Management Team Of Educational Organization: Definition, Essential Features, Development Incentives

Abstract

The paper presents intermediate results of the ongoing study devoted to the development of managerial staff and management teams of educational organizations. The authors confirm the need to create management teams being key subject of efficient management of any educational organization. The paper also provides the definition of the ‘management team of an educational organization’, which is understood as the administrative group formed by the head of the educational organization. Such group generally consists of deputy heads, heads of structural divisions and other experts in compliance with staff schedule with an overall objective to ensure the most efficient management of the educational organization. Essential features of a management team are highlighted and justified: 1) single team mission and objectives; 2) leadership skills of a principal in managing a team; 3) team personified approach to professional development of the management team members; 4) cohesion and constructive cooperation of complementary team members; 5) individual and team battery limits for management results; 6) established criteria and team performance indicators. The study analyzes possibilities of management team development incentives. It also describes the certification mechanism of management teams of educational organizations designed to motivate managerial staff for team approach to management. General scientific methods were used within the given study: systematic, historical and logical approaches, abstract-theoretical and comparative methods; special methods of study: sociological (records review, observations, survey, questionnaires, best management practices, method of expert evaluation) and statistical methods.

Keywords: Educational organizationmanagement teammanagerial staff

Introduction

With the development of modern society and innovative economy the accessibility and quality of education contributing to dynamic economic growth and social evolution, wellbeing of citizens and national safety increase substantially. Along with the task to ensure accessibility and quality of education, a key development vector of domestic education is efficiency improvement of educational organizations, which is fixed, for example, in the Concept of long-term social and economic development of the Russian Federation until 2020, in the Federal Law No. FZ-273 On Education in the Russian Federation of 29.12.2012, etc. At the same time, the issue of efficiency of educational organizations still remains unclear thus posing a question why under the necessary educational conditions and available resources conforming to state requirements the educational organizations often demonstrate contrasting quality of education (results of the All-Russian and international competitions, Final State Certification of students, etc.).

The authors believe that the reason for this concerns different abilities and readiness of educational organization management to ensure efficient qualitative results of education. The efficiency of implementing management functions as such will determine efficiency and performance of educational organizations. This assumption is confirmed in the works of domestic and foreign scientists (Kasprzhak, & Bysik, 2014; Lenskaya & Brun, 2016; Ushakov, 2013; Witziers, Bosker, & Kruger, 2003). In this regard, Prof. M. Barber and others think that in order to achieve the relevant tasks of education there is a need for professional managers possessing the required qualities and skills (Barber, Donnelly & Rizvi, 2012, p. 3).

The modern management theory and practice considers the ‘subject of management’ as an individual (head) and/or a team (management group). According to the Federal Law On Education in the Russian Federation , the educational organization is managed through the combination of the principles of one-man management and collective leadership. The single executive body of any educational organization is its leader. At the same time, as Adizes (2014) fairly notes, it is impossible to find and even prepare an ideal head or a leader capable to create an organization and manage it individually thus ensuring its short-term and long-term performance and efficiency. Therefore, as R. Belbin notes, the team leader seeks for talents to compensate personal weaknesses and create a well-balanced team of professionals (Belbin, 2003, p. 161). Thus, besides the head, the educational organization may include deputy heads, heads of structural divisions and other experts according to staff schedule. Hence, a management entity of the educational organization may be characterized as a team (management team).

According to Katcenbah and Smith (2013, p. 20)., the management team as an example of a small group may be organized as one of two ordered work units: efficient team or group with one leader only. At the same time, as scientists note, in the organization striving for rapid and coordinated application of various skills, expertise and estimations, the team steadily achieves the best results and efficiency in comparison with a group of individuals merely acting within the framework of their responsibilities (Katcenbah, & Duglas, 2013, p. 51). The analysis of small organizations and large corporations allowed Adizes (2014) similarly concluding that only those organizations that were able to create effective management teams reach the real lasting progress. Thus, taking into account the increasing demand for efficiency and performance of domestic education, it is advisable to create management teams being key subjects of efficient management of educational organizations.

Problem Statement

The present study shares the common view of scientists (I.K. Adizes, R. Belbin, J. Katcenbah, T.Yu. Bazarov, V.R. Vesnin, T.D. Zinkevich-Yevstigneyeva, etc.) that in order to ensure the efficiency and performance of any organization, including educational organization, it is expedient to create management teams with higher potential to achieve planned results in comparison with the amount of individual potentials of managerial staff. At the same time, the modern scientific literature describes a variety of approaches to define the meaning of a ‘team’ and a ‘management team’. The conceptual field of the ‘management team of an educational organization’ still remains unclear, which results in the absence of established evidence-based features of management teams of educational organizations and their development incentives. In turn, the discussions around the ‘management team’ and its development incentives mainly concerned the rejection of team approach to management by the majority of leaders of educational organizations - 73% out of 240 leaders of educational organizations in Orenburg, Samara regions and Moscow participating in the study. This was especially typical for leaders of educational organizations with underdeveloped performance ethics. According to Katcenbah and Smith (2013), such organizations have no objectives attracting thoughts and emotions of employees; their leaders failed to formulate clear and significant requirements to task efficiency, the implementation of which may impose strict requirements to the entire organization and, most importantly, to the leader as such. Thereby the management rather demonstrates its compliance with corporate rules or external public relations than its commitment to clear objectives balancing the expectations of key stakeholders.

The need to tackle the specified scientific and practical contradictions required statement and solution of the following research tasks:

• to clarify the definition of the ‘management team of the educational organization’;

• to reveal and justify essential features of the management team of the educational organization;

• to analyze possibilities of mechanisms and evaluation criteria for managerial staff of Russian educational organizations in order to motivate their leaders to develop team approaches in management;

• to develop recommendations on the improvement of evaluation and development incentives for management teams of educational organizations.

Research Questions

The specified methodological and practical contradictions in the definition of management teams of educational organizations predetermined the following key questions:

• What is understood by the ‘management team of the educational organization’?

• What key features characterize the management team of the educational organization?

• Do mechanisms and evaluation criteria for managerial staff of the educational organization existing in Russia stimulate its leader to develop team approaches to management?

• How can the mechanisms and evaluation criteria for managerial staff of the educational organization existing in Russia be improved to stimulate its leader to develop team approaches to management?

Purpose of the Study

The analysis of the urgent character of management teams’ development within educational organizations and contradictions related to their formation allowed clarifying the research objective – to define essential features of the management team of the educational organization and to develop recommendations on the improvement of its development incentives.

Research Methods

The given study uses the results of previous investigations (Tarasenko, 2015; Mitrofanova & Tarasenko, 2017) and general scientific methods of knowledge: systematic, historical and logical approaches, abstract-theoretical and comparative methods; special methods of study: sociological (records review, observations, survey, questionnaires, best management practices, method of expert evaluation) and statistical methods.

Findings

The scientific literature describes the management team as a group of two or more leaders (most often 5-7, rarely 15-20) united by a common objective in order to: mutually balance the tendency of their approaches and avoid duplication of each other, admit different characters and variety of opinions and styles of behavior (Adizes, 2014); coordinate interactions and labor efforts, share a single mission and bear team responsibility (Daft & Lane, 2007); share values and general approaches to joint activity (Tannenbaun, Beard, & Salas, 1992); have necessary skills and be motivated to cooperate and bear mutual responsibility for results and efficiency as part of a team mission (Katcenbah & Duglas, 2013) have complementary skills, assume responsibility for final results and be capable to change functions and roles (Bazarov & Eremin, 2002); have exceptionally high intellectual level and social status of participants in comparison with staff of a standard division (Vesnin, 2009). The management team is an autonomous self-governing group of professionals capable to solve the assigned tasks quickly, efficiently and in a good manner (Zinkevich-Evstigneeva, 2004). As Bazarov and Eremin (2002) fairly note, the understanding of team rules of the organization determines quick and effective solutions of such situations as unclear allocation of responsibilities within the project, increase in motivation in substantive work and understanding the reasons behind low contribution of certain team members, elimination of interpersonal tensions and other disputes leading to conflicts of interest within the organization.

The theoretical analysis of approaches to the definition of a ‘team’, the ‘management team’ and their features allowed concluding that the management team of the educational organization represents the administrative group created by the leader of the educational organization, which consists of deputy heads, heads of structural divisions and other experts according to staff schedule, which purpose is the most effective implementation of management functions within the educational organization. The following may be considered the distinctive features of the management team of the educational organization:

• single team mission and objectives;

• leadership skills of a principal in managing a team;

• team personified approach to professional development of the management team members;

• cohesion and constructive cooperation of complementary team members;

• individual and team battery limits for management results;

• established criteria and team performance indicators.

In order to create and develop the management team of the educational organization there is a need for clear mission and objectives of management, which will only belong to this group of managers of the organization and direct its members towards the final result beyond the team’s individual abilities. At the same time, according to Katcenbah and Smith (2013, p. 291), it is extremely complicated for potential management teams to determine their mission, objectives and final results. As practice shows, the management teams of educational organizations often mix team mission, objectives and results of management with mission, objectives and results of the organization in general. Such substitution of targets allows evaluating the influence of the management team on the organization’s performance, but does not allow estimating objectively the efficiency of achieving the management objectives of the team.

The management team that is able to work together is extremely efficient and productive (Zinkevich-Evstigneeva, 2004). According to authors of the leadership concept in team management (S.P. Robbins, M. Coulter), a modern manager has to become a team leader playing four specific roles: 1) be a link between team members and representatives of the public; 2) solve all team problems; help subordinates to cope with team conflicts and contradictions; act as a coach. According to scientists, in order to perform these roles the modern manager shall develop the following skills: communication skills, ability to trust the subordinates, to delegate and to know when to interfere and when to give a blank.

Management teams serve as powerful engines of personal training and development. Focusing on efficiency, the team quicker identifies gaps in skills and specific training needs of some of its members in order to fill these gaps (Katcenbah & Duglas, 2013). Therefore, it is important for the management team of the educational organization to get the proper balance between initial selection of pedagogical and administrative experts and their subsequent development based on the combination of personified (for example, individual educational path, self-education, planning personal professional promotion, etc.) and team approaches (group training and professional development, team decision-making and other forms of group activity aimed to create a team genius). Thus, the team-personified approach promotes the development of managerial staff – a team genius possessing a full set of complementary skills necessary to fulfill the objectives of the management team.

The team effect is based on high motivation of its members to work together towards the common result. According to A. Mescon and his research team, the most efficient team is a team, which size corresponds to its tasks, which members have different personality traits, which standards contribute to objectives of the organization and team spirit, which has healthy conflict intensity, good performance of both target and supporting roles, and in which the senior members do not dominate (Mescon, Albert, & Khedouri, 1988). According to Bazarov and Eremin (2002, p. 276), such teams are characterized by informal and open atmosphere, understanding and acceptance of tasks, desire to listen to each other; disagreements between team members are aligned around ideas and methods, but not around people; decisions are made through the consent of each team member, but not the majority opinion. When such conditions are satisfied the team is not only successful in fulfilling specific measures focused on a single team mission and objectives, but also feels satisfied with personal and interpersonal needs of team members and the management team in general. At the same time, the authors share the opinion of Vesnin (2009) that currently the difficulty of team work is caused, first of all, by the lack of the necessary culture of joint cooperation, focus of the majority of remuneration systems on individual results, strive for leadership, competition.

The effective management group, as well as the team, benefits from clear objectives and general understanding of how the performance will be assessed. However, unlike teams, the working groups rely on the sum of ‘individual indicators’. They have no team responsibility for joint results. The focus is always on individual indicators and responsibility, whereas today the emphasis is more shifted towards team performance (Katcenbah & Duglas, 2013). In turn, management teams require both individual and team responsibility. Teams are satisfied neither with pure group discussions, debates and decisions; nor with exchange of information and the best practices; or with mutual reinforcement of individual efficiency standards. Without specific results of joint teamwork, the potential increase in team efficiency is unlikely to happen (Katcenbah & Duglas, 2013).

Certainly, the creation of management teams is not a panacea; they will not be able to solve all problems and will not help the leaders of educational organizations to cope with all obstacles in a way to achieving the efficiency. But any other approach cannot compete with the team approach in terms of flexibility, unique efficiency and behavioral characteristics (Katcenbah & Duglas, 2013). Thus, if leaders of educational organizations consider economic efficiency, quality of results and satisfaction of stakeholders’ needs as the key indicators of the organization’s performance, then the management team is one of the best ways to implement large-scale transformations aimed at highly efficient organization.

The next stage of the study included the overview of mechanisms and evaluation criteria for managerial staff of educational organizations in Russia and their ability to stimulate team approach to management. In particular, the Russian legislation implies obligatory assessment (certification) of candidates for leadership positions and the position of the leader of the educational organization. The objective of certification is to determine the qualification compliance of a certified person with requirements to perform the functions of the leader of the educational organization. Certification as a form of business assessment of leaders of educational organizations is personified and allows solving the following tasks:

• to increase the efficiency of leadership selection and staffing within educational organizations;

• to evaluate knowledge and qualification of candidates (candidate) for leadership positions within the educational organization;

• to ensure leadership knowledge and qualification of leaders of educational organizations and to confirm their job relevance;

• to stimulate professional growth of leaders of educational organizations.

The Department of State Policy in the Sphere of the General Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation developed guidelines for performance criteria and indicators of leadership assessment within educational organizations. Hence, the performance criteria and indicators of leadership assessment within educational organizations include the following:

• positive dynamics of academic and extra-curricular performance of students (taking into account characteristics of students cohort);

• efficiency of the educational system;

• expansion (change) of the range of educational programs and quality of educational services according to social demands;

• increase in professional skills of teaching staff within the educational organization;

• development of material and technical resources of the educational organization;

• creation of comfortable conditions for participants of the educational process (teachers, students, parents);

• promotion of openness and democratization of management within the educational organization.

The specified List of performance criteria and indicators of leadership assessment within educational organizations allows assessing the efficiency and performance of the entire organization, focuses administrative and pedagogical staff on the achievement of uniform planned results. This List is recommended for use (consideration) during certification of leaders, distribution of centralized incentives, inclusion into the personnel reserve of the educational system, conclusion of labor contracts. The presented criteria and indicators stimulate leaders for group activity and at the same time do not focus on the development of team approaches to management within the educational organization.

A similar mechanism of managerial staff assessment through the performance indicators of the educational organization includes such procedures as licensing, accreditation (state and public), independent quality assessment of educational activity (IQAE). Within the given examples, the managerial staff of the educational organization is assessed through their ability to comply educational activity with established requirements – license, accreditation, etc. This mechanism also stimulates the leaders to group activity, but fails to promote the development of team approaches to management.

The mechanism of managerial staff assessment also includes the All-Russian (and related regional and municipal) competitions of leadership professional skills: School principal, Leader in education, Leaders of education, etc. The analysis of regulations on the order of holding such competitions allowed defining the personified approach to managerial staff assessment, which also failed to ensure targeted stimulation of leaders of educational organizations to develop team approaches to management.

The mechanism of voluntary accreditation of management boards of educational organizations implemented within the educational system of Moscow may serve an example of the mechanism to assess team potential of state and public management entities of educational organizations. The purpose of this accreditation is to confirm the compliance of state and public management model of educational organization to standards ensuring constructive combination of one-man management and state and public management principles. Thus, by the beginning of 2018 more than a half (about 400) management boards of educational organizations in Moscow have successfully undergone this procedure. It should be noted that the voluntary accreditation of management boards of educational organizations was further used to improve the mechanism and criteria for management teams’ assessment within educational organizations.

The authors of the study do not consider the given list of mechanisms and criteria for management teams’ assessment within educational organizations exhaustive. At the same time, the analysis of the given assessment mechanisms made it possible to conclude that personified mechanisms and criteria for managerial staff assessment prevail in domestic educational system. Besides, the domestic educational system does not include clear mechanisms to assess and stimulate the development of team potential within management teams of educational organizations. The obtained results allowed confirming scientific and practical contradictions between the need of domestic educational system to develop team approaches to management of educational organizations and absence of developed in theory and practice effective assessment mechanisms and criteria, which motivate leaders of educational organizations to develop team approaches to management. The mechanism to accredit management teams of educational organizations, developed by the authors of the study, may solve this contradiction.

The dictionaries define the term ‘accreditation’ (Latin accredo ‘to trust’) as the procedure of official confirmation of compliance of an object (subject) to established criteria and indicators (standard). Respectively the term ‘accreditation of the management team of the educational organization’ is defined as the procedure of official confirmation of compliance of the management team of the educational organization to established criteria and indicators applicable to management teams: 1) single team mission and objectives; 2) leadership skills of a principal in managing a team; 3) team personified approach to professional development of the management team members; 4) cohesion and constructive cooperation of complementary team members; 5) individual and team battery limits for management results; 6) established criteria and team performance indicators.

Based on the analysis of scientific literature, standards and guidelines, as well as the best management practices of educational organizations, the authors of the study developed the mechanism for accreditation of the management team of the educational organization (Table 1 ). The authors believe that the developed mechanism will provide for targeted and efficient motivation of managerial staff of any educational organization to develop team approaches to management.

Based on expert opinion the authors believe that accreditation as the mechanism of assessment and stimulation of management teams in educational organizations offers some opportunities to subjects of education, including:

• education authorities;

• founders of educational organizations;

• educational organizations;

• managerial staff of educational organization.

The major opportunities of accreditation as the mechanism of assessment and stimulation of management teams development in educational organizations are shown in Table 2 .

Conclusion

The conducted study resulted in the following conclusions:

• The management team of any educational organization is the management group formed by the leader of this educational organization, which consists of deputy heads, heads of structural divisions and other experts according to staff schedule, where the head of the educational organization acts as the leader.

• Essential features of management teams of educational organizations include the following:

  • single team mission and objectives;

  • leadership skills of a principal in managing a team;

  • team personified approach to professional development of the management team members;

  • cohesion and constructive cooperation of complementary team members;

  • individual and team battery limits for management results;

  • established criteria and team performance indicators.

• The personified mechanisms and criteria for managerial staff assessment prevail in domestic educational system. Besides, the domestic educational system does not include clear mechanisms to assess and stimulate the development of team potential within management teams of educational organizations.

• Accreditation of management teams of educational organizations offers opportunities of the mechanism of assessment and stimulation of management teams development within educational organizations.

The authors note that this work is based on the continuous study of team approaches to management of educational organizations. Still there is a need for additional justification of the accreditation mechanism of management teams in educational organizations and approbation of diagnostic tools to ensure the compliance of managerial staff actions to team approaches.

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