importance of educational management essay

Educational Leadership and Management Reflective Essay

My new skills about educational management and leadership, reference list.

Schools and colleges bring teachers, parents, and students together (Fitzgerald, 2009). Each of these groups has its unique goals and objectives. Every school leader should employ the best strategies in order to mentor these stakeholders.

School leadership is a complex practice aimed at guiding teachers and learners. Educational leadership is one of the best practices towards improving the performance of different learners.

I have gained new skills as a school leader. My first understanding is that the quality of school leadership determines the performance of every learning institution. This explains why every person should apply the best educational leadership skills. Every institution requires the best leaders in order to attain its goals.

The best leaders will ensure their institutions provide quality education to their learners. Leadership should promote “performance, openness, mentorship, and teamwork” (Day, Gronn, & Salas, 2004, p. 874).

I will use this knowledge in order to become a successful educational leader. Every educational leader should focus on the best goals (Cranston & Ehrich, 2009).

Creating Teams

The first concept towards better educational leadership is creating cohesive teams. According to Bush (2007, p. 396), “a team is a group of individuals whose mission is to achieve a set of common goals or solve the problems affecting them”.

Every team member is committed to the targeted goals or objectives. A team will succeed if it has a good mentor or leader. A motivated team will achieve its goals much easier. The class readings have also explored some of the best practices towards better educational leadership.

Leaders should use different teams in order to achieve their goals (Sheard & Kakabadse, 2004). This practice will ensure every team achieves its educational goals (National College of School Leadership, 2009).

Team Leadership

Team leadership is a dynamic approach that ensures every learner achieves his or her academic goals. The readings have widened my skills as a team leader in an academic environment. The application of proper leadership ensures every team achieves its goals.

Every team leader should be competent and self-determined (Mayrowetz, 2008). I am also planning to become a professional team leader.

Team leaders should be ready to promote cohesiveness and improve the level of communication. Team leadership is “the ability to solve every problem affecting a given group” (Hall, 2002, p. 730).

Distributed and Middle Leadership

Distributed leadership remains a major practice in many learning institutions. This leadership approach helps every manager devolve his or her responsibilities across the institution. This leadership approach follows a top-down strategy.

This leadership approach is effective because it improves the level of academic performance (Johnson, 2003). The class materials have also informed me about the importance of middle leadership. Middle leaders examine every aspect of their learning institutions.

The leader “promotes enquiry, professional development, and curriculum” (Sheard & Kakabadse, 2004, p. 102). This leader also encourages his students and teachers to establish new teams.

The leaders sustain the best networks in order to achieve their goals. I have understood why every educational leader should use the best leadership styles.

I have gained new skills from the learning process. I am planning to use these skills in my future professional practice. A good educational leader supports every teacher or learner (Gunter & Fitzgerald, 2007).

Every manager should portray the best organisational behaviours. Different leadership models such as transformational and transactional practices will ensure every learner is contented with the learning environment. I will always use these practices in order to create the best teams.

Bush, T. (2007). Educational leadership and management: theory, policy, and practice. South African Journal of Education, 27 (3), 391-406.

Cranston, N., & Ehrich, L. (2009). Senior management teams in schools: Understanding their dynamics, enhancing their effectiveness. Leading and Managing, 15 (1), 14-25.

Day, D., Gronn, P., & Salas, E. (2004). Leadership capacity in teams. The Leadership Quarterly, 15 (6), 857-880.

Fitzgerald, T. (2009). The Tyranny of Bureaucracy: Continuing challenges of Leading and Managing . Educational management administration and Leadership, 37 (1), 51-65.

Gunter, H., & Fitzgerald, T. (2007). Leading learning and leading teachers: Challenges for schools in the 21st Century. Leading and Managing, 13 (1), 1-15.

Hall, V. (2002). From teamwork to team-work in education. In K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (Eds.), Second international handbook of educational leadership and administration. Part 2 (pp. 697-733). London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Johnson, N. (2003). Working in Teams . Web.

Mayrowetz, D. (2008). Making sense of distributed leadership: Exploring the multiple usages of the concept in the field. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44 (3), 424-435.

National College of School Leadership. (2009). School leadership: Federations and distributed leadership . Web.

Sheard, G., & Kakabadse, A. (2004). A process perspective on leadership and team development. Journal of Management Development, 23 (1), 7-106.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 20). Educational Leadership and Management. https://ivypanda.com/essays/educational-leadership-and-management/

"Educational Leadership and Management." IvyPanda , 20 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/educational-leadership-and-management/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Educational Leadership and Management'. 20 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Educational Leadership and Management." December 20, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/educational-leadership-and-management/.

1. IvyPanda . "Educational Leadership and Management." December 20, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/educational-leadership-and-management/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Educational Leadership and Management." December 20, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/educational-leadership-and-management/.

• Importance of Mentorship in Nursing
• The Concept of Mentoring
• Distributed and Distance Learning Systems
• Importance of distributed teams
• Drawbacks and Disadvantages of Distributed Computing
• Mentor Texts: Different Writing Techniques Usage
• Marketing Mentor Framing Strategies
• Expectancy Theory of Learning and Its Features
• Mentoring Model in Educational Process
• Mentoring and Coaching Experience
• Reform of Education in California
• Designing Educational Spaces: A Birth-To-Eighteen-Year-Old Training for a Rich Parent
• The Best Education Strategies and Design in Academic and Professional Life
• The Usefulness of Educational Research
• Impact of education reduction

• Essay Editor

Importance of Educational Management Essay

1. introduction.

Educational management, also sometimes known as educational administration, is commonly connected with elementary and secondary schools as well as studying establishments. Educational management is central to the educating and studying procedure. The college administrator is the man or woman liable for setting up and executing a school's academic mission. "Introduction to Educational Management" is about defining what is educational management, the definition of academic management and discussing its basic elements. It additionally explores what academic management is and how it is applied to management and leadership in schooling. Educational management is a self-discipline of system and has received growing attention among scholars. The notion of academic management is broad and comprehensive. It has two senses - general and specialized. In the popular sense, instructional management is worried with the implementation of educational programs. In the specialized sense, it refers to guiding the process of instruction through planning, implementation and manipulate activities. While times requires a lot of a instructor or school valuable it entails distinctive activity of a manager who is positioned in a chief role, that is one who has the absolute power to determine, to direct, to manipulate and to assess the tutorial programme and operations in varieties of ways. Successful educational management is all about proper management of economic, organizational and human resources in an academic setting. Allyn and Bacon, Inc. Defines academic management as "the capacity to encourage team of workers to apply their professional capabilities and capabilities in satisfying the organizational mission or goals" and "the manner of coming across higher methods of involving all staff in making plans and advertising and marketing organizational alternate in a associated climate of expert improvement". Educational management is new in the field of control and in view that approximately 1970's it has attracted a whole lot attention. The focus of academic control is to make certain that the school machine is positive and it provides the right conditions for powerful coaching and mastering to take vicinity. Educational leaders have to find ways to gain destiny requirements with the aid of selling innovation and facilitating first-rate practices that bring real effects in phrases of learner fulfillment. Educational leaders need to be ahead wondering, proactive and systematic in coping with the demanding situations of the rapid changing international. Successful control calls for the leaders to steer, to contain others in choice making and to be cost-guided as a way to attain the advent of a powerful and efficient mastering environment.

1.1. Definition of Educational Management

Educational management, also sometimes known as educational administration, is commonly associated with elementary and secondary schools as well as institutes of higher learning. It is also at times referred to as educational management in the literature. The main purpose of educational management is to align the efforts of the educational institutions in such a way that the adopted vision, mission, and the goals of the concerned institutions are realized. In a layman's language, educational management can be understood as the skill that helps the various sections of the school, from the teachers, the students, the non-teaching staff to the parents, to use the available resources optimally to achieve the set goals and objectives. Every educational institution has its constituencies that steer the institution toward the realization of its goals. Among these constituencies are the students, the teaching staff, the non-teaching staff, the parents, the school committee, and the administrators. The school committee and the administrators play a critical role in ensuring that the school's management is effective as the administrators are the overall planners and evaluators of the school programs while the school committee gives out the necessary directions and changes to be applied to the school. Effective educational management means that the school administrator is able to sustain the institution by continuously improving the quality of the standard of the school products. The quality of the school's products can be improved through various ways, such as in relation to the modern world. Some of the ways in which the quality can be improved include the ability of the school administrator to continuously improve on the professional chain of the teaching staff and also through the insistence of involving stakeholders in getting their views heard on what is expected of the school, something that is by far translated into creating an affirmative learning culture.

1.2. Importance of Educational Management

Educational management plays a significant role in every aspect of educational activities. Principals, vice-principals, head teachers, senior teachers, and other junior teachers should embrace the concept of educational management for them to become effective leaders. This is deemed necessary in the modern day teaching, given that the use of a centralized form of management, which makes use of both the head teachers and the teachers themselves, has taken roots in most educational institutions. In such an educational setup, the major decision-making power is distributed to the various departmental heads and both the junior and the senior teacher, making them very efficient and effective leaders who can easily embark on the development of effective strategic plans for the development of the various educational programs. Good educational management helps to create a good and conducive learning environment for both learners and teachers. It further allows the stakeholders to comprehend the mission, vision, goals, objectives, and strategies for such an educational institution as advanced by the managers. A well-managed school is known to be a better learning area for the learners. Discipline is boosted as there is the observance of the set rules and standards, respect, and the expectations of the physical, emotional, and intellectual needs. Teachers, as well, have the unique chance to grow both professionally and personally when the learning environment is focused on the learners. When education is centrally oriented towards the learners by advanced management teams, both the teachers and the junior staff support and work towards the actualization of better and effective objectives set for the development of academic programs. This results in an improved performance of the learners. With the well-advanced technology that the contemporary educational system is embracing, the effective use of stakeholder analysis is becoming very useful as a key approach to the strategic means of developing the various educational leadership programs. Stakeholders bring a diversity of views and expert knowledge to management, and by collaborating with them, it helps the school management team to tap into this valuable resource. This helps educate students to the various changes and challenges of the rapidly changing world. Where the principle of educational management is well advanced and used, data-driven strategies are always being advanced in order to understand and develop various new and effective strategic plans. Such strategies are very necessary for teachers and other experts involved in the curriculum development as well as for those engaged in other areas of academic advancements.

2. Benefits of Effective Educational Management

Firstly, effective education management will help foster a professional atmosphere and presence in educational establishments. This is so because decisions on management will affect the routines, the people, and the overall plans in the day-to-day life of any educational institution. The decisions made are influenced by set policies, and the existence of good management will mean that the implementation of the policies in the institution will be effective. Effective education management will also foster an enabling environment for coordination and cooperation among holistic leadership team in top organ. Such leaders will have the flexibility and the trust of delegating duties to the lower leaders so that they can also be involved in the decision-making processes in the institution. This participatory kind of management is the cornerstone of realization of any set objectives of the given institution. The overall day-to-day planning and organization of an education institution is a great challenge to the management. It is therefore not in dispute that the smooth running of any management education system relies on the commitment and the expertise of its taskforce. This is where our team has continuously skilled the education community with up-to-date and relevant modern skills of management awareness and efficiency. In addition, we have also enabled professionals in the field of education – both students and current officers – to have the know-how of challenges of day-to-day, strategic management of their institutions. The success of the management education therefore brings about the growth in capacity of the individuals in exercising effective day-to-day management of educational institutions.

2.1. Enhanced Learning Environment

A well-managed learning environment is a great way to enhance the academic performance of students. By putting the right rules and learning environment in place, a more functional and better-running educational system for the students and even the teachers will be achieved. This is because teachers and students spend most of their time in school and therefore the management has to make sure that the learning environment is as good as possible. There are a number of ways in which a learning environment can be improved. These include creating clear routines and an organized classroom. These routines need to be established and maintained in daily teaching. When students observe daily, predictable routines, there is less downtime, more instruction time, and smooth transitions between learning activities. This provides the students with a good time for them to be more engaged and involved in classroom activities and ensures that learning time is longer. Wetzel stated that teachers should set up different workstations in a classroom. Workstations are small groups of students in different curriculum areas working on activities of their choice. This can help students to engage in game-like quests that combine learning concepts and fun whenever they are in their free time. A well-managed learning environment will be evident throughout the school by floating through the conversations and hallways. Teachers should be firm, fair, and consistent in enforcing the rules they have established. Also, developing a positive atmosphere in the classroom and providing clear and fair standards of behavior for the students can lead to a friendly and warm learning environment. This may prevent behavior management problems during lessons and the students are more likely to achieve the lesson objectives. The management needs to make sure teachers involve the students whenever there are changes to be made towards a better and enhanced learning environment. This will give the students a sense of ownership for the new change and make it easier for the management. The students also give feedback which can also help teachers and the management to know what are the needs to be done in order to enhance the learning environment. In conclusion, students spend most of their time in school and effective learning is promoted when the students and teachers work in a well-organized environment. This learning environment promotes good behaviors and attitudes, and development in academic excellence and achievement.

2.2. Improved Academic Performance

Another benefit of effective educational management is improved academic performance among students. When the school environment is safe, supportive, and inclusive, students are able to focus on learning the skills and knowledge that they need in order to be successful in their academic lives. Effective leadership ensures that a school's mission, vision, values, and goals are clearly articulated and there is a shared, meaningful understanding of them. By addressing the needs of the whole person and creating a safe, supportive environment for learning, teachers are able to challenge and support each student in their academic and personal pursuits. Students need the opportunity to succeed, and many challenges can be addressed through a positive and proactive approach. Improved academic performance is a long-term outcome of establishing a high-performing culture led by well-trained, experienced leaders and it is also the key performance measure in the Department's strategic plan. Academic performance refers to how students are achieving tasks and examinations within the classroom. In order to track the effectiveness of steps taken to drive up academic performance, a 'red-amber-green' approach could be employed. This approach can efficiently show how different parts of a particular plan are advancing and can illuminate where attention is most needed. By implementing strategies to improve the effectiveness of the team, we build strong, supportive layers of inclusive leadership that work together in harmony. This creates unity of purpose and allows leadership to continuously drive up standards to provide the very best for our young people. As public sector leaders, we are increasingly providing essays in efficient 'lean' management, which focuses on cutting out waste and being more efficient and effective, and 'systems' thinking, where processes and procedures are designed to manage and improve a set of outcomes. Lean management principles can apply to the public sector in the same way as for business and industry.

2.3. Efficient Resource Allocation

Inefficient allocation of educational resources can lead to both the wastage of resources and the production of poor academic results. It is important for school leaders and administrators to have effective systems in place to ensure that resources are used in a way that is both efficient and financially viable. This involves creating a central strategy in which all resources are overseen, as well as ensuring that waste is limited through careful monitoring of current practice. Effective strategies used in educational management to allocate resources include student-based methods such as Student Based Budgeting or SBB. SBB is used as a term to describe a system of resource allocation that involves monetary value assigned to individual students. Each student is allocated a sum of money to pay for their education, that is, the amount of money the school receives is based upon the number of students enrolled. Post-based resource deployment is another method, where resources are allocated to subjects based on the number of students and the level at which they are studying. Similarly, subject leaders have a key role in making strategic decisions about resource deployment, including staffing as well as day-to-day financial control. Aligning resource deployment with subject audit and development plans is important in order to ensure that teachers have access to the necessary resources to provide high-quality teaching and learning, and that inefficient practices are highlighted and improved. Such methods can be used to develop a smarter and performance-led system of resource allocation, ensuring resources are directed where they are most needed and are most effective. By adopting a strategic and planned approach through performance management, schools can ensure that all resources are directed effectively and efficiently used. Also, it can link directly to specific materials which students will be using and the professional development needs of staff. It is a forward planning working document and will identify any areas which need further development or investment. This will lead to better outcomes and help school leaders to make strategic decisions about the allocation of resources in the future.

2.4. Effective Decision Making

The decision making process in educational management is highly complex. It involves the school's leadership, all the teaching staff, a wide range of different support and administrative personnel, and importantly, the students and learners themselves. It's also important to recognize that decisions in education are not made in a vacuum. There is a wide range of different opportunities and challenges facing those involved in the management of the education sector. By working in such a closely focused environment and often with such intimately connected staff, students, and parents or guardians, the decisions made by educational leaders are ones that can have a profound and lasting impact on a great many people's lives. For this reason, educational management theory is learning and always changing. It's clear to me that any decision, whether it be in a central government department or media outlet, or in a school or college, should be based on reliable, informed judgement. Educational leaders must ensure that any decisions are sustainable, taking into account the likely long-term effects of any policies in the future. Also, decisions made must always be defensible. By using a clear, rigorous decision making process and making use of facts, opinions, research findings, and stakeholders consultation, as well as learning from experience of course, surprising, unlikely, or unpopular decisions can often be successfully justified.

3. Strategies for Successful Educational Management

Firstly, it is important for educational managers to employ clear forms of communication in order to relay valuable information to all stakeholders within the educational organization. By ensuring that information flows clearly, timely and accurately between all parties, potential misunderstanding and subsequently conflict can be avoided. I can say for sure that much time and resources can be saved working purposefully towards achieving the organization’s mission and vision by creating a more effective and efficient working environment. Knowledge sharing, consultation and respect for individual opinions can only be achieved through team working. It motivates the employees to build a good relationship and also create opportunities for continuous and collaborative learning within the organization. It fosters increased ownership, builds trust and enhances better decision making accepting changes and innovative strategic direction within the organization. Secondly, fostering a culture of collaborative leadership within the organization helps to create an environment focused on learning and where all members of staff feel like they have an important role to play in achieving the organization’s aims and objectives. Every member of staff should be valued and a good leader will recognize each person’s unique strengths. Long gone are the days where the executive head teacher or a similar senior manager can run a school as a ‘one man show’. With the demands of the current educational climate, it is only through a shared sense of dedication to caring for the whole team that real effectiveness can be found. Thirdly, managing human, physical and financial resources efficiently is one of the major functions of educational management. As long as for educational manager, it cannot be waived and compromising. This is because of the point that, certain resources are so important in realizing the goals of an organization. However, the use of each resource is important and should be taken care seriously in order to achieve the main goal of an organization. This might attribute to the effectiveness of resource management of lecturer especially where the main focus is in the development of quality curriculums and expanding student learning opportunities. I personally experience when I – as a quality academic coordinator - need to prioritize current school's resource for a teaching purpose, as a result I actively create a new recruitment and development program to maximize the lecturers' potential and minimize the full-time academic workload. Well, from my point of view, the ultimate aim of resource management is to ensure the resources are properly allocated according to the plans that have been made.

3.1. Clear Communication Channels

To effectively manage an educational institution, it is essential that all the stakeholder groups are able to communicate clearly with each other. It is important to note that communication is not the same as consultation. In many educational settings, leaders consult with members of staff, but this tends to be one way - with the leaders asking for the opinions of staff, without any commitment to act on those views or giving feedback to those who have given them. True effective communication requires a two-way process, in which the aims and objectives of different groups are listened to and acknowledged, and there are clear mechanisms for feedback, reflection, and engagement. Such clarity of communication not only ensures the smooth and efficient operation of the school, it also maximizes people's sense of belonging, of being valued for themselves, and of having a real contribution to make to the overall success of the institution. Good and effective communication also allows parents to be kept well informed of the learning, progress, and general well-being of their children, and as a result, children are able to make more progress as parents will often engage in activities and support achievement. Students often achieve more when a school's ethos is one of good communication and positive relationships between co-workers are a feature of productive and forward-thinking communication strategies. Such positive professional relationships should be modeled to students, so that they can see what communicating effectively with others can achieve. This will be an important factor when students move out of formal learning environments and into the adult world, either in employment or further study. As much as we recognize that good communication is vital to achieve success within a school environment, we need to ensure that any barriers are addressed and if necessary, removed. Whether we have absolute clarity of vision for educational reform or a long-term vision for improvement at all levels.

3.2. Collaborative Leadership

Successful educational management lies on the principal that the students are able to perfect their looking for knowledge, and the teachers guide their students to develop in a complete way. So, the environment of the school must be suitable for the realization of the aims of education. A good school environment, in which both the teachers and the students have a say in how things are run, is a key area in which educational management can aid the improvement of teaching and learning. This type of environment in the school, in many ways, requires a shared or distributive form of leadership where the staff has more responsibility and control over the key decisions. Collins (1999) suggests this approach: 'Collaborative leadership is a leadership style in which a leader brings people together', in order to achieve a certain goal or an aim, and Boyd and others (1997) highlight its potential in schools in the following way: 'The demand for collaborative leadership and shared decision making in schools calls for a high degree of interpersonal and group skill'. Therefore, both students and teachers should be consulted for each decision in order to make it feasible and effective. This approach mainly occurs in day to day leadership of the school, such as: how events are managed; how behaviour is managed and how the school is leading its learning and teaching. This environments help the effective leadership and management in permitting the students to cultivate their social and academic skills and it also provides the opportunity for the teachers to exchange and develop their teaching practices. Teachers can begin to feel more confident in their own abilities, which allows them to push the boundaries of their own development. As a matter of fact, they are able to deliver better lessons and witness improved impacts on learning of their students. On the other hand, students are able to value and respect all the lessons delivered by their teachers and begin to develop their personalities. In conclusion, the environment of the school would be perfect if it is under the theory of collaborative leadership. Modern students are not born with the wisdom of themselves; they should manner it and learn from the experience of life. With the help of teachers and friends in the school, a good school environment for the development of the students would be realized.

3.3. Continuous Professional Development

Dr. White (personal communication, April 24, 2017) argues that because there is little to no allowance for professional development in the routine activities of educational institutions, it is important to have a commitment to approaches. Professional development helps all professionals to reflect on and modify, adjust or even completely change their practice. This might be achieved through a variety of different activities, steered by the individuals themselves or the institution. For example, in my institution, the university college, we have focus group discussions that are conducted on the first Friday of every month. The discussions are steered by the fact that all the academic personnel are required to present to the group the research projects they are working on. Students are also supposed to demonstrate success and the challenges they face in their projects. We are also supposed to share the most effective strategies to use in helping them address the challenges they encounter during research. This typically fosters a culture of shared leadership and continuous professional development. The leadership and staff, according to Dr. White (personal communication, April 24, 2017), adopt a cooperative and united outlook, with each person taking an active role in improving the practice. This kind of development is not just for the individual but also for the profession as a whole. Megginson (p.235, 1996) asserts that more effective and efficient services can be provided and the safety and well-being of the public increased through the development of high professional standards. This aspect leads to wider global recognition and mobility of professionals. Cultural diversity is addressed and it respects and recognizes the principles of self-determination and democracy. Teachers are better equipped with the ability to realize the potential of the learners. This rewarding experience of making a difference is attainable as they share and learn from each other. By involving in continuous professional development activities, different professional values and cultural needs are accounted for. This instills confidence in the clients and public and may increase the marketability and promote financial success in the profession.

3.4. Data-Driven Decision Making

Data-driven decision making involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting various types of educational data in order to improve teaching and learning processes, as well as organizational management. Data can be employed to fulfill a wide variety of purposes, from shaping curriculum to measuring effective leadership in a school to analyzing the impact of new educational technologies or teaching strategies. One of the major advantages of data-driven decision making is that it helps educational leaders to identify and subsequently eliminate outdated educational practices that have been proven ineffective. Furthermore, this strategy empowers teachers and administrators by validating their work and giving them the information and confidence they need to make necessary changes. Nowadays, at the age of technology, business insiders have revealed that high-performing companies are three times more likely than lower-performing companies to be using analytics for decision making. In addition to that, educational experts have stated that recent education policies increasingly pressure academic institutions to adopt results-oriented operations, cross-examining, and evidential practices. Data such as formative and summative assessments, attendance records, teacher and student surveys, and local and standardized tests enable educational leaders to not only measure how well students and teachers make progress in an academic year but also how effective a school's programs and its staff are in major operations. The essay will be based on evidence arguing that data-driven decision making is catalyzing substantial shifts in conditions that provide nurturing school leadership. This allows school leaders to utilize statistical tools, such as Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient and regression analyses, not only to detect raised irregularities but also to construct relationships among variables, providing a more scientific basis for proposed innovations. As a perpetual process, from collecting the right instruments to disseminating findings regularly among staff, data-driven decision making demonstrably retains and fosters healthy dialogues among educational practitioners. Highly reliable digital technology, auditable school networks, easy access to education databases, and tailored professional development schemes all significantly lower the cost of starting up and protracting this once visioned data-enthused learning environment. With this, the community-shaking quality and accountability of schools as well as school regulators can be thoroughly scrutinized. All these advantages center around a single fact: success. By proving their capability to deliver sustainable advancements to students' achievements through data-driven decision making, school leaders can become climate-setters in academia, creating attractive poles for talents and good practices. As such, it is no surprise that educators are seeking stronger and healthier pupils' rights to learn. If data-driven decision making is to become a flagship, then it is vowed to educate the kind-hearted humanitarian leaders of tomorrow, leaders who have educated themselves and surroundings not only in the content of their expertise but also in the values for lives.

3.5. Stakeholder Engagement

Engaging stakeholders is another important strategy in the realm of successful educational management. As educational institutions are complex and involve a range of shareholders, effective stakeholder engagement can often be challenging, particularly when seeking to engage a diverse range of groups. However, it is essential to recognize the vital role that stakeholders play in the workings and success of an educational institution. This is because stakeholders often bring valuable insight, expertise, and resources which can be vital in the strategic planning and decision-making processes. More importantly, close engagement and partnerships with stakeholders help to create good communication channels and build trust, which are vital in helping an educational institution to progress and move forward. It is also important to recognize that stakeholders can be both internal and external to an educational institution. For example, students, teachers, and staff and primary and secondary caregivers are all key stakeholders who have an interest in the day to day running and success of an educational facility. However, local businesses, community groups, and local government can also be important stakeholders, particularly in terms of funding, community cohesion, and outreach programs. As a result, stakeholder engagement should never be a one-size-fits-all approach but should be tailored to the specific type of stakeholder involved. There are a range of strategies which can be employed in successful stakeholder engagement, including mapping power and interest, conducting regular meetings and consultation processes, and putting in place effective communication channels such as parent and student councils. However, it is always useful to illustrate and evidence how engagement of stakeholders has helped to bring about positive change and progress. This can assist and help leadership teams to further secure the leadership and direction of key stakeholders in the future. An effective educational leader understands this and always tries to build a relationship and partnership with stakeholders, as they appreciate the importance of engagement and collective vision setting amongst those with an interest or influence in the academic project. A successful example of stakeholder engagement can often be realized in the formulation of a strategic development plan. By engaging a range of different stakeholders in the process - from teachers, to students, and parents alike - feedback and valuable insight can be gained into the direction and focus of the academic objectives of the plan. This not only helps to demonstrate a collective and aspirational mindset but also provides an opportunity for leadership teams to evidence the success and meaningfulness of stakeholder engagement. A strategic development plan formulated through the effective cooperation and partnership of stakeholders can then be used as a basis upon which to market the institution and attract new stakeholders and students.

Recent articles

Into the wild by jon krakauer.

1. Introduction Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer can be looked at in many different lights. A lot of people consider it to be an account of Chris McCandless's adventure and tragic death, testing his survival skills in the formidable terrain and weather of Alaska and his attempts to escape from his world. With a slightly different approach, I am sure that Into the Wild could have been written as a novel. This is something that is touched on by Krakauer in his "Author's Note". A lot of other reviewe ...

Overview of Social Networking Essay

1. Introduction Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision. If you will, it is a junction of individuals associating with a particular interest. Social networking is possible in person, for example in a workplace or a pub, but is more popular online using websites such as MySpace or Facebook. This is a critical thinking point: why is online social networking becoming so popular or replacing the in-person meet ...

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Educational leadership and management: theory, policy, and practice

There is great interest in educational leadership in the early part of the 21st century because of the widespread belief that the quality of leadership makes a significant difference to school and student outcomes. There is also increasing recognition that schools require effective leaders and man agers if the y are to provide the best po ssible edu cation f or their learn ers. Schools need trained and committed teachers but they, in turn, need the leadership of highly effective prin cipa ls and su pp ort from other senior an d m iddle managers. While the need for eff ective leaders is widely ack nowledged, there is much less certainty about which leadership behaviours are most likely to produce favourable outcomes. I examine the theoretic al u nd erpinn ing s f or the fie ld of ed uc atio na l lead ersh ip and management, assess different leadership models, and discuss the evidence of their relative effectiveness in developing successful schools.

Related Papers

It is generally perceived that the growth of nation converge on the quality of its educational leaders. The basic concern of this theoretical debate is to examine the wider context of leadership and its effectiveness towards improving school management. This paper analyses recent theoretical developments in the study of educational leadership in school management. Beginning with an overview of the concept of leadership in terms of research, theory, and practice, this paper examines theories of leadership and styles of leadership. An attempt is made on identification of contemporary issues and possible means of amelioration. This article concludes that success is certain if the application of the leadership styles, principles and methods is properly and fully applied in school management because quality educational leadership tradition offers great opportunity to further refine educational leadership and management policies and practices by accepting and utilizing the basic principles and styles of educational leadership.

lenka ramahali

Cross-Currents: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal on Humanities & Social Sciences

thembinkosi tshabalala

This present paper discusses the importance of leadership in educational management with specific reference to schools. Educational leadership has a critical role in the transformation of society, and for change to happen, effective leaders are key. Along with the widespread belief that the quality of leadership makes a significant difference to school and student outcomes. There is also increasing recognition that if effective school leaders and managers are developed they are most likely going to provide the best possible education for their learners. Effective leadership and management are essential if schools and colleges are to achieve the wide-ranging objectives set for them by their many stakeholders, notably the government which provide most of the funding for public educational institutions. Teachers and their leaders and managers are the people who are required to deliver higher educational standards. Management and leadership are important for the delivery of good educati...

Administração: Estudos organizacionais e sociedade 4

Tulio Barrios

As society develops new challenges and demands affect all areas of society. Thus, new forms of leadership are needed. This work revises influential contributions to the study of leadership in an attempt to identify traits, behaviours and styles current and future leaders need to develop to face the ever-increasing demands properly. The author applies the main findings to the field of Education, aiming to contribute to the development of an optimal style of leadership. Educational management is a complex and demanding activity; hence, school leaders need to exercise pedagogic leadership and develop new skills and competencies to support their practice. Accordingly, flexibility, capacity to adapt, openness, determination to overcome obstacles, collective participation, and shared decision-making processes become vital aspects of an optimal leader.

Oxford Bibliographies

Lorri J. Santamaría

Santamaría, L. J. (2016). Theories of educational leadership. Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford University Press, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756810-0153 http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756810/obo-9780199756810-0153.xml Introduction General Overview of Educational Leadership Styles and Related Theories Textbooks and Handbooks Journals and Professional Organizations Historical and Philosophical Foundations Conceptual Approaches and Frameworks Exemplars Large Data Sets and Empirical Evidence Complementary, Diverse, and Alternative Perspectives Critical, Global, and International Applications Introduction Prior to understanding theories of educational leadership, it is important to begin with a comprehensive definition of educational leadership. In this bibliographic entry, educational leadership is the professional practice of a leader (or leaders) in an administrative role(s) working with, guiding, and influencing educators in a particular context toward improving learning and other educational processes in early childhood education centers, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions. These people are most often individuals or small teams employed as school site leaders, principals, assistant or associate administrators. In early childhood, higher education or other educational settings these individuals may serve as center director, head of school, department chair, academic dean, provost, or president. Theories of educational leadership have origins in the United States (U.S.) where frameworks have been largely drawn from industry and commerce management principles. Leadership theories and practices drawn from business-oriented frames of reference have been adopted and adapted for use in educational settings in the U.S. and similarly developed nations. Therefore, theories of educational leadership have been derived from a diversity of interdisciplinary conceptualizations and models over time. As a result, theories of leadership can be considered emergent, dynamic and subject to further evolution. In fact, every theory of educational leadership is subject to investigation by researchers in educational centers, schools and university settings who seek to better understand the dynamics of leadership in a variety of educational contexts. Beyond seminal notions and ideations of educational leadership, there are developing and sometimes ground-breaking theories contributing to the existing canonical literature in the field. Nonetheless, most theories of educational leadership comprise key elements, which often include capabilities, approaches, and practices. A closer look at these elements further reveals theoretical types of educational leadership (e.g., styles, traits, behaviors), characteristics of educational leadership (e.g., management vs. leadership, power, coercion, conceptual frameworks), or the activities or practices educational leaders engage as expressions of their leadership in action (e.g., approaches, ways of leading). Each element is dependent on the educational context within which it occurs and warrants the consideration of multiple and international perspectives for 21st century relevance in a diverse and global society. This bibliography therefore includes a representative sampling of influential textbooks, handbooks, journals, and relevant literature as exemplars of sources to explain, illuminate, introduce, interrogate, and evaluate a variety of educational leadership theories. Additionally, this entry provides historical and philosophical foundations, general overviews, conceptual frameworks, supporting literature on large data sets, and multiple complementary international perspectives of the theories considered. Pertinent examples are provided from each area for further reader exploration, consideration, and study.

World Journal of English Language

Dr. K Tara Shankar

According to this research, no country can advance above the level of education of its leaders. The goal of this philosophical debate is to look at leadership in a broader context and see how it may drastically enhance school administration. The academic evaluation examines existing theoretical advancements in the area of school administration educational administration. It begins with a brief overview of what leadership is or how research, philosophy, and practice might be used to describe it. After that, there is an examination of leadership theories, ideas, and styles. Every article comes to a close with a consideration of current issues and possible solutions. As a consequence, these writers argue that success may be secured if different types of leadership, principles, and techniques, as well as appropriate educational traditions, educational management, or business policies, are applied appropriately or totally in school administration. It also gives you a chance to fine-tune ...

Prof. Nwachukwu P . Ololube

Elmi Zulkarnain Osman, PhD Educational Leadership

Elmi Zulkarnain Osman

Only one leadership style actually derived from education; Instructional leadership. It was organic in that researchers wanted to find out how certain urban i.e. low-economic, high minority schools were having success. Researchers went in to identify the traits of the leaders, and then coined it “instructional leadership”. It should be noted that much of the research isolated the transformational traits exhibited by the leaders. This was in the mid-1960s. Prior to this, extensive research had not been done on actual educational leadership. The instructional leadership model dominated for at least 15 years. Then came the massive shift to transformational leadership.

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

Andreas Mitman

Over the past few years a good deal of writing has been compiled on the subject of school or educational leadership. The authors have had the opportunity to re-view much of this work in an attempt to define some of the major recurring prob-lems with the educational ...

International Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region

Jacqueline Baxter

RELATED PAPERS

Simone Schrading

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

Stuart Biddle

Dilemas - Revista de Estudos de Conflito e Controle Social

Martha Cecilia Cedeño-Pérez

Cuadernos.info

Gloria Ochoa

Development and Psychopathology

Biochemical Systematics and Ecology

Ali Asghar Maassoumi

Esteban Ramirez

Journal of Jesuit Studies

Sergio Coronado

Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology

Serap Inancli

ADAMU IBRAHIM

Mariana Tezón

Cuadernos Judaicos

Paula Calderón Melnick

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Julio César Caicedo Eraso

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)

Rebecca Retzlaff

Maricel Marin-Kuan

The Internet Journal of Internal Medicine

Biomarkers in Medicine

Cecilia Marconi

Cardiologia Croatica

Slavica Kovačić

Mushroom Research

Dr Ashwani Tapwal

印第安纳大学毕业证书 IU学位证

Carlos Fernando Quartaroli

Mapeos Las cadenas de valor de exportación en Ecuador

Gonzalo Paredes

Journal of Education for Teaching

Ella Novi Anjani

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Responsible managing as educational practice

Organization Management Journal

ISSN : 2753-8567

Article publication date: 27 May 2022

Issue publication date: 2 August 2022

This study aims to theoretically introduce the notion of responsible managing as educational practice (RMEP).

Design/methodology/approach

The study is an essay. Traditionally assumed as individual-driven, rational, neutral and unproblematic, the author alternatively considers management not as managerialism but as a social practice that needs to be responsible.

The author posits that responsible management involves educational experiences enacted through practical wisdom. In this context, education herein is understood not as a scholastic practice taught in business schools or offered within professional training, but that may occur in informal contexts such as managing.

Originality/value

RMEP may contribute to a better comprehension of responsible management in practice. The author draws on the epistemology of practices and the notion of phronesis to support his thesis – that managing can be responsible when assumed as an educative practice performed through practical wisdom and people’s mutual education.

• Responsible managing
• Management education
• Practical wisdom
• Practice theory
• Practice-based studies

Bispo, M.d.S. (2022), "Responsible managing as educational practice", Organization Management Journal , Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 155-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/OMJ-10-2021-1367

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Marcelo de Souza Bispo.

Published in Organization Management Journal . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

The ways of doing business reveal limitations in dealing with the challenges that emerged at the beginning of the 21st century ( Ghoshal, 2005 ; Dunne, Harvey, & Parker, 2008 ). The financial crisis of 2008, the immigration problem in many developed countries, climate change and the current COVID-19 pandemic indicate the need for a new relationship between the business world and society ( Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ; Zanoni, Contu, Healy, & Mir, 2017; Bapuji et al. , 2020 ; Rhodes & Fleming, 2020 ; Saad-Filho, 2020 ).

This essay introduces the notion of responsible managing as educational practice (RMEP) through two perspectives. The first explores the idea of managing instead of management as managerialism – the belief of management techniques are the best way to organize society ( Locke & Spender, 2011 ; Klikauer, 2013 ; Clegg, 2003 ) focusing on what organizations and society do together as a social practice ( Schatzki, 2001 ; Reckwitz, 2002 ; Gherardi, 2019 ).

I am steering away from the traditional perspectives of management as individual-driven, rational ( Cabantous & Gond, 2011 ), neutral and unproblematic ( Alvesson & Willmott, 1992 ) to another of managing as a collaborative ( Raelin, 2016 ) and educational agency ( Thomas & Anthony, 1996 ). The second contends that managing should involve more than efficiency ( Cummings, Bridgman, Hassard, & Rowlinson, 2017 ) and profit maximization ( Barnett, 2019 ; Rhodes & Fleming, 2020 ) if it intends to be a responsible practice ( Price, Gherardi, & Manidis, 2020 ; Gherardi & Laasch, 2021 ).

By acting responsibly, I draw on the notion of phronesis ( Antonacopoulou, 2010 ; Flyvbjerg, Landman, & Schram, 2012 ; Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014 ; Statler, 2014 ), initially proposed by Aristotle (1999) . Phronesis, also known as practical wisdom, “is the ability to see the common good and put it in practice” ( Tsoukas & Cummings, 1997 , p. 665). It also requires people to adopt a critical, reflexive and emancipatory position to act responsibly ( Freire, 1985 ; Hibbert & Cunliffe, 2015 ).

My thesis is that managing may only be a responsible practice if it also comprises an educational experience ( Dewey, 1963 ). Education herein is not viewed merely as a scholastic practice – inside business schools – or only professional training but as a way to emancipate and improve society ( Freire, 1985 ; Kemmis et al., 2014 ; Grootenboer, Edwards-Groves, & Choy, 2017 ). Education is “a development within, by, and for experience” that involves continuity and interaction ( Dewey, 1963 , p. 28).

Although formal management education has presented many contributions to responsible management ( Forray & Leigh, 2012 ; Khurana & Spender, 2012 ; Maloni, Smith, & Napshin, 2012 ; Rousseau, 2012 ; Dyllick, 2015 ), the connection between the formal education agendas of business schools, especially regarding ethical issues, and organizational practice remains problematic ( Vaara & Fäy, 2012 ; Statler, 2014 ; Cornuel & Hommel, 2015 ; Rasche & Gilbert, 2015 ). In other words, despite the importance of formal management education for management practice, the capacity of business schools to educate responsible/ethical practitioners is limited ( Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ; Millar & Price, 2018 ).

Educative managing is an effort to move away from traditional management that is disembodied and disembedded ( Townley, 2002 ; Pio & Waddock, 2020 ; Rhodes & Fleming, 2020 ) to responsible managing that is educative to both shareholders and stakeholders, enabling them to deal with competing priorities wisely to achieve a common good ( Tsoukas & Cummings, 1997 ; Aristotle, 1999 ; Flyvbjerg et al., 2012 ; Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014 ; Antonacopoulou, 2015 ). The notion of RMEP intends to shift responsible management ( Forray & Leigh, 2012 ; Costas & Kärreman, 2013 ; Rasche & Gilbert, 2015 ; Laasch, Suddaby, Freeman, & Jamali, 2020 ) from a discourse practice to a reflexive, engaged and embodied one ( Cunliffe, 2002 ; Antonacopoulou, 2015 ; Price et al., 2020 ) resulting from educative experiences ( Dewey, 1963 ).

The contribution of my proposal involves the development of a new concept that may help to comprehend responsible management ( Forray & Leigh, 2012 ; Costas & Kärreman, 2013 ; Rasche & Gilbert, 2015 ; Laasch et al., 2020 ) in practice through a reassessment of the roles of management and management education practices ( Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ). The notion of RMEP links the theoretical efforts of business schools in teaching practitioners to be more responsible ( Dyllick, 2015 ; Rasche & Gilbert, 2015 ; Cunliffe, 2020 ) to the practical aspects involving competing priorities between the business world and societal demands ( Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ; Zanoni et al., 2017 ).

The traditional notion of management

Management is commonly understood as a rational practice and a key concept in controlling and driving an organization’s staff, resources and processes ( March & Simon, 1958 ; Weber, 1992 ; Cabantous, Gond, & Johnson-Cramer, 2010 ; Cabantous & Gond, 2011 ). Townley (2002) noted that the role of management is taken for granted, as it can be used in any context and situation owing to its technicity and “neutral” values that offer standard methods to produce standard results. This management perspective is also known as managerialism ( Locke & Spender, 2011 ; Klikauer, 2013 ; Clegg, 2003 ). According to Murphy (2007 , p. 3):

This order [managerialism] is the product of three dynamics: the seepage of managerial approaches into all facets of life; the gradual, worldwide homogenization of human organization; and the emergence of a global managerial elite straddling the public and private sectors.

This phenomenon led to the managerialization of society, establishing a new socioeconomic age of managerialism ( Shatil, 2020 ). Managerialism is influenced by neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is a reasoning ( Dardot & Laval, 2013 ) driven by individualism, high competition among individuals and the prevalence of the market over the State and Civil Society through the financialization of the world ( Foucault, 2003 ; Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ; Zanoni et al., 2017 ). The focus on managerialism under the neoliberal reasoning ( Foucault, 2003 ; Dardot & Laval, 2013 ) has been steering business and society to a financialization process that made room for critical problems regarding business ethics ( Zanoni et al., 2017 ). Some examples are questionable leadership ethics, corporate scandals and environmental disasters ( Blanc, Cho, Sopt, & Branco, 2019 ; Pertiwi & Ainsworth, 2020 ) caused by bad organizational practices ( Hibbert & Cunliffe, 2015 ; Cunliffe, 2020 ).

This scenario shows that traditional management cannot offer appropriate solutions to (re)concile economic development with social and environmental demands ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, 2019 ). As a way to overcome these problems, many terms, such as sustainability and corporate social responsibility, became a part of management scholars’ and practitioners’ jargon over the past decade under the umbrella of “responsible management” ( Forray & Leigh, 2012 ; Rasche & Gilbert, 2015; Laasch et al. , 2020 ). However, turning responsible management into reality is still challenging due to competing priorities involving maximizing profits and focusing on monetary/financial wealth ( Pio & Waddock, 2020 ) and societal problems such as poverty, racism, sexism and food insecurity ( Ray, 2019 ; Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2020 ; Rhodes & Fleming, 2020 ; Prasad, 2022 ).

Attention to moral judgments and ethical issues is central to produce socially responsible practitioners. However, it is necessary to go beyond bureaucratic ethical setups in organizations to have responsible practitioners inside and outside corporations ( Costas & Kärreman, 2013 ). Responsible managing requires more than stating what needs to be done, and it is a matter of practice that represents collective knowledgeable doings ( Gherardi, 2019 ), in which people (inside and outside organizations) learn collaboratively ( Raelin, 2016 ) through educative experiences ( Dewey, 1963 ). As such, I assume that management and education are both social practices ( Schatzki, 2001 ; Reckwitz, 2002 ) that overlap through collective accomplishments that create connections-in-action of bodies, materialities, discourses and knowledges ( Gherardi, 2019 ) and can promote responsible managing ( Gherardi & Laasch, 2021 ).

Responsible managing is a continuous effort of mutual education of people to embody certain values and ideas regarding what is socially enacted as good, important and worthy. A responsible person here draws on the notion of a practical wisdom ( Tsoukas & Cummings, 1997 ; Aristotle, 1999 ). Practical wisdom is significantly related to the governance of human affairs ( Flyvbjerg et al., 2012 ), as it involves acting upon wise judgments when faced with competing priorities ( Antonacopoulou, 2015 ; Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014 ). Responsible managing requires an educative process that goes beyond formal education from business schools. Diverse educational experiences can encourage responsible habits. Dewey (1963) emphasized that habits come from what has gone before and alter the feature of what comes after owing to its capacity to be educative.

The educational and driving capacity of experience ( Dewey, 1963 ) may be the basis to think managing as a means to educate people enabling them to read society toward emancipatory and responsible practices ( Freire , 1970, 1985 ). Traditional ways of management that consider organizations as an entity separated from society create a dualism between “inside and outside” and make management disengaged from society and an autonomous space ( Townley, 2002 ). This dualism complicates the balance between traditional organizational goals (profit maximization through the notion of “efficiency”) with societal demands, and the enactment of alternative economies ( Zanoni et al., 2017 ). Managing responsibly takes another route by practicing phronetic judgments ( Tsoukas & Cummings, 1997 ; Aristotle, 1999 ; Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014 ) stemming from good and emancipatory educational experiences ( Freire , 1970, 1985 ) among all people and organizations in a society.

The quality of any experience has two aspects. There is an immediate aspect of agreeableness or disagreeableness, and there is its influence upon later experiences […] Hence the central problem of an education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences ( Dewey, 1963 , pp. 27–28).

The core idea is that responsible managing may be a space for mutual education wherein people are “able to function well in the world, possessing certain kinds of qualities and being self-evidently a bearer of virtue” ( Barnett, 2012 , p. 242). Education here is a comprehensive process that involves not only a scholastic environment and professional training but also the embodiment of socially constructed moral values that can change human practices toward emancipation ( Freire , 1970, 1985 ) and responsibility ( Barnett, 2012 ).

Education is the process by which children, young people and adults are initiated into forms of understanding, modes of action, and ways of relating to one another and the world, that foster (respectively) individual and collective self-expression, individual and collective self-development and individual and collective self-determination, and that are, in these senses, oriented toward the good for each person and the good for humankind ( Kemmis et al., 2014 , p. 26).

Grootenboer et al. (2017 , p. 266) considered that “[t]o speak about education, is to speak about sociality and practices.” Education goes beyond schooling and includes a range of contexts in which managing may be considered as one of them. For Grootenboer et al. (2017 , p. 11), “education is seen as serving a dual purpose – the development of individuals and the betterment of societies and community.”

The traditional notion of management education usually focuses on managers’ technical and professional skills (similar to training) taught in business schools ( Antonacopoulou, 2010 ; Vaara & Fäy, 2012 ; Cornuel & Hommel, 2015 ). However, it is possible and necessary to enlarge this traditional view beyond formal settings and consider other spaces and practices outside of business schools that may offer educational managing experiences. A comprehensive education concept as an experiential continuum ( Dewey, 1963 ) for understanding managing itself as an educational practice enabling people inside and outside organizations to enact responsible social practices ( Price et al., 2020 ; Gherardi & Laasch, 2021 ).

Many authors have agreed that business schools (formal education) are a space to educate people to act ethically and responsibly ( Forray & Leigh, 2012 ; Maloni, Smith, & Napshin, 2012 ; Dyllick, 2015 ). However, I am affiliated with those scholars who advocate that business schools are limited in their effectiveness to tackle these responsible issues, owing to their distance from daily organizational practices ( Bennis & O’Toole, 2005 ; Ghoshal, 2005 ; Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ; Cornuel & Hommel, 2015 ; Millar & Price, 2018 ).

RMEP refers to the capacity that managing has to embody responsible values in people’s ways of being inside and outside organizations through collaborative and educative agency. These responsible managing experiences can mutually educate people toward judgments and actions in professional and private lives. The effectiveness of RMEP is noticeable when people enact their educational experiences and phronetic judgments with other people inside organizations and in their daily lives. It does not represent an individual managerial action, but a collective knowledgeable practice, in which people educate each other by experiencing managing responsibly as a group.

As a way to summarize and illustrate the dynamics of RMEP, I developed Figure 1 .

The dashed lines represent the blurred boundaries and the dynamics involved in RMEP. This concept involves society’s continuous interactions, experiences and changes – especially regarding the situations formed by the relationship between organizations, business schools and societal demands. By societal demands, I am referring to the aspects related to responsible managing ( Laasch et al., 2020 ). RMEP is dynamic, moving and shaping society’s competing priorities through practical wisdom and mutual education. The phronetic judgments mediate these competing priorities.

Examples to reflect on responsible managing as educational practice

hotels exploring sustainability;

drivers’ insurance application; and

the trainee black people program from a big Brazilian company.

Hotels that explore the flag of sustainability

Hotels that adopt the sustainability flag have a high potential to be responsible and educative through their managing. However, they usually use sustainability not as a concrete social engagement but as an advertisement campaign to maximize profits ( Withiam, 2011 ). These hotels resort to many strategies, such as avoiding changing towels and linens every day, using economic lamps, recycling garbage and reusing water ( Hard, 2019 ; Suri, 2019 ; Legrand, 2020 ). All these actions relevantly support environmental sustainability; however, do these activities really aim at environmental protection? Are these actions based on implementing a “social good?” Although these actions help to decrease the consumption of natural resources, they also reduce hotels’ operation costs, and here lies an important discussion.

When a hotel asks guests to avoid changing towels and linens every day, claiming a spirit of sustainability, concurrently, they are reducing their costs. Some hotel chains claim that they plant trees, for example. However, it is difficult to verify their actions concretely. Other hotels do not report any activities whatsoever. This illustrates how two common values (sustainability and transparency), usually espoused by organizations, are not well performed. Avoiding changing towels and linens every day is a worthwhile action; but when hotels only state, “we do not change the towels/linens to save the planet,” they are offering a low impact experience to people (employees and guests). It appears as more of a marketing ploy than a concrete responsible action, mainly due to the lack of transparency regarding how the hotel uses the savings with this kind of strategy. For instance, Barros-Silva (2017) researched a hotel self-denominated as sustainable and realized that many of the sustainable practices declared on their website were not encompassed in their daily activities. He also noted that sustainability was generally not an embodied value for the employees and guests.

For the sustainability management of hotels to be educational, it must shed light on key social problems and offer good educational experiences for people (employees and guests) to feel the need to change their behaviors ( Dewey, 1963 ). The savings achieved with guests’ collaboration (e.g. by not changing their towels and linens) should be converted into contributions to society, such as donations or the creation of free courses on sustainability for a broad audience, and not into profits for the hotel. This broadly communicated counterpart action is a way of offering an educational experience to practitioners, educating them to embody sustainable values at work and at home. Otherwise, the experience of not changing towels and linens may become a noneducational or diseducational experience ( Dewey, 1963 ) because practitioners may see it as only advantaging the hotel by boosting its profits.

The hotel case offers a reflection of how managing can be responsible and educative, depending on people’s engagement within a sustainable practice. However, many hotels focus only on profit maximization with their sustainability actions ( Withiam, 2011 ), limiting the quality of people’s (staff and guests) responsible and educational experience ( Dewey, 1963 ), as they may only see advantages for the hotel. It can be perceived that just one side is trying to “save the planet.” This situation illustrates the problem noted by Costas and Kärreman (2013) – idealized discourses and practices constructed under a false concern on corporate social responsibility. It also highlights how managerialism ( Locke & Spender, 2011 ; Klikauer, 2013 ; Clegg, 2003 ) driven by neoliberal reasoning distorts the sense of what it means to be responsible ( Rhodes & Fleming, 2020 ) in the light of phronesis.

Drivers’ insurance application

Another case that can reflect educative managing is a Brazilian insurance company that created an application that drivers can install on their smartphones. Via the global positioning system, this application can verify if the drivers that purchased the company’s car insurance are driving safely and following traffic rules, such as speed limits or traffic lights. The system also ranks drivers according to a points checklist. The more points drivers collect, the more discounts they receive when they renew their car insurance.

This managing initiative is not only good for the company because it decreases the number of claims, but it is also good for society and public urgency services, as it reduces the number of accidents. For drivers, it reduces their risk of getting involved in an accident and offers them discounts on their insurance policy. Unlike the hotels, the insurance company shares their savings with the clients and helps emergency public services by contributing to decreasing the number of accidents. Although the initial motivation of the insurance company and the driver is economical, the application is an example of an experience that might be educational in a nonformal setting, owing to its capacity to change drivers’ behaviors. It represents a managing practice in which the process does not solely reflect the individual actions of the drivers or the company. Instead, it produces a collaborative agency ( Raelin, 2016 ), represented by the insurance company actors along with the drivers, forming a collective knowledgeable practice of save driving ( Gherardi, 2019 ).

Using the application is a practice that involves many practitioners (company staff and drivers) and encourages both parties to simultaneously act responsibly even though they obtain different gains. Some people may perceive the application as a form of people control and not an educational experience. However, it is important to reinforce the fact that using the application is entirely optional. Thus, this feature offers drivers the possibility to engage in the managing practice. Owing to the application’s optional usage, I believe that it represents an educative managing practice that encourages an educational experience ( Dewey, 1963 ) rather than a resource for people control.

The insurance company’s application is an initiative that people (shareholders and stakeholders) can take advantage of, as this educative managing practice invokes mutual responsibility from the insurance company and the drivers. It also offers benefits to both parties and society. Responsible drivers reduce the number of accidents, which is good for society, especially the health-care system. This example is closer to Barnett’s (2019) claim that corporations may take advantage of being engaged with societal problems and assuming responsibility for them. The experience quality offered by the application usage may be useful to educate drivers to adopt safe driving and following transit rules. The car insurance application also gives the opportunity to be in touch with an example of how responsible managing enacts in practice.

The black people trainee program

An example illustrating responsible educative managing working is the black people trainee program from a big Brazilian retail company – Magazine Luiza ( Mandl, 2020 ; Wierson, 2020 ; Fonseca, 2021 ). Concerning diversity among their employees, especially those in leadership positions, the company established a target to reach the same percentage of brown and black people in Brazil (around 56%). The company’s founder (Luiza Trajano) explained the reasons for creating the black trainee program:

“Slavery was in Brazil for 350 years, the majority (of its population) is black, the majority lives on the outskirts. This is the truth, so they don’t apply (for trainee programs),” she said. “When I realized what structural racism is, I even cried” ( Mandl, 2020 ).

The program’s first edition was in 2021, and 2022 is occurring in the second edition. The company’s chief executive officer (Frederico Trajano) explained the reason for creating the program and its continuity in 2022:

Last year’s decision came from an anomaly, from our problem of lack of black leadership. […] And we decided that a punctual year would not solve it, that the difference was still considerable ( Fonseca, 2021 ).

The initiative had significant repercussions in Brazil ( Silveira & Basilio, 2020 ; Fonseca, 2021 ) and abroad ( Mandl, 2020 ; Wierson, 2020 ). Unfortunately, in Brazil, there were manifestations against the program by some judges, policymakers and other people advocating that the company’s initiative was racist ( Silveira & Basilio, 2020 ) because it is “privileging black people.” Fortunately, all judicial process opened against the program was in favor of the company.

The black people trainee program represents a concrete managing practice in which diversity reaches a responsible and strategic status in a company. After Magazine Luiza’s initiative, other companies were influenced and are designing similar programs ( Fonseca, 2021 ). This outcome represents managing educating people and companies and prioritizing diversity in a context of competing priorities. In this case, structural racism ( Ray, 2019 ) should not be overlooked but fought due to the inequalities it enacts in society and business through racialized capitalism ( Prasad, 2022 ). This situation unveils the necessity of managing practice abandoning its discourse of neutral and a-political toward reflecting on which social conditions and parameters organizations should make profits.

The initiative to tackle structural racism through a managerial policy opens room to think about how managing may be educational and provides ways to engage organizations with big societal challenges wherein profit maximization is not the most important thing or a value-end. The trainee program influences people (inside and outside Magazine Luiza) to reflect on their preconceptions in professional and personal practices. It forces people to be in a continuous effort of mutual education to rethink embodied values and ideas regarding what is socially enacted as good, meaningful and worthy.

The idea of proposing RMEP is a way to rethink management and management education practices. Traditional management (managerialism) is usually not associated with a possibility of educating and is frequently related to “a manager” that drives the organizational process, always aiming to maximize profits ( Locke & Spender, 2011 ; Klikauer, 2013 ; Clegg, 2003 ). Specifically, management education is commonly associated with business schools and their responsibilities regarding student learning ( Thomas & Anthony, 1996 ; Cornuel & Hommel, 2015 ). Scholars and professionals frequently overlook the possibility of educating people on managing outside business schools. However, events related to COVID-19, climate change and the ongoing economic crises causing increases in inequality and poverty around the globe engendered new educational and organizational challenges. Within this context, the traditional modes of management ( Bapuji et al., 2020 ; Rhodes & Fleming, 2020 ) and management education ( Fleming & Oswick, 2014 ; Statler, 2014 ) are insufficient to address these new issues.

Based on these critiques, I decided to offer an alternative view of management responsible education beyond the scholastic perspective. Managing as responsible and educative practice may enable people (shareholders and stakeholders) to be more critical and reflective in the ways they attempt to solve competing priorities and adopt phronetic judgments to overcome these issues. The more educational experiences people can combine (mutual education in Freire’s sense), the more phronesis is performed and refined ( Tsoukas & Cummings, 1997 ; Antonacopoulou, 2010 ; Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014 ; Statler, 2014 ).

The example of the hotel shows the importance of paying close attention to what organizations are calling “sustainability” and its ends. It is not desirable to be “sustainable” only if it means more profits forgetting social responsibility. On the other hand, the insurance car application and the trainee black people program exemplify how managing may be educative promoting responsibility when the focus is not on maximizing profits. RMEP is an opportunity for people to engage with global social problems and embody socially negotiated values in professional and personal settings.

Responsible managing as educational practice – RMEP

Alvesson , M. , & Willmott , H. (Eds.). ( 1992 ). Critical management studies , London : Sage .

Antonacopoulou , E. ( 2015 ). One more time – What is practice? Teoria E Prática Em Administração , 5 ( 2 ), 1 – 26 .

Antonacopoulou , E. ( 2010 ). Making the business school more ‘critical’: Reflexive critique based on phronesis as a foundation for impact . British Journal of Management , 21 ( 1 ), 6 – 25 . doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00679.x .

Aristotle ( 1999 ). Nicomachean ethics ( trans. Terence Irwin , 2nd ed. ), Indianapolis : Hackett Publishing .

Bapuji , H. , de Bakker , F. G. A. , Brown , J. A. , Higgings , C. , Rehbein ., & Spicer , A. ( 2020 ). Business and society research in times of the corona crisis . Business & Society , 59 ( 6 ), 1067 – 1078 . doi: 10.1177/0007650320921172 .

Barnett , R. L. ( 2012 ). Practice-based education: Future possibilities . in J. Higgs , R. Barnett , S. Billett , M. Hutchings , & F. Trede (Eds.), Practice-Based Education: Perspectives and Strategies , New York : Sense Publishers . 241 – 252 .

Barnett , M. L. ( 2019 ). The business case for corporate social responsibility: A critique and an indirect path forward . Business & Society , 58 ( 1 ), 167 – 190 . doi: 10.1177/0007650316660044 .

Barros-Silva , L. ( 2017 ). Sustentabilidade Como Prática Sociomaterial no Processo de Gerenciamento de um Hotel em João Pessoa-PB . (Master’s dissertation). Federal University of Paraiba , Brazil . Retrieved from https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/tede/9357

Bennis , W. G. , & O’Toole , J. ( 2005 ). How business schools lost their way . Harvard Business Review , 83 ( 5 ), 96 – 104 . 15929407 .

Blanc , R. , Cho , C. H. , Sopt , J. , & Branco , M. C. ( 2019 ). Disclosure responses to a corruption scandal: The case of Siemens AG . Journal of Business Ethics , 156 ( 2 ), 545 – 561 . doi: 10.1007/s10551-017-3602-7 .

Cabantous , L. , & Gond , J. P. ( 2011 ). Rational decision making as performative praxis: Explaining rationality’s éternel retour . Organization Science , 22 ( 3 ), 573 – 586 . doi: 10.1287/orsc.1100.0534 .

Cabantous , L. , Gond , J. P. , & Johnson-Cramer , M. ( 2010 ). Decision theory as practice: Crafting rationality in organizations . Organization Studies , 31 ( 11 ), 1531 – 1566 . doi: 10.1177/0170840610380804 .

Clegg , R. S. ( 2003 ). Managing organization futures in a changing world of power/knowledge . In H. Tsoukas & C. Knudsen , (Eds.) The oxford handbook of organization theory: Meta-theoretical perspectives (pp. 536 – 567 ). New York, NY : Oxford University Press .

Cornuel , E. , & Hommel , U. ( 2015 ). Moving beyond the rhetoric of responsible management education . Journal of Management Development , 34 ( 1 ), 2 – 15 . doi: 10.1108/JMD-06-2014-0059 .

Costas , J. , & Kärreman , D. ( 2013 ). Conscience as control – Managing employees through CSR . Organization , 20 ( 3 ), 394 – 415 . doi: 10.1177/1350508413478584 .

Cummings , S. , Bridgman , T. , Hassard , J. , & Rowlinson , M. ( 2017 ). A new history of management , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Cunliffe , A. L. ( 2002 ). Managers as practical authors: Reconstructing our understanding of management practice . Journal of Management Studies , 38 ( 3 ), 351 – 371 . doi: 10.1111/1467-6486.00240 .

Cunliffe , A. L. ( 2020 ). Reflexivity in teaching and researching organizational studies . Revista de Administração de Empresas , 60 ( 1 ), 64 – 69 . doi: 10.1590/s0034-759020200108 .

Dardot , P. , & Laval , C. ( 2013 ). The new way of the world: On neoliberal society , New York, NY : Verso .

Dewey , J. ( 1963 ). Experience and education , New York, NY : Collier Books .

Dunne , S. , Harvey , S. , & Parker , M. ( 2008 ). The responsibilities of management intellectuals: A survey . Organization , 15 ( 2 ), 271 – 282 . doi: 10.1177/1350508407087871 .

Dyllick , T. ( 2015 ). Responsible management education for a sustainable world: The challenges for business schools . Journal of Management Development , 34 ( 1 ), 16 – 33 . doi: 10.1108/JMD-02-2013-0022 .

Fleming , P. , & Oswick , C. ( 2014 ). Educating consent? A conversation with Noam Chomsky on the university and business school education . Organization , 21 ( 4 ), 568 – 578 . doi: 10.1177/1350508413514748 .

Flyvbjerg , B. , Landman , T. , & Schram , S. ( 2012 ). Real social science: Applied phronesis , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Fonseca , M. ( 2021 ). Em corrida Para bater metas de diversidade, magazine luiza terá 2° programa de trainee exclusivo Para pessoas negras . Infomoney , September 21 . Retrieved from www.infomoney.com.br/do-zero-ao-topo/em-corrida-para-bater-metas-de-diversidade-magazine-luiza-tera-2o-programa-de-trainee-exclusivo-para-pessoas-negras/

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ( 2020 ). Addressing inequality in times of COVID-19 . Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/CA8843EN.pdf ( accessed 19 October 2021 ).

Forray , J. M. , & Leigh , J. S. ( 2012 ). A primer on the principles of responsible management education intellectual roots and waves of change . Journal of Management Education , 36 ( 3 ), 295 – 309 .

Freire , P. ( 1970 ). Pedagogy of the oppressed , New York, NY : Herder and Herder .

Freire , P. ( 1985 ). The politics of education: Culture, power, and liberation , South Hadley, MA : Bergin and Garvey .

Foucault , M. ( 2003 ). Society must be defended: Lectures at the college de France (1975–76) , New York, NY : Picador .

Gherardi , S. ( 2019 ). How to conduct a practice-based study: Problems and methods , ( 2 ed. ), Cheltenham, UK : Elgar Publishing .

Gherardi , S. , & Laasch , O. ( 2021 ). Responsible management-as-practice: Mobilizing a posthumanist approach . Journal of Business Ethics , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04945-7

Ghoshal , S. ( 2005 ). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices . Academy of Management Learning & Education , 4 ( 1 ), 75 – 91 . doi: 10.5465/amle.2005.16132558 .

Grootenboer , P. , Edwards-Groves , C. , & Choy , S. (Eds.). ( 2017 ). Practice theory and education: Diversity and contestation . In Practice theories perspectives on pedagogy and education: Praxis, diversity, and contestation , Singapore : Springer . pp. 1 – 22 .

Hard , R. ( 2019 ). The most common eco-friendly hotel initiatives: 10 “green” hotel trends every event planner should know about . The Balance Small Business . Retrieved from www.thebalancesmb.com/sustainability-and-eco-friendly-hotel-initiatives-1223545

Hibbert , P. , & Cunliffe , A. ( 2015 ). Responsible management: Engaging reflexive practice through threshold concepts . Journal of Business Ethics , 127 ( 1 ), 177 – 188 . doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1993-7 .

Kemmis , S. , Wilkinson , J. , Edwards-Groves , C. , Hardy , I. , Bristol , L. , & Grootenboer , P. ( 2014 ). Changing Education, Changing Practices , Singapore : Springer .

Khurana , R. , & Spender , J. C. ( 2012 ). Herbert A. Simon on what ails business schools: More than a problem in organizational design . Journal of Management Studies , 49 ( 3 ), 1 – 21 , doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01040.x .

Klikauer , T. ( 2013 ). Managerialism: A critique of an ideology , New York, NY : Palgrave MacMillan .

Laasch , O. , Suddaby , R. , Freeman , R. E. , & Jamali , D. ( 2020 ). Mapping the emerging field of responsible management: Domains, spheres, themes, and future research . In O. Laasch , R. Suddaby , R. E. Freeman , & D. Jamali (Eds.), The research handbook of responsible management (pp. 2 – 38 ). Cheltenham : Edward Elgar .

Legrand , W. ( 2020 ). Hotel industry CEOs on sustainability entering the 2020s: The window of opportunity for hotels is now! . Hospitalitynet . Retrieved from www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4096577.html

Locke , R. R. , & Spender , J. C. ( 2011 ). Confronting managerialism: How business elite and their schools threw our lives out of balance , London : Zed Books .

Maloni , M. J. , Smith , S. D. , & Napshin , S. ( 2012 ). A methodology for building faculty support for the United Nations principles for responsible management education . Journal of Management Education , 36 ( 3 ), 312 – 336 .

Mandl , C. ( 2020 ). Brazil store chain's bid to recruit black trainees sparks bias charge . Reuters , October 6 . Retrieved from www.reuters.com/article/us-magazine-luiza-racism-idINKBN26R3P0

March , J. G. , & Simon , H. A. ( 1958 ). Organizations , New York, NY : John Wiley and Sons .

Millar , J. , & Price , M. ( 2018 ). Imagining management education: A critique of the contribution of the united nations PRME to critical reflexivity and rethinking management education . Management Learning , 49 ( 3 ), 346 – 362 . doi: 10.1177/1350507618759828 .

Murphy , J. ( 2007 ). The World Bank and global managerialism , Abingdon : Routledge .

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( 2019 ). Beyond growth: Towards a new economic approach . Retrieved from: www.oecd.org/naec/averting-systemic-collapse/SG-NAEC(2019)3_Beyond%20Growth.pdf

Pertiwi , K. , & Ainsworth , S. ( 2020 ). “ Democracy is the cure?”: Evolving constructions of corruption in Indonesia 1994–2014 . Journal of Business Ethics , 173 ( 3 ), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04560-y

Pio , E. , & Waddock , S. ( 2020 ). Invoking indigenous wisdom for management learning . Management Learning , 52 ( 3 ), 1 – 19 , https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507620963956

Prasad , P. ( 2022 ). True colors of global economy: In the shadows of racialized capitalism . Organization , https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084211066803

Price , O. M. , Gherardi , S. , & Manidis , M. ( 2020 ). Enacting responsible management: A practice-based perspective . In O. Laasch , R. Suddaby , R. E. Freeman , & D. Jamali (Eds.), The research handbook of responsible management (pp. 392 – 402 ). Cheltenham : Edward Elgar .

Raelin , J. A. ( 2016 ). Imagine there are no leaders: Reframing leadership as collaborative agency . Leadership , 12 ( 2 ), 131 – 158 . doi: 10.1177/1742715014558076 .

Rasche , A. , & Gilbert , D. U. ( 2015 ). Decoupling responsible management education: Why business schools may not walk their talk . Journal of Management Inquiry , 24 ( 3 ), 239 – 252 . doi: 10.1177/1056492614567315 .

Ray , V. ( 2019 ). A theory of racialized organizations . American Sociological Review , 84 ( 1 ), 26 – 53 , https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418822335

Reckwitz , A. ( 2002 ). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing . European Journal of Social Theory , 5 ( 2 ), 243 – 263 . doi: 10.1177/13684310222225432 .

Rhodes , C. , & Fleming , P. ( 2020 ). Forget political corporate social responsibility . Organization , 27 ( 6 ), 943 – 951 . doi: 10.1177/1350508420928526 .

Rousseau , D. M. ( 2012 ). Designing a better business school: Channelling Herbert Simon, addressing the critics, and developing actionable knowledge for professionalizing managers . Journal of Management Studies , 49 ( 3 ), 600 – 618 . doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01041.x .

Saad-Filho , A. ( 2020 ). From COVID-19 to the end of neoliberalism . Critical Sociology , 46 ( 4-5 ), 477 – 485 . doi: 10.1177/0896920520929966 .

Schatzki , T. ( 2001 ). Introduction: Practice theory . In T. R. Schatzki , K. Knorr-Cetina , & E. Von Savigny (Eds.), The practice turn in contemporary theory (pp. 1 – 14 ). New York, NY : Routledge .

Shatil , S. ( 2020 ). Managerialism – a social order on the rise . Critical Sociology , 46 ( 7-8 ), 189 – 1206 . doi: 10.1177/0896920520911703 .

Shotter , J. , & Tsoukas , H. ( 2014 ). Performing phronesis: On the way to engaged judgment . Management Learning , 45 ( 4 ), 377 – 396 . doi: 10.1177/1350507614541196 .

Silveira , D. , & Basilio , P. ( 2020 ). Programa de trainee Para negros do magazine luiza cumpre papel constitucional, dizem advogados . G1 Economia , September 2020 . Retrieved from https://g1.globo.com/economia/concursos-e-emprego/noticia/2020/09/21/programa-de-trainee-para-negros-do-magazine-luiza-cumpre-papel-constitucional-dizem-advogados.ghtml

Statler , M. ( 2014 ). Developing wisdom in a business school? Critical reflections on pedagogical . Management Learning , 45 ( 4 ), 397 – 417 . doi: 10.1177/1350507614541198 .

Suri , C. ( 2019 ). Hotels and resorts ramp up sustainability efforts . The New York Times , 17 April 2019 . Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/travel/hotels-sustainability-ecotourism.html

Thomas , A. B. , & Anthony , P. D. ( 1996 ). Can management education be educational ? In R. French & C. Grey (Eds.), Rethinking management education (pp. 17 – 35 ). London, UK : Sage .

Townley , B. ( 2002 ). Managing with modernity . Organization , 9 ( 4 ), 549 – 573 . doi: 10.1177/135050840294003 .

Tsoukas , H. , & Cummings , S. ( 1997 ). Marginalization and recovery: The emergence of Aristotelian themes in organization studies . Organization Studies , 18 ( 4 ), 655 – 683 . doi: 10.1177/017084069701800405 .

Vaara , E. , & Fäy , E. ( 2012 ). Reproduction and change on the global scale: A bourdieusian perspective on management education . Journal of Management Studies , 49 ( 6 ), 1023 – 1051 . doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2012.01049.x .

Weber , M. ( 1992 ). The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism , London : Routledge .

Wierson , A. ( 2020 ). A company in Brazil made a controversial move to fight racism. Other CEOs should try it . CNN Business Perspectives , November 17 . Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/17/perspectives/magazine-luiza-racial-diversity/index.html

Withiam , G. ( 2011 ). The challenge of hotel and restaurant sustainability: Finding profit in ‘being green’ . Cornell Hospitality Roundtable Proceedings , 3 ( 2 ), 6 – 13 .

Zanoni , P. , Contu , A. , Healy , S. , & Mir , R. ( 2017 ). Post-capitalistic politics in the making: The imaginary and praxis of alternative economies . Organization , 24 ( 5 ), 575 – 588 . doi: 10.1177/1350508417713219 .

Acknowledgements

This research was partly funded by The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq (Edital Universal 2018 and Edital Bolsa de Produtividade em Pesquisa 2019) and Universidade Federal da Paraíba (Edital Produtividade em Pesquisa 2021). The author thanks Silvia Gherardi, Joseph Raelin and Theodore Schatzki for their comments and suggestions in the previous versions of this article. The author assumes responsibility for eventual misunderstandings from the conversations on the article’s central idea.

Corresponding author

Related articles, we’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

• Our Mission

The Key to Effective Classroom Management

A three-phase process helps build strong teacher-student bonds, which can reduce disruptive behavior.

It’s a daunting but all-too-common sight for many teachers: A classroom full of rowdy students who are unable to focus on the lesson. Classroom management techniques may get things back on track, but valuable time has already been lost.

Many experienced teachers know that making meaningful connections with students is one of the most effective ways to prevent disruptions in the first place, and a new study set out to assess this approach . In classrooms where teachers used a series of techniques centered around establishing, maintaining, and restoring relationships, academic engagement increased by 33 percent and disruptive behavior decreased by 75 percent—making the time students spent in the classroom more worthwhile and productive.

“Strong teacher-student relationships have long been considered a foundational aspect of a positive school experience,” explains Clayton Cook, the lead author of the study and a professor at the University of Minnesota. When those relationships are damaged, student well-being may be affected, leading to academic and behavioral problems.

In the study, teachers used an approach called Establish-Maintain-Restore to build positive interactions with students—a total of 220 in fourth and fifth grade—and boost their sense of belonging. (A follow-up study with middle school teachers used the same strategies, with similar results.) Relationship-building was broken down into three phases: the first meeting, maintenance throughout the school year, and points when a relationship may suffer damage, with useful strategies for each phase.

Since it can be easy for some students to fall through the cracks, a relationship reflection form—like the one we share here—can help teachers take notes on each individual student and highlight ones who need the most attention.

Starting on a Positive Note

At the start of the school year, the teachers in the study made time for establishing relationships. “The goal is to ensure all students feel a sense of belonging that is characterized by trust, connection, and understanding,” Cook and his colleagues explain. For students with learning or behavioral problems, cultivating positive relationships provided “protective effects” that helped them stay focused on learning.

To establish positive relationships, teachers can:

• “Bank time” with students. Schedule one-on-one meetings with students to get to know them better. The goal is to “make deposits into the relationship” to help ease conflict in the future if you have to give constructive feedback or address disruptive behavior.
• Encourage student-led activities. Students feel more invested in their learning if given opportunity to share their interests . Teachers can step aside, be supportive, and listen.
• Welcome students into the classroom. Activities such as positive greetings at the door and icebreaker questions help create a warm classroom culture.
• Use positive communication techniques. Open-ended questions, reflective listening, validation statements, expressions of enthusiasm or interest, and compliments help students—especially shy or introverted ones—ease into classroom discussions.

Maintaining Relationships

Without active maintenance, relationships deteriorate over time, the study authors point out. Teachers may focus too much on academics and not enough on supporting students’ emotional well-being, slowly using up the banked time they initially built up with students.

Teachers can maintain relationships by continuing to implement the strategies above, and in addition they can:

• Take note of positive and negative interactions with students.  Teachers should aim for a five-to-one ratio.
• Regularly check in with students. Ask how they’re doing and what support they may need. In an Edutopia article, Todd Finley explains how 5x5 assessment time helped him focus on a handful of students every day.
• Acknowledge good behavior. When teachers focus attention on positive conduct, disruptive behavior is stemmed before it becomes an issue.

Repairing Harm Before Things Get Worse

Eventually, negative interactions such as misunderstandings, conflict, or criticism can weaken a teacher-student relationship. If these negative interactions are left unaddressed, students may feel disengaged and be less willing to participate in activities. They may also be more likely to misbehave, creating further damage. So it’s important for teachers to “intentionally reconnect” with students to restore the relationship to a positive state.

When relationships need repair, teachers can:

• Let go and start fresh. Teachers should avoid holding mistakes over a student’s head, instead giving them a chance to start each day with a clean slate.
• Take responsibility for their actions. Teachers can avoid blaming students when things go wrong, and think, “What could I have done to avoid the problem in the first place?” They shouldn’t be afraid to apologize when that’s called for—doing so helps build trust with students.
• Show empathy. There are two sides to every story, and a teacher can acknowledge that students may have a different perspective about what happened.
• Focus on solutions, not problems. Teachers can work with students to find a solution that everyone feels is fair.
• Separate the deed from the doer. It’s important to criticize the behavior, not the person. If teachers label children as “problem students,” there’s a danger that they’ll internalize that label, making it more likely that they’ll repeat the behavior in the future.

The takeaway: Effective classroom management starts with relationship building. When students feel a greater sense of belonging, they’re more likely to be academically engaged and demonstrate positive behavior.

• IIEP Buenos Aires

• A global institute
• Governing Board
• Expert directory
• 60th anniversary
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Latest news
• Upcoming events
• PlanED: The IIEP podcast
• Partnering with IIEP
• Career opportunities
• 11th Medium-Term Strategy
• Planning and management to improve learning
• Inclusion in education
• Using digital tools to promote transparency and accountability
• Ethics and corruption in education
• Digital technology to transform education
• Crisis-sensitive educational planning
• Rethinking national school calendars for climate-resilient learning
• Skills for the future
• Interactive map
• Foundations of education sector planning programmes
• Online specialized courses
• Customized, on-demand training
• Training in Buenos Aires
• Training in Dakar
• Preparation of strategic plans
• Sector diagnosis
• Costs and financing of education
• Tools for planning
• Crisis-sensitive education planning
• Supporting training centres
• Support for basic education quality management
• Gender at the Centre
• Teacher careers
• Geospatial data
• Cities and Education 2030
• Learning assessment data
• Governance and quality assurance
• School grants
• Early childhood education
• Flexible learning pathways in higher education
• Instructional leaders
• Planning for teachers in times of crisis and displacement
• Planning to fulfil the right to education
• Thematic resource portals
• Policy Fora
• Network of Education Policy Specialists in Latin America
• Publications
• Briefs, Papers, Tools
• Search the collection
• Visitors information
• Planipolis (Education plans and policies)
• IIEP Learning Portal
• Ethics and corruption ETICO Platform
• PEFOP (Vocational Training in Africa)
• SITEAL (Latin America)
• Policy toolbox
• Education for safety, resilience and social cohesion
• Health and Education Resource Centre
• Interactive Map
• Search deploy

1. Why is teacher management so important?

Teachers are the main resource of any education system and require specific management. Teacher management is a component of human resources management, defined as the search for the best possible match between human resources and the needs of an organisation, in terms of quantity and quality. Teacher management functions include recruitment, training and motivation of personnel, their deployment and the establishment of staffing norms, wage negotiations and organisation of pay, follow up and evaluation of performance, planning of future needs, the development of communication systems or yet again making opportunities available for personal and professional development (UNESCO, 2009; Halliday, 1995: 15-16). Quantitative education development goals (for example, the goal of access to Education For All) can be achieved more effectively and efficiently if human resources, teachers in particular, are planned, allocated, used and managed with care. Teacher management also plays a key role in achieving the qualitative goals of the Education 2030 agenda, as underlined by the Incheon declaration. Teachers have a strong influence on the quality of education (see question 2) and their performance depends on personnel management in particular. For instance, poor management of teachers can lead to overcrowding of some classrooms and this, together with low salaries, has a very negative impact on teacher motivation. This can result in an increase in absenteeism and voluntary departures, directly affecting the quality of education and pupils’ results (UNESCO, 2009; Tournier, 2011). Other aspects of teacher management, such as recruitment, training and promotion also impact the quality and effectiveness of any education system. Another key role of teacher management concerns the control of public expenditure. In fact, teachers represent half or more of government civil service personnel and their salaries an average of 70% of a ministry of Education’s operating budget expenditure (UNESCO, 2009). Ineffective teacher management can as such be very costly. Besides, the question of the balance between the cost represented by teachers and their quality related in particular to the attractiveness of the profession and so to the salary offered, must be central to teacher management. This is especially crucial in developing countries that are continuing to face high additional needs for teachers. Teacher management therefore affects the cost, allocation and utilisation of teachers as well as their motivation and performance. To address the many challenges encountered in developing countries, a global, coherent and forward-looking approach must be adopted. Effective teacher management, based on the adequate planning of staffing needs, viable recruitment, training, remuneration, deployment and career policies, an adequate monitoring and information system and appropriate rules, structures and procedures, is key to the effective operation of any education system and to the satisfaction of its personnel (UNESCO, 2009; Traore, 1966; Göttelmann-Duret, 1998). Lastly, teacher management must be at the heart of any strategy of expansion and improvement of quality and equity of schooling offered and enable its implementation while controlling public spending.

Bibliography:

Göttelmann-Duret, G. 1998. La gestion des enseignants de premier cycle au Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali et Sénégal. Paris: IIEP-UNESCO. Halliday, I.G. 1995. Turning the Tables on Teacher Management. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Traore, A. 1966. La gestion du personnel enseignant en Afrique francophone. Paris: IIEP-UNESCO. Tournier, B. 2011. ‘Organisational aspects of secondary teacher management in developing countries’. Unpublished document. Paris: IIEP-UNESCO. UNESCO, Regional Office for Education in Africa, and Pôle de Dakar. 2009. Universal Primary Education in Africa: The Teacher Challenge. Dakar, Senegal: BREDA.

Related projects

No results.

• Read all 9 questions on teacher management

• Privacy Notice