ESEM5514 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT SANTHI KRISHNAN ( MC210413570)

Forum Discussion 1

Organization members typically resist change. What can school management

do to overcome this among teachers and administrators?

Introduction

Organizational change is a common yet significant feature of the majority of organizations, including
schools, where moderation happens in a work environment of an organization. Adjustments within an
organization’s operations are needed when there is a change in both internal and external environments.
There are different types of organizational change that might involve a difference in the company’s
framework, procedures, strategies, cultures, and many more. Organizational change can be a highly
fundamental and rapid change in multiple ways the school performs. This allows traditional ways of
performing tasks to be adjusted to new methods where tasks can be carried out more effectively and
efficiently. Changes of an organization can also be planned or forced due to the fluctuation in the
environment.

For a school to survive as an organization and complete continuous social change in the community,
schools should be highly flexible and dynamic by the demand of changes as organizational change has
become necessary in the growing culture. Schools that can cope with organizational changes are more
likely to grow and succeed in the future while schools that fail to change will be left behind and even meet
the risks of being eliminated. Responses towards every change of an organization from different aspects
occur as individuals tend to react differently. Responses can either be positive or negative relying upon the
matter as to how individuals within the organization are affected. However, changes of an organization are
not always appreciated by their employees and this has become one of the most common reasons where
organizational change efforts fail. Therefore, suitable actions should be implemented to ease the process of
changes and minimize the worries of employees.

Resistance to change

One of the most confusing problems that a manager will face in an organization is employees’ resistance to
change. The reactions towards organizational range can vary from resistance to compliance to supportive.
Individuals that are involved in active resistance, which is the most negative reaction, disagree with all the
new policies made by voicing out their objections, which will destroy the change effort. Meanwhile,
individuals who engage in passive resistance tend to maintain silence even if they dislike the changes
made. They might apply to transfer departments, take leaves more often, and even resign as they tend to
feel stressed, sad, and unmotivated to continue working in the organization. However, a compliance
individual agrees and cooperates with changes with little interest. Individuals that are supportive of
organizational changes will fight for the new adjustments and encourage people around them to support
the changes effort.
ESEM5514 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT SANTHI KRISHNAN ( MC210413570)
There are several reasons that individuals resist change such as fear of uncertainty, fear of failure, the
threat of losing power, and many more. Organizational changes are unknown that will lead to feelings of
uncertainty. Some changes are uncertain and unmanageable where individuals have difficulties in
predicting events that might happen in the future. This causes them to become confused and stressed due
to the lack of control. Besides that, individuals resist change when they believe that new policies might
affect their performance. Individuals that are less confident in their capability are more likely to with stand
changes as they are unsure about their work performance. Individual’s anticipation of power loss is also
one of the main reasons they resist change as they believe that their power, position, and influence in the
organization might be affected.

Resistance to change does not only bring negative impacts on the organization, and also has bad
consequences for employees. This is because individuals that respond negatively towards changes are
more likely to experience negative emotions that will affect their productivity. However, resistance to
change should not be overlooked as it can also represent important feedback. Possible and more effective
adjustments can be made by listening to individuals’ opinions in the change effort. Therefore, organizations
must overcome employees’ resistance to organizational change to be successful in the future. If not,
organizations that fail to adapt to the changes in the environment will just waste energy, time, and
resources in improving their operations.

Organizational change in schools

To guarantee that change efforts consist of an important and long term effect, school management should
gain a better understanding of actions that should be implemented (Kadir & Yasar Kondakci, 2020). Various
definitions and aspects of changes on starting and putting the change process into action have been
introduced (Van de Ven & Poole, 1995). Currently, there are several change models that aim to lead
schools in implementing change where a structured step by step process is applied to simplify the progress
of change in the organization. By applying a stage-based method, changes in schools can be completed
more effectively and efficiently. In this paper, Harris’s fivephase model, also known as one of the most
famous models of the change process, is suggested to be implemented in organizations, especially schools.

Harris's five-phase model consists of five different stages that come in a consecutive order which can be
overlapped with one another (Harris, 1975). Five phases were developed to better manage change, that
includes planning and initiation, momentum, problems, a turning point as well as termination. Planning and
initiation occur during phase one where the intention of the change is examined, aims are interpreted,
tasks are chosen, and resources required are identified. Individuals that are engaged begin to be interested
as they notice the connection between the change and its aim as well as their desires. In phase two, goal-
directed tasks are ongoing and resources are starting to be applied. The interest of individuals remains to
be high and even rises where individuals felt involved in the change as well as having the opportunities to
grow. Organizing and leading processes are also highly utilized in the momentum phase.

Moving on to phase three where tasks will cause unpredictable problems as the plans become more
complicated. Primary tasks cause the proliferation of even more tasks where some of the resources are not
prepared and accessible. This will lead to the possibility where group members have different aims and
conflicts will start to occur. Aims set by organizations will be harder to achieve and even become
ESEM5514 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT SANTHI KRISHNAN ( MC210413570)
unapproachable than before. Individuals’ interests will start to decrease as some of them have problems in
getting through their expectations. Therefore, a leadership investment is very important at this phase. The
flow of problems that was illustrated from the previous phase will either rise continuously or diminish as
well as be defeated at the turning point. During this phase, factors such as the momentum of the change
obtained, the efficiency of initial planning, and individuals that are involved in the change are significant.
Besides that, the quality and quantity of leadership remain important. Last but not least, there might be a
possibility of termination of efforts due to the rise of unpredictable problems, complicated tasks, lack of
resources, decrease in interest level where goal-directed tasks cannot be carried out. However, on the
other hand, problems can also be solved, tasks can be simplified, resources can be accessible, which causes
goal-directed tasks to be implemented at a growing pace. The sequence of the model shows that
leadership is crucial at different phases of the change.

Leadership for change

Recent researches in the education industry showed the importance of successful leadership in improving
teaching and learning (Paula & William, 2014). For a school to change continuously to improve, leadership
is very important where leaders are responsible for developing a perception that nurtures continuous
change (Kadir & Yasar, 2020). School administrators are crucial in examining school leadership models and
practices to guide successful schools. Instead of just hiring and recruiting teachers, school administrators
must make sure that all of the teachers have the chance to learn and improve their teaching practices.
School administrators can establish knowledge in examining effective strategies where teachers can be
involved in collaborative activities that result in maintaining changes (Yorks & Marsick, 1999). As a lead
learner in the school, a principal must believe and trust himself or herself about leading and learning based
on past experiences, self-reflection, research information, and educational values (Kadir & Yasar, 2020).

By providing chances for teacher cooperation, several structures can be developed by school
administrators such as teacher conferences, study groups, school visitations, and many more. Teachers can
educate and learn from each other by participating in study groups that can be of different sizes and
contents. Study groups allow teacher learning to be interpreted, deepened, and strengthened as it
provides teachers the opportunity to examine and reflect on practices that need to be concentrated. For
optimal teacher learning to happen, a powerful connection established on trust is significant to teacher
conferences. School administrators must be involved in teachers’ classrooms more frequently to ensure
that they are aware of events happening in classrooms. Teacher conferences are not just about guiding
teachers on things that should be done, it also involves the process where feedback is required to be
followed up. Moreover, teachers are able to discover different teaching approaches and practices that are
applied in other schools through school visitations. It is important for school administrators to choose a
school that applies good practice for site visits where teachers will have the chance to learn and even
transfer practices to their classrooms.

References
ESEM5514 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT SANTHI KRISHNAN ( MC210413570)
1. Fullan, M. (2007). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
2. Goleman, D. (2004). Primal leadership: Learning to lead with emotional intelligence.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
3. Jessica Bohn is principal at Gibsonville Elementary in Gibsonville, N.C., and a member of
ASCD's 2012 class of Emerging Leaders.
4. ASCD Express, Vol. 9, No. 10. Copyright 2014 by ASCD. All rights reserved.
Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.
5. Fred, L. C. (2010). Approaches to Managing Organizational Change. International Journal Of
Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity, 12(1).
6. Harris, B. M. (1975). Supervisory behavior in education (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
7. Kadir, B., & Yasar Kondakci, K. (2020). Organizational Change in Schools. ECNU Review
of Education, 1-20. doi:10.1177/2096531120932177
8. Learning, L. (n.d.). Principles of Management. Retrieved February 02, 2021, from
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/principlesmanagement/chapter/7-4- organizational-change/
9. Organisational Change: Meaning, Causes and Its Process. (2017, February 06). Retrieved
February 02, 2021, from
https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/notes/managementnotes/organisational-
change/organisational-change-meaning-causes-and-itsprocess/9178
10. Paula, C., & William, C. (2014). Educational leadership: A bridge to improved practice (Fifth
ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education. Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining
development and change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 510–
540.
11. Yorks, L., & Marsick, V. (1999). Transformative learning in organizations. In J. Mezirow &
Associates (Eds.), Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in process.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.F