2012年6月26日 星期二
2011年6月8日 星期三
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
The principal conclusion to be drawn from both our Input and Interaction sections are that managers and trainers should invest more care and professionalism into meeting arrangements and implementation. Whether it is a weekly staff meeting, an annual stockholders' gathering, a regional sales conference, an employee retreat, an appraisal interview, or a regular meeting between supervisor and subordinate, performance can be enhanced. This can be accomplished first, by utilizing established guidelines and group dynamics in the planning, conducting, and evaluating of such events; second, by employing multimedia technology to interest and involve participants; and third, by remembering the human element-making provision for people's comfort and relaxation. The manager or trainer has many resources to call upon for assistance in improving meetings-the organization'S HRD specialists, the staff at the meeting site, the external speakers or consultants employed as presenters, and the suppliers of meeting or game materials and services. (See Appendix A and B.)
INSTRUMENTATION
As indicated throughout this text, meetings can be used for data-gathering, especially by means of instruments. This same device can provide information during a meeting for group discussion and analysis of the findings. Apart from their feedback and other values, questionnaires, inventories, and checklists can be devised to improve the performance of the manager or trainer. Our last two examples, the Meetings Management Planning Inventory (Exhibit 8.5) and the Managing People Skills Inventory (Exhibit 8.6), will help leaders to assure that meetings are planned and conducted effectively, as well as to provide a means for further evaluating how people are managed in the workplace .
The principal conclusion to be drawn from both our Input and Interaction sections are that managers and trainers should invest more care and professionalism into meeting arrangements and implementation. Whether it is a weekly staff meeting, an annual stockholders' gathering, a regional sales conference, an employee retreat, an appraisal interview, or a regular meeting between supervisor and subordinate, performance can be enhanced. This can be accomplished first, by utilizing established guidelines and group dynamics in the planning, conducting, and evaluating of such events; second, by employing multimedia technology to interest and involve participants; and third, by remembering the human element-making provision for people's comfort and relaxation. The manager or trainer has many resources to call upon for assistance in improving meetings-the organization'S HRD specialists, the staff at the meeting site, the external speakers or consultants employed as presenters, and the suppliers of meeting or game materials and services. (See Appendix A and B.)
INSTRUMENTATION
As indicated throughout this text, meetings can be used for data-gathering, especially by means of instruments. This same device can provide information during a meeting for group discussion and analysis of the findings. Apart from their feedback and other values, questionnaires, inventories, and checklists can be devised to improve the performance of the manager or trainer. Our last two examples, the Meetings Management Planning Inventory (Exhibit 8.5) and the Managing People Skills Inventory (Exhibit 8.6), will help leaders to assure that meetings are planned and conducted effectively, as well as to provide a means for further evaluating how people are managed in the workplace .
CREATIVllY exercises
An effective strategy at the end of a training session or meeting is to propose creative problem solving on the question: "How are we ~oin~ to apply this learning, information, or technique back on the Job? Such an exercise can stimulate a group to produce action plans for performance improvement. In the Interaction section on page 254, we outlined one technique for this purpose, called "brainstorming." Four major steps in the creative thinking process are outlined in Exhibit 8.4 with examples. Such techniques can be used by a manager or facilitator at a meeting to "loosen up" the group's imaginative and intuitive capacities before turning them loose to creatively solve a real organizational problem (Exhibit 8.5).
Dr. Matt Weinstein has developed a whole company to teach adults how to play-Playfair, Inc., based in Berkeley, California, with offices in Dallas and New York City. His corporate clients use these services at meetings and conferences to help their employees decrease stress, increase productivity, and improve morale or camaraderie. As a replacement for the cocktail hour, he can engage a ballroom full of meeting attendees in free form play. There are no winners and losers; only celebration, bonding, and community results. When the meeting sessions are spread over days or weeks, it is essential to build into the conference design opportunities for physical and emotional release, so that participants are recharged for further intellectual effort. This "re-creation" can serve as a learning experience when so planned, such as a team golf game using the rules of "Scramble," in which individual scores are replaced by a group tally (combining the best performance of each member for each shot on every hole). Many resorts catering to conference groups have a variety of silly games to relax t~ed registrants-water-balloon tosses, egg-carrying relays, sandcastle building contests, or creative theme parties. The resulting laughter is good for morale, encourages convivality and comradeship, and puts attendees on an equal footing. Meetings, a part of the whole work environment, can be made enjoyable in a variety of ways.
Dr. Matt Weinstein has developed a whole company to teach adults how to play-Playfair, Inc., based in Berkeley, California, with offices in Dallas and New York City. His corporate clients use these services at meetings and conferences to help their employees decrease stress, increase productivity, and improve morale or camaraderie. As a replacement for the cocktail hour, he can engage a ballroom full of meeting attendees in free form play. There are no winners and losers; only celebration, bonding, and community results. When the meeting sessions are spread over days or weeks, it is essential to build into the conference design opportunities for physical and emotional release, so that participants are recharged for further intellectual effort. This "re-creation" can serve as a learning experience when so planned, such as a team golf game using the rules of "Scramble," in which individual scores are replaced by a group tally (combining the best performance of each member for each shot on every hole). Many resorts catering to conference groups have a variety of silly games to relax t~ed registrants-water-balloon tosses, egg-carrying relays, sandcastle building contests, or creative theme parties. The resulting laughter is good for morale, encourages convivality and comradeship, and puts attendees on an equal footing. Meetings, a part of the whole work environment, can be made enjoyable in a variety of ways.
meeting
Meeting performance can be enhanced by intelligent use of the many new electronic devices available to promote human interaction. In fact, the "children of the television" age expect innovation when they attend meetings, conferences, and conventions. They not only have high expectations on the use of various media for presenting knowledge and information, but they want it done professionally in terms of content, format, and technical expertise. Thus, sound tracks have to be clear and understandable; live commentary has to be dynamic, appropriate and stimulating; the visuals have to be crisp and the pace fast. Whether attending a seminar or listening to a sales pitch, today's audience, products of mass media, demand that both medium and message be informative, sophisticated, and entertaining. This applies equally to live meetings, teleconferencing, or combinations of both.
Such expectations place an added burden on meeting planners, to see that films, video, slides, audio, computers, synthesizers, and other such technology is carefully chosen and combined for maximum impact. Therefore, planners must ensure that
Educational media publishers now offer a variety of instructional kits, learning packages, and other seminar aids to assist the manager or t~~r conducting the meeting. For example, some distributors use a trammg systems approach, supporting management development films with instructor's guides and supplementary materials from videocassettes to computer discs to case studies to diagnostic instruments. Longman Crown of Reston, Virginia, offers computer-based training. These user-friendly, interactive systems can be used on personal comp.uters and include learning strategies for drill and practice, tutorials and inquiries, simulations and computer-managed instructional methods. The subjects range from time and project management to ~ecision-making and management performance. When these capabilines are combined with television receivers and videocassettes, a learning system is created for individual or group training. Interactive video is the marriage of computer to videotape or videodisc, and represents a powerful new meeting and training tool. In the resource section at the end of this book, we have provided indications as to where some of this information is available.
DEMONSTRATED ELECTRONIC POSSIBILITIES
The prospects for improving meetings through technology are staggenng. These technologies include satellite communications, word processing systems, fiber optics, paging devices, and new uses of long lines. High technology offers exciting opportunities at meetings or conferences to present graphics and simulations, to survey an audience for rapid response or texting purposes, to promote interactive, individual, or group learning, and to encourage networking. The following successful examples of meeting technology use may inspire further management leadership:
For further information, managers and trainers may utilize:
In this postindustrial age, information and learning are the means to establishing the authority of competence and furthering career development, as well as the solution to problems and challenges. Leaders who are sensitive to their human resource development responsibilities realize this, and make effective use of meetings to accomplish such purposes. Whether the situation requires a live or electronic meeting, innovators either master the professional methods or know where to obtain support services for achieving high performance through meetings.
INTERACTION
Frequently at meetings, a manager or trainer is asked to lead a discussion group. Exhibit 8.1 provides 15 guidelines.
Exhibit 8.1 Discussion Group Guidelines. (From Robert Letwin, Successful Meetings, July 1983, pp. 8-9.)
11. Summarize with the help of the reporter. Point out problems raised during the discussion. List bright ideas. Point out areas of agreement and disagreement.
12. If some members of the group do not have the courage to speak up, draw them in with non-threatening questions. Ask them to share their experiences.
13. It is best to toss questions to the entire group. But, if you want to ask a quiet person to speak, call the person by name before you ask the question. Say, "John, what did you think when you first heard about ... ?" By starting with the person's name, you provide time for him or her to concentrate and think about an answer.
14. When someone tends to monopolize discussion, politely interrupt and ask someone else in the audience to comment on the monopolizer's statements. Allow the audience to straighten out its members instead of your doing it. Too tight a rein will cut off discussion.
15. Feel good about not covering all the points you had written in advance. This means you have led a wholesome discussion and were not prompted to inject your opinions in favor of those in the group.
MEETINGS CAN BE FUN AND PRODUCTIVE
The key to high performance is energized people who are interested and involved. One of the best ways to accomplish this at meetings is through play, games, and simulations (as discussed in the Interaction section on page 113). Further possibilities are now described. When people enjoy themselves at work, they tend to be more productive. The meeting, especially for training purposes, can be a useful mechanism for unleashing hidden creativity through play. It permits employees to reveal joyful, spontaneous, and even silly facets of themselves that is often restrained. Enlightened management takes advantage of this approach for creative problem solving and education, as well as for its mental health and recreational values.
Over many years in leadership development, I have personally found that management games are very worthwhile because they:
As in recreational games, a person acts out the situation according to established rules. A life experience that might require the passage of days or weeks can be telescoped into a short time-frame of several hours. Practice in planning, decision-making and communication can be obtained through a simulated experience. As people get more deeply involved in the game, behavior which is often common in their real life is also exhibited in the game.
Simulation uses trial-and-error experimentation with a model for research, problem-solving, or training purposes. A simulated group technique permits learning and problem-solving to take place through a group experience. It enables a trainer to demonstrate, by a simulated model within a short time period, a larger human relations truth that the participant may eventually experience in a different setting. Frequently, in business and industry, these techniques of group ~amics are employed for the purpose of management development in a short-term laboratory demonstration. Principles are taught and insights gained which have application to the job situations.
Behavioral games involve developing strategy, resolving conflict and setting objectives. The most vital part of this action-learning experience is when the game ends and the participants analyze what they learned.
Simulated exercises are used to teach a number of things not easily taught by any other method. These include: (1) the importance of planned, critically timed decisions; (2) the need for flexible, organized effort; (3) the need for decision-assisting tools, such as setting objectives and establishing criteria for measuring and evaluating performance; ( 4) the significance of reaching a dynamic balance between interacting managerial functions and (5) the power of the modeling concept for providing a scientific approach to problems.
An interesting use of the simulation is to train personnel through this "practice session" to prepare for the "real thing." War games have long been used for this purpose.
Increasingly, the computer is being used for simulation purposes. Mathematical models of potential situations are programmed, and the trainees act out "live" work situations through the computer.
As previously indicated, a manager or trainer may purchase, borrow, or create a simulation game to meet a specific need (Eitington, 1984). Two examples of helpful commercial games for management development are "Starpower" and "Relocation," both distributed by Simile II (P.O. Box 910, Del Mar, CA 92014.) "Starpower" teaches a group about the realities of power and its influence on behavior. "Relocation" examines the issues involved in moving a corporate headquarters, both from the viewpoints of the community and the employees.
On the other hand, innovative trainers may use cardboard, sticks, glue, tinker toys, or other household items to create a structured learning experience that teaches managers the importance of cooperation or of "win-win." There are noncompetitive games based on the approach that both teams either win together or lose. Two of my favorite "homemade" games of this type for managers are "Hollow Square" and "Blue Green."
At the beginning of the Hollow Square exercise (Exhibit 8.2), two teams are given various pieces of cardboard, which they are to assemble within a specific time frame. Each group is further divided into subgroups of planners and operators. The planners are to prepare a plan, like a plan for a jigsaw puzzle, for the operators to assemble the pieces into the correct pattern; in this competitive game, the first team to correctly assemble the pattern wins. There are also observers of the process going on among the four groups of planners and implementers. Exhibit 8.2B shows how the pattern of cardboard pieces is properly assembled with its hollow square in the center. Following the simulation, the trainers hear reports from these observers on their own behavior and strategies. Exhibit 8.3 summarizes the instructions given to the planners, operators, and observers as well as learnings. After the observers' reports, participants contribute their own insights from the learning experience. Exhibit 8.3,D provides a synthesis of the lessons real people have learned from this "game" -the principal one is that only when planners and operators collaborate, when planners involve those who must implement their plans in the planning process, does the team succeed.
Exhibit 8.2 Hollow Square Exercise: A, Overall Pattern, B, Detailed Assembled Pattern. (NOTE: A is the incomplete design given to planners/operators. When properly assembled, the pieces make up this following pattern. B is the completed design that the winning team must produce with the pieces.)
Exhibit 8.3 Hollow Square Exercise: Briefing Sheet, cont'd.
Part A: Briefing Sheet for Planning Team
Note to Facilitator: There are two groups, each with two teams. For learning purposes, it is possible to influence the outcome by instructing one group to consider electing a team leader, while suggesting to the other group that they try participative management and share the leadership.
Each participant will be given a packet containing four (4) or more cardboard pieces which, when properly assembled with pieces from other participants, will make a hollow square design.¬
Your Task During a period of 45 minutes you are to do the following:
You will be observing a situation in which a planning team decides how to solve a problem and gives instructions to an operating team for implementation. The problem consists of assembling pieces of cardboard into the form of a hollow square. The planning team is supplied with the general layout ofthe pieces (Exhibit 8.2A). This team is not to assemble the parts but is to instruct the operating team on how to assemble the parts in a minimum amount oftime. You will be silent observers throughout the process
Exhibit 8.3 Hollow Square Exercise: Briefing Sheet, cont'd.
Suggestions for Observation
2) Behavior that blocks or facilitates understanding.
3) How the planning team divides its time between planning and instructing (how early does it invite the operating team to come in?)
4) How well it plans its procedure for giving instructions to the operating team.
2) What evidence is there of anxiety, boredom, and feelings about planners?
3) What could the planners have done to alleviate the anxieties and / or negative behavior evidenced by the operating team?
Part 0: Learnings from Hollow Square Game
Problems which may occur when one group makes plans which the other group is to carry out:
The simpler "Blue-Green" game drives home the win-win p~.os?phy. Two groups are told they both are separate divisions or sUbsidiane~ of the same organization. They are instructed on procedures for ~assmg points, and told that within the specified time period, their grou~ scores will be totaled to determine the winner. Although there is nothing in the ground rules preventing their mutual cooperation, e~ch usually proceeds to gain points at the expense of th~ other ~oup in a mad competitive battle. Only in the post-game learnmg analysis do the participants realize that the whole organization stands to lose ~ecause of their failure to cooperate as parts within the same system. This game teaches a powerful lesson about how the competitive race for profits may have destructive effects on the common good. Management games are useful tools for communicating about the new work culture norm of collaboration or team effort.
There are many training resources available that provide details on how to formulate and facilitate such games for the development of personnel. For example, University Associates (8517 Produ~ti.on Ave., San Diego, CA 92121) issues an HRD Resource Guide describing publications available for this purpose (e.g., A Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training and yearly workbooks of methodology listed in the Reference Guide to Handbooks and An~uals). Dr. Allen Zoll also produces Dynamic Management Education, which describes a variety of dynamic adult education techniques from cases and in-basket exercises to action maze and business games (Management Education Associates, 2003 33rd S., Seatt~e, WA.98144). ~ther major creators and distributors of management simulations are Didactic Systems, Inc., P.O. Box 457, Cranford, NJ 07016, and Education Research, P.O. Box 4205, Warren, NJ 07060.
Local computer software stores also can advise on what is availab~e on the market in terms of computer simulations. A useful newsletter is Simulation Today, published by the Society for Computer Simulations (P.O. Box 2228, La Jolla, CA 92038).
Such expectations place an added burden on meeting planners, to see that films, video, slides, audio, computers, synthesizers, and other such technology is carefully chosen and combined for maximum impact. Therefore, planners must ensure that
- The proper hardware and/or software has been identified and selected.
- The premeeting testing of this proves satisfactory, especially in terms of sequence and integration of equipment and presentations.
- The provision has been made for alternative programming in case of technical breakdowns, power failures, or other emergencies.
- The plan makes for optimum use of the senses of those in the audience - the more individual powers involved, the better the chance that the message will be retained.
Educational media publishers now offer a variety of instructional kits, learning packages, and other seminar aids to assist the manager or t~~r conducting the meeting. For example, some distributors use a trammg systems approach, supporting management development films with instructor's guides and supplementary materials from videocassettes to computer discs to case studies to diagnostic instruments. Longman Crown of Reston, Virginia, offers computer-based training. These user-friendly, interactive systems can be used on personal comp.uters and include learning strategies for drill and practice, tutorials and inquiries, simulations and computer-managed instructional methods. The subjects range from time and project management to ~ecision-making and management performance. When these capabilines are combined with television receivers and videocassettes, a learning system is created for individual or group training. Interactive video is the marriage of computer to videotape or videodisc, and represents a powerful new meeting and training tool. In the resource section at the end of this book, we have provided indications as to where some of this information is available.
DEMONSTRATED ELECTRONIC POSSIBILITIES
The prospects for improving meetings through technology are staggenng. These technologies include satellite communications, word processing systems, fiber optics, paging devices, and new uses of long lines. High technology offers exciting opportunities at meetings or conferences to present graphics and simulations, to survey an audience for rapid response or texting purposes, to promote interactive, individual, or group learning, and to encourage networking. The following successful examples of meeting technology use may inspire further management leadership:
- Instantaneous, multisite, two-way satellite meetings can be used for small groups or teleconferences of very large audiences; currently, there are three alternatives: (a) slow-scan video using standard video cameras and telephone lines for sound/video; (b) one-way full bandwidth video in which the audience may respond by two-way audio telephone link; (c) two-way full bandwidth for video and audio, so that participants both see and hear one another from remote locations and may exchange as if they were together at the same site. Major corporations, such as ARCO, TRW, and Ford, Westinghouse, Sperry, and Merrill Lynch, have their own telecommunication networks. Among the principal private enterprise communication network services are Satellite Business Systems of Mclean, Virginia, and VideoNet of Woodland Hills, California.
- International hotel chains offer a combined service of meeting rooms and private satellite communications for conferencing purposes. For example, Holiday Inns, Intercontinental, and Hilton Hotels not only have electronic networks for this purpose, but offer ancillary services, such as story board development or exchange of hard copy across continents.
- Telephone conference calls for either audio or video meetings by combining the use of various visuals, computer video display terminals, and electronic mail exchange. The range of network applications extends from telemarketing and teletraining to mass calling and electronic order exchange. Among the several telephone utilities offering such service, AT&T (1-800/257-4636) has the most comprehensive training and support system (Network Exchange, Communications Consultant Liaison Program, Rm. 5355A2, 295 Basking Ridge, NJ 07920).
- Computer response system for live meetings enables the presenter quickly to profile the audience, customize input, control audience attention, stimulate discussions, and create more intimate groups within large gatherings.¬¬
- Electronic matchmaking between employers and potential employees eliminates the need for some job interviews or at least reduces the number of expensive meetings between the parties. The Corporate Interviewing Network of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sends client companies videotaped interviews with candidates. Other firms now use satellite television to directly interview job applicants at remote sites, in preference to bringing them to corporate offices or sending out recruiters.
- Satellite seminars is a new teleconferencing service which teams up the resources of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Management Associations, and BNA Communications. Subscribers receive a variety of seminars from marketing to management (VideoStar Connections, 3390 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30326).
For further information, managers and trainers may utilize:
- Periodicals and annual directories of suppliers and sites, such as Successful Meetings (633 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017); Meeting News (1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036); Corporate Meetings and Incentives (P.O. Box 6238, Duluth, MN 55606)
- Books, manuals and computer software, such as The Successful Meeting Master Guide for Business and Professions by B. Palmer and K Palmer, 1983 (American Management Associations Book Club, 135 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10020); The Teleconferencing Handbook: A Guide to Cost-Effective Communication), annual, edited by E. Lazer (Knowledge Industry Publications, 701 Westchester Ave., White Plains, NY 10604); Conducting Successful Meetings, a computer software program by DSI Micro, Inc. (770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003); Louder and Funnier: A Practical Guide for Overcoming Stage fright in Speecbmahing by R B. Nelson, (Berkley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1985); We've Got to Start Meeting Like 1bis by R K Mosvick and R B. Nelson, 1987 (Scott, Foresman and Company, Glenview, IL); Managing a Difficult or Hostile Audience by G. F. Shea, 1984 (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ); and Robert's Rules of Order by H. M. Robert et al. (Scott, Foresman and Company, Glenview, 11).
In this postindustrial age, information and learning are the means to establishing the authority of competence and furthering career development, as well as the solution to problems and challenges. Leaders who are sensitive to their human resource development responsibilities realize this, and make effective use of meetings to accomplish such purposes. Whether the situation requires a live or electronic meeting, innovators either master the professional methods or know where to obtain support services for achieving high performance through meetings.
INTERACTION
Frequently at meetings, a manager or trainer is asked to lead a discussion group. Exhibit 8.1 provides 15 guidelines.
Exhibit 8.1 Discussion Group Guidelines. (From Robert Letwin, Successful Meetings, July 1983, pp. 8-9.)
- State the objective of the session to the group and the area of discussion.
- Explain that everyone participates, but there are to be no speeches.
- To get started, you put a sharply defined question to the group. If no one responds, have an alternate question that is easy for anyone to answer. Resist answering your own question and entering into a monologue.
- Test for the audience's objective. Is it the same as yours? If the audience would like to steer the discussion in another direction, make sure there is a consensus. If there is, discuss what the audience considers to be more important. Good discussion follows when everyone agrees on what to discuss.
- Keep in mind what you hope will be the outcome. Ask questions that will focus on the agreed upon objective.
- Have a member of the group serve as a reporter to keep a running record of problems, issues, facts and decisions discussed. From time to time, have the reporter summarize. This is useful when the group starts to stray from the main topic.
- Resort to easy-to-answer questions when discussion bogs down. For instance, ask a question about the time sequence, such as: "What comes first, and next?" You can also ask, "What is the biggest problem with ... ?" or, "What has been your experience with ... ?"¬
- Ask for votes Get a consensus on as many points as possible.
- Don't rephrase what is offered by a group member. Repeat the statement exactly as it is given. (Resist inserting your words or editing comments. This can be intimidating. No one wants his or her words corrected in public. This also tends to stifle discussion.)
11. Summarize with the help of the reporter. Point out problems raised during the discussion. List bright ideas. Point out areas of agreement and disagreement.
12. If some members of the group do not have the courage to speak up, draw them in with non-threatening questions. Ask them to share their experiences.
13. It is best to toss questions to the entire group. But, if you want to ask a quiet person to speak, call the person by name before you ask the question. Say, "John, what did you think when you first heard about ... ?" By starting with the person's name, you provide time for him or her to concentrate and think about an answer.
14. When someone tends to monopolize discussion, politely interrupt and ask someone else in the audience to comment on the monopolizer's statements. Allow the audience to straighten out its members instead of your doing it. Too tight a rein will cut off discussion.
15. Feel good about not covering all the points you had written in advance. This means you have led a wholesome discussion and were not prompted to inject your opinions in favor of those in the group.
MEETINGS CAN BE FUN AND PRODUCTIVE
The key to high performance is energized people who are interested and involved. One of the best ways to accomplish this at meetings is through play, games, and simulations (as discussed in the Interaction section on page 113). Further possibilities are now described. When people enjoy themselves at work, they tend to be more productive. The meeting, especially for training purposes, can be a useful mechanism for unleashing hidden creativity through play. It permits employees to reveal joyful, spontaneous, and even silly facets of themselves that is often restrained. Enlightened management takes advantage of this approach for creative problem solving and education, as well as for its mental health and recreational values.
Over many years in leadership development, I have personally found that management games are very worthwhile because they:
- Provide a change of pace in the training schedule or meeting schedule.
- Foster experiential or affective learning.
- Reveal behavior in a simulation that often occurs on the job.
- Entertain while teaching important lessons of teamwork.
- Build on the competitive spirit while demonstrating the disadvantages of unrestrained competition and the synergistic value of cooperation or collaboration.
- Offer opportunity for meaningful analysis and discussion after the playas to what happened and why.
- Give incentive to extra team effort which can thus be rewarded literally or figuratively.
As in recreational games, a person acts out the situation according to established rules. A life experience that might require the passage of days or weeks can be telescoped into a short time-frame of several hours. Practice in planning, decision-making and communication can be obtained through a simulated experience. As people get more deeply involved in the game, behavior which is often common in their real life is also exhibited in the game.
Simulation uses trial-and-error experimentation with a model for research, problem-solving, or training purposes. A simulated group technique permits learning and problem-solving to take place through a group experience. It enables a trainer to demonstrate, by a simulated model within a short time period, a larger human relations truth that the participant may eventually experience in a different setting. Frequently, in business and industry, these techniques of group ~amics are employed for the purpose of management development in a short-term laboratory demonstration. Principles are taught and insights gained which have application to the job situations.
Behavioral games involve developing strategy, resolving conflict and setting objectives. The most vital part of this action-learning experience is when the game ends and the participants analyze what they learned.
Simulated exercises are used to teach a number of things not easily taught by any other method. These include: (1) the importance of planned, critically timed decisions; (2) the need for flexible, organized effort; (3) the need for decision-assisting tools, such as setting objectives and establishing criteria for measuring and evaluating performance; ( 4) the significance of reaching a dynamic balance between interacting managerial functions and (5) the power of the modeling concept for providing a scientific approach to problems.
An interesting use of the simulation is to train personnel through this "practice session" to prepare for the "real thing." War games have long been used for this purpose.
Increasingly, the computer is being used for simulation purposes. Mathematical models of potential situations are programmed, and the trainees act out "live" work situations through the computer.
As previously indicated, a manager or trainer may purchase, borrow, or create a simulation game to meet a specific need (Eitington, 1984). Two examples of helpful commercial games for management development are "Starpower" and "Relocation," both distributed by Simile II (P.O. Box 910, Del Mar, CA 92014.) "Starpower" teaches a group about the realities of power and its influence on behavior. "Relocation" examines the issues involved in moving a corporate headquarters, both from the viewpoints of the community and the employees.
On the other hand, innovative trainers may use cardboard, sticks, glue, tinker toys, or other household items to create a structured learning experience that teaches managers the importance of cooperation or of "win-win." There are noncompetitive games based on the approach that both teams either win together or lose. Two of my favorite "homemade" games of this type for managers are "Hollow Square" and "Blue Green."
At the beginning of the Hollow Square exercise (Exhibit 8.2), two teams are given various pieces of cardboard, which they are to assemble within a specific time frame. Each group is further divided into subgroups of planners and operators. The planners are to prepare a plan, like a plan for a jigsaw puzzle, for the operators to assemble the pieces into the correct pattern; in this competitive game, the first team to correctly assemble the pattern wins. There are also observers of the process going on among the four groups of planners and implementers. Exhibit 8.2B shows how the pattern of cardboard pieces is properly assembled with its hollow square in the center. Following the simulation, the trainers hear reports from these observers on their own behavior and strategies. Exhibit 8.3 summarizes the instructions given to the planners, operators, and observers as well as learnings. After the observers' reports, participants contribute their own insights from the learning experience. Exhibit 8.3,D provides a synthesis of the lessons real people have learned from this "game" -the principal one is that only when planners and operators collaborate, when planners involve those who must implement their plans in the planning process, does the team succeed.
Exhibit 8.2 Hollow Square Exercise: A, Overall Pattern, B, Detailed Assembled Pattern. (NOTE: A is the incomplete design given to planners/operators. When properly assembled, the pieces make up this following pattern. B is the completed design that the winning team must produce with the pieces.)
Exhibit 8.3 Hollow Square Exercise: Briefing Sheet, cont'd.
Part A: Briefing Sheet for Planning Team
Note to Facilitator: There are two groups, each with two teams. For learning purposes, it is possible to influence the outcome by instructing one group to consider electing a team leader, while suggesting to the other group that they try participative management and share the leadership.
Each participant will be given a packet containing four (4) or more cardboard pieces which, when properly assembled with pieces from other participants, will make a hollow square design.¬
Your Task During a period of 45 minutes you are to do the following:
- Plan how these pieces, distributed among you, should be assembled to make the design.
- Instruct your operating team on how to implement your plan so as to complete your task ahead of the other teams. (You may begin instructing your operating team at any time during the 45 minute planning period-but no later than 5 minutes before they are to begin the assembling process).
- You must keep all four pieces you have in front of you at all times.
- You may not touch the pieces of other team members or trade pieces with other members of your team during the planning or instructing phase.
- You may not show Sheet E (which contains the detailed design as shown in Exhibit 8.28) to the operating team at any time.
- You may not actually assemble the entire square at any time (this is to be left to your operating team).
- You may not number or otherwise mark on the pieces.
- Members of your operating team must also observe the above rules until the signal is given to begin the assembling.
- When time is called for your operating team to begin assembling the pieces you may give no further instructions, but are to step back from the table and observe the operation only.
- All members of the planning team must be involved in the exercise; also, all members of the operating team.
- If you have specific questions which may affect the way you propose to go about your task, it may be preferable to ask them of the Resource persons privately rather than before the large group.
- You will have responsibility for carrying out a task for 4 people according to instructions given by your planning team. Your planning team may call you in for instructions at any time. If they do not summon you before you are to report to them anyway. Your task is scheduled to begin promptly at -_. "', after which no further instructions from your planning team can be given. You are to finish the assigned task as rapidly as possible.
- During the period when you are waiting for a call from your planning team it is suggested that you discuss and make notes on the following:
- The feelings and concerns which you experience while waiting for instructions for the unknown task.
- Your suggestions on how a person might prepare to receive instructions.
- Your notes recorded on the above will be helpful during the work group discussions following the completion of your task.
You will be observing a situation in which a planning team decides how to solve a problem and gives instructions to an operating team for implementation. The problem consists of assembling pieces of cardboard into the form of a hollow square. The planning team is supplied with the general layout ofthe pieces (Exhibit 8.2A). This team is not to assemble the parts but is to instruct the operating team on how to assemble the parts in a minimum amount oftime. You will be silent observers throughout the process
Exhibit 8.3 Hollow Square Exercise: Briefing Sheet, cont'd.
Suggestions for Observation
- Each member of the observing team should watch the general pattern of communication but give special attention to one member of the planning team (during the planning phase) and one member of the operating team (during the assembling period).
- During the Planning period watch for such behavior as:
- For planners:
2) Behavior that blocks or facilitates understanding.
3) How the planning team divides its time between planning and instructing (how early does it invite the operating team to come in?)
4) How well it plans its procedure for giving instructions to the operating team.
- For operating team:
2) What evidence is there of anxiety, boredom, and feelings about planners?
3) What could the planners have done to alleviate the anxieties and / or negative behavior evidenced by the operating team?
- During the instructing period (when the planning team is instructing the operating team) watch for such things as:¬
- Who in the planning team gives the instructions (and how was this decided)?
- What is significant about the management or leadership style followed in the group you are observing?
Part 0: Learnings from Hollow Square Game
Problems which may occur when one group makes plans which the other group is to carry out:
- Planners sometimes impose restrictions on themselves which are unnecessary.¬
- It is sometimes difficult for planners to see the task from the point of view of the operators.
- Sometimes in planning, more attention is given to details while the larger clues and possibilities go unnoticed.
- Planners sometimes fail to apportion their time wisely because they plunge into the act of planning before they think through their entire task and the amount of time available to them.
- Planners sometimes have different understandings of their task and the boundaries in which they must operate.¬
- When members of a planning team fail to listen to one another, time is lost in efforts to clarify.
- Sometimes planners fail to prepare a proper physical setup for the working team.
- Sometimes planners become so involved in the planning process that they do not plan their method of instructing the implementers.
- Sometimes planners do not consider the operators' anxieties when they orient them to the environment and task.
- Planners may not allow enough time for instruction and help the operators to "get set" and feel comfortable for the job.
- 3. Planners may not encourage questions from the operators and therefore assume greater understanding than the operators have.¬
- 4. The planners' own feelings of anxiety or security are likely to be transmitted to the operators.
- 5. Planners sometimes give detailed instructions before giving the operator an "overall" feel of the task.
- 6. Planners sometimes stress minute problems which concerned them while ignoring more important points.
- 7. The instructions may be given in a way that discourages members of an operating group from working as a team.
- If instructions are confusing, operators tend to display irritation toward each other as well as toward the planners.
- If instructions are unclear, considerable time will be spent in clarification.
- 3. Members of an operating team will often have different perceptions of their instructions.
- 4. The factor of pressure will influence different operators in different ways-the efficiency of some will go up and the efficiency of others will decline.
- 5. If members of an operating group do not feel themselves to be a team, they will usually perform less efficiently. (During some periods one person may be working on part of the problem all alone while the others wait inactively for him to complete the task.)
The simpler "Blue-Green" game drives home the win-win p~.os?phy. Two groups are told they both are separate divisions or sUbsidiane~ of the same organization. They are instructed on procedures for ~assmg points, and told that within the specified time period, their grou~ scores will be totaled to determine the winner. Although there is nothing in the ground rules preventing their mutual cooperation, e~ch usually proceeds to gain points at the expense of th~ other ~oup in a mad competitive battle. Only in the post-game learnmg analysis do the participants realize that the whole organization stands to lose ~ecause of their failure to cooperate as parts within the same system. This game teaches a powerful lesson about how the competitive race for profits may have destructive effects on the common good. Management games are useful tools for communicating about the new work culture norm of collaboration or team effort.
There are many training resources available that provide details on how to formulate and facilitate such games for the development of personnel. For example, University Associates (8517 Produ~ti.on Ave., San Diego, CA 92121) issues an HRD Resource Guide describing publications available for this purpose (e.g., A Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training and yearly workbooks of methodology listed in the Reference Guide to Handbooks and An~uals). Dr. Allen Zoll also produces Dynamic Management Education, which describes a variety of dynamic adult education techniques from cases and in-basket exercises to action maze and business games (Management Education Associates, 2003 33rd S., Seatt~e, WA.98144). ~ther major creators and distributors of management simulations are Didactic Systems, Inc., P.O. Box 457, Cranford, NJ 07016, and Education Research, P.O. Box 4205, Warren, NJ 07060.
Local computer software stores also can advise on what is availab~e on the market in terms of computer simulations. A useful newsletter is Simulation Today, published by the Society for Computer Simulations (P.O. Box 2228, La Jolla, CA 92038).
2011年3月7日 星期一
A systemic perspective on school reform Principals' and chief education officers' perspectives on school development
Purpose – This study aims to gain better understanding of the perceptions comprehensive school principals and chief education officers have about the implementation of school reform and the means they use to facilitate the development of such.
Design/methodology/approach – This research project was carried out using a systemic design research approach. Open-ended questionnaires provided the data for the study and these were completed by educational leaders operating in local school districts.
Findings – The results demonstrated that pedagogy was emphasized most often as the core of school reform by principals but chief education officers considered technical and financial factors more often as the critical core of educational reform. Nevertheless, both groups had quite similar ideas on how to promote school development.
Research limitations/implications – The findings reflect the Finnish educational system and capture only two levels of leadership within the system. Future research ought to focus on studying school reforms within different school systems as a complex of correlated events, processes, strategies, interactions and qualities.
Practical implications – To be able to achieve a successful and sustainable school reform more attention must be devoted to creating and activating collaborative learning environments, not only for pupils and teachers, but also for educational leaders at all levels of school administration.
Originality/value – The study adds to an understanding of the often-mentioned gap or conflict in perceptions and beliefs between different actors in an educational system.
Design/methodology/approach – This research project was carried out using a systemic design research approach. Open-ended questionnaires provided the data for the study and these were completed by educational leaders operating in local school districts.
Findings – The results demonstrated that pedagogy was emphasized most often as the core of school reform by principals but chief education officers considered technical and financial factors more often as the critical core of educational reform. Nevertheless, both groups had quite similar ideas on how to promote school development.
Research limitations/implications – The findings reflect the Finnish educational system and capture only two levels of leadership within the system. Future research ought to focus on studying school reforms within different school systems as a complex of correlated events, processes, strategies, interactions and qualities.
Practical implications – To be able to achieve a successful and sustainable school reform more attention must be devoted to creating and activating collaborative learning environments, not only for pupils and teachers, but also for educational leaders at all levels of school administration.
Originality/value – The study adds to an understanding of the often-mentioned gap or conflict in perceptions and beliefs between different actors in an educational system.
Introduction
Comprehensive schools around Europe, Finland included, are currently faced with numerous multidimensional educational reforms concerning all levels and actors of the schooling system. In Finland three major pedagogical comprehensive school reforms have been launched since the 1990s, initiated mainly by politicians and administrators. The most basic and possibly the most challenging reform consisted of a shift from viewing the teaching-learning process primarily as a transmission of knowledge, to viewing teaching as focused on active and collaborative knowledge construction. The second reform consisted of decentralization of school administration, which was shown, for example, in the replacement of the National Curriculum by a set of fairly general goals approved by the Ministry of Education, with the responsibility for curriculum planning shifted to the grass-roots level of communities and single schools. The most recent of the pedagogical school reforms, implementation of undivided basic education, aims to support pupils in their learning path through the various transitions of their school career from pre-school to ninth grade and even upper secondary school or vocational education (Finlex, 1998; Ministry for Education, 1998, 1994, 2004).
The Finnish school system represents a Scandinavian approach for political decentralization and local accountability of school administration. The new school legislation made municipalities fairly autonomous in arranging primary- and secondary education. The legislation offers only general aims for the reform while
the responsibility for the reform implementation is up to the single municipalities and schools (Aho et al., 2006; Johnson, 2006; Moos and Moller, 2003). Accordingly principals and chief education officers play a key role in translating the reform into local educational practices and structures that requires intensive collaboration between the groups. Moreover principals and chief education officers need to sustain the reform implementation in schools and municipalities by supporting teachers’ in their professional development and by enabling generation of pedagogical innovations at root-level school work (Stoll et al., 2006). This means that perceptions and strategies adopted by principals and chief education officers have a substantial effect not only on each other, but also on the way the local board of education operates (Kanervio and Risku, 2009). Therefore it is of the most importance to understand how these local
educational leaders perceive the ongoing reforms.
The research project
This study is a part of a larger national research project: “Learning And Development in Comprehensive Schools” (2004-2009) on undivided basic education in Finland (Huusko et al., 2007). The project aims to identify and understand preconditions for successful school reforms. Altogether 87 municipalities and 237 schools around Finland participated in the first phase of the research project (2005-2007). The project
was carried out using a systemic design research approach (Brown, 1992; Collins et al., 2004; De Corte, 2000; Salomon, 1995). It included data collection from four different levels of the schooling system: heads of school districts (chief education officers); principals; teachers; and pupils (9th graders). To capture the views of different actors, the data was collected through mixed methods such as inquiries, interviews, reflective
discussion, and activating methods. In this article the focus is on analyzing chief education officers’ and principals’ perceptions about the ongoing national school reform.
Comprehensive schools around Europe, Finland included, are currently faced with numerous multidimensional educational reforms concerning all levels and actors of the schooling system. In Finland three major pedagogical comprehensive school reforms have been launched since the 1990s, initiated mainly by politicians and administrators. The most basic and possibly the most challenging reform consisted of a shift from viewing the teaching-learning process primarily as a transmission of knowledge, to viewing teaching as focused on active and collaborative knowledge construction. The second reform consisted of decentralization of school administration, which was shown, for example, in the replacement of the National Curriculum by a set of fairly general goals approved by the Ministry of Education, with the responsibility for curriculum planning shifted to the grass-roots level of communities and single schools. The most recent of the pedagogical school reforms, implementation of undivided basic education, aims to support pupils in their learning path through the various transitions of their school career from pre-school to ninth grade and even upper secondary school or vocational education (Finlex, 1998; Ministry for Education, 1998, 1994, 2004).
The Finnish school system represents a Scandinavian approach for political decentralization and local accountability of school administration. The new school legislation made municipalities fairly autonomous in arranging primary- and secondary education. The legislation offers only general aims for the reform while
the responsibility for the reform implementation is up to the single municipalities and schools (Aho et al., 2006; Johnson, 2006; Moos and Moller, 2003). Accordingly principals and chief education officers play a key role in translating the reform into local educational practices and structures that requires intensive collaboration between the groups. Moreover principals and chief education officers need to sustain the reform implementation in schools and municipalities by supporting teachers’ in their professional development and by enabling generation of pedagogical innovations at root-level school work (Stoll et al., 2006). This means that perceptions and strategies adopted by principals and chief education officers have a substantial effect not only on each other, but also on the way the local board of education operates (Kanervio and Risku, 2009). Therefore it is of the most importance to understand how these local
educational leaders perceive the ongoing reforms.
The research project
This study is a part of a larger national research project: “Learning And Development in Comprehensive Schools” (2004-2009) on undivided basic education in Finland (Huusko et al., 2007). The project aims to identify and understand preconditions for successful school reforms. Altogether 87 municipalities and 237 schools around Finland participated in the first phase of the research project (2005-2007). The project
was carried out using a systemic design research approach (Brown, 1992; Collins et al., 2004; De Corte, 2000; Salomon, 1995). It included data collection from four different levels of the schooling system: heads of school districts (chief education officers); principals; teachers; and pupils (9th graders). To capture the views of different actors, the data was collected through mixed methods such as inquiries, interviews, reflective
discussion, and activating methods. In this article the focus is on analyzing chief education officers’ and principals’ perceptions about the ongoing national school reform.
The aim of the study
The present study aims to gain better understanding of the kinds of perceptions comprehensive school principals and chief education officers have about the implementation of the most recent school reform in Finland, developing undivided basic education, and the means used to facilitate the development work at the district level. The study also focuses on exploring principals’ and chief education officers’
perceptions about their own role in the reform.
The research task of the study is addressed as follows:
(1) How do principals and chief education officers perceive undivided basic education as the object of the development work?
(2) What kinds of means do principals and chief education officers use to promote the school development?
(3) What kinds of relationships seem to exist between the perceptions of the educational leaders of a local school district?
The study context
Characteristics of Finnish comprehensive school system In order to understand the nature of challenges that principals and chief education officers face in the most recent school reform (developing undivided basic education) some distinctive features of Finnish basic education system need to be discussed
briefly. The Finnish basic education system is composed of nine-years of comprehensive schooling, preceded by one year of voluntary pre-primary education. Children start the basic education at the age of seven and end it usually by the age of 16. Education is publicly financed from pre-school to higher education. Finland is divided to school districts according to municipalities. There are altogether 348 municipalities and hence school districts. Numbers of schools in the districts varies from one to 158 comprehensive schools (Tilastokeskus, 2009). The pupil population is nowadays decreasing in many municipalities; hence the school net has been cut up in many districts through annulling and incorporating small schools (Johnson, 2006). Since 1998 parents have had a right to choose the school for their children regardless of boundaries of school network, however most parents still prefer the neighborhood school. There are no ability tracking structures or other structures that separate students early on into academic or vocational education, and there are flexible accountability structures that place a strong emphasis on trusting schools (Aho et al., 2006.)
The Government and the Ministry of Education, as part of it, formulate and implement education policy. The National Board of Education (NBE) approves the national curriculum and promotes school development for example by providing a variety of courses for teachers and principals. However, municipalities and schools are obliged to prepare the school-based curriculum, and have the right to choose their instructional methods and materials used in teaching such as textbooks and workbooks. Also the pedagogical development strategies are constructed both in the municipalities and schools by the principals and chief education officers. Moreover they are responsible for strategic management including financing and recruiting of teachers and other personnel. At the same time educational comparisons are gaining more footholds also in basic education.
In Finland educational leadership in the districts is distributed between principals, chief education officers and educational boards (Aho et al., 2006; Kanervio and Risku, 2009). Although there is variation in the ways local education management is arranged, in most cases it is the municipality or a cluster of municipal education institutions that supervise education sector development. This means that district-level leaders such as chief education officers and principals are attempting to reconcile the tension in their work and interaction with each other (Aho et al., 2006; Johnson, 2006; Kanervio and
Risku, 2009.) Principals and chief education officers act in different yet complementary positions, and therefore are in ongoing negotiations with each other (Elmore and Burney, 1997; Kanervio and Risku, 2009). Consequently it seems that educational leaders are treading softly through a field of diverse and partly contradicting demands and expectations. For instance, principals are close to the educational practice and every day life of schools. They are also representatives of teachers and pupils and collaborate with their parents. Respectively, chief education officers are the leaders of the educational boards affected by local level politics. They also have a financial responsibility for organizing schooling at the municipality level. Aims and means to promote the school reform are therefore centrally constructed in negotiations in and between different stakeholders from different levels of the educational system. All and all, the Finnish context of educational leadership offers opportunities for collaboration
and distributed leadership in the local and district-level of schooling. While, at the same time it creates rivalry between actors in the district and would probably benefit from more systematic leadership training.
Toward undivided basic education
The most recent school reform – developing undivided basic education – is based on the Finnish school legislation and regulations emphasizing constructivist views of learning that refer to the active and collaborative nature of learning (Vygotsky, 1978; Wenger, 1998). Accordingly, learning within school is seen as an active, collaborative and situated process in which the relationship between individuals and their environment is constantly constructed and modified. The aim of this theory-based reform (McLaughlin and Mitra, 2001) is to support pupils in their learning path through the various transitions of their school careers and to facilitate pupil’s agency over their learning. The reform is motivated by several complementary causes. Pupils have for example been found to have problems in transferring from primary to secondary school in many European countries, Finland included (Anderson et al., 2000; Galton and Hargreaves, 2002; Davies and McMahon, 2004; Kvalsund, 2000; Muschamp et al., 2001; Ward, 2000). Signs of earlier social exclusion and a rise in depressive symptoms among girls and an
increase in negative attitudes towards school among boys have been identified in national surveys of school health issues (Rimpela¨ et al., 2008, 2007). These signs of ill-being are not solely due to problems in the normative transitions in school path however, the transitions are found to cause gaps and an increasing the risk of exclusion in the school path.
Moreover, though the parallel school system was replaced in the 1970s by a national nine-year basic education, in the comprehensive school model there is still a problematic gap between primary and secondary school. This is exemplified in the school culture as a lack of collaboration between the pupils as well as between teachers and other staff, and as a fragmentation of school-based curricula between primary and secondary schools. In Finland the gap between primary and secondary school is partly upheld by teacher training practices: comprehensive schoolteachers for the grades 1-6 and teachers for the grades 7-9 are still trained separately[1]. In sum, the idea of undivided basic education emphasizes a consistent, coherent and understandable comprehensive school education for each pupil, both in terms of studying different subjects in meaningful continuums and in terms of safe and supporting every-day learning environments. Therefore the reform also includes developing inner coherence of schools by showing curricular consistency from pre-school to ninth grade and even upper secondary school or vocational education (Finlex, 1998; Ministry of Education, 1998, 2004). However, it is the responsibility of municipalities and single schools to construct their own strategies and forms to
implement the undivided basic education.
Theoretical framework
School system as a systemic entity Basic education is a complex, interactive and systemic entity. Success in school development is therefore simultaneously affected by several complementary elements.
A reason for ineffective school reforms is that they tend to focus on parts while disregarding the way the whole structure hangs together (Salomon, 1995). The problem in focusing on isolated parts, such as a principal’s action orientation, is that the approach ignores the complex, context dependent and interactive nature of school development and therefore such a focus is yet another predictor for failure of the school reform (Sarason, 1991). Accordingly, creating capacity for change requires systematic
efforts on several fronts simultaneously (e.g. Senge, 1990; Fullan and Miles, 1992; Fullan, 2003b, 2007). In particular, building understanding and negotiating meaning across levels of the schooling system and coordinating efforts is essential for the reform to take root (Resnick and Hall, 1998). Hence a successful reform means dealing with complex entities and the orchestration of multiple elements simultaneously. This suggests that building understanding and negotiating meaning across levels of the
schooling system are key challenges for educational leaders.
Challenges for promoting sustainable school development
While the leader or the leadership alone does not determine the success of school reforms, in managing the complexity of educational development the educational leadership is in a significant role. However leadership does not exist in a vacuum, rather it is highly contextual and therefore reliant on other elements, or it may be distributed with other actors in the context (Gronn, 2000; Harris, 2005). Bringing new ideas into schools is largely dependent on the chief education officers’ and the principals’ skills and motivation to adopt and facilitate the ideas within their school community and school districts in collaboration with other educational professionals (Earley et al., 2002). In order to succeed, school reforms require development of a learning culture in schools. Therefore guiding the change processes in schools requires leading the professional learning community (McLaughlin and Mitra, 2003; Stoll et al., 2006). School as a learning community is a complex context with multiple levels and practices, some of them contradictory. There are opportunities for agency, avoidance, opposition and resistance, and as a consequence there is inevitable tension in interactions between different actors in the context. Pupils, parents, teachers,principals and chief education officers often have different expectations for desired school practices and development that may cause frictions. Moreover there is a growing tension between external accountability and at the same time a desire to maintain and develop belief in educational leadership, both at the school and municipal level. Therefore a challenge for promoting school development is that principals and chief education officers need to balance between two roles: perceiving oneself primarily as managers and controllers of resources or perceiving oneself as the facilitator of a shared learning process (Huusko et al., 2007; Johnson, 2006; Lewis and Murphy, 2008).
Another challenge for promoting school development is that the teacher community forms a loosely coupled expert organization. In other words, teachers affect each other suddenly rather than continuously, occasionally rather than constantly, negligibly rather than significantly, indirectly rather than directly, and eventually rather than immediately (Weick, 1982, 1979; Orton and Weick, 1990). Loose coupling enables and even facilitates autonomy and pedagogical freedom but does not necessarily provide encouragement for taking collaborative responsibility for pupils’ learning throughout comprehensive school. Hence teachers are balancing between autonomy and control:their work is to some extent controlled by governmental and communal level decision making, but at the same time they are autonomous experts in teaching their class and their subject area. This is especially evident in Finland where teachers are highly educated and have a high status in society. Teachers are also heavily involved in the curriculum process not only in their schools, but also at the school district level. As such, teachers are expected to be active professional agents in school development and to be involved in implementing pedagogical reforms and facilitating district-level collaboration between schools. However, according to the substantial research on school change, both nationally and internationally, it seems that teachers are not highly committed to developing the school community outside their own classrooms and content area; in fact, quite the opposite is true (Clement and Vandenberghe, 2000; Fullan and Miles, 1992; Fullan, 2003a; Hargreaves et al., 1998; Sarason, 1991; Stevens, 2004; Syrja¨la¨inen, 2002; Tyrack and Cuban, 1995). Hence a challenge for school leadership is to find ways to utilise teachers’ expertise in school development and to help broaden teachers’ sense of professional agency from classroom to school- and district-level professional interaction and developmental processes.
The real challenge for educational leadership is that sustainable educational reform (Hargreaves and Fink, 2004) and local development work requires a coherent shared pedagogical theory upon which new structures of activity and participation can be based, and also for new practices to be created, sustained and modified “after the special project” status of the pedagogical experiments ends. This means a jointly constructed working theory of change that defines what should change (Fullan, 2001).
Further, teachers, principals and chief education officers need also time to negotiate and construct a meaningful and shared conception of the reforms’ pedagogical implications and a map of how to reach goals in the context of application (Earley et al.,2002). This can also be referred to as a theory of changing: shared and informed assumptions of how change can be brought about (Fullan, 2001).
Taken all together, to avoid gaps and pitfalls in the implementation of school reform and management, explicit discussions and meaning making that promote learning in the development process is required in and between the different levels of schooling. This also suggests that a condition for implementing a systemic school reform (one that promotes active agency in terms of the reform both at the root-level pedagogical practices of schools, as well as in decision making in the local council) is to initiate
complementary parallel horizontal development processes between schools and educational leaders, and vertical negotiation processes, both from the “bottom-up” and the “top-down” between levels of schooling in the district (Anderson and Togneri, 2005;Fullan, 2003b). These processes of coherence making are needed in negotiating both theories of change and changing.
Study design
Participants and data collection
This study included data collected from comprehensive school principals and chief education officers from 87 municipalities and 237 schools around Finland[2]. These school districts (municipalities) and schools were selected based on their participation in the pilot project of the reform conducted by the Ministry of Education. The sample of school districts typifies broadly the national variation in terms of size of school network and local educational management structure. The survey was conducted in December 2005 by e-mail. After the non-response analysis, researchers contacted principals and chief education officers who did not answer the e-mail questionnaire and offered an alternative choice to answer with a paper version of the questionnaire. Altogether, 122 comprehensive school principles and 48 chief education officers responded to the survey. The total response rates were 60 percent (principals) and 55 percent (chief education officers).
Instruments
The survey consisted of open-ended questions and background information. The themes of the survey were: principals’ and chief education officers’ perceptions about the aim of the reform, the kinds of means they preferred to promote the goal, and what they perceived as the core challenges in development work in general and for themselves. The background questions were on participants’ tasks, work experience and training, and the municipality in which they were working. In addition the background information within the principal survey covered questions about the enrolment numbers and grades in the school.
Analyses
The open-ended questions were content analyzed using an abductive strategy. In the first phase of the content analysis, all the text segments in which principals and chief education officers referred to their ideas about the school reform, and means to promote the development, were coded into two exclusive hermeneutic categories. After this, the categories were coded into the two basic-categories using a grounded strategy. The categories resulting from the second phase were:
1. pedagogical reform: perceiving the school reform as an internal pedagogical development in and between the schools and school districts;
2. technical-financial reform: perceiving the core of the reform as reorganizing the school administration, resources and school structures;
3. pedagogical methods: perceiving collaborative learning such as shared meaning making and collaboration within and between the school communities as a means to promote the reform; and . technical-financial methods: perceiving reorganization of resources and structures such as incorporating schools and school districts, as a means to promote the development work. The content analysis was conducted using the ATLAS-ti program. Categories and code frequencies resulting from the content analysis were validated by the research group at the end of each analysis phase (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Yin, 1994). The researchers read the data carefully, and constructed and negotiated categories in detail to achieve stability. In the few cases of disagreement, consensus of final categorization was
reached through a discussion between researchers.
The type of content analysis used can be referred to as relational since it examines the relationships among concepts in qualitative data. To our knowledge, there are few previous empirical studies that have explored principals’ and chief education officers’ perceptions on educational change in this way. Analysis has been conducted as a continuum from qualitative to quantitative procedures, from impressions to categorization and systematization of observations. Quantification of the qualitative data has been carried out by counting the number of text segments devoted to different exclusive categories. Text segments have been used for both coding and measurement to provide complete, reliable and meaningful data. Reporting both qualitative citations and quantification aims at maintaining a high egree of statistical rigor without losing the richness of detail apparent in even more qualitative methods Milne and Adler,1999; Krippendorff, 1980; Weber, 1990).
Results
Principals’ and chief education officers’ approaches to the reform Results indicated that both rincipals’ and chief education officers’ views on the undivided basic education and the means to promote the school development varied. In general both groups had quite positive and convergent views about the main ideas of undivided basic education, though different meanings and interpretations of this existed. However at the same time definitions (“the ideals”) for the reform given by the principals and chief education officers were usually quite non-specific, one-sided, fragmented and narrow. Table I shows that the pedagogical perception of developing undivided basic education was the most often adopted by the principals (56 percent). Principals (65 percent) and chief education officers (43 percent) who dopted this view perceived developing more consistent and understandable learning-paths for pupils as the core of the reform. They also emphasized the importance of constructing collaborative school ultures both in and between the schools as a precondition for the development:
Ensure a consistent learning path for the learner, and, especially, together with different actors in the learning path, emphasize the safety of the learning environment. Aim is to soften the transition points in the school career or even abolish them altogether. Consequently the pupil will learn to act with different kinds of actors from different age groups (Principal). A coherent school path for children. Holistic view on children and teaching. Child is in the main role, not the class or subject teacher. By this I mean that in undivided basic education you should learn to know the child’s conditions and the child as a whole. The [school] staff should consider and plan together what would be the best way to organize teaching and who is going to teach what in which class so that the whole view of the child is not forgotten or left
aside. School exists not for the teaching staff but for the children (Chief education officer).
At the same time the technical-financial perception about the reform was the most dominant category (57 percent) within the group of chief education officers. Within this category the reform was considered primarily as a matter of resources or in terms of incorporating primary- and secondary grade schools. The minority of principals preferred this view (35 percent):
A reasonable use of teaching resources in these times when the amount of lessons and pupils are decreasing (Principal). In my view, the core idea of undivided basic education is to change Finnish school systems by adopting other western school systems [. . .] The undivided basic education can be best promoted in school units where schools are located near each other. This kind of unit can be managed, organized, maintained and so on, more efficiently than two separate units. I do not see undivided basic schools as an implementation of inclusion, but most of all as a standardization of school forms (Chief education officer).
Accordingly, there was considerable variation within and between principals’ and chief education officers’ perceptions on both the aims and the content of the reform. Hence the educational leaders reflected the theory of change in terms of developing undivided basic education from two complementary perspectives. In other words they had different ideas not only on what should change but also on the object of change. This provides a splintered base for constructing district-level coherent shared pedagogical theory upon which new structures of activity and participation can be based.
Further investigation showed that there was also variation in means used to promote the school development, both within and between the principals and the chief education officers groups (see Table II). Table II shows that both principals (80 percent) and chief education officers (59 percent) prioritized pedagogical methods in promoting the reform. Curriculum work, facilitating teachers’ active agency and promoting collaboration in and between the school communities were identified as the means to acilitate the school development by these principals and chief education officers:
Generate change in the way people think. Clarify that teaching is regulated by the municipal level curriculum and not the way things have been done for decades. Create a functional holistic learning path from first grade to getting the certificate from the ninth grade. Increase interaction between different teacher groups (Principal).
The aim [of undivided basic education] is to develop the teaching in one place, tighten and foster teachers’ collaboration, and make special education and social support for the pupils more effective. One principal would be able to better manage both staff and development of teaching methods (Chief education officer). However, at the same time the technical-financial means to promote the change were
emphasized more in the group of chief education officers (41 percent) than among the principals (20 percent). In this category the emphasis was mainly on resources and the technical aspects of developing undivided basic education, such as reconstructing the local net of schools:
At the moment the most crucial thing for the development are the decisions about the facilities and their planning. In spring we have to start drafting how the new model is managed so we can make a budget and make decisions about the attendance of the offices in the new school, where now there are only classes from 1 to 6, we have to hire all the subject teachers in the school. We must invest in the planning and implementation of recruitment . . .
(Principal).
Execution of the municipal level curriculum in schools. Starting the [new school] unit X in autumn 2006. Evaluation of the local net of schools becomes topical in 2006, and the changes in management and school network are possible (Chief education officer).
To sum up, there was variation on both within and between principals’ and chief educations officers’ perceptions on how to promote the reform. Thus not only different kinds of views on what should change (theory of change) existed, but also views how to implement the reform (theory of changing) occurred among educational leaders. As a whole, results indicated that building understanding across levels gets
confused, due to different perceptions about the school reform. Moreover the variation is reflected in reform implementation strategies perceived by the principals and chief educational officers, thus it also multiplies the variety of perceived methods to promote the reform.
Discussion
The results showed that there was variation in principals’ and chief education officers’ approaches to developing undivided basic education. Both groups had quite positive and convergent views about the core aim of the reform, which provides a good base for the reform implementation. However, while pedagogy was emphasized most often as a core of developing undivided basic education by the principals, the chief education officers viewed technical and financial factors more often as a core of the reform. A reason why pedagogy was more often referred to as a core of the reform by principals
than by chief education officers may be that the professional horizon in which they operate is slightly different, though complementary. For instance chief education officers are expected to construct a structural frame for schooling in the district in addition to pedagogical issues. They are also responsible for holding to the budget set by the local council. Principals on the other hand are more involved with the pedagogical practices of their school on a daily basis and hence have a different kind of professional horizon. Accordingly chief education officers often face the kind of accountability demands in their work that may lead them to interpret the reform as yet another government’s way of forcing them to cut down on the expenses of education by making “managerial” reorganizations.
This suggests that despite common ground in terms of the aims perceived by the principals and chief educational officers, there is also a need to construct a more coherent and shared theory of change (Fullan, 2001) both within and between the groups to promote a sustainable (Hargreaves and Fink, 2004; Earley et al., 2002) reform process. This calls for shared meaning making both on district- and school level not only on the aims of the reform but also on what should change. Going to scale, especially in theory-based change, is affected by the degree of consistency in the value basis and beliefs, but it also requires attention on the normative and procedural structures of the district-wide context (McLaughlin and Mitra, 2001). Otherwise there is a danger that the reform is reduced to a series of reactions and counter-reactions instead of proactive and sustainable school development work.
Inconsistent leadership that does not take all the levels of the system into account may be reflected in pupils’ learning paths, for instance causing unpredictable changes in class-structures or, on the pedagogical side, teachers’ uncertainty of what instructional choices to make.
Further investigation of chief education officers’ and principals’ perceived means to bring undivided basic education about showed that pedagogical means to promote the reform were emphasized most often both by the principals and chief education officers.
A reason why both groups emphasized pedagogical means to promote the reform is that in Finland principals and chief education officers often have similar educational backgrounds (Kanervio and Risku, 2009). Yet another less obvious reason for this may be that pedagogy is ultimately seen as “someone else’s” territory. For example, chief education officers may assume that principals and teachers who are closer to the pedagogical practices take a greater responsibility for achieving the goal of the reform.
This in turn may result in the responsibility of pedagogical innovations being “drained down” in the system: from chief education officer to principal, from principal to the professional community, and finally from the teacher community to the responsibility of a single teacher. Paradoxically this may hinder the possibilities for constructing a coherent, shared pedagogical theory that is identified as a central precondition for successful school reform by many scholars (e.g. Fullan, 2003b; The Hay Group, 1999; Anderson and Togneri, 2005). Although both principals and chief education officers emphasized pedagogy as a tool to promote the school development there was also variation both within and between the groups. Moreover principals’ and chief education officers’ perceptions on how the change can be brought about were more vague than their perceptions about the aims of the reform. This verifies Fullan’s (2001) argument, that educational leaders and administrators are often explicit about what
should change while the ideas of how the change should be brought about are vague and implicit (Anderson and Togneri, 2005). A reason for this is that the development processes are often multilayered, complex and implicit, and hence harder to identify and put into words. This on the other hand causes problem in translating the aims into the sub-goals and into school practices, especially if there is no time and if no constant effort is put into negotiating about the pedagogical implications or constructing the map of change in the context of application during the development work (Earley et al.,
2002; Resnick and Glennan, 2002).
To conclude, the lack of alignment within and between principals’ and chief educational officers’ perceived theory of change as well as changing in terms of developing undivided basic education provides challenge for district level collaboration in reform implementation. These gaps in the perceptions within and between the groups also easily lead to misunderstandings and destructive frictions in district level development work, which may compromise the reform implementation.
The implications for leadership of school development Principals and chief education officers are leaders in a pedagogical and cultural change (see Fullan, 2002) in their districts and schools at the same time they have financial responsibility for schooling (Fink and Resnick, 2001). Hence they need to balance financial-technical realities and pedagogical development in order to carry out their
work as educational leaders successfully. Consequently in successful implementation of school reforms both of these elements need to be considered and constructively aligned (Biggs, 1999). This means making pedagogically driven financial-technical decisions at the local level as well as keeping in mind financial-technical factors while developing pedagogy in schools. In order to keep this balance, skills and the will to create original solutions and contextual innovations are needed at all levels of school
administration (Lewis and Murphy, 2008). This calls not only for a systemic approach to school development, but also for provision of sufficient support to achieve these efforts (e.g. Porter, 1994). For example, in encouraging leaders in their efforts to create a learning culture, work tasks must be prioritized in order to make time for learning in the community (Schein, 1985; Resnick and Glennan, 2002).
Therefore more efficient means for guiding meaningful collaborative learning between the different levels of the comprehensive school system and going to scale need to be developed. This is especially true in a decentralized educational system, such as in Finland, where major responsibility for school reforms and educational innovations are at the local level and in schools. In this situation, opportunities and support for building a shared working theory in the context and for taking both the general aims (based on educational theory and research) and the context-dependent, local factors into account, is crucial. To be able to do this, principals and chief education officers along with other members of professional community (Desimone, 2002) should take time to negotiate and construct a meaningful and shared conception of the reform and the means to promote the change in their own contexts. However, this requires that more attention is paid to creating activating and collaborative learning environments not only for pupils and teachers, but also for educational leaders at all levels of school administration.
Notes
1. Within the Finnish comprehensive school system all the comprehensive school teachers must have a Master’s degree either in educational sciences or some other domain such as mathematics or biology, with compulsory additional studies (35 credits) in educational science. The class teachers who typically work in grades (0)-1-6 (primary school) must have an MA degree in educational science, with the main subject being applied educational sciences or educational psychology. Subject teachers, who typically teach in the grades 7-9 (lower secondary school), usually have an MA in another subject with an additional compulsory one year of study in educational science.
2. In Finland municipalities vary in their size, on average around 12,000 people, and they can be divided into three categories from city municipalities of over 15,000 inhabitants (23,3 percent), to country municipalities with low inhabitant density and populations under 4,000 in their centre (65.7 percent) (Aho et al., 2006; Kanervio and Risku, 2009).
2010年12月22日 星期三
Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium
內容摘要與心得
標準 1：教育的領導者為促進所有學生能有效學習、課程有效的銜接與轉化，在行政管理的層面以共同的學習和連結學校社區的資源與互動關係為願景。
茲以知識、規則與性能三個架構來說明
知識
管理者需熟悉和了解：
1. 學習目標是在一個多元化的社會裡
2. 系統理論的運用
3. 訊息的來源、數據收集和分析策略
4. 有效的溝通
5. 有效建立共識和談判技巧
規則
管理者需建構價值觀和承諾：
1. 所有的價值觀與承諾須合乎教育性
2. 學校願景以學生學習為最高標準
3. 學校不斷持續改善教育品質
4. 確保學生在知識、技能和價值觀必須成為未來面對全球化競爭的人才。
5. 願意不斷自我省思、修練和自我實踐。
6. 對工作品質的自我提升和促進組織績效的達成。
性能
管理者從事有利於的活動過程和保證：
1. 有效地傳達願景和使命給所有成員。
2. 可透過符號、儀式、故事和類似的活動來傳達願景和使命
3. 學校願景的核心理念是為所有利益相關者所建構
4. 走向進步的理想和使命是傳達給所有利益相關者
5. 可評估學生學習相關的數據以用來發展學校遠景和目標
6. 以學生及其家庭有關的人口統計數據來發展學校的使命和目標
7. 可運用資源統整以實踐辦學理念和目標
8. 願景、使命和實施計劃，定期檢測、評估和修訂
心得:
教育的領導者為促進所有學生能有效學習、課程有效的銜接與轉化，在行政管理的層面除上述的幾項指標以外，在執行面上，以精緻、卓越、創新為核心價值，帶領行政人員及教師在觀念上求卓越、過程中求績效、方法上求科技、結果上求創新，才能達成願景與目標。
2010年12月8日 星期三
Professional Development of Principals. ERIC Digest.
首段重點與個人心得簡述：
1. 因應社會的變遷及多元社會的期待與刺激，學校領導者需面對後現代社會所期待教育品質是否提升的經營壓力。
2. 學校經營管理因應人口結構的改變，需重新定義學校與家庭的關係、責任與權力的關係，如此，才能建立與創造一個符合期望與互不相衝突的學校校長。
3. 當今學校改革的模式也承認是經營學校成功的主要手段。
4. 現在的校長已不再只是首席 老師而已，而是一個日益複雜的組織經理人，他需重塑組織裡人與人之間的關係、人與組織的關係、資源的分配與外部資源的取得、促進教師專業發展、學生學習成效及與社區之間的關係連結等等。
5. 校長經營的效能，已不再是過去的行政官僚體制的經營思維，而是以扁平式組織的領導哲學經營思維，積極與教師、學生、家長及社區互動，藉由這之間的互動合作關係以提升教學效能與學習效能。
持續進行校長的專業發展，藉由專業發展的學習機會，以支持自己的教育理念與對學校社區家長的承諾，以改善學校與創造積極學習的學校文化。文章來源：http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-1/principals.htm
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