Management and Leadership Chapter 4

1. COURSENOTES
COURSE TITLE: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
COURSE CODE: EPB2033
PREPARED BY: TENGKU NOORAINUN TENGKU SHAHDAN

2. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
TOPIC 4: Culture and Climate in Schools
(Textbook Chapter 5)
4.0 Introduction
This topic will explain the organizational culture and organizational climate. Culture and
climate are two contemporary perspectives for examining the distinctive character of schools.
Learners should be able to give examples of: (a) a school culture; and (b) a school climate. At
the end of this topic, learners should be able to explain how strong organizational cultures
can improve or hinder the effectiveness of an organization.
4.0.1 Overview
School cultures of efficacy (the ability of produce the result/outcome), trust and
optimism (feeling that good thing will happen) will promote student achievement,
whereas a culture of humanistic control supports the socio-emotional development of
students. However, organizational climate is a relatively enduring quality of a school
that manifested in teachers’ collective perceptions of organizational behaviour.
4.1 Key Contents
4.1.0 Definition of Organizational Culture
There are many definitions of organizational culture. One such definition considers
the following:
• Henry Mintzberg (1989) refers to culture as organization ideology, or the
traditions and beliefs of an organization that distinguish it from other
organizations and infuse a certain life into the skeleton of its structure.
• Stephen Robbins (1998) defines organization culture as “a system of shared
meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other
organizations.
• Edgar Schein (1992, 1999), however, argues that the culture should be
reserved for a “deeper level of basic assumptions, values, and beliefs” that
become shared and taken for granted as the organization continues to be
successful.
Our general definition of organizational culture is a system of shared orientations
and beliefs that hold the unit together and give it a distinctive identity. Orientations
are norms, values, and tacit assumptions.
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3. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
4.1.1 Level of Organizational Culture
(a) Culture as Shared Norms
Norms by definition are usually unwritten and informal expectations that occur
just below the surface of experience. Norms directly influence behaviour. Norms
are also communicated to participants by stories and ceremonies that provide
visible examples of what the organization stands for. Norms determine the way
people dress and talk; the way people balance self-interests with organizational
interests.
(b) Culture as Shared Belief and Values
Values are beliefs of what is desirable. Shared values define the basic character of
the organization and give the organization a sense of identity. Success of these
organizations was not as much a matter of technology as it was of managing
people. The core values of the culture are the dominant values that most of the
organizational members accept and share. In strong cultures, beliefs and values
are held intensely, shared widely, and guide organizational behaviour.
(c) Culture as Tacit Assumptions
Tacit assumptions are abstract premises about the nature of human relationships,
human nature, truth, reality, and environment (Dyer, 1985). For example, is
human nature basically good, evil, or neutral? How truth ultimately determined is
– is it revealed or discovered?
4.1.2 Functions of Culture
• Culture serves to guide and shape the attitudes and behaviour of
organizational members.
• Robbins (1991) summarizes a number of important functions performed by
the organization’s culture:
o Culture has a boundary; it creates distinctions among organizations,
o Culture provides the organization with a sense of identity,
o Culture facilitates the development of commitment to the group,
o Culture enhances stability in the social system, and
o Culture is the social glue that binds the organization together; it provides the
appropriate standards for bahavior.
4.1.3 Elements of Culture
Seven primary elements that shape the culture of most organization;
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Date: 18/03/2011
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4. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
• Innovation: the degree to which employees are expected to be creative and
take risks.
• Stability: the degree to which activities focus on the status quo rather than
change.
• Attention to detail: the degree to which there is concern for precision and
detail.
• Outcome orientation: the degree to which management emphasizes results.
• People orientation: the degree to which management decisions are sensitive to
individuals.
• Team orientation: the degree of emphasis on collaboration and teamwork.
• Aggressiveness: the degree to which employees are expected to be competitive
rather than easy going.
4.1.4 Schools Culture – The Metaphor
• The Family
• The Machine
• The Circus
• The Factory
• The Jungle
• The Zoo
• The Fad Shop
• The Academy
• The Club
4.2 Organizational Climate
Climate was initially conceived as a general concept to express the enduring quality of
organizational life. Organizational climate of school is a set of internal characteristics
that distinguish one school from another and influence the behaviour of each school’s
member. More specifically, school climate is a relatively enduring quality of the school
environment that is experienced by participants, affects their behaviour, and is based on
their collective perceptions of behaviour in schools.
• B.H. Gilmer (1996) defines organizational climate as “those characteristics that
distinguish the organization from other organizations and that influence the behaviour of
people in the organization’.
• George Litwin and Robert Stringer (1968) introduce perception into their
definition of climate: “a set of measurable properties of the work environment based on
the collective perceptions of the people who live and work in the environment and
demonstrated to influence their behaviour.”
4.2.1 A Climate of Citizenship
Organizational citizenship is behaviour that goes beyond the formal responsibilities of
the role by actions that occur freely to help others achieve the task at hand. The
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5. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
prototype of a climate of citizenship is a school in which teachers help each other and
new colleague by giving freely of their own time. Teachers are conscientious and
routinely go beyond the prescribed duties of the job. They also avoid complaining as
they engage in productive efforts to improve teaching and learning. In such a school,
teachers treat each other with courtesy by giving advance notice of change and
reminders and by respecting each other as professionals.
4.2.2 Open and Close Climate
• Open climate is marked by cooperation and respect within the faculty and
between the faculty and principal. Principal listens and is open to teacher’s
suggestions, gives genuine and frequent praise, and respects the professional
competence of the faculty (high supportiveness). Principals also give their
teachers freedom to perform without close or thorough examination (low
directive) and provide facilitating leadership behaviour (low restrictiveness).
• Close climate is appear the principal and teachers go through the motions,
with the principal stressing routine trivia and unnecessary busywork (high
restrictiveness) and the teacher responding minimally and exhibiting little
commitment (high disengagement). The principal’s ineffective leadership is
further seen as controlling and rigid (high directive) as well as unsympathetic,
unconcerned and unresponsive (low supportiveness).
4.2.3 A Climate of Organization Health
Specifically, a health organization is one in which the technical, managerial, and
institutional levels are in harmony. The organization is both meeting its needs
and successfully coping with disruptive outside forces as it directs its energies
toward its mission.
• The healthy school is protected from unreasonable community and
parental pressures. The principal of a healthy school provides dynamic
leadership – leadership that is both task oriented and relations oriented. Such
behaviour is supportive of teachers and yet provides direction and maintains
high standards of performance. Moreover, the principal has influence with his
or her superiors as well as the ability to exercise independent thought and
action. Teachers in a healthy school are committed to teaching and learning.
They set high but achievable goals for students; they maintain high standards
of performance; and the learning environment is orderly and serious.
• The unhealthy school is vulnerable to destructive outside forces. Teachers
and administrators are bombarded with unreasonable demands from parental
and community groups. The principal does not provide leadership; there is
little direction, limited consideration and support for teachers, and virtually no
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Date: 18/03/2011
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6. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
influence with superiors. Moral of teachers is low. Teachers feel good neither
about each other nor about their jobs. They act suspiciously, and defensive.
4.3 Summary
a) Schools have distinctive cultures, core values and beliefs, which provide members
with a sense of organizational mission and identity.
b) Strong cultures can be good or bad because they can promote or to delay or to
stop a progress of effectiveness.
c) Culture calls attention to the symbolic nature of organizations; often what is said
or done is not as important as what it symbolizes.
d) Cultures of efficacy, of trust, and of academic optimism promote student
achievement.
e) A custodial culture of pupil control impedes the socio-emotional development of
students.
f) The organizational climate of a school is the set of faculty perceptions of the
dominant behaviors of organizational participants.
g) Openness of organizational climate is positively related to loyalty, trust, and
commitment of teachers.
i) The health of organizational climate is positively related to openness in member
interactions as well as school effectiveness.
j) Strong academic emphasis in the school climate promotes school effectiveness
and student achievement.
k) Changing the culture or climate of a school is usually a difficult, continuous, and
long-term process.
4.4 Tutorial Activities
4.4.1 Activity 1
Interview six or more teachers in your school and determine the culture of your
school in terms of the core values most teachers shared. Describe the shared
values and beliefs of the faculty in terms of innovation, stability, attention to
detail, outcome orientation, and people orientation.
4.5 REFERENCES
Wayne K. H, & Cecil G. M. (2008). Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and
Practice. Eight Edition -International Edition. New York: McGraw – Hill Companies.
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7. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
influence with superiors. Moral of teachers is low. Teachers feel good neither
about each other nor about their jobs. They act suspiciously, and defensive.
4.3 Summary
a) Schools have distinctive cultures, core values and beliefs, which provide members
with a sense of organizational mission and identity.
b) Strong cultures can be good or bad because they can promote or to delay or to
stop a progress of effectiveness.
c) Culture calls attention to the symbolic nature of organizations; often what is said
or done is not as important as what it symbolizes.
d) Cultures of efficacy, of trust, and of academic optimism promote student
achievement.
e) A custodial culture of pupil control impedes the socio-emotional development of
students.
f) The organizational climate of a school is the set of faculty perceptions of the
dominant behaviors of organizational participants.
g) Openness of organizational climate is positively related to loyalty, trust, and
commitment of teachers.
i) The health of organizational climate is positively related to openness in member
interactions as well as school effectiveness.
j) Strong academic emphasis in the school climate promotes school effectiveness
and student achievement.
k) Changing the culture or climate of a school is usually a difficult, continuous, and
long-term process.
4.4 Tutorial Activities
4.4.1 Activity 1
Interview six or more teachers in your school and determine the culture of your
school in terms of the core values most teachers shared. Describe the shared
values and beliefs of the faculty in terms of innovation, stability, attention to
detail, outcome orientation, and people orientation.
4.5 REFERENCES
Wayne K. H, & Cecil G. M. (2008). Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and
Practice. Eight Edition -International Edition. New York: McGraw – Hill Companies.
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