Download - Thesis 2002
DOLLARS AND SENSE: AN EXPLORATION OF
DISCOURSAL AND CLIMATE ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL
ELT MANAGEMENT
by
Greg Keaney
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
University of Sydney
2002
DOLLARS AND SENSE: AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSAL AND
CLIMATE ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL ELT MANAGEMENT
By Greg Keaney
ABSTRACT
The worldviews of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator are underpinned by differing values that have many points of conflict. These points of conflict may negatively impact on organizational performance and effectiveness. Despite the range of conflicting notions, however, it may also be possible to find areas of shared values between the two discourses. These commonalities are likely to provide a basis for reconciliation strategies between entrepreneurial and educational imperatives that can assist the ELT manager.
The need for, and the development of, such strategies are examined in this study. Literature review, analysis of ELT educator and entrepreneur discourses and examination of several international ELT colleges demonstrate the nature and range of these value clashes. Action research at one international ELT college suggests that management approaches based on an awareness of all the dimensions of an organization’s climate, emphasising integration, collaboration and a focus on client service, may offer a management model that assists in the functional resolution of some of these value clashes.
The study uses ethnographic methods to gain a fuller insight into management at a small number of international ELT colleges and examines some of the managerial factors that enhance or interfere with their educational and organizational goals. It suggests that integration of all organizational activities from finance to marketing to education should be a core value that has appeal to both
entrepreneurs and ELT educators. Collaboration is another factor that is capable of appealing to, and sharing meanings across, the two discourses. A third commonality may be a strong focus on client service, as notions of student centred learning have been important in ELT for many years, while entrepreneurial thinking has long valued a focus on client and customer care as a primary business advantage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract...................................................................................iTable of Contents....................................................................iList of Figures.........................................................................vAcknowledgments..................................................................viGlossary................................................................................viiChapter 1................................................................................1Introduction............................................................................11.1. Aims of the Study............................................................11.2. Rationale.........................................................................21.3. Background to the study..................................................41.4. Professional and Academic Background of the Researcher.............................................................................71.5. A Note on Usage..............................................................9Chapter 2..............................................................................12Methodology.........................................................................122.1. Introduction...................................................................122.2. Approach.......................................................................132.3. Data Collection..............................................................152.4. Analysis.........................................................................322.5. Report of Findings.........................................................382.6. Conclusion.....................................................................39Chapter 3..............................................................................40Management and Organizations...........................................403.1. Introduction...................................................................403.2. Defining Organizations..................................................403.3. Perspectives of Organizations.......................................443.4. Management and Organizational Effectiveness.............523.5. The Description of International ELT Organizations.....543.6. Conclusion.....................................................................59Chapter 4..............................................................................61The International ELT College Environment........................614.1. Introduction...................................................................614.2. English as an International Language...........................624.3.The Growth of the International ELT Industry in Australia.............................................................................................644.4. The Regulation of the International ELT Industry in Australia...............................................................................68
4.5. The Products and Services of International ELT Colleges.............................................................................................744.6. Conclusion.....................................................................78Chapter 5..............................................................................79Discourses and Discourse Analysis.......................................795.1. Introduction...................................................................795.2. Discourse.......................................................................805.3. Discourse Analysis and Description...............................845.4. Ideological-Discursive Formations.................................885.5. Conclusion.....................................................................89Chapter 6..............................................................................90The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur: Descriptions..........................................................................906.1. Introduction...................................................................906.2. The Discourse of the Entrepreneur...............................906.3 The Discourse of the ELT Educator..............................1016.4. Conclusion...................................................................109Chapter 7............................................................................110The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur: Contestations......................................................................1107.1. Introduction.................................................................1107.2. View of Organizations..................................................1117.3. Commodification of Education.....................................1187.4. Transaction Costs........................................................1207.5. Process vs People........................................................1217.6. Commonalities.............................................................1227.7. Conclusion...................................................................126Chapter 8............................................................................127The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur: Institutionalisation..............................................................1278.1. Introduction.................................................................1278.2. Institutions and IDFs...................................................1288.3. Course Selection and Development.............................1308.4. The Management of Staff and the Allocation of Resources...........................................................................1338.5. The Recruitment, Placement and Certification of Students.............................................................................1398.6. Conclusion...................................................................142Chapter 9............................................................................144The Structure of Work Organizations.................................1449.1. Introduction.................................................................144
ii
9.2. Organizational Structure.............................................1449.3. Power distribution.......................................................1489.4. Describing Organizational Structures.........................1539.5. The Relationship between Structure and Organizational Climate...............................................................................1569.6. Conclusion...................................................................158Chapter 10..........................................................................160The Structure of International ELT Colleges......................16010.1. Introduction...............................................................16010.2. The Bureaucratic Structure in ELT Colleges.............16010.3. The Managerialist Structure in ELT Colleges............16310.4. The Management of Structure in ELT Colleges.........16610.5. Action Research at College E: Structure...................16910.6. Conclusion.................................................................174Chapter 11..........................................................................176The Milieu of International ELT Colleges...........................17611.1. Introduction...............................................................17611.2. The Relationship between Milieu and Organizational Climate...............................................................................17611.3. The ELT Teacher Milieu............................................17811.4. The ELT Administration, Marketing and Counselling Staff Milieu.........................................................................18411.5. The ELT Agent Milieu................................................18611.6. The ELT Student Milieu.............................................19111.7. Action Research at College E: Milieu........................19511.8. Conclusion.................................................................205Chapter 12..........................................................................206The Ecology of International ELT Colleges.........................20612.1. Introduction...............................................................20612.2. The Relationship between Ecology and Organizational Climate...............................................................................20612.3. Ecology and International ELT Colleges....................20812.4. Ecology and Communication.....................................21212.5. Ecological Change.....................................................21912.6. Action Research at College E: Ecology......................22212.7. Conclusion.................................................................225Chapter 13..........................................................................227The Culture of Work Organizations....................................22713.1. Introduction...............................................................22713.2. The Concept of Culture..............................................22713.3. Organizational Culture..............................................230
iii
13.4. Describing Organizational Cultures...........................23413.5. Organizational Culture and Organizational Effectiveness......................................................................23613.6. The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Climate...............................................................................24013.7. Conclusion.................................................................242Chapter 14..........................................................................244The Culture of International ELT Colleges.........................24414.1. Introduction...............................................................24414.2. Integration.................................................................24514.3. Collaboration.............................................................25114.4. The Development of a Client Service Culture............25514.5. Action Research at College E: Culture.......................26214.6. Conclusion.................................................................269Chapter 15..........................................................................271The ELT Manager...............................................................27115.1. Introduction...............................................................27115.2. ELT Managers...........................................................27115.3. Teacher Perceptions of ELT Managers......................27815.4. Vision and Values......................................................27915.5. Climate and the ELT Manager...................................28415.6. Conclusion.................................................................287Chapter 16..........................................................................289Conclusion..........................................................................28916.1. Introduction...............................................................28916.2. Environment..............................................................29116.3. Discourse Resolution.................................................29116.4. Climate......................................................................29316.5. Action Research.........................................................29616.6. Simply the Best..........................................................297Bibliography.......................................................................300Appendix A.........................................................................320Interview and Observation Guide.......................................320Appendix B.........................................................................322Sample Interview Sheet and Analysis.................................322Appendix C.........................................................................327Profile of Informants...........................................................327
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure/Table PageFigure 2.1 Data Collection 17Figure 2.2 Action Research Process (adapted from Kemmis,
1988, p.11) 26Table 2.2 Action Research Initiatives at College E 37Figure 3.1. Organizational Climate 59Figure 5.1. Transactions between Writers and Readers 86Figure 7.1 ELT educator values and entrepreneurial values
125Figure 9.1. The Power Configuration 149Figure 9.2. The Role Configuration 150Figure 9.3. The Task Configuration 151Figure 9.4. The Person Configuration 152Figure 9.5 The ELT Structure Matrix 154Figure 15.1 The relationship between quality and profit. 283Table 15.1 Summary of Action Research Initiatives at College
E 285Figure 16.1 Reconciliation of ELT educator and
entrepreneurial values 295
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my Supervisor, Phillip Jones, and the
staff of the University of Sydney for their assistance with this
project.
I would also like to thank my wonderful family and many
friends and colleagues in Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia,
Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom,
Ireland and a few other of the ‘round earth’s imagined
corners’ for a host of insights and many years of enjoyment
on the road and in ELT.
vi
GLOSSARY
AARE Australian Association for Research in Education
ACPET The Australian Council for Private Education and Training
AEI Australian Education International
AIEF Australian International Education Foundation
Cert TEFLA Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults
CRICOS Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students
DEET Department of Employment, Education and Training
DEETYA Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training
DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
DILGEA Department of Immigration, Local government and Ethnic Affairs
DIMA Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
DOS Director of Studies
EA English Australia (formerly the ELICOS Association)
ELICOS English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students
ELT English Language Teaching
vii
ESOS Act Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial Regulations Act
1991)
IATEFL International Association of Teaching English as a Foreign Language
IELTS International English Language Testing Service
IDF ideological-discursive formation
NEAS National ELICOS Accreditation Scheme
OSHC Overseas Student Health Cover
RSA Royal Society of the Arts (See UCLES)
TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language
TESL Teaching English as a Second Language
TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language
UCLES University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
VET Vocational Education and Training
VETAB Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board
viii
C h a p t e r 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Aims of the Study
The worldview of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator,
their Weltanschauung, seem to have a degree of tension, if
not opposition, in many international ELT colleges. The
respective worldviews are underpinned by differing values
that have many points of conflict. These points of conflict may
negatively impact on organizational performance and
effectiveness. Despite this range of conflicting notions,
however, it may be possible to find areas of shared values
between the two discourses. These commonalities are likely
to provide a basis for reconciliation strategies between
entrepreneurial and educational imperatives that can assist
in international ELT college management.
The Australian education sector, like its counterparts in other
English-speaking countries, is internationalising at a rapid
pace. Traditional institutions have expanded their operations
to meet this growing need, while more than 200 new
institutions commenced operations to service the area in
1999 (DETYA, 2000). Growth in research, however, has not
yet parallelled this rapid expansion. ELT colleges and their
managers have yet to be subject to much detailed research,
1
even though the industry has become an important segment
of growth in the educational sector in Australia. The
fundamental aim of this research project, therefore, is to
contribute to understanding of management practices in
international ELT colleges in Australia, especially in those
that are privately owned and operated.
In order to achieve this primary aim, the study examines
some of the underlying constructs and competing values in
discoursal areas that affect ELT management. It looks at
texts that are indicative of the discourses of the entrepreneur
and the educator, and compares and contrasts the value
systems they represent. It explores areas of shared values
between the two discourses suggesting that these are fruitful
avenues towards reconciliation and functional resolution of
discoursal tensions. The study also examines the
organizational climate of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney,
Australia with data gained by ethnographic means and
discusses some of their effective and ineffective ELT
management practices.
As a result of the discourse analysis and the examination of
organizational climate, an action research project at one
international ELT college suggests that management
approaches based on an awareness of all the dimensions of
an organization’s climate, emphasising integration,
collaboration and a focus on client service, may offer a
management model that assists in the functional resolution of
some of these discoursal tensions. It suggests that integration
2
of all organizational activities from finance to marketing to
education should be a core value that has appeal to both
entrepreneurs and ELT educators. Collaboration is proposed
as another factor that is capable of appealing to, and sharing
meanings across, the two discourses. A third commonality
may be a strong focus on client service, as notions of student
centred learning have been important in ELT for many years,
while entrepreneurial thinking has long valued a focus on
client and customer care as a primary business advantage.
1.2. Rationale
Considering the rapid growth in the ELT industry worldwide
and in Australia outlined in Chapter 4 The International ELT
College Environment, there has been little research work in
the area of management in ELT and virtually none in the
context of the Australian industry. The internationalisation of
the Australian education sector, and the rapid change in the
commercial and legislative environment for ELT colleges over
the last decade, have made research into ELT management
and its capacity to improve educational and organizational
outcomes for all stakeholders, a significant area of concern.
Jack Richards, one of the most influential applied linguists in
the area of ELT over the last two decades recently noted that:
Language teaching has often been discussed from a relatively narrow perspective, with a focus on teaching methods and techniques. Improvement in language teaching has been linked to the use of better methods of teaching, hence the extensive literature on teaching methods and the preoccupation with the
3
search for the best teaching methods that has characterized the history of language teaching for much of the last 100 years. …In recent years it has been acknowledged that since language teaching normally takes place within an institution of some sort, some of the principles of effective institutional management identified in other settings can also be applied to language teaching…
Richards, 2001, p.410
Perhaps because of a lean towards the educational aspects of
ELT in academic research, the linkages between ELT in the
classroom and the entrepreneurial and organizational
concerns of ELT institutions have been less carefully
examined. It should be an important concern of those
working to improve ELT, however, to obtain data on how the
institutions where language teaching and learning occurs are
managed, as well as on the beliefs and performance of those
who manage such institutions.
The need for ELT managers to understand and develop
strategies to reconcile value clashes between the
entrepreneurial and educational facets of their organizations
is a challenge that most who work in ELT management
accept as a workaday fact. Detailed analysis of the clashes
and possible strategies for their functional resolution are
currently lacking in the research literature.
This study expands on the author’s previous research
(Keaney, 1994) which suggested that ELT managers at
various levels favoured notions developed from their teaching
backgrounds and, in general, preferred the culture and
4
discourse norms of teachers rather than those of managers or
entrepreneurs. It also found that there were role confusions
and value conflicts in many aspects of their work.
As the first study to focus specifically on managers in the
Australian ELT industry the previous research report
suggested some possible areas for further investigation into
management in the ELT sector. It indicated a demand for
research that goes beyond the analysis of classroom
interaction and sought a better understanding of the
‘profane’ details of the way international ELT Colleges are
managed, operated and supervised.
The current study, therefore, attempts to expand on the
earlier work, and to examine some of the underlying
constructs and competing values in discoursal areas that
affect ELT management, as well as to explore areas of shared
values between them as possible pathways towards
reconciliation of discoursal tensions. It also aims to further
explore the ELT environment and aspects of organizational
climate such as structure and culture and then use this
understanding to examine a number of ELT colleges in
Sydney, Australia and explore possible solutions through an
action research project.
1.3. Background to the study
1n 1993-1994 this researcher undertook a quantitative
research study into ELT managers focusing on people in
5
managerial positions at ELT colleges in Australia. This study
investigated the relationship between ELT managers'
perceptions of the organizational effectiveness of their ELT
colleges and their perceptions of their own work
performance. After a review of management models,
organizational theory, educational administration, previous
work in ELT management and an outline of the Australian
ELT industry, the research presented the results of a survey
that was sent to ELT managers at 53 ELT colleges. The study
examined whether there was a statistically significant
correlation between ELT managers’ ratings of the
organizational effectiveness of their colleges and their ratings
of their own work performance. It is almost axiomatic in
management literature that managerial work performance
and organizational effectiveness should strongly and
positively correlate. There should, therefore, have been a
strong relationship between the two variables, as leadership
and good management have been shown to be important
ingredients of effective industrial and educational
organizations.
The study gave a basic descriptive profile of ELT managers
by job title, gender, age, qualifications, teaching experience,
ELT management experience, period in current position,
decision-making beliefs and decision-making practices. The
study combined exploratory interviews with a survey
instrument. The survey instrument consisted of 20 Likert
style items that sought data on ELT manager perceptions of
6
the organizational effectiveness of their colleges and their
own work performance as managers. The study was designed
to test the proposition that there should be a strong positive
correlation between beliefs about organizational
effectiveness and manager work performance. The central
question of the study was: Is there a statistically significant
relationship between ELT manager perception of their work
performance and of their perception of the overall
organizational effectiveness of their ELT college?
Factor analysis on the survey data revealed that there were
five areas of survey data, two clearly related to organizational
effectiveness and one clearly related to the work
performance of ELT managers. When correlations between
these factors were presented it seemed obvious that there
was only a weak and statistically insignificant correlation
between the ELT manager work performance indicator and
the two organizational effectiveness factors, despite an
expectation based on traditional management literature of a
very strong positive correlation. The study concluded that
ELT managers see indicators of the effectiveness of their
organizations as less than relevant to the way they judge
their work performance. It was clear that the issue required
further examination and research.
The study suggested possible factors that may account for
the lack of correlation between perceptions of ELT manager
work performance and organizational effectiveness. The most
7
plausible explanation seemed to be a combination of the
following four factors. These were:
Firstly, Environment. Many ELT managers may feel that
they have little control over the environments they
operate in. Change in the Australian and international
economy has been extremely rapid in the last two
decades and change in the legislative environment for
ELT colleges has reflected this. The upheavals in the
ELT industry after visa laws were changed in the early
1990s without serious industry consultation forced
several major colleges to close.
Secondly, Structure. It is possible that old-fashioned
management models and metaphors still dominate the
profession and only those at the top with actual equity
or financial control have any power to influence events.
In follow up interviews with ELT managers it was clear
that a number still felt that position in a hierarchy is
vital. If colleges only allow those at the top to have
power then ELT managers 'lower down' may feel
powerless. Several surveys indicated a deep-seated
antagonism between owners 'squeezing an ELT college
dry' and ELT managers struggling to provide high
standards of service. It is possible that a large number
of ELT managers simply felt that the health of their
college more closely related to the whims of owners
and equity holders rather than to the ELT managers'
work performance.
8
Thirdly, Culture. It is possible that the organizational
cultures at most ELT colleges do not emphasise client
service but are focused on assigned tasks and roles.
ELT managers may be predominantly judging
themselves by how well they are doing what their job
description says rather than ensuring that an
integrated college with a collaborative work culture
places client satisfaction at the core of all the college’s
work activities.
Fourthly, Unresolved Competing Discourses. It may be
that because most ELT managers come into the
position from teaching backgrounds and many play
both teaching and managerial roles concurrently, they
are judging themselves more by the criteria of 'good
teacher' than by that of 'good manager'.
The limited nature of the study did not allow a considered
examination of these factors and the reasons for the lack of
correlation between manager work performance and
organizational effectiveness. As noted in Section 1.2.
Rationale the current study expands on the earlier work and
investigates some underlying constructs and competing
values in the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT
educator. It proposes some areas of shared values that can
assist in the functional resolution of discoursal tensions. It
also looks at the organizational climate of a small number of
international ELT colleges, including their structure, milieu,
ecology and culture, and then proposes some possible
9
solutions to management dilemmas tested by means of an
action research project.
1.4. Professional and Academic Background of the
Researcher
The role of the researcher’s cultural background and
assumptions can be too easily ignored in ethnographic
research. The self-awareness necessary to negate this
influence is probably impossible to attain so the final
research reporting needs to outline the researcher’s cultural
background and beliefs so that readers may see how these
may have influenced the data gathering and interpreting
process. This section outlines my own professional and
academic background, therefore, to assist in the explication
of some of the values and beliefs that come through in
relevant sections of the work.
I have been involved with international ELT education for
most of my professional life. In 1984 I worked as an English
instructor in Bandung Indonesia preparing Indonesian
students who were about to go to Australia or the US to
study. From 1985 to 1987 I worked at one of Japan's largest
English language colleges and was responsible for designing
course programs for use by more than 6000 students. From
1990 - 1992 I was the Assistant Director of the English
Department at a US University branch campus in Japan. The
university experienced dramatic growth during this period
and drew my interest to issues in the management of
10
international education projects that develop from
entrepreneurial imperatives.
From 1995 – 1996 I worked for an Australian higher
education project in Malaysia as the Head of the Academic
English Department. This was a Malaysian funded -
Australian university accredited and supervised program in
association with 11 Australian universities. Again the
experience of working there at a senior administrative level
revealed a range of managerial and logistical issues that arise
in the management of an effective international ELT
program.
It is my positions in management and administration at
privately owned English language colleges in Australia that
cater to international students, however, that bear most
relevance to the study. In 1988 I was the Director of Studies
at a small ELT College in Cairns. From 1989 – 1990 I held the
position of Senior Teacher at a large ELT college in Sydney.
From late 1992 to mid 1994 I worked as an ELT teacher at a
different ELT college in Sydney before becoming the Director
of Studies at a new ELT college. After returning from
Malaysia I did consulting work for a number of ELT colleges
that were gaining provisional and full accreditations for their
operations.
For most of the period of the doctoral research I was the
Principal of a new and rapidly expanding ELT college that has
formed the basis for the action research data in this study. I
11
have recently departed Australia once again and now work
for the Centre for British Teachers in Brunei Darussalam in
ELT and information technology.
Prior to commencing this doctoral research project I
completed a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics with
courses in ELT management, curriculum development and
other issues related to the theory and practice of language
teaching and learning. I presented a dissertation for the
Masters degree titled Organizational Effectiveness and
Manager Work Performance at ELT Institutions in Australia.
This is referenced throughout the current work as Keaney,
1994.
1.5. A Note on Usage
The writing style in this report is based on the language
norms for an educated Australian user. Having been involved
in ELT for many years, and with a range of publications in the
popular press, I have tried to satisfy the twin aims of
academic accuracy and readability. This is a much more
difficult task than I had imagined at the commencement of
my doctoral studies!
There are a small number of lexico-grammatical points that
may require clarification:
In order to avoid the ‘he/she, s/he, he or she’
awkwardness, throughout the study they and related
12
pronouns are used for the neutral third person. Where
possible this has been combined with a plural verb but in
certain statements where it is important to retain the
singular, they has been combined with a singular third
person verb.
In this paper data is used in its conventional singular non-
count noun usage rather than in its Latinate plural form.
Most respected commentators agree that it is now a non-
count noun in English analogous in syntax to words such
as information.
No contortions have been made to avoid split infinitives.
This grammatical injunction is based on a false analogy
with traditional Latin grammar. As Fowler notes in his
famous Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926)
The English speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish…. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, and are a happy folk, to be envied by most of the minority classes.
The words organize and organization have for the sake of
consistency been spelled with a z throughout the
report. Many of the management texts in the literature
review are originally published in the United States and it
was felt that avoiding multiple spellings of the same word
would aid readability. By analogy other words that can be
13
spelled with either an –ise or –ize have been standardized
to the –ize usage.
Program has been spelled in this form rather than its –
mme variant.
The words sector and industry are used interchangeably
in this report based on their common usage. The
technical definition of a sector, though, is a grouping of
transactors by institutional type of transactor and that of
an industry as a grouping of establishments according to
the type of economic activity engaged in by the
establishment (Jackson, 1989; p.205).
In the end, all works of writing are flawed. Any writer of a
long document feels as did Gustave Flaubert that:
language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.
14
C h a p t e r 2
METHODOLOGY
2.1. Introduction
This chapter outlines the methodology of this study. It
discusses some methodological dilemmas and the way that
they have been resolved. It looks at the general approach to
the research, then discusses the methods of data collection,
the means of data analysis and the techniques used in the
report of findings.
The chapter justifies the use in this study of a combination of
four common techniques in education and management
research - a critical literature review leading to a text and
discourse analysis, followed by on-site interviews and
ethnographic observation at a number of related
organizations and, finally, a detailed action research project
in one target organization. This combination of techniques
provides a multi-dimensional way of understanding the
relevant aspects of management at international ELT colleges
in Australia.
Within the social sciences there are several major schools of
thought regarding social organizations. As discussed in the
following chapter, each school has its own view of
organizations, as well as a set of concepts and assumptions
15
that define the preferred approaches to researching them.
This variety of perspectives means that each particular
research method or technique has its own strengths and
weaknesses, and it is impossible to find a single research
methodology that is universally accepted as beyond reproach.
As indicated in Section 1.1 Aims of the Study, the aim of this
research project is to inform the work of myself and other
managers in international ELT colleges especially those that
are privately owned and operated. The research methodology
for the study therefore must be capable of achieving this aim.
Decisions about methodology, perspective and interpretation
of findings, therefore, have been filtered through the
following two questions:
1. Will this methodology/perspective/interpretation be able to deliver findings that may be useful and significant for myself and for other international ELT college managers in a similar situation?
2. Will this methodology/perspective/interpretation be able to deliver findings that may be valuable, unusual or significant enough to be of interest to the broader field of educational research?
2.2. Approach
It is possible to identify two broad types of enquiry that can
illuminate problems in areas of interest to social and
organizational researchers. These two broad types of
research can be labelled as the variance approach and the
process approach. The variance approach typically requires
the surveying of a representative sample of a population
using quantitative data in order to draw conclusions using
16
statistical inferencing. In organizational research this means
investigating a large number of organizations in, say, a
particular industry category and then attempting to draw
generalised conclusions about the relationship between a
number of variables or factors. The process approach, on the
other hand, usually means investigating a small section of a
population close at hand, extracting qualitative data to try to
get ‘underneath’ the issues of interest. In organizational
research it might mean studying one or a few similar
organizations in detail in order to understand exactly how
people do things and how things get done.
While it is possible to have large-scale qualitative research
that attempts to examine variance or small-scale case study
research that focuses solely on quantitative measures,
commonly quantitative data is employed in the variance
approach while qualitative data is associated with the process
approach. Until the mid-1970s, studies of organizations were
dominated by researchers who followed the paradigms of the
traditional methods of laboratory science based on logical
positivism (Owens, 1995, pp. 297 - 299). The variance
approach, using quantitative data measurement and
experimental methods, was seen as the more prestigious
research technique. Variance type survey research into
organizational management and change in industry focused
on the content of changes in a large number of organizations
and the implications of these changes for the structural
configurations and profitability of organizations.
17
Since that time, however, the process approach using
qualitative methods has come to be more readily accepted
and valued. The realisation has grown that qualitative
research can shed light on important aspects of
organizational life that may not be revealed by laboratory
style experimental research. Many commentators would now
agree that the full complexity of human behaviour cannot be
confined simply to statistical categories, and that
ethnographic accounts of the details of organizational life are
immensely important in understanding organizations as
complex social systems.
The process approach to research attempts to represent
reality as a flow of events - a narrative. It is essentially
description with interpretive ‘attitude’. Process-theoretic
approaches suit situations where the variables of particular
contexts tend to outweigh the variables under study. In such
situations it is difficult to unambiguously isolate and identify
pieces worthy of investigation separate from their whole.
Research into educational institutions has in recent years
come to look more favourably on process-theoretic
approaches. As Mohr (1982, p.215) wrote nearly two decades
ago:
...the kind of description that would seem to have the greatest potential in social science is description of processes - how things are done by people and groups. To the extent that the pursuit of description increases in prevalence as a research goal, social science will take on an increasingly process-theoretic flavour at the expense of variance theory.
18
The variance approach is underscored by a belief in an
objective reality that can be identified and described through
well-constructed research. The process approach, on the
other hand, adopts what may be termed a qualitative
phenomenological view, seeing reality as constructed with no
real objective ‘existence’ independent of the subjective
perceptions of researchers and their subjects.
The four phases of the research in this study follow a process-
theoretic approach. It has seemed that ethnographic research
techniques are well suited to this type of research. Some
discussion of the applicability of the findings has been made
primarily through the development of tentative management
models that may, with appropriate modification, be of use in
similar contexts and situations.
2.3. Data Collection
Research, like politics, is the art of the possible. The
difficulties that face researchers in educational management
are varied. The most important issues in data collection for
this study follow on from the basic approach. Thus it was
necessary to decide whether to adopt ethnographic or
experimental techniques or a mixture of the two, and to judge
to what extent the data would accurately represent the 'real
views' of informants. Other issues included problems of
access, status of the researcher and comparability across
cases.
19
In order to avoid the dangers of single sources of data and
improve the external validity of the data it was decided to
break the research up into four phases and use different
methods of data collection for each phase. Phase I involved
exploratory interviews with peers involved in the
management of similar international ELT colleges and a log
of my own experiences as a teacher and manager in ten
different international education organizations. It also drew
on findings of a previous research report by the author into
the management of ELT colleges in Australia (Keaney, 1994).
Phase II involved a critical review and discourse analysis of
the relevant management and education literature. Phase III
consisted of multiple case studies involving semi-structured
and open interviews, text and document analysis and
observations in a range of international colleges in Sydney,
Australia. Phase IV involved an action research program in a
new college that opened during the study. This college was
similar in scope to the colleges investigated in Phase III and
involved the writer in a central participatory role as the
Principal of the college.
Data collection proceeded as shown in Figure 2.1:
20
Phase Research Activity
I
Survey of ELT Managers, Initial reading and recollections and exploratory interviews with peers involved in the management of similar international education institutions as well as a recollections log of author’s experiences as a teacher and manager in ten different international education organizations
II
Background research, literature review and discourse analysis - a critical review and discourse analysis of the relevant management and education literature
III
Multiple case studies involving semi-structured and open interviews, text and document analysis and observations in a range of international ELT colleges
IV
Action research project in a new college that opened during the study. This college was similar in scope to the colleges investigated in Phase III and involved the writer in a central participatory role as the Principal of the college
Figure 2.1 Data Collection
Phase I: Survey, Recollections and Exploratory
Interviews
The first phase of the research was to undertake a number of
exploratory open-ended interviews and to systematically note
21
down my own work recollections. The interviews were with
five present or former ELT managers. In this phase I
interviewed two Owner/Directors of ELT colleges, a Director
of Studies, a former Director of Studies, a Principal and a
Financial Controller. I also discussed the directions of the
research with several teachers and education academics and
a number of current and former ELT students. These
exploratory interviews were used to help understand the
ways that discourse and climate issues manifested
themselves in different colleges, and the ways that these
were related to ELT management.
In this phase of the research I also wrote in a journal all of
my own memories of working in ten different international
educational institutions in Australia and other countries. I
tried to systematically recall issues that had most affected me
especially those regarding the ‘feeling’ or climate of each
particular organization. I tried to structure these
recollections as a kind of self-interview. I also reviewed data
originally gathered for a Masters Degree dissertation in
Applied Linguistics on the links between manager work
performance and organizational effectiveness at ELT colleges
in Australia.
Phase II Review and analyse the relevant literature.
The literature review, which is incorporated into this report,
was a significant component of this research. ELT
management has not yet had much research attention but the
22
related fields of educational administration and
organizational and management research in industry
provided a deep background to the issues of interest that
were likely to arise in the latter phases of the study. The
literature review also enabled the development of an
interview and observation guide and the creation of
frameworks to organize the data and categorise it in ways
that enabled useful comment and comparison.
The literature review quickly made it apparent that the
supposition of competing discoursal pressures was valid. The
management of ELT organizations relies on knowledge, skills
and understanding that derive from two distinct, and at times
opposing, discourses. The cultures of ELT colleges, their
management and the process of growth and change within
them, all reflect at some levels these discoursal tensions. It
came to be clear that an improved understanding of
international ELT organizations and their management
required a deeper awareness of the basis for these tensions
and conflicts. This has led to a brief analysis of the two
discourses as suggested by indicative texts in the published
literature.
The discourse and text analysis in Chapters 5 – 8 broadly
follows a question framework developed by Kemmis (1988,
pp.57 - 85) that divides such an analysis into the three areas
of language use, contestation and institutionalisation. Usage
involves a description of the history and contemporary usage
of the key ideas in the discourse. Contestation involves points
23
where there is contestation over language within and
between discourses. Institutionalisation indicates how the
relevant discourses have been institutionalised in particular
work situations.
The discourse analysis is intended to be illustrative and
suggestive, as a comprehensive analysis is far beyond the
scope of this study. The purpose of the analysis is not to
provide a thorough and complete overview of the discourses
and all of the areas of contestation or resultant
institutionalisation, but simply to indicate a ‘feeling’ for the
language use, contestation and institutionalisation as an aid
to discussing the data in other areas of the study. It also
enables the development of three key cultural notions that
may provide a basis for some reconciliation between the two
discourses.
Phase III Multiple Case Studies
(Interviews, Observation and Text Analysis)
Phase III was a multiple case study which examined four
colleges that have been founded since 1990. All these
colleges have come into existence as a result of the growth in
international education in Australia since that time. The
colleges have reasonably similar student profiles and
educational goals with a range of ownership profiles. They all
consisted mainly of international students and were run on
profit-making lines. The annual turnover at each college was
less than $5 million as organizations with turnover in excess
24
of that amount probably have very different systemic and
managerial concerns (DETYA, 2001).
Phases III and IV of the research adopted ethnographic
techniques. According to David Nunan, one of the most
significant researches into ELT teaching methods and
classroom practice over the past two decades:
Ethnography involves the study of the culture/characteristics of a group in real-world rather than laboratory settings. The researcher makes no attempt to isolate or manipulate the phenomena under investigation, and insights and generalisations emerge from close contact with the data rather than from a theory....
(Nunan, 1992, p.55)
Nunan sees ethnographic research as having the following
characteristics:
1. It is contextual being carried out in the context where the inhabitants normally live and work.
2. It is unobtrusive in that the researcher avoids manipulating the phenomenon under investigation.
3. It is longitudinal in that the research is relatively long term. 4. It is collaborative in that the researcher involves the participation of other
stakeholders. 5. It is interpretive in that the researcher carries out interpretive analysis of the
data 6. It is organic in the sense that there is interaction between questions/hypotheses
and data collection/interpretation.
Phase III utilised interviews, observation, informants’ reports
of unobtrusive measures such as number of enrolments and
staff turnover and text analysis techniques. Interviews and
observation proceeded by a series of 'guides' and
standardised formatted observation sheets.
25
Data was collected using an open-ended interview instrument
that consisted of questions in the four areas of climate. Each
area was divided into sub-topics and the interview proceeded
using these sub-topics to ‘guide’ the interview. Frequently the
answers would not proceed in a linear fashion, as an
informant would cover several points in one answer or take
several questions to provide data for one sub-topic. For each
item I asked as many probes as were thought necessary to
elicit full responses, where a sub-topic appeared irrelevant
for that particular informant the question was still asked but
with a phrasing such as: "I don't suppose you know anything
about...” The interview instrument is included in Appendix A.
Analysis generally proceeded by using a key concept
approach discussed more fully in Section 2.4 Analysis.
In most instances it proved much more difficult getting
interviewees to stop talking than to start, itself a useful
insight into the fact that many who work in education and
management have too little time to reflect upon what it is
they actually do, and how it is that they create value for their
organization and the community. Many interviewees
explicitly commented that they enjoyed being interviewed
and discussing their work, suggesting perhaps that an avenue
for reflection on work is an important, if frequently
overlooked, organizational activity.
The colleges used in the Multiple Case Study phase of the
research were:
26
1. College A This Sydney-based college is owned and operated by an Australian management team. The college was originally a business college that has expanded from this base into the teaching of English language courses. I have been involved with this college as a Director of Studies, as an educational consultant and as an IT instructor.
2. College B This Sydney based college was part-owned by a large private Japanese educational organization but has since become fully Australian owned. The college was required to raise the prestige of the organization in Japan and give it an international profile as well as its profit making function. I have been involved with this college as a part-time ELT instructor and as an educational consultant.
3. College C This college also offers vocational courses in business and information technology in addition to its English language courses. This college has had several changes of ownership, premises and leading educational managers during the course of the study. I have been involved with this college as an educational and marketing consultant.
4. College D This institute was initially designed to assist students to prepare for studies in Christian ministry. The institute started to accept international students after detecting an interest in ELT courses as preparation for its other courses from overseas students. It subsequently changed premises and ownership structure and in late 1999 was subject to an ownership dispute that led to the closure of the college and the transfer of its students. I was an educational consultant to the institute in the initial process of accrediting its ELT program.
Interviews
Interviews were conducted with a range of people in each
college. At each college the Principal or person responsible
27
for the overall strategies of the college was interviewed, as
well as the Director of Studies (DOS) of ELT and any senior
teachers. Principals or Directors of Studies in each college
were asked to nominate teachers who would be willing to be
interviewed with the nominated teachers being broadly
representative of the staff as a whole. Students were
interviewed on both a nominated and ad hoc basis (i.e. some
were nominated by the college others just happened to be
around when I was around). A total of four Principals, five
Directors of Studies (one college had a change of DOS during
this phase), 25 teachers, 19 administrative workers and 27
students were interviewed for this study.
The times of the interviews varied widely, although the
average figure for the Principal and DOS interviews was 90
minutes and for the teacher interviews 20 - 40 minutes. The
student and admin workers generally took from 10 - 30 mins.
The multiple case study data was gathered in two series. The
first series was from August 1996 to January 1997, the
second was from August 1999 to January 2000. In both series
of data collection I followed the same procedure of asking
informants for and/or observing recollections, actual
(current) information and projections of the future. The
purpose of having two series of data collection was partly
based on an original plan to include a large component on
organizational change into this report that has subsequently
been withdrawn for space reasons. The multiple series of
data collection did assist in stabilising data, however, and
28
provided opportunity to examine changes in environment,
ecology, milieu, structure and culture as well as changes in
perceptions, projections and recollections among
organizational members.
In attempting to elicit data I tried to maintain an ‘active
listening’ stance and phrase questions in a non-directive,
‘open’ way as opposed to the directive, closed questions of a
formal interview.
Observation
The observation involved both an inspection of premises,
facilities and equipment as well as observations of office and
staff room interactions, some classroom interactions and
occasional recreational interactions at activities such as
parties and holiday celebrations. As noted in Chapters 13 and
14 on Organizational Culture and the Culture of ELT
organizations, the selection of which holidays and occasions
to celebrate is in itself one indication of rituals, which can be
an important indication of an organization's culture.
Textual analysis
Ethnomethodological techniques can also make use of other
resources besides the oral and written information provided
by participants. When investigating organizations, documents
can be important as resources not only as a basis for
gathering statistics but for information they reveal about an
organization. Brochures and enrolment forms, for example,
can indicate what is regarded as useful and not useful to the
29
organization. Public information, such as marketing material,
student handbooks, accreditation and curriculum documents,
workplace notices and signs, have also proven to be
informative pieces of data.
At each college I acquired all of the public documents that
were available. I also obtained copies of accreditation
documents, which outlined in a fairly detailed way most
aspects of the organization’s activities and aims. Other
documents that were gathered included orientation
handbooks and a few other miscellaneous pieces of
information. I also noted down various signs and notices
affixed to walls at each college as these 'public broadcast'
texts make important statements about the day to day reality
of an institution and its concepts of boundaries,
insiders/outsiders and other relevant factors.
Much research in the social sciences depends upon eliciting
talk in some form such as interviews, surveys, attitude scales
or participant observation. While this talk is a data resource
it is important to remember that the gathering of the data or
the interview sessions are sociological ‘events’ and
assumptions of the stability of attitudes, personality and
beliefs based on survey and interview data collection
methods may not be as real as sociological researchers have
come to believe (for a full discussion in this area see Benson
& Hughes, 1983).
30
I felt this 'staging' of the sociological event keenly throughout
this phase of the research project. Formal interview sessions
had a declared starting and ending. Often I would be chatting
with the interviewee in a public area of the college then say,
“Well how about we do the interview, now?”. Always people
indicated that they preferred to do it in a private place where
other staff members of the college could not overhear them.
A discourse analysis of the twin aspects of colleges – their
educational and entrepreneurial selves was investigated by
means of an overall discourse analysis of the ideological
discursive formations of these two areas. There is a fuller
discussion of the discourse analysis in Chapter 5 Discourses
and Discourse Analysis.
Phase IV: Action Research
Research in areas involving human behaviour undoubtedly
affects its subjects. Stanford (1965, 1956), for example,
showed that research into college students at Vassar made a
deep impression on the subjects who later saw taking part in
the research as one of the most significant events of their
college years. Stanford’s findings also had an important
effect on the culture of the college. In this research study,
too, it seemed important to include a phase that, as Emery
(1976, p.25) suggests, would itself be the action rather than
merely testing or observing other action.
According to Clark (1976, p.1) action research sets out to
combine theoretical discoveries with the solution of practical
31
problems. While the proportion of discovery and practical
solution may vary with the project, Clark suggests that action
research should strive to find an optimum combination of the
two. In action research the manipulation or action is not
introduced by the experimenter ‘in secret’ but in
collaboration with the subjects. It therefore provides the
opportunity to study a system as it reacts to certain ‘in
consciousness’ manipulations.
Action research links the ideas of traditional research, which
tends to envisage a passive approach, to the ‘action’ of trying
out ideas as a means of improvement and of increasing
knowledge. As Kemmis (1988, p. 6) suggests:
Action research provides a way of working which links theory and practice into the one whole: ideas in action.”
Action research had its origins in the work of Lewin (1946) in
a series of community experiments such as housing projects,
equal opportunity of employment, children’s prejudice, youth
leadership and street gangs. According to Lewin the central
tenets of the approach were group decision and commitment
to improvement. In Australia, action research has played a
significant role in educational research and in school
improvement since the late 1970s. It has been used in school-
based curriculum reviews and in the growing area of
professional awareness among teachers seeking ways of
informing and understanding their work (Kemmis, 1988: p.7).
32
Action research can be seen as proceeding in an ongoing
series of spirals or stages as indicated in Figure 2.2.
PLAN
ETC ACT / OBSERVE
REVISED PLAN REFLECT
REFLECT REVISED PLAN
ACT / OBSERVE
Figure 2.2 Action Research Process (adapted from Kemmis, 1988, p.11)
Action research recognises that all social action is somewhat
unpredictable and therefore involves an element of risk. The
initial research plan has to be flexible in order to adapt to
unforeseen events and circumstances and deal with
unforeseen obstacles and constraints. It should help
practitioners realise a new potential for action. It is vital in
action research that the action that occurs is observed and
33
reflected upon. This reflected-upon-action then becomes the
basis for the development of further action.
This study utilised ongoing action research in one
international ELT college in order to assist in assessing the
practical value of the research in the day-to-day management
of the college. Observations were recorded in a log by the
researcher and through a series of meetings and interviews
with other representative members of the college including
the owners, the other ELT managers, teachers/instructors,
administrative workers and students.
The college involved in the action research phase was:
College E
This college opened to students in April 1997. The owners
had previously owned similar colleges in Sydney and had
some recruitment contacts for students. I was originally
involved with this college as an educational consultant and
from its opening until the end of 2000 was the Principal of
the college.
There were six action research phases. Each action research
cycle lasted approximately six months. The cycles were:
Cycle 1: July – December 1997
Cycle 2: January – June 1998
Cycle 3: July – December 1998
Cycle 4: January – June 1999
34
Cycle 5: July – December 1999
Cycle 6: January – June 2000
As well as feedback generated within the normal operating of
the college such as student evaluations of the college and
teacher evaluations of courses, there was oral feedback every
four-week term. More specific feedback was obtained close to
the end of each action research cycle and following the
conclusion of the action research project. I left the college in
December 2000 to work in Brunei Darussalam. Some follow
up comments relating to the action research and the college
since my departure have also been included in the study.
Action research in existing institutions is usually connected
with the notion of change in aspects of individual and group
behaviour, such as changes in the way people use language,
changes in activities and practices or changes in social
relationships and organizational configurations. In the
current study, because the action research was conducted in
a new organization, the focus was on creating an
organizational climate and culture that was ‘in consciousness’
as opposed to allowing one to develop by 'default'. There was
also a strong effort to reduce the tensions between the
entrepreneur and educator worldviews and to try to ensure
that all members of the organization understood the
possibilities of such tensions.
The action research in this study was partly collaborative. In
this it differs from the position put forward by Kemmis and
35
McTaggart (1988) or Cohen and Manion (1994) who argue
that the research must be fully collaborative. As the project
does not have matching outcomes for all stakeholders it was
difficult to find full partners for the action research, although
most staff members enjoyed participating in the project and
happily provided feedback.
The action research was also supplemented by other research
projects into the college. One research project related to an
MBA program was an analysis of the marketing strategies of
the college. Another was a case study of the institution and
an analysis of the internationalisation of its operations. These
comprehensive reports also provided written feedback on the
operation of the institution from an
entrepreneurial/managerialist perspective.
Access
One of the core problems of any social research is the
problem of access and the notion of what can and can’t be
observed - the ‘profane’ versus the ‘sacred/taboo’ (Barbera-
Stein: 1979: 15 cited in Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983: p.54).
It is possible to view these problems as a research resource
and outline some of the issues that arise in gaining research.
This can help to reveal the bordering of the organization
indicating those parts that are relatively ‘public’ and those
that are ‘private’.
Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p.54) go on to suggest that
one of the most effective ways to gain access is through the
36
mobilisation of existing social networks, based on
acquaintanceship, kinship or occupational membership.
Hoffman (1980) showed how her interviews with hospital
board members were difficult to obtain and very guarded
until she activated her family member’s friendship with one
prominent hospital director. Once she activated this
connection the type of data she received changed
dramatically.
Access was also a crucial factor in the selection of research
sites in this study. Before commencing this research project I
had already had a relationship with each of the colleges as a
consultant, adviser, administrator or teacher. While it would
have been possible to broaden the number of cases it was felt
that there was little of value in doing so, especially as an
‘outsider’ might not receive sufficiently honest accounts to
make the expansion of cases worthwhile.
Status of researcher
Manning (1979) suggests that there is a range of
relationships that the researcher can adopt with the
organization being observed. It is possible to be a complete
participant operating in the organization, subject to the same
conditions as other members of the organization. It is also
possible to be a participant yet remain in the role of an
observer. Manning suggests that these two roles both provide
for comparative involvement, some subjectivity and empathy
for the subjects. On the other hand it is possible to be clearly
37
an observer but have some minor involvement as a
participant or even to be a completely detached observer.
These two roles provide for comparative detachment,
objectivity and sympathy with the subjects. The complete
observer avoids the danger of ‘going native’ but can also
misunderstand the perspective of the participants. Manning
suggests that there is real value in obtaining multiple
perspectives where possible.
In the third phase of this research project the perspectives of
the observer as participant was adopted. As I have had some
professional involvement with all of the colleges that were
researched it was possible to be treated as an ‘insider’ with
regard to commentary on many issues although the extent of
'insiderdom' varied with each organization. The different role
and status of a ‘researcher’ investigating a phenomenon
combined with the face validity of formal interviews and
other research techniques tended to also provide a more
detached observer as participant role. In the fourth action
research stage of this project I was a complete participant.
Credibility
Owens (1995, pp. 267-268) notes six procedures to enhance
the credibility of naturalistic research into the organizational
behaviour of educational institutions. These are to leave an
audit trail, to allow sufficient time to gather data, to use
triangulation (using multiple sources to gather information
and data), to cross-check important information with other
38
members of an organization, to maintain a comprehensive
materials file, to regularly consult with peers on the progress
of the work and to use thick description in the final research
report.
In this study an audit trail was left by filing notes and edited
summaries of interviews, raw notes and summaries of
observations, all documents used as data sources (edited
copies of confidential documents), interview and observation
guidelines, an action research journal and drafted copies of
the research proposal and report. Material used in the
research report has been assembled electronically on a
database.
Nearly four years has been allowed to gather data and this
data gathering built on data that had been previously
acquired for a research project in a related area. Multiple
sources were used both by investigating multiple colleges
and by interviewing and surveying various members within
each college. Important information that was revealed in
interviews was, as far as possible, cross-checked with other
members of the college in later interviews. All materials
gathered for the research including notices, photos and
marketing materials from each college were kept in a
designated materials file.
The research report has been written in a traditional
commentary style. Throughout the writing there has been
regular consultation with a doctoral supervisor and with
39
peers involved in other research in the fields of education,
applied linguistics and management.
Ethics
Ethical considerations in this research are based on those
outlined in AARE (1993). Each organization being researched
was informed about the aims of the project and the types of
issues being researched before I obtained the cooperation of
the senior educational manager at each organization (either
the Principal or the Director of Studies). The writing style of
the dissertation is intended to allow participating
organizations and informants to remain anonymous. The use
of commercially sensitive information has been avoided
unless completely relevant. Pseudonyms have been used for
informants and colleges. All undertakings, both formal and
informal, made to informant organizations and individuals
were met before the research project was submitted.
Language competence and cultural background played a
significant role in various parts of this research. Interviews
with students, for example, were obviously moderated by
their developing English abilities, where interpretation of
answers has seemed important I tried to confirm responses
as explicitly as possible.
2.4. Analysis
Phase I
The data collected in the first phase of the study was
reviewed in order to consider the primary issues that arose
40
and their possible significance in the research. In this
exploratory phase there was a need to identify avenues of
exploration. The structure of the research project and its
emphasis on the contestations between entrepreneur and
educator discourses were developed in this phase.
Phase II
In Phase II much more detailed investigation of the issues in
the 1st phase allowed a refinement of constructs and led to a
clarification of methods and structure of the research project.
The importance of including some form of discourse analysis
was also an outcome of this phase of the research.
Phase III
In order to arrange the data and record it in a coherent and
systematic way frameworks were used. Initially one
framework was developed from the literature to correspond
to each dimension of the research. The development and
modifications of these frameworks are discussed in detail in
the relevant chapters. The framework used to organize and
assemble data related to organizational climate is discussed
in Chapter 3, Management and Organizations while
additional information in the dimension of organizational
culture is discussed in Chapter 13, The Culture of Work
Organizations.
Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p.2) note that
the ethnographer participates, overtly or covertly in people’s daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking
41
questions, in fact collecting whatever data are available to throw light on issues with which he or she is concerned.
In many ways ethnography is the most basic form of social
research, as it is the research technique that most closely
resembles the way in which humans make sense of the world
in everyday life. But this means that one of the most
important aspects of the ethnographic method is the analysis
of what is said. Ethnography involves many judgements about
who to talk to, where to talk to them, when to talk to them,
when to observe, what to observe, what to record and how to
record it. The ethnographic process involves making
judgements about relevance and, while applied linguistic
research has shown many problems with this judgement
process and the possibility of researcher bias distorting data,
some selections must be made.
It would seem that the main defence against such distortion
is to make as explicit and systematic as possible the criteria
used for determining relevance and irrelevance. Data has to
be collected in some forms, and the best defence against the
misinterpretation of data is a system of data collection from
multiple informants and a variety of sources, as well as
clarification on the part of the researcher of the linguistic
issues that are raised in the analysis and interpretation of the
data.
The analysis of data in the third phase of the study proceeded
along several lines. Interviews were noted down on
standardised sheets. Responses that were felt at the time to
42
be important were paraphrased and rechecked with
informants. A key issue that came out early in this method
was that some interviewees have a better way with words
than others and it is difficult not to give their point of view
higher weight.
The interviews were gathered together by institution and
were then analysed using a key concept and theme approach.
Key concepts tended to follow groupings within the questions
themselves. A sample interview notes sheet and its analysis is
included in Appendix B.
Analysis of texts proceeded in tandem with the analysis of the
interviews and observations operated as a confirmation of the
interview data. Those items in the texts that illuminated or
underscored points made in the interviews were regarded as
significant. Usually the textual data was illustrative of a
particular college, policy or facet of organizational life and
was used for this purpose.
Phase IV
The action research phase attempted to implement most of
the significant notions that emerge from the body of data in
Phases I, II and III. It was around these notions that the
initiatives in the action research phase were developed. The
action research phase made a realistic effort at implementing
the findings of the first three phases and attempted to
observe their outcomes. The main themes of the action
research were to implement strategies that encouraged
43
integration of all college work tasks, activities and functions,
helped develop a collaborative work culture and that had a
strong client service focus. Some of the areas of improvement
and issues that organizational members tried to implement
through the action research are listed below. The theoretical
underpinnings of each notion within this study are listed in
brackets:
1. That ELT staff be aware of the tension between
entrepreneur and educator worldviews. (Chapters 5
– 8 on Discourse)
2. That as far as possible ELT educators at the college
understand the financial and administrative aspects
of college life and owners and administrators be
aware of its educational aspects. (Chapters 5 – 8 on
Discourse, Chapters 13- 14 on Organizational
Culture)
3. That all staff be strongly aware of their marketing
role and the private and profit driven nature of the
college as well as the importance of client service.
(Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters 13-14 on
Organizational Culture)
4. That the college organizational structure be
perceived as a fronted organigram with those in
client contact including administration and teaching
staff being seen as the most crucial in the
organization with those ‘behind’ playing support
roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in front’.
44
(Chapters 9 - 10 on Organizational Structure,
Chapters 13-14 on Organizational Culture)
5. That the mixture of exogenous and endogenous
factors that ELT educators used to determine
educational and institutional quality for the
international ELT college would reflect rather than
conflict with organizational goals avoiding the
perception common among ELT educators, (and
other professional groups in education, medicine,
law, architecture) based primarily on endogenous
factors determined by providers/suppliers rather
than exogenous factors determined by the
consumers favoured by an entrepreneurial view.
(Chapters 9 and 10 on Structure)
6. That all college staff try to ‘walk in the students’
shoes’ and perceive interactions from the client
point of view. (Chapter 11 on Organizational Milieu,
Chapters 13 – 14 on Organizational Culture)
7. That the college encourage awareness among all
staff of the cultural and linguistic factors that affect
the provision of ELT to international students in
Australia. (Chapter 11 on Milieu)
8. That the ecology of the college works with its
limitations to support the development of the
organization’s structure, culture and milieu.
(Chapter 12 on Ecology)
45
9. That its members see the ecology of the college as a
positive feature of the organization and a reflection
of its structure, culture and milieu. (Chapter 12 on
Ecology)
10. That the culture of the college encourages diversity
of views but unity of operation. (Chapters 5 – 8 on
Discourse, Chapters 13 and 14 on Culture)
11. That ELT staff feel enabled to satisfy clients and not
feel constrained by any notion that ‘pleasing the
boss’ and pleasing the client’ would ever conflict.
(Chapters 13 - 14 on Culture)
12. That the college encourage an in awareness
development of the organizational culture especially
on factors that are typically ‘out of awareness.
(Chapters 13 and 14 on Culture)
The actual action research initiatives are listed in the
following table:
46
Table 2.2Action Research Initiatives at College E
Initiative Cycle(s)Structure Initiative 1 (S1): That the college organizational structure be a fronted organigram with those in client contact including administration and teaching staff being seen as the most crucial in the organization with those ‘behind’ playing support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in front’. As well that the mixture of exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators used to determine educational and institutional quality for the international ELT college reflect with organizational goals focusing primarily on client satisfaction
1-3
Structure Initiative 2 (S2): The organization will try to have as few barriers as possible between staff. Teachers were to be encouraged to teach across both vocational and English subjects. Teachers were to be encouraged to do marketing and/or administration work. Administration and marketing staff were to be assisted in upgrading their qualifications both internally and externally.
3-4
Structure Initiative 3 (S3): Management decisions on structure were to be explicit and communicated to all employees. As far as possible staff should also have the opportunity to witness managers in action and to be able to question them about their activities and decisions.
3-4
Milieu Initiative 1 (M1): An enforced program to ensure student diversity, particularly of national groups over the whole college and in individual classes. Such a program to include the development of positive incentives such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support for the development of new markets. The program also to include the ‘negative’ reinforcement of the imposition of a quota system over such that no one nationality could exceed 25% of the student body. Aim to build a milieu that supports the development and maintenance of a student culture at College E that was upbeat, active and enhancing from the student perspective
1-2
Milieu Initiative 2 (M2): At point of hiring ensure that selection of staff includes those likely to positively affect the staff milieu. Ensure that future development has an equal weight with past qualifications and experience in selection of staff and make newly hired staff feel that their special qualities ensured selection. Over time, work with teaching staff individually to ensure that professional development is targeted to each teacher’s personal and professional interests.
1-6
Ecology Initiative 1 (E1): Management not be physically separated from staff
1-2
Ecology Initiative 2 (E2): Workspaces were to be mixed and an ‘open classroom’ policy was to be implemented
1-2
Culture Initiative 1 (C1): That the culture of the college encourage integration and unity of operation while recognising the diversity of views and work tasks and that the college encourage an in-awareness development of organizational culture.
1-6
Culture Initiative 2 (C2): That the college develop a collaborative work culture both within areas such as teaching and administration and between functional areas.
1-6
Culture Initiative 3 (C3): That the organization have a core commitment to clients and client service. This commitment had to apply both to front-line staff who are in constant contact with students, as well as to management in their dealings with both students and staff.
1-6
47
2.5. Report of Findings
Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p14) note that “there is no
way we can escape the social world in order to study it”
despite the research tradition that the social world is an
independently perceivable phenomenon that observers
“delineate, describe and make coherent” (Manning, 1979:
p.660). It is important for the researcher, however, not to
confuse language systems used to explain the world with the
objects of study. Simply reconstructing the language of the
data into modes of scientific or analytic discourse and then
mistaking this reconstruction for ‘real’ relationships among
objects inhabiting a posited semantic domain can be a flawed
process. Reification for its own sake is not the same as theory
although it is difficult to completely avoid this trap.
A continual tension in the writing of this report is that
between being true to life or true to testability, finding a
position between structuralism and post-structuralism; from
the structuralist notion that the truth is 'within' the text to
the post-structuralist notion that the interaction of writer and
reader is an ongoing production making reading performance
rather than consumption. Ultimately an ethnographer is
engaged in telling a story, writing a product that has its roots
in the narrative tradition and that uses a ‘pattern model of
understanding’. Part of the reflexive awareness of
ethnographic writing must, of course, take into account the
potential audience of the product. The primary audience of
this research report are readers who are conversant with the
48
discoursal conventions of academic and educational writing
and as such these are followed. The truth-value of what is
written can be judged by its resonation with those who have
had similar experiences to the ones outlined herein.
The role of the researcher’s cultural background and
assumptions need to be taken into account in ethnographic
research. The self-awareness necessary to negate this
influence is probably impossible to attain, so the final
research reporting has to explicate ways that the
researcher’s cultural background and beliefs may have
influenced the data gathering and interpreting process. I
have outlined my own work experience in ELT in Section 1.4
Professional and Academic Background of the Researcher.
2.6. Conclusion
The present research builds on a previous study by the
author. The intention has been to investigate the underlying
discoursal tensions in ELT management and then examine
features of organizational climate at some international ELT
colleges in Australia and provide some comment on their
management practices. There is a particular interest in the
influences of competing discoursal values on ELT managers
and, in turn, the ELT manager influence on the structure,
milieu, ecology and culture of the colleges.
Hypotheses are fluid and have been developed and refined
from the data over the course of the research. In this sense
49
the research has favoured exploration over hypothesis
testing. This process tends to parallel decision making
practices in ELT management, where decisions usually have
to be made without possession of complete information and
then have to be constantly retested and reworked in order to
be made more suitable to an unfolding reality.
The methodological issues in this chapter were grouped into
four areas: general approach to research, data collection,
data analysis and report of findings. The chapter argued that
the use in this study of a combination of common techniques
in education and management research - interviews and
ethnographic observation, discourse analysis and critical
literature review, and action research in different phases of
the research was an effective multi-dimensional way of
understanding the aspects of organizational climate and its
management in the institutional settings under investigation.
50
C h a p t e r 3
MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
3.1. Introduction
Research into organizations and their management has
become a significant area of late 20th century interest due to
the increasing dominance of formal organizations in
industrialised countries. How organizations come into
existence, how they grow and change, and how they succeed
or fail have, therefore, become vital questions in
contemporary social science research. As a result, there is
now a vast range of literature on organizations and it is
impossible to entirely reconcile all the differing approaches
and perspectives it contains. The underlying tension or
dynamic in most organizational research, however, revolves
around the interactions of the organization’s members, its
culture, its organizational structure and its surrounding
environment and the relative importance of each in
determining the organization’s behaviour and distinctive
characteristics.
This chapter briefly defines organizations for the purposes of
this study and outlines four of the broad perspectives on
organizations and their management that have been
developed in the literature. It argues that each perspective
51
tends to illuminate different facets of an organization and
that a useful descriptive framework needs to attend to all
four perspectives to provide a useful understanding of an
organization.
3.2. Defining Organizations
Despite the importance of organizations and the high level of
research interest in them, a precise definition of
organizations, as opposed to other social entities, remains
problematic. Weber (1947, p.151) suggests that an
organization can be seen as a social entity that is "a system of
continuous purposive activity of a specified kind". In effect, a
social entity that is designed to do something. Weber
distinguishes corporate groups from other forms of social
organization, defining a corporate group as a social
relationship that is either closed or limits the admission of
outsiders by rules. In Weber's view, organizations involve
social relationships that proscribe individuals' interactions
with the organization in a non-random way. Because
organizations include some parts of the population and
exclude others on the basis of non-random criteria, they have
boundaries that can be defined and investigated. Weber's
notion that organizations are social entities with boundary
conditions that have been designed to do something has been
a dominant idea in traditional organizational analysis.
While organizations are undoubtedly social systems, they are
composed of individual members. Even though organizations
52
can transcend the life of their members, they are shaped and
influenced by their participants. Barnard (1937, p.73) in
contrast to Weber, stresses the role of the individual,
especially the executive, in organizations. While Weber’s view
concentrates on the system, Barnard’s focuses on the
individual. In Barnard’s view an organization is a system of
consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more
persons with an emphasis on the role of those in executive or
commanding roles.
The combination of Weber’s and Barnard’s views form the
basis of the classic body of theory and thinking about
organizations which has defined an organization as "a social
device for efficiently accomplishing through group means
some stated purpose" (Katz and Kahn, 1978: p.19).
Investigations of organizations must illuminate the ways in
which the characteristics of an organizational entity affect its
population, as well as the ways the individual members of the
organization shape its identity and outcomes along with their
own.
Katz and Kahn (1978) have pointed out that one difficulty
with the classical definition is that organizations
characteristically include both more and less than is
indicated by the purposes of their leaders or founders. They
suggest that organizations are better seen as entities in
which repeated, relatively enduring, patterned activities
occur that are bounded in space and time, and where the
energy for the initiation of a renewed cycle of activities arises
53
from the output or outcomes of the previous cycle. In Katz
and Kahn's view, a defining feature of organizations is their
ability to temporarily reverse the entropic process, resisting
the natural law in which all forms of organization tend to
move toward disorganization or randomness.
Katz and Kahn also suggest that organizations can be
classified according to their primary or first order functions.
Under this classification, productive or economic
organizations are distinct from social maintenance
organizations such as schools and churches. Other distinct
functional types are those that are adaptive, such as research
bodies, and those that play a political or managerial role such
as pressure groups or unions. Katz and Kahn suggest that
organizations that attempt more than one first order function
have special problems integrating their tasks. They use the
example of universities to highlight the functional tension
between their social maintenance (teaching) and their
adaptive (research) roles (Katz & Kahn, 1978, p.147). The
functional tension between the educational and
entrepreneurial roles of profit-based international ELT
colleges, in effect its multifunction integration, is a feature of
international ELT providers in Australia. The data in this
research suggests an ongoing tension between the
productive, profit-making function and the social
maintenance educational function in privately owned and
operated colleges in Australia. It is likely that, at least from
the ELT manager’s perspective, the ultimate management
54
task is the effective resolution of the maintenance and
productive functions of the college.
Due to the explosion in research into management and
organization theory it is no longer possible to use purely
quantitative means to investigate organizations. While
contingency theory analyses remain largely positivistic and
techno-economic, much of the literature in the field has
moved to deconstruct the classical model of organizations
and replace it with a much more complex and fragmented
view. There has been a notable shift in writings for managers
from those that regarded organizations as 'organized' to ones
that regard them as somewhat anarchic and less integrated,
goal focused and ordered than was once imagined. Many
theorists now describe organizations as systems of mutually
reinforcing contracts of structured games, or as contexts of
action where different strategies meet and are adjusted
through negotiation and power. Friedberg (1993) sees many
of these rules of action as being similar to the rules of a
game. In order to achieve power you have to increase your
own unpredictability in your behaviours that are important to
others while increasing the predictability of their behaviours
that are important to you – a sort of macro version of game
theory and the prisoner’s dilemma.
For the purposes of this research project though, the
traditional view of organizations based upon Weber's
definition of organizations, supplemented by Barnard’s notion
of the importance of the key individual as well as the system,
55
is used. Katz and Kahn's notion, of recurring cycles of
patterned activities and the importance of adequate
outcomes to ensure sufficient input for renewal, influences
the descriptions of tasks and processes within the
organizations under review. It is recognised that the stated,
'official' purpose of an organization may represent only one of
its many purposes. It is also acknowledged that the boundary
conditions for these organizations may be fluid and difficult
to precisely define with shifting 'edges' and increasing
organizational 'fuzziness'. This organizational fuzziness and
its relationship to the postmodernist perspectives in general
can only be briefly explored in this work, although it does
provide a useful insight for ELT managers. Indeed, this
boundary fluidity may be one of the distinguishing features of
many international ELT colleges compared to more
traditional educational organizations.
While this research project adopts a largely 'management
perspective' on organizational issues, the criticisms by the
organizational existentialists about the limitations of the
paradigms used to investigate and think about organizational
matters need to be noted. Pauchant (1995) for example,
argues the need for the further development of the field of
organizational existentialism, leading to a better
understanding of people in organizations. Organizations must
find ways of addressing the loss of personal meaning and
other afflictions of the human condition in modern life, and
research needs to look more closely at people's lives, deaths,
56
responsibilities, ambitions, loves, lonelinesses, anxieties and
spirituality in organizations, as such items are rarely
discussed in workplace organizations or in the research on
them. Pauchant (1995: p. 2) notes that while talk of career
planning and marketable innovations, success and financial
incentives, status and power are all readily apparent in the
world of work the "...quest to embrace life fully seems to have
vanished from many organizations". I hope that some of the
feedback presented in the action research phase of this study
will reveal some small efforts to make “the quest to embrace
life fully” a more than peripheral concern.
3.3. Perspectives of Organizations
Organizational theorists can be broadly divided into those
that have focused on the rational elements of organizations
as systems and those that have focused on the non-rational
elements. Four varying organizational perspectives are
referred to in this research. Three of these perspectives view
organizational behaviour as primarily rational, at least
according to the interests and desires of the members of the
organization. The first perspective, which could be labelled
structuralist or configurationist, focuses on organizational
structure and the formal shape of the organization. The
second perspective views human resources as the central
feature of organizational life and looks to the nature of
human resource usage for explanations of organizational
success and failure. The third perspective, which may be
57
labelled the political perspective, advocates the use of
political theories as the primary tool in understanding
organizations. The pre-dominant non-rational perspective of
organizations examines organizations from a symbolic view
and sees symbolism and the manipulation of symbols as the
most significant aspects of organizational analysis.
Examining organizations from a structural perspective
emphasises and highlights their goals, roles and technology.
Structural analysis of organizations focuses most closely on
the structure and the ecology of the organization and the
ways that these can be manipulated and managed to improve
organizational outcomes. It investigates the structural
variables of an organization, and seeks to make
improvements in organizational configuration so that it best
fits the purposes of the organization and the demands of its
environment. A structural perspective emphasises the
importance of formal roles and relationships between
members of an organization such as those usually depicted
on organizational charts or organigrams.
The structural perspective developed from early work in the
field that is often referred to as classical management. It
combines Taylor's (1911) work on the scientific management
of individual jobs, with the 'universal' management principles
of Fayol (1949), and Mooney and Urwick's (1931) work on the
design of organizations. Scientific management focused on
the techniques and mechanics of production and included the
58
now notorious concept of the time and motion study (Barnes,
1949). Fayol, Mooney, Urwick and others focused more
closely on management and came to see managerial and
administrative behaviour as consisting of planning,
organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.
The underlying metaphorical conception of classical
management is mechanistic. By concentrating on
organizational structure and placing all jobs within a
hierarchy, classical management theorists have helped create
and describe the formal structure of many of our
organizations. However the classical management emphasis
on organizations as rational, technical entities can mean that
aspects of the milieu and cultural dimensions of organizations
are overlooked.
In practice an overly mechanistic approach to the description
of job responsibilities may encourage the "it's not my job to
worry about that," attitude in organizations. It has been
suggested that defining work responsibilities in a clear-cut
manner may thwart initiative and flexibility; as everyone
knows what is expected of them but also what is not expected
of them (Morgan, 1986). Another limitation of viewing
organizations solely from this perspective is that managers
who are used to viewing organizations solely from a
structural perspective, with responsibility at the top, a
superordinate-subordinate chain of command and an under-
utilisation of people in the lower levels of the hierarchy, may
59
find their organizations particularly vulnerable to
organizational inertia when their environment changes.
Nevertheless, many of the classical management concepts
have become so firmly embedded in our culture that they are
now a part of our conventional wisdom. The notions of the
manager as a professional, of the manager as a separate
entity from the 'doer', of the exception principle where the
manager deals with the problems and the unusual
circumstances and the notions of standardization and
specialization of work owe much to this area of management
study. Even the fact that managers are a distinct entity
originates in the work of the classical management tradition.
The structural perspective can illuminate many important
aspects of an organization and it is still the most 'popular'
perspective on organizations. It can help reveal problems
with contemporary organizations such as the tendency to
organize 'upwards' to please the boss rather than
'downwards' (or as this study suggests with its notion of the
fronted organigram ‘outwards’) to please the client.
The Human Relations perspective on organizations derives
from the writings of Mary Parker Follett (1941) and the
famous series of studies done at the Hawthorne plant of the
Western Electric Company in Chicago by Mayo and
Roethlisberger (1947). This approach emphasises employee
motivation and satisfaction and group morale as important
issues in management study and organizational theory. The
Human Relations approach focuses attention on
60
psychological factors and has had a powerful influence over
many areas of 'people' management (see, for example, Kaplan
& Tausky, 1977). The concept of the manager as staff
motivator and communicator of organizational goals or the
recent exhortations for managers to act as 'coaches', for
example, are drawn from the human resource perspective.
Human resource theorists emphasise the relationship
between people and their organization. They focus on ways
that people within an organization can be better able to be
fitted to the formal roles and relationships required of them
in their organization. This perspective sees organizational
problems as arising chiefly from the lack of fulfilment of the
human needs of individual members of the organization.
The human resource perspective attends most closely to
matters of organizational milieu and organizational culture
and the ways that motivation, job satisfaction and morale can
be managed. This perspective draws on similar research
paradigms to those that have influenced thought on
education in industrialised countries in the latter half of the
twentieth century. This may be responsible for a view among
educators that the human resource perspective is the
'sensible' view of organizations, because their paradigms of
organizational and educational issues may be very similar.
While this human resource perspective can illuminate certain
aspects of an organization it can also disguise others, and due
to economic and other constraints can frequently lead to high
motivation, job satisfaction and morale for the privileged few
61
'insider' stakeholders with exploitation and demoralization for
the many 'outsider' ones.
The third broad perspective adopted in management and
organizational analysis is the political perspective. It
acknowledges the social-relational and formal-structure
perspectives of the first two approaches, but focuses more
closely on the distribution and use of power in the
organization. Political theorists see power, conflict and the
allotment of scarce resources as the dominant issues in
organizational analysis. The role of management, in this view,
is its ability to manage power and conflict and reconcile
differing coalitions to organizational purposes. This political
framing of organizational problems sees difficulties arising
because power is unevenly distributed, or is too widely
dispersed, to achieve positive outcomes. Managerial
solutions, according to political theorists, need to focus on
political skill and the ability to organize and reconcile
opposing coalitions.
Proponents of this approach have outlined a comprehensive
theory of cooperative behaviour in formal organizations and
have argued that organizations need to be seen as dynamic
as well as structural entities. From the political perspective it
is possible to perceive two ends of the organizational
continuum from conflict to cooperation. The aim of an
effective manager would be to move the organization from a
conflict system into a cooperative system. A key feature of
this perspective is that it illuminates the tremendously high
62
failure rate of organizations. This high failure rate is not
intuitively apparent, as failures disappear while successful
organizations continue to exist, thus exaggerating the
apparent proportion of the successes (Levitt & March, 1990).
The political perspective has helped reveal problems with the
classical assumption that superordinate-subordinate linkages
are uniform on all matters and that all decisions or 'orders'
are treated consistently. This assumption does not allow for
the fact that initiatory power in many professional contexts
varies by topic and that in educational organizations, for
example, there is frequently a lack of uniformity of control
with managers being susceptible to peer and subordinate
social influence. This susceptibility to peer and subordinate
influence and the blurring of a 'line system' of authority was
noted by Lortie, who observed in elementary schools that
matters of compliance with record-keeping fell into the
principal's zone of influence, while in-class affairs fell within
the teacher's territory. Conflicts arose in the many areas
where hegemony was unclear (Lortie, 1969). This study finds
this type of organizational 'fuzziness' in the colleges
examined, with similar findings recorded elsewhere (Parrot,
1990: p.7). Pfeffer and Salancik's (1980) demonstrations, that
supervisory behaviour is often a characteristic of the social
situation, rather than of the supervisor in professional and
semi-professional contexts, also show the important insights
that can be gleaned from a political perspective.
63
The essential question for managers from this political
perspective becomes just how much organizing and control is
needed for the most desirable outcomes. At the theoretical
level arguments in this area have swung from those who see
efficiency as springing from coordination and control to those
who see such coordination and control as self-defeating,
creating barriers to efficiency and harming an organization's
long term performance. The suggestion within this study of
the suitability of a collaborative work culture in ELT colleges
grows from a political perspective.
The fourth broad perspective on organizations is the symbolic
perspective. It is primarily non-rational and sees
organizations as being held together more by shared values
and inculcated beliefs than by goals and policies. From this
perspective problems arise when symbols are inappropriate
or ceremonies and rituals have lost their potency. Symbolic
theorists argue that managers need to rely on imagery,
values and beliefs in order to create common purposes in
organizations.
Bolman and Deal (1987) throughout their work argue that the
symbolic perspective is not based on a rational worldview,
and that therefore this perspective is most illuminating and
applicable in organizations with unclear goals and uncertain
technologies. In such organizations, ambiguity is everywhere
and it is uncertain where power lies, how success is defined,
whether or not a decision has been made and even what the
goals are. A symbolic perspective sees organizational
64
movements as fluid rather than linear and centres on the
concepts of meaning, belief and faith. Bolman and Deal argue
that the symbolic frame forms a conceptual umbrella for
ideas from disciplines such as: organizational theory and
sociology; (e.g. Weick, 1976), political science (e.g. Dittmer,
1977); Freudian and Jungian psychology, where paradigms
rely on symbolic concepts to understand human behaviour;
semiotics and linguistics with the notion of the arbitrary
signifier and the socially constructed signified; and, of
course, anthropology, where symbols and their place in the
culture and the lives of people are a central concern. For
many who have tried to manage or survive in organizations,
especially in the service sectors, the symbolic perspective
closely mirrors the reality they have experienced.
The symbolic perspective can be a powerful "lens for viewing
life in collective settings" and it allows for rich description of
organizational experience on the part of organizational
members. It can help reveal aspects of organizations that the
more rational perspectives can ignore. Bolman and Deal
(1987: pp.149-150) note that from a symbolic perspective
several research and information gathering assumptions need
to be foregrounded. These are:
"1. What is most important about any event in an organization is not what happened but the meaning of what happened.2. The meaning of an event is determined not simply by what happened but by the ways that humans interpret what happened.3. Many of the most significant events and processes in organizations are substantially ambiguous or uncertain - it is
65
often difficult or impossible to know what happened, why it happened, or what will happen next.4. Ambiguity and uncertainty undermine rational approaches to analysis problem solving and decision-making.5. When faced with uncertainty and ambiguity humans create symbols to reduce the ambiguity, resolve confusion, increase predictability and provide direction. Events themselves may remain illogical, random, fluid and meaningless, but human symbols make them seem otherwise."
The description and analysis of organizational culture in this
study is framed from a symbolic perspective seeing
organizational practices as being derived from symbols,
heroes, rituals and values the organization comes to project
over time.
All the various models and approaches to organizational
theory emphasise different aspects of management activity.
No model can possibly map all the relevant phenomena and
each of the various conceptualizations can illuminate
different aspects of an organization. There are thus a wide
variety of views on managerial style flowing from differing
conceptions of what organizations are and what they do.
Purely rational assumptions can fit well in some
organizations. Building electronic devices, for example, can
be reduced to a somewhat linear process with a well-
understood sequence of steps, clear goals and defined
technologies with visible end products. There are a variety of
concrete indicators such as sales and profitability that can be
evaluated in order to provide clear measures of success or
failure. Rational assumptions can also be important in some
parts of organizations even though they have limited use in
66
describing the overall organization. Thus in educational
organizations it is much more difficult to prove that students
are being well taught, or that complex behavioural outcomes
are being successfully achieved than it is to show that a
college cafeteria is cost effective or that the college's
accounting and billing systems are precise and clear-cut.
The different research perspectives can be used to illuminate
different facets of an organization and a full picture of an
organization depends, like a cubist work of art, on a
combination of perspectives. Descriptions of organizations in
this research project, therefore, attempt to combine aspects
of each perspective to arrived at a more complex and multi-
dimensional view of international ELT colleges than would be
possible using only one perspective. The rational perspectives
pre-dominate in the descriptions of organizational structure
and ecology. The human resource perspective and the
political perspective are emphasised in the chapters on milieu
and in discussions of collaborative work cultures. The
symbolic perspective emerges in the chapters on
organizational culture and in the descriptions of facets of
organizational life in international ELT colleges. This helps to
provide a fuller flavour of these organizations and their
management.
3.4. Management and Organizational Effectiveness
Interest in the activities and the behaviour of the class of
people who organize and administer organizations has led to
67
the notion or construct of a distinct organizational sub-group,
referred to as 'managers', that can be easily distinguished
from the 'doers'. Like the definition of an organization
though, precisely defining what a manager is, or even exactly
what a manager does, is problematic, despite a large array of
research and interest in the topic. The exact function and role
of managers is somewhat arbitrary and relates closely to the
perspective on organizations that is adopted.
This study argues that the primary role of managers is to
improve the effectiveness of their organization and it is this
core task that charges the manager with the responsibility to
view the organization from a holistic perspective. Comment
on organizational effectiveness, however, is itself problematic
because it is both the most important and the least delineated
of organizational constructs.
There is a large body of research into the organizational
effectiveness of schools and educational institutions but this
vast array of studies has failed to produce an unambiguous
definition of organizational effectiveness. Organizational
effectiveness is a central theme of analysis used in 'practical
life' and all the various stakeholders in international ELT
colleges use effectiveness indicators in practice. On the basis
of real or imagined information students choose particular
institutions, change from one to another and decide to drop
out or to continue studying. Teachers and managers transfer
'horizontally' between institutions believing that certain ones
are 'better' than others. International ELT colleges in
68
Australia that wish to be able to provide eligibility for
overseas students to obtain visas to study in Australia have to
meet the accreditation requirements of bodies such as the
National English Accreditation Scheme to be eligible for the
Commonwealth Register of Intensive Courses for Overseas
Students (CRICOS) which are, in effect, minimum
effectiveness indicators.
How organizational effectiveness is defined, who determines
the criteria, how short or long term a view should be adopted
and what criteria are used, can lead to the generalisation that
effectiveness cannot be defined or measured and there is no
doubt that from a theoretical perspective notions of
organizational effectiveness can be controversial.
In this study comments on effectiveness are linked to those
outlined in previous research into ELT management in
Australia (see Keaney, 1994: pp.22 – 26). This sees
organizational effectiveness as linked to attainment of
organizational goals and to acquisition of system resources.
Attainment of goals is fundamentally linked to the
educational values of the college while acquisition of system
resources is a more clearly entrepreneurial aim. A successful
ELT college, it is argued, is one that has constantly improving
educational quality as well as increasing financial success
and profitability.
69
3.5. The Description of International ELT Organizations
The ELT organizations discussed in this report are viewed as
entities that are an interrelationship of systems, individual
members and cycles of recurring, purposive activities (even if
the purpose of the activities differs from those of the leaders
or founders). When a new member enters the organization
they are confronted with a social structure that embraces
interaction patterns and organizational expectations. These
patterns and expectations are systematic and the new
member must respond to them in some fashion.
Organizational considerations influence the behaviour of the
members of the organization and account for part of the
behaviour of these individual members, whose behaviour in
turn shapes and influences the nature of the organization.
Interested observers can always detect a ‘feel’ to a particular
organization. When one walks into an educational institution
for the first time, an array of impressions combine to give the
observer a notion of the ‘atmosphere’ of the place. These
impressions consist of a combination of physical aspects such
as the location, furnishings, style of classrooms, type of
equipment and teaching resources, human aspects and
environmental aspects.
In order to describe international ELT colleges, and give a
sense of the differences and similarities between them, a
standard framework is needed. The various perspectives on
organizations outlined above indicate the need to have a
70
framework that examines as wide a range of organizational
features as possible. This range of features needs to include a
number of dimensions. The physical dimension which
includes such features as buildings and teaching resources,
the human dimension incorporating such factors as staff and
their beliefs and the ways they work (or don’t work!)
together, the types of students being educated and the
external environment such as the regulatory controls and the
state of the economy, all obviously affect the character of an
international ELT college.
International ELT colleges tend to have higher staff turnover
than traditional education institutions for a number of
reasons (Griffiths, 1992; p14; Waites, 1999 pp.392 - 459).
This obviously means that staff involved in the delivery of
ELT tend to work in a number of different institutions over
the course of their careers. It is likely that such staff have a
stronger awareness of this institutional ‘feel’ than those who
remain with one or two work organizations throughout their
working lives. Comparisons between particular colleges,
between types of institutions and between different countries
are a common topic of discussion among staff in ELT
colleges. Students in ELT colleges in Australia are also more
likely to compare and discuss colleges than is the case for
students in most educational institutions. A major reason is
that domestic students tend to mix with peers at the same
college or institution, whereas international ELT students are
more likely to mix with students from their own ethnic or
71
language groups, who attend a range of institutions in
Australia.
These informal discussions and comparisons, however, do not
provide a systematic basis for description and comparison. In
order to provide an ordered basis for the gathering and
reporting of data a model of organizational climate has been
used in this study. The framework is based on Tagiuri's
(1968) framework modified by Owens (1995, p.79) that is
used to describe the distinctive characteristics of
organizations. Tagiuri defines organizational climate as the
characteristics of the total organization manifested in the
four dynamically related dimensions of ecology, milieu, social
system [relabelled as organizational structure by Owens
(1995, p.79) which is the terminology used here] and culture.
The ecology of an organization is all of its physical and
material aspects such as its location, the size and condition of
its buildings, the nature of the technology used by its people
and all of the items that are necessary to carry out the
activities of the organization. More particularly, it refers to
all of the equipment and technology used by the members of
the organization such as the desks and chairs, the tables in
the staff room, the whiteboards and overhead projectors
(OHPs), the computers, the tea and coffee facilities, indeed
everything ‘physical’ that is used to carry out organizational
activities. Ecology is the most tangible dimension of
organizational climate and frequently plays a symbolic role in
representations of organizational culture and structure.
72
The layout and arrangement of premises, furnishings and
equipment is a significant ecological variable between
international ELT colleges. Most educators are familiar with
the importance of matching classroom layout to learning
activity and yet ELT managers frequently pay insufficient
attention to the significance of staff room layout, location of
senior management and arrangement of resources that can
have profound effects on organizational climate.
The milieu of an organization, on the other hand, is its social
dimension. Milieu reflects the characteristics of the staff and
clients of the organization describing such features as age,
gender, ethnicity, salary levels, socio-economic backgrounds,
level of job satisfaction, morale and motivation, behaviour
towards other organizational members and a range of other
personal attributes and characteristics. Many of the issues
raised by human resource theorists arise in discussions of
organizational milieu. Theorists who view organizations and
their members from a political perspective also offer insights
that are important in discussions of organizational milieu.
Matching of client to college can be an area of comparative
advantage. Niche creation is a well-known concept in
business areas but is less emphasised in educational circles.
Targeting particular types of students and those with
particular needs as well as focusing on staff selection to
assist in cultural outcomes can be a contributor to the growth
and success of a college. Other significant areas in the milieu
dimension are somewhat nebulous characteristics such as
73
‘enthusiasm’ and ‘cultural awareness’. While these types of
characteristics present problems of definition and
measurement, they are frequently used as a basis of
comparison of international ELT colleges by revenue
contributing stakeholders such as students and educational
agents.
The third dimension in Tagiuri's framework is the social
system of an organization, its organizational and
administrative structure. This dimension relates to the
method of organization, the decision making process, the
formal communication patterns and the nature of the
component work groups. This aspect accords with the type of
information typically sought from a structural research
perspective. Many of the notions raised by classical
management theorists arise in discussions of organizational
structure.
A significant area in this dimension is the speed and process
with which decisions are made. Frequently decisions over
hard costs such as equipment purchases, which are relatively
insignificant from an overall budget perspective, are made by
senior organizational members whereas decisions on soft
costs such as staff time and meetings are relatively
unplanned and ad hoc. Certain structural features can
assume unrealistic importance while other equally volatile or
significant ones can be ignored.
74
The fourth and least tangible dimension of this model is the
culture of an organization. This is the dimension of the
organization that refers to its values, belief systems, norms
and ways of thinking, which come to characterise the people
in the organization. The cultural dimension includes the
forces that comprise the symbols, rituals, heroes and values
that reflect and shape the practices of the organization and
help to shape and reinforce human behaviour. While
organizational culture is the least tangible dimension of
organizational climate it has a powerful effect on the other
dimensions, and thus on the overall climate, of an
international ELT college. This study suggests that an
emphasis on the three themes of integration, collaboration
and client service can have repercussions throughout the
organization. This emphasis is likely to help to resolve
tensions in vision and values drawn from differing discourses,
to assist in configuration of organizational structure to match
core service activities, to provide a basis for decisions on
organizational milieu and to give guidance on issues affecting
organizational ecology.
A modified version of Tagiuri's model is outlined in Figure 3.1
75
ENVIRONMENT è
ê
Organizational Culture
psycho-social characteristics
norms belief systems key values
ç ENVIRONMENTê
Organizational Milieu
characteristics of individuals
staff attributes student
attributes motivation /
morale
ORGANIZATIONAL
CLIMATE
Organizational Ecology
physical/material factors
layout of premises design of premisestechnology
éENVIRONMENT
è
Organizational Structure
configuration distribution of
authority communication
patterns decision-making
practises
éç ENVIRONMENT
Figure 3.1. Organizational Climate
This is adapted from Tagiuri's original model and the suggested revisions by Owens (1995: p.79). For the purposes of this research the model is framed by the external
environment to enable discussion of external regulatory and market conditions.
76
3.6. Conclusion
Comment on the international ELT colleges in this study uses
both rational and non-rational theoretical perspectives to
highlight differing views of educational organizations, their
effective operation and accurate description. The bias is
towards the management of the organization, not out of a
sympathy with 'managerialism' (Thompson & McHugh, 1995:
p.12), but because it is those in the role of manager who are
most likely to be confronted with the uncertainties and flux
that is highlighted in this data and to be charged with ‘doing
something about it’.
Ultimately, in a study such as this, the perspective of the
researcher colours the theoretical approaches used, as the
discussion on the methodology of the study in Chapter 2
indicates. Research into issues such as the way
organizational culture can shape performance and life
chances of organizations and how the structure, ecology and
milieu of the organization can shape its culture and ability to
learn must be situated in a view of organizations and
organizational life that is based on deep philosophical notions
about the construction of our social and political realities. As
with many areas of social science research the process of
asking the questions, and the ongoing search for the answers,
can prove as valuable and enduring as the sometimes
ephemeral answers ultimately obtained.
77
C h a p t e r 4
THE INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT
4.1. Introduction
This chapter looks at some of the external environmental
influences on international ELT colleges in Australia. It first
looks at the notion of English as the premier international
language to explain the environmental creation of demand for
international ELT colleges. It then outlines the growth of the
international ELT industry in Australia and gives an overview
of legislation and other limiting factors that provide the
primary environmental constraints and regulations for ELT
colleges. It briefly summarizes the typical products and
services of international ELT colleges before concluding with
a brief summary of the chapter.
The organizational climate model in Figure 3.1 indicates that
all facets of an organization are shaped by, and inextricably
linked with, the external environment. Environmental
constraints play an important role in the formation of
organizational cultures and differing environments no doubt
tend to favour particular types of such cultures. Deal &
Kennedy (1982) note throughout their work that there is
likely to be a vast organizational cultural difference between
companies that must sell an undifferentiated product,
78
compared to those that are chiefly focused on innovation,
research and development.
In the early 1950s Homans established that the external
physical and technological environment generates activities
and interactions, which in turn generate sentiments and
norms. When these sentiments and norms have formed they
become the internal system of the organization, which can
then in turn affect the external system by influencing
activities and interactions. Thus the link between
environment and culture is circular. While the environment
determines constraints and options for the development of a
particular culture, once the culture is formed the shared
assumptions will in turn influence what will be perceived and
defined as the environment (Schein, 1985, p.51). In effect the
environment is not completely objective, tangible, and
measurable but comes to be constructed by the people in the
organization and reproduced by the networks of symbols and
meanings that unite them and make shared action possible.
The shifting nature of the boundary between the 'inside' and
the 'outside' of organizations also means that the whole
notion of environment has become a very rich and detailed
area of organizational data.
The environment of international ELT colleges, like other
educational organizations in Australia, is directly affected by
the great shift in social and organisational phenomena and
the evolution of social constructs from the modern to the
postmodern. As Baldwin (1997, p.14) writes:
79
It is tempting to draw analogies between what is occurring now in the delivery of education and training and the transformation of the financial sector a decade ago. As with the financial sector, innovation by providers, technological change and internationalisation are undermining traditional regulatory approaches. In education, as with the financial sector, traditional restrictions constraining who provides what sort of 'product' are breaking down and the boundaries between traditionally separate sectors are breaking down.
4.2. English as an International Language
It is frequently stated that English is the international
language and there is a vast array of statistical support for
this proposition. Over 300 million people use English as a
mother tongue language and a further 300 million use it as a
second language with a further 100 million using it fluently
as a foreign language. This has increased more than 40%
since the 1950s. If speakers with a lower level of fluency are
included the total figure is well over one billion users. English
is used as an official or semi-official language in over 60
countries with a prominent place in another 20. It is the main
language of the print media, of air traffic, of information
technology, international business, diplomacy, sport,
advertising, pop music and academic and scientific
conferences. More than 80% of information stored on the
world’s electronic retrieval systems is in English (Crystal,
1994, p.358). While some have suggested much of the data in
this area is relatively soft (Joseph, 2001: pp212 – 240) and
that the spread of English may be less rapid than is
80
commonly thought, there is no doubt that English is the
language of the globalisation of the world economy.
While there is ideological opposition to the manifestation of
this linguistic force, the provision of English language
teaching services is no doubt demand, rather than supply,
driven. Whatever ideological problems the provision of
English instruction may have, [and many writers such as
Gregson (2001) and Pennycook, (1994) have assiduously
pointed these out], it is certain that the denial of the right to
learn English would be a far more repressive measure.
On the level of English language teaching, therefore, it is safe
to say that whatever the outcome of the ideological debates
of post-colonialism there is little chance in the next few
decades that any other language will come close to English's
place in the world. The huge need for English language
teaching services has led to an increasing commodification of
ELT and a subsequent explosion in the number of providers
around the world. This increasing commodification has also
meant a significant fall in the real cost of ELT courses to the
student with consequent stresses on course quality.
Commodification is frequently a sign of the maturation of an
industry, so while it does present problems for ELT educators
and course quality, it is also a signal that the teaching of
English has ‘come of age’ as a commercial activity and now
holds a significant global economic presence.
81
4.3.The Growth of the International ELT Industry in
Australia
The delivery of ELT is a highly intangible service. The output
is not a physical product or construction and its added value
to the client exists in forms such as added convenience,
amusement, comfort, opportunities or satisfaction. The core
activity of international ELT colleges in Australia is the
delivery of English language courses to overseas students.
Because they rely almost exclusively on full-fee paying
overseas students for their viability (Cervi, 1991; p.4) there is
both a far greater element of risk in the ELT sector and an
undeniably entrepreneurial aspect that can be lacking in
those sectors of the Australian education system with more
captive markets (Bundesen, 1992).
The ELT industry in Australia is a significant part of its
education services 'export' sector. As well as having
important links with the rapidly expanding tourism industry,
it occupies a crucial role as the first contact point for many
overseas students who will later move into institutions in
other sectors of the Australian education system, such as
universities, schools and VET institutions.
The international ELT industry in Australia, especially its
delivery by private providers, is very young. It was not
identified as a separate item in the export of education
services until 1986 and before 1981 there were few available
pathways for non-immigrant ELT students. From 1981 to
82
1986 the industry grew in a fashion similar to many 'new’
industries with little regulation and steady increase in
profitability and visibility of organizations offering the
services. While some private ELT colleges began operations
in the mid-sixties, rapid and sometimes controversial growth
in the area began in 1986, as subsidised places for overseas
students in Australia began to be phased out and Government
funding to education was reduced. Foreign students began to
be seen as an important source of revenue rather than as
recipients of aid (Cervi, 1991; p.4).
The growing demand within Asia that accompanied its rapid
industrialisation and growth of its middle classes, in
combination with the increasing importance of English as an
international language, meant the industry began to grow
dramatically in 1987 with a particularly drastic increase in
the number of students from The People’s Republic of China.
By 1989 there were more than 38000 students in ELT
courses in Australia, more than 10 times as many as in 1986
(EA, 1991, p. 6). Indeed, in June 1989, there were 20000
students from China studying in Australia and up to 37000
waiting in a 'queue' in Beijing to commence study in
Australia.
Very quickly the laissez-faire approach was drastically
changed to a highly regulated and controlled market, most
particularly one that would restrict the 'visa overstay’
problem. In order to distinguish between those countries
where the overstay rate was particularly acute, the notion of
83
low-risk and high-risk countries came into being. This was
later formalised in relevant legislation as Gazetted and Non-
gazetted countries.
In the initial phase of this move, almost all of the major
nations in Asia were deemed to be high-risk countries, and
the effect of the new restrictions was immediate and
financially crippling to many colleges. The two legislative
'shocks' of the New Global Entry Criteria of August 1989 and
the Regulations under the New Migration Act of December
1989 had immediate impacts in the major markets of China,
Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Korea. This downturn
continued throughout 1990 and was also felt even in the low
risk countries that were turned off by the more complex entry
arrangements to Australia compared to competitor countries.
By 1991 there had been a 49% drop in ELT enrolments
compared to 1989, with China declining by 60% and other
markets declining by more than 30% (EA, 1991: p.8).
The ELICOS Association, as it was originally called, was
founded in 1981 as an industry body to represent ELT
colleges. It put forward a submission to the Industry
Commission Inquiry in 1991 identifying the dilemma that still
remains at the core of the international education debate in
Australia. The EA report (1991, p.i) states
"Australia currently has a choice between a conservative or an entrepreneurial approach to the export of education services. The conservative approach preserves our separation from an ascendant Asia. The entrepreneurial approach puts Australia in
84
a better position to share more fully in the dynamism of the region over the next two decades and beyond."
The EA report notes that export of ELT education services is
capital efficient with a high positive balance of foreign
exchange earnings for invested capital (EA, 1991: p.3). It also
emphasises that the formal sector of education has strong
limitations in the extent to which it can be differentiated,
whereas English language courses can be readily
differentiated to suit changing student demand. Such aspects
as course length, starting and restarting dates, focus, media
of instruction, purpose, student selection and grouping, level,
intensity and student teacher ratios can be mixed in an
infinite number of ways to suit a myriad of changing market
opportunities.
In 2000 there were more than 188,000 students from
overseas studying in Australia. They contributed more than
$3.6 billion to the Australian economy including more than
$1.8 billion on fees that were paid directly to institutions and
roughly $1.8 billion on goods and services, including
accommodation, food and transportation. More than 80% of
these overseas students studying in Australian institutions
come from Asia with Indonesia Singapore, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, South Korea and Japan the leading source
countries.
The proportion of students in the ELT sector fluctuates much
more than in other sectors of international education in
Australia. In 2000, 19.5% of overseas students on student
85
visas in Australia were enrolled in ELT courses up from
19.1% in 1999. Over the course of this project student
numbers in ELT fluctuated dramatically. The steady growth
in the sector in the early and mid 1990’s was severely
interrupted by the Asian economic crisis of 1997 - 98. From
1994 to 1995 ELT students on full-time student visas
increased by 30.7% from 26,173 to 34,209. From 1995 to
1996 there was a 26.6% increase to 43,307. From 1996 to
1997 however there was a 13.8% fall in student numbers and
in 1998 a dramatic decline of 26.8%. Only 27,356 students
were issued student visas to study ELT in 1998, which was
almost a return to the 1994 levels. From 1998 to 1999 there
was a small increase of 6.8% and from 1999 to 2000 the large
growth of the early 1990s return with an increase of 25.8% so
that there were over 36000 students studying English in
Australia on student visas. (DETYA: 2001, Table 5, DEST,
2002b).
The raw numbers above understate the true size of the sector
however, because they only indicate students who have
applied to Australia to study ELT on a student visa. Many in
the other sectors (Higher Education, Vocational Education
and Schools) would have initially completed an ELT course
included in their subsequent visa. Also many students
studying ELT do so while holding either tourist visas or
working holiday visas, meaning there is a large extra number
of enrolments to consider. The DEST estimates for 2000 are
that approximately 27000 students were enrolled in short-
86
term ELT courses in Australia while visiting on a tourist or
working holiday visa. This means that more than 63000
students undertook ELT study in Australia during 2000.
A developing issue in the branding of international education
in Australia is that students coming to Australia perceive
freedom as a significant factor differentiating Australia from
the United States. Australian Education International after an
exhaustive market research study concluded that while the
factors of challenge and status appeared to be the heartland
of international education Australia had a strong existing
position with a sense of freedom and that this will provide a
significant marketing focus in the years ahead (DEST 2002c).
4.4. The Regulation of the International ELT Industry
in Australia
In 1990 the National Consultative Committee on the Export
of Education and Training Services (NACCEETS) was set up
to strengthen industry consultation between various groups
of providers. The committee's title was changed in 1991 to
the National Consultative Committee on International
Education and Training Services (NACCIETS). NACCIETS
includes the various industry umbrella groups such as
ACPET, the EA, the AVCC, students represented though the
NLCISA, relevant unions, State governments and
Commonwealth Departments
87
From 1 January 1990 responsibility for the approval and
accreditation of courses offered to international students, and
the registration of the institution that enrols them, has rested
with State and Territory governments based on a range of
minimum standards, which were endorsed by the Australian
Education Council in June 1990. Assurance of educational
standards, therefore, rests at the state level and depends on
the accreditation process. In effect, monitoring of the
financial status of institutions, with regard to the use of
overseas students fees and the compliance with immigration
and visa conditions, is a Commonwealth concern, while the
assurance of educational standards and the monitoring of
course quality are state/territory functions.
International education in Australia and related training is
spread across the Commonwealth Departments of Education,
Science and Training (DEST) and Immigration and
Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) and more than a dozen state and
territory portfolios. This can have the great pitfall, as Graham
(1997, p.3) notes, of leading to policies either overlapping or
else being deficient.
Some of the most important regulatory bodies and legislation
are outlined below:
The ESOS ACT: DEST (FORMERLY DETYA)
DEST is the Commonwealth Department of Education,
Science and Training. It has been restructured several times
in the last two decades and has formerly been DETYA
88
(Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs),
DEETYA (Department of Employment, Education, Training
and Youth Affairs) and DEET (Department of Employment,
Education and Training).
The Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration
of Providers and Financial Regulation) Act 2000, or ESOS
Act, replaced similar legislation first enacted in 1991. It
commenced operation on 4 June 2001 and is currently the
most important Commonwealth Act affecting international
education in Australia along with the relevant sections of the
Migration Acts that cover student visas. In the late 1980's
and early 1990s Australia's reputation as a provider of
education to international students came under a number of
stresses that were identified at Commonwealth level as
having the potential to seriously damage its reputation. Some
of these pressures were identified by the Senate Standing
Committee on Employment Education and Training inquiry
(1992, p.5) as:
the emergence of some unscrupulous providers in
the private education sector
some evidence of unevenness in the quality of both
services provided and the support structures for
students
breaches by students of visa conditions
the financial collapse of several private institutions
and the consequent adverse publicity in overseas
89
countries about the problems of students who lost
money as a result.
As a result of these pressures, and the real or imagined
problems that they led to, the ESOS Act was designed to
address many of these concerns, especially the way that some
institutions were dealing with overseas students. The
intention of the Act according to the Senate Standing
Committee inquiry (1992, p.5) was:
to protect provider and course quality through registration of institutions and to protect student funds held by providers.
The Act also signalled to education providers and potential
overseas students that the Government was serious about
remedying problems arising from the failure of institutions
and the loss of funds by students and preventing any
recurrence of such problems in the future.
The most important features of the ESOS Act were that
1. Education providers had to be registered with DEST in
order to offer courses to overseas students. This
registration requires listing on the Commonwealth
Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas
Students (CRICOS) that is based on State or Territory
approval of the provider.
2. If an institution is suspended by its relevant state or
territory body then its registration with DEST and on
90
the CRICOS is suspended or cancelled automatically.
Failure to comply with aspects of the ESOS Act can
lead to such cancellation with defined procedures and
appeal mechanisms for the affected providers.
3. Institutions that receive Commonwealth recurrent
funding (such as public universities, TAFEs government
schools and most private schools) are exempt from the
financial regulation aspects of the ESOS Act.
4. Institutions that are not exempt from the financial
provisions of the Act had to establish special accounts
for pre-paid overseas student fees and keep transaction
records on such accounts.
(From mid-2001 the Trust Account provisions have been
supplemented by an industry wide insurance scheme known
as the ESOS Assurance Fund).
The ESOS Act came into force on 27 June 1991 with
regulations made under the Act being proclaimed in
November 1991 and June 1992. The setting up of the CRICOS
(Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Course for
Overseas Students) by DEET (now DEST) was the central
implementation measure of the Act.
There were many initial difficulties with the implementation
of the Act. The Senate Standing Committee inquiry noted that
more than two thirds of the relevant institutions were not at
that time complying with various sections of the Act for
reasons such as not submitting audited returns, auditors
91
offering only qualified reports, auditors not clearly stating in
their reports whether the institution had fully complied with
the Act, or enrolment details being at odds with information
extracted from Acceptance Advice form lodgements. With
ongoing improvement in the efficiency of the Act and its
administration, and electronic confirmation of enrolment
details, many of these problems were reduced.
Some of the backwash effects of legislation and its power to
alter perception can be seen in the following example. When
the ESOS Act was originally drawn up Schedule 2 of the
regulations included a list of exempt providers. This schedule
came to be known in the industry as the 'safe list' as it
seemed to indicate that the institutions mentioned on the list
were safe, and had an implied government guarantee,
whereas the private institutions not on the list were somehow
riskier. This schedule has since been amended to exempt
classes of providers, rather than individually named
institutions, and now exempts all institutions under direct
state or territory financial control.
It is important to note that the ESOS Act was drawn up to
provide financial security for international students studying
in Australian educational institutions. As its primary aim was
financial, it did not in itself provide any guarantees of
standards of courses or of educational quality. Quality of
courses and course provision is done through the industry
accreditation body, NEAS, the National ELT Accreditation
92
Scheme, which has some delegated powers from State
Government Education Authorities.
Australia's Overseas Student Program: DIMA
The other significant Commonwealth body for international
ELT colleges is the DIMA. DIMA supervises the migration and
visa areas of the overseas student program, which enables
non-Australians to study in Australia on a full fee basis. DIMA
sees itself in a supporting role to the DEST in the program,
through supervision of the immigration requirements
connected with the entry and stay of overseas students in
Australia.
DIMA sees the Overseas Student Program (OSP) as trying to
achieve three broad objectives. These are to increase
Australia's export revenue through the promotion of
Australia's education and training sector, to develop bilateral
relations through contributions to the social and economic
development of the Asia Pacific region and to promote
goodwill and an international understanding of Australia to
assist in strengthening Australia's future trade and security
(DIMA 1997, p.3).
For many students obtaining their student visa becomes a
significant concern in their initial explorations of study
abroad. For students from high-risk countries the obtaining of
a visa can be almost an end in itself. Even for those from low
risk countries the process is more arduous than most expect.
For many students already in Australia in ELT colleges, a
93
major concern is attaining a sufficient level of English to
advance to the next stage of study, either at university or a
vocational college. Increasingly strict English language
requirements on entry to such courses have given powerful
extrinsic motivation for ELT achievement to students who
want to continue to study in Australia, but they have also
allowed an element of corrupt or coercive activities to grow
at a few unscrupulous colleges.
ELT Institutional and Course Accreditation: NEAS
NEAS (The National ELT Accreditation Scheme) is a national
scheme that accredits ELT colleges in Australia – including
private colleges, university language centres, VET ELT
centres and private secondary schools. It has developed a
series of standards and guidelines that proscribe such areas
as class sizes, curriculum, teaching methods and materials,
orientation, social and cultural activities, professional
qualifications of English teachers and welfare counselling
It is an industry based, self-funding, autonomous system and
has been the accrediting body for ELT institutions since
1990. NEAS has established a set of quality standards and
criteria for the provision of English language programs. New
ELT colleges that wish to be accredited by the NEAS have to
meet all of these standards before being approved to
commence operations. NEAS also inspects each college
annually to ensure that these standards are being
maintained.
94
In general institutional approval is a two-step process.
Applicants for NEAS accreditation undergo a twelve-month
provisional period before applying for full accreditation. Once
institutions have met NEAS requirements they then apply to
their State or Territory authority for registration on the
CRICOS. After twelve months as a provisional candidate,
institutions are assessed for accreditation. If they are able to
demonstrate full compliance with NEAS standards they
become NEAS accredited institutions. NEAS assesses
institutions for compliance with accreditation standards in
the following areas: management, finance and administration,
specialist staff, premises, student services, curriculum,
student assessment, materials and equipment and
recruitment and promotion (NEAS; 2001).
Multiple Regulatory Authorities
The break-up of regulatory supervision between DEST, DIMA
and the NEAS is an institutional symbol of the divided world
of the ELT manager. In effect one Commonwealth
department controls financial matters, another regulates
student visa matters while a third independent industry body,
with delegated powers from state government departments,
controls institutional and course accreditation matters. It is
by no means an unworkable regulatory model but it does lead
to many cracks and overlaps. It also reinforces the division
between the entrepreneurial/institutional activities of an ELT
college and its educational ones.
95
4.5. The Products and Services of International ELT
Colleges
ELT, in common with other service industries, has a
pronounced difference from activities and practices in
organizations that produce goods. ELT colleges offer an
intangible benefit that cannot be inventoried or patented. The
ELT service cannot be easily displayed or communicated and
determination of pricing levels is complex. It is virtually
impossible to standardize ELT delivery, and the quality
depends on many uncontrollable factors, including the
actions of the clients themselves. There is no sure way for
ELT managers to know that the service delivery matches
what was planned or expected. The ELT service is
simultaneously produced as it is consumed, unlike
manufacturing where production and consumption are
separate. The clients participate in, and affect, the
transaction and also affect each other. Finally employees,
particularly ELT teachers, have an enormous bearing on the
outcome of the service with few rigid quality control
techniques available.
International ELT Colleges provide a range of educational
services to international students that have as their core
outcome the improvement of English language skills. Courses
typically cover the whole spectrum of English language
learning from beginning students with little or no English
skills through to courses to prepare students for high-level
academic studies or vocational activities in English.
96
The ELT Colleges in this study offer most or all of the
following courses although the actual names of courses vary
slightly:
1. General English Courses
General English courses typically offer from 4 to 52 weeks of
English learning. The courses help students develop their
general skills in English and help them to practice
communicating accurately and fluently with English
speakers. The courses usually focus more on spoken
communication, especially at the beginner and intermediate
levels but also include components on English writing skills.
These courses are usually offered at all levels.
2. English for Business Courses
English for Business courses introduce students to the
specialised language of business and reinforce the
communication skills required in business situations through
classwork, field trips, lectures and familiarisation with
computers and office technology. The courses are usually
only available to students with intermediate level English
proficiency or above.
3. Exam Preparation and English for Academic Purposes
Courses
Many students at international ELT colleges have a desire to
do further study in Australia or occasionally overseas. The
most common entry exams required for this kind of study are
the IELTS and TOEFL tests and many colleges offer
97
preparation courses for these exams. The courses typically
help students develop the skills and knowledge required for
these English examinations by working on academic reading
and writing skills, formal and informal speaking skills and
essay/report writing skills. The courses usually have
restricted entry although some colleges do not enforce this.
The EAP courses (English for Academic Purposes) usually
offer more detailed preparation for academic study and may
even specialise in particular disciplines.
4. English for High School Courses
Many students come to Australia to enter high school but do
not have sufficient command of English to be placed in a
suitable school. The English for High School courses typically
prepare students for entry to Australian high schools by
combining regular general English language activities with
school content and subject specific reading and vocabulary
skills. It is a growing area in many ELT colleges due to
increasing affluence and interest in the area from PRC and
Korea.
5. Holiday, Novelty and ESP Courses
There are also many courses that are offered to students on a
short-term basis, either for groups of students who come to
Australia for short periods of time or for students who have a
particular interest in a certain activity and wish to combine
their English studies with that activity. Course in English for
golf, for surfing, for diving and other recreational activities
98
have been a small but important part of the course offerings
of many colleges.
ESP courses (English for Special/Specific Purposes) are
usually targeted at particular students groups. Typical ESP
courses may include a group of workers from the same
company who have particular specialised needs in English
(say understanding instructions on the safe use and transport
of chemicals or English for International Currency Trading).
Like the holiday and novelty courses they are usually
peripheral to main revenue activities of the ELT college but
are of growing importance.
As well as offering the courses above international ELT
colleges usually have to provide the following services:
Student counselling: to assist students with
application, study concerns and in adjusting to life in
Australia.
Accommodation assistance: to arrange temporary
hotel or other accommodation especially homestay
families for overseas students. There is frequently a
need for assistance with issues relating to rental
housing for longer-term students.
Airport pick ups
Assistance with job seeking: to assist students in
job seeking skills and interview skills and provide
assistance in resume preparation and job seeking.
99
Mail facilities: So that students can have a central
pick up point for their mail and messages
Student social programs: International students
depend on the ELT college much more than their
domestic peers for their social life. Because many
students focus their life in Australia around their
college, the student social program can be a very
important part of the college’s activities.
4.6. Conclusion
The ELT industry in Australia is an important part of the
education 'export' sector. As well as having important links
with the expanding tourism sector, it occupies a crucial role
as the first contact point for many overseas students, who will
later move into institutions in other parts of the Australian
education sector, such as TAFEs, universities or private
vocational colleges.
This chapter has looked at some of the external
environmental influences on international ELT colleges in
Australia. It discussed the notion of English as the premier
international language to explain the environmental creation
of demand for international ELT colleges. It outlined the
growth of the international ELT industry in Australia and
gave a brief overview of legislation and other limiting factors
that provide the primary legislative requirements and
regulations for ELT colleges. It also summarized the typical
products and services of international ELT colleges.
100
The environmental factors mentioned in this chapter are all
discussed further in their impact on the structure, culture,
milieu and ecology of each of the ELT colleges in the study.
101
C h a p t e r 5
DISCOURSES AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
5.1. Introduction
The imperatives that drive entrepreneurs often seem to move
in a different direction to those that appeal to many
educators. This tension seems to be so common and so
pervasive throughout educational enterprises that it is likely
that there are some fundamental value clashes arising from
competing worldviews. The increasing importance of
entrepreneurial values in educational contexts, especially
those that are privately owned and operated or are run on
profit-making lines, mean that there are many areas of
antagonism between such an 'entrepreneurial' and an
'educational' view of the world. These are likely to manifest
themselves as tensions within international ELT colleges, and
the resolution of such tensions is, this study argues, likely to
be a critical ability for successful ELT management.
The discourse analysis in this and the following chapters
broadly follows a question framework developed by Kemmis
(1988, pp.57 - 85) that divides such an analysis into the three
areas of language use, contestation and institutionalisation.
This chapter provides an overview of discourse and discourse
analysis. The following chapter gives a brief description of
102
the history and contemporary usage of the key ideas in the
two discourses. Chapter 7 outlines some of the contestations
between the two discourses. Chapter 8 then indicates how
the relevant discourses have been institutionalised in some
international ELT colleges, as well as how adequately
rhetoric and practice are matched.
The discourse analysis is intended to be illustrative and
suggestive, as a comprehensive analysis is beyond the scope
of this study. The purpose of the analysis is not to provide a
thorough and complete overview of the discourses and all of
the areas of contestation or resultant institutionalisation, but
simply to indicate a ‘feeling’ for the language use,
contestation and institutionalisation as an aid to discussing
the effects of the contestation on ELT managers. A
management model that contains a partial resolution of these
values clashes is also suggested.
5.2. Discourse
The conceptual meaning of discourse varies within the social
sciences with different meanings being located in different
theoretical areas of interest (Williams, 1988; p.254).
Discourse and its analysis in this report is a combination of
that used by Gumperz (1982) to discuss the dynamics and
analysis of communication situations with those of Fairclough
(1985, 1992) and Gee (1990) who also use discourse to
indicate the ideological nature of language and language
settings.
103
Only a very small part of an individual's knowledge of the
world originates within their own personal experience, with
much the greater part socially derived from peers, parents,
institutions and the media. Schutz (1953, p.18) and many
other analysts have pointed out the "typifying medium par
excellence by which socially derived knowledge is
transmitted is the vocabulary and syntax of everyday
language.” The language of everyday life includes the naming
of things and events that necessitates a typification and
generalization of socially derived constructs. Rational action
and rational conversation take place within a frame of largely
unquestioned and undetermined constructs.
No text or stretch of utterances, therefore, can be
ideologically neutral, as everyone has to have a system of
beliefs in order to make sense of the world, and
communication itself would be impossible in the absence of
such systems. In a management text, for instance, crafting
the relationship between various people used in examples in
the text requires an ideology of how social interaction is
conducted. The choice of a sympathetic character as the
subject or object of an anecdote requires an ideology of what
qualities are likable or admirable and so on through the vast
array of choices that a writer of a text (or a speaker) has to
make. While some choices may appear to particular readers
or listeners as more appropriate than others, it is impossible
to communicate in an ‘ideology-free’ zone.
104
Ideology plays a role in the creation, the consumption and the
prestige of texts and an awareness of the ideological nature
of language is an important critical and analytical tool. An
analysis of a discourse to reveal its underlying ideology
requires an understanding of the ways that the spoken and
written texts within it relate to their broader contexts. A
range of social and rhetorical practices forms the foundations
of any text, and these social and rhetorical practices are not
freely available to all. It is at this level of analysis though,
that ideology of the discourse becomes a significant
contributor to meaning. A joke that depends for its humour
on knowing a particular topical event is likely to exclude
those who don't keep up with the news, a person who does
not understand or refuses to use the conventions of a
particular scientific journal would be seriously handicapped
in their quest for publication.
All linguistically constituted modes of discourse, therefore,
are informed by, surrounded by and encased within non-
linguistic values, assumptions and beliefs that are an integral
part of them. Quite apart from the 'information' in the text, an
attitude of mind, an historical occasion, a belief system and a
social context are portrayed. Gee (1990 pp.175-176) argues
that people learn to speak, read and write in certain ways by
serving apprenticeships in social settings, where people
characteristically read, write and speak in these ways. Each
discourse is attached to a particular social identity and a
particular social group that is embedded in particular social
105
settings and institutions. In this sense a discourse represents
a way of being in a family, a classroom, an educational
institution, a peer group, a business organization, a gender or
a profession, with the membership of the discourse enabling
the individual to take up particular roles and be recognised
by other discourse members as playing that role.
Involvement in a discourse by an individual is not an
automated following of rules stored in the data banks of the
mind. A useful analogy may be that of dancing. The
individual’s participation in the discourse is like a dancer
dancing with body, mind and soul carrying out a complicated
and sophisticated set of routines and actions that can be
combined with an individual's own creative style, as long as
this creativity does not make the dance unrecognizable as
dance or as a particular kind of dance. If the ‘dance’ does not
look fluid because an individual is having to 'think' and 'follow
the rules' the dance fails and other ‘members’ reject the
individual as a ‘dancer’ (Gee, 1990; p.171).
Much of the modern work in the analysis of discourses has
grown from the writings of Foucault (1972). Foucault
wondered how it was that we knew that a particular
statement or text ‘belonged’ in a particular academic
discipline. He demonstrated that it was not simply because all
the texts referred to the same object by showing the great
changes in the discourse of psychopathology from the 18th
Century to the 20th. Foucault argued from the premise of the
106
right to speak, showing that, for example, the medical
discourse expressed by a surgeon is legitimised to a far
greater extent than that expressed by a folk medicine
practitioner.
He also rejected the notion that such statements and texts
can be simply linked by style, ‘a certain constant manner of
statement’ (Foucault, 1972, p.33) by showing the drastic
changes in style that have occurred over time within
discourses. He rejected the idea that it can be simply based
on themes for similar reasons. Ultimately he suggested that it
is systems of dispersion and formation that allow discourses
to be identified. For Foucault the essence of a discourse lies
in its power to 'produce' reality and cause new objects of
knowledge to appear within its domains or prevent other new
objects from forming. He saw discourses as perspectives that
can not only observe truths but create or disallow truths as
well. Work since Foucault has often focused on this notion of
the power of particular discourses and their ability to
determine what is relevant, what is true and what counts as
important.
Gee (1990, pp.176-178) makes the distinction between
primary discourses that belong to the initial socialising group
such as family, class or ethnic group (i.e. social and cultural
in the broader class, ethnic or national sense) and secondary
discourse produced within such groups and institutions as
churches, schools, gangs and offices. Such secondary
discourses are a tradition handed down through time that
107
constrains what happens in the present, since only what is
recognisably similar to what happened in the past can be
recognised as a meaningful performance within the
discourse.
Discourse is used in this report in Gee’s notion of a secondary
discourse - an area or discipline that is a more or less unified
system revolving around identifiable themes, objects and
styles, but, most importantly, around a system of the
dispersion and formation of what is seen as true. A discourse
comes to take an area of knowledge unto itself and in the
process develops systematic language for doing so. Discourse
insiders have a sense that the truths of their particular
discourse are ‘self evident’. Secondary discourses are
something like a tradition handed down through time that
constrains what can happen in the present. Each new
performance in the discourse must be similar enough to
earlier ones to be recognised, but can be just new enough to
change slightly what can be recognised as within the
discourse in the future.
Gee (1990, p.179) notes that people can be members of two
conflicting discourses living out “internally and in the world
the opposition between our discourses”. It is the contention
of this report that many ELT managers are in exactly such a
role; trying to resolve the discourse of the entrepreneur with
that of the educator. Living with this cognitive dissonance
can have the advantage of opening up possibilities for
resistance to domination and hegemony although it produces
108
intellectual and emotional tension through the attempted
resolution of competing moral systems.
5.3. Discourse Analysis and Description
Bloom (1979, p.6) has noted that the innocence of reading is
a pretty myth. Even realistic texts are ruled by a set of
conventions that readers have to construct as being realistic.
This makes the transactions between authors and individual
readers (or in oral communication between speakers and
listeners) a kind of contract. The real world writer uses
language that makes reference, and the real world reader
accepts the obligation to cooperate with it. The text or story
is then constructed and mediated by discourse practices
which are embedded in socio-cultural practices as described
by Fairclough (1993). In a written text, the events and
information are mediated by the discourse practices of the
narrator, who is the speaker 'inside' the text, and the
narratee who is the listener 'inside' the text. This speaking
and listening inside the text is, in turn, filtered by the socio-
cultural practices of the implied author - the persona of the
real world author as revealed in the language and notions in
the text - and the implied reader who is an idealised version
or mode of attention of a reader, as suggested by the
language and assumptions made in the text (Palmer, 1992,
p.108).
An analysis of a text therefore requires not only an analysis of
the events and information described, but also of these
109
various levels or stages in the transaction between real world
author and real world reader. The analysis of entrepreneurial
and educational texts in the following chapters uses the
terminology from the frame of written communication
transactions shown in figure 5.1 below. This frame is adapted
from one devised by Stephens (1992, p.21).
110
Figure 5.1. Transactions between Writers and Readers
Thus in any written transaction the writings or sayings of a
real world author are filtered by the implied author, who is
identified by the socio-cultural practices - the attitudes,
values and underlying ideologies - in the work, and realised
through a narrator persona who relates the events of the
story from particular viewpoints using particular discoursal
IMPLIED AUTHOR(socio-cultural
practices)
NARRATOR(discoursal practices)
EVENTS OF ‘STORY’(text)
NARRATEE(discoursal practices)
IMPLIED READER(socio cultural
practices)
READER(real world)
AUTHOR(real world)
111
practices. Real world authors and readers successfully
conduct this transaction by cooperating in ways similar to
those outlined by Grice (1975, pp.45-48). The narratee (the
listener 'inside the text') has to actively work with the
narrator to note the implications of each incident that is
being related, and assist in forming a narrative of these
incidents that 'makes sense' in order for the work to be
successfully interpreted. The implied reader has to share in
the values of the implied author, not only regarding the
central themes of the work, but also in the large number of
underlying assumptions and beliefs that are required to keep
the narrative and the text moving.
The creation of meaning in a text depends on a range of
levels. At the heart of a text analysis is the actual events of
the story or information being conveyed which are easily
retrievable and relatively unambiguous. One of the great
difficulties in comment on discourse, however, is that the
most easily retrievable and unambiguous data is the least
useful in determining the underlying shape of the ideology.
The role of implied author and implied reader, for example,
can be extremely difficult to tease out and isolate, although it
is at precisely these positions in the transaction of meaning
that much of the work in the construction and revelation of
the discourse and its underlying ideology takes place.
Not only is the most crucial data the hardest and most
controversial to unambiguously select and discuss, but also
what is not said is frequently more critical than what is.
112
Pennycook (1994, p.39) has illustrated this with regard to
advertisements for the growing world coverage of the media,
listing a whole range of questions that are typically ignored.
As well as the problem of ‘silences’, there is the problem of
noticeability. The more powerfully something ‘works’ in a
text, the less likely an analyst will see it as worthy of
comment, for it is precisely the most naturalised ideological
representations which come to be seen as non-ideological
'common-sense' (Fairclough, 1985; p.739).
A recurring weakness in discourse analysis has been the
hidden motivations and collusions of the analysers. Many
analyses are implicitly attempting to create new secondary
discourses based on new ideologies that would usually put
the analysers themselves in positions of increased power. As
most discourse analysis has so far been carried out by liberal
intellectuals there has also been a tendency to label aspects
of discourses being analysed in particular ways as signals of
'good' and 'bad' ideology. As Myers (1997) has pointed out,
the jargon of such analyses, and of much post-structuralist
writing itself, bears interesting discoursal echoes of the
language used in the propaganda works of former Marxist
regimes. Under such regimes once something was labelled
feudal or reactionary or bourgeois or capitalist it was
conveniently dismissed as evil. Likewise in many discourse
analyses once something is labelled as 'neo-fascist', 'neo-
imperialist', 'neo-colonialist', 'patriarchal', ‘sexist’, 'racist',
‘managerialist’ or ‘economic rationalist’ it is readily dismissed
113
as evil without any intellectual consideration of the actual
points raised.
It is clear that there is a need to examine what is around,
above and beneath texts in order to draw out the assumptions
that form the basis for the beliefs and values that are
expressed, and the ways that they are expected to be
understood. The ideological nature of all writing, including
‘objective’ scholarly writing, is sometimes disputed but, as
Owens (1995, pp.5-6) points out in the area of educational
management:
Academics, who appear to be engaged in dispassionate research or at least an even-handed search for understanding, are often in fact guided by the pursuit of more or less well-hidden social and political agendas. On the other hand reformers and entrepreneurs with political instincts often find it helpful to disguise their polemic as coolly detached analysis. Thus the roles of scholar, researcher and entrepreneur frequently have become badly entangled with the result that they often use similar language and style in their appeal to the heart and mind....
5.4. Ideological-Discursive Formations
In discussing the discourse of the ELT educator and that of
the entrepreneur the values and representations that are
drawn on create what Fairclough (1985, p.739 ff) calls an
ideological-discursive formation (IDF). Fairclough argues that
typically one group holds dominant power in an organization
and the way that it represents reality, its IDF, becomes
dominant. This IDF if unchallenged then becomes
114
naturalised. The premises and practices of the dominant IDF
are taken to be commonsensical and natural ways of acting,
talking and thinking. New members of an institution become
inculcated into a community of practice and into the IDF of
their situation. Fairclough suggests they almost unwittingly
act to both reflect and reproduce that IDF by their discourse
and by their practices. Such naturalized ideologies and IDFs
come to be seen as 'essential' background knowledge,
schemata or frames of reference. The naturalisation of the
dominant group’s IDF acts then to alienate the IDFs of other
groups within the institution.
5.5. Conclusion
This chapter has discussed discourse and discourse analysis.
It has provided a definition of discourse as used in this study
and indicated the terminology and the framework that is used
to discuss the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT
educator in the following chapters.
The chapter has shown that all writing and communication
exists within an ideological framework. It has noted that,
while there are inherent difficulties with both the acquisition
and interpretation of data in discourse analysis, the examples
used in the following chapters aim to be illustrative of serious
discoursal tension and conflict between the ideological-
discursive formations, the values and representations of
reality, of the entrepreneur and the educator in international
ELT college settings.
115
116
C h a p t e r 6
THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE ENTREPRENEUR: DESCRIPTIONS
6.1. Introduction
This chapter gives a brief description of the notion of the
entrepreneur and the educator and then uses examples from
a small number of texts to hint at their respective discourses
and to get a flavour of the discoursal values concerned. The
examples are illustrative and the distinction between these
two secondary discourses is necessarily focused more on
their contestations than on their agreements.
This chapter examines and describe some of the values and
the attitudes that form parts of the worldviews of the
entrepreneur and then of the educator. These broad areas
reflect a range of opinions underpinned by a range of
assumptions, but the contrast between the normative
assumptions in the two is sufficient to explain many of the
recurring tensions for ELT managers in international
colleges. The chapter concludes with a brief summary.
6.2. The Discourse of the Entrepreneur
To some, the idea of the entrepreneur is that of the
courageous adventurer rushing in where those less bold fear
117
to go, sacrificing and struggling to build in an alien
environment –the notion of the Rhodes-ian figure who creates
value in the far flung outposts, developing and exploiting
them ruthlessly but efficiently. The opposite pole has the view
of the entrepreneur as a sleazy, white shoe-wearing
individual manoeuvring around the edges of the law to
extract merciless profit from the toil of honest labourers
through a variety of murky schemes. While the dichotomy can
be exaggerated, it is nevertheless a very real problem in
trying to obtain an objective outline of the notion of an
entrepreneur.
Casson (1982, p.9) has noted that even within the discipline
of economics there is no established economic theory of the
entrepreneur. The Australian Industry Task Force on
Leadership and Management Skills (1995, p.107) uses the
following definition of entrepreneurship based on that of Kao
(1983):
Entrepreneurship is the attempt to create value by an individual or individuals:
through the recognition of significant (generally innovative) business
opportunity
through the drive to manage risk-taking appropriate to that project
and
through the exercise of communicative and management skills
necessary to mobilise rapidly the human, material and financial
resources that will bring the project to fruition
118
The Task Force sees entrepreneurship as a set of values that
should infuse and underpin the motivation and practices of all
business enterprises. It regards entrepreneurship as a
critically defining characteristic of good and effective
management. For the purpose of this paper an entrepreneur
is seen as a person who willingly takes on the responsibility
(either through equity or representation) to make commercial
decisions with far-reaching consequences. When their
judgement is proven correct and with the benefit of historical
hindsight other analysts can see that the entrepreneur was
right at a time when others were wrong. Acting differently,
and achieving success (or failure) because of these actions,
causes others to change their minds as well. According to this
view the entrepreneur is atypical and, despite holding a
minority viewpoint, has to be able to persevere in the face of
opposition who are wrong. The entrepreneur needs to be a
value judge of untested operations. In smaller organizations
such as the ELT colleges in this report the entrepreneur is
required to decide the potential success or failure of each
new major revenue-generating project that the college takes
on.
The notion of the entrepreneur is usually bound up with the
idea of individuals who perceive the profitability of a good or
service and therefore arrange its production and/or
distribution. The notion of the entrepreneur is also closely
bound up with the idea of profit which is the residual after all
other factors of production have been met. The concept of a
119
single entrepreneur owning and running a business is a
theoretical abstraction and the ownership and management
of many large enterprises are often distinct. In all of the ELT
colleges referred to in this study the founding of the college
and its continuing operation arose from entrepreneurial,
rather than social or political considerations. Managers have
to acquire entrepreneurial habits if they are to enhance
organizational effectiveness especially in financial areas. The
development of new projects and commercial initiatives as
well as new or different ways to control the cost of inputs are
significant management responsibilities.
The entrepreneurial world view has been pejoratively labelled
fast capitalism by critical theorists such as Gee, Hull and
Lankshear (1996, p.24) who see its value system as
represented most clearly in the popular management texts of
the last two decades such as Senge’s The Fifth Discipline,
Peters’ Liberation Management, Handy’s The Age of
Unreason and Waterman’s Frontiers of Excellence.
Other writers have also noted the development of a
specialised discourse that has evolved in this area. McGregor
(1997), for example, has argued that fluency in the discourse
is now absolutely necessary for success and even survival in
the business world. Micklethwait and Wooldridge (1996) see
much of the publishing in the area as being based on greed
and fear, preying on the paranoid anxieties of managers.
They also note that the range of texts that is included in the
area is very broad from serious academic tomes such as the
120
Competitive Advantage of Nations to the fantastic Leadership
Lessons from Star Trek The Next Generation, to the folk
traditional Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary
Leadership to the faintly ridiculous Burst into Flames: Drive
Your Company Like a Huge Dirigible.
The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge is one of the most widely
admired of this entrepreneurial ‘fast capitalist’ group of texts.
The Australian Industry Task Force on Leadership and
Management (1995, p.167) argued that the learning
organization outlined by Senge will be the standard
philosophy for many Australian enterprises and a major way
they cope with change and turbulence. His work has also
influenced thinking on educational organizations, perhaps
because of its appeal to aspects of learning and education. In
the book, Senge describes the art and practice of a
prototypical organization that he calls the Learning
Organization. Senge's ideas about the learning organization
are based on five principal areas or disciplines. These are
Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared
Vision and Team Learning.
Senge sees Systems Thinking as the ability to understand
non-linear causes and effects and to see events holistically as
part of a complex and interrelated system. The unit of the
whole, though, is the organization rather than the individual,
the society or the world. Personal Mastery, while including
competence and skills, emphasises aptitude for personal
growth and learning. Senge (1990, p.141) writes that
121
"[p]eople with high levels of personal mastery are continually
expanding their ability to create results in a life they truly
seek", involving individuals continually clarifying what is
important to them and continually learning to see current
reality more clearly.
Mental models are the cognitive patterning devices or
internal images that people have to explain at a fundamental
level how the world works. The book argues that whatever
these are, they limit people to familiar ways of thinking and
acting. These mental models are similar to Argyris' (1978)
notion of theories-in-use. Indeed Senge (1990, p.175) cites
Argyris: "Although people do not [always] behave congruently
with their espoused theories [what they say] they do behave
congruently with their theories-in-use [their mental models]".
This notion of mental models is also loosely based on the
ideas from cognitive science of selectively attending to
sensory input. Two people can observe exactly the same
situation and yet describe it totally differently because of
their differing mental models. Senge argues that these
models need to be in-awareness rather than out-of-
awareness.
Shared Vision is described by Senge as a force that is carried
by people throughout an organization, an empowering force
that creates "a sense of commonality that permeates the
organization and gives a coherence to diverse activities"
(Senge, 1990: p.206). Team learning is seen as the process of
aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the
122
results its members truly desire. The team is a group who
need one another to act with Senge using the analogy of a
great sports team or jazz ensemble as his image of an ideal
team.
All five disciplines outline the sort of universal positives that
are virtually motherhood statements - it is impossible not to
agree with their desirability. However the central issues of
power, control and determination of insider/outsider
boundaries are powerful silences in the book. How does one
become a member of a learning organization? How is that
membership terminated? What is the purpose of a learning
organization? Who decides on that purpose? What are the
relative positions of stakeholders and why? What happens
when things go wrong? How can shared visions be created
when some organizational members need to suffer so that
others may prosper? Like texts in many areas of human
behaviour, including education, the 'hard yards', the dirty
specifics and the common but tricky win-lose situations are
ignored in favour of the simple win-win pieces of the
organizational puzzle.
The implied reader of most texts that favour an
entrepreneurial worldview is a believer, an owner or
manager and the books only make sense when this mode of
attention is adopted. There are other important assumptions
and adjustments that the implied reader must adopt. As noted
above, the unit of analysis used throughout the work is the
organization and its profitability, and the possible conflict
123
between organizational success and societal failure is
avoided. An implied reader must see growth and size as
measures of success, measures that even many economists
and financial analysts would now dispute. The implied reader
must also ignore real world knowledge of the corporations
cited that does not appear to conform to Senge's analysis.
The Shell Corporation, for example, is referred to throughout
the work as one the best examples of a learning organization
with an ethical vision, yet its activities in Nigeria and North
Sea oil rig scuttling would seem to contradict an
organization-wide shared ethical vision.
By using the organization as a unit of analysis, the
entrepreneurial world view adopts the implicit position that
what matters is what is inside the organization, and that
'what is not the organization' is to be treated differently from
'what is the organization'. The wider implications of global
economics are left out of the calculations. Gee, Hull and
Lankshear (1996) use the example of small cooperative
organizations in Nicaragua to show that it is not possible to
take such texts and apply their formulas to many small third
world organizations. The Fifth Discipline and other
entrepreneurial texts may be describing a formula for
organizational winners, but the total situation they describe
will still require winners and losers in a regular capitalist
fashion.
The narrator and narratee throughout the work switch from
management consultants to CEOs of large corporations to
124
direct dialogues between the implied author and implied
reader. The assumption is that narrator, narratee and reader
are all important people who have real control in their
organizations and can direct others to change. It also
assumes that readers, like narrator and narratee, work in
areas with strategic responsibilities rather than operational
ones. It would seem to exclude the work activities of many
members of many organizations who have little or no control
over the strategies of their organizations and are engaged in
the satisfaction of operational needs, dealing with the 'here
and now' rather than the future 'there and then'.
From the opening sentence The Fifth Discipline includes the
reader inside its world:
From a very early age we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world.
(Senge, 1990: p.3)
The use of we indicates that writer and reader share a
common purpose. This common purpose is to build learning
organizations:
...where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.
(Senge, 1990: p.3)
The commercial motive for this wonderful new plan is
revealed in the third paragraph of the work with the
imprimatur of Arie De Geus, then Head of Planning at Royal
125
Dutch Shell, and the most prominent commercial advocate of
Senge's techniques:
The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.
(Senge, 1990: p.4)
The linking of competitive advantage to collective aspiration
and the expansion of thinking and creativity is a tension
within the discourse of the entrepreneur. Is the learning
organization (or any other management tool) a vital
technique because it is expanding people's capacity to create
results they truly desire, or is it to sustain competitive
advantage? What about those whose desires conflict with
their organization? What of those who wish to learn
destructively? What of those whose true desires lie outside
their organization?
Senge makes a firm distinction throughout his work between
learning organizations, which are new, uncertain, adaptable
and fast-changing, and controlling organizations, which are
old, bureaucratic, rigid and inflexible. The way that power
has traditionally been exercised in controlling organizations
has limited the ability of organizational members to fulfil
their aspirations. In learning organizations, according to
Senge, members are set free to achieve far greater outcomes.
This tension between the old bureaucratic 'modernist'
controlling organizations and the new, uncertain, fast-
changing 'postmodernist' learning organizations is presented
126
to readers of this book, and many similar texts, using one of
the recurring techniques in western literature - that of the
quest to the unknown land. Said (1978, p.54) in an analysis of
how Asia was constructed in western fiction found the most
frequently occurring theme to be the contrast and tension
between a place or state of order and safety on the one hand
(the West, home, the settled colony, the garrison, the club
and the company of 'one's own kind') and a troubled
hinterland on the other (the East, far from home, the frontier,
the native world, 'out there'.) Crossing from one to the other
often rewards protagonists with conquest, praise, wealth and
sexual gratification but doing so is also dangerous, confusing
and sometimes disillusioning. There is a strong assumption at
the implied author/implied reader level in the entrepreneurial
literature that those bold explorers and adventurers who lead
the charge to the brave new organizational world will be
similarly well rewarded. The quest plots of western literature
and mythology and the how to’s of entrepreneurial success
run a surprisingly parallel course.
There are occasional indications in the work that power is
ownable and transferable in organizations and thus only
some organizational members are able to empower others:
Empowering the individual when there is a relatively low level of alignment worsens the chaos and makes managing the team even more difficult.
(Senge, 1990: p.235).
127
Of course, this assumes that certain people (who are different
to the 'individuals' in an organization!) can choose to
empower others, that these certain people can determine
when there is alignment and that team management is really
a covert line management responsibility, rather than
something that is generated within the team.
All five disciplines in Senge's learning organization seem
reasonable and desirable and yet certain aspects of his
prototype may cause the counter-intuitive results that Senge
notes in his discussion of Systems Thinking. Indeed the
notion underlying Systems Thinking itself, that things are so
complex that no-one can really do anything effective unless
they understand a whole chain of sophisticated cause and
effect loops, can be a very disempowering view, ultimately
stripping people of power and a sense of personal control.
Discussions of Personal Mastery within the text rarely refer
to what is, perhaps, the central issue in such mastery, at least
from a materialist perspective, and that is access to, and
control over, actual material resources. Ownership and
control of such resources usually determine a person's
control and fit with their environment. Yet an equitable
redistribution of material wealth within organizations is
another ‘loud’ silence within the Fifth Discipline.
Senge's notion of Shared Vision has similarities with the
sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in early Christian
writings. Indeed it is one example among many of a broad
128
salvationist and millennial flavour throughout much of the
entrepreneurial discourse. The Fifth Discipline, like many
such texts, proceeds by a series of anecdotes, tales and
parables which are often uncritical accounts of all the
benefits that accrued to particular organizations that
followed the path to salvation offered by the author. The
prescriptions are rarely based on sustained quantitative
research but rather on accounts of particular organizations
that have entered a state of 'grace', had their workers
empowered and consequently been transformed (Gee, Hull
and Lankshear, 1996: p.73).
Team learning and induction into learning communities has
become a powerful theme in the entrepreneurial discourse
largely due to Japanese corporate success in the 1970s and
1980s that truly shocked most western managers. However
the fatal flaws of groupthink and the abilities of groups to
magnify mistaken perceptions, rather than correct them,
have been well documented by anthropologists, a finding
again notoriously absent from the work. The tribulations in
East Asian economies in the late 1990s and Japan’s
continuing inability to enliven its moribund economy would
also seem to indicate that notions of team and community are
not enough of themselves to guarantee success.
Critics have argued that the whole desire for these new
learning organizations is suspicious. Gee, Hull and Lankshear
(1996, p.27) for example, maintain that old capitalism was
based on a working class that did not have to think, having
129
only to do what it was told, whereas now it demands workers
who can operate at all levels. The old capitalism was about
standardisation and democratising desire, while today’s
capitalism is about specialisation and customising desire. As
a result of technological and social changes the competition
is now global and the winners are those who can design and
produce customised products and services faster than their
global competitors. Factors such as 'hypercompetition',
massive technological changes and the demands and desires
of increasingly sophisticated consumers have meant that
organizations have to respond accordingly. The
entrepreneurial discourse is simply a new coat of paint on
good old-fashioned exploitative ideas.
The Fifth Discipline, and other texts within the
entrepreneurial discourse, work by grabbing their readers,
building on words and metaphors that have positive
connotations and with which readers are already familiar,
and then twisting them to give them entirely different
meanings. The discourse extends from the typical domains of
business and management into domains of human behaviour
and motivation that have, until now, been considered 'soft'.
This extension, though, has not been without a continuation
of the primary motivations of entrepreneurial theories -
bottom line performance, profit, growth and cost/benefits
that remain the underlying motivators of the discourse. The
organization and its performance are seen as more significant
130
than individual fulfilment or national or international social
equality.
There are many silences and absences of questions in the
entrepreneurial worldview. The dysfunctional side of science
and technology, its uneven effects on the distribution of
power and knowledge, the free market for goods but not for
labour to name a few. As the real world readers of these texts
are mainly white-collar workers in the developed world, it is
not surprising that very real issues that face the majority of
the world's population in developing countries do not rate a
mention.
The entrepreneurial discourse is usually seen as particularly
male. Burrell and Hearn (1989) throughout their work have
shown that most organizational theory has largely excluded
non-hetero, non-male forms, with the whole discourse of
organizations and organization theory exuding an acritical
'malestream' point of view. The entrepreneurial discourse
also shows a preference for humanist, universalist ideologies
rather than cultural relativist ones, assuming that there is a
pan-global business culture that outweighs the influence of
local and national cultures. This universalist - relativist
debate is a fundamental tension between the entrepreneurial
worldview and its critics. Gee, Hull and Lankshear's (1996)
core complaint against fast capitalism, for example, is its
universalist notions and the resultant parallels with
universalist notions of literacy that are taken as discredited
131
by those who believe in the notion of critical literacy and
language learning.
Discourses are built around mutually shared beliefs that
ultimately form coherent worldviews. The values discussed in
the section above were grouped into a discourse that has
been labelled that of the entrepreneur. Some central values
of this discourse are the reward of considered risk-taking
behaviour with an admiration for such qualities as boldness,
courage, strength in adversity, going against the tide,
individualism and field independence. The discourse has a
male orientation (in the psychological sense of the word) and
is little concerned with those of limited power or means. It
sees organizational success in financial terms and focuses on
strategic and dynamic complexity, rather than day-to-day
operations. It favours individuals rather than processes, and
opportunity is seen as fortune favouring the brave. It has an
emphasis on effectiveness or doing the right thing and
ultimately sees profit as the core purpose of organizational
activities.
6.3 The Discourse of the ELT Educator
Most ELT colleges in Australia that cater to international
students exist because of the worldwide demand for English
language skills needed for commercial and academic
activities. Even though many such colleges owe their
existence to entrepreneurial imperatives, many ELT
132
practitioners identify with a discourse that has underlying
values somewhat opposed to those of entrepreneur.
The discourse of the international ELT educator, like that of
the entrepreneur presents difficulties of precise definition.
Core educational activities are becoming increasingly
differentiated and activities that have perhaps little relevance
to what would have been considered ‘education’ in previous
decades have assumed greater importance.
Teachers in accredited ELT institutions in Australia must
have university qualifications in education and either an ELT
certificate or at least 800 hours of classroom teaching
experience. This suggests that many of the general principles
that underlie constructs in education also apply to ELT
educators. One difference between ELT educators and those
in other fields of education may be in their more global
orientation. Because English teaching is in demand around
the world many in ELT have worked in several countries
during their careers.
In the last three decades much educational writing has been
conducted within a liberal-democratic framework that has
been influenced by broader philosophical notions of
liberalism and liberal values (White, 1995: p.216) In recent
times the foundation notions of the educational worldview
have involved the attempts to demonstrate the value of
education in a modern liberal society. The central focus has
become the notion that everyone
133
should be equipped to determine his or her own major goals in life and not have these paternalistically imposed whether by custom, parents, teachers, or religious and political leaders.
(White, 1995; p.217)
The discourse of ELT has developed from related discourses
in other fields of education. It has tended to develop practical
and theoretical strands that focus on different areas and
influence practitioners in different ways. The connection
between the teaching of English and the study of applied
linguistics has meant that ELT has been a more reflective
discourse than that of the entrepreneur, with writers and
practitioners in the field occasionally questioning why
English is in such tremendous demand around the globe, and
whether or not this is a 'good thing'. In general however the
discourse is dominated by texts that address the logistical
issues raised by the rapid spread of ELT and the seemingly
insatiable demand for English learning around the globe. As
Candlin notes:
…the twin pressures of commercialisation and the often short-term imperatives of research have conspired to make difficult a general reflection on the purposes and objectives of language teaching and learning as part of the personal and cultural experience of teachers and learners…
(Candlin 1991 p.ix)
While there is more understanding of entrepreneurial
imperatives in ELT than in some other areas of education, the
discourse overwhelmingly favours its educational roots. In
Japan for example there is tremendous demand for a non-
traditional form of ELT known as eikaiwa or 'meeting-
134
speaking' English. Even the famed shinkansen bullet trains
offers such English learning activities after polling found that
this was the most popular activity that commuters would pay
to do on their journeys to work (Japan Times, 1989). ELT
experts however often denounce eikaiwa because it does not
follow any existing language teaching methodology. A
common criticism of such activities is that "ultimately the
western teacher of English is paid to be a westerner rather
that to teach anything" (Evans, 1990, p.28). Eikaiwa is also
held in low repute because of the lack of conventional
educational qualifications and experience of those who do it.
Syed (1992) notes that native speaker was the principal
prerequisite of employment; 82% of the language school
teachers he surveyed were native speakers but only 11% had
ELT qualifications and experience and 75% listed Japan as
the first and only place that they had ever taught English.
Michael Lewis and Jimmie Hill's (1992) Practical Techniques
for Language Teaching is an introductory text for new
language teachers that has a strong emphasis on the
practical classroom side of ELT while Alistair Pennycook's
(1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International
Language is a socio-cultural analysis of the impact of the
spread of English and ELT written for more experienced
members of the profession. Both texts assume that the
implied readers are teachers or ELT professionals that have a
close working relationship with non-native speaker students.
135
Both works reflect the idea that English is largely taught by
Anglo native speakers to non-Anglo learners.
Practical Techniques is described as "a basic teacher training
handbook for all less experienced teachers. It covers the
syllabus for the RSA UCLES CTEFLA, which is one of the
usual entry-level ELT qualifications to the profession in
Australia. The narrator in Practical Techniques is like that of
an experienced teacher to a novice. As the review on the back
cover says, "conveying an upbeat, can-do attitude.” All the
techniques are in classroom and there is no mention of what
will occur outside the classroom, how to relate to students or
any mention of managerial, entrepreneurial or logistical
functions. At the 'chalkface' level of ELT, there is a strong
emphasis on what 'works' in the classroom, with ideas judged
by their immediate utilitarian value. Learning English, like all
foreign language learning, is a long, hard slog and, for
speakers of non-European languages, many hundreds or even
thousands of hours can be spent in ELT classrooms. Thus
texts such as Practical Techniques stress their utilitarian
value from the opening pages:
This book is not theoretical. It is a collection of practical ideas and techniques which you can use to make your own teaching more effective, and more enjoyable for you and your students.
(Lewis and Hill, 1992; p.3)
The guiding principles of this book are that:
...language teaching is only an aid to language learning, and that it is those things which help the students to improve which are of particular importance; and secondly that language is first
136
and foremost communication. Those activities which mean that students can use the language, and communicate better, are to be encouraged at the expense of activities which will only mean that students ‘know’ the language.
(Lewis and Hill, 1992; p.3)
The values that underpin the ELT discourse are revealed in
the ways that classroom activities are to be conducted. These
stress that ELT should be:
1. Learner centred (teach the students not the book,
learning is more important than teaching)
2. Active (involve students in the learning process,
don't tell students what they can tell you, vary what
you do and how you do it, activities and relationships
in the classroom change)
3. Comfortable and non-threatening (we all learn best
when we are relaxed, don't emphasise difficulties,
useful and fun is better than either alone, students
can be silent but still involved)
4. Self aware (students need to learn how to learn)
These notions value a ‘caring and sharing’ emphasis in
human relations – one where there should be little loss of
face or fear of failure. Thus the texts written for classroom
practitioners emphasise the notions that English language
learning and teaching should be enjoyable, practical and of
immediate use, with ideas based on practical experience.
137
The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language,
(Pennycook, 1994), on the other hand, is far more general
and questioning of the rationales behind the teaching of
English. Pennycook examines the teaching of English around
the world, the development of the discourse of ELT and the
neo-colonial effects of the growth of English as an
international language, before arguing the need for
refinement and change in the ways that ELT is conducted
around the world.
English language teaching is usually understood by its
practitioners to be a 'good thing' although the view of why it
is good have shifted from the need of English for
development to the need for English for growth in a global
market. Pennycook (1994) argues that a particular view of
English as an international language has come into being
through colonialism and the neo-colonial agendas of
linguistics and applied linguistics and the global spread of
teaching practices. He points out that English can never be
removed from its social, political, economic and cultural
contexts and would prefer English teachers to develop
alternative methods of dealing with international English.
Whether or not languages can be successfully removed from
the social and political contexts of the speech community
within which they developed is complex. Whether English can
only reflect the 'mindset' of its Anglo native speakers, or
whether it can be used to reflect the mindsets of any of its
individual users is, as yet, unresolved. It would be common
138
among ELT practitioners to hold that the power any member
of the world community attains by becoming fluent in English
far outweighs the possible disadvantages to themselves as
individuals, although on a societal level the expansion of
English is sure to wipe out many languages, in a similar
fashion to the disappearance of the many distinct regional
dialects with the growth of literacy and standard national
languages.
Language may well be more elastic than socio-cultural
theorist realise however. To demonstrate one example among
many: Chinua Achebe the Nigerian novelist, poet,
broadcaster and diplomat for Biafra has written about Ibo
society and the impact of colonialism in English in novels
such as Things Fall Apart (1958) and A Man of the People
(1966). Achebe (cited in Kachru, 1987) has discussed the
possibilities and limitations of international English and used
two passages on the writing of Arrow of God as examples,
one 'Africanized' and the other 'Englishized'. The passages
are:
I want one of my sons to join these people and be my eyes there. If there is nothing in it you will come back. But if there is something then you will bring back my share. The world is like a mask, dancing. If you want to see it well you do not stand in one place. My spirit tells me that those who do not befriend the white man today will be saying, 'had we known' tomorrow.
Compared to:
I am sending you as my representative among those people - just to be on the safe side in case the new religion develops. One has to move with the times or else one is left behind. I have
139
a hunch that those who fail to come to terms with the white man may well regret their lack of foresight.
In certain areas Pennycook's critical analysis shows that the
western model of education has led to a deskilling of
populations in many non-Western countries in terms of
indigenous systems of belief, folklore, language, symbols, art,
music and knowledge (Pennycook, 1994; p.49), echoing the
argument that school and schooling, far from being an
opponent of the new world order, may well be its leading
missionary edge.
If there are many examples in entrepreneurial writings that
have echoes of the quest theme that has pervaded Western
Literature since Homer, education texts have echoes of
notions of the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’. Educational matters
are held to be ‘purer’ than matters of administration,
coordination and operations. This sacred/profane distinction
is at the heart of much thinking on education. The teacher
training textbook above or teacher training courses
themselves, for example, rarely impart understanding of
issues such as timetabling, funding, resource allocation,
logistics or even such matters as classroom discipline. These
details of a teacher’s existence are lumped into the profane.
The symbolism of medieval clerical robes that are de rigueur
dress ups for university and college graduations are perhaps
a visual symbol of this link.
The notion of equal distribution of power is firmly placed
within ELT educator discourse. EA Journal, the journal of the
140
international ELT industry in Australia, shows a recurring
tendency for writers to disassociate themselves from being
managers or holding power and to be uncomfortable with a
perception that such is the case. Heap, for example, writes
that he was shocked when students identified him as holding
incredible power due to his position as the Director of Studies
at an ELT centre connected with a university. He writes:
" I don't think I had ever considered myself powerful although I've had various positions of more or less responsibility over the years. I was rather taken with the idea but also felt somewhat uncomfortable with it, subscribing as I do to notions such as 'Strength is made perfect in weakness', 'Blessed are the meek', 'The only power is no power', 'To lead is to serve' and not to sentiments found in books with such titles as Power! How to Get it, How to Use it.
(Heap and Cole, 1996 p.18)
That the holding of such values, and the actual interpretation
of actions, can be very different is again highlighted by Heap
(1996, p.19), who uses an example of the DOS and Assistant
DOSes at his ELT college who changed the time of an in-
service session after a different time had been agreed at a
staff meeting. The memo that informed staff of this change
read "we have decided to ..." these words were anonymously
circled by one of the English instructors with the comment
WHO??? - an indication that the instructors found such
actions 'disempowering' despite the intentions of the
manager. He also notes in ELT contexts that there can be
euphemisms used to disguise the raw notions of power in
such colleges and that therefore words such as leadership,
141
management and responsibilities can all indicate control and
power (Heap 1996, p.19).
The discourse of the ELT educator is a reification of a set of
concepts that plays a role in the transmission and
development of educational culture. Its description and
analysis is meant to be illustrative in order to compare and
contrast it with that of the entrepreneur discussed above.
Nevertheless the set of values, beliefs and prejudices that
educators draw upon to pejoratively deride aspects of
financial, commercial or industrial thinking mean that there
is, at root, a discursive formation that has developed and is
transmitted within the education sector in Australia and
elsewhere and that this discourse can be identified and
described.
The discourse of the ELT educator as represented in this
paper is not, of course, a monolithic entity. The fast capitalist
notions that underpin an entrepreneurial market driven
worldview, however, grow from very different origins and
create divergent values to many of those that underpin the
worldview of the ELT educator. The ELT educator is likely to
value the detail complexity of daily operations in the college
and the mechanisms by which English is taught and learned.
They are likely to have a greater trust in processes and have
an event orientation to work, seeing each class as somewhat
different. They are likely to value efficiency and doing their
assigned tasks well with a belief in accountability. Most
142
importantly they are likely to value educational quality of a
college over profitability or financial considerations.
6.4. Conclusion
This chapter has briefly examined and described some of the
values and the attitudes that form the worldviews of the
entrepreneur and then the ELT educator. A small range of
examples were taken from published texts. The examples
were illustrative and it was noted that the distinction
between these two secondary discourses is necessarily
focused more on their contestations than on their
agreements. It is to these contestations and possible
commonalities that this study now turns.
143
C h a p t e r 7
THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE ENTREPRENEUR: CONTESTATIONS
7.1. Introduction
The political and ideological nuances of the words
entrepreneur and management make them awkward
concepts for many involved in education. The words seem to
somehow belong to business, industry and commerce with
education somehow apart from, or perhaps above, such
profane activities. Yet of course upon reflection most
educators would agree that the tasks of principals, directors
of studies, college owners, deans and department heads all
involve the same skills as those required by managers and
entrepreneurs in the commercial world.
The contrast between the values of the entrepreneur and the
values and outlooks of ELT educators is, like any structuralist
dichotomy, a less than accurate depiction of a complex
situation. Nevertheless, anyone who has worked in
international ELT colleges in any capacity would be aware
that a clash of values frequently occurs and there are few
educational institutions that are free of problems relating to
resource allocation for educational activities.
144
There are, therefore, a number of areas of important
contestations between the discourses of the entrepreneur
and the educator. This chapter examines some of these
contestations at the general level before discussing some
possible commonalities that may be of assistance in finding a
functional resolution of the clashing values. The following
chapter then examines some specific institutional difficulties
resulting from the discoursal conflict, and looks at examples
of these contestations in international ELT colleges.
The main contestations examined in this chapter are the
respective views of organizations and the competing notions
of modern and postmodern organizational units, varying
perspectives on the commodification of education,
understanding of transaction costs, orientation towards the
future (optimistic or pessimistic), views on injustice and
elitism and finally acceptance of universalism compared to
relativism.
7.2. View of Organizations
Johnston has reflected on the ways ELT management might
differ from management in other areas and speculated that,
in ELT, management is:
amorphous, largely unsupervised, often ill at ease with itself; but also thanks to its closeness to ELT perhaps uniquely open to influence from some of the healthiest trends in interpersonal dealings, such as humanistic approaches.
Johnston (1989, p.5)
145
Almost all ELT managers, and indeed ELT practitioners,
would agree, that it makes business sense to satisfy clients
rather than dissatisfy them, to win them rather than lose
them, to strengthen 'revenue earning' teaching operations
rather than degrade them and to cultivate markets rather
than to sell them short. Charles (1993, p.15) argues that the
more the ELT profession mixes with the 'outside' business
and professional world the more it learns to engage with the
management content of that world, and match its
performance standards. Yet suspicion and hostility remain.
Hammond (2001, p15) notes that even in academic ELT
journals there are laments of ‘losing colleagues to business’
meaning teachers moving across to management and that
there is a strong perceived polarity of the ‘camps’ in ELT
colleges.
While the entrepreneurial world view draws on beliefs that
come from notions of supply and demand and monetary
motivations, notions that derive from the discipline of
economics, the world view of the ELT educator derives from
notions of personal growth, fulfilment and social harmony;
ideas that are broadly situated in sociology and psychology.
The idea that the college exists to make money is an
entrepreneurial one. The notion that the idea of the college is
to offer courses that will provide outstanding educational
services to students, and be a motivating and inspirational
work environment, is an educational one. While the two views
146
are not totally incompatible, resolution of the two aims has
many difficulties.
Many of the values that are important in the communicative
classrooms of ELT educators give rise to predominant view
among such educators that the human resource perspective
is the 'sensible' view of organizations and that this view of
organizations is the one held as the ‘common sense’ view of
organizations by many educators, whose paradigms of
organizational and educational issues may be very similar.
The entrepreneurial discourse, on the other hand, tends to
favour explanations from the views of traditional
management or its more recent symbolic / cultural iterations
that put the needs of some organizational members above
others, largely based on their power and influence.
Part of the discoursal clash between the educator and the
entrepreneur may be due to a much broader historical
process. Hargraeves (1995; p. 15) sees the forces of
entrepreneurial and educational worldviews as part of a
larger conflict between modernity and postmodernity. He
describes the trends thus:
The fate of teachers work, its structure and culture, is caught in a powerful and dynamic struggle between two immense social forces: those of modernity and postmodernity. On the one hand, is an increasingly post-industrial, post-modern world, characterised by accelerating change, intense compression of time and space, cultural diversity, technological complexity, national insecurity and scientific uncertainty. Against this stands a modernistic, monolithic school system that continues to pursue deeply anachronistic purposes within obstructive and inflexible structures.
147
It is in the struggles between and within modernity and postmodernity that the challenge of change for teachers' work, educational leadership and schools as workplaces is to be found.
The postmodern organization is often used as a label for a
collection of characteristics that are becoming more
prevalent in certain organizations in the latter half of the
20th century and the initial years of the 21st. This broad
movement from modern to postmodern is impacting on many
organizations. It has made the ability to adapt and change
ever more important to an organization's perceived success
and meant that the ability to change effectively is ever more
essential to an organizations continuing life chances.
Aspects of postmodern organizations have been linked to
some of the diffuse intellectual notions that underlie the
postmodernist tradition and its relationship to the broad
assumptions of the modern era. Like many terms that are
used to describe broad movements in social, economic,
political and cultural life though, postmodernism is rather
vague and ill-defined. The collection of ideas that has come to
be labelled as postmodernism can be more correctly seen as
a partial description of the breakdowns and transformations
in the central structures and organizing principles of the
modern era.
In organizational theory archetypical 'modern' organizations
are those large bureaucratic organizations that adopt a
rationalist view of their operations. Such organizations are
148
usually configured with a hierarchical structure and
emphasise the job and the tasks rather than the people who
fill them. In this type of organization the job description is
more important than the individual who fills it and there is an
assumption that the organization has 'positions' to fill rather
that a range of members whose talents must be combined
and maximised.
The rationalist paradigm of modernism has begun to be seen
as only partially suitable to the solution of many of the
deepest human problems. Disenchantment with the
rationalist paradigm has led to the postmodernist reaction
where almost everything is pre-paradigmatic (Bergquist,
1993. p.16). In the organizational literature this is becoming
ever more apparent. Peters & Waterman's book in the early
1980s suggested that something was known about the ways
that organizations achieve excellence; by the late 1980s it
was admitted that they had been too hasty in forming
conclusions; many of their ‘excellent’ organizations of the
early 1980s had become troubled institutions by the end of
the decade (see Peters, 1988).
Most organizational theorists conceive of organizations as
social systems which possess two essential attributes: a
reason for being such as a mission or purpose and a range of
constraints such as boundaries or limits. Bergquist (1993:
pp.65-66) notes that an important distinction between
traditional work organizations and postmodern organizational
identities lies with the differing emphasis on mission and
149
boundaries. In order to succeed traditional organizations
have tended to emphasise their boundary conditions while
paying less attention to their purposes or missions.
Postmodern organizations, on the other hand, need to have
much clearer missions because their boundaries and limits
are fast changing and can become extremely blurred.
This fundamental difference in purpose and boundary
conditions means that archetypical postmodern organizations
are more likely to be of small to moderate size and complexity
and have flexible structures and modes of inter-institutional
cooperation to meet their more turbulent organizational and
environmental conditions. They have to emphasise clarity of
mission partly to compensate for their increasingly diffuse
boundaries. It is a significant dilemma faced by these kinds of
organizations and the successful management of the state of
flux of their rapidly changing boundaries is a central
organizational concern. Jameson’s (1991) core argument is
that because postmodern organizations by definition possess
such boundary fluidity, organizational purpose is the
essential element in their continued existence.
Traditional organizations orchestrate a clear demarcation
between the inside and the outside of their institutions,
making the organization and its location virtually identical. In
the postmodernist view of organization, however, the location
of the organization and its boundaries is far less fixed in
physical and even in psychological terms. Such organizations
can change premises easily and frequently enabling them to
150
take advantage of differentials in ecological variables such as
asset values and changes in their market niches.
The activities and clients of postmodern organizations may
also be expected to change rapidly - in the educational sphere
this might involve rapid shifts in the age of students (moving
from teaching adults to school children for example) or their
first language backgrounds (eg changing from teaching
Vietnamese-speaking migrants to Australia with severe
learning difficulties to Japanese short term tourists who wish
to combine language learning with holiday activities).
It has been suggested that working in the these kinds of
organizations is like living on the edge, a kind of threshold or
flow experience that may present more exciting opportunities
and challenges for those who have learned to thrive on
change and can live with instability. For those whose
expectations, coping abilities and learning behaviours were
shaped through experiences in modernist organizations,
however, life in these organizations may be more likely to be
troubling and unsettling. Indeed, underlying many of the
tensions in international ELT colleges, and the anxieties of
their educational managers, are some of these differing
conceptions of how an organization is configured. Some
characteristics of the postmodern organization, such as their
uncertainty of operations and fast-changing work patterns,
are probably less alienating to those with an entrepreneurial
orientation.
151
The similarity between the research paradigms for education
and those of the human resource perspective on
organizations can mean that many educators hold one
particular view of organizations. It may be that the fact that
most large traditional educational organizations are still
chiefly configured on bureaucratic modernist assumptions,
while international ELT organizations are more likely to be
configured on postmodernist patterns, makes tensions and
'culture clashes' more likely.
At the institutional level these clashes can also be important
in areas such as career structures and pay scales. One of the
key aspects of the entrepreneurial world view is that jobs
only exist as part of the process of adding value to activities,
and once such activities do not add value the workers who
perform them should be dispensable. The tension between
this view and the ‘jobs for life’ of the modernist era has been
one of the key changes of the last two decades, and the rise
of temporary and part-time work is a key feature of it. At a
meeting of the Directors of Studies from ELT colleges around
Sydney the inability of structures developed for modern era
organizations to keep up with the changes was well
demonstrated. The teachers’ union representative who was
speaking insisted that ELT teachers should conform more to
the way that school teachers were employed. The notions of
casual, part-time, sessional and full-time built in to the union
negotiated award used schools and school teachers as a
model. It does not have, and probably never did have, much
152
relevance to the real employment situations of most ELT
educators in Sydney, but the fact that the business activities
of the ELT colleges had many points of difference to
traditional schools was seemingly unimportant. The union
negotiator said, “I’ve never understood why [ELT Colleges]
you employ so many casuals.” Explanations of the swings in
student enrolments and the difference in structures between
small entrepreneurial colleges and schools with annual
government funded budgets did not register. The differences
were viewed as deficiencies, not only by the union negotiator
but also by many of the ELT managers present.
Much of the international ELT industry thrives on temporary
or casual work. Gee, Hull and Lankshear (1996) comment on
this feature of capitalism in recent years:
In recent years temporary work has become more and more prevalent - in fact such jobs are the fastest growing category of job in the new capitalism. Temporary jobs provide workers with no job security and few benefits like health insurance, but enable corporations to adjust their labor overheads to the ebb and flow of the market (Parker 1994). Indeed the largest employer in the United States is Manpower Inc. a temporary-employment agency.
This notion that certain things in the world of work are good
and others bad though can be a limiting feature of educator
thought, at least from an entrepreneurial perspective. A
closer look at the above statement reveals an array of value
judgements that, at the very least, call for examination:
153
1. The rise of temporary work has been consciously
created by disembodied entities called 'corporations'
rather than in response to conventional supply and
demand notions.
2. The lack of job security is the overriding issue for
workers [compared to pay, time flexibility, quick start
(interview today/start tomorrow) and other aspects of
temporary and part-time work which for many workers
can be far more important than security.]
3. Adjusting labour overheads is a 'bad thing' that
corporations do (rather than a good thing in reducing
transaction costs and hence creating extra work in the
future).
4. On costs such as job security, health insurance and
other benefits are entitlements that are not
contributing factors to the rise of temporary work. (It is
this lack of understanding of transaction costs that has
been partly responsible for the demise of many
traditional jobs with increasing global competition and
the removal of public subsidies for private operations.)
ELT colleges that are privately owned have many points of
difference with traditional educational institutions and share
many features with those types of organizations that are
coming to be labelled as postmodern. Entrepreneurs are
likely to view the organization as one that offers temporary
financial opportunity whereas ELT educators with
154
organizational models based on those in other areas of
education may view this uncertainty as threatening. This is a
prime contestation between the two discourses.
7.3. Commodification of Education
Reid (1996) throughout his work argues that a discourse of
commodity production has pervaded the administrative
practices of educational institutions in Australia in recent
times. His analysis of the language that constitutes what he
sees as a value shift in the provision of higher education in
Australia includes a strong focus on the terms commodity and
production. The terms ‘commodity’ and ‘production’ can
appear in many contexts with positive or neutral
connotations. In Reid’s analysis, however, there are clearly
shared values in the use of such terminology, indicating that
they are extremely negative when applied to education.
Commodities are things and so are dehumanising when
applied to human interactions, and production is chiefly to do
with material goods and factories and has a linkage with
‘mass production’ that seems to counter notions of
individualism that underpin the service at the heart of
education.
Reid uses this shared discoursal value system to develop
ideas put forward by Fairclough (1992: pp.6-7). He argues
that there has been a process of re-wording that changes
learners into consumers, courses into packages and an
'invasion' of teaching and research by the vocabulary of
155
advertising and management. These new ways of talking
about what educational institutions do, and what educational
administrators need to strive for, leads to the
acceptance/inculcation of new attitudes. Reid lists a range of
terminological contrasts that are indicative of educator as
opposed to entrepreneurial values. The first word in each
partnership is the preferred terminology from an educational
perspective the second pejoratively assigned to the outside.
Thus ‘values’ versus ‘prices’, ‘leaders’ versus ‘managers’,
‘collegiality’ versus ‘corporatism’ and ‘education’ versus
‘training’ (Reid, 1996, p.iv).
Despite the criticism of managerial trends in higher
education, Reid does suggest that many familiar notions
about what educators feel education should be are nostalgic
'beat ups’ - commentators constructing as normative what
they think they remember from the past. The very awareness
that the language of management and that of education are
distinct, however, confirms the reality of an educator
discourse. At bottom, Reid's analysis reveals a preference for
public, rather than private, funding of educational activities.
This, when viewed from an entrepreneurial perspective, can
lead to the domination of educational activities by producer
interests such as teachers, education academics and
bureaucrats over the more diffuse consumer interests.
As Harrison (1996, p.5) notes:
The exercise of public authority in an industry affects the distribution of wealth between producers and consumers. In the
156
political battle for the use of public authority, producer groups are favoured. Concentrated producer interests, often already organized, will tend to dominate diffuse consumer interests….In practice educational decisions are dominated by public education producer interests, and consumer desires are neglected. Change takes place only if producer interests do not object too much and changes that benefit producer interests are favoured.
Educators can acquire an admiration for a system that tends
to focus on political action rather than improved services as a
way to enhance producer benefits (Lieberman, 1993: p.273).
It retains appeal to many educators because it seemingly
enhances their own prestige. By reducing the emphasis on
client service, however, it may have long-term disadvantages
for organizational development and renewal.
7.4. Transaction Costs
One feature of postmodern organizations is the more global
and internationally inter-reliant nature of their business
transactions. Casson (1993, p.38) indicates that a good deal
of entrepreneurial effort in market economies is involved in
improving trading arrangements. This often involves
reducing transaction costs such as advertising, specifying
requirements, negotiating terms, transferring title, physical
exchange of goods or services, checking compliance and
sanctioning defaulters.
The issue of transaction costs is, however, another area of
contestation between the two discourses. From an
entrepreneurial perspective the reduction of transaction
157
costs is almost the prime area of managerial effectiveness.
Frequently though, from an educator perspective, such
reductions are seen as a serious threat to prestige or status.
For example, a staff meeting may be held to be an important
means of communication for little apparent cost. The real
cost of the meeting though, when one totals the salary of all
members of the meeting can be vast. A one-hour meeting of
twenty teachers who earn an average of $50 per hour gives a
cost of $1000 or around the price of a new computer. The
college could outfit two new computer labs every year if
weekly staff meetings were not held!
This results in a contestation over the nature of efficiency.
While ELT educators value efficiency, they see it in terms of
delivering sound educational experiences. Entrepreneurs on
the other hand view efficiency as maximising financial
benefits while minimising costs. For educators this can come
to be seen as a negative single-minded drive to cut costs at all
costs (Harrison, 1996: p.2). Educators, though, have a
tendency to allow hidden costs to develop, especially in the
soft areas of staff time allocated to non-revenue earning
activities. From an entrepreneurial perspective it is vital for
the financial success of private ELT colleges to be effective in
reducing these costs so as to minimise overall transaction
costs. The balance of reducing transactions costs while
maintaining educational quality is one of the most difficult for
the ELT manager to resolve.
158
7.5. Process vs People
Ironically Foucault’s fears of the productivity and efficiency
of instrumental-rational forms of organization, which Weber
also suggested were to be found in modern bureaucratic
organizations, now underpins much institutional educational
thought. Many educators place a high value on processes
rather than favoured individuals, and would agree with the
proposition that power and its distribution in modern
societies should not depend on the personal prestige or
prowess of individuals but rather should be exercised through
an impersonal administrative system that operates in
accordance with abstract rules. The mechanisms by which
these abstract rules are determined, though, is not brought
up and their possible unfairness is little examined (Sarup,
1988: p.77).
Determination of salary levels for teachers by qualifications
and years of experience, for example, does not stand up to
performance management best practice. The highly
intangible nature of teaching has led to a certain level of
assumption among teachers that the difficulties involved in
assessing performance means that no performance
measurement can take place. From the entrepreneurial
perspective however, some teachers are clearly of greater
value to the organization than others for an array of personal
and professional reasons.
159
At present such clashes tend to be resolved at the minimalist
legal level. Few international ELT colleges in Australia have
successful strategies to reward staff financially for their
success or to implement pay regimes that differ from the
usual award scales and those that do typically simply pay less
than the required minimum award wage – hardly a strategy
to endear the entrepreneur to the educator! Over time
however it is possible that some ELT organizations in
Australia may look to develop different incentive strategies to
attract and keep certain kinds of ELT educators. There is
little doubt that many young dynamic teachers would be
attracted to an organization that had other financial
incentives besides years of service and qualifications
acquired.
7.6. Commonalities
While there are a range of conflicting notions between the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator, it may
also be possible to find commonalities or areas of shared
values between the two. These commonalities are likely to be
fruitful avenues in the process of reconciliation of discoursal
tensions.
For different reasons both ELT educators and entrepreneurs
are familiar with, and tend to support the idea of, integration
and the notion that the whole is more than the sum of the
parts. ELT educators are used to ideas of humanism in
education, educating the whole person and not separating
160
affective and cognitive activities. ELT has a strong research
tradition of valuing authenticity in the language classroom
and valuing the contextualization of learning content.
Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are also likely to regard
holistic thinking as important, as a focus on the organization
as a dynamic whole is an important notion in entrepreneurial
thinking.
An emphasis on integration of all organizational activities,
from finance to marketing to education, therefore, should be
a core value that has appeal to entrepreneurs and educators.
Effective outcomes are more likely for ELT colleges that have
a culture of responsibility for overall success rather than of
being commissioned for one specific task. The sense of
belonging and participation that springs from a focus on
integration should assist both profitability and educational
quality, satisfying both entrepreneurial and educational
prerogatives.
Collaboration may be another factor that is capable of
appealing to, and sharing meanings across, the two
discourses. From an entrepreneurial point of view greater
collaboration has obvious appeal in the savings to costs of
duplicated effort and the greater likelihood of successful
financial outcomes if all staff are cooperating. Hargreaves
(1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures of collaboration in
education seeing collaboration as one of the most promising
devices for assisting in principles of action, planning, culture,
development, organization and research. Collaborative work
161
cultures provide moral support, strengthen the resolve of
organizational members and contribute to improvements in
efficiency through a reduction or elimination of duplication
and redundancy. Again ELT has a tradition of classroom
collaboration and group dynamics, reflected in such texts as
Classroom Dynamics (Hadfield, 1992). Hadfield notes that a
successful group dynamic is a vital element in the
learning/teaching process. She reflects upon her own
experience, shared by many in ELT, of two contrasting
classes. One, a group of affluent, well-educated Europeans in
a well-resourced and well-equipped ELT department in the
UK using an enjoyable and lively textbook; the other a group
of Tibetans in an unheated room without electricity in the
middle of a -20oC Tibetan winter using dog-eared, badly
stencilled copies of dry TOEFL preparation materials. The
experience with the European group was awful while that
with the Tibetans was one of the most successful and
rewarding of her ELT career. The contrast was due to the
group dynamics and greater sense among the group of
collaboration (Hadfield, 1992, pp.9-10).
A third commonality may be a focus on the client. Notions of
student-centred learning in ELT have been important since
work on the development of communicative ELT course
programs began in the 1970s. In entrepreneurial thinking
focusing on client and customer care as a primary business
advantage has always been a fundamental idea in marketing
and general management.
162
Each of these three areas is discussed more fully in Chapter
13 The Culture of Work Organizations and Chapter 14 The
Culture of International ELT Colleges. For now the simple
model of these commonalities and clashes in Figure 7.1 may
aid the discussion of discoursal contestation and possible
resolution in the following chapter.
163
Figure 7.1ELT educator values and entrepreneurial values
IdealDirection
Focus on Client Service
Focus on Collaboration
Focus on Integration
Other Stakehold
ers
Other Stakehold
ers
Staff
Staff
Management
Management
164
7.7. Conclusion
This chapter examined some of the contestations between the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator. The
main contestations examined were the respective view of
organizations including the competing notions of modern and
postmodern organizational structure, the differing
perspectives on the commodification of education, the
divergent understanding of transaction costs, the varying
orientation towards people and processes within
organizations. As well as indicating some of the general
contestations between the two discourses this chapter has
briefly foreshadowed discussion of some areas of
commonality between the discourses that may provide some
means of functional resolution for an ELT manager.
The following chapter discusses some of the contestation of
the two discourses in particular institutions and some of the
practical implications of these contestations.
165
C h a p t e r 8
THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE ENTREPRENEUR: INSTITUTIONALISATION
8.1. Introduction
This chapter briefly describes the institutionalisation of the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in
international ELT colleges, and discusses their manifestations
as ideological-discursive formations. It furthers the discussion
of the previous three chapters through an examination of
some of the actual conflicts of the discourses and their values
at particular institutions.
This chapter argues that the IDFs of both the entrepreneur
and the ELT educator are institutionalised in international
ELT colleges. Each IDF is clearly dominant in particular
zones of activity so that areas of college life, such as
curriculum and timetabling, tend to favour the ELT educator
view of operations, those of finance and marketing those of
the entrepreneur. There are also a number of clearly
contested zones. Three specific areas of contestations at the
institutional level are discussed in the following sections.
Each of these institutional contestations is linked to one of
the three areas of integration, collaboration and client service
discussed in the management model in Chapter 7 above. The
contestations reviewed here are:
166
1. Course selection and development (integration)
2. The management of staff and the allocation of
resources (collaboration)
3. The recruitment and placement of students and the
certification of student achievement (client service)
The value of the model in assisting in the resolution of
discoursal tensions is then briefly examined. This chapter is
illustrative and further discussion of institutional
contestations occurs in the examination of the four climate
dimensions of ELT organizations in subsequent chapters of
the study.
8.2. Institutions and IDFs
Reconciliation between entrepreneurial and educational
imperatives needs to be found by managers at international
ELT colleges if they are to thrive. Yet despite this need, the
many areas of antagonism between an entrepreneurial and
an educational view of the world manifest themselves as
contestations at the institutional level. Before discussing
these contestations in detail, however, a brief overview of the
nature and construction of ideological-discursive formations
is required.
International ELT colleges, like all such social institutions,
involve significant groups of subjects who differ in their
ideologies. It was noted in Chapter 5 Discourse and
Discourse Analysis that typically one group holds dominant
167
power in an organization and that the way that it represents
reality, its ideological-discursive formation (IDF), becomes
dominant. This IDF then becomes naturalised, and the
premises and practices of the dominant IDF are taken to be
the natural ways of acting, talking and thinking. New
members become inculcated into the IDF of their situation
and act to reflect and reproduce that IDF through their
discourse and their practices.
At the institutional level of international ELT colleges the
notion of a single dominant IDF is not completely accurate.
Neither the discourse of the entrepreneur nor of the ELT
educator completely prevails. ELT managers interviewed in
this study regard the situation within their own institutions
more in terms of zones. In certain areas and activities of the
college, entrepreneurial values hold sway. In other areas, the
values of the ELT educator are to the fore. To the extent that
owners and financial controllers lean more to the values of
the discourse of the entrepreneur, the corresponding IDF had
more influence and power over the institution than those of
the ELT educator in contested areas. However to the extent
that the core revenue earning service of the college is ELT,
its corresponding IDF retains influence.
When conflict occurs between competing discourses,
language can be used by a dominant group to suppress
articulations of conflict that are against their interests and to
frame ideological struggle. Where struggle is framed in the
‘talk’ of the dominators, it is difficult for the weak to regain
168
the momentum. ELT managers with a sense of powerlessness
come to believe in the ‘right’ of an ‘employer’ to overrule an
‘employee’. Thus:
Ultimately if owners don’t like you they can always find a reason to get rid of you. They don’t even have to say it…you’re always aware that your job depends on them.
Angela, Director of Studies, College B, 1996And
You have to adopt their point of view to a large extent because that is what you’re paid to do. Sometimes I’ve got to persuade them that what they want might ultimately damage the college but there are a lot of grey areas.
Peter, Director of Studies, College C, 1996
In response, the expression of ELT discoursal values falls
back on the power of the regulator. Thus:
They’ll [the owners] only listen to things we have to do for the inspectors.
Elliot, Senior Teacher, College C, 1996
All ELT managers interviewed accepted the profit rationale of
their colleges and that ultimately it is the bottom line that
counts. Their vacillation as to the extent of their
responsibility for creating and maintaining this profit though,
suggests that the resolution of entrepreneurial and educator
values is elusive.
8.3. Course Selection and Development
The selection and development of particular courses is an
important area of overlap between IDF zones. Owners,
169
marketing staff, and others in contact with educational
agents and frontline trends affecting the organization, may
often discover opportunities for the college. The ELT
management however, may also see the potential difficulties
and pitfalls of branching into new course areas that require
additional resources and expertise beyond the capacity of the
institution.
For example at College B, after several marketing trips to
South Korea the Managing Director was firmly of the belief
that an English for High Schools course would attract
students and quickly realise a substantial profit for the
college. The Director of Studies of English was aware of this
enthusiasm, but tried to dissuade the Managing Director
because of the difficulties of hiring high school trained
teachers, having to acquire large numbers of suitable texts,
and the problems of attracting older students to a corporate
look college that would have ‘youngsters’ bouncing
basketballs in the corridors. The Managing Director looked
ahead and saw the possible benefits, the ELT manager the
costs. Ultimately the course did take place and realise a small
profit although the difficulties foreseen by the ELT manager
did all occur.
An understanding of what occurs in the classroom, and the
exact nature of student satisfaction while learning English,
frequently mystify marketing managers, entrepreneurs,
owners and other non-ELT managers working in colleges that
do not place any emphasis on integration. In only one of the
170
colleges examined here had the financial owners of the
college any background in English language teaching. For
most, actual operations of their core service were a slightly
mysterious activity about which they understood very little.
As a consequence, ELT managers usually experience little
interference in areas such as curriculum, choice of materials,
professional qualifications of staff and other ‘educational’
features of life at the college.
This ignorance of the nature of the activity however, has
advantages and disadvantages. Often the limited
understanding leads to inappropriate decisions on the part of
owners. At College C, for example, students who had the
same native language as the owner of the college had their
complaints heard more readily than other language groups.
Because they tended to be younger and more likely to be
progressing to further study in Australia, the owner did not
realise that some of the complaints, when acted upon, would
alienate students from other countries at the college. The
owner recommended getting rid of excursions from the
college timetable, but the effect of this was to lead to a
transfer of older (and higher yielding) working holiday
students from the college. This led to a greater concentration
of students of one nationality there, and ultimately an
increase in the problem of attracting students, because the
college had come to be seen as dominated by a single student
nationality group.
171
Course selection and development is closely concerned with
price and return on investment. From an entrepreneurial
perspective courses have to be evaluated with regard to their
profit making potential. ELT managers, on the other hand,
may look to the ‘prestige’ benefits of certain courses, without
true regard to their costs, and ignore less prestigious ones.
The Director of Studies at College D, for example, argued
against offering courses to beginner and elementary level
students, as these were not ‘academic’ courses. Without such
courses though, it became very difficult to achieve sufficient
numbers of students to run a profitable language centre.
There is a tendency among more academically inclined ELT
managers to view students’ primary reason for studying
English as being in order to do other courses, rather than as
a stand-alone life skill or interest. For many of the students in
international ELT colleges in Australia however, English and
social activities are their primary motivation to be in
Australia. Even much of the vocational education sector in
private colleges is, in effect, running English language
content courses for students whose main interest is to
improve their linguistic, rather than their vocational or
academic, skills. Similarly, popular courses, such as holiday
courses that combine English language learning with sports
or social activities, are frequently derided by ELT
professionals, despite their obvious attraction to students and
their profitability to the college.
172
Integration was identified in the previous chapter as being a
significant managerial tool for resolving clashes of values that
are likely to impact upon organizational performance in ELT.
A management emphasis on linking teaching, administration
and marketing so that they reinforce each other should lessen
the possibilities of poor decisions being made with regard to
course selection and development. Such integration needs to
be kept in-awareness and continuously reinforced at all levels
to prevent a drift to balkanisation. Integration is an ongoing
process, not a one-off event. Effective integration is time
consuming and involves a lot of reflection as well as a great
deal of listening and communication.
Integration of aims and activities should be an important goal
in international ELT colleges. The attempt to retain control
over familiar areas of the organizational landscape and to pay
insufficient attention to areas that are unknown is a trap for
unwary managers. An emphasis on integration by ELT
managers can allow decisions on course selection and
development to be taken with consideration of effects for all
areas of the college. Considerations of opportunity cost, or
what the college loses by not offering the course, as well as
the impact of new course offerings on existing courses,
should be taken into account. Some recognition needs to be
made that values inculcated within the discourse of the
entrepreneur look towards the possible opportunities and
minimise the potential pitfalls, while those within the
173
discourse of the educator may more accurately perceive the
drawbacks in new offerings.
Responsible ELT managers also have to examine courses
impartially. Premium courses that carry prestige have to be
carefully considered from a financial as well as an
educational view. Less prestigious courses and opportunities
have to be considered in order for the college to maximise its
financial viability. Effective communication of the benefits
and costs, the advantages and disadvantages of courses and
course structure must be transmitted across marketing,
administration and education areas. Decisions need to be
made with a sound regard to all three zones.
8.4. The Management of Staff and the Allocation of
Resources
Integration is focused primarily on work activities and tasks
across the organization. An important cultural concept that
may assist in the development of integration is an emphasis
on collaboration. The creation of the sense that all in the
organization are collaborators pulling together for a common
purpose is linked to, and grows from, an integrated approach
to organizational activities. Collaboration focuses on the
people within the organization and their spirit of cooperation
and common purpose.
The recruitment of teachers is frequently an area of
contestation within international ELT colleges, and
174
management difficulties occur because of competition for
‘scarce’ positions arising from poor recruitment strategies.
Because of the structure of payment awards, it is vital for
cost control to have as many teachers as possible on the
lowest salary ‘steps’ from an entrepreneurial perspective.
This means that young, inexperienced teachers are desirable
from a profit maximisation point of view. Because salaries
rise quite rapidly with years of service, there is also an
entrepreneurial imperative to increase staff turnover. In
order to facilitate staff turnover, it is important to have as
many teachers as possible on casual or temporary contracts
rather than in permanent full-time positions.
Each of these points is difficult to support for an ELT
educator. The presuppositions of most educators would be
that: experience is a vital factor in good teaching, that rapid
turnover is bad for an educational institution and for
students, and that job security increases the work
performance of teachers, both in the classroom and in the
creation of educational resources for the college. Once again
resolution of the entrepreneurial and the educational is
needed.
Lynn (1996; p 86) points out this potential contradiction of
ELT management. ELT managers often have to confront
situations which sit uneasily with the warm relaxed
atmosphere of the ELT classroom, one of which is the conflict
between caring for staff needs and desires while also facing
175
business realities. This conflict is shown in some ELT
manager responses to the Asian crisis of 1997 and 1998:
Suddenly I was asked to choose to fire about a quarter of the staff. Even though legally they were on casual pay there’s still a kind of expectation that work is going to continue. The owners just seemed to be completely ruthless about it.
Anna, Director of Studies, College D, 1999
The hardest part of the job is when you have to get rid of good teachers because student numbers are down. Even though teachers are on casual contracts there is still a kind of feeling that you are responsible to keep them employed. I hate it!
Sam, Director of Studies, College A, 1999
Ongoing professional development of staff is also difficult in a
high turnover environment where little trust is usually
developed between organization and teachers. Financial
realities can also cause bad publicity for a college especially
when hard-working or particularly loyal staff lose their
positions. Danni, for example, returned to College B after an
overseas trip but found that there was no position available
for her, despite several years of committed work for the
college, and a ‘word of mouth’ promise that a position would
be available. The Managing Director was going to Spain on a
student recruitment mission at about the same time and
bringing his wife along as a ‘consultant’; whatever the real
merits of the situation were, Danni became a persistent critic
of the college in her subsequent position at another college.
176
Obviously staff recruitment and management issues pose
special problems in the development of a collaborative work
culture. ELT managers who can maximise collaboration are
likely to be among the most successful. Perhaps the most
critical skill in this area is to be able to hire appropriately.
Colleges need to carefully analyse each teacher and staff
member’s individual situation before employment is offered
and be wary of making commitments that may not be able to
be honoured.
ELT managers need to have a range of teachers with varying
time frames of employment expectation. ELT managers at
each of the four colleges stressed that at interviews they
were most interested in professional skills of the applicant
and rarely probed expectations of employment. This is likely
to lead to a greater number of staff wanting full-time
employment than can be reasonably offered. Alternatives
such as hiring teachers from the UK or Ireland on working
holiday visas, for example, who are only allowed to work for
three months with one employer, are often not considered.
Several ELT managers interviewed saw this time restriction
as a serious disadvantage and would not offer positions to
such candidates. The experience at College E, however, was
that they were often extremely energising for longer term
staff, thankful for the opportunity for a short-term
professional position abroad and were grateful for a ‘short-
term’ security that was as valuable for them as full-time
employment would be in other cases. From the
177
entrepreneurial point of view such teachers provided a buffer
in case student numbers declined.
Offering development opportunities to teaching staff with an
expectation that employment with the college is a phase,
rather than an ongoing certainty can also improve a sense of
collaboration without a continuing obligation of employment.
A recognition by ELT managers that ‘none of us is here
forever’ and a focus on making staff more employable for
their ‘next’ position can also assist in developing a
collaborative culture and prevent a climate of fear and
uncertainty developing. Nevertheless, staffing issues are a
particularly difficult area of ELT management and a range of
contesting values in personnel management have to be
resolved if the college is to succeed.
Resource allocation is another common area of dispute in
many international ELT colleges. At College A, for example,
the Director of Studies strongly argued for the acquisition of
new learning materials such as graded readers for the college
library. The college owners, however, decided to use
available funds to convert one room at the college into a gym.
Feedback from students and agents about the new gym
facility was extremely encouraging. For the DoS however, it
seemed a symbol of the dominance of the entrepreneurial as
compared to the educational value system at her college. In
her view, despite positive feedback from important
stakeholders, it was a decision that disempowered teaching
staff and their commitment to educational quality. The large
178
numbers of students who came to use the gym and informed
the DOS about the enjoyment that they found there and how
much it added to the college did present some challenge to
the DOS. Interestingly one of the chief reasons that the
English students expressed enjoyment at the gym was that it
was a place in the college where they could ‘hang around’
and meet other students and talk, whereas the more
educational facilities such as the computer rooms and library
were ‘silent places’ where speaking and practising oral
English were not really encouraged.
ELT managers see the allocation of resources within their
colleges as a significant and frequent point of contention with
other managers and owners. In general marketing activities
seem to attract a large share of discretionary expenditure. At
College D, for example, funds for coursebooks and other
teaching materials were difficult to obtain beyond those
mandated for the initial inspection and accreditation of the
college.
Spreading awareness of financial constraints and
encouraging collaborative solutions to them, however, can
actually lead to better outcomes. For example, in most
international ELT colleges students undertake social
activities as part of their studies. One popular activity in the
Sydney area is class picnics or BBQs. It would seem that if
the college pays for all the food and provides all the catering
then the students will be grateful and the event will be a
success. Often however, in these circumstances a
179
customer/provider relationship is set up, so that if the food is
not suitable, is too hot or too cold, then there is cause for
complaint despite its ‘free’ provision. At College B, for
example, a group of students was taken horse riding to the
Blue Mountains area near Sydney and lunch was included.
The lunch, a typical Australian country fare of sausages, salad
and bread was not suited for many of the East Asian students
who felt 'cheated’ even though it had been provided as an
extra.
On the other hand where the college pays little or no amount
for the picnic students can tend to take ownership of the
event. As a result of ELT manager reports of these and
similar experiences, at College E the students were
responsible for financing and menu selection at some of the
college’s events. These activities were always very successful
and international lunches, for example, where students all
brought food from their country and shared the food in picnic
settings were features of college life. Because the students
had ownership of the events and because they were forced to
contribute they got far more out of their participation and the
events themselves were more rewarding for all concerned.
This type of financial constraint can often bring valuable
pedagogic outcomes as well. Thus in the above example,
because the students have all prepared and brought food
from home there is a 'real' communication gap that allows
students of different nationalities to try each others foods and
explain how various items are made and when they are
180
typically eaten. Unlike the simulated language gaps of
English classes this allows authentic communication in a real
environment. As a teacher it is easy to see that far more is
learned on occasions such as these than in passive classroom
environments.
Chapter 14 The Culture of International ELT Colleges notes
that collaboration involves risk on the part of the ELT
manager. Open communication in times of uncertainty such
as downturns in student numbers leaves ELT managers
emotionally exposed. The more that ELT managers work to
have staff collaborating, though, the more likely it is that staff
will understand the reasons behind hard decisions and will
assist in their implementation. Like integration strategies,
collaboration is a very time-consuming area of management.
Learning how to get staff to work together, to share lessons
and ideas, to respect difference and enjoy their diversity are
significant management skills. Fortunately they are ones that
ELT managers who have been successful teachers should
already have some aptitude for.
8.5. The Recruitment, Placement and Certification of
Students
Collaboration is an important goal for inter-staff relations.
Collaborative work cultures in ELT colleges are likely to
encourage the third area of advantage for ELT colleges from
the model in Chapter 7 - the development and promotion of a
181
client service ethic – ensuring the college is highly responsive
to and caring of its clients.
Contestations about the exact nature of client service are a
feature of ELT colleges and strategies of student recruitment
and placement reflect this. It is in the interests of the ELT
professionals in a college to have students who have the
greatest chance of learning success, who are keen and
committed learners, who are financially secure, who have no
intention of breaking any laws or violating visa conditions and
who plan to come to all classes. From an entrepreneurial
point of view however, all course fees are equal and in many
cases ‘bad’ students can actually be a much higher yielding
financial ‘resource’ because of their need to repeat courses,
to stay a longer time in the college before attaining required
certification and, in the case of students who are frequently
absent, make minimal use of services to which they are
entitled.
At College D, for example, the DOS was under significant
pressure to enrol students to attain a sufficient number of
students to make the college financially viable. Clashes arose
over students who were too weak for particular courses such
as IELTS preparation classes and Academic English classes.
With the enrolment of such ‘undesirable’ students
entrepreneurial imperatives were temporarily satisfied but
longer-term problems were created.
182
Such clashes can lead ELT managers to feel that they have
little control over the acquisition of students.
You kind of drift along with the ocean currents. You know… DIMA changed the laws for China today – let’s get more Chinese. Oh the Japanese economy’s in recession less Japanese next month. Riots in Jakarta mean a heap more Indonesians coming even though none of them really want to study. You simply can’t control or plan anything. I just leave it to the Director to worry about that kind of stuff. I just deal with the students once they arrive…
Angela, Director of Studies, College B, 1999and
I used to think there was a science behind it but its all just gossip and hearsay. Max (a Thai agent) speaks to the owners for 10 minutes and suddenly next week 30 Thais turn up at the college. You can’t make any real decisions.
Peter, Director of Studies, College C, 1999
A feeling of powerlessness in the above comments and others
like them suggests entrepreneurial values frequently override
educator ones in international ELT colleges. In such cases
ELT managers become reactive, become implementers of
decisions rather than partners in them. It remains unclear to
what extent this is self imposed – a kind of avoidance strategy
of being responsible for the consequences of the hard
decisions, by simply blaming them on those ‘above’.
Class size is another frequent area of contestation. At its
crudest level there would appear to be a tension between a
small number of large classes which increases profitability
and decreases student satisfaction and a large number of
small classes which has the reverse effect. The relationship is
not exactly linear though:
183
One of the most surprising things was how little we were affected by the Asian crisis. At the time we reduced the number of teachers but we kept on getting enrolments. This meant that most of our classes were full to overflowing. Far from making the students discontinue most of them re-enrolled – it was almost as if they liked the crowding.
Brian, Senior Teacher, College C, 1999
This was also the case at College E where, despite frequent
overcrowding, enrolments were barely affected during this
time. At College E, which would have had one of the largest
class sizes in Sydney, the re-enrolment rate was superior to
all other colleges investigated. Both College A and College B
which had limited class sizes and promoted this as a feature
of their colleges subsequently had to introduce price
incentives for re-enrolment; indicating that small class sizes
are by no means a critical factor in student choice of
international ELT college.
Perhaps the social motivations for students learning English
in Australia – the need to meet friends and have a wide range
of social contacts – are at least as important to many students
as their gains in English language proficiency. Students may
judge their short-term gains in friends and social life as more
significant than the long-term outcome of their improving
English. Also because students are living in an English
speaking country, their English proficiency is increasing ‘by
default’ however effective or ineffective their formal tuition.
It is up to ELT management to understand their clients’
184
needs and wants well enough to make appropriate decisions
in this area.
The tension in all international ELT colleges about
appropriate class size also relates to the physical size of
students in classrooms:
It didn’t matter when we had 18 or 20 young East Asian students in one class but I’ve got a class now that has 12 guys from East Europe in it as well as six Japanese and Koreans. The great big sweaty boys from Slovakia and Poland fill the room and then some – it really makes the class seem overcrowded.
Kate, Teacher, College E, 1998
Certification of student achievement is another area of
contestation. Clashes in this area go to the heart of the
differing values of the entrepreneur and the educator. What
to the entrepreneur can be only a grade on a piece of paper
can to the educator appear to be fraud bordering on criminal
behaviour. A growing trend for internal certification at
international ELT colleges that allow progression to further
education in vocational and university courses has increased
contestation in this area. Visa requirements for full-time
students mean that those whose attendance falls below 80%
have to be reported to the DIMA. In such cases it is usual to
cancel the student’s visa. Colleges with high absentee rates
may also become somewhat suspect in official eyes. Skilful
resolution in this area is a primary concern of effective ELT
managers.
All ELT managers in this study indicated that pressure from
students, agents and other managers in the college with
185
regard to the issuance of student documentation about
attendance and achievement were a significant area of
pressure in their jobs. Client service should never extend to
manipulation of exit documents, but industry gossip would
suggest that such practices occur at a number of colleges.
Advance warning and effective counselling systems would
seem to be the solution in this area. Many students with the
cheerful abandon of the teenager do not realise the
consequences of skipping class until it is too late. Appropriate
warnings before the damage is done are frequently sufficient
to prevent problems occurring.
8.6. Conclusion
This chapter has shown that the IDFs of the entrepreneur and
the ELT educator are both institutionalised in international
ELT colleges. Commonly each IDF dominates in particular
zones. This chapter argues, however, that there are a number
of contested zones within the institutions. Some of these are
course selection and development, the management of staff
and the allocation of resources, the recruitment and
placement of students and the certification of student
achievement.
Tensions between the IDFs are apparent in these aspects of
ELT college life. Managers in ELT organizations have to find
resolutions to these value clashes in order for their ELT
organizations to satisfy both their entrepreneurial and their
educational responsibilities. This means that the discourses
186
of the ELT educator and of the entrepreneur coexist in
international ELT colleges. There is a tendency for those in
administrative and managerial functions of the college to
identify more with the discourse of the entrepreneur and for
those involved on the teaching side of operations to identify
more with the values of the discourse of the ELT educator.
This leads to activities becoming compartmentalised. The
crucial dilemma for ELT managers lies in finding optimal
resolutions to these value clashes. The model of integration,
collaboration and client service has been tentatively
suggested as one possible approach to a resolution of such
discoursal value clashes.
This chapter has only initiated the discussion of the
contestations that occur in the institutionalisation of
entrepreneurial and ELT educator discourses. The
contestations are spread over the range of organizational
dimensions. These contestations are played out in the
evolution of each organization’s structure, milieu, ecology
and culture. The following chapters provide brief theoretical
backgrounds to each of these climatic dimensions before
demonstrating the range of management dilemmas faced by
ELT managers in designing solutions. It is to the
organizational climate dimension of structure of international
ELT colleges that this discussion now turns.
187
C h a p t e r 9
THE STRUCTURE OF WORK ORGANIZATIONS
9.1. Introduction
The previous four chapters have analysed the discourses of
the entrepreneur and the ELT educator and discussed some
of the contestations that exist within international ELT
colleges. This chapter examines the structure of work
organizations and its relationship to international ELT
colleges from a theoretical perspective, before comment in
the next chapter on organizational structure issues at
international ELT colleges in Australia.
This chapter defines the concept of organizational structure
and power distribution for the purposes of this analysis. It
then provides some theoretical background to the types of
structures that appear in educational organizations and in
international ELT colleges. It analyses these structures and
their suitability for promoting integration of management
activities, a strongly collaborative work culture and a clear
focus on client service. It explores the relationship between
organizational structure and other elements of the
organization’s climate and argues that informal structures
influenced by an organization’s culture, ecology and milieu
can be as significant as formal structures in the
188
understanding of organizational behaviour and in the analysis
of educational and entrepreneurial outcomes.
9.2. Organizational Structure
The study of organizational structure and configuration is a
broad field. The interest in the field stems primarily from the
belief that particular organizational structures are more
suitable than others for improving organizational outcomes.
Frequently formal roles within organizational structures are
depicted on organizational charts or organigrams. Formal
structures such as departments, teams and divisions and
their hierarchical arrangement are obviously of concern to
managers, but informal structures, such as friendship groups,
people working in close proximity, project teams and even
smokers outside the door of the building also contribute in
important ways to the overall system. Both informal and
formal groupings are powerful in shaping organizational
behaviour. An examination of an organization’s structure,
therefore, has to investigate the formal and informal roles
and relationships between members of an organization and
how these affect task allocation, coordination of activities,
supervision and performance.
After an analysis of the literature in the field, Mintzberg
(1981, p.104 and 1983) found that, despite the vast array of
research into organizational structure, there is a convergence
in the descriptions leading to five clear and distinct
organizational configurations. These five configurations are
189
based on varying assemblies of the component parts of all
organizations. These parts are the strategic apex, the
operating core, the middle line of managers, the
technostructure and the support staff.
The strategic apex is the top management of an organization
– owners and executive managers. In international ELT
colleges the strategic apex usually involves the owners, the
Financial Controller and the Principal. The operating core
consists of the people who do the basic work of the
organization. In international ELT colleges the operating core
are generally the teachers and the reception and marketing
staff. The middle line is made up of managers, who are
intermediate between the strategic apex and the operating
core. These would include the Assistant Directors of Studies
and Senior Teachers as well as the Marketing Manager, the
Chief Bursar and the Registrar.
The technostructure and the support staff provide services to
the staff of the organization. The technostructure consists of
personnel who design systems concerned with the planning
and controlling of work. In many international ELT colleges
the primary role of the ELT Director of Studies lies in this
area, a further indication of the ambivalent nature of ELT
management at this level. The support staff, on the other
hand, provide services to the rest of the organization such as
copy assistants, computer network engineers, cleaners,
cafeteria employees and similar staff.
190
Using these categories Mintzberg derives five different kinds
of fundamental organizational configurations. These are: the
simple structure found in very small organizations such as
corner shops, the machine bureaucracy that would be
commonly found in manufacturing organizations, the
professional bureaucracy found in organizations that need
highly trained professionals in their operating cores, the
divisionalized form which tends to exist in organizations with
a number of parallel operating units with autonomy for the
middle line managers of each and, finally, the adhocracy
configuration, in which staff have to combine their efforts and
be coordinated primarily by mutual adjustment and where
line authority and similar distinctions tend to break down
(Mintzberg, 1981; p104).
International ELT colleges, because of their need for the
services of ELT professionals, tend to conform most closely to
Mintzberg’s professional bureaucracy configuration or to the
divisionalized form. The distinction largely depends on the
degree of autonomy of the ELT manager and whether their
primary responsibility is for overall performance, such as
revenue and profitability, or solely on execution of
operational tasks largely within the sphere of the educational
activities of the college.
While the adhocratic structure is difficult for management to
implement and maintain at the formal level, it may be the
most suitable to reinforce goals of integration, collaboration
and client focus for international ELT colleges. The following
191
chapter shows, however, that it also requires a degree of
commitment that makes it quite vulnerable to changes in
management.
There are a number of elements of structure in Mintzberg’s
(1981, p.104) descriptive framework that are relevant in the
description and differentiation of international ELT college
structures. One of the most significant is the degree of
formalization of procedures such as written job descriptions
and procedure manuals and the extent of compliance with
them. Procedures that are codified and standardized are
often referred to as bureaucratic while those that do not fit
this description are organic.
Another element is the nature and extent of control systems
in the organization combined with the sorts of communication
and liaison devices used to facilitate adjustments between
and within organizational units. The more centralized the
decision making the greater the likelihood that decisions are
made by managers in the traditional line management model.
In general, centralised structures tend to reinforce past
behaviours and favour bureaucratic procedures. More
decentralised structures may facilitate the assimilation of
new patterns and associations by encouraging experiments
on the edges of the organization (Nicolini & Meznar, 1995,
p.731) but may also experience problems with accountability
and record keeping.
192
The third significant element is the ability of the structure to
focus on, and respond to, the external environment most
especially changing market conditions and the organization’s
clients.
9.3. Power distribution
The control system reflects the delegation and dispersal of
power in and around the organization and is a significant
indicator of an organization’s structure. Handy has identified
four main configurations of power distributions within
organizations based on the way tasks and work roles are
assigned. These four configurations are: power, role, task and
person (see Handy, 1993 for a complete discussion of these
configurations).
Power, however, is not a unitary concept. Four principal ways
that power may be obtained and observed are resource
power, position power, expert power and personal power.
Resource power is the power obtained by control of resources
such as money, guns, information, or brute physical strength.
Position power is the power that comes from occupying a
position or a formal role in an institution or society. Expert
power is the power obtained and exercised by possessing
knowledge, expertise or wisdom while personal power is the
power that can be obtained and exercised through charisma
or strength of personality (for a more complete discussion in
this area see Aitken & Handy, 1986).
193
In most organizations resource power and position power are
given from above or outside. The response to the exercise of
these kinds of power is compliance - those in power may need
to check that their ‘orders’ have been ‘carried out’. Expert
power and personal power, on the other hand, are given from
underneath, from the people over whom that power may be
exercised. The response to this type of power is identification,
which obviates the need for checking or the exercise of
formal authority.
The power configuration can be visualised as a web with rays
of power and influence spreading out from a central powerful
source. It is the kind of power distribution system that would
be expected to be found in entrepreneurial organizations that
depend on a central power source such as an owner or a
strong charismatic leader with strongly centralised decision-
making. Bureaucratic procedures become important in such a
configuration because most decisions rest with one, or a
small number of, powerful individuals. It largely depends on
the resource power of the source. A diagrammatic description
of a power structure is given in Figure 9.1.
194
Figure 9.1. The Power Configuration
The power configuration is favoured by many with an
entrepreneurial outlook. At its best it is a benevolent
dictatorship with an efficient allocation of resources,
providing the central powerful clique has a sound
understanding of the organization’s operations. At its worst a
power configuration can be an egotistical dictatorship with
resources allocated inefficiently because the central core has
a poor understanding or organizational requirements.
Handy’s second type of power distribution, the role
configuration, is synonymous with bureaucracy. It can be
depicted as a Greek temple with the pillars representing the
various functions or specialties of the organization that are
coordinated by a top band of senior management. In this
structure the role or job description is seen as more
important than the individual who fills it. It is the dominant
paradigm in many people's thinking about organizations and
Waterman, (1994) describes our society’s thinking on
organizational issues as still being "entombed in the
pyramid". In many larger organizations the pyramid defines
195
who you are and determines how much you get paid. There is
frequently a direct correlation between how many bodies sit
'below' you on the pyramid and the amount of your pay
cheque. This configuration largely depends upon position
power although positions in the hierarchy can be determined
by expert and person power. The role configuration is
illustrated in Figure 9.2.
Figure 9.2. The Role Configuration
The role configuration at its best provides predictability,
fairness, sound long term decision-making and high levels of
accountability and legal compliance. Because of the time lags
and distractions of bureaucracy however, organizational
purposes can be distracted by procedural issues and few
individuals feel responsibility for the overall health of the
organization.
The task configuration is more oriented towards the job or
project at hand than towards a formal hierarchy. It is usually
symbolised as a net or matrix. The whole emphasis in such a
structure is on getting the job done by bringing together the
196
appropriate people and resources and basing influence on
expert and personal power rather than on position or
resource power. The growing use of consultants and contract
workers in many Australian organizations reflects an
increasing preference for this type of organizational
structure. The task configuration is illustrated in Figure 9.3.
Figure 9.3. The Task Configuration
The task configuration is most likely to encourage and
strengthen a collaborative work culture in an organization.
When teams work cooperatively and communication between
task groups is good resource allocation is appropriate,
talented people are encouraged to develop, teams can learn
from mistakes and organizational members are more
motivated because there is little perceived coercion. However
if task groups conflict, resources can be allocated inefficiently
because of poor communication. The lack of dissent in task
groups can easily lead to groupthink and talented individuals
who lack appropriate teamwork abilities can be frustrated.
There can also be a lack of ultimate management
responsibility and accountability.
197
The person configuration is not found in many organizations
as it essentially subverts the organization’s needs to those of
the individual members. Control and management in person
structures is difficult, except by mutual consent, and the
organization is therefore subordinate to the individual. It is a
frequently expressed desire of many professionals to work in
organizations with person-oriented power distribution
systems and it has been argued that barristers' chambers and
some universities can be identified by this type of
configuration. A person structure can be represented
iconically as a cluster or galaxy of individual stars.
Figure 9.4. The Person Configuration
In an effective person configuration each member of the
organization would be likely to be highly motivated because
there was no coercion. Pride would be easy to create as
members would be doing exactly what they wanted with
resources provided by the organization and the organization
would be very innovative because members would be free to
experiment. On the other hand it is likely that such
organizations would quickly become balkanised with
198
everyone doing their own thing. There would be an overlap of
activities and functions due to a lack of coordination and the
lack of a common purpose would over time harm pride in the
organization. Without sufficient group encouragement the
organization would also tend to become inward looking and
conservative.
Handy contends that each of these configurations may be
appropriate and effective in particular circumstances, and it
is the suitability of the fit of the power distribution system to
its purposes, environment and stakeholder needs that is
significant rather than the classification of particular kinds of
power distribution as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
The combination of Mintzberg’s and Handy’s models have a
number of implications for the following sections on the
structure of educational organizations. These are that the
structure of the organization influences the patterns of work
within it, that the structure of the organization is closely
related to the control system and formal procedures within it,
that both the formal and informal structure of the
organization are significant and that there is an interplay
between the organization’s structure and its ability to focus
on clients and the market. In general, organizations that lean
towards power and role configurations favour centralised or
hierarchical decision-making processes, whereas those that
exhibit task and person configurations tend to favour more
collaborative decision-making. It is likely that power and task
configurations would have more rapid response times to
199
clients and markets due to their more effective liaison and
communication mechanisms while the role configuration is
likely to provide greater stability and accountability.
9.4. Describing Organizational Structures
Educational organizations vary across a number of structural
variables. These are the formalization of procedures, the
nature and extent of control systems including the delegation
and dispersal of power in the organization, their
communication and liaison devices and their ability to
respond to changing markets and client needs. Strong control
systems lead to formalization of procedures in all but the
smallest organizations. Both strongly controlled, centralised
organizations and collaborative decentralised ones however
can have a strong or weak external focus on the markets and
clients they serve. This leads to a simple matrix that can
assist in the description of organizational structures in
education generally and in international ELT colleges. The
horizontal axis indicates the extent of centralized
management control and the amount of formal procedures,
while the vertical axis indicates the level of external focus.
Each quadrant is labelled according to the most significant
feature of power dispersal that the organization’s structure
would display with that matrix combination.
200
Management Control and Formal Procedures
ClientFocus
Low(Organic)
-
High(Bureaucratic)
+
Low
-
I N S U L A T E D
[ P E R S O N ]
B U R E A U C R A T I C
[ R O L E ]
High
+
A D H O C R A T I C
[ T A S K ]
M A N A G E R I A L I ST
[ P O W E R ] Figure 9.5
The ELT Structure Matrix
While this study suggests that it is important to disperse
power and control and encourage collaborative work
cultures, it would seem likely that educational institutions
that have insulated structures would experience difficulties.
By having low internal control but also responding slowly to
environmental and consumer imperatives the institution
would quickly become directionless and ultimately be less
relevant to clients and the market.
Educational institutions have traditionally had quite
bureaucratic structures with high internal control
mechanisms that can optimise quality and provide stability.
Those with only a low level of response to clients and the
external environment may not exploit new opportunities and
markets with sufficient speed. In the 1980s the university,
201
TAFE and migrant education systems in Australia, for
example, despite possessing the necessary infrastructure and
expertise, did not use their advantages rapidly enough to
dominate the operation of the international ELT sector in
Australia, in part because of their bureaucratic structures.
This allowed privately owned colleges to move into the sector
and attract large numbers of fee-paying international
students. Most of these larger educational organizations in
Australia have made and are making significant changes in
their focus on client needs, but still see the need to maintain
significant management control and formal procedures. This
has led many such organizations to be more managerialist in
structure.
Like other educational organizations, most privately owned
international ELT colleges in Australia have either
bureaucratic or managerialist structures with a high
centralisation of power. A high level of internal control gives
the advantage of longer-term stability and perhaps higher
educational outcomes but increases bureaucracy and
response time. A managerialist structure provides a greater
focus on the client and better entrepreneurial outcomes.
Neither structure satisfactorily resolves the tensions of loose
coupling and the ongoing value clashes of educators and
entrepreneurs.
It may be possible for educational organizations to focus
closely on clients and external market factors without high
levels of manager control and excessive formal procedures
202
however. This quadrant of the matrix is closely aligned with
Mintzberg’s notion of the adhocracy and displays a task
configuration. An adhocratic structure uses mutual
adjustment as the key means of coordination and there is
little formalization of procedures and a high degree of trust.
Relationships among organizational members are multiplex
and an essentially organic system is in place. There is limited
planning but an acceptance that the organization has to
respond to change quickly. There are many liaison devices
and a selective decentralization of decision-making. Power is
distributed both by expert control and by mutual agreement.
9.5. The Relationship between Structure and
Organizational Climate
Different structures obviously influence the type of
interactions in organizations and the ability to understand
and design organizational configurations is an important
diagnostic tool for managers (Mintzberg, 1981 p.113).
International ELT colleges offer a highly intangible service,
part of the trend to an increasing proportion of economic
activities in advanced economies being services rather than
goods. Many of the elements of traditional organizational
structure, such as command and control or standardization,
are less suitable for ELT colleges because of the intangible
nature of their service and the fact that the quality depends
on many uncontrollable factors, an especially critical one
being the motivation and performance of the ELT teachers
203
and the make-up of and relationships between the students
themselves. As with most service industries, employees in
ELT colleges have a strong bearing on the outcome of the
service and so have to play an important role in management
systems and organizational structure.
The contested institutionalisation of the discourses of the
entrepreneur and the educator, discussed in Chapter 8, can
be partially explained through structural analysis. Myer and
Rowan (1978, p.79) suggested two decades ago that, in
educational organizations, instruction tends to be removed
from the control of the organizational structure both
bureaucratically and collegially. This leads to the idea of
educational organizations as "loosely coupled systems" with
the structure being disconnected from the work activity, and
the work activity disconnected from its effects. Educational
administrators often have little direct authority over
instructional work but generally make decisions about
support aspects such as scheduling, allocation of classes and
hiring. They describe the elaborate sets of formal rules that
were used to classify teachers and students, which may be
'self-evident' to insiders but be almost nonsensical to
outsiders. They suggest that there were significant
contradictions in performance and control systems in many
educational organizations. Thus:
documents of what teachers do are either non-existent or vacuous while documents that define persons as teachers are elaborately controlled
(Myer and Rowan, 1978: p.85)
204
On the same page they cite a study in the San Francisco Bay
area by Cohen and others that found that 77% of elementary
teachers agreed that personality characteristics were more
important for success in teaching than any particular
knowledge or professional skills. Yet the regulation of paper
qualifications remains standard procedure in almost all
educational organizations. ELT teachers with years of
overseas teaching experience, abundant enthusiasm, cross-
cultural skills and glowing references from former employers,
for example, would find it difficult to obtain employment
without the possession of a one month teaching certificate
that has, at best, only partial relevance to the daily tasks of
many in ELT.
In the large school, university and vocational systems there
may be important reasons for a continuation of this loose
coupling; there may be political imperatives to maintain
public confidence in the system or financial imperatives to
acquire sufficient resources. In the more entrepreneurial
world of international ELT colleges, however, this loose
coupling tends to lead to a range of conflicts unless strategies
are developed to overcome them.
The ecological features of a college can assist in the
development of a particular organizational structure
especially in the facilitation of informal communication. The
management of milieu can be important so that staff are
hired who value the type of structure the college wants to
205
develop. The organization’s culture is perhaps a prime
determinant of the success or failure of its structure. The
following chapter demonstrates that even where two colleges
have similar formal structures and operations the underlying
organizational culture and the informal structures it creates
can have a significant bearing on overall outcomes.
An emphasis on the three themes of integration, collaboration
and client service can provide a significant basis for
improvement of the organizational structure of an
international ELT college. An effective organizational
structure can also serve to reinforce these goals and help
resolve the competing values of the discourses of the
entrepreneur and the educator.
9.6. Conclusion
The basic function of an organization’s structure should be to
establish patterns of human interaction that accomplish
organizational tasks. It is difficult to select a single
configuration that is best suited to optimal organizational
outcomes across the whole range of work organizations and it
is likely that different configurations are best, depending on
other variables such as size and nature of work tasks.
This chapter has given a brief overview of some models of
organizational structure. It has examined Mintzberg’s
hypothesis of the five principle organizational configurations,
combined with Handy’s notion of power distribution across
206
organizations. It has looked at the notion of educational
organizations as being loosely coupled systems and examined
the combination of an organization’s internal control with its
external focus.
In the following chapter some linkages between these
configurations and educational and entrepreneurial
discourses is made. The discussion of the structures of
international ELT colleges examines the nature of the
configurations of the organizations under review and
diagnoses some of the conflicts and difficulties that beset
them due partly to structural dilemmas. It is then proposed
that the use of an adhocracy structure may be considered as
an effective organizational configuration for these colleges.
207
C h a p t e r 1 0
THE STRUCTURE OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES
10.1. Introduction
Educational organizations are often "loosely coupled systems"
with the structure being disconnected from the work activity,
and the work activity disconnected from its effects. Creating
greater links between administrative and teaching activities
and developing awareness of entrepreneurial and educational
goals can be assisted by managerial efforts to help minimise
the negative effects of this loose coupling. Bureaucratic and
managerialist structures are the default configurations in
ELT colleges but an adhocratic configuration that reinforces
collaboration between staff may be a more suitable structural
goal.
This chapter examines the structure of a number of
international ELT colleges and compares their configurations
to the theory discussed in the previous chapter. It also
describes some structural initiatives that took place at
College E and their effect on the climate of that college. The
chapter suggests that the adhocracy configuration may help
to reinforce goals of integration, collaboration and client
focus for colleges, although it requires a degree of
208
commitment that makes it vulnerable to changes in
management.
10.2. The Bureaucratic Structure in ELT Colleges
The bureaucratic structure was described in the previous
chapter as having relatively high levels of formal procedures
and internal control and relatively low focus on external
matters. Its advantages are the perpetuation of a stable
organization and strong accountability and legal compliance.
Because of the lower degree of external focus however such
organizations can be vulnerable to changes in market
conditions.
College B and College D both displayed many of the
structural features of bureaucratic organizations. College B
was originally part-owned by a large private Japanese
educational organization but in 1998 became fully Australian
owned. The college was initially required to raise the prestige
of the organization in Japan and give it an international
profile as well as to make a profit. Given this history of
external accountability there has been an emphasis on
written procedures at College B. There was also a deep sense
in the early development of the College that teachers were
separate from the management core of the organization.
At College B procedures were formalized and there were
written job descriptions and procedure manuals that staff
were expected to adhere to. All staff were expected to have
209
the minimum amount of formal training and knowledge
stipulated for their job and, in general, substantially
exceeded it. Hiring would generally proceed on formal
assumptions of qualifications and experience. Consequently
College B had the most qualified and experienced staff of the
ELT organizations reviewed in this study. The emphasis upon
quality of educational work also meant that the standard of
classwork at College B was very high. There was also a
scrupulous adherence to record keeping of student
attendance and performance.
Decision-making and control were centralized with the
General Manager of the organization ultimately responsible
for all significant managerial decisions and the ELT managers
primarily responsible for operational rather than strategic
matters. ELT managers played a more subordinate role as
gatherer of information and implementer of decisions. There
was little delegation of power downwards or outwards from
the General Manager except in areas of content expertise
such as curriculum or testing matters.
Like College B, College D had a bureaucratic structure.
Employees were expected to fulfil the duties outlined by their
role with little input into the organization either horizontally
or vertically away from this role. College D had an emphasis
on written procedures. The written job descriptions and
procedure manuals formed the basis of the management of
staff. Staff were expected to understand the procedures and
to adhere to items such as dress codes and rules of
210
fraternisation with students. In general procedures were
formalized and all staff had the minimum amount of formal
training and knowledge stipulated for their job although
there was a pressure to hire less experienced staff in order to
minimise costs. As part of a larger institute the ELT college
was initially designed to assist international students to
prepare for studies in its other courses.
It was expected that the ELT managers would be familiar
with all necessary components of running and administering
an ELT college, such as marketing, administration and
reporting requirements as well as those that fell into the
realm of educational matters. Because the institute had little
experience with international education there was a lack of
understanding of how to implement appropriate structure
and budgets for international ELT. Many procedures were
formalized with written job descriptions and procedure
manuals but development staff such as marketing staff were
not catered for.
The institute commenced operations on the assumption that
“if you build it they will come” but many of the subsequent
difficulties of the ELT operations stemmed from the
inappropriate structure with poor centralised decision
making.
Decision-making and control were centralized as far as ELT
operations and business college operations were concerned.
The failure of senior institute managers to fully understand
211
the potential for legal and financial difficulties in
international education ultimately led to organizational
failure. Indeed, subsequent to this study, College D changed
premises and ownership structure and after numerous
disputes between the top managers of the institute and the
new owner of the ELT college the college was closed and the
remaining students were transferred.
10.3. The Managerialist Structure in ELT Colleges
College C and College A both had more managerialist
configurations. At College C the college’s founders sold it to
the current owners in 1993. The current owners were a
syndicate of active and inactive partners. The inactive
partners had equity stakes but did not have any operational
control over the college. Because of this structure it was
imperative that College C be able to produce dividends each
year for its inactive partners/investors. This ownership
pattern also meant that College C had an emphasis on
written procedures.
The owners of College C were all from one particular ethnic
group. There could be a subversion of the typical ‘line
management’ pattern at College C by students from that
same ethnic group who had extra access to the top
management of the college. Jacques, in a series of studies in
the 1950s, found that in bureaucratic organizations where
there was a confusion of role boundaries or when the same
person fulfilled multiple roles, high levels of insecurity and
212
frustration resulted (see Jaques, 1951, 1956). The ELT
managers at College C indicated that while there was a clear
formal structure at College C, there were various escape
routes and diversions to this structure that led to
unwillingness by management employees to exercise
authority.
This matter was particularly significant in areas that were
typically under direct ELT manager control such as issues of
course content, student attendance records and student
performance certificates.
The marketing staff at College C were not salaried employees
but rather ‘consultants’ on small retainers and large
commissions. This had certain advantages for the
organization but led to problems of control and competition
among staff. Marketing staff, who were reluctant to ‘lose’
commissions, did not always adequately advise potential
students or implied commitments to potential students that
ELT managers found impossible to fulfil. A common problem
in this regard was assuring students with weak English that
they would be able to commence an IELTS exam preparation
class although subsequent testing by ELT staff revealed
unsuitably low levels of English for such a class.
Decision-making and control on financial matters were
centralized with the two active partners retaining authority in
these matters. ELT managers were seen as gatherers of
213
information and implementers of decisions. There was little
delegation of power except in day-to-day operational matters.
College A was also managerialist. It was originally a small
vocational college unit of a much larger English college. In
1992 the large English college began to accumulate debts
resulting from the changes to entry requirements for
students from the People’s Republic of China. This debt
problem led to the owner of the English college wishing to
file for bankruptcy. The three current owners of College A
discussed the pending closure of their organization with the
former owner. An agreement was made that they would
continue to operate the business college taking over all debts
owed by that division of the college and creating a new
business entity. This entity would lease premises and
equipment from the English college and share particular
administration facilities. Initially the three owners fulfilled all
the roles at the small college providing teaching, student
administration, marketing and financial administration of the
college. Due to fears of incurring debt, extra teaching staff
were only hired on casual weekly or monthly contracts.
The managerialist structure of the college grew out of these
early experiences. The three owners saw themselves as
survivors and builders of the organization that followed. As
soon as the college moved they commenced preparations for
an English language college. The senior ELT manager, who
would be a Director of Studies, was ultimately to become an
employee even though the owners would have preferred an
214
‘entrepreneurial’ risk-taking ELT manager to take an equity
role in the college as a fourth partner it proved extremely
difficult to find such a person. Because each of the owners
had of necessity made the crossover from teaching to an
entrepreneurial view of management they also expected that
their ELT manager would share their views.
All significant decisions were made by the owners but there
was also an informal expectation that people would not limit
themselves to their job description. For example, the ELT
Director of Studies was expected to take on the duties of the
Business Director of Studies, while the Business DOS was on
vacation. The formal written job descriptions and procedure
manuals that existed were largely the products of external
monitoring requirements and an array of more informal
expectations assisted in the maintenance of a strong client
focus. Such documents were occasionally referred to but it
was much more important for staff to be satisfying the
immediate requirements identified orally by the owner
managers than to be laboriously following the job description.
There was a limited performance appraisal system although
once again this was largely oral and informal.
The formal training and knowledge required for ELT
positions at College A were largely those set by external
monitoring authorities. There was a desire on the part of the
ELT managers to ensure personality fit for the organization
too. In general there was a perception among the managers
that those who had previously been comfortable working for
215
large bureaucratic organizations would not find the patterns
of work and organizational life at College A suitable.
Decision-making on minor matters was de-centralized and
staff were given to understand that they were expected to
take relevant decisions and solve disturbances without
constant recourse to senior management in such cases. There
were various communication and liaison devices although in
general these operated at the management level with
meetings between Directors of Studies and Owners and then
at the staff level with contacts between staff of different
divisions of the college. Such meetings and contacts were
primarily informal and oral and indeed there was a suspicion
of the procedures of formal minuted meetings.
10.4. The Management of Structure in ELT Colleges
Pickering (1999, p.5) has indicated some of the metaphors
commonly used to describe organizations in the management
literature such as machines, organisms, brains, culture,
political systems, psychic prisons, transformational flux and
domination instruments. A brief survey of ELT teachers
however, added a range of new metaphors to the list.
Teachers saw their respective colleges as: brothels,
Rottweilers, headless chickens, ivory towers, dinosaurs, The
Spanish Inquisition, warm baths, families, private armies,
jazz bands, tightropes, circuses and headless dinosaurs.
216
It would seem therefore that in ELT, in common with most
industries, the design and improvement of an organization’s
structure is an important management task. Organizational
structure however, is a contingent variable, which means that
a similar configuration may be successful in one college and
not in another. College D and College B, for example, both
leaned towards the bureaucratic configuration. It would seem
that despite the similar structures, however, there were
elements that made this configuration work more effectively
at College B than at College D. On the other hand College A
and College C were both configured similarly on
managerialist lines. Again though, there were other
organizational factors that suggest that this structure was
more effective at College A than at College C.
Charles (1993, p.11) suggests that international ELT colleges
require new structural metaphors by changing the traditional
hierarchical structure of such colleges to ‘fronted’
organigrams. In essence the organizational chart should be
turned on its side with teachers, administration and
marketing staff at the 'front' of the operation being
'producers' in a prime position to gain market intelligence
and senior managers and the technostructure being seen to
be in support roles ‘behind’. This parallels an emphasis on
client service as the focus of the organization’s activities
A significant drawback of the bureaucratic or managerialist
configuration for international ELT colleges is that managers
may see their organizations as consisting of jobs and roles
217
rather than an integration of activities matched with people
and skill sets. Favouring a clear assignment of responsibility
but limiting the capacity of people in organizations can
render ineffective many of an individual's greatest strengths
and exacerbate their weaknesses. An emphasis by managers
on an integrated organization, on the other hand, would
favour the development of an adhocratic configuration
The analysis of the above four colleges and research into
organizational structure suggested that the adhocracy
configuration may well be desirable structure for an
international ELT college. An adhocracy would allow the
organization to innovate in complex ways and to adapt well to
the fast-changing ELT environment. An adhocracy could draw
on the strengths of the bureaucracy in that it relies on
experts and professionals to get the bulk of its work done. It
should emphasise, however, the working together to improve
the current situation rather than the working apart to perfect
established skills. Rather than remain in the operating core
as in a professional bureaucracy, the experts need to be
dispersed throughout the organization.
Managers in the adhocracy have to see themselves as linkage
experts rather than controllers. They need to see
coordination and an encouragement of collaboration as their
primary functions and allow their control function to be
subsidiary. Research on school effectiveness shows that
teachers prefer task configurations that demonstrate
cooperative, collegial and collaborative structures with staff
218
working as a team with shared goals (McGaw, Piper, Banks
and Evans, 1993; p.1). Because teachers are the critical
element in the service delivered by ELT colleges it makes
sense to encourage such collaborative cultures and reinforce
them through the organization’s structure.
A clear focus on integration and collaboration, and the
development of an adhocratic structure, would stress that the
organization is a field of activity that encompasses a variety
of tasks, projects and services. It views the workplace as a
network of collaborative relationships rather than as a site
with people and systems located together (Field & Ford,
1995, pp 74-75, 81). An international ELT college based in
Australia therefore, needs to see its sphere of operations as
including the various cooperating institutions, the agents and
marketing teams, the homestay families and, up to a point,
the government regulators such as the Federal Department
of Immigration and the State Department of Education as
well as the relevant accrediting bodies such as NEAS and
industry bodies such as the EA, ACPET and Trust Fund
providers.
There are also limitations to the adhocratic structure
however. There is a constant need for hands on management
to retain an adhocratic configuration and there is a serious
time cost in raising awareness among organizational
members. As the organization ages there seems to be a
desire among many organizational members to pursue
bureaucratic rather than adhocratic organizational goals.
219
Finally it can be difficult for senior management to agree to
subdue their control functions to linkage ones.
10.5. Action Research at College E: Structure
As a result of research into organizational structure and the
observations of structure at other ELT colleges, at College E
four structural initiatives formed part of the action research.
At the commencement of the action research discussions on
structure with staff showed that there was an enthusiasm for
working towards a different type of organizational
configuration from that most teachers and administration
staff had previously experienced.
Each of the action research initiatives in the area of structure
was designed to reinforce the values of integration,
collaboration and client service. The action research cycles in
1997 and 1998 emphasised the intent to move towards an
adhocratic structure encouraging the best features of person
and task configurations. Action research cycles three and
four in late 1998 and early 1999 attempted to build on and
reinforce the structural achievements of cycles one and two.
The three structural initiatives were:
Action Research Initiative S1: Action Research
Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) to 3 (July -
December 1998): That the college organizational
structure be perceived as a fronted organigram with those
220
in client contact including administration and teaching
staff being seen as the most crucial in the organization
with those ‘behind’ playing support roles to ensure the
effectiveness of those ‘in front’. As well that the mixture of
exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators
used to determine educational and institutional quality for
the international ELT college reflect organizational goals
focusing primarily on client satisfaction.
Action Research Initiative S2: Action Research
Cycles 3 (July – December 1998) and 4 (January –
June 1999): The organization would try to have as few
barriers as possible between staff. Teachers were to be
encouraged to teach across both vocational and English
subjects. Teachers were to be encouraged to do marketing
and/or administration work. Administration and marketing
staff were to be assisted in upgrading their educational
qualifications.
Action Research Initiative S3: Action Research
Cycles 3 (July – December 1998) and 4 (January –
June 1999): Management decisions on structure were to
be explicit and communicated to all employees and be
reached as far as possible through consultation. All staff
should also have the opportunity to witness managers in
action and be able to question them about their activities
and decisions.
221
In order to implement Structure Initiative 1 the Principal and
other managers made constant efforts to inculcate the value
of client service as the primary operational task in the
organization. Open door management policies were
implemented from the start of operations and there was no
shielding of senior managers from students or agents. This
was a very effective initiative during the early phases of the
college. As student numbers grew it did impose a time and
efficiency burden on managers that was never entirely
resolved.
All ELT educators at the college were advised during
interview and induction phases that evaluations of their work
would be based primarily on student satisfaction. Staff room
discussions were held on the importance of understanding
students’ real needs and motivations. A lot of thought and
planning went into the college excursion program so that
students were taken to places that were ‘off the beaten
track’. Socialising with students was strongly encouraged and
the college used to provide funds for teachers to drink on
Fridays after lessons in the same location as the students.
Nathan a teacher at College E at the time recalls:
The emphasis on excursions and staff-student bonding that existed at that time was fantastic. The situation in 98/99 was so good partly because we were encouraged to share our experiences of Sydney and its environs with the students, and helping them find their way around here other than to and from Darling Harbour.
222
In order to implement Structure Initiative 2 a corresponding
ecological initiative (see Section 12.6) was introduced that
set out a plan for open classrooms and mixed staff rooms. A
concerted effort was also made to ensure a diversity of
duties. For example, many English teachers also hold
qualifications that permit them to teach courses in business
and computing. As the clientele for ELT and vocational
courses at College E was very similar, and there were mainly
non-native English speakers in the vocational courses, this
had many advantages. Many of the English teachers found
the opportunity to work in content subjects refreshing after
years of working solely with language and the initiative was
seen as a very positive feature of College E. As vocational
subjects were taught both morning and afternoon while
English was only taught in the morning it also offered an
extra income stream for a number of teachers. As ELT is, in
general, a less well-paid profession than many, this was also
welcome for those who loved teaching but may have
otherwise had to change careers due to financial pressures.
This initiative also led to a preference for hiring teachers who
had the ability to teach across disciplines, which itself led to
an ongoing commitment to preventing a break into a
divisionalized form.
As well as the teaching across disciplines, teachers were
involved in college marketing activities and in records
administration. The vocational college taught a Diploma
223
course in Records Management and several members of the
ELT staff took this course and assisted in the building and
maintenance of the college database. Two teachers moved
from teaching into marketing with one becoming the college
Marketing Manager.
Structure Initiative 3 was also supported by an ecological
initiative that had managerial staff share workspaces with
other teaching and administration staff. This initiative is not
concrete and fell more into the level of consciousness-raising.
Many people, even those trained in critical awareness, do not
reflect in a structured way on their work organizations and
their possibilities for improvement. It is therefore difficult to
assess the effectiveness of this initiative although a range of
comments from teachers at College E during interviews for
this project and afterwards reveals an awareness of structure
and culture variables. For example;
1. (The) management style is heartfelt and appreciated.(Pamela, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 2, College E, 1998)
2. (The) open support of teachers and all the other staff is hugely encouraging and genuine.
(Yumiko, Marketing employee, Action Research Cycle 3, College E, 1998)
3. It demonstrates the type of mutually respectful relationships that exists at College E
(James, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 4, College E, 1998)
4. I worked at the language schools within the University of F and Institute G and H College as a casual/relief teacher for spells of six - eight weeks. The staff atmosphere at College E was outstanding in comparison – particularly friendly,
224
supportive, fun, transparent and workable. By comparison, I found the other colleges isolating, scary, daunting and at times distinctly unfriendly.
(Penny, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 5, College E, 1999)
5. The idea of the front not the bottom is a great one. Seeing the college from front to back rather than from top to bottom makes a lot more sense. I also like the idea that a lot of teachers teach other subjects besides English. The computer teaching has been a real benefit for me.
(Marie, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 4,College E, 1998)
6. I like the emphasis on seeing the whole place as one. I don’t feel like a cog in the machine as I used to in other places I’ve worked. I get a lot of chances to do other things besides teach… as you can see I’m now the Marketing Manager!
(Ivan, Marketing Manager, Action Research Cycle 6,College E, 1999)
Along with the success of these measures were many areas of
contestation. Division of tasks is a familiar construct to many
people. Several teachers at College E objected to open
classrooms especially for ‘trial’ students, which they saw as
an exploitation of their professionalism. Partly this is
explained by the fact that for marketing reasons certain
teachers would be more likely to have trial students placed in
their classes than others and so bore the burden of this
arrangement. This difficulty was partially solved by allocating
one session of the teaching day, the third session from 12:00
– 1:00 each day, as the only session that trial students could
observe classes. As part-time students attended class until
12:00 only this avoided any problem of overcrowding and
limited disruptions. On the other hand, despite some initial
teacher opposition, many teachers took an interest in this
225
area of college operations and were quite proprietorial about
‘their’ trial students.
The owners of the college took to the management initiatives
from a bottom line perspective. There were cost savings to
open plan offices and logistical advantages to open
classrooms that made them accept the initiatives. On the
other hand, they found it hard to relinquish a certain manner
of control, which they had been used to exercising in previous
colleges that they had owned. As time went on though, the
proof was ‘in the pudding’. The growth and success of the
college, far beyond their initial expectations meant that they
came to value the different structure of the college and to an
extent accept it.
Since the end of active commitment to an adhocracy however
there has been a drift back to the bureaucratic configuration.
This may suggest that this form is felt to be a more ‘natural’
configuration for an international ELT college, in spite of less
effective organizational outcomes. In common perhaps with
some other action research in educational organizations,
many of the initiatives were not successfully embedded into
the college. Once the commitment to action research was
removed, and management personnel had changed, College E
drifted away from an adhocratic configuration.
226
10.6. Conclusion
Organizational structure is a significant area of
organizational climate. Manipulating the structure of an
organization can impact upon culture and organizational
outcomes. While improvements to structure are not the only
method of enhancing organizational culture they can prove to
be the most effective (Anthony 1994 p.3). There is a value in
using organizational structure models as management tools.
Analysing the configurations of similar organizations can be
of benefit to international ELT managers who can attempt to
find patterns and systems that work best. There is also a
value to inculcating staff in the understanding of such models
in order to bring about a greater empathy with organizational
goals and their own ability to work towards a configuration
that is most likely to lead to successful outcomes.
It would seem likely that ELT managers should strive to
manage structure proactively rather than let the traditional
configurations of ELT develop by default. In the growth and
development of College E the adhocratic structure worked
effectively for the time of the action research project. With
the increasing age of the organization, changes to the ELT
management and a lessening of commitment to the
adhocratic structure however, a drift back to a bureaucratic
configuration occurred.
The people who are stakeholders in an organization, its
milieu, are also strongly linked to the production and
227
maintenance of the organization’s structure. It is to the
milieu of international ELT colleges that this discussion now
moves.
228
C h a p t e r 1 1
THE MILIEU OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES
11.1. Introduction
This chapter examines the milieu of a number of international
ELT colleges and provides some examples of the need for
reconciliation between educational and entrepreneurial
concerns in this organizational dimension. It first looks at
milieu and its relationship to organizational climate. It
outlines some features of milieu relevant to ELT colleges and
the nature and range of management difficulties in this
dimension. It then examines the milieu at College E and some
action research initiatives that took place there. It analyses
some of the impact of these initiatives in relation to the
organization’s climate and then concludes with a brief
summary.
11.2. The Relationship between Milieu and
Organizational Climate
ELT is a very person dependent industry. Many of the
students studying English in Sydney are doing so for a
complex array of educational, social and economic reasons.
For many, the interaction with college members and fellow
students is far more important in judging and recommending
colleges than course content or teachers’ linguistic expertise.
229
Subtle differences in the milieu of international ELT colleges
therefore, can influence their organizational outcomes.
Impey and Underhill (1994, p.vii) in the introduction to their
ELT Manager’s Handbook note that
People are the key to successful management: the provision of high quality ELT is a meeting of people and minds. Even among traditionally labour intensive service industries, teaching is unusually intangible and dependent upon the motivation and good will of all staff; successful interaction is all...
The milieu dimension relates to this ‘people’ aspect of the
organization. It includes the characteristics of the staff,
clients and other stakeholders of the organization; their ages,
genders, ethnicities, expectations and levels of satisfaction,
socio-economic backgrounds, morale and motivation,
behaviour towards other organizational members and a range
of other personal attributes and characteristics.
Milieu and organizational culture are closely linked. In this
study, milieu refers to the organizational members as
individuals and their relatively enduring physical and social
characteristics and attributes, while organizational culture is
the collective interaction patterns and assumptions that
influence organizational members. The discussion of
organizational culture in chapters 13 and 14 focuses on the
interactions between people and the symbols and values that
give meaning to their work within the organization.
The chief groups of stakeholders in international ELT
colleges are the teachers, the administration, marketing and
230
counselling staff, the agents (who are usually external to the
college) and, of course, the students. For ELT managers with
responsibility for the hiring and replacement of ELT teachers
and support staff, awareness of the contribution of the milieu
dimension to organizational climate can provide significant
leverage towards the achievement of successful
organizational outcomes. The possibilities for actively
managing student intakes also allows some management of
the overall student milieu, especially in the ratio of learner
nationalities. Many international ELT colleges have a
relatively rapid turnover of teaching staff, administrative
staff, and students compared to other types of educational
institutions. This means that opportunities to implement
management strategies in the area of milieu are available not
only through choices in the start up phase, but on an ongoing
basis.
Organizational culture can have a powerful effect on
decisions that affect the milieu of an international ELT
college. An emphasis on the three cultural themes of
integration, collaboration and client service can provide a
significant basis for steering the course of the milieu of an
international ELT college. This can, in turn, both reinforce
these cultural values and work to resolve the competing
values of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the
educator.
231
11.3. The ELT Teacher Milieu
The types of teachers employed in a college, their ages,
genders, life experiences, career aspirations and approaches
to teaching can provide significant variance in the
atmosphere of different ELT institutions. All of the colleges in
this study hired a range of teachers from those who had just
completed their ELT qualifications to those with 10 or more
years of experience. Most of the teachers had only the
minimum required ELT qualifications and there were a
number of teachers who had not completed full teacher
qualifications but had taught ELT overseas for a number of
years. Most of the teachers felt that, while the knowledge and
skills obtained in their ELT certificate courses was not
perfectly matched with their work activities, it was an
appropriate entry qualification and many had recommended
such certificate courses to friends. Only three teachers at the
five colleges in the study were over 50 years of age and more
than two-thirds of the teachers were under 40 years of age.
This tends to confirm the view of ELT as a ‘young person’s
game’.
Waites (1999, pp244-305), in a research study conducted in
Geneva and Sydney to examine the career cycles of ELT
teachers, found they had far more variations during their
career cycles than school teachers, who were in a more
stable and predictable situation. According to the teachers
interviewed despite the ELT becoming increasingly more
professional, its unpredictable nature made it stimulating and
232
rewarding. In spite of the instability of the ELT career many
appeared to have more positive career experiences overall,
than school teachers with more stable career paths. Waites
also concluded that the perception of professional
development issues between ELT teachers and ELT managers
were divergent.
ELT teachers are largely responsible for the generation of the
functional quality within their ELT college and can create
considerable competitive advantage for it. Agents regularly
inform their clients of ‘star’ teachers at particular colleges.
The main IELTS teacher at College A, for example, had a
reputation for achieving very good results with her classes.
Three different agents interviewed indicated that they
recommended potential IELTS students to College A because
of the feedback they had had about the teacher. Likewise at
College E, one teacher had a background in the theatre and
was an extraordinarily outgoing and personable teacher.
College E would frequently receive requests from agents to
inform them of which class or level the teacher was currently
teaching.
Most of the teachers at the five colleges examined were
between 25 and 39, single or in a de facto relationship with
no children, interested in travel and other cultures and not
strongly career focused. Most had moved into ELT because
they wanted to travel or had been living in a country where
work as an ELT teacher was easily available. Staff room
conversations had a high frequency of discussion of overseas
233
destinations for holidays and work, and Lonely Planet
Guidebooks seemed to be a common ‘reference’ book in staff
rooms.
A number of teachers who were about to get married or have
children spoke of the necessity of finding either managerial
positions within ELT or changing careers to gain greater
employment stability for the raising of a family. The
connection of life changes with moves into ELT management
is taken up in Chapter 15.
Teachers, not surprisingly see themselves as a critical factor
in successful ELT colleges.
The college is only as good as the teachers…Brian, Teacher, College C, 1996
If the teachers are good, then the college will be successful. When the teachers are unhappy it’s really hard to satisfy the students or put on a ‘happy face’.
Maria, Teacher, College D, 1997
English language teaching can be seen as one of the more
‘postmodern’ occupations. Forth (1998, p.22) notes that few
people enter the ELT profession with a burning desire for
lifelong membership as teachers. Rather, for most
newcomers, ELT is an attractive stop-gap. The temporary and
casual nature of the work, the contact with exotic groups of
students of similar age, and the practical and realistic entry
requirements seem to suit the desire of many in their mid to
234
late twenties to postpone hard career decisions and enjoy
freedom and interesting experiences for as long as possible.
For those who remain in ELT however, a certain cynicism and
frustration can creep in:
The short-term contracts, the lack of development opportunities, the repetitiveness of certain kinds of teaching, far from being liberating, at a later stage in the life cycle become oppressive. This can lead to a scepticism and pessimism about the whole ethos of ELT. In particular, one can find expressions of scepticism about the management of language schools, a scepticism that sometimes borders on hostility.
(Forth, 1998; p.22)
This scepticism towards management is discussed in Chapter
15 but it needs to be noted in passing that antipathy to ELT
managers is a relatively enduring characteristic of many
teachers, and a severe disadvantage for ELT managers to
overcome.
All of the international ELT colleges discussed in this study
have a high ratio of casual employees and contract
consultants to permanent full-time employees. This has
consequences for the relative power of the different groups of
stakeholders. College C, for example, has two owners, six full-
time employees (two permanent full-time educational
administrators, a full-time Registrar, a full-time Marketing
Manager and two full-time office administrators),
approximately 30 teaching staff engaged as casual/contract
employees and three to five marketing staff who are paid a
small retainer and then a five percent commission on each
235
student enrolment they bring to the college from an agency
and a nine percent commission on each direct student
enrolment. The college also uses a range of consultants for
course development and staff training, generally paid on a fee
for service basis.
In the last decade in Australia there has been significant
pressure by regulatory authorities to ‘professionalise’ the
industry and teachers in accredited ELT colleges must now
have a suite of qualifications. In order to be employed,
teachers must have a recognised pre-service teaching
qualification plus an appropriate ELT qualification, or a
recognised degree or diploma plus at least 800 hours (about
1 year) classroom teaching experience, plus an appropriate
ELT qualification. English for High School courses must have
50% of such courses taught by teachers whose pre-service
qualification is for high school teaching or who have at least
800 hours classroom teaching experience in Australian high
schools.
Colleges can still employ some teaching staff who do not
completely fulfil these requirements, but they must be able to
supply written evidence that such teachers have proof of
outstanding competence in ELT. Such proof may include a
high grade in their ELT qualification, documents from
previous employers or references from ELT course directors.
Colleges however, are not allowed to have more than 20% of
their teaching staff employed under this provision.
236
Staff selection policies based primarily on qualifications and
experience, a common practice in many educational
institutions, may not be entirely suitable in international ELT
colleges. Characteristics such as ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘cultural
awareness’ play a significant role because of the personal
nature of the activity. Many students who come to Australia
to improve their English desire a different type of learning. In
their home countries they have usually been taught by non-
native teachers and looked at the lexicogrammatical,
semantic and phonological aspects of English, the areas of
traditional language teaching focus. For their English classes
in Australia, on the other hand, they usually expect native
speaker teachers of English who focus less on grammatical or
semantic instruction than on communication skills.
ELT classes in international colleges usually involve
interaction solely in English between the teacher and an
array of students of various nationalities. Mostly the classes
are small, as the NEAS accreditation requirement is an
average of fifteen students per class. Lessons vary depending
on the age, ability and interests of the students, but the
teacher usually suggests the topic of conversation, perhaps
provides some reading material for stimulation, asks
questions that will rekindle the conversation when it lags,
and provides correction and feedback as needed.
Considerable judgement and skill are necessary in the
selection and encouragement of conversational topics. The
object is to maintain fluency and enjoyment rather than to
237
directly challenge or threaten student beliefs. Differences in
personality need to be handled, turn-taking occasionally
needs to be made obvious and timid learners need to be
encouraged to speak.
Students are frequently asked to explain their comments, to
increase the amount of communication they offer in answer
to questions, to realise when more than a literal response is
required to questions, to take a more active role in
conversations, to ask more questions, to be more voluble and
to use gesture and eye contact in more effective ways. Even
Academic English courses and exam preparation classes for
IELTS and TOEFL involve far more interaction and
communication between teachers and students than is usual
in many other learning situations.
Teachers can feel that they are as much hosts trying to keep
a dull conversation going as they are educators. There is a
slightly unsettling effect of this type of teaching, especially in
colleges that focus on short-term client feedback, such as exit
questionnaires and satisfaction surveys. Teachers have to
juggle the satisfaction of short-term and long-term client
goals.
Is the ‘customer’ always right? Giving the ‘customer’ what they want puts teachers under a lot of pressure. What the ‘customers’ want and what the teachers think are their educational needs varies considerably.
Mike, Teacher, College B, 1996
238
How we judge our lessons may be different to how the students judge [them]. It’s hard to make sure they’re enjoying themselves and learning at the same time.
Diana, Teacher, College B, 1996
Teachers are also under some pressure to involve themselves
to a certain extent in relationships with the students that go
beyond the classroom.
Our role goes way beyond the classroom and students become very attached to us and bring us their problems
Henry, Teacher, College A, 1997
We often socialise with students and see a lot of them at the pub on Friday nights. We look after them even after they have left the college. They are always asking us about visas and their financial problems, and finding work and stuff like that.
Paula, Teacher, College B
Indeed Underhill (1995, p.2), in perhaps a moment of quiet
cynicism, felt that the professional aspects of ELT are
somewhat suspect:
The profession that seems to me most comparable to [ELT] is prostitution, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is ubiquitous; secondly it needs at the most basic level only two participants, but no resources or equipment, and can be conducted anywhere at any time, in varying degrees of comfort; thirdly, the majority of the activity is unregulated and delivered by unqualified practitioners, as far as one can gather to the satisfaction of the clients; fourthly there is a continuous scale from highly formalised, organised, managed, fully-charged at one end to the completely informal, spontaneous, spur of the moment exchange, barter or gift. In other words our central activity is virtually indistinguishable from ordinary everyday human intercourse. Our problem is to justify asking a lot of money for what many give for free. This clearly distinguishes us from the traditional so-called professions. I cannot readily
239
imagine wanting to engage in a little casual dentistry on a Friday night, on an informal basis, as a gesture of friendship.
Whatever the validity of Underhill’s analogy, it does
emphasise that ELT only exists because of the people who
engage in the exchange of learning and teaching. A keen feel
for teacher personality and motivation levels needs to be
developed by effective ELT managers. Recognising the
qualities that students want in their ELT teachers, and then
implementing this through recruitment of appropriate
teaching staff, is essential for the overall quality of the
college.
11.4. The ELT Administration, Marketing and
Counselling Staff Milieu
Reception staff in ELT colleges play an important role in
forming impressions of the college. For many students the
receptionist is their primary point of informal contact with
the college. Effective ELT managers need to recognise the
importance of building a strong reception team.
Likewise marketing and counselling staff, especially those
from the same language group as the students, play a critical
role. Frequently such staff are bi-cultural, knowing their own
culture and that of Australia well. For many students these
staff are the interpreters of the confusing events that are
surrounding them. Such staff have the potential to influence
student opinions of the college especially with those students
240
whose English proficiency is poor. They are also a valuable
source of information for ELT managers who need to absorb
important cultural details about a diverse range of ethnic and
national groups in order to treat students politely and
appropriately.
Such bi-cultural staff make promotion of the college much
easier. In early 2000 College E had a marketing exhibition in
Thailand. I travelled to the exhibition with the College
Registrar, who was born in Thailand and had lived there until
she came to Australia in 1992. She had arranged for two of
our ex-Thai students to meet us at the promotional fair. At the
exhibition the response to our display was overwhelming,
despite the presence of many more established institutions
with lower priced courses. One of the main selling points was
that potential students saw the ex-students and the Thai
Registrar obviously laughing and joking in English with the
Principal of the college. The ‘intangible’ service of an English
course was made tangible. They could see that they could
acquire these abilities, the ex-students were able to give them
the ‘student low-down’ that young people want to hear. It was
so different to most of the other displays with a senior ELT
manager forlornly sitting with an ‘official’ interpreter, who
knew little about the college or its courses, trying to ‘sell’ the
institution.
In many colleges these marketing and administration staff
are poorly compensated for their work relative to the
teaching staff. Frequently the opportunity to acquire work
241
rights in Australia is the motivation for such employees to
stay with the college. In three of the colleges in this study
some or all of such staff had taken employment with the
colleges because it would allow them to remain in Australia
and change their student visas to temporary resident visas. A
number of such staff appreciated the chance to socialise with
the ELT teaching staff and saw it as a real benefit of their
position.
11.5. The ELT Agent Milieu
Few international ELT colleges have the resources to market
directly overseas to their potential students in all countries
and so they depend on a network of agents and
representatives to attract students for them. These agents act
as college representatives in the recruitment of students.
They operate in a similar fashion to travel agents acting for
airlines. Such agents are, in effect, outsourced marketing
representatives and are a concrete manifestation of the
blurring of the traditional boundaries in postmodern work
organizations. Educational agents can be key figures in the
success of ELT colleges even though they are external
stakeholders in the organizations. The management of agents
and the information they deliver to prospective and current
students, therefore, is a key management task at educational
institutions that recruit overseas students.
The success of a college and its intermediation strategies
with domestic and off-shore agencies is of immense
242
importance in getting a sufficient flow of students to maintain
operations. Many ELT managers, though, regard agents with
some suspicion, even where they recognise the organizational
need for developing and maintaining relationships with them.
Seeing the agents as outsourced departments of the college
rather than as rivals, drains or enemies of the institution is a
most significant step in bridging entrepreneurial and
educational values and thus in effective ELT management.
The relationship between colleges and agencies is complex.
For the colleges in this study, owners, ELT managers and the
agents themselves all agreed that payment was the primary
factor in developing and maintaining relationships between
agencies and colleges. The relations with agents are subtle
however, and have to be much more than a ‘provider –
distributor’ relationship to be of maximum value to both
parties. Agents frequently provide valuable endorsement of
the quality of the educational service offered by the ELT
college to students and in return are an extremely important
source of primary market information. Reader (1996, p.8)
notes that agents in many markets are becomingly
increasingly choosey over the colleges they represent. In
listing the factors that make agents accept or reject to
represent colleges, he concludes that commission amounts
and percentages top the list. He suggests that ELT colleges
…expecting to be overwhelmed by responses to tuition only commissions of 10 per cent or even 15 percent are still living in the early 1980s. Many agents now work as full-blown tour
243
operators and themselves have to pay hefty considerations to regional travel agents.
Reader (1996, p.8) also notes that the global ELT market is
increasingly cost sensitive and there is immense difficulty for
agents in selling high-priced top range courses – however
frustrating that is for colleges who wish to prioritise quality
over economy.
Local and national location is another important factor for
agencies. Some agents reject or drop colleges over location
frequently because of client concern about issues such as
safety and convenience. Australia as a whole benefits from
perceptions about danger in large cities in the USA and the
UK, which the terrorism scares following the September 11
tragedy in New York, have exacerbated. Regional Australia
however, suffers from a perception in many Asian countries
that it is ‘boring’ and ‘racist’.
One area of great to concern to agents is other agents.
Disputes over national or regional exclusivity are a frequent
cause of dispute and can result in termination of cooperation
between colleges and agents. On the other hand, a degree of
inertia in established relationships frequently means that
once agents have an ongoing relationship with one college
they do not quickly change, even when they are convinced
that a new organization is better. There is “a liability of
newness” (Haveman, 1992, p.48) to overcome.
244
Agents cover a wide range of legal ownership types. Some
agencies may be wholly owned subsidiaries of the college in
which case it might be more correct to label them
representative offices. Such representative offices direct all
students who enquire in their offices to the college that owns
them and are usually a regional centre for enrolments and
client support. There is a range of incentives to setting up
such offices. Most obviously is the fact that all students will
be encouraged to come to the target college and advice will
be up to date. Such offices can also attract government
funding from programs aimed to boost exports such as the
Export Market Development Grants making them even more
attractive. Applicants may qualify for up to 50%
reimbursement of eligible export marketing expenses above
$15,000 pa to a maximum of eight grants. Up to $200,000 pa
may be reimbursed (DETYA 2001; p.7). In large markets or
for large institutions such representative offices can be more
economical than the standard industry commission only
agencies.
Most agencies however, are established as separate
businesses and may range from sole traders acting without
any bona fides to partnerships and properly registered
companies with migration advice licences. The fiduciary
relationship between colleges and agents has been uncertain
for many years and is a clear area of concern within the
industry and for its regulators. Percentage commissions paid
to educational agents is perhaps the most closely guarded
245
“commercial in confidence’ secret in the industry. Federal
Government guidelines under the ESOS Act during the late
1990s allowed an initial 20% draw down of student tuition
from the trust account before tuition commenced. This is a
rough indicator of the expected market rate of commission
although the real situation is much more complex.
Agents tend to think in terms of amounts of money received
rather than percentage commissions. A ten per cent
commission on an A$10000 annual university tuition fee is
$1000. To make the same amount of money from a 3-month
ELT course enrolment the agent would need to charge 33%
(assuming the base ELT fee of $1000 per month). In general
if the course fees are large (more than $8000 per year) the
commission is usually (though not always) below the 20%
mark. Universities, expensive vocational college courses and
longer ELT programs therefore fall in to this category.
On the other hand, cheaper courses such as classroom-based
vocational courses and short-term ELT courses are far less
valuable to agents to promote and so colleges usually offer
far higher rates of commission. Commission rates of 30% are
not uncommon at ELT colleges in Sydney and rates as high as
50% and even 60% have been recorded. Often the only viable
method of competition for small new colleges is on the
amount of commission that they offer agents. While these
figures may seem astoundingly high to those unfamiliar with
international education practice they are not dissimilar to
discounting and commission approaches in the international
246
tourist industry – an industry that ELT has many links with,
and one that increasingly shapes its thinking.
It is not usual for the agent to keep all this commission.
Frequently part of the commission is passed on as a discount
to the prospective students and one of the main ways that
agents, especially those within Australia, promote themselves
to students is as ‘bucket shops’ that are able to give students
a ‘discount’ price over a direct enrolment at the college.
Dealing with agents is an especially complex part of the ELT
manager’s work. The communication network of a college
and its agents throughout the world can be very intricate and
there are many features of such networks in educational
enterprises that require a large measure of trust. The time
spans for materials to reach each agent and the complexities
of the visa processes make this a particularly difficult barrier
to entry in the industry and are reasons why many private
colleges tend to be skewed towards a couple of national
markets.
Problems with agents can occur and must be remedied. The
Seoul office of the AIEF, for example, made the settling of
disagreements between various agents and organizations
that send students abroad its top priority in 1995. Once such
issues were resolved the number of students rose 60% (AIEF.
1996b).
247
The value of a strong network of agents is clearly seen in
market downturns. In the Asian currency crisis of 1997 and
1998 numbers at College E steadily rose. A key factor was
that College E had a policy of giving agents commission on
re-enrolments. All payments that students made, not just the
first ones, earned the agents commission. In ‘good times’ this
had meant a smaller profit for the college as student fees had
to be paid out to overseas and local agents – in lean times
however it became even more important for agents to worry
about their ongoing remuneration and in such an
environment agents were more likely to steer students
towards colleges that were perceived as being ‘on the agents
side’.
Over the life of this project educational agencies in Sydney
came in for a sustained campaign of attack in Federal
parliament by Senator Carr, a Labor Senator from Victoria.
Senator Carr’s research listed the many ruses that agents
used to assist students in obtaining or renewing their student
visas. In a tribute to the overhaul of the ELICOS / ELT sector
in the early 1990s however not a single abuse was noted in
the ELT sector with almost all of the alleged misconduct
occurring in the Vocational Education and Training sector.
This campaign continues and considerable pressure exists for
ELT colleges to ensure that they comply with all of the
provisions of relevant DIMA regulations. Senior DIMA
officials were questioned by the Federal Parliament’s
Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee
248
hearing in mid-2002 over links between the international
education industry and ‘people smuggling’ with DIMA
indicating that more than 6000 overseas students had been
expelled from Australia in the previous 12 months for visa
irregularities (Contractor and Noonan, 2002). In fact most of
these students were attending vocational and pre-university
courses. Unfortunately for the ELT industry, considerable
confusion exists in Senator Carr’s press releases and in
subsequent reporting in the media over the distinction
between ELT colleges and those offering vocational
education.
11.6. The ELT Student Milieu
Students and their families provide the revenue base for
international ELT colleges. Students represent very different
constructs to the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in part
because of the divergent aims each has for them. Much of the
ELT entrepreneur’s work revolves around attracting students
to the college, so that issues such as product placement and
price point are uppermost. “Sell ‘em cheap and pile ‘em high”
is how one ELT entrepreneur explains his marketing
approach.
ELT educators, on the other hand, deal with the students
after the buying decision has been made and more keenly feel
the quality squeeze. It is up to the ELT manager to juggle
these two imperatives and negotiate the means by which
249
attracting students and keeping them satisfied do not become
separate and antagonistic aims.
AEI conducted a survey of international students studying in
Australia who finished a course of study in 1999. The
questionnaire covered a wide range of issues including
satisfaction with course, institution, life in Australia, visa
regulations and related matters. The survey found that
around 90% of international students were satisfied or very
satisfied with the quality of education in Australia and with
the quality of the course they were enrolled in, and that more
than 90% of them would either ‘strongly recommend’ or
‘recommend’ studying in Australia to other students in their
home country. These satisfaction levels appear to have
increased on results from similar surveys conducted in 1992
and 1997 (DEST 2002a).
While international students were very satisfied with the
quality of the education delivery and support facilities, the
lowest levels of satisfaction in the survey were for the
opportunity to interact with Australian students (62% were
‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’) and with the quality of this
interaction (72% ‘very satisfied’/’satisfied’). This may in part
explain why many international students see the people
aspect of ELT colleges as critical, in the main valuing colleges
with a friendly, welcoming and supportive feel.
250
I’m happy with my college because all the staff are nice [and] the receptionist is friendly and knows my name.
Kim, Student, College A, 1997
A good college should look after students more than mine doesLee, Student, College D, 1999
This is my third college and is the best one because everyone is friendly
Masao, Student, College E, 1999
It is important for ELT managers to successfully
communicate to owners, managers and college staff the
customer lifetime value of students across various stages in
the buying cycle. Students have to be regarded as providing
value to the college at all stages of the buying cycle rather
than solely at point of initial tuition payment. The cycle starts
with the student recognising a need for education abroad.
The first value to the college, in terms of revenue, starts with
the student's decision to enrol at the ELT college and the
payment of initial tuition fees. Students however then enter
the second step of implementation, where they add value to
the college, as they actively participate in college social life,
sharing their diverse personal experiences, cultures and
skills, thus creating a multicultural and international
atmosphere which helps attract further students. There are
opportunities for the college in this phase. A student who is
happy in Sydney and satisfied with the course may decide to
either add on to their existing course by extending the
enrolment period, or take up another course with the college
upon completion of their initial course. After students leave
251
the college, their lifetime value goes on in terms of their role
in Australia or their home country, recommending the college
to friends and family. In some cases the value of the
departing student to the college is further increased when
students return to their home country and become agents.
English teaching to overseas students in Australia follows a
wide range of paths and it is very difficult to completely
define all of the goals and purposes of the students especially
those that do not follow traditional academic paths. Many
students have a two or three step progression. They first
complete a General language course to provide them with a
sufficient linguistic attainment in English to commence an
Exam Preparation class. The Exam Preparation classes in
Australia typically prepare students for the UK/Australian
IELTS test of English proficiency (International English
Langauge Testing Service) or less commonly for the US
based TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language).
Following successful completion of the required language
entry level (an IELTS band score of 6.0 – 6.5 or a TOEFL
score from 550 – 600) students may then enrol in an EAP
(English for Academic Purposes) course to further prepare
them for tertiary study.
Students following these steps are considered ‘normal’ by
many outside the English teaching industry and in
organizations that are of importance to overseas students
coming to Australia such as the Department of Immigration.
At most private colleges however these types of students are
252
becoming a minority. Even of the students who intend to
follow this path many, for English language or financial
reasons, do not end up pursuing it in exactly this way. This
has led to growth in many other pathways into tertiary
education; a popular one pursued by universities is the
Foundation Studies program that attempts to cover the High
School syllabus with modifications for overseas students.
Foundation Courses are typically one year in duration and
are frequently offered either by or in conjunction with the
university language schools. Another important pathway that
has emerged in recent years for both Australian and overseas
students is that of vocational study leading into related
university programs.
Unlike many overseas students struggling with university
courses, ELT college students have enough time to begin to
establish a network of Australian friends and employers and
to learn more deeply about the work system and the nature of
Australian society. Non-academic aspects of the educational
experience, however, cause many administrative headaches
for managers in international ELT colleges. A student who is
having problems with their teacher is usually less unhappy
than one who does not like their homestay family. Those who
have trouble with Australian food are likely to be far more
miserable than those who do poorly in a particular course.
Tax forms, illegal employment, sexual harassment and all the
issues of the workplace can intrude on a student’s English
study.
253
Effective managers should know and understand their
student clients as well as possible. For ELT managers a keen
awareness of individual students and strong relationships
with them spreads to all other staff within the institution. An
attitude of I’m too busy to spend time with the clients can be
poisonous.
This could almost be a "compare and contrast" exercise. To wit: [Senior ELT managers during the period of the action research] would use first names with the students and know a fair few of them socially. I doubt the New Guard here would be able to put names to more than a half dozen faces, and if seen at the bar on a Friday, keep themselves to themselves. [This] serves to highlight some of the things that really made College E work back then. The students are just as pleasant a bunch as they generally tend to be, but for the first time in my experience they have been directing complaints about management to teachers, and I find myself agreeing with their concerns.
Nathan, College E, 2001
11.7. Action Research at College E: Milieu
As a result of research into organizational milieu and the
observations of milieu at other ELT colleges, at College E
aspects of milieu were part of the action research. From the
commencement of the action research discussions on milieu
issues with owners, teaching and administrative staff
formalised two issues that would benefit both the educational
and the entrepreneurial aims of the college. As with
initiatives in other organizational dimensions the milieu
initiatives aimed to have positive outcomes in both
educational and financial domains.
254
The milieu dimension in an ELT college divides into two
broad areas of emphasis. These are issues affecting the
student milieu at the college and those affecting the staff
milieu. The first area was to support the attraction of a broad
cross section of students by nationality to the college and
build a student milieu that assisted in the development of a
student culture that was upbeat, active and enhancing. The
second area was the recognised management task of
attracting and keeping staff who would benefit the
organization.
Two initiatives, one in each area, were implemented within
the milieu dimension. Because of the nature of milieu
implementation and the time frames involved in hiring staff
and building a student body, the milieu initiatives lasted
throughout the action research.
The initiatives were:
Action Research Initiative M1: Action Research
Cycles 1 (July – December 1997), to 6 (January – June
2000): An enforced program to ensure student diversity,
particularly of national groups over the whole college and
in individual classes. Such a program to include the
development of positive incentives such as scholarships,
differential pricing and budget support for the
development of new markets. The program also to include
the ‘negative’ reinforcement of the imposition of a quota
system such that no one nationality could exceed 25% of
255
the student body. The overriding aim being to work
towards the development and maintenance of a student
milieu at College E that was likely to produce an upbeat,
active and enhancing culture from the student
perspective.
Action Research Initiative M2: Action Research
Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) to 4 (January – June
1998): Develop a staff milieu likely to support a college
culture that was student centred and focused on student
learning experiences. Hiring to ensure that selection of
staff includes those likely to positively affect the staff
milieu, judging potential development equally with
qualifications and experience. Professional development to
be targeted to each teacher’s personal and professional
interests but also to include a strong emphasis on teacher
awareness of college management issues in all climate
dimensions.
The notion behind the first milieu initiative was that language
learning success and student satisfaction were likely to be
linked to group dynamics among a broad cross section of
students. Many ELT colleges in Sydney, such as College C,
created significant institutional problem by neglecting the
importance of this factor and attracting too many students
from particular countries. In order to implement the first
milieu initiative, therefore, and ensure student diversity, a
range of positive incentives such as scholarships, differential
256
pricing and budget support for the development of new
markets were part of the management system at the college.
Such policies led to a range of significant management issues
in this area. In order to broaden the student clientele,
markets had to be developed in a wide range of countries and
regions, not only those that College E had strong links with
due to pre-existing relationships. The second, and more
controversial area, was the institution of differential pricing
structures that would serve to attract students from different
regions to build diverse classes, while avoiding charges of
discrimination that students from country X had to pay more
for their study.
The approach was modelled on that of airline seats. Markets
such as Vietnam that required heavy discounting on tuition
fees had many more conditions attached to their enrolments.
Courses were also packaged with Vocational College courses
at College E to disguise the amount of tuition for each
separate part of the package. Students from markets such as
Korea, which had to be limited, paid higher fees but had
much greater flexibility in the conditions of their enrolments
and in other services such as homestays offered by the
college. The differential pricing continued to be a feature of
College E’s marketing even after the end of the action
research period demonstrating its success in assisting
organizational outcomes.
257
A quota system was imposed over the whole college and in
each class at the college such that no one nationality could
exceed 25% of the student body. While this quota system had
significant effects on revenue in the early months of the
college it was ultimately one of the most important reasons
for the continued growth and success of the college. Like
many of the most difficult managerial decisions there was a
short-term sacrifice of revenue for longer-term organizational
gains.
The only exceptions to the quota were at the extremes of the
student learning range so that beginner classes and
Academic English classes at times exceeded the quota. The
most significant difficulty in this area was not offending
agents who frequently requested just one more student be
squeezed in.
While certain actions changed and evolved, the underlying
emphasis of the initiative remained throughout the action
research period. Staff and management systems at the
college also had to ensure that the milieu supported the
development and maintenance of a student culture at College
E that was upbeat, active and enhancing from the student
perspective. Another tool to support this initiative was the
use of scholarships and tuition reduction aimed at retaining
students who by their personality or skills contributed
significantly to the ‘atmosphere’ of classes. This initiative
required management to raise awareness among teachers
258
and administration staff of the importance of getting to know
the students who made classes work, and seeing classes as
groups that could be made to be functional and successful,
not only by the actions of the teachers, but also those of key
students.
In 1997 and 1998 a number of discretionary scholarships
were awarded to students of limited financial means who had
proven to be ‘energisers’ of their classes. For example, Yoko,
a 20-year-old Japanese female student, enrolled at College E,
for a single four-week cycle. Yoko was a wonderfully
supportive student interested in everyone and everything and
saw her experiences in Australia as the realisation of a long
held dream. She had the rare ability to motivate a group of
students from within. Her disarming manner and obvious
interest in all the details of other students lives and cultures
ensured that classes of which she was a member flourished –
out of the eight students in her class who had the option to
extend their tuition at College E at the end of that cycle every
single one did.
Yoko was offered tuition at 25% of the regular fees because
of the contribution she had made to the college. She was well
versed in traditional Japanese culture and was asked to give
various culture displays as ‘payment in lieu’. These displays
were so popular that students from other nationalities
arranged similar demonstrations and these informal activities
led to the development of a Culture Day at College E that
became a very successful annual event. With imitation being
259
the sincerest form of flattery, the format of College E’s
culture day has since been copied by a number of other ELT
colleges in Sydney.
Student satisfaction is a slippery and awkward construct to
measure. The main indicators used at College E were
marketing staff and agent feedback based on the students
they represented and student extension of courses. While
agent feedback was based primarily on hearsay, rumour and
a limited understanding of educational issues, it still made a
critical difference to the success of the college. Because
students told their friends and their agents that their
experience at College E had been significantly better than at
competitor colleges, enrolments increased rapidly over the
course of the project from 0 in April 1997 to nearly 300 full-
time ELT students by the end of the project.
In order to implement the second initiative in the Milieu
dimension a number of management activities had to occur.
The hiring process at College E was streamlined to ensure
that potential new teachers were informed of hiring decisions
within a day of coming for interviews. All potential teachers
who came for interviews were treated with great courtesy as
their impressions of the college would also be communicated
to outsiders should they not obtain a position at College E.
Similarly short-term staff, such as relief teachers, were
always to be treated with great respect. Teachers who do
relief work at a number of colleges are very important
260
sources of information about comparative advantages of
different colleges and can be roving ambassadors for a
successful international ELT college.
Great effort was made at point of hiring to ensure that
selection of staff included those likely to positively affect the
staff milieu. Future growth was seen as more important than
past qualifications and experience in selection of staff, and
newly hired staff were made to feel that their special qualities
ensured selection. Induction was personal and intimate.
The flexibility in the NEAS guidelines for teachers who do not
possess the full range of required qualifications was an
effective motivational tool in some cases. Peta, at College E
for example, was completing a Masters degree and had a
strong intellectual background. She had been a teacher of
deaf students and had various training and life experiences
such as running a large rural property that made her a very
appealing teacher. She was offered a position before she
completed her degree and was always most grateful for being
given a chance.
The importance of constant informal reinforcement of
contributions to the college was also stressed. Recognition
involves praise, being offered additional rights and
responsibilities, challenges, projects and learning
opportunities and getting rid of mechanisms that
communicate mistrust and lack of respect (Field, and Ford,
1995; p.58).
261
Teaching staff had to be encouraged to see that the student
experience at College E would be as significant for them in
terms of social and affective domains as educational ones.
This initiative was largely implemented through constant ELT
manager support for staff who ‘went beyond the classroom’.
Functions, excursions and out of class activities were
supported financially and a strong emphasis was placed on
developing social activities for students. Students were
invited to socialise with staff most especially after excursions
and on Fridays after class.
From the very beginning of the college it was stressed that
the college wanted teacher involvement in a whole range of
activities. Teacher attendance at functions, parties,
graduations and so on are extremely important to students.
College E had graduation ceremonies in class time every four
weeks with all teachers present. Structured opportunities for
photo sessions and exchange of addresses were built into
these ceremonies and student performances were
encouraged at them. These graduations became significant
cultural events for the college and became an important
marketing tool.
Students were able to hire black academic gowns for the
graduations. The ceremonies were informal but were an
overwhelmingly popular initiative. Many students, especially
those from East Asia, attach tremendous importance to such
ceremonies for the closure they offer. The chance to have a
formalised time to take photos of, and exchange addresses
262
with, other students and teachers was of tremendous value.
The ceremony took one hour out of every hundred teaching
hours so for the 1% loss in teaching time an effective closure
was made. It also made for a great marketing opportunity to
invite guests to the college and had minimal ‘bottom line’
costs and a large number of benefits. Especially appreciated
by the students was the attendance of their class teachers at
such functions. For teachers it was a relief from the constant
pressure to be developing lessons and it became quite a ‘hot’
monthly social occasion.
This initiative was successfully embedded in College life and
became an important ritual in the cultural sense. The
ceremonies are still held:
…at every graduation, I mention every positive comment from students about every teacher I can (and there are still so many) and every mention of the fun and friendly vibe of College E…
James, Teacher, College E, 2001
One valid criticism of educational administrators that is
levelled by opponents is that attempts to be inclusive and
build participatory styles of management are frequently a
disguise for manipulation. The sense of participation is a
veneer to maintain power (such as it is) while followers are
fooled into believing that the old style hierarchical system has
been broken down. To a certain extent this charge is as true
for College E as in other educational institutions. For
example, in 1997 and 1998 the college paid many teachers on
263
an hourly rate for four hours teaching per day. The teachers
who performed self-access supervision or other duties in the
afternoon were paid on a daily rate that equalled five hours
pay. This division came to be interpreted by staff as an
equitable arrangement so that those who required higher pay
could work longer hours.
Later investigations by the teachers union however,
suggested to staff that all teachers who were working on
monthly or longer contracts should be paid on the daily rate
whether they had afternoon duties or not. Only written
requests from staff to be paid for shorter hours would be
legally effective. By the time this matter had been
investigated many staff, especially those who had other
outside work commitments, specifically did not want the
extra time commitment imposed. To a certain extent staff had
been manipulated to suit organizational ends. On the other
hand, simple award style conditions frequently do not match
the working situations for all teachers. Certainly since the
implementation of this system there has been a trend at
College E to hire younger and less experienced teachers to
compensate for the increase in the salaries component of the
organization’s budget.
The difficulty of management attempts at manipulating milieu
factors is that it is almost impossible to synthesise genuine
human emotions and relationships. Those with certain types
of dispositions cannot easily be turned from grumpies to
happies. Many staff however are strongly affected by the first
264
experiences in an organization and regulate much of their
behaviour based on these early experiences.
Staff initiatives focused on hiring practices and the
importance of team building. Once again affective reasons
were given due place in decisions of hiring. Because the first
three teachers hired each had some reason to be grateful for
the chance to work at the college this key notion became one
of the factors in hiring. Owners, marketing staff and senior
ELT staff agreed that where other factors were equal
positions should be offered not necessarily on the basis of
qualifications and experience but also on factors related to
lifestyle and ability to contribute to the total feel of the
college.
In all but one case of the hirings made under these conditions
the initiative proved a great success. For example one
teacher hired had previously owned an outdoor landscaping
and gardening business. Because of the long hours and hard
physical work involved in such a business Ken brought a
fresh perspective to the work of an ELT instructor, rarely
seeing any imposition when compared to his previous work.
He also was able to get on very well with the large number of
students who were working in labouring jobs in their spare
time and was able to assist in both securing jobs and
ensuring that the students were treated fairly by their
employers.
265
Danny, a former storyteller who lived in a small town a
number of hours away from the city, had previously had
trouble attracting the right kind of work because of
restrictions caused by his raising a child by himself and his
out of city location. By working with Danny to ensure that he
could secure employment at College E but retain his lifestyle
the services of a very talented and committed teacher were
obtained.
It is not always possible though, to secure such commitment.
In the case of Ben, a divorced father of four in very dire
economic circumstances an array of personal reasons and an
approach to work relations based on hostility in the past did
not lead to an outpouring of commitment but rather an
attempt to see a more embracing form as management as a
sophisticated capitalist trick. Attempts by staff to change this
point of view had only temporary effects and ultimately Ben
left the organization to work for a lower salary and with many
more restrictions in a more bureaucratised workplace. There
is no doubt that particular types of people become
comfortable even with dysfunction and cannot be easily
motivated to interpret management requests with anything
but suspicion.
Professional development of staff was also important. Rather
than focusing solely on the attainment of extra academic
qualifications the college tried to entice ELT teachers to
undertake courses in computing, marketing and management
offered by the college. ELT teachers who were looking for
266
branches in their careers could avail themselves of these
opportunities. Mike, for example, was recruited as an English
teacher but was assisted in developing database skills and
ultimately moved from teaching English to teaching
computing. This gave him the opportunity to develop on-line
ICT materials that ultimately enabled him to obtain a highly
paid position with another organization as a professional
technical writer.
11.8. Conclusion
There are many features of milieu that can be manipulated by
an ELT manager to improve organizational outcomes. Action
research at College E suggests that strategies in the area of
milieu can have positive effects in other organizational
dimensions at international ELT colleges.
The milieu dimension is a reflection of the people who make
up the organization. Organizations however while made up of
people tend to be linked to a place with technology and
artefacts that can also be managed in many ways to bring out
the best in the people and that can demonstrate many
concrete symbols of the culture and structure of the
organization. The technology, artefacts and premises of an
organization relate to the climatic dimension of ecology and it
is to the ecology of international ELT colleges that this
discussion now turns.
267
C h a p t e r 1 2
THE ECOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES
12.1. Introduction
Despite the increasing disintegration of the bounded spaces
of the modernist organization, place remains an essential
element in work organizations. The dimension of
organizational ecology discussed in this chapter includes all
of an organization’s physical and material aspects, including
location, premises, equipment and technology and other
‘physical’ items used to carry out organizational activities.
This chapter discusses the ecology of international ELT
colleges and the implications for ELT managers. It first looks
at the notion of ecology and its relationship to organizational
climate. It then outlines some ecological features of a number
of ELT colleges in Sydney and gives a brief overview of some
of their more significant contrasts. It provides some examples
of the links between ecology and communication flows. It
then briefly discusses ecological change at some ELT colleges
before noting in more detail ecological initiatives at College E
and the relationship of these to structural and cultural
variables at the college. It then concludes with a brief
summary of the chapter.
268
12.2. The Relationship between Ecology and
Organizational Climate
Ecology is the most tangible dimension of organizational
climate and can be a symbolically significant statement of
organizational structure and culture. Ecological variables are
often taken to be indicators of the less tangible features of
organizational hierarchy and cultural imperatives. The extent
to which ecological variables can be manipulated to affect
organizational structures and cultures is hard to quantify but
there is no doubt that ecology can be a concrete expression
of a commitment to particular structural forms and cultural
values.
Organizational culture can have a powerful effect on
decisions that affect the ecology of an international ELT
college. An emphasis on the three cultural themes of
integration, collaboration and client service can provide a
significant basis for ensuring that the ecology of an
international ELT college will reinforce these themes and
assist in the resolution of the competing values of the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator.
As noted in Chapter 9 The Structure of Work Organizations,
the basic function of an organization’s structure is to
establish patterns of human interaction that accomplish
organizational tasks. Formal structures such as departments,
teams and divisions, and informal structures such as
friendship groups and people working in close proximity all
269
contribute to the system. These formal and informal
groupings are powerful in shaping organizational behaviour.
Aligning ecological variables to maximise formation of
appropriate structure and culture is a tool that can easily be
ignored by ELT managers but it can be extremely effective if
used appropriately. Interaction processes include
communication, motivation, leadership, goal-setting,
coordination, control and evaluation (Owens, 1995; pp. 92-
93). All of these interaction and communication processes
can be assisted or hindered by organizational ecology and
management approaches to it.
It is likely that communal workspaces in an ELT college
would assist in the development of a different culture from
that where each teacher or staff member had a separate
office. The development of strongly collaborative task-based
cultures in organizations that are widely dispersed and
segmented is obviously more difficult than in those where
members are in constant contact.
An organization's culture can be shaped and strongly
influenced by ecological factors, and cultural values and
beliefs are often indicated in ecological ways. Indeed a
frequent recommendation of management consultants to
organizations attempting cultural transformation is to move
to more appropriate premises. For example an internal
'culture assessment study' by Corporate Impacts Consulting
to South Sydney Council strongly argued that the Council's
buildings were responsible for preventing attempts to change
270
from a traditional protected environment to a more
contemporary work culture "characterised by flexibility,
empowerment and collaboration." The report blamed the
poor building design and location for producing a lack of
trust between management, employees and the public and
recommended that the Council shift its entire operations
because of the poor design of its building (Wainwright, 1996,
p.3).
12.3. Ecology and International ELT Colleges
ELT college management have to make many ecological
choices at various phases of the college’s development. In the
start up phase crucial ecological decisions determine the look
and feel of the institution. The choice can be made, for
instance, to exude an established look by renting premises
that have a historical look, such as a 19th century bank
building for example, or alternatively make a strength of the
newness of the college and adopt a modern corporate look.
There is no doubt that college premises play an important
role in creating impressions of an institution. One of the most
significant areas of NEAS accreditation inspections for new
colleges is of their premises to determine their suitability for
the teaching of English. Indeed, the Industry Commission
report (1991, p.5) spoke of the emphasis on ecological factors
in the accreditation of ELT colleges but also noted its
limitations:
271
Accreditation is essentially intended to indicate that an institution has met or will endeavour to meet, certain quality standards. However there is reason to doubt that quality can be, or indeed, should be, regulated in this way. Regulating inputs such as floor space and library size can never guarantee the quality of the course ultimately provided, and it is a costly process. It may also constrain innovative course design and act as a barrier to competition
Many agents, especially those without backgrounds in
education, form their strongest impressions of a college from
its ecological factors. For new ELT colleges the common
gossip among agents and other third parties about the size
and look of premises can be ‘make or break’ in encouraging
or discouraging recommendations. Indeed in the intangible
domains of service organizations such as ELT, potential
customers tend to rely on the few available tangibles to
provide some indication of the quality of service. Walker
(1999; p.18) notes that an English language student or agent
therefore, may place considerable emphasis on quality of
marketing materials, the physical make-up of the institution,
décor, facilities, furnishing and equipment, facilities such as
the self-access centre, library and student common room, the
physical appearance and dress of the teachers and
administration staff and possibly the look and feel of teaching
materials and certificates and awards. Prentice (1996, p.10)
discusses the importance of design and other ecological
factors in ELT and their relatively under-utilised nature. She
writes that
272
In ELT we have to create our own definition in order to focus on our customer’s particular needs. We are highly visual – our students are surrounded by noticeboards, displays, handouts, brochures, pamphlets, etc…
It is obvious that colleges need to be located in places where
students want to come (McGowan, 1996; p.5) and that the
premises are properly outfitted for the clientele. Most of the
ELT colleges discussed here are located in rented or leased
premises that are not purpose built educational buildings. For
many, such ecology is desirable and can lead to important
competitive advantages, such as low infrastructure
maintenance costs, easy organizational renewal and the
marketing advantages of an up-to date 'corporate' look. In
Sydney, in the central business district property recession of
the early 1990s for example, some ELT institutions moved
from unfavourable suburban locations into the ‘business’ end
of the city to take advantage of falling rents. As CBD rents
escalate this trend is reversing.
Many teachers and students have commented how important
it is for their college to be centrally located. The overall
demand for this in the Australian ELT market is evidenced by
the fact that almost all private English colleges in Australia
are concentrated in Sydney and in the Gold Coast/Brisbane
area. Despite attractive price differentials very few colleges
are able to operate successfully in rural settings and the few
that do are attached to regional universities. Within the
273
capital cities such as Sydney, various suburbs and the CBD
tend to attract all the ‘action’. In Sydney most colleges are in
the CBD, or at Bondi Junction, a major rail terminus near
Bondi Beach. Colleges that operate in suburbs further afield
have tended to have problems attracting and holding
students and this was one of the reasons for the difficulties
College D experienced in attracting students to a suburban
location.
The nature of ELT institutions has meant that many can move
premises without their institutional character being lost.
Many prominent ELT colleges have moved premises or
relocated during the past decade and it is not seen as
essential to stay in the one place. The fact that accrediting
authorities include provision for adding or moving premises
as a ‘standard’ feature on accreditation documents is another
indicator that the fixed boundaries of the ‘modernist’
organization are less and less influential over international
ELT colleges.
College A, for example, has a very affluent look. It is located
in an office building on top of a fashionable shopping arcade
in the centre of the city. The college has expanded twice
since moving to its current location and moved premises
twice before this. The moves and expansions seem to provide
a tangible feel of success to staff and students rather than
hindrance or inconvenience. From the students point of view
College A’s current location is excellent. It is in the city
centre in the ‘shopping’ part of town. It is close to all the
274
major urban transport terminals and is surrounded by an
array of famous tourist landmarks.
There are however a number of internal shortcomings with
the building itself. Colleges cannot usually afford to rent
premium office space and so tend to be in older buildings.
The elevators are very slow and there are no internal stairs,
which tends to make a division between the bulk of the
students and the college administrators. By having students
on a different floor to administration an alienation process
can occur with students removed from the focus of the
college. In many ways though these shortcomings are only
noticed after a student is already well settled at the college.
The leasing of colleges premises in the CBD is not without
difficulties. Service organizations such as colleges can find
opposition from landlords because building owners want
more ‘upmarket tenants’. Colleges can cause difficulties with
owners and other tenants for a number of reasons. Cameron
Algie, Director of Tim Green Commercial Real Estate (SMH,
2001; p.17), lists some of these as: students tend to
congregate at the entrance to premises, they smoke close to
the entrance, they leave rubbish and make noise. For these
reasons Algie suggests colleges will find it increasingly
difficult to find landlords willing to accommodate them. More
serious obstacles for college owners are the increasingly
stringent council requirements over health concerns,
ventilation, zoning and access. The numbers of students who
frequent a college on a daily basis is far in excess of most
275
traditional users of corporate buildings, which in turn
increases wear and tear on all services in the building such as
foyers, elevators and common areas thus escalating
outgoings for landlords. Algie suggests that landlords who
lease to private colleges tend to ask for colleges to commit to
long-term leases at above market rentals.
12.4. Ecology and Communication
The ecology of an international ELT college has a significant
impact on management communication functions and
contributes to the overall creation of the climate of the
college. Hammond (2001, p.15) notes the importance of
communication between departments at ELT colleges, as well
as the fact that too often senior management intrude in the
communication flow to the detriment of the organization.
Bowers (1999, pp.3-4), in summarising a discussion on
management issues at the 1998 IATEFL conference, suggests
that organizational communication from a management
perspective can be arranged into the areas of sociating
(social functions such as greetings, wishing happy birthday,
etc.), organising (such as staff meetings, non-confrontational
seating arrangements) directing (official notices,
performance targets, codes of practice) presenting (annual
reports and accounts, prospectus, promotional video, briefing
material, technical proposals) eliciting (suggestion box, open
day, bulleting board) responding (FAQs, open staff meetings)
276
and evaluating (appraisal systems, course reviews, feedback
questionnaires).
The sociating function of management is frequently
undervalued in the world of work. Phatic communication, the
term used to describe communication with little or no
significant content that greases the social wheels (such as
How are you? Nice weather we’re having, etc) is an essential
feature of human relationships. Ecological layouts that
prevent the regular run of sociating can create tension and
hostility. Social contact begins with these types of greetings
and they are often a stress-free way to steer conversations to
areas of significance that would otherwise be awkward to
broach.
The organization of staff is generally the communication
pattern that receives the greatest in-awareness planning
attention because it is the way that many managers see their
activities. All colleges in this project had effective systems of
staff meetings and distribution of information although the
colleges with more clearly hierarchical structures had less
oral contact between senior college managers and others. In
the area of directing the layout of noticeboards, most
managers gave little thought to where staff spend their time.
At College E the simple initiative of putting teaching
noticeboards above the photocopier where every ELT teacher
would spend 10 – 20 minutes a day created a significantly
greater awareness of notices than at other similar colleges.
277
Information such as evacuation procedures is often posted
willy-nilly on the day before an inspection and then left to fall
off the walls until next year’s inspection. One innovative idea
at College C was to have students undergoing ICT training to
produce the fire evacuation notices and diagrams. Because
they were individuated and were produced by students from
similar countries to the ELT students more attention was paid
to them and they became a part of the classroom rather than
an ugly appendage.
Each of the colleges made some effort to have presentation
material available in the foyer of the college. College B,
perhaps because of its affinity with Japan made very effective
use of these presentation materials. Due to space restrictions
the large photocopier was moved to the foyer – this had the
effect of removing the formality of the area and having
potential clients and students entering and leaving the
college being able to interact with teachers. While some
teachers did not enjoy the added burden of attention after
class hours, in general it contributed to the intimacy of
College B and was an ecological initiative worth copying. At
College E common photocopy facilities for teachers and
students had a similar result.
Eliciting information in traditional ways did not seem to work
effectively in any of the ELT colleges, a combination of
language and cultural difficulties made the eliciting of all but
practical information quite difficult. Student noticeboards
generate items of interest to students, such as share
278
accommodation and cheap mobile phone or Internet deals,
but little in the way of information that is of use to the ELT
manager.
Copies of inspection reports were placed on staff
noticeboards at College A and the idea was implemented at
College E. There is an advantage to making staff aware of the
inspection system and being able to see the results especially
when there are words of praise for the overall quality of the
institution. For many in ELT, especially younger teaching
staff, there is little basis for comparison and a team of
inspectors who comment that the college was successful in
achieving its mission can be of considerable importance.
One of the features of many workplaces is the rigidly held
views of territoriality and the desire of many to have office
space as an indicator of their status. While this may satisfy
the ego demands of managers, and help get them
contributing, it is likely that the enclosed office prevents the
informal, spontaneous communication that is so essential for
an organization’s success. The more that ELT managers can
be in places where ‘spontaneous’ communication happens the
less likely it is that serious management problems will
develop. Informal conversations with teachers, students and
administration staff are like smoke detectors – they are
effective warning tools should problems be developing.
The area near the photocopiers is a busy place in most
colleges. In one sense the copier is simply a resource that is
279
used by administration staff, teachers and managers to make
duplicated copies of material for marketing, student records,
or teaching notes. Because there are frequently delays using
the machines – paper jams, toner replacement and lack of
user knowledge however waits and queues develop. The
copier becomes an important socialising place, perhaps a
focus for office gossip, an area where work information is
exchanged. There is often a conversational stimulus to
discuss the material to be copied so that the ELT manager
may say “Oh I’ve just finished this submission on our new
English for High Schools course” while looking at a teacher’s
lesson materials for that day with the intermediate class.
Small tinkering with the relatively minor matter of
photocopying arrangements may have much larger
organizational effects changing the way organizational
members see themselves. There are notable variations in
social distance and hierarchy between ELT colleges where
teachers do their own copying compared to those with copy
assistants who frequently come to be held in lower status.
Likewise colleges that allow staff to make as many copies as
they want compared to those that place restriction; those that
allow students to make copies freely compared to those that
charge a fee; those that allow students to use the same
machines as staff compared to those who don’t. In general
terms the more this potentially rich zone of organizational
interaction is proscribed and controlled the less valuable it
becomes as a means of meaningful communication exchange.
280
Two years after opening College E implemented a change
from allowing students free copying bound only by Australian
copyright laws to one where the students had to pay using a
student only machine that was located in a different room.
This had a noticeable effect on increasing the social distance
between staff and students. The efficiency advantages were
considerable but they came at the expense of greater
connection with the clients.
The placing of pictures on the wall after social functions is
another effective ecological tool for the college. For example,
at College A on the day after Halloween, all of the students
were milling round the noticeboard outside the staff room to
see the photos of the previous day’s social event. The
tradition of putting the photos on the board creates a kind of
bonding as the teachers and the students share ‘memories’ of
events that have been important in creating the culture. The
spontaneity of having to look at something increases the
chances of communication – the business of the ELT college.
As in many other areas of teaching, displays on walls and
noticeboards around the college can also be effective. English
language students frequently produce work for display in
their classes and for social activities. Some ELT managers
prefer to keep the displays to ‘liven the place up’. This has
advantages but work with a clear calendar focus needs to be
monitored. At College C, for example, seeing the evidence of
the Valentine’s Day festivities in October simply gave more
281
an impression of negligence rather than a fun-filled, activity
crammed social calendar.
Each year College E holds a Culture Day where student
national groups are given a budget to plan a display and food
and drink from their own culture. The day produces a great
buzz of activity, as there are over thirty nationalities and
cultures represented. Consulates and Embassies supported
the event and students themselves were quite competitive as
to who had the best display and tastiest food. For a small
outlay the college had an astonishing multicultural look and
the displays were kept for three weeks afterward. Each year
in the weeks after Culture Day at College E, there were
noticeable increases in local enrolments from students who
visited the college and saw the displays and photos on the
walls. Many agents commented how striking the alteration to
the usual look of the college was, and the impact that it made
on themselves and their clients.
As noted above, the layout of a college has particular effects
on the type of informal communication that can be central to
the creation of organizational culture. The creation of zones
of communication between the different dimensions of a
college – administration, management, teaching and students
can have a significant impact.
At College A for example behind the reception area is an
array of copy machines that all staff and students at the
college have access to. On the wall behind the machines is a
282
display board for photos of student events. This area allows
for a heavy flow of informal communication and allows
frequent contact between all members of the organization.
On the other hand the offices of Principal, Registrar and
Directors of Studies are all separate and across the corridors
from the teaching staff rooms which creates a strong feel of
having to ‘make an appointment’ to discuss issues with ‘the
boss’.
At College B though, the staff room in 1996 led into the
Principal’s office. In order for the Principal to access copy
machines, coffee facilities, go to the washroom and so on he
had to walk through the staff room, providing a greater
chance that problems can be raised informally, in turn
leading to minimisation of conflict. By 1999, due to
expansion, this layout at College B was changed and the
Principal’s office was moved to a different floor. This has had
the noted effect of increasing management distance and
increasing the difficulties of management – staff
communication.
At College C the layout erected enormous barriers to
management-staff communication. All senior ELT and
Administrative management offices were at the back of the
college with their own kitchen, washrooms and copiers. This
meant that there was virtually no way to ‘run into’ the
managers for anyone on staff and is perhaps one explanation
for the greater staff communication difficulties at College C
and the sorts of discontent that led to a disgruntled former
283
employee going to a Sydney current affairs program about
irregularities at the college.
At College E, with the benefit of closely examining these
three different patterns of layout for ELT management, it was
decided in the initial premises to combine some of the
features of College A and College B. The Principals office was
sited in the teachers’ staffroom with a meeting room that
could be used for private discussions (or as a small
conference room) next door. The Financial Controller and
Registrar shared an office next to reception with an open
entry arrangement so that it would be possible to greet those
inside from reception.
Both offices were located between the elevators and the
students’ computer rooms where all students could go to and
so would be able to see senior staff in informal ways. Staff,
agents and students themselves frequently commented on
how appealing this layout was. It certainly assisted in the
early success of College E.
The ecology of an organization can also impact on its ability
to be an organization that learns. While there is no particular
physical layout that of necessity produces a learning
organization, some thought has to go into workplace design
to ensure that the chances of the workplace becoming a
learning one occur. Perhaps the most significant aspect of
ecology for assisting learning organization is the chances of
interaction especially among those who may have different
284
divisional responsibilities for similar clients. In small colleges
and educational institutions this may be the amount of
contact between those who work in the administrative and
teaching areas of the college. Frequently the workplace is
designed so that educators are effectively screened off from
administrative areas of the college; consequently teachers do
not understand the administrative aspects of their workplace,
while administrators rarely venture into teaching areas of the
college.
Student to student communication is also vital for ELT
managers to think of in the ecological audits of their college.
Free access to computers, printers, fax machines and
photocopiers such as existed at College A and College E
encourages students to see the organization as their home or
drop in centre and helps end the dilemma of ‘nowhere to go’.
Computer labs, as well as providing traditional educational
support and communication facilities over the Internet, also
fulfil a social role for students. A glance at any of the non-
teaching computer labs at College E would usually reveal a
lab nearly full of people either sending e-mail to their friends,
reading their country’s newspaper in their own language or
downloading pages of movie stars or similar. Activity logs of
Internet use showed that less than one in 20 sites visited in
1998 was a business or education related site.
Nevertheless the computer labs offered a semi-educational
activity within the college for international students who
were often lonely and alienated. They saw and see the college
285
as a refuge while they find their feet. It is perhaps taking over
from the libraries of a previous age and indeed students from
South Korea often commented that the computer labs at
College E fulfilled a similar function to libraries in their
country where students would go as much to socialise as to
learn.
12.5. Ecological Change
Changes in other climatic dimensions lead to ecological
change. Colleges expand and contract, leases expire,
different courses are offered, staff numbers grow and many
other factors lead to need for ecological change. New ELT
colleges that need to project a strongly client focused image
can, after periods of strong growth, look more inward at their
internal procedures and see how ecological changes that
have costs as well as benefits can be rationally implemented.
Ecology is a contingent variable and getting the balance right
is an important management skill.
Further choices in premises occur when opportunities
through growth or contraction of student numbers present
opportunities to move or expand premises. Often in
successful colleges there is a need to acquire space as similar
as possible to the original to maintain the same look and feel
to the institution. For smaller ELT colleges other factors such
as distance become important because it is expensive to
duplicate many facilities and to have twin management or
administration systems across multi-campuses. Even the
286
largest ELT colleges can move with impunity and apart from
the notification that is needed not too many problems arise -
indeed as colleges often move because they are becoming
financially better off, and because the move is to a better
premises, then all involved are actually welcoming of the
move.
The systems of ecological change are often implemented top
down so that people in the college are only aware of the
ecological change as it is being implemented. Discussions of
ecological change can often involve the most senior
managers first, who have to be aware of the costs and
dimensions of the project and then the next layer of
management who may have to be involved in decisions on
layout, and then finally operational staff who may decide such
matters as the location of furniture within rooms.
After eight months of operations at College E there was
already discussion of the need for new or expanded premises.
Despite the difficulties of being ‘full’ staff in the organization
had the very strong impression of organizational success.
There was a sense that future expansion of place meant
expansion and growth. So while at College E in the few
months after opening the primary ecological imperative had
been to ‘fill the space’ within a few months the problem had
changed to one ecological pressure:
Numbers are growing steadily - we now have about 50 English students and 200 business students. New problems now arise as the pressure on classroom space becomes apparent. It is
287
interesting that we have now moved into a new phase where rather than being too 'empty' being the problem it is now that it is too full. Various small technical problems like air-conditioning not working in a classroom also become more of a problem now that there are no spare classrooms.
Action Research Notes Nov 1997
Expansion, which is the next ecological phase of a successful
college though, creates its own set of management dilemmas.
This is evidenced in the action research notes in mid-1998
Stresses and strains are again beginning to appear at the ecological level. The current premises is full to capacity and so we again have to find some extra space - it will be hard to manage the new annexe however we arrange it - it is not clear how students can have breaks, how staff can be inducted and assisted etc…
Action Research Notes June 1998
In the case of College E the promise of expanded premises
proved somewhat better than the reality. A host of logistical
issues are involved in the fitout of a new work premises. A
move or an expansion of a successful college involves the
attempt to replicate features of one location that may
themselves have been imposed by constraints.
Frequently external environmental factors can provide the
impetus for ecological change. Management frequently view
these types of pressures as threats to the established order of
the organization and yet they can be strong opportunities as
well. College A, for instance, was initially affiliated with
another college and shared premises and facilities with it.
The affiliate college was a victim of the 1990 upheavals in the
288
then ELICOS industry and was finally taken over by a much
larger ELT organization. As soon as the takeover was
complete College A was instructed to ‘pack their bags’ and
find alternative accommodation.
At that time the owners and managers of College A thought it
was a devastating blow. With little experience in commercial
real estate and no expertise in premises selection they had a
very tight 2-month deadline to finalise leasing details on a
new college. Close to despair they finally decided to fitout a
new floor above one of downtown Sydney’s premier shopping
arcades. At the time the arcade was looking to refurbish its
entire seven floors and was anxious to attract the first few
tenants who would fitout their floors to enable other
prospective tenants to see what could be done with the
space. The fitout period took three months. During this time
College A had to operate from another floor in the building
that had a very cheap-looking 1960’s office partitioning fitout.
The owners thought that their predominantly Asian students
would be horrified by the temporary premises, but had no
real alternatives other than to complete the move and hope
that the promise of better facilities in the near future would
appease the students. Far from being dissatisfied with the
temporary accommodation though, the students loved it.
Many referred to its comfortable lived in feel and the fact
that there were small study rooms where they could chat in
small groups rather than the usual large cafeteria/common
room configuration of most colleges. Many of the students
289
from the People’s Republic of China commented that the
décor reminded them of corporate facilities back in PRC.
Indeed when the time came to move to the brand new
beautifully fitted-out premises two floors above, many of the
students were sorry to be leaving their ‘home’. Getting
ecology right is complex management skill!
12.6. Action Research at College E: Ecology
As a result of research into organizational ecology and the
observations of ecology at other ELT colleges, at College E
ecological initiatives were incorporated into the action
research. At the commencement of the action research,
discussions on ecology with teaching staff showed little
awareness of ecology except within the classroom where
types of furniture and classroom layout were an area of
strong interest.
Chairs/desks in the classroom should be easy to move and preferably the teacher should have a chair on wheels to "spin" between groups.
Katherine, Action Research Cycle 1, College E, 1997
Teaching and non-teaching staff were happy though to
experiment with changes to more usual ecological settings.
The Action Research cycles in 1997 and 1998 emphasised, in
tandem with the other climate initiatives, the attempt to
reduce barriers across the organization to encourage
integration of activities, collaboration among staff and a
290
greater focus on clients. This meant reducing the physical
boundaries between teaching and administration staff,
between teaching staff and students, between management
and staff and between management and students.
These areas of emphasis led to two concrete initiatives. These
were:
Action Research Initiative E1: Action Research
Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) and 2 (January –
June 1998): Management not be physically separated
from staff except for meetings that had to be private for
reasons of confidentiality.
Action Research Initiative E2: Action Research
Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) and 2 (January –
June 1998): Workspaces to be mixed and an ‘open
classroom’ policy to be implemented.
An open classroom policy was suggested where outsiders
were welcome to classrooms and could be authorized by the
teacher concerned without any need for permission from
management. Owners of the college were particularly
supportive of this measure because many potential English
college students like to have a first hand experience of the
college and class by having a ‘trial lesson’. In many colleges
this can cause friction with teaching staff who do not
welcome the regular intrusion of unknown students into their
class. The explication of the measure within a framework of
291
open classrooms and combined with the ability of teachers to
also feel welcome in each other’s classrooms was a win-win
result. Teachers in training for ELT such as those doing
TEFLA certificate courses were also welcome to observe and
assist in lessons.
In order to implement Ecology Initiative 1 a meeting room
was created with conference table and chairs. This room was
located between teaching staff rooms, administration,
reception and marketing offices so that any who needed a
confidential meeting could use the facility but at other times
work would be in communal spaces. The Executive Manager
of the college also reserved a private office as he conducted
other businesses as well as College E. While the request was
reasonable it did limit the absolute commitment to this
principle.
Many routine management tasks such as preparing
documents, assembling material for accreditation authorities,
developing courses and dealing with student requests for
consideration in areas such as poor attendance or academic
performance did not suffer from this open approach and
many teaching staff were able to acquire management and
counselling skills by an osmosis process. The extra advantage
of this was that the day-to-day accumulation of operational
details was easily disseminated among staff.
In order to implement Ecology Initiative 2, teachers of
English, Business and Computing courses all mixed in
292
different staffrooms and marketing, administration and
reception staff easily mixed over two offices and the
reception area. At first teaching staff and administration staff
were able to share workspaces but after the first phase of the
action research finished the division of teaching staff and
administration staff recommenced. One initiative that
spontaneously grew out of this experience though, was that a
‘women’s group’ of one Business teacher, one English
teacher, the deputy Principal, the Registrar, the Bursar and
the Chief Receptionist who all met once a week for a few
hours to discuss issues affecting their work at the college as
well as chat about personal issues. The official meeting was
then followed by a long lunch. While the intended means of
avoiding separation of line and support staff did not last
much beyond its experimentation period, in many ways this
group helped achieve its intended effect of avoiding
horizontal miscommunications at the college.
Debate about separate offices for managers was a fairly
constant feature of discussion throughout the action research
period. A concrete symbol of the end of management
experimentation was the building of separate offices for the
new ELT managers in the middle of 2001.
…a wall has literally been erected in the staffroom and (the new Principal, the ELT DoS and the Business DoS) all have their own little offices. It is so good that they are not in our space any longer. Their personalities are not conducive to an open-plan staffroom…. They are pure and simple, fish with big chips on their shoulders.
(James, Teacher, College E, 2001)
293
and
...newer staff cannot believe how strongly we supported the idea of all staff in together in ‘the old days’, just goes to show that even the soundest of management principles can f… up if people are assholes.
(David, Teacher, College E, 2001)
The underlying aim of an ELT college’s ecology should be
that, within its limitations and constraints, it works to support
the development of the college’s structure, culture and
milieu. Its members should see it as a positive feature of the
organization and a reflection of the other dimensions of the
organization.
12.7. Conclusion
The label ecology can be used to cover the place and the
physical attributes of a work organization. This includes the
premises, its location, the fitout, the furniture, the resources
and the layout of the workplace. Issues that arise as to where
people spend their time and why certain places are attractive
or unattractive are important managerial concerns in
understanding ELT colleges and their dynamics.
This chapter has discussed the ecology of international ELT
colleges and some ELT management implications. It looked at
the notion of ecology and its relationship to organizational
structure and culture. It then outlined the premises and
locations of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney and gave a
294
brief overview of some of their more significant ecological
contrasts. It gave some examples of the links between
ecology and communication flows. It then briefly reviewed
ecological change at some ELT colleges before noting in
more detail ecological changes at College E.
There are many ecological features that can be manipulated
by an ELT manager to improve organizational outcomes.
Action research at College E suggests some strategies that
can be used in the area of ecology and some of the effects
these had on other structural and cultural variables at the
college. The success of these strategies may offer direction to
ELT managers in similar situations.
It is to the cultural variables of ELT colleges and their
management that this study now turns.
295
C h a p t e r 1 3
THE CULTURE OF WORK ORGANIZATIONS
13.1. Introduction
This chapter defines organizational culture for the purposes
of this discussion, then outlines some of the observable
features and behaviours of organizational cultures and the
connections between an organization's culture and its
structure, milieu and environment. A framework of analysis
that can be used as a classificatory and descriptive tool in
ethnographic research into ELT colleges is then suggested.
The chapter explores some of the implications of research
into organizational culture for international ELT colleges and
argues that an understanding of an organization's culture is
an important factor in the analysis of its educational and
entrepreneurial outcomes.
13.2. The Concept of Culture
In the social scientific literature the study of symbols and
symbolic forms has generally embraced the concept of
culture. Despite the enormous difficulties of ascertaining a
precise definition of culture and the manipulation or
management of symbolic forms, few analysts would disagree
that the concept is crucial in the understanding of social
scientific phenomenon. The concept of culture as a focus of
296
study has a long background and this has led to divergent
investigations into 'culture' based on varying interpretations
of the notion. Before discussing the cultures of a number of
international ELT colleges in Australia the construct of
culture must be examined and defined.
Thompson (1992, pp.123 - 162) distinguishes four basic
senses of culture. Firstly the classical conception of culture
as a process of spiritual or intellectual development which
figured in the discussions of culture among German
philosophers and historians during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries; secondly the anthropological notion of
culture which Thompson terms the descriptive conception
which refers to the array of values, conventions, customs,
beliefs and habits of particular cultural grouping and the
later symbolic conception which focuses on the use of
symbolism as a cultural phenomena to transmit
understanding and to maintain cultural patterns. The fourth
sense that Thompson identifies builds on the symbolic
conception but takes more account of the structured social
relations within which symbols and symbolic action are
embedded. Thompson refers to this as the structural
conception of culture. The structural conception of culture
means that cultural phenomena:
may be understood as symbolic forms in structured contexts; and cultural analysis may be construed as the study of the meaningful constitution and social contextualization of symbolic forms.
(Thompson, 1992; p. 123).
297
The classical conception of culture is of little relevance for
this study except in as much as it serves as a reminder of the
debate between prescription and description, relativism and
universalism, that underlies all social scientific research.
Identifying particular cultural activities as more or less
desirable, as higher or lower is an activity that assumes the
possibility of objective universal criteria of comparison. The
early universalist prescriptions of organizational cultural
theorists have been jolted by the failure to identify ready
made cultures that can be universally applied and notions of
'fit' or suitability to local conditions have prove awkward
when generalised across sectors.
The descriptive conception of culture has grown from the
works of the anthropologists and cultural historians who
were concerned with the ethnography of non-European
societies. This descriptive conception can include all variation
between human groups except perhaps for physiological
ones. This conception of culture has been criticised,
therefore, as being too broad and too vague becoming more
extensive than anthropology itself.
These problems with the descriptive conception of culture
within anthropological circles led to the development of the
symbolic conception of culture. The symbolic conception
argues that culture refers to symbolling - the peculiarly
human mental ability that allows events and phenomena to be
seen as a web of significance that has been spun by humans
themselves. Analysis based on this conception seeks to:
298
make sense of actions and expressions, to specify the meaning they have for the actors whose actions they are, and, in so doing, to venture some suggestions, some contestable considerations about the [group] of which these actions and expressions are part
(Thomspon, 1992: p.132).
According to Schein (1985, p.50) for example, culture is a
group’s solutions to its basic problems of survival and
adaptation to the external environment and the integration of
its internal processes to ensure the group's continuity of
survival and adaptation. This broad view of culture can be
used to describe the behaviours and beliefs of any group from
a club or gang through to an ethnic or national group.
The chief difficulty with this approach to culture is that it
gives insufficient attention to the role of power and social
conflict within which cultural phenomena are embedded. If
cultural phenomena are expressions of power relations that
either sustain existing social orders or disrupt them to form
new social patterns, then there is difficulty with laying undue
emphasis on a neutral 'meaning', rather than on a more
individuated interpretation of conflicting meanings according
to the divergent meanings that cultural phenomena may have
for different individuals according to their different
circumstances, resources and opportunities.
In order to analyse and discuss the organizational cultures
that are the focus of this area of the study then, there is a
need for a more contextually embracing method of culture
that can include the contextualisation of social phenomena
299
and the structured social contexts within which cultural
phenomena are produced transmitted and received. This
study adopts Thompson’s (1992, p.123) notion of the
structural conception of culture, which emphasises the
symbolic character of cultural phenomena and the
embedding of such phenomena in structured social contexts.
13.3. Organizational Culture
Whenever a person comes into contact with an organization
from a football club to a school to a work organization it is
apparent that they also come into contact with a variety of
rules and norms, stories about what goes on, various policies
and procedures, jargon, formal documents, insider jokes,
unusual rituals and varied tasks. It is because members of
each organization are able to interpret the meanings of such
phenomena in a fuller way than non-members that has led to
the idea that organizations have 'cultures'.
Alvesson (1993, p.1) however, notes that organizational
culture is studied by researchers from a wide variety of
disciplines including management, communication, sociology,
anthropology, psychology and folklore with research
orientations ranging from the positivistic to the interpretive
and post-modernist.
This variety leads to a wide range of research purposes,
interests, points of focus and philosophical foundations of
inquiry in the field and makes it extremely difficult to view
300
organizational culture as a single, well defined, coherent area
of study. The differing research purposes and philosophical
foundations also make the precise definition of culture an
area of intense dispute. There can be a real difficulty in
disentangling the ‘organizational culture’ of management and
organization theory from the concept of culture used by
anthropologists because organizational studies, as studies of
groups or cultures, are based either explicitly or implicitly on
anthropological paradigms (Gamst, 1989, pp. 12 - 19).
Traditional organizational research has been criticised as
being based on outmoded anthropological perspectives, such
as structural-functional or configurationist views that fail to
explore “multiple native views” (Gregory, 1983), and even in
anthropology culture has no fixed or broadly agreed meaning.
In fact the whole notion of culture and the 'culture paradigm'
is a central feature of debate in recent anthropology.
Organizational cultures are neither monolithic not entirely
cohesive and each member's beliefs, values, memories and
experiences of cultural phenomena will vary. Nevertheless
regular interpretive patterns and configurations can be
discerned in each organization and allow organizational
culture to be discussed.
According to Tagiuri's model of organizational climate, the
culture of an organization is the dimension of the
organization that refers to its values, belief systems, norms
and ways of thinking, which come to characterise the people
in the organization. The cultural dimension includes the often
301
unseen, almost unconscious, forces that comprise the
symbolic side of organizations and help to shape and
reinforce human behaviour in them. This dimension is
frequently described as “…the way we do things around
here”. The link between climate and culture is strong and in
many ways difficult to clearly demarcate. In particular there
are strong and recurring links with the structures.
When describing and comparing the cultures of different
organizations it is important for the ethnographic researcher
to try to indicate how items of ecology, milieu and
organizational structure interact with the particular
organizational culture. Indeed it is this dynamic relationship
of the different facets of the organization that ethnography is
most usefully able to illuminate in comparison with
traditional experimental or survey research.
The term ‘organizational culture’ became an area of
specialised interest in academic literature following
Pettigrew’s (1979) article On studying organizational cultures
and the work of Charles Handy. Pettigrew's article paved the
way for later research on cultural phenomena in
organizations by legitimising it as a concept worthy of
investigation. He defined organizational culture as the system
of generally and collectively accepted meanings, which
operate for a certain group on a certain occasion (Pettigrew,
1979, p.579). Pettigrew emphasised the concept of the
symbol and introduced notions such as the role of language,
302
ideology, belief, ritual and myth in organizational life
(Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv, & Sanders, 1990; Alvesson &
Berg (1992).
There has been an increasing research interest in
organizational cultures since the early 1980’s (Alvesson,
1993; p.3). There is now a huge body of literature on the
culture of organizations and how their customs and traditions
influence the behaviour of their members. The various
models and approaches to organizational theory emphasise
different aspects of organizational and management
structure, however, and no model of organizational culture
can possibly map all the relevant phenomena.
While research into organizational culture pre-dates the
corporate culture boom of recent years, since 1980 a broader
and more consistent interest in it has emerged. It is probable
that when the impact of Japanese economic success began to
be noticed in other OECD countries, many western managers
felt that Japanese success may have been linked to their
corporate cultures. This suggested to many researchers that
the concept of organizational culture required further
investigation (Alvesson, 1993, pp.3-4). Thus, research interest
in organizational culture accelerated and in the early 1980s
Ouchi's (1981) book titled Theory Z and Peters & Waterman's
(1982) volume In Search of Excellence were both best-selling
works that explored the effects of culture and values on
corporate performance. Peters & Waterman, Ouchi and Deal
& Kennedy all define organizational culture functionally
303
seeing it as a system of shared values and beliefs that
interact with the people, structures and control mechanisms
in an organization to produce the norms of behaviour in that
particular organization. All these writers view shared values
as "what is important", beliefs as "what is thought to be true"
and norms of behaviour as "how things are done around
here" (Owens, 1995; p.81).
While organizational culture was a concept ‘waiting to be
discovered’ it may also be that changes in the economies of
OECD countries and the growth of a more systemic analysis
of work interactions have made organizational cultures more
visible. The trend away from mass production industries to
those, such as ELT, that are based on service and information
also mean there are now many more organizations where
cooperation is more important than compliance.
Organizational culture, therefore, is now accepted as a very
real and observable feature of organizational life. It can be
best understood as a collection of solutions to the problems
that are typically faced by an organization, solutions that
have worked consistently and are therefore taught to new
members of the organization as a correct way to frame,
understand and perceive the problems that the organization
typically faces. As the organizational culture develops over
time it shapes assumptions about such deep culture notions
as truth, humanity and normality. In some senses it is a
cognitive patterning device - a way of structuring thought in
304
order to increase certainty and predictability so that meaning
can be created and enhanced.
The shifting emphasis in writings on management and
administration away from the traditional focus on 'hard'
issues such as management systems, schemes, devices and
structures towards 'soft' issues such as culture reflects the
notion that hard issues can distract organizational leaders
from their real goals. Two basic elements of managerial
success are creating pride in the organization and
enthusiasm for its works, both of which are ultimately
cultural phenomena. At bottom effective management for
superior performance requires an organization to take
exceptional care of its clients or customers and to constantly
innovate.
This emphasis touches on three areas of concern in
organizational culture for international ELT colleges. These
are integration of activities and organizational goals,
collaboration among organizational members and a focus on
service and care of clients as the core mission of the college.
13.4. Describing Organizational Cultures
While organizational culture is an awkward and controversial
area of research it is a vital difference between organizations
and an important ‘real world’ indicator of what makes a
particular organization an identifiable entity. Hofstede,
Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders (1990) developed an analytical
305
framework of organizational cultures for their study of
organizational cultures in Denmark and Holland. Their
framework sees organizational cultures as consisting of
specific symbols, heroes, rituals and values that only
‘insiders’ in a particular organization can readily identify and
respond to. They see each of these levels of an organization’s
culture as being identifiable through practices that are
observable by, although less than fully meaningful to,
outsiders. Their model is reproduced in Figure 12.1.
Figure 12.1: Analytical Framework of Organizational Culture (based on Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders, 1990)
In order to try to identify, describe and compare the
organizational cultures of the ELT institutions examined in
this research project the above framework was used to
gather and organize data. While there are obvious theoretical
problems associated with overly simplistic models of
organizational cultures it would appear that in comparing
organizations that are involved in similar fields of activity an
analytical framework such as that described above is a useful
306
comparative and descriptive tool. It can help to focus the
researcher on relevant phenomena and enable comparison
between different ELT colleges to occur. It also works as an
organizing principle in recording and writing up research
data.
For the purposes of this framework symbols are seen as the
most easily retrievable pieces of data about an organization.
They are the words, gestures, pictures or objects that carry a
particular meaning within a culture and are often not readily
comprehensible to outsiders. Heroes are persons alive or
dead, real or imaginary who possess characteristics highly
prized in the culture and who thus serve as models for
behaviour. These people personify the culture's values and
provide tangible role models for others.
Rituals are collective activities that are technically
superfluous but are socially essential within a culture -
activities that are largely carried out for their own sake. It is
possible to further distinguish between the systematic and
programmed routines of day-to-day organizational life and
the orchestrated or extravagant aspects, which are
sometimes, termed 'ceremonies'.
The practices relating to these symbols, heroes and rituals
can be observed by outsiders but the meaning of such
practices lies in the way they are perceived by the insiders.
Penetrating this network effectively can aid a researcher in
understanding what is really going on. Learning about the
307
cultural network and the practices relating to the
organization's symbols, heroes and rituals assists in
identifying the values which are the core of any
organizational culture. These deep values inform all other
organizational activities and may be seen through the
outward manifestations and practices of the members of a
particular cultural grouping.
Organizational culture can be inferred by observing
behaviour, but it is not the study of the behaviour but rather
of the system of knowledge, values and beliefs that gives rise
to the behaviour. The following chapter examines how college
practices in the culture areas of integration of work tasks and
organizational goals, collaboration among organizational
members and a focus on service and client care are enhanced
or inhibited by various symbols, rituals, heroes and values of
the organizations concerned.
13.5. Organizational Culture and Organizational
Effectiveness
Organizational effectiveness, while a common real world
basis of comparison between organizations, presents
tremendous theoretical problems. In this research project
when comment is made about organizational effectiveness it
is considered from a managerial perspective and is a
combination of organizational goal attainment and system
resource acquisition. Organizational effectiveness can
obviously be viewed very differently by other stakeholders in
308
an educational organization such as teachers (who may focus
more on 'needs satisfaction' of staff) or students (who may
focus on the appropriateness of instruction for their
individual goals). One of the advantages of the ethnographic
approach is that these perspectives can also be illuminated
and allowed some 'voice' in the data.
Nevertheless much of the research interest in organizational
cultures stems from the hypothesis that culture is an
important variable in organizational effectiveness and that
certain types of organizational cultures are more likely to
lead to effective organizational outcomes than others. It is
possible to take either a positive or a negative view of the link
between organizational culture and effectiveness. The
positive or tool view of culture sees it as offensive, something
to be used by management to improve effectiveness. The
negative or trap view of culture sees it as defensive - a
possible impediment to the attainment of organizational goals
such as financial profit and stakeholder satisfaction.
Many writers have argued that there are close links between
organizational culture and organizational change. Indeed
managing culture is frequently equated with changing
culture and the improvement of organizational performance
is frequently seen as a matter of achieving planned cultural
change. One possible reason why organizational culture has
such an impact on performance and life chances of
organizations is because when choices must be made,
309
organizational values become, at least for most members of
an organization, an indispensable guide in making them.
Kanter (1983) in her analysis of culture and climate in a
number of US corporations found that pride in the
organization and a focus on successful organizational
outcomes seemed to correlate with the level of integration of
the organization. Holistic thinking combined with a
questioning of traditional practice seemed in Kanter’s wide-
ranging study to be significant cultural factors. Segmentation
on the other hand, where organizational members are
isolated and mandated to focus solely on their particular
corner of operations may make it difficult for members to feel
a sense of belonging or pride in their organization.
An emphasis on integration, belonging and participation can
assist in achieving both increased profitability and increased
educational quality satisfying both entrepreneurial and
educational prerogatives. Effective outcomes for ELT colleges
are more likely for colleges that have a culture of belonging
to the whole organization and one where members feel a
sense of responsibility for overall success rather than simply
being commissioned for one specific task.
Senge (in O’Neil, 1995: p.21) has noted that educational
institutions can suffer the twin cultural disadvantages of
being stratified but with people at most levels seeing
themselves as holding very little power. He argues that one
characteristic of an organization that has a low ability to
310
learn is that people at all levels feel ‘disempowered’ – the
general mood being that one does not have any leverage with
which to make any difference. This problem of fragmentation
and disempowerment is a sign of a weak organizational
culture and one that proactive ELT managers need to inhibit.
The second cultural construct that would seem of importance
in international ELT colleges is that of collaboration.
Hargreaves (1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures of
collaboration in education. He sees collaboration becoming a
kind of metaparadigm of educational and organisational
change. He sees collaboration as one of the most promising
metapardigms of the postmodern age as a device for
articulating and integrating principles of action, planning
culture, development, organization and research. He argues
that some of the reasons supporting the positive effects of
collaborative work cultures are that they provide moral
support, strengthening the resolve of organizational members
and allowing vulnerabilities to be shared. Collaboration also
contributes to improvements in efficiency through a
reduction or elimination of duplication and redundancy.
Collaboration is likely to improve prospects of the college
remaining effective by encouraging a degree of risk taking
and a greater diversity in educational strategies. Managers in
a collaborative organization are likely to avoid overload
because of some sharing of the burden of decision-making. A
further advantage is likely to accrue to the college as a whole
because of a narrowing of the difference of time perspectives
311
between administrators and teachers. A greater unity of time
perspective also assists in reconciling the event orientation of
teachers with the process orientation of managers. (For
further discussion of event orientation and process
orientation see Chapter 15).
Hargreaves (1994a, p247 ff) also notes some of the problems
of collaboration including that it can be comfortable and
complacent, confined to the least controversial areas of
teachers’ work consolidating rather than challenging
traditional practice. It can also be terribly conformist leading
to groupthink and suppressing individuality and can be a
contrived administrative device that can be used to suppress
effective change. It seems important that collaboration is not
seen as being located within a division of an organization
where all members are responsible for a similar task but
rather across organizational divisions so that the
collaboration is for the organization.
The third cultural area that may impact positively on
organizational outcomes for ELT colleges is that of a focus on
service. Walker (2000, pp.23-33) has argued that ELT
practitioners have largely located their activities within
education and linguistics but that the underlying commercial
nature of many ELT operations also makes their activities
similar to those of other front-line service providers. They
share a range of communicative, interpersonal and
reflective/analytical skills with others in front line service
provision. ELT teachers are largely responsible for the quality
312
of the core operation of their colleges and under the right
conditions can create considerable competitive advantage.
13.6. The Relationship between Organizational Culture
and Climate
While all four dimensions in Tagiuri's model obviously play an
important role in determining the performance of an
organization, organizational culture has come to be seen by
many researchers as the most significant of the four
dimensions in defining the character and quality of the
climate of an organization (Owens, 1995: p.80). In the 1980s
business and management writers such as Deal and Kennedy
(1982) strenuously argued the urgent need for organizational
leaders to understand the power of organizational culture.
They suggested that the creation and cultivation of effective
organizational cultures was the chief variable in determining
organizational outcomes.
Organizational culture is often intuitively felt to be a critical
aspect of organizational climate. The ‘feel’ of a college may
well be related to ecological or milieu features but the
organizational culture is often responsible for emphasising or
bringing about such features. As Owens (1995, p.82) points
out, when studying organizational culture:
...one looks at the artefacts and technology that people use and one listens to what they say and observes what they do in an effort to discover the patterns of thoughts, beliefs and values that they use in making sense of the everyday events that they experience. Thus organizational culture is the study of the
313
wellsprings from which the values and characteristics of an organization arise.
One of the reasons that organizational culture is of interest in
management research is that it seems to be an area that
offers leverage to the manager to bring about more effective
outcomes for an organization.
Organizational culture is the patterning of the social
structure, the patterning of communication/interaction and
the group expectations that come to distinguish and define
particular organizations. Such 'culture' is not a completely
static or unitary entity and it can be realised through multiple
identities and levels, both formal and informal, reflecting the
fact that organizations are frequently worlds "locked in a war
of meanings" (Hamada, 1994, p.10).
The transition from modernist to postmodernist organizations
brought about by rapid social and economic change has
demanded and will demand deep changes and adjustments in
attitudes. Owens (1995, p.207) points out that such changes
that touch on the central core of assumptions and structures
of an organization are far more difficult to achieve than
simple behavioural changes. Reworking this central core of
assumptions and structures involves significant adjustments
in the organization's culture. For this reason organizational
culture is frequently identified as a significant area of
leverage in organizational change.
314
For those who wish to change and improve their
organizations, however, the question is to what extent the
organization's culture can be consciously altered and
manipulated to produce desired outcomes. In the narrow
managerial view of culture, culture is something an
organization 'has' which can be easily tampered with to
improve performance. The broader anthropological view of
culture, though, which sees culture as something an
organization 'is', suggests that deep changes to
organizational cultures may be far more difficult than is
usually thought (Anthony, 1994, p.28).
The two differing views of organizational culture lead to
distinct and often conflicting commentaries in research data.
Occasionally the two become confused so that the
'inspirational view' of an organization's culture, how
managers of the organization wish the organization's
members and the public viewed them, is taken to be the real
culture of the organization even when there are big
differences between this espoused corporate culture and the
'real' one. Analyses of the influence of organizational culture
on organizational change have usually focused on changes in
this idealized management version of culture. Ethnographic
studies of organizations need to get 'underneath' the
management view of the organization's culture to reveal the
tensions between the idealised and the actual culture of the
organization.
315
Nevertheless the drive to manage culture springs from the
possibility of using its evident strength and its ability to
influence behaviour and relationships so as to harness an as
yet minimally tapped organizational resource. From a
management perspective the aim should be to bring the
meaning given to the organization by its members ever closer
to the view that the organization or its leaders takes of itself.
The, perhaps unreachable, goal is that the organizational
culture ultimately does become synonymous with the
idealised 'corporate' one (Anthony, 1994 p.48).
13.7. Conclusion
This chapter has examined the construct of organizational
culture and some of the difficulties involved in investigations
of the cultures of work organizations. It has outlined the
frameworks used in both investigations into work cultures of
ELT colleges and of the relationship between culture and
other aspects of an ELT college’s climate.
The framework of Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders was
used to guide data collection in the area of ELT college
cultures in the following chapter. Three cultural themes,
those of integration, collaboration and service have been
identified in this study as being of significance in the
enhancement of organizational effectiveness in an
international ELT college. While recognising the theoretical
difficulties involved in the use of cultural constructs,
organizational culture at international ELT colleges is likely
316
to be a significant variable influencing organizational
effectiveness.
317
C h a p t e r 1 4
THE CULTURE OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES
14.1. Introduction
Organizational culture is the least tangible dimension of
organizational climate and yet it is likely to have a powerful
effect on the other dimensions and on the overall climate of
an international ELT college. It is argued throughout this
work that an emphasis on the three cultural themes of
integration, collaboration and client service can have positive
repercussions throughout an international ELT college and
influence its vision and values drawn from differing
discourses, its organizational structure, its milieu and its
ecology.
Richards (2001, pp.374 – 377) has identified organizational
culture as a primary institutional factor affecting quality
language teaching in ELT colleges. The discussion in the
previous chapter highlighted, however, some of the
difficulties that arise in the discussion and analysis of
organizational culture. Nevertheless it is a concept with
significant real world consequences, and one that instinct and
intuition, along with research, indicate as a vital area of
concern for ELT managers.
318
This chapter examines the organizational cultures at
international ELT colleges and considers them in relation to
the theory discussed in the previous chapter. It describes
some cultural initiatives that took place at College E and their
effect on the organizational culture of that college. The
argument is made that a strong in-awareness focus on the
creation and maintenance of an integrated and service
oriented organizational culture with a collaborative approach
to work tasks is an essential and achievable ELT management
aim.
14.2. Integration
Organizational cultures obviously vary in intensity and
strength. White, Martin, Stimson & Hodge (1991, p.17) in one
of the central practical books on ELT management argue that
ELT colleges with a strong sense of mission, effective
leadership, committed staff and students and a strong base of
social support will be more likely to succeed.
Integration was identified in the previous chapter as being a
significant aspect of organizational culture that is likely to
impact upon organizational performance in ELT. Where
management strategies, teaching styles and underlying
organizational culture are in harmony they can reinforce each
other, whereas when management strategies and teaching
styles clash, teachers and managers are likely to experience
conflict and difficulties, negatively influencing their work and
their relationships with each other and with their clients. ELT
319
managers, in their bridging role between the operational and
the administrative arms of their colleges, can work to
integrate consistent values from the classroom to the
reception desk to the managing director’s office.
Such integration needs to be kept in-awareness and
continuously reinforced at all levels or else a drift to
balkanisation can occur. This need for a constant hands-on
implementation of integration values and strategies was
noted by Learning Organization theorist Peter Senge in an
interview about educational institutions as learning
organizations. Senge (in O’Neil, 1995, p.22) noted that in
many cases even organizations that have worked to produce
and implement a vision have it undermined by making the
vision an ‘event’ rather than a ‘process’. Going off to write a
vision statement and then going back to work is pointless.
The production of shared visions, the creation of a field of
shared meaning that is likely to produce a deep sense of trust
and mutual understanding, and its integration across an
organization takes a long time and involves a lot of reflection
and a great deal of listening and communication. In Senge’s
opinion 20 – 40% of management time ‘forever’ needs to be
spent on working to get people to reflect on and articulate
what it is they’re really trying to create and keeping a focus
on the whole organization working together.
Senge’s work on learning organizations is one meta-strategy
that bridges the discourses of the entrepreneur and the
educator. It is, at heart, a strategy of organizational
320
integration, staff collaboration and a clear focus on clients.
Many of the principles outlined in learning organization
descriptions are focused on integration and the cultural
dimension. One definition of a learning organization is a
…group of people pursuing common purposes (individual purposes as well) with a collective commitment to regularly weighing the value of those purposes, modifying them when that makes sense, and continuously developing more effective and efficient ways of accomplishing those purposes
(Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1995; p.231)
A work culture of integration allows a greater degree of
organizational learning. Argyris and Schön (1978, p.353),
argue that organizational learning is a process of the sharing
and modification of assumptions shaped by cultural means.
They suggest that organizational learning is related to all
other aspects of an enterprise but that if no conscious effort
is made to direct and integrate learning across the
organization the learning will be haphazard and ultimately
directionless. As well as haphazard learning Argyris and
Schön identify the concepts of single loop or goal-based
learning and double loop learning in organizational contexts.
This notion has become a central idea in later writings on the
learning organization. Argyris and Schön (1978, pp.2-3)
define single loop, goal-based learning as learning content;
that is the acquisition of a greater amount of knowledge
relating to the solution of a familiar problem. It is
thermostatic, detecting when it is too hot or too cold and then
responding by turning the heat on or off. If an error is
detected and then corrected allowing the organization to
321
carry on its present policies or achieve present objectives,
then that error detection and correction process is single loop
learning. Double loop learning, on the other hand, involves
learning about processes, and thus questions and challenges
the fundamental assumptions under which organizational
transactions are occurring. Double loop learning involves
reflections upon an organization's underlying values and
norms and leads to the modification of those that are
unsuitable. Double loop learning occurs when error is
detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification
of an organization's underlying norms, policies and
objectives.
Handy (1991, p.56) also makes a distinction between the
learning required to solve a particular problem and the habit
of learning to examine the processes that lead to such
problems occurring so that they can be avoided. While
learning, especially for educators, has very positive and
powerful connotations Argyris and Schön (1978, p.353) are
careful to note that organizational learning can also be
dysfunctional. Learning is an 'amoral' process and certain
kinds of learning and change such as deterioration or
learning how to deceive and manipulate are negative.
The notion of the learning organization has become a popular
organizational and management concept over the last
decade. Field and Ford describe the concept thus:
322
The learning organization … sees knowledge as the primary resource and learning as the key tool to obtain it. In this sense knowledge is not theories and technical abstractions but a living mixture of information and concepts combined with the understanding necessary to apply them to the analysis and solution of problems, planning and prediction. In order to obtain maximum benefit from this the organization and the employees need to be effective at learning. Part of this learning is the recognition of the need for integrated approaches and the understanding that no strategy is sufficient by itself. … what is important is getting the right combination of strategies
(Field & Ford, 1995: pp.4-5)
Most educational organizations have reasonable levels of
support for individual learning but not enough for
organizational learning. In many cases the knowledge that
the organization really needs to improve is too fragmented
and piecemeal to be utilised effectively (O’Neill, 1995: pp20-
22). Analyses of entrepreneurial businesses suggest that they
require less up-front planning and more implementation
analysis and double loop learning than is typically practised
in larger or public sector organizations. Survival often
depends on a combination of creativity and a "superior
capacity for execution". This ability to execute creative ideas
quickly and successfully requires integrating action and
analysis in a process that resembles constant action research
(Rist & Joyce, 1995; pp.127-131). The combination of typical
‘educator’ learning with that of typical ‘entrepreneur’
learning is, therefore likely to be more beneficial to an
organization than either one alone.
Improvements in integration of financial and educational
matters can improve organizational outcomes. At none of the
323
colleges in this study except College E did teaching staff have
even remote ideas of the pricing of the courses they were
teaching. While most ELT teachers perceive that this is
something for ‘administration’ a simple understanding of
course fees and advantages and disadvantages in such
factors as long and short term enrolment can assist
tremendously in attracting students to the college, advising
them once they are there and in understanding the overall
operation of the college.
In non-financial areas too, integration can easily produce
improved outcomes. College D for example had Australian
students studying in the same institution as the international
ELT students. Little thought or effort was given to
procedures that could improve the learning experiences of
both groups even though contact with young Australians is,
according to data on international students collected by AEI
(DEST, 2002a), the area of least satisfaction for international
students in Australia. College B, on the other hand, made use
of the limited opportunities for mixing the international
students with the Australians learning Japanese in the
evenings at the college. The promotion and support of events
that encouraged such mixing was an important feature of
college life for many of the international students at the
college.
Integration of activities also extends to documentation and
external inspections of the college. In some colleges the
requirements of the NEAS and its annual inspections are
324
seen as a kind of flaming hoop that needs to be leaped
through once a year and then forgotten. Systems do not get
put in place that can satisfy regulatory requirements and
practices are allowed to develop that have to be covered up
or disguised at inspection time. At College C for example the
accreditation requirements were perceived as having a lack
of relevance to day-to-day operations, so much so that a
consultant had to be brought in to assist the Director of
Studies in completing annual accreditation returns. Most of
the elements required, though, were sound commercial and
educational items and would have required little management
effort to integrate into routine college practice. A reluctance
on the part of owners of the college to work more
collaboratively with the ELT management and staff, and a
tendency to make abrupt policy decisions without sufficient
consultation, suggest that a lack of commitment to
integration was responsible for these difficulties.
Integration strategies can also be useful across educational
arms of a college. College A and College C each had
vocational and English colleges on the same premises. There
was some management level awareness of the need for
greater integration to increase collaboration between the two
areas. Teaching staff, however, saw a strong difference
between the two divisions and without active programs to
ensure integration both colleges ended up with divided staff
rooms and areas of conflict between their ELT and vocational
operations. Part of the difficulty was that many ELT
325
practitioners had a view of vocational courses as more
‘serious’ and academic, while in return vocational college
staff saw the ELT teachers with, often, better teaching skills
and a more creative and innovative approach to classroom
practice. Differences in hours and expectations also caused
resentment.
At College A, for example, two teachers of business
communication had less qualifications and experience than
the English teachers but were employed full-time with a very
light workload. The English teachers resented the distinction:
It would have been more bearable if either of them were really qualified and then you could think, “Well one day I'll be able to bludge like that,” but the fact that they were barely qualified to teach made things really irritating.
Gloria, Teacher, College A, 1997
College A may have been able to avoid this point of
contention if it had offered the teaching of courses in
Business Communication to English teachers who had a
background in the area or perhaps by restructuring the
Business Communication modules of the vocational courses
to increase their teaching workload.
It is not only integration among organizational members that
is a key feature of a sound organizational culture; ELT
managers themselves have to think holistically. An emphasis
on a culture of integration allows solutions to organizational
326
problems to be taken in wholes, not parts, by college
management.
14.3. Collaboration
There is a palpable feel to a thriving work organization. The
slings and arrows are just as present, the tensions and
discoursal contradictions never completely disappear, but
there is a sense that we shall overcome, that no problem is
insurmountable, that one works to solve difficulties not to be
ground down by them. In such an atmosphere people can
grow and experiment rather than shrink within themselves.
In person dependent service industries such as ELT the
creation of this feeling may be vital.
One concept in the area of organizational culture that may
assist in the development of such a feel is that of
collaboration. As the etymology of the word suggests,
collaboration is simply working together with others for a
common purpose. It is the sense that all in the organization
are collaborators, pulling together that it likely to contribute
to a strong positive work culture with consequent impact on
organizational outcomes. It is linked to and grows from an
integrated approach to organizational activities but it focuses
on the people within the organization and their spirit of
cooperation and common purpose with each other.
The management of culture springs from an understanding of
the symbols, heroes, rituals and values of the organization all
327
of which underpin the ongoing practices of organizational
members. Managers have to be initiators and creators of
some of the symbols, rituals and values but also need to
encourage other organizational members to be ‘heroes’ to
allow the culture to flourish. In fact a successful manager
should be able to eventually remain in the background with
the development and increasing confidence of organizational
members who take on the role of heroes. Over time, as staff
are inculcated into the organization, they take on the ethos of
the college and many are keen to further its values. Such
organizational members have to be encouraged. In such
cases the ELT manager may still need to fine tune proposals,
ensure that they align with other organizational goals,
perhaps contribute on budgetary matters and an
understanding of implementation of more complex initiatives,
but allow experimentation and a chance for organizational
members to grow the college and contribute to its value.
Collaboration contributes to improvements in efficiency
through a reduction or elimination of duplication and
redundancy. International ELT colleges become repositories
of enormous amounts of data and records. In many colleges
by default these records become dispersed and do not feed
back into decision-making. Even with the advent of
computerised record keeping few colleges are able to
systematically use their records to assist college
development. Keeping academic, financial and feedback
records in one physical location and on one linked database is
328
a simple but effective collaborative strategy. Data mining for
links, such as that between student progress and re-
enrolment, can provide valuable information for college
marketing. Simple monitoring of student feedback can
suggest which teachers need extra attention or support.
Ecological factors can be used to assist in the development of
collaborative cultures. Communal workspaces and open plan
offices allow more collaborative cultures to develop than
those where each small group of teachers and administrators
have separate offices. Among teaching staff the sharing of
lessons and resources, timetables that share classes between
teachers, work tasks that involve teachers in collaboration to
produce common exams or to team-teach for particular
projects, all serve to reinforce collaboration and break down
the isolation of the classroom.
Collaboration influences the way decisions get made. At
College A, for example, a style of informal discussion-based
decision-making in place of formal minuted meetings and
decisions by committee led to an enormous advantage in the
speed of decision-making. The possibilities of mistakes,
where a single owner makes the decisions, are avoided as
well as the time delays of formal committee decision-making.
Trivial items can become symbols laden with cultural
meaning for good and ill. Two particular symbols that seem to
vary across different international ELT colleges in Australia
are those relating to dress standards of teaching staff and the
329
management of and access to resources within the college.
Restricted access to photocopiers, for example, can cause
staff resentment out of all proportion to the cost savings. Hal
had taught at another college in Sydney before commencing
work at College E. He frequently denigrated his former
college. Thus:
I did some work at College H. Absolutely awful. All men had to wear ties, which was silly enough, but there was a photocopier that required a code before copying could be done. I spent a week there before [an ELT manager] finally got a code sorted out for me. For that week I couldn’t even make a single copy at the college and none of the other teachers would tell me theirs or let me use theirs as the number of copies they could make was so restricted they had none to spare. As I said, awful!
Hal, Teacher College E, 1998
The lease of a photocopier is a fixed resource. Most leasing
arrangements work out to approximately 5c per copy.
Reducing the number of copies in a college by 100000 per
year (nearly 2000 per week) still only works out to a ‘saving’
of $3000 - $5000 or the average cost of one twelve month
student enrolment. For the extra stress on teaching staff, the
reduced service to students and the possible damage to the
college’s long-term reputation by ex-teachers criticising the
college the savings in this area are highly suspect. It is
difficult to see this strategy being implemented in ELT
colleges with collaborative approaches to decision-making
and thought given to the organization wide consequences of
such decisions.
330
Humour is increasingly discussed as a sign of heath for both
managers and organizations generally. Rodger (2002, p.8)
lists a sense of humour as one of the most significant features
of a good ELT manager and the ability to promote humour
and share in it as a significant management task. It is
important to teachers, too. John, a teacher at College E in
discussing some changes at the institution in 2001
commented that because of an increasing formality at the
workplace:
…the staff grew sadder and more restless, teaching began to decline, and nobody sang songs in the office, not even me! It was so sad, and the 'older' staff began to reminisce…
John, Teacher, College E, 2001
Humour can be exclusive as well as inclusive, though, and the
use of humour as a bonding agent can be problematic.
Managers have to be careful because those who don’t
appreciate the humour often do not feel they have the power
to voice their feelings and in many organizations it becomes
obvious that if you want to ‘get ahead’ you need to accept the
prevailing sense of humour.
The relationship of management to staff is significant in
producing a collaborative culture. Written communication as
a record of communication is an essential feature of modern
organizations but in order for collaborative cultures to work
management has to spend a great deal of time
communicating orally. People simply do not respond to
printed exhortations as they do to information imparted by
331
oral increments and a ‘talking’ route to understanding. The
bureaucratic board structure of College D, for example,
slowed the flow of information both ways and delayed an
effective response to many organizational issues affecting the
college.
An appreciation of staff and generosity of treatment also
assist in developing collaborative work cultures and also as
an effective way of ensuring compliance. At College A, for
example, one morning a teacher rang to say that she had just
missed her bus and would be considerably late. The Principal,
who took the call, responded that it was no problem, just
jump in a taxi and the company would reimburse her on
arrival. The teacher started to argue that she had no money
on her, “Don’t worry,” responded the Principal, “Just keep the
meter running downstairs and come up to the college to get
the money. Tell the taxi driver to ring the college if there is
any difficulty.” It was probable that the teacher’s ‘excuse’
was not entirely honest. Whatever its veracity it would be
difficult to be aggressive or feel slighted by an offer of
generosity. The teacher was at the college shortly after the
phone call.
Ultimately the most important advantage of collaboration
may be that described by Hargreaves (1994, p.245) as
situated certainty. Ignorance and certainty are both problems
for educational management. Collaboration can assist all
organizational members in using professional and
experiential judgements, not as irrefutable scientific truths,
332
but as situated certainties, a type of professional wisdom or
collective best guess to help guide the college forward.
14.4. The Development of a Client Service Culture
Collaboration is used above to refer to the relationship
between staff members. However the notion of collaboration
needs to flow through to the students as clients of an
international ELT college. Highly collaborative work cultures
in ELT colleges are likely to encourage the third area of
cultural advantage for ELT colleges - the development and
promotion of a client service culture – ensuring the college is
highly responsive to and caring of its clients.
ELT colleges have to focus on the development and
maintenance of a service culture. Client service is the service
provided in support of the organization’s core activities and
includes such features as reducing anxiety, increasing
awareness, understanding and responding to individual
difference, answering questions, dealing promptly with
payment and other issues, handling and resolving complaints,
responding swiftly to feedback, attending to students’
problems outside the college, giving specific advice and
providing recommendations. Although education is a service
industry, in traditional educational institutions clients have
frequently been relatively powerless stakeholders. Students
at schools and universities may have little say over
curriculum, timetabling or patterns of interaction within
institutions because more powerful stakeholders such as
333
government, educator bodies and community groups have
greater influence.
Most international ELT colleges, on the other hand, do not
rely for their income on government funding or community
grants. In order to continue operations individual clients have
to be sufficiently satisfied with the ELT college to continue to
pay tuition and other fees. The fact that it makes sounds
financial sense is evidenced by the high rate of word of mouth
recommendations to study at particular colleges. Data
gathered by the EA a decade ago indicated that more than
40% of students got their information to study in Australia by
word of mouth (EA, 1991, p.47) and a further 8% received
information from a teacher who presumably had also had
personal contact with Australia. This importance of the word
of mouth value of an educational experience is one little
utilised bridge between the entrepreneurial and educational
worlds. It makes sound financial and organizational sense to
satisfy clients because they are the primary marketing
channels in a service industry such as ELT. A focus on client
service as an in-awareness part of an organization’s culture is
essential to build relationships with clients. An attention to
client service across an international ELT college can
significantly improve word of mouth recommendations to
study at the college and consequently lead to an increase in
student enrolments. Attention to client service should be an
integral feature of their management.
334
The appropriate level of client service is not always easy to
determine. Clients hold differing expectations about level of
service and have a range of tolerance for the service they
ultimately receive. They have a hoped for or desired service,
which is the ‘wished for’ level of performance. At the other
end of the range they have a notion of adequate service, the
minimum standard of service they will accept. In between
these two levels is a zone of tolerance within which the
service of the organization does not make much impact either
positively or negatively.
Most ELT colleges provide service within this zone of
tolerance. Their student clients are receiving more or less
what they expected for the price they are paying. For
advantage to accrue to the college through a focus on client
service, however, the goal has to be to exceed the client’s
desired level of service. Searching for ways to please clients
without significant costs to the organization can be an
enormously productive activity. At College E client feedback
consistently indicated that simple, relatively inexpensive
aspects of college life were considered most valuable by
students. Access to teaching staff outside class time, a
willingness by teachers to socialise with students, college
assistance with work and tax matters and an atmosphere of
friendliness were highly important. Likewise there was an
ongoing appreciation of being recognised by the Principal
and other ELT managers by name. Making the effort to learn
the names of as many students in the college as possible and
335
greeting and chatting to them at every opportunity can
improve enrolment rates as efficiently as a high profile
marketing campaign.
The notion of client service, therefore, needs to be inculcated
within the college. Traditional thinking sees managers on top
and the responsibility of subordinates to obey the commands
from ‘above’. The organizational structure suggested in
Chapter 10 of the fronted organigram sees managers as
involved in the provision of service to their staff who are, in
turn, engaged in serving the organization’s clients.
Traditionally ELT practitioners have seen their work activities
as primarily educational and linguistic but the underlying
commercial nature of many ELT operations also makes their
activities essentially that of front-line service providers.
The flow of this idea of service spreads from staff to students
and on to potential students. The provision of responsible
advice is an important aspect of service delivery. If the
college does not currently offer a course in business English
it makes no sense to misinform a potential student and then
‘trap’ them, an unfortunately all too common practice at the
‘bottom of the food chain’ of ELT. One of the ironies of
ensuring that marketing and counselling staff adopt an
‘honesty is the best policy’ approach is that many students
who ask for advice and are told that the college absolutely
can not meet their stated educational needs either
subsequently enrol or recommend the college to friends
336
because they have been so impressed with the honesty of the
information.
At College A virtually no active external recruitment was
done and no advertising or mass-market strategies were
adopted. Few new agents were allowed to represent the
college and commission payments to current agents were
below industry averages. Marketing material was simply
photocopied and had none of the high gloss brochures and
expensive videos common in the industry. Virtually the entire
student body had been recruited by word of mouth. An
overriding ethos had developed that the needs of the students
were an absolute priority and that marketing in its traditional
sense of advertising and overseas promotion was an
expensive waste of resources. Savings could then be utilised
to give a strong sense of generosity to students.
Walker (2000, pp.30 – 32) argues that key services
management themes should characterise the management of
ELT colleges and that the professional development of
teachers should not be confined to pedagogical issues but
should also include elements of services theory and practice.
One of the cultural initiatives that took place at College E and
discussed in the following section was to try to implement
such a program of improved services practice.
A client service culture extends to decisions on staffing and
hiring. From the student point of view many other factors
besides the qualifications and experience indicated in
337
teaching awards affect their perception of teacher
performance.
Significant opportunities to provide outstanding client service
also exist for educational organizations when clients join the
organization to commence study, when they change status
within the college and upon departure. First impressions are
vital and frequently commence well before the student begins
a course. How the college deals with enrolment and provision
of advice can provide opportunities to demonstrate the
centrality or otherwise of client service to the organization.
The formality or informality of a reception desk can also be
an important cultural tool. In general most people are
pleasantly surprised to be greeted warmly and spontaneously
and extroverted, friendly receptionists are very valuable
employees in an international ELT college.
College parties mark the growth and success of an
international ELT college. Few ELT colleges see the
marketing potential in such occasions and frequently do not
even encourage staff to attend seeing them as a ‘student’
occasion. At College A the annual party was fully paid for by
the college and has always been a large affair. Anyone who
was connected with the college could come and students
were allowed to bring their friends. Many such friends
subsequently joined the college or kept it in mind to
recommend to their friends.
338
Even the dress code of a college needs to be seen through the
lens of client service. What are the clients looking for? What
is their hope or expectation of the ELT teachers? The point is
not that one particular dress style or another is superior, only
that it is a recognised point of difference and should be
decided from the client perspective. Clothes have an
important symbolic role in all cultures and organizations.
Many teachers interviewed saw management as ‘suits’ and
the wearing of business clothes, suits or ties as a badge of
dishonour or selling out.
Whatever the view of staff though, it should be the students’
view that matters. At College E client and agent feedback
suggested that ‘smart casual’ dress was the most desirable.
There was an expectation that the Principal, however, would
wear a suit or formal business clothes and this was shared by
all the other Principals interviewed. Directors of Studies on
the other differed in their approach. At College A the two
English DOS’s had very different dress styles and yet both
easily blended in. The first DOS, a women, dressed very
elaborately and formally and on days such as inspection visits
was dressed far more glamorously than would be expected in
Australian business situations. The second DOS had a
background in the theatre and communications industry and
had a far more casual style of dress. He initially made an
attempt to conform to business attire and wear a suit and tie
but within a month he dressed very casually.
339
Interviews revealed a predilection for those in supervisory
positions to dress one level ‘above’ their staff. Thus if the
teachers wear casual clothes, the DOS should wear smart
casual ones, the teachers smart casual the DOS a tie or
business clothes, the teaches business clothes the DOS a suit
and so on. The DOS at College B however saw the wearing of
different clothes from teaching staff as a distancing device
and had worked hard to convince the Director that it was not
necessary for an ELT college to project an overly corporate
image despite the director’s experience dealing with
corporate classes in Japan.
Only the clients can determine whether teachers should dress
informally to match the expectations of students who want
their teachers to break the authoritarian teacher stereotype,
or project a more serious and formal image through the
wearing of business clothes.
Access to equipment such as computers and copiers also
needs to be seen through a client service lens. Are students
part of a college family, in which case everything in the
college is theirs to access? Are they guests who have to be
provided with special privileges? Are they valued clients who
should be given access to resources that they might
commonly need but will be restricted from private parts of
the college or those reserved for staff? Or are they cattle to
be herded appropriately and denied access to any but the
most basic of college resources? The last seems to be the
default position in many international ELT colleges.
340
A similar issue occurs with the level of bureaucracy and form
filling. If every appointment and every request has to be
accompanied by a bureaucratic process clients can become
restive and unhappy. All paperwork makes sense in isolation
but a focus on integration and a client service perspective
can keep controls on the overall level of paperwork with
which a student needs to contend.
As noted in Chapter 8, excursions and college activities are
also a transmitter of cultural signals about the college. The
deletion of excursion activities from College C had a negative
impact on their business, especially with a loss of working
holiday students from the college and ultimately a greater
concentration of students of one nationality. This in turn led
to an increase in the problem of attracting students because
of the increasing dominance of one nationality group.
Excursions and co-curricular activities are also an important
way to bond teachers and students in more natural settings
than classrooms, which by the very nature inhibit the
development of such relationships. Nathan, a teacher at
College E contrasted two management views of excursions:
The emphasis on excursions and staff-student bonding that existed at that time was fantastic and takes on even more significance now, given its unfortunate absence from today's College E. The management now seems to be directing its energies away from social events, and indeed, away from student welfare on the whole. Excursions seem to be regarded as teachers having a "bludge", and recently it was proposed that they been done away with. They are still part of College E life, but are given extremely low priority. The situation in 98/99
341
was so good partly because we were encouraged to share our experiences of Sydney and its environs with the students….
Nathan, Teacher, College E, 2001
Final impressions are also powerful and maintaining this
dimension ‘in – awareness’ provides leverage for ELT
managers. Much that hasn’t worked in a client’s experience
can be wiped away by highly positive final impressions and
nostalgia. Care and effort for graduation ceremonies for
students and staff farewells that honour departing staff, fully
noting contributions and the many friends made should be
concerns of all good ELT managers. Former staff and
students often unknowingly market the college and when
satisfied with their work and study experiences can provide
valuable first-hand endorsement of its operations.
14.5. Action Research at College E: Culture
As a result of research into organizational culture and the
observations of culture at other ELT colleges, at College E
several cultural initiatives were implemented through action
research. Discussions on organizational culture, and a
sharing in its creation and development with teaching and
other staff, were a prominent feature of organizational life at
College E.
The underlying culture was intended to resolve the tensions
that exist in ELT based on the recognition that people in the
organization differed in terms of some of their fundamental
342
value systems. The underlying premise was that a functional
and inclusive resolution of these differences needed to be
worked at and that a common ground for ongoing action
could be found that would be perceived as being in the
interests of most organizational members. The key cultural
themes of integration, collaboration and client service
provided a basis for these cultural initiatives.
The primary cultural goal was to develop an integrated
organization with a culture of collaboration that had a strong
focus on service to clients. The initiatives on integration were
linked with those in structure and ecology in the attempt to
reduce barriers across the organization. Milieu initiatives
also assisted in reinforcing collaboration goals. The three
initiatives in the cultural dimension were:
Action Research Initiative C1: Action Research Cycles
#1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000):
That the culture of the college encourage integration and
unity of operation while recognising the diversity of views
and work tasks and that the college encourage an in-
awareness development of organizational culture.
Action Research Initiative C2: Action Research Cycles
#1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000):
That the college develop a collaborative work culture both
within areas such as teaching and administration and
between functional areas.
343
Action Research Initiative C3: Action Research Cycles
#1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000):
That the organization have a core commitment to clients and
client service. This commitment had to apply both to front-
line staff who are in constant contact with students, as well
as to management in their dealings with both students and
staff.
In order to implement the first organizational culture
initiative several related measures were undertaken. Initially
the planning for the college envisaged strong linkages
between the English College and the Vocational College with
hiring of senior staff to emphasise candidates with skills and
understanding of both areas. The Principal, Executive
Director and Financial Controller shared a commitment to
integration and the need for collaborative decision-making.
An in-awareness focus on organizational culture involved
consciousness-raising achieved through ongoing discussions
both inside and outside the organization. Staff room
discussions, formal meetings, regular chats at the pub, input
into college activities and assistance with formal study
assessments for organizational members undertaking Master
Degree studies into education, marketing and management
and Certificate studies in workplace training all encouraged
this development of an in-awareness focus on organizational
culture. Issues such as the sharing of classes were justified
by explication of improvements in collaboration among
344
teachers; relations between management and staff about the
importance of integration and collaboration and treatment of
students, agents and visitors to the college that of the
importance of clients
In order to implement the second organizational culture
initiative several steps were undertaken. The first was to try
to meet and interview as many applicants for teaching
positions at the college as possible. Right from the interview
stage staff were made to feel that it was a people-focused
college. The marketing materials for the college had the
recurring themes of warm, friendly, exciting and
multicultural and these were emphasised as significant
values. It was emphasised that the college viewed ability to
perform, produce quality outputs and deliver client
satisfaction as more significant than controls on entry such as
levels of professional qualifications.
Timetabling was used to assist in the development of a
collaborative approach to work. At College E the courses
were structured over a five-day week. One teacher would be
responsible for a class for three days and another teacher
would be responsible for the same class for two days. This
meant that each full-time teacher shared a class with two
other teachers and some thought was given by ELT
management to pairing and grouping teachers to further
encourage collaboration. Simple professional development
activities such as a lesson of the week noticeboard and brief
sessions where every teacher had two minutes to show and
345
tell their best lesson also assisted in the encouragement of a
collaborative culture.
An appreciation of staff and generosity of treatment also
assist in developing collaborative work cultures. One of the
first teachers at College E who left because of immigration
difficulties for her husband was given a substantial cash gift
on departure. Her contribution to the college and unfailing
positive approach despite a range of personal and financial
difficulties had been tangibly appreciated. The flow on of
goodwill to college owners in such circumstances cannot be
ignored. In my own case receiving a substantial sum in gift
vouchers on the birth of my second child inculcated an extra
loyalty and bond to the organization – not because of the
extra remuneration but simply because it indicated a
generosity of spirit and an appreciation of one’s contribution
to the organization. The fact that such acts transcend the
awards and contracts and daily whirl of business and are
absolutely voluntary makes them doubly appealing on a
human level.
Teachers value the sharing of lessons and resources and this
was instituted in various ways. Timetabling meant that
teachers had to share classes and levels and that schemes of
work and lesson materials had to be prepared collaboratively.
Testing procedures for end of cycle promotion of students
also had to be done across classes and levels so that teams of
teachers had to develop tests and discuss results together.
346
Grading of tests and standardisation of results also
encouraged collaboration among teaching staff.
In order to implement the third organizational culture
initiative a number of steps were taken. Walker (2000, pp.30
– 32) argues that key services management themes should
characterise the management of ELT colleges and that the
professional development of teachers should not be confined
to pedagogical issues but should also include elements of
services theory and practice. Professional development
sessions were held that included feedback from students and
agents on teacher performance. The balance between
delivering long-term educational outcomes for students as
well as short-term enjoyment of classes was discussed and
debated. The issue was never entirely resolved but the
process of reflection on this important area was in itself
significant.
Management approaches to students were made more visible
than is usual in ELT. Senior ELT managers at most colleges
spend much of their day dealing with students and their
difficulties. By working in shared spaces and demonstrating
to teachers the level of responsiveness to students that was
expected at College E, teachers could be helped to acquire a
service ethic. Staff room discussion regularly focused on the
importance of students and their positive impressions to the
ongoing health of the college. Staff meetings emphasised that
satisfying clients was most important and that ‘pleasing the
boss’ and ‘pleasing the client’ should never conflict.
347
At College E, for example, in early 1998 some students from
the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan came for a
visit. These students were accompanied by their English
instructor from Japan who was interested in seeing the
operations of several ELT colleges in Australia at first hand.
The Ministry is a conservative body with deep pockets and
the students had typically undertaken their studies at
Sydney’s most established and expensive colleges. The
Ministry wanted first class service whatever the cost.
At two of these ‘high quality’ colleges the group had been
lectured by the most senior ELT manager on the reputation of
the particular college, the outstanding nature of the course
programs, the qualifications and experience of the ELT staff
and many other virtues. The Ministry instructor later
informed me that at both of these colleges the senior ELT
manager had issued him stern warnings about even visiting
College E as it was at that time a very new college operating
under provisional NEAS accreditation and had not developed
a strong brand name or reputation.
When the group came to College E I knew that it was unlikely
they would want to study at such a new college. A few
teachers at the college talked to the students and their
instructor about their studies, about their hope for their life
in Sydney and similar topics handling the occasion in the
manner of effective ELT teachers – a minimum of teacher talk
time and a maximum amount of student led discussion. These
high profile trainee diplomats commented at the time that it
348
was so nice to be listened to and have the chance to discuss
their feelings. Each of the students subsequently enrolled for
expensive private courses at College E.
A key point was that these students were about to commence
masters degree courses and the assumption made by the
other colleges was that they would automatically require
academic English courses. In fact the students had very high
levels of academic reading and writing skills and were most
concerned about conversational and oral skills development
practice. The incident underscores the importance of early
impressions and a focus on the client rather than the
organization.
Many aspects of life at College E sprung from a client focus.
The graduation ceremonies mentioned in the action research
initiatives at College E in Chapter 11 Milieu sprang from
student desires for a more formal recognition of course
completion. Ceremonies and rituals such as Culture Day and
international picnics likewise grew from student and teacher
initiatives.
The above initiatives did for much of the action research
period produce a successful and tangibly vibrant
organizational culture. Many visitors to the college from both
within and outside the profession commented upon this from
the Minister of Education for Slovakia, to instructors from the
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Principals and
Directors of Studies at other colleges who had heard things
349
‘on the grapevine’, to the steady stream of agents and
prospective students.
As with the action research initiatives in other organizational
dimensions a lack of fixing these cultural initiatives to the
organization led to a reduction in emphasis after the
conclusion of the action research. Even though the culture
had helped the college to grow and succeed in quite difficult
years, once the action research was complete and changes in
key management occurred, many of the cultural features of
life at College E were eroded. The practices became more
identified with particular ‘heroes’ of an earlier era and did
not institute themselves effectively.
Culture can also deliver relief from other organizational and
logistical shortcomings. For much of 1998 and 1999 College
E was crowded to capacity. For much of that time ELT
management saw this as a negative feature of the college and
were concerned that maximum class sizes would deter
enrolments. In retrospect it would seem that a type of
organization culture ‘buzz’ was at work. The fact that the
college was crowded had a similar effect to that in the
nightclub or restaurant industries – everyone wants to be at
the one that is ‘happening’ and there was little apparent
fallout from what could have been a very negative aspect of
study at the college.
350
14.6. Conclusion
The core task of the ELT managers is to take responsibility
for the ongoing health and success of the college. It falls to
ELT managers to work hard to develop a culture that assists
the college in traversing the pressures of competing
discourses, the turbulent environment and a wide range of
organizational climate factors. This chapter has discussed the
organizational cultures of international ELT colleges and
described some cultural initiatives that took place at College
E. The chapter has argued that an in-awareness focus on the
creation and maintenance of an integrated, collaborative and
service oriented organizational culture is an essential and
achievable ELT management task but that difficulties can
arise in the fixing of such cultural efforts into long-term
organizational procedures.
Organizational culture does matter in ELT and there are
many cultural features that can be developed and
manipulated by ELT managers to improve organizational
outcomes. Balkanised cultures that reflect traditional
structures can hinder ELT organizations and prevent them
attaining their goals. The development of cultures that can
satisfy both entrepreneurial and educational aims, without
compulsion for either to shed their core values or worldviews,
is an important management and leadership task. Action
research at College E suggests some strategies in the area of
culture that assisted in the development of a successful
college. Such strategies may offer direction to ELT managers
351
in similar situations. On the other hand their ephemeral
nature, and links to a particular management team at a
particular stage in the College’s development, indicate the
difficulty of overly-generalised solutions in the dimension of
organizational culture.
Despite many shared environmental constraints international
ELT colleges can have important differences in cultures
among the different institutions. Ongoing managerial effort in
the development of a strong, integrated organizational
culture with a sense of collaboration and an emphasis on the
service components of the organization affects all other
organizational dimensions and activities. Nathan, a teacher
from College E recalls:
Firstly, a few words about my experience at College E in [1998 and 1999]. The Principal-staff-student relationship was what made it for me. College E at that time was the most fulfilling place I have ever worked at, mainly in terms of the friendliness engendered by [senior ELT managers], and which was also evident in just about everyone else who worked there. I felt welcome from Day One, and also felt the freedom to plan lessons with the aim of encompassing not only language, but culture and current affairs as well. If I have not yet thanked [senior ELT managers] in so many words for having provided us with that atmosphere, then this is an opportunity for me to do so. It was good. Really good.
College E as it was provided an object lesson in working in a co-operative, friendly environment. Teachers were able to concentrate on their students and feel secure in their occupational environment.
Nathan, Teacher, College E, 2001
352
ELT managers, it would seem, have much to do. The
following chapter discusses some of the character and
practices of ELT managers and develops a model of ELT
management that may provide a useful managerial
framework based on the analysis presented thus far.
353
C h a p t e r 1 5
THE ELT MANAGER
15.1. Introduction
This chapter profiles ELT managers in international colleges
and examines the choices with which they are typically
confronted. It first looks at the personal attributes of ELT
managers. It then examines teacher perceptions of ELT
managers. It outlines a simple model that shows the
possibilities for ELT managers when gearing the organization
to respond to the pressures on organizational values and
vision brought about by the competing discourses of the
industry. It discusses ELT manager strategies in dimensions
of organizational climate that were implemented through
action research at College E before concluding with a brief
summary.
15.2. ELT Managers
Like other forms of management (see Willis 1985, p.139),
ELT management is susceptible to interruption, superficiality
of treatment and shifts of location – all of which contribute to
a general discontinuity of work. It is a people-centred job
demanding interpersonal competence. Much of it may be
‘invisible’ to other people in the organization and lacking in
personal feedback. It involves a holistic perspective that
354
tends to be at a variance with the more parochial frame of
reference held by other organizational members. It requires
‘boundary-spanning’ and links with the relative uncertainty of
the organization’s environment. It has as its core
communication, which is both interpersonal and
informational, depends on human relationships and the fast
and effective flow of information. Finally it calls for an
involvement in the work organization that makes for
difficulties in preparing people for the job and imposes
stressful conditions upon the manager
After a discussion forum on management issues at the
IATEFL conference in 1998, a range of international ELT
managers concluded that the best ELT managers, like the
best teachers, have a certain indefinable factor about them,
which is a mixture of intellectual calibre and of personal
persuasiveness. Management skill is frequently realised in a
strong ability to communicate, but it is in fact a much deeper
and more fundamental skill set (Bowers, 1999, p.4).
It is near impossible to provide perfect solutions to the wide
variety of roles and functions that the ELT manager has to
address. The international ELT manager in Australia, such as
the Principal Administrator or the Director of Studies is
responsible to NEAS for the content and quality of the ELT
courses as well as to DIMA for the overall compliance of
students with their visa conditions. The ELT manager is
primarily responsible for maintaining the motivation of
teachers and marketing staff and for much of the
355
maintenance of the network of agents and industry contacts
who provide valuable services to the college. Other
relationships, such as those with the photocopier repair and
air-conditioning service personnel also play an important
role! ELT managers have to remain abreast of industry
information in order to ensure the organization remains
aligned with the outside environment. They also have to
communicate relevant parts of this information to staff.
Effective ELT managers also need to be entrepreneurial,
searching for future opportunities for the college. They must
respond to disturbances and allocate resources appropriately.
They frequently have to represent the organization externally
as well as be responsible for internal negotiations of staff
conditions.
Many of these roles and functions correspond to those
outlined for general managerial work. Unlike those involved
in general management, however, ELT managers usually
remain more closely aligned to the ELT world through which
they’ve grown and it is uncommon for ELT managers to
transfer from educational management to management in
non-education areas or industries.
Most ELT managers move into management from teaching
and have usually been promoted to their positions due to
their success as classroom practitioners (Fowle, 2000, p.16;
Gore, 2002; p.3). One important motivator for the ‘jump’ into
ELT management can be life changes brought about by
marriage or children. A number of teachers interviewed in
356
this study who were about to get married or have children,
spoke of the necessity of finding either managerial positions
within ELT or changing careers to gain greater employment
stability for the raising of a family. There is perhaps a sense
that the career outcomes of an ELT manager are more stable
than those of the ELT teacher.
Because most ELT managers come into the position from
teaching backgrounds, and many play both teaching and
managerial roles concurrently, they can continue to judge
themselves more by the criteria of 'good teacher' than by that
of 'good manager'. Good teachers may attempt to minimize
conflict, even if good managers may find it a necessary tool to
improve performance. Good teachers may try to 'keep
everyone happy' whereas good managers may need to treat
people justly and come down hard on those who are
damaging the effectiveness of the institution.
A survey form in the October 1991 issue of the ELT
Management newsletter was distributed to members of the
SIG and readers of the newsletter. The survey was broad and
exploratory trying to "tap into issues and feelings" which
were important to ELT managers (Griffiths, 1991). A range of
ELT managers such as principals, directors of studies, course
directors, heads of department, senior teachers and teacher
trainers completed the survey. The survey found that,
although there was no clear 'route' to becoming a manager or
senior manager in ELT, all managers came from a teaching
background. The survey also found that most ELT managers
357
agreed on the need for financial management training and
that senior ELT managers' main functions - personnel
management and financial management - were two quite
different areas requiring completely different sets of skills.
Most ELT managers saw their strong qualities as a natural
aptitude for organizing and dedication to work and their
weak qualities as being a lack of delegation and over-
compromising (Greenland and Griffiths, 1992: p.13; Griffiths,
1993: p.6).
'Over-compromising' and a 'lack of delegation' may well be
one of the consequences of teachers becoming managers.
The zones that arise in educational institutions can lock ELT
managers into a system of "soft" and "hard" rules similar to
those outlined by Lortie (1969). The ELT manager may see
issues of finance and accounts as "hard" and therefore
subject to the ‘entrepreneurial logic of costs and efficiency
whereas such items as curriculum and instruction, which are
difficult to visualise in such a way, are "soft". Wajnryb (1993;
pp.56-62) has shown the effects of mitigation in supervisory
discourse in ELT contexts; mitigation that may initially save
'face' for teachers but may ultimately lead to future
management problems if the mitigated criticism has not been
clearly communicated. The rights of teachers, can readily
become overemphasised in such situations, while the rights
of less powerful but vital stakeholders may be conveniently
overlooked, leading to an overall decline in the organizational
effectiveness of the institution.
358
The two most common texts for ELT managers (White,
Martin, Stimson and Hodge, 1991; Impey and Underhill,
1994) both stress the need for ELT managers to create focus
and work toward common causes in order to produce that
warm and friendly atmosphere that is widely admired in
educational writing. Lynn (1996) however, based on work by
Stacey (1992, 1993) and Pascale (1990), points out that this
can also result in the lack of contention and individuality that
breed creativity. Lynn (1996, p.86) notes:
As teachers we are often deeply committed to the establishment of a non-threatening, warm, environment in our classrooms in order to nurture the emerging confidence and skills of our learners. Whilst I am not in any way contesting this philosophy for teaching, a considerable body of research and opinion in management argues that a similarly relaxed environment will not produce the tension or contention vital to a vibrant and innovative organization - and in today's competitive ELT environment, innovative attitudes are essential.
Clarkson and Lodge (1999, p.23) argue that most ELT
managers have moved into the position from teaching
because of success as teachers. The first steps in to
management often commence with the taking on of academic
management tasks such as placement testing, exam
coordination and resource management. From there, ELT
managers take increasing responsibility for areas such as
staffing, budgeting and marketing of the college. Gore (2002,
p.3) notes that most ELT managers come from a teaching
background and have no management training and then
develop through a combination of experience, trial and error
and possibly some short management courses – a very
359
precise outline of the professional experiences of this ELT
manager! Often, experienced teachers who are promoted to
become inexperienced managers learn the vital skills of
personnel management, budgeting, marketing and
forecasting by default (Underhill, 1989; p.2). They end up
isolated in management roles with little or no specific
preparation or training (Johnston, 1989: p.3; Leather, 1989:
p.3).
Charles (1993, p.11) has questioned whether it is a valid
expectation that teachers should 'rise above' the classroom
and take their place in the management structure of ELT
organizations. He argues that by seeing management as
'promotion' ELT may be accepting a career structure that is
conceptually flawed. While there is obviously some transfer of
skills between the two functions, especially in the area of
communication skills, being a skilled classroom teacher does
not provide the full range of skills required to become a
successful educational manager (Fowle, 2000; p.18). The
acquisition of good management skills in areas such as
finance, administration, marketing and office skills is
haphazard especially when compared to management
training and development in other fields (Gore, 2002, p.3).
One significant change in outlook that occurs with the
transition to ELT management is much closer alignment with
the organization. ELT teachers work in an occupation that
offers an unusual level of mobility. Changes from one
workplace to another, even across countries, is far less
360
difficult than in most other professions and is indeed a prime
motivator for new entrants to the industry. For ELT managers
on the other hand, their fortunes become more entwined with
their organization. It is a more stable appointment. Unlike
teachers who are frequently hired on contracts, ELT
managers in Australia are almost always full-time employees
with negotiated salary packages. Salary awards in ELT in
Australia provide allowances for lower level ELT managers,
such as coordinators and senior teachers, but Directors of
Studies and Principals have no proscribed conditions. As such
their compensation and work conditions are strongly related
to the health and success of their institutions.
There is little published biodata on ELT managers in
Australia. A previous study by the author (Keaney 1994,
pp.43 - 48) found the mean age of the 44 ELT managers
surveyed was 38 years and ranged range from 24 to 58 years.
They had an average of slightly less than 10 years ELT
teaching experience and about four years of ELT
management experience. They had been in their current
position for an average of two and a half years and only 5%
had been in their current position for more than seven years.
ELT managers had a wide range of qualifications but all came
from teaching or educational backgrounds. Only one
respondent had traditional management or financial
qualifications (an MBA) but 34% of the managers surveyed
had a Masters degree or higher in a language or education
field and a further 30% had postgraduate ELT qualifications
361
or RSA diplomas in TEFLA. ELT managers interviewed in the
current study were also primarily in their 30s and 40s with
similar levels of teaching and management experience noted
above. None had traditional financial or management
qualifications even though all were involved in making
budgeting and financial decisions.
ELT management can be a tough job. The ELT manager at
College A spoke of often having a sick feeling in the stomach
on a Sunday evening starting to think about the return to
work on Monday. Even at a college that was financially
successful and where staff and students relations seemed
most amicable there were many hidden stresses to the job.
The ELT manager at College C spoke of the awful personal
strain on trying to find resolutions for so many small but
intractable problems. Paying customers demand a high level
of service and the human nature of ELT teaching staff can
make getting high performing teachers in front of every class
every day a difficult task. ELT colleges have few if any
reserve teachers or activities and so sudden illness or
departure of staff can create tremendous short-term
difficulties. Good communication requires time, and repeated
interruptions to work because of small but urgent problems is
an ongoing feature of ELT management.
It is precisely because there are pressures and difficulties
though that the role of the ELT manager exists. Ultimately
the ELT manager has to accept the responsibilities of the
leader. Owens (1995, p.130) notes that:
362
… leadership involves mobilizing resources, including human and intellectual resources … so as to arouse, engage and satisfy the motives of others. Therefore vision building is not always a placid process but often requires engagement with different world views of people in the group, different temperaments different personal agendas, different levels of understanding, different hopes and aspirations, different pedagogical approaches to the future…(the educational manager) must have developed a clearly thought out position from which to unhesitatingly and convincingly contribute to the discussion.
Leadership can be a difficult step to take and many who want
to become leaders are unsuited for the role. College staff
however put a high value on ELT managers who can lead
rather than merely manage. Effective leadership is
appreciated and is a very human reward of management.
James at College E looks back nostalgically to the time of the
action research at College E:
Sometimes I don't know if I idealise my first 2 years here, but so many others do too…or maybe it's just a fierce loyalty we have as educators and people to an institute that for a long time put our interests and skills first…not sure… but we miss you.
James, Teacher, College E, 2001
15.3. Teacher Perceptions of ELT Managers
Research into English language teaching has concerned itself
largely with teaching removed from its context. This
professional distancing has certain advantages but it creates
ambiguity for the ELT manager in assessing their role and
responsibilities. There is scepticism towards management
throughout the ELT profession. Such antipathy to ELT
managers is a relatively enduring characteristic of many
363
teachers, and can be a severe disadvantage for ELT
managers to overcome. Teachers usually hold ELT managers
in low regard:
I have realised that I have spent many years at many colleges and one constant with the odd exception is definitely incompetent management
Derek, Teacher, College E, 2000
Meanwhile Forth (1998, pp.22-23) notes that:
It is not uncommon to find perceptions of management among teachers who have worked in the industry for a while which seem to indicate the belief that management is self-serving, that it operates in a kind of closed world with its own mission and has nothing to do with human relationships or the messy business of teaching.
Many language teachers often appear to have a folkloric model of management in their minds that management is invariably calculating and rational. Teachers often view managers as systematic, ‘hard-nosed’, ‘win-win’, ‘big brain’ sort of people instead of a more real picture of managers who are engaged in a mess of fragmented activities with constant interruptions and unanticipated meetings and demands…
A tongue in cheek website for ELT teachers provides a guide
for the various types of ELT managers. According to the site
such managers are either lazy, and hands off spending all
their time sitting in front of the computer emailing friends
and playing computer games, snide, hyperactive power-
crazed martinets, a Mommy Dearest-type whose executive
spouses simply want them out of the house, sex-craved
maniacs whose sole motivation for working in ELT is to make
out with students, Afflicted Ones who carry a general air of
misery and feel abused by the job, the staff and the students,
364
Menopausal Nutcases (of both genders) who scream, rant
and rave to demonstrate power, Jolly Hockey Sticks who
overvalue excursions and sports days while ignoring the
educational focus of the college and finally a dream ELT
manager who:
…is helpful, friendly and kind. When it (ELT managers have been neutered according to the site) must have faculty meetings, it keeps them short and serves food. It listens to your problems and genuinely seems to care. Sometimes, it even solves them.
Personally it has a good sense of humour, a sense of proportion and an ability to bend the rules when it is the only sensible option.
It defends the teachers against students and management. It makes sure school equipment actually functions and that you can find materials. The only problem with this DOS is that, like Santa and the Tooth Fairy, it does not exist….
Henry (2002, p.5)
15.4. Vision and Values
Somekh (1996, pp.5-6), after listing some of the tensions
within ELT organizations, concludes that the primary tension
relates to the main aim of the college, and whether it is to
succeed as an educational institution or as a business. This
study argues that these two aims need not be regarded as
mutually exclusive. They need to be seen as forces that must
both be successfully harnessed for the college to succeed.
The ELT manager has to allow values developed from the
discourse of the educator to be modified by insights from the
value system of the entrepreneur. In turn it is also the
365
responsibility of the ELT manager to persuade owners and
top financial managers that it is in their interests to
accommodate, if not embrace, the values that educators hold
in regard that are likely to lead to the long-term financial and
educational success of the institution.
The turbulence of the international ELT environment, the
complexity and globalisation of international ELT operations,
the postmodern employment and organizational structures of
many ELT colleges and a range of other climatic factors come
to overwhelm many ELT managers. In such situations the
vision guiding the activities of the college and the values that
support this vision become essential.
Turner and Crawford (1992, p.2) note that organizations
…create and sustain value for their stakeholders in two ways. The first is through the effectiveness with which they manage current operations. The second is the way they change over time, dealing with new circumstances in ways that are value creating.
The ability to manage these two aims is complex, as
frequently the strategies that maximise stakeholder value
now are different from, and even antagonistic to, those
needed to develop future options for growth. Some of the
disconnection that ELT managers can bring to their work
may be caused by maintaining an ‘event’ orientation towards
the college’s activities. This focuses on efficiency or doing
things right without questioning their underlying need or
366
worth. It is a focus on managing current operations.
Entrepreneurial thinking, on the other hand, shifts the
orientation to one that focuses on the cycles and patterns of
events rather than only on a particular event in the cycle. It
looks to effectiveness or doing the right things and the
creation of future value. A retreat by an ELT manager into
efficiency – aiming only to ‘do’ allocated tasks right and run
things smoothly – while ignoring effectiveness or ensuring
that the right ‘things’ are being done, is likely to cause
difficulties for the manager and the college.
ELT managers must focus on the dynamic complexity of their
organizations as well as on the detail complexity. Dynamic
complexity and the linkage to revenue creating stakeholders
of the organization have been the traditional area of focus of
the entrepreneur. ELT managers who move into the area
from teaching may find that the detail complexity, which has
traditionally been the area of concern of the educator, is the
more ‘natural’ and appealing set of work tasks to embrace
and may build a Chinese wall around such tasks.
It is apparent that ELT management in general is not yet
highly respected by staff in the industry. Hargreaves (1994,
p.248) notes that education is facing demands by the
previously unheard to be given a voice. There is an extensive
and increasing demand to reconstruct intimacy, warmth and
localisation of aims so that work patterns are more
meaningful and self-determining. ELT managers have to find
367
a new path that combines a trust in people with a trust in
processes.
Bureaucratic approaches to organizations and those that
emphasize the human dimensions of organization exist side
by side. The creation of impersonal processes to address
most issues of concern can be a successful management
strategy in larger organizations but can also lead to
resentment and isolation. It is a strategy that has in the past
corresponded to some of the values of the educator perhaps
because it is aligned with the management of the large state
school and university systems. In recent times thought many
educators are becoming increasingly alienated from it.
Human approaches based on a trust in people can be very
effective in small to medium enterprises but they have to be
accompanied by a strong commitment on both sides to
complying with undertakings and large amounts of time have
to be spent on induction and ongoing communication. It is a
strategy that corresponds to many of the values of the
entrepreneur. Its great disadvantage has always been that
people can allow personal bias, favouritism and flawed
hunches to play a dominant role in their decisions and when
completely unchecked can lead organizations into immense
difficulties.
Skilled judgement by ELT managers is needed to reconcile
the two types of approach. Many colleges are over-regulated,
producing unnecessary alienation of both students and staff.
368
More routine matters and those that are likely to reoccur
frequently need to be handled through ‘process’ and less
frequent disturbances and exceptions can be handled
through personal relationships. Managers who use the ‘rules’
to defend inefficient or unfair practices are likely to be held
in low regard by staff and clients.
A simple model of the competing pressures of educational
and entrepreneurial values can be a broad guide to ELT
manager behaviour. In many ways the values of the
entrepreneur are a guide to the development of the college
over time, its change strategies and the linkages between
activities and tasks. The educational values, on the other
hand, need to be uppermost in the awareness of the clients of
the college and the outcomes it delivers for them. The overall
experience students have at the college, the trust that
regulatory authorities and agents can have in the college to
deliver its ELT product well, and the overall focus of college
life need to be underwritten by these values.
The way forward is to allow the competing pressures of
educational and entrepreneurial values to balance. Colleges
that focus too much on the educational and product quality
aspects take serious medium term risks that changes to
market conditions or actions of aggressive competitors will
threaten their existence. On the other hand colleges that
skew their activities too far in the entrepreneurial direction
take the severe short term risk that they will not satisfy
regulators as to their educational quality and the medium and
369
long term risk that they ‘screw’ students, staff and other
stakeholders.
The relationship may be demonstrated graphically as follows:
Entrepreneurial Values Dynamic ComplexityEffectivenessPattern OrientationTrust in peopleOpportunityDoing the right thingProfit
Quality
Educational ValuesDetail Complexity
EfficiencyEvent Orientation
Trust in processesAccountability
Doing things rightQuality
Profitability
Figure 15.1The relationship between quality and profit.
Entrepreneurial values push towards increasing college
profitability while educational values push towards increasing
educational quality. The ELT managers in a college have to
ensure that the balance between the two is maintained.
Increases in quality without corresponding increases in profit
will lead to a loss of financial capacity while increases in
profit without corresponding increases in quality of product
and service will harm the life chances of the organization.
IdealDirection
IntegrationCollaborationClient Service
370
15.5. Climate and the ELT Manager
There is a need for an ELT manager to understand the
various dimensions of the organization’s climate and to
ensure that proactive management strategies exist in each
dimension. Such strategies have to reinforce rather than
undermine each other. At College E 11 simple initiatives
linked across the four climate dimensions had many positive
educational and financial outcomes for the college. The
initiatives are summarised in the table below:
371
Structure Ecology Milieu Culture
Integration
S2. Limited barriers
E1.No physical separation of management
C1. Emphasis on integration and in-awareness development of organizational culture
Collaboration
S3. In awareness understanding for staff of management tasks
E2. Mixed workspaces. Open classrooms
C2. Development of a culture of collaboration
ClientService
S1.Fronted organigram andclient focus
M1. Student diversity
M2. Attraction of client focused staff
C3. Culture of client service
Table 15.1Summary of Action Research Initiatives at College E
At College E effort was made to have those in client contact
including administration and teaching staff seen as the most
crucial in the organization with those ‘behind’ in
management playing support roles to ensure the
effectiveness of those ‘in front’. Quality was seen primarily
from the point of view of client satisfaction. Barriers between
staff were discouraged to prevent ‘balkanisation’.
372
Management decisions on structure were explicit and
communicated to all employees. Staff had the opportunity to
witness managers in action, so that they could question them
about their activities and decisions and ultimately learn
management skills on the job.
There was an enforced program to ensure student diversity,
particularly of national groups over the whole college and in
individual classes. The program included positive incentives
such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support
for new markets as well as negative reinforcement in the
form of a quota system with no nationality allowed to exceed
25% of the total. Hiring and staff development aimed to
obtain and retain staff most likely to support a college culture
that was student centred and focused on student learning
experiences. Management was not physically separated from
staff. Workspaces were mixed and an open classroom policy
was maintained
Effort was made to develop a work culture that encouraged
diversity of views but with an overall unity of operation. Staff
were made to feel certain that satisfying clients was their
prime task. Finally the college encouraged an in-awareness
development of organizational culture trying to have a sense
of intimacy and spontaneity that is frequently lacking in work
organizations.
Of course there are many other possible management
initiatives that could be added to this list. The action research
373
at College E did not involve intensive curriculum reform or
renewal, for example, even though in more established
colleges this would obviously be a favoured area of activity.
ELT managers who do not hold equity in an international ELT
college must convince owners that they are committed to the
ultimate financial success of the college. Developing a history
of commitment to decisions that maximise the equity returns
to owners without compromising staff loyalty or student
educational experiences is a powerful means for ELT
managers to gain the trust of all stakeholders. In this area a
personal reconciliation of the values of the educator and the
entrepreneur needs to be made. ELT managers who can
communicate owner paradigms through their own resolution
of the competing discourses can frame other staff members’
understanding of the organizational realities and constraints.
In many cases the stress that owners are put under is poorly
communicated to organizational members who don’t see the
immense financial and legal responsibilities taken on by
company directors. Bankruptcy and loss of personal assets is
not a risk of the employee and many poor or seemingly
haphazard decisions taken by college owners are the result of
financial stresses.
A sound understanding of financial matters can also assist.
Educators and other employees, for example, often poorly
understand cash flow. The need for resources to be allocated
on a cash flow basis so that the spread of outgoings is even
throughout the year can lead to significant improvements in
374
college life. Understanding the real costs of equipment and
staffing is another area that ELT managers need to grasp.
Paying a librarian $40000 per year to ensure that a few
thousand dollars of books do not go missing is not a sound
commercial decision. Employing staff without any thought
given to their relative pay scales or on-costs is another area
where conflict can arise through limited financial
understanding by the ELT manager. A focus on the core goals
of the college and the constant communication of them
throughout the college are essential. It is ultimately the ELT
manager’s role to ensure that this focus is maintained.
15.6. Conclusion
ELT managers are often held in low regard by their staff.
Improvements in management performance and in the
esteem in which managers are held probably lie in developing
a clearer sense of personal and professional values, followed
by the ability to then implement these values across
organizational dimensions. ELT managers need to understand
and reconcile the entrepreneurial and educational
imperatives that buffet the direction of their colleges. They
need to develop strategies that demonstrate a commitment to
the future of their college, and ensure that the
implementation of such strategies satisfies financial goals
without seriously compromising educational ones.
375
C h a p t e r 1 6
CONCLUSION
16.1. Introduction
Management is a very human activity. Decisions affect
people, and their costs and benefits are of concern to all
stakeholders in an organization. Finding managerial solutions
that offer the greatest good to the greatest number without
compromising the core values of the organization is as much
art as science. Impey and Underhill (1994, p. viii) stress that
successful management is not an academic discipline.
Ultimately management activities and tasks take place in real
time in the real world and offer a lack of time for reflection
and the attainment of complete information upon which to
base decisions.
Over the life of this research project the notion that the
management world ‘outside’ the classroom is a significant
arbiter of ELT practice has become increasingly recognised
by educators and researchers. Savage (1996, pp.24 – 27) has
argued that while there is a vast array of information on
general management and educational administration there is
a lack of research and application of this theory to
management practices in ELT centres. Walker (1998, pp.30 –
39) has noted the lack of research into ELT management in
376
general and its services management in particular. In a later
article Walker (2000, pp.23 – 33) argues that ELT managers
must ensure that their ELT instructors focus as much on the
services elements of ELT provision as on pedagogical issues.
Clark (1999: p.31) writes:
If we continue to focus exclusively on the classroom as the locus for change, our efforts will surely fail, and teachers will increasingly become the scapegoats for what are, in fact, systemic problems.
Even Jack Richards (2001, p.410) one of the most influential
applied linguists in the area of ELT principles and
pedagogical practice over the last two decades has recently
argued that the narrow focus of research into ELT, which has
focused on teaching methods and techniques, has to be
broadened to include an understanding of the context of ELT
and the institutions within which it is conducted. Richards
notes that principles of effective institutional management
identified in other settings need to be applied to ELT.
The introduction to this study noted that ELT managers in
Australia saw little correlation between their perceptions of
their work performance and of their organization’s
effectiveness; in other words ELT managers did not judge
their own work performance by its effect on organizational
outcomes. A mix of environmental, climate and discoursal
factors was proposed as the likely explanation for this. The
current study has suggested that strategies may be available
377
to ameliorate each of these inhibitors to efficient and
effective ELT management.
This study has explored three primary areas of concern for
effective ELT management. These were: i) environmental
factors, ii) problems of values and vision arising from a clash
of discourses and iii) climate factors including organizational
structure, milieu, ecology and culture. Some management
initiatives in the area of organizational climate were put in
place through an action research project at one international
ELT college and the outcomes of these initiatives were
discussed.
16.2. Environment
The turbulent environment of international ELT can lead
managers to feel that they can have little control over it. The
international ELT environment exhibits the paradoxical
trends of Postmodernity. As the reach of even small work
organizations becomes progressively more global,
organizations are pressured to increasingly segment,
differentiate and personalise themselves. ELT colleges on the
one hand are drawing their educational clients from a vast
range of countries, yet on the other, are becoming increasing
specialised in order to cater to various market 'niches'.
In such circumstances absolute managerial control over the
intensely unpredictable environment of ELT is an elusive
goal. Managers are unable to build walls against the surging
378
currents of the external environment. The skilful manager
has to be more a surfer using the currents and tides to best
advantage than a King Canute attempting to hold the tide at
bay. The surfer retains control and direction despite the
unpredictable forces. The aim is not to go against the surging
waves, but to understand the environment so that
organizational direction and purpose can be attained.
16.3. Discourse Resolution
From an anthropological perspective each organization is “a
world locked in a war of meanings” (Hamada, 1994: p.10)
and in international ELT colleges this ‘war of meanings’ has
largely been realised as a conflict between entrepreneurial
and educational values. This study has argued that
international ELT colleges are likely to be organizations in
which key players differ in terms of the fundamental value
systems that bring meaning to their work. The argument has
been made that managers in international ELT colleges need
to search for solutions that use the values and insights of
both the educator and the entrepreneur and, as far as
possible, allow this resolution to permeate through the
organization.
Because most ELT managers come into the position from
teaching backgrounds, and many play both teaching and
managerial roles concurrently, they must avoid judging
themselves simply by the values of the educator. The view
that managerial responsibility stops at the division between
379
teaching and marketing, or educational and financial matters,
is unlikely to lead to organizational success.
ELT managers in international colleges need to find working
resolutions between the values and insights of the educator
and the entrepreneur. The limiting feature of any discourse is
that its interpretive power creates blind spots in perception.
A particular discourse simultaneously enables and inhibits
perception. A discourse provides a framework to make sense
of input but it is this very framework that limits what is
perceived. The beliefs and perceptions that underlie the
discourse of the educator and of the entrepreneur form
paradigms and it is these internally held paradigms that drive
behaviour.
An ability to develop a mental set that embraces both value
systems and can use points of difference as analytical or
interpretive tools would seem an important one for ELT
managers to acquire. Managers require a holistic view of
operations if they are to attain organizational success. Impey
and Underhill (1994, pp.vii – viii) in their ELT management
text emphasise that the different aspects of management
such as personnel, finance and promotion are merely
different facets of an overall whole and not fundamental
divisions. They note:
Successful management is not only indivisible, it positively looks for the interconnections, between education and finance for example, or between personnel and marketing, and it looks for ways to exploit them.
Impey and Underhill (1994, p.viii)
380
It would seem that a key task for ELT managers, therefore, is
to develop a pragmatic basis for functionality for all
organizational members. Organizational members have to be
enabled to function on a common ground, not through
managerial coercion, but through the development of
consensus on key organizational matters. The difficulties in
developing such a functional solution across various
organizational dimensions is a complex task and likely to be
fraught with many disappointments. The personal and
professional price of failure however is high, leading to a
view that the owners are the enemy:
The problem in most private sector centres is that the top management (owners) are motivated by exclusively commercial (profit-centred) considerations. Staff (especially senior managerial staff – who have no financial interest in the centre) are overworked, underpaid and under-resourced. Educational quality is irrelevant. Staff training, development and happiness are irrelevant. Profit is everything. It is a business, not an educational institution. We sell language education, but it could as easily be cars, cakes or paper cups. ELT centre owners are industrial relations and human relations dinosaurs. Their creed is greed. Staff exist to be exploited. Students have only a dollar value. As Principal and DoS I do not have the time nor (this is important) the support from the Directors (owners) to perform any one aspect of my job well. Consequently everything is very poor quality. ….
ELT College Principal/DoS (1993)
16.4. Climate
The external environment and the competing discourses are
pressures outside, around and beneath the daily operations of
the international ELT college. The organizational climate,
consisting of its milieu, ecology, structure and culture are the
381
variables that ELT managers can manage and manipulate and
combine to help create a thriving college.
Colleges where only those at the top with actual equity or
financial control have any power to influence events may
develop problems with staff that negatively affect the quality
of students’ experience. Organizational cultures that focus on
limits and punishments probably act to reduce the value of an
ELT college. Ecological symbols that emphasis stratification
and strictly marked territories can allow problems to fester
and innovation to wither. Mismanagement of staff and
student milieu or reactively accepting ‘whatever comes
along’, leaves to luck an area of organizational life that can
and should be managed.
Of course most management difficulties are contingent on a
range of variables that make fixed, off-the-shelf solutions for
organizational difficulties very rare. Satisfactory resolutions
of management dilemmas are contingent upon the total
situation and are also contingent upon all the relevant
variables applying at that particular time and place. Each
difficulty or challenge can only be regarded as one instance
of a class or type of problem and principles and guidelines
can only be established for the general class of problems, not
for each specific instance.
In each individual case though, there are right and wrong
approaches. A blend of judgement, experience,
communication skills and luck is needed to make a sufficient
382
number of correct decisions and implement a critical mass of
suitable policies to make the ELT college’s climate one most
likely to lead to success.
383
Entrepreneur Values Educator Values
Dynamic Complexity Detail Complexity
Profit Quality
Effectiveness Efficiency
Pattern Orientation Event Orientation
Trust in people Trust in processes
Opportunity Accountability
Client as resource Client as beneficiary
Improvedfinancial
outcomes
Improvededucationaloutcomes
Figure 16.1Reconciliation of ELT educator and entrepreneurial values
INTEGRATIONOF
OPERATIONSAND
STRATEGIES
COLLABORATION
AMONGSTAFF
FOCUSON
CLIENT SERVICE
384
16.5. Action Research
The aim of action research, as noted in Chapter 2, is to solve
specific problems within the organization by developing
specific actions. The action and the research are linked and
are repeated in cycles until the particular problem is
resolved.
The action research project reported here had a tremendous
value for the participants and this researcher. The possibility
to shape organizational outcomes is intriguing for many in
ELT who have rarely been allowed a voice in the direction of
their organizations. The close linkage between particular
problems and solutions during this project though, limited the
effects of many of the initiatives after the project was
complete. Many of the features of the action research became
too closely linked with the character and style of the
management team at the time of the project. With changes to
this team, significant features were altered, and while
particular aspects remain, most of the initiatives came to be
seen as belonging to an ‘era’ rather than as fundamental
characteristics of the college.
Some of the action research in this study may seem limited to
those who view such research from a different perspective.
Gore and Zeichner (1995, p.206) note that
Action research, as a methodology for social scientific research and social change has historically been linked to a language of ‘democracy’ and ‘transformation’. …the power of emancipatory action research can be seen to lie in its connection to critical social science…it is precisely these connections which
385
contribute to its ‘dangers’ (as)… perhaps in the name of optimism and simplicity tends towards rather universalised notions of oppression and emancipation.
Class, gender and race formations, which are frequently the
issues in larger research contexts, are muted in this study.
On the other hand, the action research project was
meaningful to participants and genuinely proceeded from the
particular concerns of those who were involved. The
individuals who owned, worked or studied at College E
during the course of the action research could feel the
difference that such a project makes. The fact that most
participants in the action research now look back on those
times rather nostalgically is, perhaps, a very human indicator
of the significance of the project. The growth and success of
the college in the years that the research took place would
also seem to confirm its value.
16.6. Simply the Best
The aim of this study has been to use ethnographic methods
to gain a fuller insight into international ELT colleges and
examine some of the factors that enhance or interfere with
the management and attainment of their educational and
organizational goals.
Black (2001, p.11) notes that over the course of his career in
ELT management various owner-managed operations have
had a variety of organizational outcomes – one is currently in
receivership, one has grown steadily but with great staffing
386
unrest and constant compromise and one seems to have
stagnated by resting on its former reputation. None of these
long-term outcomes seems particularly desirable. A similar
range of outcomes exists for the colleges analysed here. By
mid 2002 one had closed down, one was suffering serious
reductions in student numbers and was on the verge of
receivership, one had been taken over by a large ELT college
‘chain’ and two were still operating successfully and
independently.
The expertise of the effective ELT manager should enable the
ELT college to experience steady growth to an optimum size
with a motivated group of staff and a constantly improving
educational and service reputation. Pre-packaged answers to
enable such an outcome are as difficult to develop as they
would be for other types of organizations. The search for
such solutions though, is important. The insights gained, and
the attainment of even partial answers, are themselves likely
to improve organizational outcomes.
More than a quarter of a century ago, Mintzberg (1975, p.58)
noted that manager effectiveness is significantly influenced
by their insight into their own work, and that performance
depends on how well a manager understands and responds to
the pressures and dilemmas of the job. Those of us involved
in ELT management must remember that it is precisely
because there are pressures and dilemmas that the role of
the manager exists.
387
In the conclusion to my previous study in ELT management I wrote:
One of the barriers to research in ELT management is the multi-disciplinary nature of the field. This makes choice of discourse style and nature of assumptions more problematic than other areas of applied linguistics and educational administration research. My recommendation to those who feel that research in the ELT management field is too vulnerable to criticism for incorrect assumptions, inaccurate constructs or careless analysis procedures however, is to push on …. I have the strong suspicion, after more than a decade of English language teaching and management experience in five countries and ten institutions, that aspects of ELT management will ultimately be shown to have far more impact on, and relevance to, the effective teaching and learning of second and foreign languages in the classrooms of real world institutions than the mountains of second language acquisition research, teaching methodology research and learning behaviour research that have so far dominated the ELT research agenda.
(Keaney 1994: p. 73)
After another eight years, two more countries and five more
institutions the words are still appropriate. Few ELT
professionals or students discuss or even remember the
college that had the finest ELT methodology, the college that
had the best tea-making facilities, the one with the most
colourful brochures or websites, the one that had the best
pension plan or the one that had the biggest library. All
however, talk about and remember the best Principal or
Director of Studies they ever had.
And while many of the solutions to ELT management
dilemmas remain uncertain, perhaps this is a not
unreasonable guide through the myriad confusions of
environmental turbulence, discoursal value clashes and
organizational climate factors to which every ELT manager
388
can aspire… to be, and to be remembered as, simply the best
ELT manager that your college owners, your staff and your
students will ever have.
389
BIBLIOGRAPHY
390
ACPET [Australian Council for Private Education and Training] (1997) West Review of Higher Education endorses ACPET calls for fair competition. ACPET Newsletter December pp.1 - 2
Aitken, R. and Handy, C. (1986) Understanding Schools as Organizations. London: Penguin
Alvesson, M. (1993) Cultural Perspectives on Organizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Alvesson, M. and Berg, P. (1992) Corporate Culture and Organizational Symbolism. New York: De Gruyter
Amburgey, T., Kelly, D. and Barnett, W. (1993) Resetting the clock: the dynamics of organizational change and failure. Administrative Science Quarterly 38: 51 - 73
Angus, L. (1986) The risks of school effectiveness: A comment on recent education reports. The Australian Administrator 7 (3): 1-4
Anthony, P. (1994) Managing Culture. Buckingham: Open UP
Argyris, C. (1990) Overcoming Organizational Defenses. New York: Prentice Hall
Argyris, C. (1992) On Organizational Learning. Cambridge: Blackwell
Argyris, C and Schön, D. (1978) Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. In D. Pugh (Ed) Organization Theory: Selected Readings (pp. 352 - 370) Harmondsworth; Penguin
Astin, A. (1997) School of thought that’s not so clever. The Chronicle of Higher Education reprinted in The Australian HES 10 December p.35
The Australian (1997) Your Say The Australian 24/09/97 Higher Education Supplement p.2
Australian Association for Research in Education (1993) New code of ethics for research in education: Draft for Annual General Meeting. Lilydale: Commodore Press
Australian International Education Foundation (1996) Strategic Plan 1996 – 2001. Canberra: AGPS
391
Australian International Education Foundation (1996b) Annual Report 1995 –96. Canberra: AGPS
Bagozzi, R., Youjae, Y. and Phillips, L. (1991) Assessing construct validity in organizational research. Administrative Science Quarterly 36: 421 - 458
Baldwin, P. (1997) The Lighthouse: Towards a Labor Vision for the Learning Society Downloaded from www.education.labor.net.au/ Downloaded on 18/08/02
Barnard, C. (1938) The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge: Harvard UP
Barnes, R. (1949) Motion and Time Study. New York: Wiley
Bates, R. (1982) Towards a critical practice of educational administration. Studies in Educational Administration 27: 1-12
Beer, M. and Walton, A.E. (1987) Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 38: 339 - 367
Benson, D. and Hughes, J. (1983) The Perspective of Ethnomethodology. New York: Longman
Bergquist, W. (1993) The Postmodern Organization. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Black, T. (2001) Playing with the big boys: the growth of companies. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 30: pp.11-15
Blackie, D. (1989) Management issues - out of chaos, order? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 1: p.3
Bloom, H. (1979) The breaking of form. In Deconstruction and Criticism (pp 1- 38) London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Boden, D. (1994) The Business of Talk. Cambridge: Polity Press
Bolman, L and Deal, T. (1984) Modern Approaches to Understanding and Managing Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Bowers, R. (1999) Communicative Management. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 27: pp.3-4
392
Bredeson, P. (1988) Perspectives on schools: Metaphors and management in education. Journal of Educational Administration 26,3: 293-310
Buckman, P. (1973) Introduction. In Education without Schools. P.Buckman (Ed) (pp. 1 - 8) London, Souvenir
Bundesen, C. (1992) TESOL in Australia - the export sector. In Language in the Clever Country, (selected papers from the Australian Council of TESOL Associations/ Victorian Association of TESOL and Multicultural Education National Conference, January, 1992) pp. 82-97
Burns, T. and Stalker, G. (1961) The Management of Innovation. London: Tavistock
Burns, R. (1993) Managing People in Changing Times. Sydney: Allen & Unwin
Burrell, G. and Hearn, J. (1989) The Sexuality of Organization. In J.Hearn, D. Sheppard, P. Tancred-Sheriff and G. Burrell (Eds.) The Sexuality of Organization. Sage: Newbury Park
Burrell, G. and Morgan, G. (1979) Sociological paradigms and Organizational Analysis. Heinemann: London
Caldwell, B. And Spinks, J. (1988) The Self-managing School. London: Falmer
Cameron, K. and Whetten, D. (1983) Organizational Effectiveness: A Comparison of Multiple Models. In K. Cameron and D. Whetten (Eds) Organizational Effectiveness: A Comparison of Multiple Models pp.1-24 New York: Academic
Cameron K. (1978) Measuring organizational effectiveness in institutions of higher education. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23: 604-632
Campbell, R. (1977) A history of administrative thought. Administrator's Notebook 26: 4
Candlin, C. (1984) Applying a systems approach to curriculum innovation in the public sector. In J. Read (Ed) Syllabus Design: Report of the 1983 RELC Seminar Singapore: Singapore University Press
393
Candlin, C. (1991) Foreword. In Process and Experience in the Language Classroom M.Legutke and H.Thomas London: Longman
Casson, M (1982) The Entrepreneur. Martin Robertson: Oxford
Casson, M. (1993) Entrepreneurship and Business Culture. In Entrepreneurship, Networks and Modern Business J.Brown and M. Rose (Eds) Manchester UP Manchester pp.30-54
Cervi, D. (1991) ELICOS unravelled. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 7: pp.4-7
Charles, D. (1993) The fronted organigram: putting management in its rightful place. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 12: pp.11-15
Checkland, P. (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester: Wiley
Clark, A.W., (1976) Introduction. In A.W. Clark (Ed) Experimenting with Organizational Life: The Action Research Approach. Tavistock, Plenum Press: New York pp.1-10.
Clark, D., Lotto, L. and Astuto, T. (1989) Effective school and school improvement: A comparative analysis of two lines of inquiry. In J. Burdin (Ed) School Leadership (pp. 159-186) Newbury Park: Sage
Clark, M. (1999) Improving Practice: Problems, perspectives and partnerships. IATEFL 1999 Edinburgh Conference Selections pp.31-40
Clarkson, L. and Lodge, P. (1999) Transforming the wheel: from teaching skills to management skills. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 28: pp.23-25
Cohen, Land Manion L (1994) Research Methods in Education. London; New York: Routhledge,
Conference Coordinators (1996) The Learning Organization Sydney Morning Herald July 6 p. 11
Contractor, A and Noonan, G. (2002) Students in illegal visa scam. Sydney Morning Herald Downloaded from www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/30/ 1023864685680.html Downloaded on 01/07/2002
394
Crystal, D (1994) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975) Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: the Experience of Play in Work and Games. San Francisco Jossey Bass
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Collins
Cummins, C. (2001) Changing face of the city – language colleges try to find a home. Sydney Morning Herald 17 March 2001 p.70
Dallas, S. (1990) NCELTR Bibliographic Series No. 2: ELT and Management
De Geus, A. (1988) Planning as Learning. Harvard Business Review March-April 70-74
De Waal, A. (1990) What is management? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 2: pp.4-5
Deal, T. and Kennedy, A. (1982) Corporate Cultures. Penguin: London
Denison, D. (1990) Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. New York: Wiley
Denison, D. and Mishra, A. (1995) Toward a theory of organizational culture and effectiveness. Organizational Science 6 (2) 204 - 223
DEETYA Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (1996) Overseas Student Statistics 1995.: Canberra: AGPS
DETYA Department of, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (2000) Overseas Student Statistics 1999 Downloaded from http:// aei.detya.gov.au/general/ publications/oss99/oss99_sum.htm Downloaded on 5/7/02
DETYA Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (2001) Time Series of Overseas Student Numbers by Major Sector, 1994 – 2000. Downloaded from: http:// aei.detya.gov.au/stats/2000final/table5 Downloaded on 10/08/02
395
DETYA Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (2001) Getting Started Internationally - Tips for Schools Entering the International Market Downloaded from:http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/publications/tips/pages/tips_page04a.htm. Downloaded on: 10/08/02
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training (2002a) How International Students View their Australian Experience: A Survey of International Students Who Finished a Course of Study in 1999 [Electronic version; downloaded from: http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/publications/SISFCS/sisfcs.htm Downloaded on: 10/08/02
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training (2002b) Overseas Student Statistics 2000 - Summary of Key Points. [Electronic version; downloaded from http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/publications/Oss00/Oss00_sum.htm Downloaded on: 10/08/02
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training (2002c) Positioning Australian Education and Training for the Future (Branding Project). [Electronic version; downloaded from http://aei.detya.gov.au/general /activities/branding/ branding. htm Downoaded on: 10/08/02
DIMA Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1997) Review of the Student Visa Program Discussion Paper. Canberra: AGPS
Dittmer, L. (1977) Political Symbolism: toward a theoretical synthesis. World Politics 29: 552-583
Duncan, R. (1979) What is the right organization structure? Decision tree analysis provides the answer Organizational Dynamics Winter 59 - 80
Dunphy, D, and Stace, D (1991) The strategic management of corporate change. Centre for Corporate Change Working Paper #4 AGSM
Dunphy, D. and Stace, D. (1988) Transformational and coercive strategies for planned organizational change: Beyond the OD model. Organizational Studies, 9 (3): 339 - 355
396
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (1991) Management Research. London: Sage
Eldon, M (1987) Sociotechnical systems in Norway: Empowering participation through worker managed change. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science 23 (3): 339 - 355
ELICOS Association (1991) A Study of the ELICOS Industry in Australia Asia Pacific Access: Canberra
Emery, F. and Trist, E. (1981) The causal texture of organizational environments. In Systems Thinking Penguin, Harmondsworth
Etzioni, A. (1960) Two approaches to organizational analysis: A critique and suggestion. Administrative Science Quarterly 5: pp. 257 - 278
Evans, H. (1990) Orientalising the Japanese Student. The Language Teacher 14 (7): 27-29
Fairclough, N. (1985) Critical and descriptive goals in discourse analysis. Journal of Pragmatics 9 pp.739-763
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Polity Press: Cambridge
Fairclough, N. (1993) Critical discourse analysis and organizational change. Conference Presentation Communication in the Workplace Conference Sydney
Fayol, H. (1949) General and Industrial Management. London: Pitman
Field, L. (1995) Managing Organizational Learning. Melbourne: Longman
Field, L. and Ford, B. (1995) Managing Organizational Learning: From Rhetoric to Reality. Longman: Melbourne
Fiol, C and Lyles, M. (1985) Organizational learning. Academy of Management Review 10: 803 - 813
Follet, M.P. (1941) Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follet. H. Metcalf and L. Urwick (Eds) London: Pitman
Forrester, J. (1971) The Counter-Intuitive Behaviour of Social Systems. Technology Review January 52-68
397
Forth, I. (1998) Managing Teacher Development. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 26 pp 21-24
Foucault, M. (1972) The archaeology of knowledge and the discourse on language. (Trans. A. Sheridan Smith) Pantheon New York
Fowle, C. (2000) The skills transfer process from EFL teacher to educational manager. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 29: pp16-18
Friedberg, E. (1993) From organizations to concrete systems of action. In S. Lindenberg and H. Schreuder (Eds) Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Organization Studies (pp. 153-170) Oxford: Pergamon Press
Fullan, M. (1982) The Meaning of Educational Change. Teachers College Press: New York
Fullan, M. (1991) The meaning of educational change. In The New Meaning of Educational Change London: Cassell pp30 - 46
Fullop, L. (1989) Managerial Competence and Overseas Management Practices: What are the Lessons? Sydney: UWS
Gamst, F. (1989) The concept of organizational and corporate culture: an ethnological view. Anthropology of Work Review 10(3): 12 - 19
Garvin, D. (1993) Building a Learning Organization. Harvard Business Review July- August 1993 78 - 92
Gee, J. (1990) Social Linguistics and Literacies : ideology in discourses. London, New York: Falmer Press,
Gee, J., Hull, G. and Lankshear, C. (1996) The new work order: behind the language of the new capitalism. Sydney: Allen and Unwin
Glaser, B. (1978) Theoretical Sensitivity. San Francisco: The Sociology Press
Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine
Goodman, P. and Pennings, J. (1977) Toward a workable framework. In P. Goodman and J. Pennings (Eds) New
398
Perspectives on Organizational Effectiveness (pp. 147 - 184) San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Gore, J. and Zeichner, K (1995) Connecting Action Research to Genuine Teacher Development. In Critical Discourses on Teacher Development J.Smyth (ED) London, Cassell
Gore, J. (2002) Viewing the Whole Manager ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 31: 3 - 5
Graham, C. (1997) ACPET Calls for Competition Reforms and Vouchers. ACPET Newsletter Special Conference Edition June 20
Green, C. (1996) The Hoare Report. SUPRA Express 1996, (1): 14 - 17
Greenland, S. and Griffiths, E. (1993) ELT management survey report - part 1. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 10: p.13
Gregory, K. (1983) Native-view paradigms: multiple cultures and culture conflicts in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly 28: 359 - 376
Gregson, M. (2001) Spreading English evenly in the new millennium. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 31: pp.24-25
Grice, H. (1975) Logic and Conversation In P.Cole and J.Morgan (Eds) Syntax and Semantics: Speech Acts New York Academic Press
Griffiths, E. (1989) What do Directors of Studies do? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 1: 6-7
Griffiths, E. (1991) ELT Management Survey. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 7: centre pages
Griffiths, E. (1992) ELT Management Survey: A progress report. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 8: p.14
Griffiths, E. (1993) Surveying the survey. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 11: pp.14-15
Gumperz, J. (1982) Discourse Strategies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hall, R. (1974) Organizations. London: Prentice Hall
399
Hamada, T. (1994) Anthropology and organizational culture. In T. Hamada and W. Sibley (Eds) Anthropological Perspectives on Organizational Culture New York: Lanham pp. 9 - 55
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1983) Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London: Tavistock
Hammond, N. (2001) Breaking Down the Camps. In ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter Issue #30 March
Handy, C. (1978) Gods of Management. London: Souvenir
Handy, C. (1984) Taken for Granted? Looking at Schools as Organizations. London: Longman
Handy, C. (1993) Understanding Organizations. London: Penguin
Handy, C. (1991) The Age of Unreason. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
Hannan, M. and Carroll, G. (1995) Focus on industry: the organizational lens. In G. Carroll and M. Hannan (Eds) Organizations in Industry (pp 3 - 16) OUP: Oxford
Hannan, M. and Freeman, J. (1977) The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology 91: 481 - 510
Hannan, M. and Freeman, J. (1984) Structural inertia and organizational change. American Sociological Review 49: 149 - 164
Hargreaves, A. (1994a) Changing Teachers, Changing Times Cassell London
Hargreaves, A. (1994b) The changing work cultures of teaching. In The Workplace in Education ACEA 1994 Yearbook pp. 27-39.
Hargreaves, A. (1995) Renewal in the Age of Paradox Educational Leadership April 1995 pp. 14 - 19
Harris, P. (1985) Management in Transition. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Harrison, M. (1996) A Private Education for All. Centre for Independent Studies Occasional Papers 56
400
Harrison, M. (1997) The Funding of Teaching Services in Higher Education (Submission to the West Review of Higher Education) Dowloaded from http:// www.dest.gov.au/archive/highered/ hereview /submissions /harrison. htm Downloaded on 18/08/02
Harrison, R. (1972) How to describe your organization. Harvard Business Review Sept.-Oct.
Hatch, E. and Lazaraton, A. (1991) The Research Manual. New York: Newbury House:
Haveman, H. (1992) Between a rock and a hard place: organizational change and performance under conditions of fundamental environmental transformation. Administrative Science Quarterly 37: 48 - 75
Heap and Cole (1996) Empowering and Disempowering the DOS in a rapidly changing workplace. EA Journal Vol. 14, No.2 pp18 - 26)
Heckscher, C and Applegate, L. (1994) Introduction In C. Heckscher and A. Donellan (Eds) The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change (pp. 1-13) London: Sage
Heckscher, C., Eisenstat, R. and Rice, T. (1994) Transformational Processes In C. Heckscher and A. Donellan (Eds) The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change (pp. 129 - 177) London: Sage
Henry, A. (2002) Know Your DoS - I Hate Teaching English Downloaded from http://www.simonbarne.com/tefl/know_your_dos.html Downloaded on 8/08/02
Hoare, D. (1995) Higher Education Management Review; Report of the Committee of Inquiry Canberra: AGPS
Hoffman, J. (1980) Problems of access in the study of social elites and boards of directors. In W Shaffir, R. Stebbins, and A. Turowetz (Eds) Fieldwork Experience: Qualitative Approaches to Social Research St Martins: New York
Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B. Ohayv, D. and Sanders, G. (1990) Measuring organizational cultures: a qualitative and
401
quantitative study across twenty cases. Administrative Science Quarterly 35: 286 - 315
Homans, G. (1950) The Human Group. New York: Harcourt Brace
Hopkins, D. (1994) Yellow Brick Road. Managing Schools Today 3 (6) pp.14 - 17
Hoy, W. (1990) Recent developments in theory and research in educational administration. Educational Administration Quarterly 18, 3: 1-11
Hoy, W. and Ferguson, J. (1985) A theoretical framework and exploration of organizational effectiveness in schools. Educational Administration Quarterly 21: 117-134
Hoy, W. and Miskel, C. (1987) Educational Administration: Theory, Research and Practice. Random House: New York
Huber, G. (1991) Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literature. Organization Science 1991 2 (1), 88 - 115
Illich, I. (1973) The Dechooled Society. In Education without Schools P.Buckman (ed) (pp. 9 - 19) London, Souvenir
Illing, D. (1997) Fraud claims put ELICOS in the firing line. The Australian HES 3/12/97 p.4
Industry Commission (1991) Exports of Education Services Canberra: AGPS
Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills (1995) Enterprising Nation Canberra: AGPS:
Jackson, D. (1989) The Australian Economy London: Macmillan
Jameson, F. (1991) Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke UP
Janou, J. (1994) The Inventive Organization: Hope and Daring at Work. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Jacques, D. (1997) Myths that must go The Australian HES 22/10/97 pp.41 - 42
402
Jaques, E. (1951) The Changing Culture of a Factory. London: Tavistock
Jaques, E. (1953) On the dynamics of social structure. Human Relations 6: pp. 3 - 24
Jaques, E. (1955) Social systems as a defence against persecutory and depressive anxiety. In M. Klein (Ed) New Directions in Psychoanalysis London: Tavistock
Jaques, E. (1956) The Measurement of Responsibility London: Tavistock
Jasper, I. (1991) 10 pitfalls of line management in EFL. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 6: pp.2-3
Johnson, N. (1989) Criteria for assessing the effectiveness of schools and principals. Education Canada, Summer 14-19
Johnston, W. (1989) A question of management. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 1: p.3
Jones, P. (1994) Research perspectives on the World Bank. In G. Walford (Ed) Researching the Powerful in Education London UCL Press pp 174 - 185
Joseph, J (2001) Globalization and the Spread of English: The Long Perspective Journal of Southeast Asian Education 2:2 pp.212 - 240
Kachru, B. (1987) The bilingual's creativity: discoursal and stylistic strategies in contact literatures. In L. Smith (Ed.) Discourse Across Cultures (pp.125-140) Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall
Kanter, R. (1983) The Change Masters: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the American Corporation. New York, Simon and Schuster
Kaplan, H.R. and Tausky, C. (1977) Humanism in organizations: A critical appraisal. Public Administration Review, March/April: 171-179
Kaplan, R. and Grabe, W. (1992) Introduction to Applied Linguistics. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley
Katz, D. and Kahn, R. (1966, 1978) The Social Psychology of Organizations. New York: John Wiley
403
Keller, R. (1980) Dimensions of management system and performance in continuous access organizations In Katz, R. Kahn and J. Adams (Eds) The Study of Organizations (pp. 113-125) San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Kelly, D. and Amburgey, T. (1991) Organizational inertia and momentum: a dynamic model of strategic change. Academy of Management Journal 34: 591 - 612
Kemmis S, (1988) The Action research planner Kemmis and R McTaggart (Eds). 3rd Ed Waurn Ponds: Deakin University Press
Kennedy, C. (1987) Innovating for a change. ELT Journal 41 p3
Keys, K.J. (2001) Babel fish and silicon chips: reflections on the future of ELT ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter Issue # 30 March pp.25 - 27
Kiely, R. (1999) Evaluation: the ELT manager’s toolkit. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter Issue #28 November pp.10-13
Kimberley, J. and Quin, R. (1984) Managing Organizational Transitions New York: Irwin
Kirkpatrick, D. (1985) How to Manage Change Effectively. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Kofman, F. and Senge, P. (1993) Communities of Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations. In Organizational Dynamics Autumn pp.5 - 23
Kotter, J. (1992) Corporate Culture and Performance. New York: Macmillan
Lakomski, G. and Haynes, F. (1995) Educational Organizations as Systems. In C. Evers and J. Chapman (Eds) Educational Administration: An Australian Perspective Sydney: Allen and Unwin pp. 18 - 33
Lane, T. (1983) How critical is critical theory? Studies in Educational Administration 32: 1-8
Lawrie, J. (1989) Your performance: appraise it yourself. Personnel, Jan: 21-23
404
Leather, S. (1989) The ELT Management Special Interest Group. ELT Management 1: 3
Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D. and Steinbach, R. (1995) An Organisational Learning Perspective on School Responses to Central Policy Initiatives School Organization 15, 3: 229 – 252
Levitt, B. and March, J. (1990) Chester I. Barnard and the intelligence of learning. In O. Williamson (Ed) Organization Theory (pp. 11-37) Oxford: OUP
Lewis, M. and Hill, J. (1992) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching London: LTP
Lieberman, M. (1993) Pubic Education: An Autopsy Cambridge; Harvard University Press
Light, I. and Bonacich, E. (1988) Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles 1965 - 1982 Berkeley: UCP
Likert, R. (1961) New Patterns of Management. New York :McGraw Hill
Lister, I. (1973) Getting there from here. In Education without Schools P.Buckman (ed) (pp. 20 - 28) London, Souvenir
Locke, R. (1993) Education and Entrepreneurship: an historian's view. In Entrepreneurship, Networks and Modern Business J.Brown and M. Rose (Eds) Manchester UP Manchester pp55-75
Lord, R. (1991) Leadership and Information Processing. Boston: Unwin
Lortie, D. (1969) Control and autonomy in elementary teaching. In A. Etzioni (Ed) The Semi-Professions and their Organization (pp.1 - 53) New York: Macmillan
Lynn, R. (1996) Review of the ELT Manager's Handbook ELT Journal 50, 1: 85-87
MacLean, R. (1991) Career behaviour and perceptions of promoted teachers. In Australian Teachers' Careers R. MacLean and P. McKenzie (Eds) pp. 241 - 264 Hawthorn; ACER.
405
Manning, P. (1979) Metaphors of the Field: Varieties of Organizational Discourse. Administrative Science Quarterly 24: 660 - 671
Marginson, S. (1997) Markets in Education Sydney, Allen and Unwin
Marzano, R., Zaffron, S. Zraik, L. Robbins, S. and Yoon, L. (1996) A New Paradigm for Educational Change. Education 116, 2: pp162 - 173
Mason, R and Mitroff, R. (1981) Challenging Strategic Planning Assumptions. New York: Wiley
Mawer, G and Field, L. (1995) One Size Fits Some: Competency Based Training and NESB People NESB MCVET Canberra: AGPS
Mayo, E. (1949, 1975) Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company. In The Social Problems of an Industrial Organization London: Routledge pp. 60 - 76
McGaw, B., Piper, K., Banks, D and Evans, B. (1993) Improving Australia's Schools. (Executive summary of Making Schools More Effective: Report of the Australian Effective Schools Project) Hawthorn: ACER
McGowan, A. (1996) Marketing in ELT ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 20: pp.3-8
McGregor, A. (1997) Witchdoctors cash in on the power of babble Sydney Morning Herald Jan 1
McGregor D. (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw Hill
Menzies, I. (1960) A case study in the functioning of social systems as a defence against anxiety. Human Relations 13 (2): pp. 95 – 121
Meyer, J and Rowan, B. (1978) The Structure of Educational Organizations. In M. Meyer, J.Freeman, M. Hannan, J. Meyer, W. Ouchi, J. Pfeffer and W. Scott (Eds) Environments and Organizations pp78 - 109
Micklethwait, J. and Wooldridge, A.. (1996) The witch doctors : making sense of the management gurus New York : Times Books
406
Miller, D. (1982) Evolution and revolution: a quantum view of structural change in organizations. Journal of Management Studies 19 (2): 131 - 151
Miller, D. and Friesen, P. (1984) Organizations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Mink, O. (1993) Change at Work. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Mintzberg, H. (1975) The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact. Harvard Business Review July-August 1975 pp.49-61
Mintzberg, H. (1980) The Nature of Managerial Work Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall
Mintzberg, H. (1981) Organization design: Fashion or fit? Harvard Business Review 59:1, 103-116
Mintzberg, H. (1983) Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall
Mitroff, I. (1987) Business not as Usual. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Mohr, L. (1982) Explaining Organizational Behaviour: The limits and possibilities of theories and research. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Mooney, J. and Reiley, A. (1931) Onward Industry. New York: Harper and Row
Morgan, G. (1986) Images of Organization. Beverly Hills: Sage
Mott, P. (1972) The Characteristics of Effective Organizations. New York: Harper and Row
Muczuk, J. and Reimann, B. (1987) The case for directive leadership. Academy of Management Executive 1 (3): 301 - 311
Myers, D. (1997) Neo-geographic ideology in black and white. The Australian 5-Mar p.33
NEAS (2001) About NEAS Downloaded from http://www.neas-accred.com/1.htm Downloaded on 18/08/02
Nicolini, D. and Meznar, M. (1995) The social construction of organizational learning: conceptual and practical issues in
407
the field. Human Relations 48, 7: 727 - 746
Nolan, T. (1992) Shaping Your Organization's Future. San Diego: Pfeiffer
Norris, C. (1985) Contest of Faculties. London: Methuen
Nunan, D. (1992) Introduction in Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching. D.Nunan (Ed.) Cambridge; Cambridge University Press
OECD (1995) Learning Beyond Schooling. OECD Paris
O'Neil, J. (1995) On schools as learning organizations: A conversation with Peter Senge Educational Leadership April 1995 pp.20 - 23
Osborn, R. (1976) The search for environmental complexity. Human Relations 29: 179-191
Ouchi, W. (1981) Theory Z: How American business can meet the Japanese challenge. Reading: Addison Wesley
Owens, R. (1995) Organizational Behaviour in Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon
Owens, R and Steinhoff, C. (1976) Administering Change in Schools. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall
Palmer, F. (1992) Literature and Moral Understanding Oxford: Clarendon Press
Parker, R. (1994) Flesh peddlers and warm bodies: The temporary help industry and its workers. Rutgers University Press New Brunswick
Parrot, M. (1990) The Unloved DOS. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 2: p.7
Pauchant, T. (1995) Toward a field of organizational existentialism. In W. Bennis, R. Mason and I. Mitroff (Eds) In Search of Meaning San Francisco; Jossey Bass
Pennycook, A. (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. London: Longman
Perrow, C. (1973) The short and glorious history of organizational theory. Organizational Dynamics, Summer: 2-15
408
Peters, T. (1992) Liberation Management: Necessary Disorganization for the Nanosecond Nineties. London: Macmillan
Peters, T and Austin, N. (1985) A Passion for Excellence. Glasgow: Fontana
Peters, T. and Waterman, R. (1982) In Search of Excellence. Glasgow: Fontana
Peters, T. (1988) Thriving on Chaos. New York: Knoff
Pettigrew, A. (1979) On studying organizational cultures. Administrative Science Quarterly 24 (4)
Pfeffer, J. and Salancik, G. (1980) Determinants of supervisory behaviour: A role set analysis. In D. Katz, R. Kahn and J. Adams (Eds) The Study of Organizations (pp. 126-135) San Francisco: Jossey Bass:
Phillips, T. (2000) The major challenges facing ELT institutions in the future ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 29: pp.3-5
Pickering, G. (1999) The Learning Organization: An idea whose time has come? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 27: pp.5-7
Pickering, G. (2001a) Does size matter and are all MOOs cash cows? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 30: p.2
Pickering, G. (2001b) Living in Chains ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 30: pp.3 - 10
Prentice, R (1996) Influencing design in ELT ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 20: pp10-13
Pucik, V., Tichy, N. and Barnett, C. (Eds) Globalizing Management. New York: Wiley
Putnam, L. (1983) The interpretive perspective. In L. Putnam and M. Pacanowsky (Eds), Communication and Organization Sage: Beverly Hills
Quinn, J. (1980) Strategies for Change: Logical Incrementalism. New York: Irwin
Reader, C. (1996) A Happy Medium. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 20: pp.3-8
409
Reid, I. (1996) Higher Education or Education for Hire: Language and Values in Australian Universities. CQU Press: Rockhampton
Richards, J. (2001) Program Factors in Effective Foreign and Second Language Teaching. Journal of Southeast Asian Education 2:2 December: pp.373 - 412
Richardson, G. (1990) Feedback Thought in Social Science and Systems Theory. UPP: Philadelphia:
Riches, C. and Morgan, C. (1989) Human Resource Management in Education. Open University Press
Rist, R. and Joyce, K. (1995) Qualitative research and implementation evaluation: a path to organizational learning. International Journal of Educational Research 23 (2) pp.127 - 135; pp.127-131
Rodger, S. (2001) A day in the life of… ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter. Issue # 30 March pp.18-19
Roethlisberger, F. and Dickson, W. (1947) Management and the Worker. Harvard University: Press Cambridge, Mass:
Rowe, C. (1992) The Management Matrix. Alfred Waller: Oxfordshire
Rudge, P. (1990) Order and Disorder in Organizations. Kambah: Corat
Ruane, M. (2000) Seeking and shaping change in language learning environments. IATEFL 2000 Dublin Conference Selections IATEFL: Whitstable, Kent pp. 37 - 44
Said, E. (1978) Orientalism London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Salancik, B. and Pfeffer, J. (1978) The External Control of Organizations. New York: Harper and Row
Sanford, N (1956) Personality development during the college years. Journal of Social Issues 12 : 1-75
Sanford, N. (1965) Social science and social reform. Journal of Social Issues 21: 54-70
Sarup, M. (1988) Post-structuralism and Post-modernism. Harvester Wheatsheaf: Hertfordshire
410
Savage, S. (1996) Management ELICOS style: unique and coming of age. TESOL in Context 6 (1) pp.24 - 27
Schein, E. (1985) Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Schutz, A. (1953) The Frame of Unquestioned Constructs. In M.Douglas (Ed) Rules and Meanings pp.18 - 20 Penguin, London
Scott, W. (1987) Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems. (2nd Ed) Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training (1992) Inquiry into the operation of the Education for Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial Regulation) Act 1991 (ESOS ACT) Senate Printing Unit, Canberra
Senge, P. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday: New York
Senge. P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R. and Smith, B. (1991) The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. London: Breale
Senge, P. and Sterman, J. (1992) Systems thinking and organizational learning: Acting locally and thinking globally in the organization of the future. In Transforming Organizations T. Kochan and M. Useem (Eds) Oxford: Oxford University Press pp. 353 – 370
Shaskin, M. (1984) Participative management is an ethical imperative. Organizational Dynamics 1: 62-75
Shroder, H. (1989) Managerial Competence: The Key to Excellence. Iowa: Kendell Hunt
Simpson, R. and Simpson, I. (1969) Women and bureaucracy in the semi-professions. In The Semi-Professions and their Organization A. Etzioni (Ed) pp. 196 - 265 New York: Macmillan
Sinclair, A. (1990) Sponsoring Self-Management of Change. Working Paper no. 16 University of Melbourne
Singh, J., House, R. and Tucker, D. (1986) Organizational change and organizational mortality. Administrative Science Quarterly 31: 587 - 611
411
Smircich, L. (1983a) Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly 28: pp. 339-58
Smircich, L. (1983b) Studying organizations as cultures. In G. Morgan (ed) Beyond Method Sage: Beverly Hills
Smircich (1985) Is organizational culture a paradigm for understanding organizations and ourselves? . In P.J. Frost (Ed) Organizational Culture. Sage: Beverly Hills
Somekh, B. (1996) Beyond common sense: action research and the learning organization. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 22: pp. 3-7
Stacey, R. (1992) Managing the Unknowable: Strategic Boundaries Between Order and Chaos in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Stephens, J. (1992) Language and Ideology in Children’s Fiction London: Longman
Stewart, L. (1989) Bridging the language gap. In Overseas students: educational opportunity and challenge R. Browne and E. Dale (Eds) Curtin, Australian College of Education
Swan, H. and Holmes, A. (1992) Must the DoS exist? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 9: pp.1-3
Swieringa, J. (1992) Becoming a Learning Organization Reading: Addison Wesley
Strain, J.P. (1971) Modern Philosophies of Education New York: Random House
Sydney Morning Herald (21 June 1997) Better unis up to students , says Vanstone p.9
Tagiuri, R. (1968) The concept of organizational climate. In R. Tagiuri and G. Litwin (Eds) Organizational Climate: Exploration of a Concept Cambridge: Harvard UP
Taylor, F.W. (1911) The principles of scientific management. In Scientific Management (1972) Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Thomas, T. (1996) Export culture gathers strength Business Review Weekly 18 (3) 29 January pp. 36 - 61
412
Thompson, J. (1967) Organizations in Action. New York: McGraw Hill
Thompson, J. (1992) Ideology and modern culture : critical social theory in the era of Mass Communication. Cambridge: Polity Press
Toffler, A. (1990) Powershift. New York: Bantam
Turner, V. (1969) The Ritual Process. New York: Aldine
Turner, D. and Crawford, M. (1992) Competencies for the achievement of value creating change. AGSM Working Paper #13
Underhill, N. (1989) Setting the agenda. ELT Management 1:p.2
Underhill, N. (1995) Professionalism and quality: a tour d’horizon. ELT Management 18:pp.2-3
Van Dijk, T., (1987) Communicating Racism London Sage
Wajnryb, R. (1993) Meaning what you say and saying what you mean: Research into supervisory mitigation. EA Journal 11:1 pp56 - 63
Wainwright, R. (1996) Outdated Council is told to move. Sydney Morning Herald 7-Jun-96 p.3
Waites, C. (1999) The professional life-cycles and professional development of adult teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) Doctoral Thesis University of New South Wales, Sydney
Waldersee, R and Blackstock, L. (1993) Organizational Change in Australia: What’s Really Happening. AGSM Centre for Corporate Change Working Paper #37
Walker, J. (1998) TESOL as a service. EA Journal 16 (2) pp.30 - 39
Walker, J. (1999) Perspectives on service in ELT operations. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 27: pp.16-20
Walker, J. (2000) ESOL teachers as service providers Prospect 15 (1) pp.23 - 33
413
Wallace, J. (1995) Organizational and professional commitment in professional and non-professional organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly pp 228 - 255
Waterman, R. (1994) Frontiers of Excellence. Sydney: Allen and Unwin
Watson T. (1994) In Search of Management: Culture, Chaos and Control in Managerial Work. New York: Routhledge
Webb, E. and Weick, K. (1979) Unobtrusive measures in Organization Theory: A Reminder. Administrative Science Quarterly: 24: 651 - 659
Weber, M. (1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organizations. (trans: A. Henderson and T. Parsons) New York: Free Press
Weick, K. (1976) Cognitive Processes in Organizations. In B. Staw (ed) Research in Organizational Behaviour Greenwich, JAI
White (1995) Education. in Oxford Companion to Philosophy (pp.216 - 219)
White, R.V. (1987) Managing Innovation. ELT Journal, 41, 3: 211-218
White, R.V. (1988) The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation and Management. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
White, R.V., Martin, M., Stimson, M. and Hodge R. (1991) Management in English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Williams, G. (1988) Discourse on Language and Ethnicity. In N.Coupland (Ed) Styles of Discourse. Croom Helm: London, New York
Willis, Q.F. (1985) Studying Managers at Work. In W. Ainsworth and Q.F. Willis (Eds) Australian Organizational Behaviour: Readings 2nd Ed Melbourne, Macmillan
Wiltshire Committee (1971) Report of the Committee on Small Business. Canberra: AGPS
Woods, A., Fletcher, P. and Hughes, A. (1986) Statistics in Language Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
414
Woodward, J. (1965) Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice. London: OUP
Yankelovich, D. (1981) New Rules: Searching for Self-Fulfilment in a World Turned Upside Down. New York: Random House
Yuchtman, E. and Seashore. S. (1967) A system resource approach to organizational effectiveness. American Sociological Review 32: 891-903
Zilbergeld, B. (1983) The Shrinking of America. Boston: Little, Brown &Co.
Zikmund, W. (1991) Business Research Methods. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Zuckerman, M. and Hutala, L. (1992) Incredibly American: Releasing the Heart of Quality. Milwaukee ASQC Press
415
APPENDIX A
Interview and Observation Guide
Structure1. Organigram2. Which jobs/roles/tasks have the most power?3. Which have the least power?4. Who gives permission for what?5. Who controls financial aspects of organization?6. Extent of agreement with their decisions?7. Who talks to whom on a typical day? Socially? Work related?8. Content of conversations?9. Organization of hiring and firing?10.Feelings towards owners/managers/ELT managers of organization?11. Which areas are they particularly reasonable?12. Which areas are they particularly unreasonable?13. Changes in the last month? Six months? Year? Five years?14.If you were running this organization what changes would you make to
the organization's structure?15. Other?
Ecology1. Locations, rooms and facilities?2. Suitability/adequacy/etc for purposes of organization?3. Shortcomings?4. Best features?5. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners particularly
like?6. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners feel proud of?7. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners particularly
dislike?8. Technology of organization?9. Which technological features are particularly important to which
stakeholders?10.Which technological features are irrelevant to which stakeholders?11. Which technological features could be used more effectively?
320
12. Which ones are unnecessary?13. Changes in the last month? Six months? Year? Five years? 14. Other?
321
Milieu1. People?2. Backgrounds?3. Satisfaction levels?4. Motivating and demotivating elements of organization/tasks?5. Is it the job itself you like/dislike or is there elements of the
organization that you like/dislike?6. Pay and conditions comparison to other institutions and to other
industries?7. Overall morale?8. Sorts of people this organization deals with on a professional basis
(agents, inspectors, etc.)?9. Would you recommend/Have you recommended this organization to
friends/relatives to work in? To study at? Why? Why not?10. Other?
Culture1. Norms?2. Belief systems?3. Values?4. Significant historical events in the organization and their implications?5. The impact of organizational heroes on contemporary thinking?6. The influence of traditions and organizational myths?7. Special terms or workplace slang that only insiders would understand?8. Type of people most likely to make a fast career or do well?9. Kind of people who would enjoy working here?10. Meaningful persons for this organization?11. Periodic meetings?12. Events celebrated in this organization?13. Types of things people like to see happening here?14. Biggest mistakes a person can make here?15. Type of work problems that might keep you awake at night?16. Any special ways of treating each other?17. Organizational culture? How has it evolved?18. How appropriate for the institution’s goals?19. Responds how effectively to changes in the organizational
environment?20. Visible beliefs? If so, what are they?21.Do people in the organization know these beliefs? If so, who? How
many?22. How do these beliefs affect day-to-day business?
322
23. How are the beliefs communicated to the organization?24. Are the beliefs reinforced? How?25. How would you characterise the performance of the college?26. Other
323
APPENDIX B
Sample Interview Sheet and Analysis
Organization Situation Participant DateCollege A Interview #1 Francis, DOS 10/10/96
THEME KEY
D = DISCOURSEMn = MANAGEMENTS = STRUCTUREM = MILIEUE = ECOLOGYC = CULTUREO = OTHER
Theme Key Concept Comment / Quote
Mn Tension 1. Has learned a lot and likes the direct culture but still frustrated and “unempowered” by it in many ways"
D/C Opposition 2. 2 different cultures - teacher culture and the business culture - why are they so anathematic to each other?
M Time in org 3. Started working for College A in Feb 1995
M Time in org 4. Been there almost two years
C/E Boundaries 5. Knows that College A was a breakaway from another org - "there was a lot of politics involved and some "ill-will" about resources such as the database but wouldn't know which orgs and personally doesn’t bear any resentments
S/C Type 6. Imagines College A was small and cosy 5 years ago
C Techniques 7. Everyone acted on their instincts
324
C/S Structure 8. Had a family atmosphere that has passed now - directors talk nostalgically about the days when there were very few students
D/C Opposition 9. Healthy disrespect of what is labelled "academia" this is used derogatorily to refer to a range of matters including structures, formality and the hypocrisy of 'edubabble'
S Type 10. College A has completely resisted a formalisation of structures or staff - eg how staff given contracts because the model was the family companies and everything was trust based on people's good will and understanding
C Heroes 11. This culture is overall a positive - helps develop a unique feel - this comes from financial controller who derides things that are taken seriously by the teachers - always taking the piss " make money and have a good time" completely without respect for many values that others take seriously
S/C Problems 12. For some teachers this work culture is a problem - people who want to know about their rights and conditions
M/C Problems 13. Especially a problem for people who have worked in other places and had their expectations built there and define things in terms of an employer/employee relationship
S/M Problems 14. Some of these people have questioned things and when that happens they feel threatened
D/C Tension 15. Came to College A from the opposite kind of work culture which was bureaucracy gone mad - uni set up where person in charge of program was totally "form-driven" –
C/M Contrast 16. Sister has since left and is working for a uni program where most of the teachers are 'degreed' but not qualified in the area - her sister has even been asked to teach on the teacher training program
S/C Contrast 17. When she came to College A contrast was great - autonomy was wonderful up to a point but she felt insecure about what to do? - looking for a little bit of guidance
Mn Motivation to change to ELT management
18. Came from a teaching job, done ELT teaching for 10 years husband looking after baby and studying so need better position- script for employment was completely different
Mn Style 19. If she owned her own college she would do things in a very similar way but encourage a little more regularity and dependence
C Power 20. College A is somewhat "feudal" - not comfortable with negotiation comfortable as part of a system
C Planning 21. Everything at College A is ad hoc
325
M Heroes 22. At College A definition of good employee is one who is like minded
M/C Heroes 23. Heroes are those who are "light, fresh, humorous, understanding accepting and are happy"
M Heroes (anti) 24. Moaners or whingers are come down on heavily
Mn 25. Attitude of management is that "we have been good to them so they should be good back"
M 26. The teachers are given casual salary but with benefits of full-time position
C Divisions 27. At times has been resentment - problem of two colleges see computer teachers supervising lab sessions or business teachers with flexible curriculum offered occasionally no students - but English teachers need to always be teaching - but principal and financial controller strongly indicated that vocational college was integral to success of English college
M Salaries and recognition
28. Tension that everyone gets the same money with no recognition for different levels (eg someone with no qualifications earns the same as one woman who had five degrees) just have to explain to teachers that that’s the way it is
S Structure 29. Advantages are that there is no strong hierarchy and everyone feels equal and so no one sees anyone as on top –
S Structure 30. Also realises that as dos she is not on top of teachers
S/C Power 31. Definitely sees herself as part of the system but the owners have the real control and the final say
Mn Business vs education
32. Used to want owners to toe certain lines eg teacher contract as demanded by NEAS including no food in classrooms, no smoking, dress code - she copied a contract that she had had at a university college - but Principal and owners didn't want a bar of it so she decided to go with the flow and adopt a laissez faire attitude
O 33. No core text for teaching purposes
C Vision 34. Owners don’t want their college to become like other colleges
326
M/C Client focus 35. Very focused on student welfare and the need for them to have a good time in Sydney and feel comfortable in the college - all their efforts are focussed on the students that they have "love the one you’re with" –“ don't spend money on some unknown potential student in a far away country printing up glossy brochures for them to read”, “put all your efforts into the students you have and ensure that they build the colleges reputation”
Mn Techniques 36. New DOS will change the culture of the English college - he's got good ideas - but he's going to have a moment of reckoning like she did
Mn Vision 37. College A has no strong planning or vision for the future which can be seen in the building’s evolution - everything happens ad hoc and is unplanned
D Clash of values 38. There is healthy cynicism about what education is - they see it from a business point of view which helps the business but makes some education decisions hard
Mn Future 39. Doubts whether it can go on forever this way
Mn Feelings 40. Feeling of living on tenterhooks
Mn Techniques 41. She's seen problems with records and document handling
M Client focus 42. The college gives students a good structure and doesn't try to rip them off
E Client focus 43. The facilities include putting the students first - it sounds cliché but most other places don't
M 44. Would not like the school to get too big
M 45. College was best when it was 70 - 80 students - now 160 students - it could get to 300 students
E Problems 46. Admin problems such as database that couldn't print out classlists – principal didn't see the need to upgrade
E Problems 47. Problems getting enough materials and resources compared to social things
E Value clash 48. Gym easy to get - educational facilities not (eg had to buy books in self access at auction)
M/C Communication 49. Unique the way people get involved with networks of gossip
Mn Techniques 50. Principal as an administrator has a most unusual manner
327
S/C Values 51. Owners have the most influence leading to fights about traditional things - they support anything that's fun
Mn Feelings 52. Sometimes very stressful – have sick feeling on Sunday night thinking about work – sounds crazy when everything here is pretty good but there’s always a million small problems
D Value clash 53. Business and educational culture clash
D Value clash 54. Business vs tourism vs education
E Value clash 55. Strongly argued for the acquisition of new learning materials (eg readers) for library, owners converted room into a gym students and agents liked it but showed domination of owners view – although it was used and enjoyed by a lot of students
M Heroes 56. Star teacher is IELTS teacher – could work anywhere but likes happy-go-lucky style at College A, agents often put students here especially for her IELTS classes
E Premises look and location
57. College has very affluent look – even NEAS inspectors commented on that and location is perfect right in heart of city
E Communication 58. Always tries to inform staff about what’s going on eg copies of inspection approvals on noticeboard, conferences etc
Mn Marketing 59. Virtually no external marketing but still heaps of students
C Rituals 60. Annual party and Christmas party are very important started doing pantomimes as well and these are becoming big all these events are free to students and friends
328
APPENDIX C
Profile of Informants
Phase III
# Position College
Nationality M/F
Age
ELT
Exp1 Principal A UK/Aust M 48 02 Principal B Aust M 45 93 Principal C Korean/Aust M 44 04 Principal D Aust M 51 05 Director of Studies A Sri Lanka/Aust F 38 126 Director of Studies A Aust M 54 157 Director of Studies B Aust F 40 138 Director of Studies D Aust F 46 129 Director of Studies C Aust M 45 1110
Senior Teacher C Portugese/Aust
M 34 7
11
Senior Teacher C UK/Aust M 36 8
12
Senior Teacher A Aust F 52 15
13
Senior Teacher B Aust M 27 3
14
Senior Teacher D Aust F 37 9
15
Teacher A Aust F 26 2
16
Teacher B Aust M 29 4
17
Teacher B Aust F 50 8
18
Teacher A UK/Aust F 33 6
19
Teacher B Aust F 41 8
20
Teacher A Aust M 49 7
21
Teacher B UK F 28 3
22
Teacher C Aust M 30 4
23
Teacher A Aust F 32 6
329
24
Teacher A UK/Aust M 40 5
25
Teacher A Aust M 41 8
26
Teacher A Aust F 29 1
27
Teacher C Aust F 49 8
28
Teacher C Aust F 36 3
29
Teacher A Aust M 29 4
30
Teacher A Aust M 30 2
31
Teacher C UK/Aust M 29 4
32
Teacher D US/Aust M 56 2
33
Teacher D Aut/Aust F 69 5
34
Teacher A UK/Aust F 46 3
35
Teacher B Aust M 27 4
36
Administrative Worker
C Aust F 32 n/a
37
Administrative Worker
B Aust M 26 n/a
38
Administrative Worker
B Aust F 38 n/a
39
Administrative Worker
B Aust M 39 n/a
40
Administrative Worker
A Chinese F 34 n/a
41
Administrative Worker
A Aust F 39 n/a
42
Administrative Worker
B Aust F 19 n/a
43
Administrative Worker
A UK/Aust F 32 n/a
44
Administrative Worker
B Japanese F 30 n/a
45
Administrative Worker
C Indonesian F 38 n/a
46
Administrative Worker
C Indonesian F 23 n/a
47
Administrative Worker
D Aust F 24 n/a
330
48
Administrative Worker
B Japanese F 19 n/a
49
Administrative Worker
C Indonesian F 27 n/a
50
Administrative Worker
B NZ M 48 n/a
51
Administrative Worker
C Korean F 23 n/a
52
Administrative Worker
D Aust F 21 n/a
53
Administrative Worker
B Aust F 26 n/a
54
Administrative Worker
C Taiwanese F 28 n/a
55
Student A Taiwanese F 23 n/a
56
Student C Thai F 22 n/a
57
Student D Korean M 26 n/a
58
Student D Korean F 21 n/a
59
Student A Japanese F 21 n/a
60
Student C Brazilian M 47 n/a
61
Student A Chinese M 29 n/a
62
Student D Slovak M 31 n/a
63
Student C Indonesian M 24 n/a
64
Student C Indonesian F 23 n/a
65
Student C Korean M 26 n/a
66
Student C Slovak M 24 n/a
67
Student B Korean F 20 n/a
68
Student B Japanese M 21 n/a
69
Student B Taiwanese M 22 n/a
70
Student B Japanese F 21 n/a
71
Student B Japanese F 23 n/a
331
72
Student B Japanese F 21 n/a
73
Student C Thai F 20 n/a
74
Student A Thai F 24 n/a
75
Student D Korean F 26 n/a
76
Student C German F 34 n/a
77
Student A Czech F 31 n/a
78
Student A Czech M 29 n/a
79
Student B Slovak M 26 n/a
80
Student B Malaysian M 22 n/a
81
Student B Indonesian F 21 n/a
332
Phase IV Action Research
# Position College
Nationality M/F
Age
ELT Exp
1 Owner E Korean/Aust M 42 02 Owner E Indonesian/
AustF 37 0
3 Principal E Aust M 39 134 Director of Student
AffairsE Aust F 33 8
5 Director of Studies E Aust M 29 56 Assistant DOS E Greek/Aust M 54 157 Teacher E Aust M 40 88 Teacher E US M 51 39 Teacher E UK/Aust M 28 510
Teacher E Aust M 30 2
11
Teacher E UK/Aust M 27 4
12
Teacher E UK F 26 3
13
Teacher E Aust M 29 4
14
Teacher E Aust F 50 2
15
Teacher E Aust F 33 7
16
Teacher E UK F 41 5
17
Teacher E UK M 30 8
18
Teacher E Aust F 26 2
19
Teacher E Irish F 27 4
20
Teacher E Aust F 27 2
21
Teacher E Irish F 26 3
22
Teacher E UK F 29 5
23
Teacher E UK F 50 4
24
Teacher E UK F 33 9
2 Teacher E Aust M 26 2
333
526
Teacher E Aust M 41 5
27
Teacher E Aust F 38 6
28
Teacher E NZ M 36 5
29
Teacher E Aust M 41 11
30
Teacher E Aust M 30 2
31
Teacher E Aust M 48 9
32
Teacher E UK F 3
33
Administrative Worker E Japanese F 32 n/a
34
Administrative Worker E Slovak M 26 n/a
35
Administrative Worker E Thai F 38 n/a
36
Administrative Worker E Aust M 39 n/a
37
Administrative Worker E Aust F 19 n/a
38
Administrative Worker E Aust F 27 n/a
39
Administrative Worker E NZ F 23 n/a
40
Administrative Worker E Indonesian F 26 n/a
41
Student E Chinese F 23 n/a
42
Student E Korean F 22 n/a
43
Student E Japanese F 21 n/a
44
Student E Slovak M 47 n/a
45
Student E Czech M 29 n/a
46
Student E Japanese F 20 n/a
47
Student E Korean M 21 n/a
48
Student E Indonesian M 22 n/a
4 Student E Thai F 20 n/a
334
950
Student E Thai F 24 n/a
51
Student E Columbian F 23 n/a
52
Student E Thai M 25 n/a
53
Student E Taiwanese F 23 n/a
54
Student E Indonesian F 22 n/a
55
Student E Indonesian M 24 n/a
56
Student E Columbian F 22 n/a
57
Student E Brazilian M 19 n/a
58
Student E Russian M 27 n/a
59
Student E Slovak F 26 n/a
60
Student E Slovak M 26 n/a
61
Student E Czech F 24 n/a
62
Student E Japanese M 29 n/a
63
Student E Korean M 26 n/a
64
Student E Japanese M 25 n/a
65
Student E Korean F 23 n/a
66
Student E Indonesian F 21 n/a
67
Student E Thai F 19 n/a
68
Student E Chinese F 22 n/a
69
Student E Chinese M 21 n/a
70
Student E Chinese F 21 n/a
335
336