Politics of Educational Management

EDUARDO B. ARDALES, Ed. D.

Four Frames of Leadership

Based on Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership

L.G. Bolman and T.E. Deal

Four Frames

StructuralFrame

Human ResourcesFrame

PoliticalFrame

SymbolicFrame

Looking at organizations through four frames & metaphors1. Structure Frame—the factory with

leadership as social architecture2. Human Resource Frame—the family

with leadership of empowerment3. Political Frame—the jungle with

leadership of advocacy4. Symbolic Frame—the theatre with

leadership of inspiration

Central concepts and challenges

1. Structure—rules, roles, policies and attune to structure, task, technology, environment

2. Human—needs, skills, relationships and align organizational and human needs

3. Political—power, conflict, competition, politics with an agenda and power base

4. Symbolic—culture, meaning, ritual and create faith, meaning, beauty

Properties of Organizations

• Organizations are complex—they are populated by people.• Organizations are surprising—expectations

often differ from results.• Organizations are deceptive—they

camouflage surprises.• Organizations are ambiguous—complex +

deceptive + unpredictable = ambiguous.

Political Frame

The political frame has often been described by the word jungle. It focuses on a variety of issues such as: • The enduring differences between groups and

individuals, • The allocation of scarce resources, • Conflict, • The balance and uses of power, • Bargaining and negotiating • The coalitions that form within organizations.

JUNGLE

Five Propositions of the Political Frame1. Organizations are coalitions of various

individuals and interest groups.2. There are enduring differences among the

interest groups.3. Most important decisions involve the

allocations of scarce resources.4. Goals and decisions emerge from negotiating,

bargaining, and jockeying for position.

Well-springs of Power in the Political Frame• Position power—

authority• Information and

expertise• Control of rewards• Coercive power—

ability to block, punish, interfere

• Alliances and networks• Access and control of

agendas• Framing the control

of meaning and symbols--unobtrusive• Personal power—

charisma

Four Steps in Developing a Political Map1. Determine the channels of informal

communications2. Identify principal agents of political

influence3. Analyze possibilities of internal and

external mobilization4. Anticipate the strategies that others will

employ

Networking and Building Coalitions1. Identify relevant relationships2. Assess who might resist, why, and how

strongly3. Develop, wherever possible,

relationships with opponents to facilitate communication, education, and negotiation

4. When Step 3 fails, select and implement more subtle or more forceful methods

Thoughts on the Political Frame

•Organizations are arenas.•Managers are politicians.• Top-down/bottom-up require

different political actions.•Organizations are political agents.•Organizations are political

ecosystems.

Politics

Politics - Definition

•The term politics is derived from the Greek words 'polis,' meaning the city. • 'Politics’, therefore meant to an ancient Greek, the science of the city-state or pertaining to the state and the government.

• In ancient Greece, the science, which dealt with the state and government or with the political activities of the community, was called 'politics’

• Today politics refers to the art of government, the art of directing or guiding the policy of the government towards a particular goal. • In recent times, politics as the theory

of the state or of the government is almost fading away. Instead, the concept of power has become central to the study of politics.

Politics•Politics encompasses the activities

involved in getting and using power in public life, and being able to influence decisions that affect a country or a society. • It includes matters concerned with

getting or using power within a particular group or organization.

•Politics describes a system of political affairs. Politics is therefore an act whereby someone uses his/her power or authority to influence the decision of others to his/her advantage. • Authority in this context means the power or right

a person has to give orders to people. • Influence on the other hand is the power that

somebody has to make people behave the way he/she wants them to behave.

•Another element of politics is interest.•Politics is a kind of game play that involves activities which people enter into to pursue groups, personal or selfish interest(s).

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• Positive Politics •Having practical wisdom• Being prudent, shrewd, & diplomatic• Being expedient as a plan of action• Process of gaining support•Negative Politics• Factional scheming for power & status• Being crafty or unscrupulous

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•Politics is the study of influence and the influential• Influence is measured on the basis

of the number of shares one or a group has in the preferred values or attributes• The more values or attributes shared,

the greater the influence

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Political Influence• Measured in terms of who gets the most of what

there is to get, that is the ‘elite’: • Access to people, places, things, opportunities, • Attention from others • Deference to ideas, positions, places • Security, safety, protection from harm or

hardship• Greater financial reward

• Rational Meritocracy• Being ‘elite’ is contextual

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Plain Old Influence• The ‘elite’ get the most

based on the number of shared values or attributes they possess:• Wealth• Physical Attractiveness• Skill & knowledge• Personality• History• Background or experience• Attitude

Which gets them access to:

People

Information

Resources

Political Socialization• Political values, beliefs and patterns of

behavior are acquired by the citizens of a given society through political socialization.• Political socialization is a long

developmental process through which the citizens acquire the beliefs, feelings and information that help them comprehend, evaluate and relate to the political world around them.

Agents of political socialization

• The agents of political socialization include

• the family, • peer groups,• school, • social clubs, • political parties,• mass media

Agents of political socializationThe Family• The family is the nucleus of the society and it is

the first point of contact between the new born-citizens and the political system. • It is the family that teaches the child his political

system, mother’s tongue, initial religious beliefs and some societal norms. • As he grows, he starts to learn from his parents

the symbols of the community, the political parties and political figures favored by his parents and those they dislike.

The Family• The place of the family as an agent of political

socialization is so diffused and pervasive that one can know the political leaning or preference of a particular family by listening to their children.• Some critics of the family as an agent of

political socialization see it as an agent of introduction rather than educating the children.• At this early stage of growth, the child is more

or less a duplicate of the parents political orientation.

Agents of political socializationThe School • The place of the school as an agent of

political socialization can not be over-emphasized as it is a critical socializing structure in the modern state.

Agents of political socializationThe School • The school has within its curriculum subjects like

history, geography, and social studies etc. which teach the students the different aspect of social life and by this a comprehensive cultural transmission takes place. • Having been exposed to the various areas and

knowledge of the political system the student can now subject to critical evaluation the values he has been taught in the family.

Agents of political socializationThe School • The teacher stands a very good

chance to indoctrinate the student but yet the student may still emerge independent of the preferences of his teachers since the child is now growing in maturity and also his exposition to numerous literatures.

Agents of political socializationThe School •A typical classroom is made up of

children from different religious, social and family background. • They enter into all forms of

relationships and these inter relationship may either strengthen or weaken their previously held political perception.

Agents of political socializationCivic Clubs• People collaborate in order to realize

their various interests because it is easier that way. Therefore they form or join clubs, associations, unions, religious groups etc. • All these groups of different forms and

coloration exist in all political systems and they perform socializing functions knowingly or unknowingly.

Agents of political socializationCivic Clubs

• For example, many parents insist on sending their children to their religious denomination schools so that they can be taught their religious tenets. • The Catholic Church for instance

preaches against abortion, divorce and other moral vices. It advocates good moral virtues which are necessary for the survival of the political system.

Agents of political socializationMass Media•This is a powerful tool of political socialization. •With powerful and sophisticated electronic gadgets at its disposal, its power of informing and educating the people is very efficient and effective.

Agents of political socializationMass Media• The media gives the day by day happenings in

the nation and with globalization what is also happening all over the world. • The people are in contact with their leaders,

the issues facing the nation, as well as the different positions on the issues. • In contemporary politics, political parties

float mass media outfits to enable government and opposition transmit their messages to the people.

Agents of political socialization

Political Parties• The political party is also an important agent of

political socialization because it influences a large number of the people to be involved in the political life of the state. • With its manifestos, the party educates the

people and makes them to be aware of the range of choices available to them. Within and through the political party, the people are instilled with expectations, hope and love for the political system.

Interest/ Pressure Groups• The persistence or survival of any

political system depends on the information or supports it gets from the citizenry. • This support is provided by some

people with common interest or ideology in the system that forms themselves into groups.

Interest/ Pressure Groups• The groups are formed to advance

specific demands and may, disappear as soon as their demands are achieved. An interest group is an organized body of individuals that consciously come together to agitate, defend or articulate some kind of interests common to them in the system.

Interest/ Pressure Groups

•For example, some people come together in government, military, school, business, or even in religious organizations to agitate for or against whenever they feel their existence or interest is being threatened or not adequately catered for.

Interest Articulation•Agitations expressed by interest groups are not of much use if they are not articulated or transformed into concrete policy alternatives suitable for rational decision making.

Interest Articulation• Interest articulation is the method or process by which pressure groups press their demands. •Such pressures are normally geared towards influencing public policies in their own favor or in direction that would benefit them.

Interest Articulation• Allowing articulation of opinion or interest

in any political system shows how democratic the system is. When individuals or groups are permitted to air the views or opinions, however bad, the necessary vent is given to potently prevent or discourage clandestine activities. • Conversely, bottle-up feelings that are not

expressed in groups could lead to dissatisfaction and consequently to the eruption of violence in the society.

Politics of Educational Management• Harold Lasswell, American political scientist and

professor of law at Yale University said, • “Politics is who gets what, when, and how.” • Who is able to get what from the education

system? • Who is able to get what from education policy

leaders? • When are different groups able to get

particular policies passed? • How are they able to have influence?