California: McCutchan Publishing.
Deal, Terrence E., and Kent D. Peterson. (1990). The Principal's Role in Shaping School Culture. Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
Dimmock, Clive and Allan Walker. (1998). Transforming Hong Kong's Schools: Trends and Emerging Issues. The Journal of Education Administration. Vol. 36, No.5.
Education Commission (1997), Report No. 7. (ECR7), Quality School Education, September, The Government Printer, Hong Kong.
Education Department (1994), Report of the Advisory Committee on Implementation of Target Oriented Curriculum, Mimeograph, Government Printer, Hong Kong.
Education and Manpower Branch and Education Department. (1991). The School Management Initiative: Setting the Framework for Quality in Hong Kong Schools, Government Printer, Hong Kong.
Fyans, Leslie J., Jr., and Martin L. Maehr. (1990). "School Culture, Student Ethnicity, and Motivation." Urbana, Illinois: The National Center for School Leadership.
Geertz, Clifford. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Heckman, Paul E. (July 1993). "School Restructuring in Practice: Reckoning with the Culture of School." International Journal of Educational Reform 2, 3 pp. 263-71.
Richford, Jack. (June 28, 2001). What is Educational Leadership? Available at [http://www.cefva.org/jrichford/edlead.pdf] Accessed 14/05/04.
Stolp, Stephen, and Stuart C. Smith. (January 1994). School Culture and Climate: The Role of the Leader. OSSC Bulletin. Eugene: Oregon School Study Council.
Thacker, Jerry L., and William D. McInerney. (1992). "Changing Academic Culture To Improve Student Achievement in the Elementary Schools." ERS SPECTRUM 10, 4 pp. 18-23.

Education and Employment Gap: A Bahraini Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:35:00 -0800

Introduction
    Education is an important aspect of people’s life as this prepares them for the future careers that they wish to pursue. Through appropriate and sufficient education, future employees are able to obtain the right work attitude, skills, knowledge and abilities, making them qualified for the jobs and companies they intend to work for. However, it has been a global concern that unemployment levels are continuously growing as employees to not meet the requirements of local and international companies. It appears that this problem is significantly rooted from the inadequate educational background, training and experience graduates have to perform most job opportunities. In other cases, workers have the available skills and knowledge to do professional work; however, work opportunities that require their background are inadequate. This problem clearly indicates that employment issues arise due to over or under qualifications of the graduates or employees. With these issues, employment mismatch often occurs.

    For decades, the occurrence of mismatch of work and skills within global labor markets has long been an issue. Thought the mismatch problem is brought about by several causative factors depending on the country in question, graduates and employees had been affected by this issue in general. Specifically, people encounter severe unemployment rates; moreover, the lack of opportunities that truly meet their capabilities leave them with no choice but to resort to low-paying jobs or work overseas.

Overall, this problem prevents people from making the most of their learned skills and earning their educational investments. Furthermore, this problem also affects firms as they lack the people who can fully contribute to their progress. In this discussion, focus will be on the problem on educational and work mismatch, its causes and effect. The occurrence of this problem in Bahrain will also be highlighted. Efforts of the country to address the issue will also be identified and evaluated. Finally, means of improving current policies and programs to reduce theory and practice gap will be cited.

Changes in the Modern Arab Society
    Before delving into the theory and practice gap issue in Bahrain and in other Arab areas, an overview of the current situation of the modern Arab society in terms of its labor market is appropriate. In this section, factors that influence its labor situation and issues like population, education and immigration are cited. This will help in obtaining a better understanding of the main issue concerned. One of the impacts of the growing rate of employment mismatch in the modern Arab society is the increasing unemployment rate among the locals.

Ibrahim Queidar, head of the Arab Labor Organization, stated that about 15% or 14 million Arab employees are unemployed (Mathai 2001). In addition, the Gulf Cooperation Council approximated that by the year 2010, the population of the Arab region would be at 39.4 million; this means that about 8 million more job applicants will be looking for opportunities in the next fifteen years and more than half a million jobs would have to be generated every year to meet the demand. Indeed, the growing population in the region further aggravates the difficulty of finding matching jobs for all locals.

Bahrain also encounters problems of unemployment partly as a result of employment mismatch issues. Based on the 2001 census records, the unemployment rate in the country is at 5.5%. In April 2001, a total of 17,000 were recorded as unemployed. From this figure, report showed that almost 6,000 of these unemployed were males. Most of them were also first time job applicants with ages ranging from 16 to 24; aside from these, most them have low education qualifications. Forty percent of the unemployed did not go through higher education and 28% did not go to school (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

    In terms of nationality, gender and age, the unemployment situation in Bahrain revealed more striking issues. For instance, 58.8% of the total workforce in the country is taken up by non-Bahrainis; their unemployment rate is only at 0.5%. On the other hand, 12.7% of the Bahrainis are unemployed. Female unemployment is also higher than their male counterparts. Women also face more difficulties when looking for jobs than men; this explains why female unemployment is higher in Bahrain. In terms of age, two-thirds of the unemployed locals are first time job applicants. Youth unemployment in Bahrain is also a major problem that is at 41%; this rate is among the highest worldwide (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002). Some of the unemployed youths are school leavers, which somehow explain why job mismatches due to lack of skills is existent in the country.

During the seventies and the eighties, the population growth within the Middle East and North African region (MENA) was recorded to be the highest in world. Overtime, the fertility rate is showing signs of decline; nonetheless, its strong impact to the work sector will take years before it lessens. Employment mismatch is also encountered in the Arab area as most countries have extremely youthful population groups. In the 1999 population statistic report, it was indicated that 42% of the population were below 15 years old (Nicks-McCaleb 2005). This makes it difficult for employers to search for potential employees considering that most of the population is too young and inexperienced for work.

In Bahrain, similar changes in society also occur, which directly affect the labor market as well. The population for instance of the country, had increased more than twice its previous level between 1971 and 1991. Furthermore, a population increase of 36% was recorded from 1991 to 2001. For the past decade, the population of Bahrain increases every year by 2.7%. It has even been projected that by 2025, the population in the country will reach the million mark. The number of foreigners in Bahrain further increases the population level of the country. In 2001, record showed that 38% of the total population is occupied by the Non-Bahraini sector. In 1971, this level was initially at 17% which increased to 32% in 1981; this was mainly because of the high revenues generated by the oil companies and the increased need of the employers for foreign workers.

By 1991, the level of expatriates in the country was at 36%, indicating a minimal growth from the 2001 record. Bahrain also faces the problem on youthful population. Specifically, 57% of the country’s population belong to the 25 years and below group while Bahrainis who are 15 years and younger takes up 37% of the total population (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002). This problem results to high dependency ratios, affecting its labor market. In particular, young graduates and employees encounter a hard time finding a job that suit them due to lack of experience and competition.

According to economists, countries that belong to the Gulf Cooperation Council are encountering structural employment, which is characterized mainly by cases of employment mismatch. In particular, unemployment problems increases in the region as local workers are finding it hard to find jobs that require their skills. The lack of jobs in the Arab countries that would require the skills of the locals on the other hand is attributed to yet another change in the society. Specifically, oil prices had constantly fluctuated and revenues derived from oil products had continuously declined. This change shifted skills requirements from the expansion of the service sector and development of new projects into the preservation of established infrastructure (Mathai 2001). As most locals are trained to work for the oil sector, it becomes difficult to match their skills to current job trends now that the oil business and companies do not demand as much employees.

The presence of the expatriates in the Gulf countries does not help in the issue either. Majority of the jobs generated by the region are occupied by overseas workers. In Oman for example, 61% of its total workforce are comprised of overseas workers. In other gulf countries, its work sector is mainly comprised of foreign employees. Specifically, 60% for Bahrain, 69% for Saudi Arabia, 82% for Kuwait, 83% for Qatar and 91% in UAE (Mathai 2001). The presence of foreign workers in these countries further increases the skill gap among the locals. As stated by a businessman, the national are not always equipped with the right skills for the jobs offered. Considering that businesses do not have much resources to allot for training the nationals, foreign employees then become the most practical option. In addition to this, businessmen prefer hiring expatriate workers as they could do the same job as the locals even at lower wages (Mathai 2001). In Bahrain, employers are often reluctant to train local employees as well as provide them with more opportunities for growth and advancement. This is mainly because employers fear that once the local employees had been trained, they would leave for another job. This then contributes in developing an unmotivated and discouraged Bahraini labor force (Economic Development Board 2004). All these factors combined make most nationals unmatched for local work opportunities.

Employment Mismatch Problem: the Arab Region and Bahrain
    According to Hernes (2005), there are several reasons why graduates or new job applicants are finding it hard to find a job that really suit their background, skill and interest. One of the reasons is that the learning in school may not correspond to the needs of the labor market. Due to mismatch of the skills and jobs, new applicants are often excluded by the employers. Another possible reason is that the skills required by companies and employers are not taught in local schools.

In this perspective, it is being stressed that experience still remains the best teacher and that some topics in books cannot be fully understood unless actual application is conducted. Just like medicine students going through the internship stage, it is essential that students are exposed to real work situations to enable them to understand more about the course they had chosen. This will not only promote comprehension but retention as well. By means of exposing students in actual work experiences, they become more confident in utilizing what they had learned and applying for real jobs.

    Henres (2005) also cited that employment mismatch occurs due to the constant changes that occur in the work sector. Schools and training centers should realize that the needs, procedures and practices in the labor market is continuously undergoing major changes. Clerks need not only familiarize themselves on how to deal with people, do paper works and manage records, but they must also be proficient in using the computer. Mechanics and engineers should also be equipped with ICT knowledge and skills since this is the latest trend today in building and construction. Agricultural jobs even undergo changes; thus, farmers must also know the most recent farming tools and practices. The world of medicine is one of the fields that is greatly influenced by change. New medicines, surgical procedures, dietary regimen and healthcare plans should then be taught to students in order to prepare them to the latest demands and needs of most medical institutions.

This aspect clearly emphasized that some information and skills may be outdated over time. Without the knowledge of the most recent work practices, students and fresh graduates will really find it difficult to apply for jobs that require certain skills or background. Thus, it is important that students are not only educated for the present labor market but also for its future demands; moreover, re-schooling should be promoted among students and employees.
From the scanned literatures about the employment state in Bahrain and in other Arab countries, it appears that the interest of the locals to pursue their studies and the quality of education play an important role in the employment mismatch issue. Naturally, if students are not given the quality education they need, their interest to attend school is also affected. With the students’ increased tendency to leave school, their skills to work in major local companies will be insufficient.

The problem cycle then continues as employers begin to prefer hiring educated and experienced foreign workers. The problem of Bahrain and the rest of the Arab region in educating and training locals had long been documented. Among Arab countries in general, there are about 65 million adults that are illiterate. Two-thirds of the illiterate population is women while there are about 10 million out of school youth in the region.

The interest to spend on education has reduced as well; this has been made evident by the low educational spending obtained within the Arab countries. Compared to the industrialized nations, Arab countries had demonstrated a significant drop in individual spending for education; the enrolment rate in the region is then directly affected. Higher education is among the important aspects that could prevent employment mismatches; however, in the case of the Arab countries, enrolment rate for higher education has also been dropping continuously. In turn, this makes mismatch between educational qualifications and jobs available even more severe.

In Bahrain, there are several important aspects raised in relation to the interest of students to education, drop out rate and graduate population. The basic education in the country extends for 9 years with three years of secondary education. Institutes that offer higher education include Bahrain Training Institute, Gulf Hospitality and Tourism College, Bahrain University, College of Health Sciences, Arab Gulf University and other special institutions like the Bahrain Institute for Banking & Finance. Statistic reports showed that enrolment rate (50%) and the number of graduates (38%) in the country actually increased (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

However, certain problems had been identified in the country’s secondary education level. In particular, a high level of drop out rate has been observed; statistic reports identified a significant difference between the number of enrollees in the primary, secondary and intermediate schools. As the students progress in educational level, the number of enrollees lessens. Results also indicated that for every ten students who enroll for their first year in primary education, less than four pupils will enroll for secondary education. This observed trend led school administrations to question the ability of the schools to retain the students (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

The interest of the students to education does not only affect the issue on employment mismatch in Bahrain; the population of the enrollees in terms of gender also aggravates the issue. Local census showed that more females are more motivated to study as compared to males. For example, in the science courses, male students only make up 36% of the total population while 64% are females. In the literary division, only 33.5% are males. Females are only slightly higher than the male population in the primary education level; however, female population doubles in the secondary level and becomes 30% more than the male students in the intermediate level. There is also a distinct discrimination in the courses offered for both genders; for example, industrial education is only open to male students while advertising and textile are only offered to female students (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

Two-thirds of the secondary and post-secondary education enrollees are made up of female students; however, the females only make up 25.78% of the total labor force in Bahrain. These results clearly showed that while there are more female graduates than males, their skills are not utilized for local employment. The limited education courses accessible to male and female students also make it difficult for employers to find the needed employees for their operation (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002). From the gathered findings, Bahrain’s educational setting is comprised of abnormally high drop out rate especially in the secondary level; eventually, the out of school population contributes to the country’s unemployment rate. There is also an apparent motivation problem among male students in Bahrain. Moreover, although the female population displayed a high performance level, the local labor markets do not offer matching job opportunities.

The quality of education, specifically the form of teaching in the Arab region appears, to affect the issue on employment mismatch. According to Al Sulayti (1999), students studying in the Gulf region are more accustomed to the traditional methods of teaching and memorization. For instance, in taking up English courses, students are trained in preparation for taking up the Preliminary English Test, a standardized English competency test for students at the intermediate level. During the duration of the semester, the students must be able to achieve the fourth level of English proficiency before the exams. This clearly illustrates that the Arabian method of teaching is patterned after the traditional high-stakes testing (Syed 2003). This then deprive the students of the modern techniques for teaching like collaborative learning. This educational practice makes it even more difficult for Bahrainis to obtain good local jobs and compete with foreign workers.

Usually, classroom instruction is conducted with a teacher facilitating the discussion; during the class, teachers may ask questions or give examinations to assess the level of comprehension of the students. In the traditional setting, the teachers are the only source of information; students on the other would just have to take note and memorize all these information. Skill level at this set up is greatly affected due to the students’ lack of involvement in the learning process. With the traditional learning process, students are not able to effectively apply what they have learned from real work situations. Traditional teaching process then lessens the potential of the students to be innovative, creative and analytical.

    The quality of education among students is also affected by the inadequate IT knowledge and skill enhancement in the Arab region. Although computer systems are readily available, there is also a distinct lack of internet utilization in the students’ education process; this also makes the nationals less appealing as employees compared to other foreign workers. The inadequate exposure of most locals to internet use is largely attributable to some inefficient Arab policies (UNDAP 2002).

For instance, online Arabic publications that could have been popularized through the internet are often controlled with certain decrees. This then limits Arab information from being accessible to the public. Another important is the cost of internet access in the region. As online services are provided in the Arab countries at considerably high prices, most people are not able to access this major development. This also prevents the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for knowledge expansion and better education (UNDAP 2002).

Policy Changes and Training Efforts
    The government in Bahrain and in other Arab countries had done several steps and procedures in order to improve their education and labor sector. In Bahrain, most of the efforts of the country to resolve the issue on employment mismatch are focused on policy changes. So as to improve the skills of the students and prepare them for the demands of the labor markets, major changes had been introduced and enforced through new education policies.

For primary education, policies include the implementation of a generalized class-teacher system, employment of ICT in the teaching process, early teaching of the English language, provision of learning programs for gifted students and creation of better home-school relations. For the out of school youth, the local government had also enforced a policy where vocational programs will be provided for these children to prepare them for the requirements of the labor market (UNESCWA 2006). Society groups like teachers and students now have access to various training courses for advance learning that would improve their technical knowledge and skills. The structure of Bahrain’s ministry of Education has also been modified in order to ensure that the needs and requirements of the labor market are relayed to the education institutions. This modification also enabled the ministry to develop programs, visions and objectives that can help prepare future job applicants in securing local work opportunities (Ministry of Education 2003).
The developments in Bahrain’s school setting had also been subjected to a continuous and automated evaluation system, making the preparation and analysis of education statistic report easier and more accurate. Several developmental project had also been approved by the local administration to improve the learning and educational background of the Bahrainis. These projects include the utilization of a curriculum that teaches personal, health and social life skills, the use of a commercial and industrial curriculum and the employment of an English-guided reading program (Ministry of Education 2003).

The development and implementation of the curriculum for life skills aim to integrate the learning for life perspective; this will help in achieving educational goals that are relevant the students’ health, existence and relation with the society. This development project aims to establish a balance between the knowledge students learn from school and real life application. This project will then directly address the students’ need to be updated with the latest economical, political, social and technological developments. The development of the commercial and industrial curriculum also aims to enhance the skills of the Bahraini students and prepare them for the labor market (Ministry of Education 2003).

The commercial curriculum for instance is directed on the development of vocational education so as to help students overcome rapid knowledge and technological changes. Moreover, the learning of the English language has been more emphasized in this curriculum development. Some of the important features of this curriculum include the establishment of simulation halls where students can practice actual labor market work, the integration of the internet, development and implementation of new improved training programs for teachers, modification of the study plan for commercial education to coordinate with the demands of the labor market and introduction of new courses that are in demand to the current work sector (Ministry of Education 2003).

Similar developments had been done in the curriculum for industrial education. In order to enhance the actual work experience and skills of the students, the study plan for industrial education now include more hours for field training. New courses that meet the needs of the labor market are also introduced; the courses also give more focus on teaching life skills, safety health and vocational abilities. In order to shape the students’ project management capabilities, small feasibility projects that teach project planning, resource budgeting and workforce management are integrated. Aside from technical skills, these projects also help student develop important values like self-confidence, independence and respect, which they could use in actual work settings (Ministry of Education 2003).

Aside from the implementation of various educational policies, the local government of Bahrain has also been active in promoting the employment of nationals in local work opportunities. One of the programs implemented by the government is a 1998 program wherein about six thousand work opportunities were generated every year for the locals. With this program, local companies were encouraged to increase their national employees by 5 percent every year until the company has 50 percent local employees. New firms in Bahrain are also required to allot 20 percent of its total workforce to the locals. In order to encourage companies to employ locals in their operations, the government also provides incentives to small and medium companies whose national workforce is 30 percent or more (UNESCWA 2006).

This program of the government is typically termed as the process of Bahrainization, wherein the focus is on the creation of more work opportunities for the locals. This policy has been introduced in response to the obvious end of the oil sector boom. This was also developed in order to address the growing unemployment rate among the Bahrainis in the country. In the aspect of hiring foreign employees, Bahrainization is established to employ regulations that would control the employment of migrant workers. In a way, this was use in order to limit the country’s dependence for foreign labor and begin to utilize local skills and abilities.

Evaluation for Improvements
    There had been limited reports as to how the cited educational and policy changes had affected the locals and Bahrain’s labor market. However, considering the said problems and causes of employment mismatch in Bahrain, it can be said that the developed programs and policy changes directly addresses the issues raised. For instance, statistics reports showed that the quality of education in Bahrain is among the main reason for the employment mismatch issue; in order to address this, new courses and training programs that are in direct coordination with the country’s latest labor market needs are provided to the students.

New ICT-based teaching techniques and early English lessons for young students are also used to facilitate better enhancement of learning and communication skills. For higher education students, longer hours for hands-on or field training are allocated to ensure that they are technically equipped for the jobs they will do in the future. These changes are actually efficient not only in teaching the right technical information to the students but also in teaching important values that are essential for actual work settings. All these educational developments can help make Bahrainis more competent and appealing for local employers; thus, reducing unemployment rates among the locals due to employment mismatch.

    The government has also done its share in the reformation of Bahrain’s labor market through active development and approval of relevant education and labor policies. The Bahrainization policies for example, act as support framework for the aim of the country to alleviate its problem on employment mismatch and local unemployment. This promotes the new highly skilled employees of the country for local firms, reducing their dependence on foreign laborers. Measures that would encourage local companies to employ more nationals in their operations are also enforced by the government, which promote policy compliance and maintenance. However, based on some literatures, it has been noted that the Bahrainization policies are not efficiently doing their purpose especially on the aspect of migrant workers.

    For instance, the population census noted that not much changes or developments were achieved with the Bahrainization policies from 1991 to 2002. In particular, foreign laborers still take up the majority of the workforce in the country (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002). With this finding, it is likely that the compliance measures that are implemented by the government are still not recognized by the local companies. It is also possible that employing foreign workers remains the most practical option for the employers in Bahrain. A study revealed that Bahrainization is actually hindered by a number of factors. These include the lack of appropriate work skills among local job applicants, the lack of interest among nationals to apply for unskilled jobs and the low wages offered by smaller companies (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

    In a more recent evaluation report in 2001, the government noted that certain problems hinder the effective implementation of Bahrainization policies. Among these include inadequate working condition, low wage levels, hesitance of local employers to hire Bahrainis and establishment of unregistered firms. The results of the implementation also identified aspects that cause the poor implementation of Bahrainization policies. These include the inadequate commitment or awareness of the employers with these policies, insufficient labor inspection, limited training systems and the lack of sustainable consultation mechanism (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

From this view, it is essential that close monitoring systems should be applied by the government and related agencies. Moreover, the concerns of the local companies regarding the employment of Bahrainis should also be identified and addressed. Policies should also be implemented along with appropriate measures of evaluation to facilitate continuous development and changes. If Bahrainization policies will be pursued, it is important that the government, related agencies and companies work together to resolve the factors that hinder its efficient implementation. It should be noted however that the Bahrainization effort had also provided some major changes for the country’s labor market. For instance, Bahrainization led to the rise of national employment by 27 percent during the 1990s. In the same period, Bahrainis employed in the private sector was at 43% while 27% are employed in the informal sector (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

In general, despite the efforts of the government of Bahrain, there are some roots of employment mismatch that were not fully addressed. For instance, it has been noted by reports that one of the major problems of Bahrain is the increasing rate of secondary education drop outs; this has been related to the inadequate ability of the schools to retain and encourage the students. The local government had acted on this by providing vocational programs for out of school youths.

This action helps in reducing the unemployment in the country and in ensuring that the skills of the youth are aligned with the needs of the employers. However, this does directly help in preventing further drop outs in the country. It is then essential that methodologies or new teaching processes are employed to encourage the student to focus and finish their studies.

    There are certain ways on how the interest of the students in education can be done. For instance, the country can improve the quality of education students receive by adopting modernized teaching techniques. Rather than employ the same traditional teaching methodologies in the new training programs, the country can make use of other techniques such as web-based education. This can enhance IT education and training of the students as well as optimize the ICT facilities available in the country.

The development of web-based learning environments enable the provision of appropriate student-oriented learning approaches that is concentrated more on collaboration, directed inquiry and guided activity. This learning environment is different from the traditional classroom education as the role of the teachers to provide information for the students is significantly reduced. With the integration of information and communication technology, web-based learning is more centered on the students and changes had transpired on the traditional roles of the teachers (Jonassen 2000).

As Web or online technology offers greater available resources for the students, teachers are no longer the exclusive source of information during the learning process. Through the role of the teachers as information providers is reduced in web-based education, teachers’ roles had become more diversified as in this setting, they also function as designers, guides and organizers of learning tasks. With this new learning approach, the integration of technology in education posed new challenges on both teachers and students.

    There had been a number of researches that focused on examining the role of the instructors in web-based education. According to Kemshal-Bell (2001), the teacher’s role in online courses can be divided into three main categories, which include technical, facilitating and management skills. The technical skills pertain to the proficiency level of the teachers on web-based operational tools. The facilitating skills on the other hand, refer to the ability of the instructor to direct, question, listen, assess and motivate the students. The management skills that teachers must have for this learning set up include time management, guideline establishment, planning, monitoring and adapting teaching approaches in accordance to the students’ diverse needs. Berge and Collins (1995) describe these skills as pedagogical and social.

    With the growing interest of people towards technology and online services, the use of computer systems had made its way to the educational setting. One of the reasons why web-based learning has been integrated into the students’ education is the beneficial features of this technology. Nielsen (1993) stated that these computer systems have the properties of social and practical acceptability, making them useful for the students. Another feature of the web-based learning is its usability; specifically students are able to learn effectively through online features. Teachers on the other hand, also benefit from this technology as it improves their teaching organization. In general, the use of this technology for both studying and teaching makes the learning process more interesting; thus, improving retention and appreciation.
One of the general findings researchers have on the use of ICT in the educational context is that it allows students to become more analytical. As suggested by the research of Neo and Neo (2001), as students search for information through multimedia and online tools, students become more critical thinkers. This in turn, stimulates their interest to learn and look for more information. By means of ICT, students gain access to mind tools that enhances their ability to evaluate, imagine, analyze, synthesize and design.

Moreover, learning activities that uses ICT for teaching enables the students to become better problem-solvers and decision-makers (Jonassen & Carr 2000). With the use of ICT tools, students in general become more motivated and interested to learn. As a result, students gain several skills and abilities that are useful in performing various tasks. Considering that IT is a growing trend in the work sector, employing IT in the students’ educational process could greatly enhance the skill development of the Bahrainis. Moreover, exposing them more to IT knowledge will increase their chances in working for local companies.

Aside from ensuring the interest of the students to school, it is also important that gender segmentation in higher education courses is eliminated. Rather than offer courses based on the students gender, all courses should be open to all. This will help the country generate as much future employees for local companies depending on the labor market trend. This will also take out the discrimination issue among gender in the country. Female job applicants will also have an equal share in the labor market in terms of work opportunities. With more capable local applicants, problems on unemployment rate can also be reduced. In general, the government of Bahrain was able to develop and implement effective strategies that directly address the country’s issue on employment mismatch. Through policy changes, the country was able to improve the skill level of its future local job applicants. Moreover, the Bahrainization policies helped in increasing the employment level of the nationals within local companies. Nonetheless, certain changes still need to b done in order to address the problem of the country in matching educational skills with job opportunities.

Traditional teaching methods for example should be shifted to new collaborative learning. Web-based education may also be employed to facilitate ICT awareness and development. This will not only help students be updated with the latest work trends in the country, but this will also help in retaining the children in school. Increased student retention in Bahrain will also contribute to the resolution of its high drop out rate especially at the secondary level. The country’s government should also consider enhancing its Bahrainization policies. These changes should be based on the raised issues of the employees and the employers with regards to the recruitment of more local workers. More established monitoring system should also be used by the government to facilitate better implementation outcomes.

Aside from these, the changes in the country’s educational setting should also involve the elimination of gender-based courses in higher education. Rather than offer courses to specific genders only, all courses should be offered to all. This will then support the fast generation of applicants with backgrounds or skills that suit current labor market demands, considering that stronger connections had been established between the ministry of education and labor agencies. The elimination of these gender-based courses will also help in addressing the country’s problem on gender discrimination or stereotyping.

Conclusion
Employment mismatch is an issue among employees and employers where applicants are not equipped with the appropriate skills for actual work performance. This then make some applicants less appealing for most companies. This problem had been correlated to several causative factors. These include poor quality of education given to students, outdated information and training programs as well as the continuous changes that the work sector undergoes. The occurrence of this problem on the other hand, further aggravates some nations’ problem on high unemployment rate. In the case of Bahrain and other Arab countries, the unemployment rate is also affected by the fact that migrant workers are continuously employed in large number by most local companies. The lack of skill, inadequacy of work opportunities and the level of competition in the labor market then give the locals a hard time in finding the right job for them.

Bahrain is encountering these problems in its education and labor setting. Hence, various programs and policy changes had been implemented by its government to ensure that local employees have the right skills to successfully enter the labor market. Among these educational developments include the changes in curricula where actual work exposure through field work is prioritized. Learning the English language at an early age is also enforced by the government. New teaching processes that make use of ICT are also integrated. Vocational programs that would help out of school youths are also provided to prepare them for current labor market demands. Bahrainization policies were also developed to support the fast employment of the locals in the country’s companies.

While these mentioned policies and training programs directly address the problems of Bahrain, there are still possible means that could be employed to achieve better outcomes. For example, schools in Bahrain can replace traditional teaching methods with web-based education; this would maximize the country’s available ICT resources as well as help retain students in school. The early exposure of the students to internet and other similar technologies can also help in making their skills and knowledge more applicable to current labor needs. Gender-based courses should also be taken out and higher education subjects should be open for all to help reduce unemployment rate and increase the percentage of the locals in the total workforce. In conclusion, Bahrain was able to successfully introduce new education programs and developments to help match students’ skills with the latest job requirements through the coordination of the government, education and labor sectors. This coordination should then be continued and used for the implementation of more effective project for addressing employment mismatch.

References:
Al Sulayti, H 1999, ‘Education and Training in GCC Countries: Some Issues of Concern’, in: Education and the Arab World, (pp. 271-278), The Emirate Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi.

Berge, ZL & Collins, MP, (Eds), 1995, Computer mediated communication and the online classroom, Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ.

Economic Development Board, 2004, ‘Reforming Bahrain's Labour Market’, Manama, Bahrain, September.

Hernes, G 2005, Education for work or education from work?, International Institute for Educational Planning, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 2.

ILO 2002, ‘An Integrated Policy Framework for promoting decent work in Bahrain’, viewed 6 June 2006

Jonassen, DH, & Carr, CS, 2000, ‘Mindtools: Affording multiple knowledge representations for learning’, in: S. P. Lajoie (Ed), Computers as cognitive tools, volume two: No more walls (pp. 165-196), Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.

Jonassen, DH, 2000, Computers as mind tools for schools: Engaging critical thinking, 2nd edn, Merrill-Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ and Columbus, OH.

Kemshal-Bell, G, 2001, The online teacher-Final report prepared for the project steering committee of the VET teachers and online learning project, Department of Education, South Wales.

Mathai, S 2001, Out of work In the Gulf, AME Info, viewed 6 June 2006 .

Ministry of Education 2003, ‘Major Reforms and Innovations Introduced in the Education System at the Beginning of the 21st Century’, viewed 7 June 2006 .

Neo, KTK, & Neo, M, 2001, ‘A constructivist learning experience: Reconstructing a web site using web based multimedia authoring tools’, Australian Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 330-350.
Nicks-McCaleb, L 2005, ‘The impact of state funded higher education on neighbourhood and community in the United Arab Emirates’, International Education Journal, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 322-334.

Nielsen, J, 1993, Usability Engineering, Academic Press.

Syed, Z 2003 ‘TESOL in the Gulf: The Sociocultural Context of English Language Teaching in the Gulf’, TESOL Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 337-340.

UNDAP 2002, Arab Knowledge at Home - and Abroad, Arab Human Development Report, viewed 6 May 2006

UNESCWA 2006, ‘Facing youth unemployment problems in the ESCWA region’, viewed 7 June 2006 .

Staff Development within an Educational Establishment

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:32:00 -0800

Staff development refers to the updating the knowledge and attitudes of the staff with the end in view of improving their skills and performance to achieve organizational objectives. Staff development plays a significant function in the educational establishment as it maximizes the expertise of the teachers and staff. Swanson (1994) defined expertise as “the optimal level in which a person is able and is expected to perform within the specialized realm of human activity.” Thus, development of workplace expertise through staff development has been significant to optimal performance of teachers.

In the perspective of business, a properly trained work-forced at all levels is important in any organization for its continued success and survival so that it can meet the challenge of change be it economic, technological, social, political, legal or ethical. Similarly, educational institutions are developing its staff for the same reason.

Therefore, staff development programs in schools should be stressing on definite objectives to achieve which harmonize with accepted psychologies and philosophies of education. It is important that school faculty members should try new ideas in teaching from training to the actual teaching sessions.

The major goal of staff development is to provide the best objectives, learning opportunities, and evaluation procedures for students. Assessing needs of teachers to improve the curriculum is a must. Inservice education programs may then be built sequentially on teaching skills presently possessed by teachers individually. Quality sequence is vital when moving from what is to what should be in the teacher's repertoire.

The length of time for staff development, meals, participation, recognition, and personal needs of teachers must be met. Meeting each need of teachers in staff development programs might well stress increased optimal achievement for participants. Teachers desire to be recognized for excellence in teaching emphasized in ongoing lessons and units. Being accepted as true professionals assists teachers to increasingly become the quality of person desired.

Significantly, staff development is needed in any organization as well as in the educational institutions in order to improve the job performance skills of the staff or groups of staff; improve the teacher’s individual job performance skills; to extend the experience of an individual teacher for career development or promotion purposes; to develop the professional knowledge and understanding of an individual teacher; to extend the personal or general education of an individual; to make staff feel valued; to promote job satisfaction; to develop an enhanced view of the job; to enable teachers to anticipate and prepare for change; and to clarify the whole school or department's policy

Ultimately, all teacher development will have as one of its aims the improvement of pupil learning. Additionally, Blandford (2000) emphasizes that professional development may enable practitioners to widen their understanding of society.

If schools are about promoting the learning of pupils in a changing world and learning is worthwhile and not a static or bounded process, then the learning of education professionals throughout their careers is essential (Hopkins, Ainscow and West, 1994; Southworth, 1994; Sammons, Hillman and Mortimore, 1995; Green, 1999). The linking of teachers' development to the raising of pupils' standards of achievement is central to policy in staff development programs for teachers.

The process of staff development provides a way of moving from identifying needs to setting up a series of actions which aim to do something about fulfilling them. Staff development is defined as the full range of planned activities and experiences which contribute to maintaining and developing professional expertise. Staff development was seen to be vital for ensuring the quality of learning and teaching in schools; it provided a means of continuing the development of teachers as members of a profession operating in a changing educational world.

Staff development is way to identify the professional development needs and reconciling the tensions between the individual and school priorities. It is seen as a process of review and about improvement and performance enhancement through performance management.

Staff development is a way of serving the needs of the school, department team or an individual and of individual professional development needs as varying in terms of how far they relate to school department or team priorities. It has been argued that 'teacher development and school development must go hand in hand. Generally, according to Watson and Fullan (1992) “you cannot have one without the other.” It has also been suggested by Fullan that, whereas in the past there has often been a preoccupation with helping both individuals and schools handle individual changes, “there is now an increasing need to deal with changes that affect the culture and structure of schools, restructuring roles and reorganizing responsibilities, including those of students and parents” (Fullan, 1982).

Areas of Staff Development

Motivation

Motivating can be defined as getting people to contribute their maximum effort toward the attainment of organizational objectives. Additionally, it is the creation of working conditions that will help arouse the desire of the staff to achieve these objectives. According to Hoy and Miskel (1991), “motivation is consists of complex forces that start and maintain voluntary activity that is undertaken to achieve personal goals.”

There are various theories explaining the concept of motivation. According to the theory of Maslow (1954), every person has wants that are needed to be satisfied. Maslow postulates the five hierarchy of needs which includes physiological needs, security needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization in which he acclaimed that once the low level needs are satisfied it ceases to be the motivator of man and move to the next level of needs (Maslow, 1954).

Another theory formulated by Herzberg (1959), is the two-factor theory in motivation in which identified two factors that would explain motivation. Thes consist of hygiene factors (salary, supervision, status, job security, working conditions, company policy and interpersonal relations) which remove the possible cause of dissatisfaction and the motivators (job content, recognition, advancement, the possibility of growth, responsibility and achievement).

These theories of motivation can give instances and areas of emphasis in developing the staff. Thus, each of the faculty members should go into the process of staff development to improve the school curriculum.

Staff development is one that is emphasized by motivation. With the proper training and with the confidence of the staff on their capabilities, the staff is more motivated to do their job and to improve their performance. It is also necessary for the teachers have the quality learning environment. With staff development, teachers are able to teach the students learn, develop and achieve.

Staff Development through Training

Training may be defined as a carefully planned and handheld effort of management to impart know-how and develop or improve certain phases of an individual’s skills, attitudes, discipline, behavior, or knowledge to make him either more effective on his present job or better qualified for another job. Training programs is done for various reasons but most of these reasons are based on to developing the performance of the person to his job.

Teacher training is a professional preparation of teachers, usually through formal course work and practice teaching. Although the concept of teaching as a profession is fairly new, most teachers in industrialized nations today are college or university educated. The amount of preparatory training, however, varies greatly worldwide.

Certification requirements for teaching have advanced with educational opportunity, although they vary widely from country to country. The trend in certification has been toward requiring more complete training, with practice teaching and extensive graduate work for specialized positions. In many countries extension or summer graduate work is required of teachers or is made a prerequisite for advancement. A number of graduate professional degrees are now offered, including the Master of Arts in Teaching and the Doctor of Education. While the professional requirements for teaching in the United States have in the past stressed method and psychology, increasing emphasis is now being placed on subject-matter specialization; European countries have generally stressed scholarship.

Improvements in teacher training led to demands for professional recognition and benefits. These resulted in the formation of several international organizations as well as local and national teachers' unions. The success of teacher training for elementary and secondary education has led some college administrations to consider requiring such training for college teaching also.

Teachers are required to be competent in practice having mastered a body of knowledge. Staff development practices are regarded as an essential component in maintaining and advancing individual personal and professional abilities (Friedman and Phillips, 2001).

It is well established that the continuing staff development for teachers is regarded as essential in creating effective educational organizations and in raising the standards of learner achievement (Kydd et al., 1997; O'Brien and MacBeath, 1999; Moon, 2000). Staff development has been associated with improving classroom performance, engaging with opportunities created by change initiatives, preparing teachers for specialist roles within the organization, preparing teachers for roles in management and leadership, and enabling the sharing of good practices through networking arrangements.

Staff development has been defined in Learning and Teaching: A Strategy for Professional Development (DfES, 2001a) as: 'any activity that increases the skills, knowledge or understanding of teachers, and their effectiveness in schools.'

To be able to effectively establish a staff development program, the educational establishment of a climate in which open networking between colleagues enables mutual support and reflection to take place has been shown to be an important element in the effective management of school staff development cultures (Law and Glover, 1996).

However, not all schools benefit from the presence of such a climate (Law, 1999). In educational organizations, leadership and management teams should consider whether staff collaboration is facilitated or hindered by the professional development culture they have created. For example, Williams et al. (2001) point out that support and development accorded to newly qualified teachers is of a much higher order in schools where the culture is one of collaboration when compared to schools with cultures denoted by individualism. Organizational leadership and management exercises significant influence on teacher development.

Staff Development through Performance Management

The performance management framework (DfEE, 2000a, b) leads teachers to expect a focus upon the improvement of their knowledge and skills, and also offers financial reward for those who are deemed to be performing well. Performance management may be viewed as an important element in raising professional standards or as an element of governmental intervention to exact greater efficiency, effectiveness and accountability (Down et al., 1999; Gleeson and Husbands, 2001).In essence, performance management is meant to identify teacher strengths and weaknesses with respect to addressing performance targets set so that development needs are identified and recognized.

Leaders, whether in schools or colleges, can influence the culture and purpose of their organizations and, as such, they are able to create an environment which can influence job-related attitudes. Evans (2001) suggests that leadership can shape work contexts that either match or are at odds with what individuals want in relation to equity and justice, organizational efficiency, interpersonal relations, collegiality and self-conception and self-image.

School and college leaders can make significant interventions to enhance the working lives of teachers. They can influence the emotional climate of their organizations and, in so doing, motivate staff and impact positively upon teachers' working lives. In view of the extensive methodology available to access cultural information within organizations (Locatelli and West, 1996; Higgins-D'Alessandro and Sadh, 1997; Cartwright et al., 1999), school and college leadership training should perhaps include stronger emphasis on cultural change methodology aimed at improving teacher professional experience, satisfaction and increasing the likelihood of retention.

Appraisal

Appraisal provides opportunities for staff development that is, reflection, paired observation and feedback, collaboration involving the exchange of ideas and mutual support. Appraisal can also be a precise way of identifying professional development needs of teachers. It can also be a means of reconciling school and individual development needs within financial constraints by logging and making explicit differences and the reasons for them. It can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of staff development ptograms. Appraisal puts development on the agenda of all teachers on a regular basis.

Appraisal is not simply about identifying individual development needs of teachers. The basic purpose of the review and development model of appraisal is to help teachers identify priorities or targets for future action. A necessary follow-on then is how to give teachers the support they need in order to achieve their targets. Such support may or may not include professional development. Whether or not the targets of an individual teacher include professional development support, the process of appraisal can be a valuable development opportunity in its own right.

Experience of working on appraisal both in the pilot study and since, summarized by Bollington et al. (1990), demonstrates that appraisal should not become an end in itself. Rather it is a means to an end in that it provides an opportunity for detailed discussion and reflection on individual and school priorities. There is not much point in becoming good at appraisal for its own sake; the key is to use appraisal to provide support for development in the areas of curriculum, management, teaching and learning. Using the process to look at a manageable number of priority areas is likely to be more satisfactory than using it to carry out a general yet superficial review of all aspects of someone's work.

Appraisal has the potential for helping individuals' effectiveness, skills and motivation. On the other, it has the potential for enabling a school to make better use of people, to develop and grow, and to ensure that individuals perceive their jobs and roles in the context of the needs of the whole. The following are the some of the benefits of performance appraisal.

1. Motivate credit staff to improve job performance. Enhance the impact of coaching and mentoring efforts that are already taking place between employees and their managers

2. Establish a reasonably uniform set of performance standards that are consistent with company values. Confirm that employees possess the skills or attributes needed to successfully fulfill particular jobs

3. Resolve difficulties in the supervisor-employee relationship. Keep staff focused on business goals and objectives

4. Help assess training and staff development needs. Motivate employees to upgrade their skills and job knowledge so they can make more meaningful contributions to the department

5. Provide an objective and legally defensible basis for key human resources decisions, including merit pay increases, promotions and terminations

Staff Development through Coaching and Mentoring

Given a growing interest in coaching and mentoring as means to enhance development of the teachers, the challenge associated with the successful management of these mechanisms emerges. Despite a rareness of teacher collaboration in many organizations (Harris, 2001), the encouragement of close partnerships between colleagues may help reduce or overcome any non-collaborative balkanization (Beatty, 2000) and yield the following benefits:

Ø The encouragement of collaboration may also be viewed as a tool of teacher empowerment. For example, Lieberman and Miller (2000) have suggested that teachers may well experience enhanced confidence and self-esteem through the mutual support offered by other colleagues.

Ø The engagement of support using coaching, mentoring and networking activities may assist in the transfer of teacher learning to pupil or student learning, resulting in greater impact within the classroom and the increased potential to raise standards and attainment (Joyce and Showers, 1988; Oldroyd and Hall, 1988; Wallace, 1996; Swafford, 1998; Rhodes and Houghton-Hill, 2000).

Ø The locus of control of professional development may change beneficially, allowing teachers greater ownership of professional development and its potential impact, rather than professional development and change being seen as an imposition by others (Whitmore, 1995; Beatty, 2000; Downey, 2001).

Ø Enhanced individual, team and organisational performance may emerge by sharing and developing practice within an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect (DfES, 2001a, b, c, d).

Coaching

Coaching represents a peer-networking interaction (working together) which draws upon collaboration and mutual trust. It is usually a short-term relationship which can be used to help embed change, raise performance, raise impact and assist in skill development. Good coaches will be active with the establishment of learners' needs, be sensitive to preferred learning styles and will ensure that the learner is able to engage in learning.

Mentoring

Mentoring represents a peer-networking interaction which draws upon collaboration and mutual trust. It is usually a longer term relationship which can be used to support individuals or groups to embed change, improve performance, raise impact and assist in personal and professional development. Mentoring may be used to support individuals through a combination of coaching and counseling from induction through to extended professional relationships. While coaching is an enabling and helping process, mentoring is essentially a supportive process.

Barriers and Ways to overcome them

Coaching and mentoring are an effective means of developing the teachers however there are barriers identified in the implementation of such collaboration. Implementation of such mechanisms and the creation of an environment in which mutual support can flourish may present challenges within some organizations.

For example, West-Burnham and O'Sullivan (1998) highlight the need for high-quality personal and interpersonal skills, mutual trust, confidence and respect within successful coaching relationships.

However, it is known that collaboration between individuals so they can work and learn together is not prevalent in many organizations (Harris, 2001). Close partnership and collaboration between colleagues is an important factor in enabling coaching and mentoring to flourish. In organizations where collaboration and trust between individuals is weak or not established, approaches to professional development which embrace these mechanisms have implications for leadership and management teams in those organizations.

Clement and Vandenberghe (2001) have established the importance of collegial interactions between staff and particularly the role of school leaders in creating workplace conditions which allow learning opportunities and learning space for teachers, and so influence positively the professional development experience of teachers. Other important leadership and management issues relate to the acquisition and use of information and training, the careful selection of individuals as coaches and mentors, engaging staff commitment to a management style that incorporates coaching, mentoring and peer-networking, the use of accurate needs analysis and time constraints.

Teacher collaboration

The potential benefits of coaching, mentoring and peer-networking activities within organizations stem from the requirement for close partnership between colleagues within an environment of trust, safety, support and mutual respect (Ponzio, 1987; Tharp and Gallimore, 1988; West-Burnham and O'Sullivan, 1998; Harris, 2000, 2001; Thompson, 2001). In organizations where the professional development culture already includes strong teacher collaboration, the adoption of coaching, mentoring and peer-networking should present fewer problems for staff. However, in many organizations it is known that teacher collaboration is not prevalent (Harris, 2001) and leadership and management intervention may be necessary to enable mutual teacher support to flourish.

Information and training

The rareness of information currently available in the implementation of desirable working standards and the skill and training requirements of staff responsible for helping colleagues learn needs to be addressed if the potential benefits of these mechanisms are to be realized. Nationally or internationally agreed guidance concerning good practices in coaching and mentoring in schools and colleges would be of use to teachers, leadership and management teams, trainers and others concerned with the raising of standards and attainment in schools and colleges.

Selection of individuals

The selection of coaches and mentors demands that individuals are sought who possess personal and professional qualities of the highest order (West-Burnham and O'Sullivan, 1998). For example, insensitive and judgmental feedback regarding performance can damage learning relationships and encourage teachers to have negative views of their own abilities (Watkins and Whalley, 2000). In offering feedback, coaches and mentors would ideally have the potential to surpass the instrumental level of mechanistic direction for colleagues and would ideally foster opportunities to reflect deeply on practice.

Thompson (2001) has suggested that coaching without reflection will not enable learning to take place, and West-Burnham and O'Sullivan (1998) point out that both coaching and reflection are required in order to produce a consolidated and internalized learning experience. Coaches and mentors are responsible for assisting the learning of colleagues who are adults, and with this goes the requirement to choose and train individuals who can sustain skills in enabling adults to learn. For example, Collarbone (2000) has identified that coaching requires the recognition that adults learn for specific purposes and that they must be motivated to want to learn.

Discussing the mentoring of adults, Daloz (1998) identifies potential problems which may damage intended learning relationships between colleagues. It is suggested that problems could stem from differing ethics, possible misuse of power or excessive control, or from exaggerated emotional dependence by either party.

Engaging staff commitment

Approaches to professional development which ignore the issue of who is in control of the development are missing a vital component. Higgins and Leat (1997) point out that it is important to recognize that people are less likely to be receptive or positive with regard to professional development initiatives if they think they are being manipulated. Leadership and management teams need to consider how they will convince staff of the potential benefits of a management style which involves coaching, mentoring and peer-networking. For example, if the work of the coach or mentor becomes equated with only supervision due to weakness, staff may perceive an over-managerial element rather than a true collaborative drive to support the learning of all teachers.

Needs analysis

In engaging coaching, mentoring or networking activities to support professional learning and teacher performance, leadership and management teams will need to carefully identify specific teacher learning needs in order to raise standards and attainment within their organizations. An accurate diagnosis of the causes of poor performance would enable better targeting of support and thus provide a more effective and efficient remediation to take place.

This is illustrated by the work of Wragg (2000), who found that where poorly performing teachers did improve their performance, it was often because they had been given in-house support and a fellow teacher as mentor, which in turn had made an impact on their classroom teaching. Importantly, head teachers who had successfully pursued such a support strategy were able to make precise judgments about the nature of help needed.

Time constraints

Given severe time constraints in schools due to teacher workload (Rhodes and Houghton-Hill, 2000; Thompson, 2001; GTC, 2002), leadership and management teams should consider how sufficient time may be created to allow the coach or mentor to undertake their role. This may be particularly problematic in schools where all staff are engaged in full-time class contact. It is reasonable to assume that staff in some schools and colleges may be reluctant to take on the additional responsibilities inherent in coaching and mentoring.

Leadership and management teams may wish to consider the use of a consultant to undertake a coaching or mentoring role. Each educational organization has a unique context and an individual improvement journey to follow. Those organizations choosing to adopt coaching and mentoring mechanisms need to consider their position with respect to developing true collegiality. For example, some organizations may seek to develop towards a professional learning community (Thompson, 2001), whereas others may adopt a more limited vision and employ these mechanisms strategically as quick fixes for immediate performance difficulties.

Given that organizations spend significant sums of money on professional development with the intention of raising teacher performance (Rhodes and Houghton-Hill, 2000; Rhodes, 2001), organizations actively seeking the potential benefits of coaching, mentoring and peer-networking relationships will also need to consider the placement of these mechanisms as part of normal working patterns in order to engender a climate of safety and trust.

Teacher Retention

The linkage between individual development and teacher retention has received much recent attention. Dean (2001) suggests that premature loss of experienced teachers may be curtailed or prevented through staff development activities such as sabbaticals which would allow for personal refreshment.

An Ofsted (2003) evaluation of the quality and effectiveness of early professional development undertaken by teachers suggested that in about half of the schools in the survey (n = 61) teachers felt that development activities had strengthened their commitment to a career in teaching. Rowe and Sykes (1989) have found the potential for strong positive effects of individual development on teachers' professional self-perceptions, energy, enthusiasm and satisfaction.

Beatty (2000) has shown that self-directed professional learning, personal and shared reflection, and authentic collaboration in a supportive study group environment can create changes in teachers' perceptions of themselves and their work and catalyze professional growth. A report by Day et al. (2002) has suggested that provision of opportunities for teachers to reflect on their teaching and engage in dialogue about it with other teachers can help to build motivation and commitment.

Given that teacher collaboration and mutual support offer the potential to raise teacher confidence and facilitate teacher professional learning (Rhodes and Beneicke, 2002), school and college leadership teams need to consider how productive collaboration can be engendered within the context of their own organizations, how they might remove obstacles to sharing and how they may offer support as well as challenge. Emphasizing the importance of school leadership with respect to the outcomes experienced by teachers engaging in professional development, Earley et al. (2002) have recommended that a key component of leadership programs should include managing professional development for others as well as inclusion of theoretical frameworks which underpin professional learning.

Conclusion

In summary, staff development should stress meaning, purpose, high morale, provision for individual differences, interest, quality attitudes, goal attainment, acceptance, and respect for others, problem solving skills, and self-concept development by participants. Thus, a positive environment must emphasize heavy teacher input when staff development programs are being considered. The concerns of teachers then are vital to consider.

References

Beatty, B. (2000) Teachers Leading their Own Professional Growth: self-directed reflection and collaboration and changes in perception of self and work in secondary school teachers, Journal of In-Service Education, 26, 73-97.

Blandford, S. (2000) Managing Professional Development in Schools, London: Routledge

Bollington, R., Hopkins, D. and West, M. (1990) An Introduction to TeacherAppraisal: A Professional Development Approach, London: Cassell

Cartwright, J., Andrews, T. and Webley, P. (1999) A Methodology for Cultural Measurement and Change: a case study, Total Quality Management, 10, 121-128.

Clement, M. and Vandenberghe, R. (2001) How School Leaders can Promote Teachers' Professional Development: an account from the field, School Leadership and Management, 21(1), 43-57.

Day, C., Hadfield, M. and Kellow, M. (2002) Schools as Learning Communities: Building Capacity Through Network Learning, Education 3-13, October, 19-22.

Dean, P. (2001) Blood on the Tracks: an accusation and proposal, Journal of In-Service Education, 27, 491-499.

DfEE (2000a) Performance Management in Schools: Performance Management Framework, London: Stationery Office.

DfEE (2000b) Performance Management in Schools: Model Performance Management Policy, London: Stationery Office.

DfES (2001a) Learning and Teaching: A Strategy for Professional Development, London: Stationery Office.

DfES (2001b) Good Value CPD: A Code of Practice for Providers of Professional Development for Teachers, London: Stationery Office.

DfES (2001c) Teachers' Standards Framework: Helping you Develop, London: Stationery Office.

DfES (2001d) Schools Achieving Success, London: Stationery Office

Down, B., Hogan, C. and Chadbourne, R. (1999) Making Sense of Performance Management: official rhetoric and teachers' reality, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 27, 11-24

Earley, P., Evans, J., Collarbone, P., Gold, A. and Halpin, D. (2002) Establishing the Current State of School Leadership in England, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR336.pdf.

Evans, L. (2001) Delving Deeper into Morale, Job Satisfaction and Motivation among Education Professionals: re-examining the leadership dimension, Educational Management and Administration, 29, 291-306.

Friedman, A. and Phillips, M. (2001) Leaping the CPD Hurdle: a study of the barriers and drivers to participation in continuing professional development, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001892.htm.

Fullan, M. (1982) The Meaning of Educational Change, New York: Teachers' College Press

Gleeson, D. and Husbands, C. (eds) (2001) The Performing School: Managing, Teaching and Learning in a Performance Culture, London: RoutledgeFalmer

Harris, A. (2001) Building the Capacity for School Improvement, School Leadership and Management, 21(3), 261-270.

Green, H. (1999) A View from the Teacher Training Agency's EducationalManagement and Leadership ESRC Seminar (7 May 1999), London: TTA

Higgins-D'Alessandro, A. and Sadh, D. (1997) The Dimensions and Measurement of School Culture: understanding school culture as the basis for school reform, International Journal of Educational Research, 27, 553-569.

Hopkins, D., Ainscow, M. and West, M. (1994) School Improvement in an Era ofChange, London: Cassell

Hoy, Wayne, and Cecil G. Miskel. Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: McGraw Hill, Inc., 1991, page 202.

Joyce, B. and Showers, B. (1988) Student Achievement Through Staff Development, New York: Longman.

Kydd, L., Crawford, M. and Riches, C. (eds) (1997) Professional Development for Educational Management, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Law, S. (1999) Leadership for Learning: the changing culture of professional development in schools, Journal of Educational Administration, 37, 66-79.

Law, S. and Glover, D. (1996) Towards Coherence in the Management of Professional Development Planning, Cambridge: BEMAS Research Conference.

Lieberman, A. and Miller, L. (2000) Teaching and Teacher Development: a new synthesis for a new century, in R. S. Brandt (ed.) Education in a New Era, Virginia: ASCD.

Locatelli, V. and West, M. (1996) On Elephants and Blind Researchers: methods for accessing culture in organisations, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 17, 12-21.

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Maslow, Abraham H. (1954). Motivation and Personality 3^rd ed. New York: Harper and Row, p. 46

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Rhodes, C.P. and Beneicke, S. (2002) Coaching, Mentoring and Peer-networking: challenges for the management of teacher professional development in schools, Journal of In-Service Education, 28(2), 297-309

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School Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:23:00 -0800

Leadership

1.1.Definition of Leadership

Scholars have always been trying to define what leadership and effective leadership is (and subsequently - how to achieve effective leadership). Already in 600BC, the Chinese Tao Te King defined leadership:

"Most leaders are despised, some leaders are feared, few leaders are praised, and the rare leader is never noticed" (cited in Andriessen & Drenth 1984).

In fact, his definition relates or may even distinguish between leaders and appointed managers. The phenomenon of leadership was described in many historical manuscripts. Actually, aside from the Bible, the Iliad and Odyssey also presented some colorful definitions of leadership and differentiate leaders in different cases.

Many works have been written since, in which scholars suggested what is leadership and how it can be defined (Bass, 1990). Rigorous exploration of these works reveals severe difficulty in finding agreement among them. This emerges in part from the difficulty in defining the term leadership. There are several related frameworks in the literature, some of which are partially overlapping and thus one can identify many types of definitions, not necessarily similar.

It appears from these definitions that leadership is associated with the relationship between a person and other people - a group. Cattell (1953) defined a leader as a person who produces group scintilla which is different from that which would have been if that person had not been presented. Kotter (1988) defines leadership as a process of motivating group(s) in certain direction through noncoercive process. Stogdill (1974, p. 81) provides a more comprehensive definition:

"The leader is characteriszed by a strong drive for responsibility and task completion, vigor and persistence in pursuit of goals, venturesomeness and originality in problem solving, drive to exercise initiative in social situation, self-confidence and a sense of personal identity, willingness to accept consequences of decision and action, readiness to absorb interpersonal stress, willingness to tolerate frustration and delay, ability to influence other persons' behavior, and capacity to structure social interaction systems to purpose at hand"

This long and comprehensive definition includes mainly skills and traits which characterize leaders, but does not recognise the importance of the role of goal direction and exerting influences on the group and its members. A more operative definition is that of Hersey & Blanchard (1972):

“Leadership is a process of interpersonal influence from a person unto other(s) in the direction of a goal, where the other(s) subsequently act of own will in the direction sought for by the leader.”

Looking at the above and many other definitions, one can realise that here is no common agreement in the literature for a definition of leadership (Yukl, 1994). Bryman (1986) provide various samples, and the disparity among them is striking. Some of the disparity relates to the component `having a goal or target' which appears in only in part of them (e.g. Ruach & Behling 1984) but not in others (e.g. Hollander, 1978). Bryman (1986) also identified the difference between the study of leadership in organizations and study of leadership by itself.

Apparently, Yukl (1994) also explored some of the definitions. In the study of Yukl (1994), the term `leader' and emphasises the disparity among the scholars who try to define it. The common idea that Yukl suggests is "A person who influence group members". This definition seems to be too wide and is lacking in focus. An additional growth in leadership study emerged with Bass's ideas of transactional versus transformational leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1994). From this, it is very apparent that there are various different definitions of leadership, but there is common understanding of its nature.

While there are many definitions for leadership, a true leader is one that does not cause his or her constituents to become dependent upon them, but rather independent enough to function in the absence of the leader. True enough, leadership is art. People and individuals are influence by the goals of aspirations of the appointed leader. Remember too, that the goals and aspirations must be real and attainable in order for the people who are being led to buy into them and strive towards them as well. Special emphasis is placed on the factor of importance. Again, if individuals do not see where they fit into the equation, they may question the authority of the leader and abandon his or her ideas of beliefs. Bear in mind also, that individuals or masses may be led by a leader, however, when dealing with groups, the work is much more demanding as the program must be sold to various personalities within the group.

1.2.Definition of School Leadership

From the previous issues about defining leadership, it shows that leadership is not an easy concept to define. Actually, Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach (1999) stressed that the concept of leadership has no agreed definition. It was also supported by Yukl (2002, pp.4–5) as he argued that

“the definition of leadership is arbitrary and very subjective. Some definitions are more useful than others, but there is no ‘correct’ definition.”

Aside from this, Cuban (1988, p.190) also raised the issue as he says

“there are more than 350 definitions of leadership but no clear and unequivocal understanding as to what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders”.

But despite of this lacking definition pertaining to what leadership is, a lot of people and experts (e.g. Halawah, 2005; Sammons, Hillman, & Mortimore, 1995; and Lacina & Hannibal, 2008) argued that leadership is significant to school effectiveness and improvement (Stoll & Fink 1996, Hallinger and Heck 1999). For this reason, the need for the establishment of at least a working definition of school leadership is necessary. Thus, Chance & Chance (2002) define school leadership as

“as the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, pupils, and parents toward achieving common educational aims.”

An educator has a responsibility to provide guidance and share the knowledge to the students. And to become a head of all the faculty members is such a great responsibility, what more if an ordinary teacher became the leader of the entire school, such a burden. The introduction of the clear standards of school leadership promotes the core values and maturity on their role and responsibility. It is true that it’s hard to find a perfect leader and guide everyone, including teachers and students. With proper consulting, mentoring, training and measuring all the responsibilities, a leader cannot be perfect but an effective person who can lead the entire educational institution in better future.

The approach on school leadership is accepted as an effective tool for managing in environments of overload and fragmentation especially in school systems. The key aspects of leadership should revolve in four categories. There should be a moral purpose when there is a recognized leadership; the leadership should be part of an adaptive work; the leadership should establish the unique roles and responsibilities; and the leadership should know their domain or the centralization of their action (Huber, 2007).

Aside from the proper school system, the call for the effective school leadership has also captured the ethics of the schools and approach to teach students well. For instance, the moral leadership approach in schools is an effective approach that is used as a key of the leaders whenever they are trying to influence the entire school organizations. Apparently, the transformational leadership promises the focus on morality which is good for the education. This provides the social systems, management and improvement of education with the criteria that passed through the social and personal morals such as honesty, courage, respect and broad mindedness (Rudell, 2008).

1.3.School Leadership Patterns

Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals toward a common goal. Aside from that leadership is also a process which implies that a leader must continuously grow and develop both in character and competence. In the same way, an educational leader or reformer must possess such qualities as a leader.

Traditionally, the task of schooling has been to transform children into full functioning adults capable of succeeding in the culture of the time. Educational reformers from antiquity to the present have attempted to prod educational institutions to modify and change fundamental tasks and processes. Changing a subject matter can be difficult, however, reforming the infrastructure of schooling and the dynamics of those human interactions is monumental. This is the challenge and focus of the contemporary educational leader. Thus, school leadership is more than a position or role. School leadership at its core is fundamentally a dynamic, chaotic, human relational process. The leader, follower and context are the three structural dimensions involved in this process. How each individual engages in that process; perceives or defines each of the dimensions of the process can significantly shape the personal and collective metaphors that guide individual and collective action (Richford, 2001). Hence, movement is essential in school leadership in order to bring about educational changes.

Aligning the people in school is one of the basic attribute of an effective school leadership. Along with that is the proper management of the people in school in moving toward their objectives. School leadership can be described as the trait of a person to set strategies made especially for school improvements. The changes that an individual may produce are another beneficial factor of his leadership to cope the changing environment. On the other hand, the management is the process of the duties of the leaders. Through the appropriate management, the problems and areas need for development or improvement can be determined.

In school, effective leaders are also community builders and can influence others to be a leader in their own way (Victor, 2009). There should be a moral purpose when there is a recognized leadership; the leadership should be part of an adaptive work; the leadership should establish the unique roles and responsibilities; and the leadership should know their domain or the centralization of their action (Huber, 2007). Most of the private schools received the lack of funding and the proper management of the educators (Day, 2007). Based on the different challenges in the education, a leader should promote the effectiveness in the education in delivering most of the quality attributes. Through the roots of the personality of the leaders, the effective approach in managing the schools will come out in them naturally (Mai, 2004).

In addition to being concerned with the school leadership, Sergiovanni (1992) also questioned whether schools should be thought of as formal or informal organizations. If formal, then formal leadership roles would be designated to particular people by virtue of their rank in the organization. With this style, superintendents would be expected to know more and lead more. If informal, then working together to discuss goals, purposes and teaching methodologies (collegiality) would take precedence over formal leadership. Sergiovanni favored the informal position and felt that it led to a sense of the school as a community (p. 43).

Barth (1988) proposed the idea of the school as a community, encompassing all school staff, students and parents. His community of leaders is explained:

“Teachers harbor extraordinary capabilities and their leadership is a major untapped resource for improving our nation’s schools . . . my vision for a school is a place whose very mission is to ensure that students, parents, teachers and principals all become school leaders in some ways and at some times (p. 131).”

The concept of the school as a community of leaders is further developed by Barth (1990), as he suggests that principals engage in activities such as articulating goals, empowering and entrusting individuals, involving people in decision-making, taking risks, sharing responsibility for failure, and sharing as well the joy of success. Barth believes that such “leadership would promote professional conversation among adults, peer coaching among students, and staff cooperation on projects such as planning and designing curricula (p. 31).”

Some believe, however, that it is inappropriate to develop community leaders within an educational institution. Zhao (2010) argues that one is unlikely to be successful in

“collaboratively defining the essential purpose of teaching and learning and then empowering the entire school community to become organized and focused” (p. 13).

Indeed, current research concerning site-based management confirms the importance of leadership from the top. Still, Gardner & Laskin, (1995) believes that the function of leadership is to alter the minds of the members of a community. His cognitive approach claims that leadership activity occurs in the mind of the leader, in the minds of the followers, and in the interactions and transactions between and among those minds.

Barth (1997) believes “contagious energy” is created through collegiality. He further states,

“the nature and quality of adult relationships within a school or a school system have more to do with the school’s quality and accomplishments than any other factor” (p. 42).

1.4.New Trends in School Leadership

Leadership is the more relationship-based, values-laden, developmental aspect of the work we do inn organization. Bennis & Nanus (1985) tritely suggest that management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right things.

By the late 1970’s theories were beginning to emphasize leadership that placed instruction and learning at the core of effective education. Goodlad (1978) refers to instructional leadership as the beginning of the third era in leadership theory. He embraces this concept as a return to “first principles” (p.324) and states that the work of those who lead in the formulation of educational policy “is to maintain, justify and articulate sound, comprehensible programs of instruction for children and for youth” (p.326).

Research based upon Goodlad’s ideas confirm that in more effective schools, principals led in the establishment of atmosphere conducive to learning, and they were perceived to have more impact on educational decision-making than principals in less effective schools. Hallinger, Beckman & Davis (1989) report that effective principals “influence student learning by developing a clear mission that provides an instructional focus for teachers throughout the school.it creates a school environment that focuses on and facilitates student learning”(p.9).

With regards to the new trends of school leadership, understanding of the principalship has become even more aligned with our concept of teacher leadership. Sergiovanni (1999) put forth the concept of moral leadership based on the assumption of schools as professional learning communities and that communities are defined by their efforts toward making shared values explicit and these shared values become sources for informal norms that govern behavior. Teachers, as community members, respond to their duties and obligations in keeping with the school community informal norm system. These connections allow principals to rely less on external control. The result is that teachers become increasingly self–managed.

Unlike the leaders of the past, many of today’s principals are “not lone rangers who depend on charisma and individual genius to transform schools” (Lieberman & Miller, 1999; p. 40). The principals who are engaged in real school change recognize that every teacher can be leader in partnership with the principal and the roles of teaching, learning, and leading can be played by everyone in an organization that is described by Lieberman & Miller (1999) as “leadership dense” (p.46). Successful principals recall the hopes, dreams, frustrations and aspirations they had when they were teacher leaders and capitalize on the teacher leadership in their schools to accomplish their goals.

Although progress has been made in recognizing that the principal’s job is about creating a culture in which principals and teachers lead together, our experience is that this perspective is not widespread. As we work with principals in the 2000s, the leadership conversations have changed but potential principals still expect the graduate school or professional development providers to prepare them in the technical responsibilities. Often, these future leaders believe their success rests only in managing the facility, building the budget or creating the master schedule. Our approach to their development, however, is focused on a more complex form of leadership that emphasizes values and beliefs, shared vision, school culture, teacher leadership, professional learning communities, and transforming schools to focus on teaching and learning. As important as mastery of the technical and managerial skills may be, principals must reconsider how to use the technical tasks of the work of schooling to their advantage in partnering with the school’s teachers leaders in transforming the teaching and learning that occurs.

New standard for school leaders support those new relationships between principals and teacher leaders. Focus is placed on both student learning and shared leadership in the recently developed multi-state performance assessment designed for licensure of school principals. Organized by the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) was formed for the purpose of raising quality in educational leadership and influencing certification through principal candidate assessment (Stolp, S. & Smith, 1994). The first two of the six standards support the importance of the school administrator’s work is in building a school culture that promotes teacher leaders (Stolp, S. & Smith, 1994).

Standard 1: A school administrator is school leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.

Standard 2: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conductive to student learning and staff professional growth. (Stolp, S. & Smith, 1994)

The proliferation of professional development schools has also impacted the expectations for principals. Direct collaboration of teachers with university personnel in action research that informs teacher practice requires new roles and shifts in power. Bolman & Heller, (1995), suggests that changes in principal leadership are necessarily linked to changes in teacher leadership in the professional development school settings.

Another role for the principal is to serve as a buffer for obstacles from outside the school. These may come from district staff, parents, community members or other external forces like special interest groups. The principals of successful schools negotiate with the larger system (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008) and develop liaisons with powerful individuals to diminish these barriers for the school. Teachers may not even be aware of the efforts principals make to shield them from unpleasant information that could lessen the teachers’ enthusiasm to lead.

Finally, a recent study (Mooij & Smeets, 2001) suggests that the actions of principals to provide supportive conditions is a key factor in encouraging shared leadership and nurturing teacher leadership roles within professional communities. The principal supports teacher leadership by actively listening to teachers, assuming a responsibility for knowing about teaching and learning in the school and being consistent in the follow-through on shared decisions made in the school.

1.5.School Leadership in the UAE

In UAE, the interest to spend on education or schools has reduced in this past decades (ILO, 2002). This has been made evident by the low educational spending obtained within UAE. Compared to the industrialized nations, UAE had demonstrated a significant drop in individual spending for education; the enrolment rate in the region is then directly affected seeking for effective school leadership (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). However, in the case of the UAE, enrolment rate for higher education has also been dropping continuously. In turn, this makes the need for effective school leadership even more severe.

In UAE, there are several important aspects raised in relation to the interest of students to education, dropout rate and graduate population (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Enhancement of the role played by school leaders is also weak which is also contributing to the declining interest of student in education. The basic education in the country extends for 9 years with three years of secondary education. Institutes that offer higher education include Bahrain Training Institute, Gulf Hospitality and Tourism College, Bahrain University, College of Health Sciences, Arab Gulf University and other special institutions like the Bahrain Institute for Banking & Finance. Statistic reports showed that enrolment rate (50%) and the number of graduates (38%) in the country actually increased (ILO 2002).

However, certain problems had been identified in the country’s secondary education level. In particular, a high level of dropout rate has been observed; statistic reports identified a significant difference between the number of enrollees in the primary, secondary and intermediate schools (Henson & Chambers, 2003). As the students progress in educational level, the number of enrollees lessens. Results also indicated that for every ten students who enroll for their first year in primary education, less than four pupils will enroll for secondary education. This observed trend led school administrations to question the ability of the schools to retain the students (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).

The interest of the students to education is not only about leadership in schools; the population of the enrollees in terms of gender also aggravates the issue. Local census showed that more females are more motivated to study as compared to males. For example, in the science courses, male students only make up 36% of the total population while 64% are females. In the literary division, only 33.5% are males . Females are only slightly higher than the male population in the primary education level; however, female population doubles in the secondary level and becomes 30% more than the male students in the intermediate level. There is also a distinct discrimination in the courses offered for both genders; for example, industrial education is only open to male students while advertising and textile are only offered to female students (ILO, 2002).

Two-thirds of the secondary and post-secondary education enrollees are made up of female students; however, the females only make up 25.78% of the total labor force in UAE. These results clearly showed that while there are more female graduates than males, their skills are not utilized for local employment. The limited education courses accessible to male and female students also make it difficult for employers to find the needed employees for their operation (ILO, 2002). From the gathered findings, UAE’s educational setting is comprised of abnormally high dropout rate especially in the secondary level; eventually, the out of school population contributes to the country’s unemployment rate. There is also an apparent school leadership problem among male students in UAE. Moreover, although the female population displayed a high performance level, the local labor markets do not offer matching job opportunities.

The quality and promotion of education, specifically the form of teaching and encouragement in the UAE has something to do about school leadership. According to Al Sulayti (1999), students studying in the Gulf region are more accustomed to the traditional methods of teaching and memorization. For instance, in taking up English courses, students are trained in preparation for taking up the Preliminary English Test, a standardized English competency test for students at the intermediate level. During the duration of the semester, the students must be able to achieve the fourth level of English proficiency before the exams. This clearly illustrates that the Arabian method of teaching is patterned after the traditional high-stakes testing (Syed, 2003). This then deprive the students of the modern techniques for teaching like collaborative learning. This educational practice makes it even more difficult for student in UAE to obtain good local jobs and compete with foreign workers.

Usually, classroom instruction is conducted with a teacher facilitating the discussion; during the class, teachers may ask questions or give examinations to assess the level of comprehension of the students. In the traditional setting, the teachers are the only source of information; students on the other would just have to take note and memorize all these information. Skill level at this set up is greatly affected due to the students’ lack of involvement in the learning process. With the traditional learning process, students are not able to effectively apply what they have learned from real work situations. Traditional teaching process then lessens the potential of the students to be innovative, creative and analytical.

The quality of education among students is also affected by the inadequate IT knowledge and skill enhancement in the Arab region. Although computer systems are readily available, there is also a distinct lack of internet utilization in the students’ education process; this also makes the nationals less appealing as employees compared to other foreign workers. The inadequate exposure of most locals to internet use is largely attributable to some inefficient Arab policies (UNDAP, 2002).

For instance, online Arabic publications that could have been popularized through the internet are often controlled with certain decrees. This then limits Arab information from being accessible to the public. Another important is the cost of internet access in the region. As online services are provided in the UAE at considerably high prices, most people are not able to access this major development. This also prevents the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for knowledge expansion and better education (UNDAP, 2002).

Student Achievement

2.1. Definition of Student Achievement

In the current era, student achievement is one of the crucial factors in school development. According to Henson & Chambers, (2003), a school achievement refers to something that a student do achieved at school whether it is in class, in a laboratory, library or fieldwork which are normally defined as academic achievement. It also does include sports and music which are categorized as non-academic achievements. In addition, achievements upon extra-curricular activities at school can be also considered as school achievement.

In discussing student achievements, the context of student learning and performance are also tackled. Learning is very vital to individual development particularly to student’s achievement. It needs special consideration to different variables to make the learning experience become successful. Issues pertaining to individual differences should be considered. Intellectual capacity, expertise and knowledge pertaining to the profession of the learners must be given an attention. Thus, teachers need to be careful not only to approach in teaching but also to the overall learning outcome that will details the achievements of the students. Actually, the importance of school leadership takes form in the notion that learning is essential in order to obtain an entry-level qualification for paid work, and learning whilst in a job; while the importance of non-formal education can be stressed by the social common senses that it teaches to students. Lacina, & Hannibal, (2008) appears to support this notion, who said that the three major purposes of education are that it prepares a person for work, for citizenship and it enables him to have significant school achievement that reflects on intellectual growth and independence.

Accordingly the importance of education in assessing school achievements such as literacy and certain procedural skills, uncovering the content of various knowledge domains, inculcating certain values, perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs as well as developing the ability to independently learn and think effectively are emphasised (Ruddell, 2008). Although of course, this does not imply that all of these needs are often done effectively or are even proffered the attention they deserve.

The love for learning is so great that it should be associated with a way of life. With significant school achievements, it helps people to be more objective in their approach to life’s problems, more analytical in trying to understand them and more aware of the consequences that can arise when handling them (Thompson & Serra, 2005). School achievements and learning can help lead a fuller and richer life and to be more conscious of the economic and social environment.

Like the suggestion of Thompson & Serra (2005) that focused student achievement present a set of challenges. Through ratings for an individual course compared to the composite raring for all courses in the department, the minority range can be determined. The monitoring process is depends in the class standard of the educators assumption on how the students perform.

The work of the school is assessing student achievement and assessing the capabilities of each student. By monitoring process, the educators can clearly tell who met the requirement and the students that belonged to the minority range who did not met the expected proficiency will go for another series of practice. The students belonged in this group needs attention and support (Gleeson & Husbands, 2001). The guidance coming from the educators must prevail, and perhaps educators can introduce an easy way in writing by shifting into other process which the skill of a student suits to it.

The educators should orient their students in a simple approach that they will surely understand. Encourage the students to develop their skills into their own effort and find the right style to enhance their learning abilities. The educators should always lend their time to check the works of the students and give suggestions. The educator should respect the choice of the students and help them perform well with a group discussion. The teaching should not always goes in one direction, meaning, the social time of the students with their friends and classmates can endow the writing skill of the student.

2.2 Factors Affecting Student Achievement

Teaching different individuals is related to student achievement, thus the teaching methods of an instructor should consider various factors affecting learning and student achievements. It also should conform to the type or race of the student (Ovando & Collier, 1998). Meaning, the instructor should be flexible in teaching depending on what the student are aiming to learn in order to have a meaningful achievement. Moreover, one of the factors that the instructor should understand is to learn the different methods and strategies in teaching considering that it is crucial to one’s achievement.

For example in a case study presented by Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes & Simmons, (1997), a school is typically made of individuals of multiple linguistic, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Fuchs, et. al. (1997) identified that the class consists of five Arabic students with low socio-Economic Status, two non Arabic students with low socio-Economic Status, four middle class Arabic students, two middle class non Arabic students, two high socio-Economic Status Arabic students and two high socio-Economic Status non Arabic students. With all of these elements, the question arises as to how a teacher can reach each of these students individually while teaching the entire class on a daily basis? While this scenario may sound excessive, in reality, this is often case in some classrooms in Sydney. The problem then lies in the teacher's hands to focus attention on each student with their plethora of learning levels and styles.

The question arises as to what would happen to student achievement if teachers ignore the need to conform to Multiculturalism. This statement, while sounding contradictory within itself, is a condition that occurs throughout our educational system, and has detrimental impact on students of all backgrounds (Fuchs, et. al. 1997). For example, research shows that teachers who do not acknowledge learning differences tend to classify students as "teachable" or "difficult to teach". This mental schema has several negative outcomes (Alster, 1997).

Apart from Multiculturalism as affecting factors of students’ achievements, teachers who also fail in the attempt to build a classroom community will in turn classify students by their ability and will often negatively influence the achievement of those students. Considering this, many students fail to make adequate, if any, progress throughout school (Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes & Simmons, 1997) and will develop a very low self-esteem with many dropping out of school during secondary education (Ovando & Collier, 1998).

Aside from this factor, factors such as student’s learning capacity, vices, time spent sleeping, stress, school teaching approach and leadership have a great effect students’ academic achievements (Lacina, & Hannibal, 2008). The school environment is the broader context of the school that allows for classroom instruction and student learning (Tunney, 1996). A transformation to a community should take place throughout the school wide environment by maximizing the number of positive interactions with students and parents. Teachers are capable of producing profound and positive changes in student behaviors and learning by effectively modeling the positive processes, skills, and attitudes that parents teach (Hindle, 1996).

Bringing members of a class together for certain activities engenders the feeling of belonging to a group and in turn establishes class spirit (Bergin, 1999). With this, students who feel that they belong to a group have power in decision-making and have freedom of choices (Tunney, 1996). The classroom community can be developed by a number of means. Students should develop a process of understanding, sharing, compassion and empathy. The classroom should be referred to by the teacher as "our classroom" rather than "my classroom". The development of a community is moving from doing things to students to doing things for students (Tunney, 1996).

2.3 School Leadership and Student Achievement

Ensuring the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process can be cumbersome if one of the important things have not done and evaluated properly. The educational trend nowadays, composed of concept of evaluation which aims on identifying which part of the education system should be enhanced and which part needs changes. School leadership and management is twice as important as the evaluation and assessment of the students. It has been part of the tradition that evaluation of school leadership has been accounted to be a critical element of the teaching and learning process (Mentkowski, 2004) method. To be able to make sure that the teaching-learning approach is able to attain the educational objective, it is essential that the school leadership and management has been properly assessed and evaluated.

In the case study presented by Theall, (2002), he shows that evaluation of different educational activities, programmes and other educationally relevant operations involving school leadership has something to do with the manner of familiarizing the purpose of the education is and how this can be attained. Theall, (2002) justifies that school leadership includes the judgment regarding the effectiveness of the current practices in school. Further, it includes gathering information which is done in the assessment stage and making judgments or decisions based on the data collated (evaluation stage), to identify how well school actions involving school leadership is performing. It can be said that the principal purpose of school leadership is to plan enhancement to the current practices that will enhance the achievement of the students and other people in school. Such enhancements might involve changes to the document of school curriculum and or the provision of resources for the teaching-learning process (Theall, 2002).

Education is one of the necessities and the rights of each individual in the world. In school, teachers and school administrators’ leadership have the responsibility of providing effective education to students, as this serves as their development. Through knowledge and education, students can become involved to different activities, which do not only develop their mental abilities, but their personalities as well. School leadership and their efforts towards promotion of education play significant effect to the learning capabilities and student achievements. With efficient school leadership efforts, it creates way and strategies to attain success in teaching-learning process. According to Khan (2011), methods in teaching, capabilities of the learner and the learning environment should be considered in order to attain success.

Khan (2011) reports that education is the knowledge of putting a person’s potential to maximum use, and is important for training the human mind, which makes man a right thinker and it tells one to think and make decisions. Without education, man is as though a closed room, but through education, he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards outside world (Khan 2011). With this importance, it is always better to provide some changes and improvement to the system of education. School improvement programs must be planned effectively and implemented efficiently to help the development of the curriculum, for the enhancement of the learning process of each student.

2.2.Student Achievement in the UAE

The government in UAE had done several steps and procedures in order to improve their education by enhancing student achievement.. So as to improve the skills of the students and prepare them for the demands of the labor markets, major changes had been introduced and enforced through new education policies.

For primary education, policies that improves student achievement include the implementation of a generalized class-teacher system, employment of ICT in the teaching process, early teaching of the English language, provision of learning programs for gifted students and creation of better home-school relations. For the out of school youth, the local government had also enforced a policy where vocational programs will be provided for these children to prepare them for the requirements of the labor market (UNESCWA 2006 and Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Society groups like teachers and students now have access to various training courses for advance learning that would improve their technical knowledge and skills. The structure of UAE’s ministry of Education has also been modified in order to ensure that the needs and requirements of the labor market are relayed to the education institutions. This modification also enabled the ministry to develop programs, visions and objectives that can help prepare future job applicants in securing local work opportunities (Ministry of Education 2003).

The developments in UAE’s school setting had also been subjected to a continuous and automated evaluation system, making the preparation and analysis of education statistic report easier and more accurate (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). According to Sowa & De La Vega, (2008) several developmental project had also been approved by the local administration to improve the learning and educational background of the Bahrainis. These projects include the utilization of a curriculum that teaches personal, health and social life skills, the use of a commercial and industrial curriculum and the employment of an English-guided reading program (Ministry of Education 2003).

The development and implementation of the curriculum for life skills aim to integrate the learning for life perspective; this will help in achieving educational goals that are relevant the students’ health, existence and relation with the society. This development project aims to establish a balance between the knowledge students learn from school and real life application (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). This project will then directly address the students’ need to be updated with the latest economical, political, social and technological developments. The development of the commercial and industrial curriculum also aims to enhance the skills of the Bahraini students and prepare them for the labor market (Ministry of Education 2003).

The commercial curriculum for instance is directed on the development of vocational education so as to help students overcome rapid knowledge and technological changes (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Moreover, the learning of the English language has been more emphasized in this curriculum development. Some of the important features of this curriculum include the establishment of simulation halls where students can practice actual labor market work, the integration of the internet, development and implementation of new improved training programs for teachers, modification of the study plan for commercial education to coordinate with the demands of the labor market and introduction of new courses that are in demand to the current work sector (Ministry of Education 2003).

Similar developments had been done in the curriculum for industrial education and improvement of student’s achievement. In order to enhance the actual work experience and student’s achievement, the study plan for industrial education now include more hours for field training (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). New courses that meet the needs of the labor market are also introduced; the courses also give more focus on teaching life skills, safety health and vocational abilities. In order to shape the students’ project management capabilities, small feasibility projects that teach project planning, resource budgeting and workforce management are integrated (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Aside from technical skills, these projects also help student develop important values like self-confidence, independence and respect, which they could use in actual work settings (Ministry of Education 2003). Aside from the implementation of various educational policies, the local government of UAE has also been active in promoting the employment of nationals in local work opportunities.

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Creating a literature review matrix

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:20:00 -0800

1. List all authors used in chronological order on the left-hand column

2. Select 4-6(usually) key themes/issues etc. from your reading and place these along the top of the table

3. Cross-reference each author to the key theme or issue

4. Some authors may not fit in anywhere – you should then discuss this in the literature review, as it begs the question: why are they included?

5. The matrix is only a useful tool; don’t spend weeks and weeks on it. You do not have to be absolutely precise with the cross-referencing – just give the reader an indication of what each author has said/argued etc.

Usually, a matrix is only used for the literature review and not for all authors used in all sections of the dissertation. A secondary research study may wish to consider using the matrix for all authors used throughout the work

Finite Mathematics

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:20:00 -0700

Introduction and Problem Statement

The population growth among countries around the globe tends to become the problem. Due to the increasing number of population, the needs of the people were also increasing. Aside from this, the available resources to suffice these needs are terribly declining. The current financial crisis of America proves that there is a need to predict and estimate the number of population as the year pass by. In this way, the country can create some measures that will counter the possible problem that is cause by the increasing number of population.

Basically, data or information classified from linear programming and on the basis of intervals of time constitute vital information in the control of an activity, since this is the most effective method of showing the changes that are taking place in the population of United States of America. Closely related to the problem of measuring changes in population growth is the making of forecast of future needs. The management of operation requires a continual making of decisions regarding the future and the basis for such forecasts is the record of the past performance.

Data on population growth is important in determining the possible future of a certain country (Hobbs F. and Stoops N, 19). The said data are of interests chiefly in order that the figures for one period maybe compared with similar figures for other figures. When observations of this kind are arranged in a time sequence and separated by (or represent) more or less regular intervals of time (e.g. years), the progression of values is known as a time series. The concept of trend in economic time series rests in large part upon the secular growth of population, capital and resources. On the other hand, this paper attempts to construct a model that suits to the forecast of the possible future numbers of the population (e.g. 2010 and 2020) of the United States of America in accordance to their previous population records (i.e. from 1900 to 2000). For these reasons, it is necessary, as in so many other fields of experimental, empirical knowledge, for the forecaster to use the behaviour of cycles of population to predict the future whether or not he fully understands the causes of the behaviour we uses. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to identify the predicted number of population in United States of America for the years 2010 and 2020.

Methods and Approach

For a study which seeks future status, the trend analysis will be the most appropriate method to use. As stated in the book of Creswell, “it is employed in studies which aim to project the numbers, demands or needs of the people in the future”(p.12). To help estimate the rate and the direction of changes in the future, surveys repeated at intervals may be used. Basically, this paper will be using the census data of United States of America from 1900 to 2000. The data is also available online through http://www.census.gov. Actually, the census covers a number of population where the variables are concrete. For this reason, the responses are simple and accurate. There is less contradiction in our data since the variable we oath to measure are well defined and clear (i.e. US populations). With regards to methods in trend analysis, this paper will be using “The Method of Least Squares” to predict the population of America in 2010 and 2020.

In “The Method of Least Squares”, the strait line trend is assured and the line trend will have a formula of the type:

In this formula the value of a and b must be determined. The principle of least squares states that a trend best fit of a given set of values when the constants of the equation are chosen so that the sum of the squares of the deviations between the original data and the corresponding trend values are a minimum. If the line fits the data perfectly, each point will lie on the line and the sum of the squares of the deviations will be zero. The farther the points are from the trend, the larger will the deviation, although the line may still be fitted so that these squared deviations will be a minimum.

In order to find these values for a and b by the method of least squares, it is necessary to solve the following normal equations in which time is designated by x and the values in the series by y.

The procedure may be simplified by arbitrarily shifting the origin of the series (in the middle year for an odd number of years and between the two centers for an even number of years) in this way so that, the preceding equations can be reduced to:

After the values of a and b are determined, it then becomes possible with the use of the equation, to compute the actual trend values.

Applications

With respect to previous method of analysis, the following set data are gathered in order to determine the possible population of United States of America in year 2010 and 2020.

Table 1. Data

Year	x	Population (y)	x²	xy
1900	-5	75,994,575	25	-379972875
1910	-4	91,972,266	16	-367889064
1920	-3	105,710,620	9	-317131860
1930	-2	122,775,046	4	-245550092
1940	-1	131,669,275	1	-131669275
1950	0	150,697,361	0	0
1960	1	179,323,175	1	179323175
1970	2	203,211,926	4	406423852
1980	3	226,545,805	9	679637415
1990	4	248,709,873	16	994839492
2000	5	281,421,906	25	1407109530
	0	1,818,031,828	110	2,225,120,298

Source: http://www.census.gov

Using these values, we can now compute for the values of a and b. Thus we have:

The equation will then be read:

Trend of population growth in United States of America 1900-2000

where: y is the number of population

x is the deviation of years

Figure 1. Population Trend

Using the equation, we can now predict the population of United States of America in 2010 and 2020 by setting the values of x to 6 and 7. Thus we have:

For 2010:

For 2020:

Conclusion

Similar to probability, forecasting, by professional and business man alike, is too frequently a guessing game. Even when forecasters agree, they are apt to reach their common conclusion by different methods and for different reasons. And when they happen to be right, they are frequently right because of reasons or conditions they did not anticipate.

These critical observations are written with no disparaging or pharisaical implications. These difficulties are inherent in the art and beset everyone who attempts to move ahead of time and to pierce the veil that shrouds the future. There is no infallible forecasting system. Unorganized forecasting is usually the product of personal judgment or intuition or, sometimes, only a subconscious feeling for the course of future events. It is more art than science, and it will re- main in this unsatisfactory state until its methods can be brought into the realm of the rational and can be based on logical relationships that govern business behaviour and can be stated in measurable terms. General progress in forecasting will come only with the wider understanding and application of the common sense economic principles that govern the fluctuations of aggregate national income, production, and prices. This wider understanding is one of the objectives of this volume. It is hoped that this study will bring to the businessman and to other students of forecasting an understanding of some of these principles and their application to business forecasting. With regards to the findings of the data gathered, the suggested model to be used in order to forecast the population of United States of America is. As stated, the results are based from the least square method.

References:

Creswell, JW Research design. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. 1994.

Hobbs F. and Stoops N. Demographic Trends in the 20th Century. Census 2000 Special Reports, 2002.

An Evaluation: McDonald’s Corporation’s Global Business Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:14:00 -0700

Introduction

McDonald’s Corporation, as one of the most recognised leaders in International business and in the nature of fast-food industry gets the attention of the business leaders in gaining the success. The recognition only verified the action of the organisation in the continuous expansion and building international market. The competency of the organisation from the mother country affects the other participating countries, and their strategies such as procedures have been passed right to other sister companies and franchises (McDonalds.com 2009). The flow of knowledge and direct power of the mother company on its branches can be effectively promotes the relationship and presence of organisational culture. Aside from that, there are other applications of knowledge that continuously redesigning the face and appeal of the companies. Through the application of global business strategy, the study recognised the success of McDonalds Corporation. In addition, there is a clear description that the business’s practices and management are established through the specified theories and traditional strategies in aiming for a quality product and services. However, it was identified that McDonalds should not over emphasise their philosophical view regarding the role of global business strategy in their business operation (McDonalds.com 2009). It is true that the best strategy that a business can set in the arena of competition is to place a competitive advantage among the other competitors. But too much use of that particular advantage may lead to failure if not properly monitored; instead they must focus on serving the market well.

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Topic Overview: McDonalds’ Global Business Strategy

Fast-food industry changed the traditional restaurants, but still they gained the market by providing with the quality of food and service. In some countries, the subways and street sides are considered as the areas that moves the fast-food industry (Stewart, 2004). Among the fast movers and growing businesses in the industry is McDonalds. McDonald Corporation appeared in the plate of food industry as a business with no appeal to the customers. It even announced its losses due to the ineffective representation of the organisation in the food industry as well as on its competitors. After recognising the areas of the company’s weaknesses, McDonalds eventually emerged as a superior firm among the group of fast-food and restaurant competitors. The sudden growth of the business reflects in their competency in operation even if there is a threat coming from the global financial crisis and recession. Many award-giving bodies recognised the company as the best running international company in the world (Patnaik & Mortensen, 2009). However, many researchers are still wondering on what would be the factor/s that contributes in the success of the organisation. It is still a mystery for the people outside the organisation to determine the truth behind McDonald’s success. Is it through global business strategy innovation, or through mastering the theories that might affect the consumers’ behaviour?

1.1.2 The Company

As Dick and Mac, the McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant in 1940 in San Bernardino, California, the phenomenal growth that their business is not expected. From very beginning, the brother hit on a winning formula selling a high quality product reasonably and swiftly (McDonalds.com 2009). Yet, it was not until Ray Kroc, a Chicago based salesman with finesse for marketing, became part of the business. As Ray Kroc joined the venture of McDonalds, he recognised that the same flourishing McDonald's formula may perhaps be exploited all through the United States and beyond (McDonalds.com 2009). Because of the successful expansion and growth of McDonalds into different parts of the globe, it become a living symbol of globalisation and spread the American culture in the world.

Figure 1. McDonalds Branches in the World

Source: McDonalds.com 2009

McDonald's Corporation was now considered as the world's largest hamburger fast-food restaurant chains. McDonalds were currently serving more than 58 million customers daily. Basically, a McDonald's food chain was normally operated in various modes; it could be in franchisee, affiliate, or corporation itself. With these practices, the corporation's revenues are coming from rentals, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees and also from sales of company-operated food-chains. As for the record, the company revenues grew from 27% for 3 consecutive years ending in 2007 for about $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in terms of operating income reaching to $3.9 billion (McDonald's Corporation, 2007).

Basically, McDonald's Corporation sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, French fries, breakfast meals, soda drinks, shakes and desserts. As the company responded to the changing consumer tastes, McDonalds expanded their menu to include salads, wraps and fruit (McDougal, 2006). As the company goes global and in accordance to consumers’ diversity, various business strategies were employed in order to meet the changing demands of their patrons.

As McDougal, (2006) argued, the reason behind the success of McDonald’s is because of its excellent capacity management and innovation practices which is also similar of what Wal-Mart does to maintain their success. McDonald’s is always making sure that they always have something new to offer to their customers. They are using recipe and technological innovation to enhance their service to meet their customer’s satisfaction in global setting.

2.0 Research Objectives and Questions

2.1 Research Objectives

The study aims to seek the contribution global business strategy to the success of McDonald’s Corporation. Generally, the complexity of today’s global market is different from the past years but still, McDonald’s remains effective among its consumers. To determine the various challenges that the company managed to solve is however, might contribute in the company’s action in their formulation of strategies. Through learning the strategies being implemented within the organisation, there is a positive approach on what are the factors that might contribute to the long-term success of the company. With this, the following are the objectives of the study.

Ø Examine the factors associated with the growth of Local and global business of McDonalds.

Ø Analyse how the global business strategy has contributed to business growth development

Ø Understand how McDonald’s has developed and grown into very success business.

2.2 Research Questions

In accordance to the detailed objectives of the study, this study aims to answer the following queries:

Ø What are the factors associated with the growth of local and global business of McDonalds?

Ø How the global business strategies of McDonald’s Corporation contributed to their business growth and development?

Ø How McDonald’s has developed and grown into very success business?

3.0 Literature Review

3.1 Fast-food industry

Actually people eat out for irrational reasons. The exception may be fast food, which really is convenient and is focused at only one motivational component: physical survival. However, McDonald's has revolutionised the fast food business at the motivational level by shifting the reason for dining out from physical survival to spiritual survival: kids, family fun, family values, love, compassion, concern. It is what good parents do with their children; it is the right thing to do (Fulton & Maddock 1996). As a result, in fast food marketing, McDonald's does better than anyone else, largely because it has directed its marketing efforts at the highest motivational level: spiritual survival (Humphrey & Mandel 2002). Fast food with the exception of McDonald's may fade, unless menus are changed substantially. One big problem with fast food is that it is positioned at the level of physical survival. Consumers' eating habits are undergoing a revolution. Within the last years the Physical Survival Motive has been strongly emphasised and brought into focus. The fast food industry has shown considerable resistance and reluctance to change or adapt to what is known about physical survival. Too many business travellers have had the unpleasant experience of eating at these places while on the road and then slowly realising that they have gained unwanted pounds (McCraw 2000). McDonald's will remain because it has been marketed at the level of spiritual survival. It is more than food, it is an experience. It is marketed directly to children, who in turn market to their parents. When parents are marketed to by their own children, this phenomenon arouses and creates mild to moderate parental guilt and the parents almost always acquiesce. The family then has an experience, not just a meal. But even at McDonald's, where many changes already have been made in the interest of physical survival, there will be even more extensive changes within the next few years. The most powerful form of marketing is marketing to the children, who in turn market to the adults. This is a solid example of targeting at the level of spiritual survival and love. It does not always work, but it is powerful and strong. This is direct marketing to the level of spiritual survival. The other side of the restaurant experience is fine dining, which will survive because of the motives that it serves. Fine dining is more of an experience than a meal. After all, people can eat at home since most homes are well equipped for serving food. They do not really have to eat out. Home-served entrees will have an effect upon fine dining, but not nearly the effect that they will have upon the mid-levels of dining. This is because home served entrees will create an experience also. Showing a couple enjoying a fine dining experience dressed in casual clothing, perhaps in candlelight and in a romantic atmosphere, could easily move the dining experience from the restaurant back to the home again (Talwar 2002). The fast-food industry survives because of the need for people to have a faster way to eat their meal. Not all companies in the fast food industry have achieved a global notoriety since not all have created a well

3.2 McDonalds and Its Global Impact

McDonalds has reached a worldwide market. It has become a household name that has a branch in most countries. McDonalds has changed the way the fast-food industry plays the game. McDonald introduced the standards for other fast food businesses but it has longevity because it combined business and social concepts. The McDonald's Corporation is the largest food service operation in the world in terms of system-wide sales. At the beginning of 2000 it was operating more than 25,000 restaurants in 116 countries. A modest estimate of its current world-wide workforce would be around 1.5 million people, and 10 million people are estimated to have worked for the corporation since it was formed (Royle 2000). McDonald's, unlike Burger King, Wendy's, Arby's, etc., does not sell fast food. It sells family values, standards, and togetherness. Taking the family to McDonald's is the right thing to do. By marketing directly to children and letting the children market to the parents, the product is automatically positioned at the spiritual level. The success and growth rate of the corporation is to some extent reflected by the growth of the fast-food industry in general. In the USA alone, this market was estimated to be worth $200 billion a year in the mid-1990s. It was originally thought that the expansion of fast-food restaurants had already reached saturation level in the 1970s; however, restaurant numbers have increased continually since then (Alfino & Caputo 1998).

McDonald's entry into foreign markets was not just about finding suitable locations but also about overcoming a number of significant obstacles in establishing operations in another country. Although, for example, there was very little competition from other American hamburger chains overseas, many countries had no locally based fast-food restaurants and no experience of fast-food. Among other things, the corporation would be attempting to change people's eating habits, imposing the McDonald's system and an American culture on host countries (McDonalds.com 2009). McDonald’s is an example of a franchisor that has been successful with its collective learning in its international operations, but has only recently begun to apply it to its domestic operations. Part of its international success has come from recognising the value of its foreign franchise network and allowing learning, knowledge transfer, and appropriate modification to flow. In addition to menu modification, it has also allowed host country franchisees systems to create local supply infrastructures as well. It is now attempting to integrate this more decentralised approach into its domestic operations and relationships as it attempts to re-establish its position in the US market. Franchises provide McDonald's with capital; they share risks and provide local knowledge of markets and social institutional arrangements. In fact, the study suggests that franchise operators are also particularly good at keeping labor costs down and removing wastage (Watson 2006). Franchises and the small unit nature of the restaurants allow for close monitoring of all aspects of the business. McDonald's receives a percentage of the franchisee's profits and also leases the restaurant to the franchisee. Providing that the franchisee does not damage the brand through bad publicity, McDonald's can directly benefit from franchisees that go beyond the corporation's own limits in terms of labour cost savings. McDonald's is therefore able to maintain very tight controls over the uniformity of the standards and procedures of its operations across different societal cultures because of, as much as in spite of, its high percentage of franchise operations (Aharoni & Nachum 2000).

3.3 McDonald’s Global Business Strategies

McDonald’s global business strategies are quite effective considering that numerous McDonald’s fast food stores are now operating in almost all parts of the globe. This strategy became successful because of McDonald’s consideration about McDonaldisation: McDonald’s Business Model, The Empire (Business Environment), Changing Markets (Society), and Innovation (Technology).

McDonaldisation: McDonald’s Business Model - According to the book of the sociologist, George Ritzer, McDonalds is the most notably fast-food business because it effectively revolutionised not only the restaurant business but also the American society, and even the world (Ritzer, 1995). McDonalds is successfully conquering the globalisation and the application of the term “McDonaldisation” is the representation of McDonald’s business model. McDonald’s Corporation is said to be moving in three spheres of philosophy of system in management, knowledge, and environment; technology, and society. The method of establishing an organisational system as a model is suggested to be common among the organisation but can be effective in the internationalisation (Boje, et al., 2005).

The Empire (Business Environment) - In 1955, the entrepreneur Ray Kroc entered and bought the rights to franchise the McDonald’s System and following the change of the name into the McDonald’s Corporation. Focusing on the marketing efforts targeting the children and family, the firm might be well known on their trademark using a clown with a happy face named Ronald McDonald (Stewart, 2004; and Botterill & Kline, 2007). The introduction of such strategies was supported by the continuous promotion on television and on advertising that increasingly attracts most of the children. As expected, organisations are always looking forward for a continuous growth and McDonald’s is not different from those organisations that have an intention in providing strategies that are suitable in answering the demand for growth. Through the combination of three targets enumerated as the: maximisation of sales and profits in the existing restaurants or branches; adding new establishments of McDonald restaurants and; improving the international profitability. Ray Kroc created an empire of fundamental principles that are based on those targets which delivers the Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value (Q.S.C. & V.). Other than that, there is also a development coming from the goals and operating practices that are appropriate in carrying out the company’s vision.

From the traditional values, McDonald’s integrated the learning into three strategic priorities; first is to enhance the appeal of McDonald’s in giving the value in to their customers by emphasising the profitable value-meal combinations. Second is to provide the kind of service and care through exceeding the customer’s expectations in terms of accessible locations, quick service, quality of products, and cleanliness. And lastly, is for the company to remain an efficient producer while maintain the achievement of quality. This can be only possible by having a positive approach on the innovations in food processing, construction, and the design of their operations (Svoboda, 1995). All of the three strategic priorities are assumed to help increase the company’s global profits.

Changing Markets (Society) - The management of McDonald’s promoted several strategies that spin the mass-marketing efficacy. Many organisations attempted to follow the celebrated success of the company. However, same as the other organisations, McDonald’s and their various practices have been under the keen eyes of the critiques. The organisation was observed to be involved in the issues of the student or young labours, environmental, and social concerns (Botterill & Kline, 2007). Moreover, the organisation are said to be a great influence in changing the community or family values, globalisation of culture, and health and lifestyle of the children. The issues that revolve in the market definitely created a bad environment for the company and reached in filing lawsuits of libel case (Patnaik & Mortensen, 2009).

Innovation (Technology) - But what would be the true secret behind the success of a company? Aside from this question, there is a train of assumptions of business strategies that gains respect from the past years. But one thing is for sure, there’s no story of magic involved. If the business analysts or strategists will be asked, they will surely answer what is mundane and obvious in the era of globalisation. Innovation can be the simple answer of the businesses to provide the better execution in both manufacturing and service industry (Patnaik & Mortensen, 2009). Along with the trend of the innovation is the technological approach of the company in making the processes and services more efficient. The use of the telephone or online-ordering services makes it possible for the company to reach the people (Youn, 2005). The vast influence of the technology in the lives of the people became one of the advantages of the company. Through the evolution of the technology, the business can now advertise via Internet and create a Website to help them learn the other concerns, suggestions, or demands of the customers. This strategy is part of the company to look into world by identifying the opportunities and placing the people to work according to the newly discovered opportunity.

4.0 Research Methodology

In this report, the researcher considers both quantitative and qualitative research for secondary data which are from books, magazines, journals, newspapers and online resources that are in general discussing the business strategy of McDonald’s as well as other relevant literature materials that answers the research questions of this study.

For this research design, the researcher gathered data, collated published studies from different local and foreign universities and articles from journals; and make an analysis of the collected documentary and verbal material. Afterwards, the researcher summarised all the information, make a conclusion based on the results of evaluation and provide insightful recommendations on the dealing with the business practices of McDonald’s Corporation.

These gathered data and collated studies form and comprise the discussions of that this study is base on. This complements with the other data that the researcher gathered through the company news and reports. The information that is summarised and the conclusion that gained from these sources help the researcher to have an idea of the magnitude of the sufficiency and criticality of business practice of McDonald’s Corporation.

As stated, this study utilised the secondary data. Secondary data include raw data and published summaries, as well as both quantitative and qualitative data. Saunders & Thornhill (2003) deduced that secondary data fall into three main subgroups—documentary data, survey-based data, and those compiled from different sources. On the other hand, the study used news and company reports to gather vital information. Basically, these are called documentary secondary data.

Documentary secondary data, accordingly, are the ones often used in research projects that also use primary data collection methods, although such data can also be used on their own or be combined with other secondary data. The type includes written documents (notices, correspondence, minutes of meetings, and reports to shareholders, diaries, transcripts of speeches, administrative and public records, as well as articles from books, journals, magazines and newspapers and online materials). Because it can be important raw data sources on their own right, a storage medium for compiled and provide qualitative data, and can be used. To generate statistical measures (e.g., data on absenteeism derived from company records); and, non-written documents, like tape and video recordings, pictures, drawings, films and television programmes, digital versatile disks and CD-ROMs that can be analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively, as well be used to help triangulate. The part of findings, based on other data such as written documents and primary data collected through observations, interviews and questionnaires (Saunders & Thornhill, 2003, pp. 190-191). From the gathered past studies related to the status of McDonald’s Corporation business practice, this study employed an analysis since this study involves gathering information by examining records and documents. Basically, the use of SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces Model were considered in assessing and evaluating the global strategy of McDonald’s Corporation.

5.0 Expected Findings

In relation to the challenges in business, McDonald’s Corporation should create effective and efficient strategies that satisfy the needs of modern society. Basically, this research study only covers the evaluation of the global business strategy of McDonald’s Corporation. The outcome of this study is limited only to the data gathered from books, journals and online materials about McDonald’s Corporation global business strategy and business reports. This study shall evaluate the global business strategy of McDonald’s Corporation. As stated before, the sources of data came from a company reports, books and journals and from online materials found by the researcher relating to the global business practices of McDonald’s Corporation. Moreover, this study provides a useful role to society since it depicts the future of a certain business with regards to business development. Additionally, all data was addressed through interpretation and in-depth evaluation using SWOT Analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Model.

6.0 Schedule

7.0 List of References

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Alfino, M. & Caputo, J.S. (eds.) (1998). McDonaldisation revisited: Critical essays on consumer culture, Praeger, Westport, CT.

Boje, D., Enriquez, E., Gonzalez, M.T., & Macias, E., (2005). “Architectonics of McDonald’s Cohabitation with Wal-Mart: An Exploratory Study of Ethnocentricity”, New Mexico State University, Retrieved July 11, 2011from http://peaceaware.com/McD/papers/Architectonics_McDonald_Jun_2005.pdf

Botterill, J., & Kline, S., (2007). “From McLibel to McLettuce: Childhood, Spin and Re-Branding”, Society and Business Review, Vol. 2, No. 1

Humphrey, C. & Mandel, R. (eds.) (2002). Markets and moralities: Ethnographies of post-socialism, Berg, New York.

McCraw, T.K. (2000). American business, 1920-2000: How it worked, Wheeling, IL.

McDonald's Corporation (2007). McDonald's Corporation 2007 Annual Report. Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/etc/medialib/aboutMcDonalds/investors.Par.94194.File.dat/Downloadable_AR_final_4_8_08.pdf

McDonalds.com (2009). Our Company. [Online] Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcd_history.html

McDougal, P. (2006). "8 Expensive IT Blunders". Information Week. Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://www.informationweek.com/news/193302693?_requestid=271307

Patnaik, D., & Mortensen, P., (2009). “The Secret of McDonald’s Recent Success: It’s All About How the CEO Connects Directly with Customers”, Innovation, Forbes Org, Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/04/mcdonalds-skinner-empathy-leadership-innovation_0204_patnaik.html

Ritzer, G., (1995). “The McDonaldisation of the Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life”, Pine Forge Press.

Royle, T. (2000). Working for Mcdonald's in Europe: The unequal struggle? Routledge, New York.

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Watson, J.L. (eds.) (2006). Golden Arches East: Mcdonald's in East Asia, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

Youn, S., (2005). “Teenagers’ Perceptions of Online Privacy and Coping Behaviors: A Risk-Benefit Appraisal Approach”, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Vol. 49, No. 1.

[Essay] School Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (EssayThesis (Gem)) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:12:00 -0700

Leadership

1.1.Definition of Leadership

"Most leaders are despised, some leaders are feared, few leaders are praised, and the rare leader is never noticed" (cited in Andriessen & Drenth 1984).

1.2.Definition of School Leadership

“the definition of leadership is arbitrary and very subjective. Some definitions are more useful than others, but there is no ‘correct’ definition.”

Aside from this, Cuban (1988, p.190) also raised the issue as he says

“there are more than 350 definitions of leadership but no clear and unequivocal understanding as to what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders”.

“as the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, pupils, and parents toward achieving common educational aims.”

1.3.School Leadership Patterns

Barth (1988) proposed the idea of the school as a community, encompassing all school staff, students and parents. His community of leaders is explained:

Some believe, however, that it is inappropriate to develop community leaders within an educational institution. Zhao (2010) argues that one is unlikely to be successful in

“collaboratively defining the essential purpose of teaching and learning and then empowering the entire school community to become organized and focused” (p. 13).

Barth (1997) believes “contagious energy” is created through collegiality. He further states,

“the nature and quality of adult relationships within a school or a school system have more to do with the school’s quality and accomplishments than any other factor” (p. 42).

1.4.New Trends in School Leadership

1.5.School Leadership in the UAE

Student Achievement