Complex Strategy Of Differentiated Development Of Managerial Staff Of Educational Organisation

Abstract

The results of the study of the quantitative and qualitative composition of managers of Russian educational organisations are presented in the paper. This study reveals the problems in the development system of managerial staff: a large share of managers of retirement age; disproportion in the staff structure by managerial experience; a small share of a specially trained corps of managers of educational organisations, having basic managerial education; a significant share of managers with a low level of abilities and readiness for management with a simultaneously low level of motivation for professional development. Analysis of the managerial corps’ condition allows suggesting a hypothesis of the study: elaboration and realisation of the complex strategy of differentiated development of managerial staff of educational organisations will be provided by satisfaction of the staff’s needs in professional and personality self-development. The purpose of the study is to elaborate and to characterise a complex strategy of differentiated development of managerial staff of educational organisations. The development aims of the managerial staff of educational organisations are formulated in accordance with interests of the main stakeholders. Group differentiation is carried out by the level and stage of professional development. In accordance with distinguished groups of managers, an authors’ classification of strategies of differentiated development of the managerial staff of educational organisations is elaborated and characterised. The methods of logical analysis and synthesis, statistical and sociological methods are used.

Keywords: Educational organisationstrategymanagerial staff development

Introduction

The domestic education system, prevalent in the middle of the 30s of the XX century, remained unchanged in its basic traits for half a century. All this time, goals and the quality of education, the structure of the educational authorities and their functions were never disputed. But today’s tasks radically differ from those which faced the educational systems of the XX century” (Barber, Mourshed, 2010). Under conditions of innovation economy development, education acquires a status of a social and economic institute, facilitating the dynamic economic growth and social development of society, well-being of citizens and safety of the country. As Talleyrand C.M. rightly noted as early as two centuries ago, in reality education is a particular power, the domain of influence of which cannot be determined by anyone, and even national authority is unable to set its boundaries; the domain of its influence is huge, infinite (German, 2012, p. 148).

Barber M. with colleagues note that to solve significant tasks in the education system, experts, possessing necessary skills and qualities, are required (Barber, Donnelly, Rizvi, 2012, p. 3). The authors of the research suggest that the key group of such experts is a managerial staff of the educational organisation. Namely, the efficiency of managerial functions’ realisation of the manager (planning, organisation, motivation, control, communication and making managerial decision) will determine the productivity and effectiveness of the educational organisation’s activity. The confirmation of this thought is found in the works of domestic and foreign scientists (Hamilton, Richardson, 1995; Kasprzhak, Bysik, 2014; Sergiovanni, 2000; Witziers, Bosker, Kruger, 2003).

Changes in the managerial practice have enriched the content of the managerial competence of the educational organisation’s manager. Abilities and readiness of the managerial staff to manage the educational organisation development, to organise educational work and educational activities, to manage resources of the organisation, to represent it in relations with the public authority and local governments, public and other organisations come to the fore. This content of managerial competence was reflected in the draft of the Professional Standard of the educational organisation’s manager.

Consolidation of the managerial constituent in the content of qualification requirements for the manager determines the relevance of one’s lifelong education based on integration of approaches of different management schools, consolidation of system and situational constituents in the managerial activity (Brit, 2013, p. 67). As Fullan F., one of the authors of the leadership theory, notes, a successful leader is constantly learning, as well as engaging in the professional development of one’s colleagues, and first of all, one’s deputies to improve the work of one’s organisation (Fullan, 2011, 2014).

Thus, the conducted theoretical analysis allowed making a conclusion that modern managerial practice requires renewal of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations, its goals and strategies based on the advanced products in the field of the strategic management, management psychology, lifelong education of adults. This, in turn, has provided the relevance of the study of development strategies of the managerial staff of educational organisations.

Problem Statement

The study of the development strategies of the managerial staff of educational organisations requires clarification of the conceptual field of the research, as well as analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the managerial staff.

It must be noted that in the modern theory and practice, there is no unified interpretation of concepts “development” and “development of managerial staff of educational organisations”. Analysis of scientific literature allowed clarifying the concept “development of managerial staff of educational organisations” as a system of organisational and economic measures, including motivation of professional development of the staff of the organisation, work with employment pool, certification of the manager and designees, professional adaptation of young managers, training, management of business career and official-professional promotion of managers. In accordance with the concept of lifelong education, the authors consider it to be expedient to supplement the system of managerial staff development with career guidance work with trainees of educational organisations of general, vocational and higher education. As Senko Yu.V. and Morozova O.P. rightly note, an expert begins to form long before entering primary school and proceeds with formation after graduating from higher school for the rest of one’s life (Morozova, 2015, p. 18). The concept “a strategy of development of managerial staff of educational organisations” is considered as a generalised model of preliminary planned actions aimed at achieving the aims of development.

Analysis of the quantitative composition of the managerial staff of educational organisations was conducted, based on the official statistics of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2013. Analysis of qualitative characteristics of the managerial staff was based on the results of the study, which was undertaken in 2015-2016 with 887 managers, including: 742 managers of educational organisations of Orenburg region, taking part in advanced training at Orenburg State Pedagogical University; 145 managers of educational organisations of Moscow, going through the certification procedure on correspondence to the work status of a manager. When development becomes a priority, self-evaluation of managers acts as an important component of overall assessment of their activity (Lenskaya, Brun, 2016). Therefore, the study of the managerial staff of educational organisations was integrated, included self-evaluation and mediated diagnostics of professional managerial qualities.

As a result of the study, it was established that in 2016, the domestic system of education accounted more than 140 thousand managers of general education organisations (42887 principals and 97493 deputy principals). The average age of managers was 49 years old, which does not exceed mean values of the international study of TALIS – 52 years old. Meanwhile the analysis of the age structure revealed a large share of managers of the retirement age – 23.8 %, which exceeds significantly the share of young managers under the age of 35 – less than 10 %.

Modernisation processes in the education system have not influenced significantly the personal staff of the managerial corps of educational organisations. The share of managers, having managerial work experience of more than 20 years, amounted to 66.5 %; from 10 to 20 years – 21.4 %; from 5 to 10 years – 6.4 %; less than 5 years – only 5.7 %. The majority of the managers have higher, preliminary pedagogical education – 93.7 %. Along with it, the programme of managerial education before assignment to a managerial position was mastered by only 6.5 % of managers. And only in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Ryazan region the share of such managers made up about 20 %, which is also lower than the mean values of the international study of TALIS – 26.5 %, and significantly lower than the similar indices in the USA – 68.5%, Singapore – 65%, Japan – 50 %, England – 39.2% and Canada – 38.5%.

The study of the qualitative characteristics of the managerial staff allowed revealing the managers with a low level of motivation for professional development – 32 %; with a basic level – 54 %; with a high level – 14 %. Rigidity diagnostics (an index of flexibility, ease of switching over under dynamic conditions) showed that for the majority of managers, low rigidity is typical – 61 %; an average level is noted in 30 % of managers; a high level was fixed only in 9 % of managers. The share of managers with a low level of leadership qualities made up 24 %, with an average one – 56 % and with a high level – 20 %. The authors of the study also identified the typical professional difficulties of managers, connected with elaboration of the strategy and the development programme of educational organisation in 89.7 % of respondents; management of financial, material and technical resources of the organisation in 78 %; arrangement of the educational process and ensuring its safety in 73.8 %; realisation of public and state management in 64 % of respondents. The authors note that individual qualitative characteristics of the respondents were unique by their structure; therefore, to determine their dependence on the age requirement, managerial experience and the territory was impossible.

Thus, analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of managers of educational organisations allowed revealing a number of problems, which must be taken into consideration when developing the strategies of managerial staff development:

• a large share of managers of the retirement age;

• disproportion in the staff structure by managerial experience: the share of managers with managerial experience of more than 20 years is 12 times larger than the share of the beginning managers with work experience under 5 years;

• a small share of a specially trained corps of managers of educational organisations, having basic managerial education;

• a significant share of managers with a low level of skills and readiness for realisation of managerial functions with a simultaneously low level of development motivation.

These findings did not contradict the results of the study of the readiness of Russian schools’ principals for the work in the transformational mode, undertaken by the employees of Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences and the Institute of Education of Higher School of Economics (Lenskaya, Brun, 2016), which allowed characterising them as valid.

Research Questions

The revealed problems of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the managerial staff of educational organisations determined the key content questions of the study:

• Who is the main stakeholder of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations?

• What are the goals of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations, which would satisfy the modern needs of its key stakeholders?

• What strategies will provide the achievement of the aims of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations?

Who is the agent of management of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations?

Purpose of the Study

The relevance of the study of development strategies of the managerial staff of educational organisations allowed the authors to define the purpose of the study – to develop and to characterise the complex strategy of differentiated development of the managerial staff of educational organisations.

Research Methods

In the framework of this study, general scientific methods of cognition were used: system, historical and logical approaches, abstract and theoretical, and comparative methods; special methods of study: sociological (document analysis, observation, interview, survey, generalization of managerial experience, the method of expert judgments) and statistical methods.

Findings

The backbone element of any system, including the system of the managerial staff development of educational organisations, is a purpose reflecting the desirable results of its main stakeholders. As expert note, the consideration of the interests and demands of the main stakeholders allows educational organisations to gain stable competitive advantages, to realise their social function (Nagornov, 2010; Savvinov, Strekalovskiy, 2013).

In the opinion of the authors’ of the study, the main stakeholders of the system of managerial staff development are agents of relationships in the education sector. In accordance with the domestic legislation, participants of relationships in the education sector are: trainees and parents (legal representatives) of minor trainees; pedagogical workers and their representatives; organisations, implementing educational activity; federal state agencies, public authorities of the Russian Federation entities, local authorities, employers and their associations.

Analysis of requirements of main stakeholders allowed defining the aim of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations: satisfying the staff needs in professional and individual self-development; the needs of the educational organisation and its employees, trainees and their parents, educational authorities – in highly qualified and motivated managerial staff, satisfying qualification requirements and strategic goals of the educational system (an educational organisation, an education system of municipal, regional and (or) federal levels).

The study of the theory and practice of managing educational systems has not reveal established requirements and recommendations on elaboration of the development strategy of the managerial staff of the educational organisation. This has determined the necessity of elaboration of authors’ classification of strategies in accordance with the revealed professional problems of the managerial staff and aims of its development.

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The authors of the study, taking into consideration the absence of the commonly accepted theoretical model of elaboration of the development strategy of the managerial staff, considered it possible to use the ideas of a three-factor behaviour model of an individual (Motivation, Opportunity, Ability – МОА) (Blumberg, Pringle, 1982), having adapted them in accordance with the aims of the present study.

The understanding of the managerial competence of managers of educational organisations as an integrative personality trait, revealing itself in the ability and readiness of the manager for realisation of managerial functions, allowed differentiating the managers by the level of its formation. The authors of the study identified 4 groups of managers of educational organisations in accordance with the levels of abilities (reproductive and creative) and readiness (low or high) for the realisation of managerial functions (Figure 01 ).

It is necessary to note that abilities of the manager are considered as a personality trait, characterising the level of formation of managerial knowledge, skills and experience; readiness of the manager is understood as a personality trait, reflecting the motivation level of professional activity and development, leadership qualities.

Group A includes managers – “conventional specialists”. The term “conventional specialists” is not confirmed legally. In the framework of the current study, the conventional specialists are a category of employees that are up to the job. This group includes:

• personnel reserve of managers;

• managers who do not completely or partially meet qualification requirements (for example, by the level of education and/or by a training line);

• managers who meet qualification requirements and, along with it, possess a reproductive level of managerial knowledge, abilities, a low level of motivation of professional (managerial) activity and leadership qualities.

Group B (mangers with a basic level of professional development) is a category of managers who meet qualification requirements, have a partially reproductive level of managerial knowledge, abilities. At that, they demonstrate a high motivation level of professional (managerial) activity and leadership qualities, the signs of transforming management reveal themselves in the manager’s activity.

Group C (managers with a functionally transforming level of professional development) includes managers with a high (creative) level of abilities and readiness for management, which provide high rates in the ratings of productivity and effectiveness of educational organisation’s activity.

Group D includes managers with signs of professional destructions. These managers possess a high (creative) level of managing abilities and have a long record of service in management. At that, they demonstrate a low level of readiness for management in the development mode. The signs of professional destruction reveal themselves in the activity of such manager (low labour productivity, emotional exhaustion, cessation of professional development, etc.).

In the opinion of the authors of the study, there is such effective strategy of managerial staff development of educational organisations that takes into account interconnection and correlation between equality and diversity within the levels of professional development of managers. As Suslov V.I. rightly noted, depending on external conditions, there can be several strategies, but every time, a strategy is a choice and realisation of the best scenario, a strategy is a road to victory (Suslov, 2009, p. 11).

In accordance with the identified groups of managers by the level of professional development, authors’ classification of development strategies of the managerial staff of educational organisations has been elaborated (Table 01 ).

The formation strategy. In philosophy, “formation”, as a rule, represents a process of emergence of fundamentally new characteristics and forms, implies a transition of a possibility into a reality during development. The formation strategy in the development of the managerial staff is aimed at development of the category of managers of Group A “Managers – conventional specialists”.

The adaptation strategy. In sociology, psychology and pedagogy, the term “adaptation” means an ability of a human being to adapt to circumstances and conditions of external environment. The adaption strategy in the development of the managerial staff is aimed at development of managers of Group B “Managers with a basic level of professional development”.

The strategy of career guidance. In psychology, “career guidance” is movement along with the changing individual, next to it; it is timely indication of possible ways and, if necessary – rendering help and support. The strategy of career guidance in the development of the managerial staff is aimed at development of managers of Group C “Managers with a functionally transforming level of professional development”.

The activation strategy. In the scientific literature, the concept “activation” is characterised as a transition from a quiescent state to movement, development; intensification of functioning and activity. The activation strategy in the development of the managerial staff is aimed at development of managers of Group D “Managers with signs of professional destructions”.

The choice of the strategy type is conditioned by the specifics of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the managerial staff, requiring development. More generally, a totality of strategies represents a type of a complex strategy of differentiated development of the managerial staff of educational organisations (Figure 02 ).

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In accordance with domestic legislation, managers of state and municipal educational organisations are assigned to the managerial position by a founder in the person of educational authority of the municipal, regional or federal level (unless otherwise specified by the law). Thus, the authors of the study suppose that the key agent of managing the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations is educational authorities.

Conclusion

The results of the undertaken study consisted in the following:

• The problems of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the managerial staff of educational organisations were revealed.

• Main stakeholders of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations were determined.

• The aims of the system of managerial staff development of educational organisations were specified in accordance with interests of its key stakeholders.

• The complex development strategy of the managerial staff of educational organisations was developed and characterised.

• Key agents in the management of the development system of the managerial staff of educational organisations were determined.

A complex strategy of differentiated development of the managerial staff is aimed at, first of all, activation of inner possibilities and potential in development of the managerial corps. As Ushakov K.D. rightly noted, educational organisations, being oriented to the search and use of external resources, use their internal resources for their development insufficiently (Ushakov, 2013).

The authors of the study note that in this paper, the results of the ongoing research on the problem of the managerial staff development of educational organisations are presented. Further justification of the developed strategies and their approbation with the purpose of confirmation (refutation) of the hypothesis, proposed in the study, are required.

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