Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

ASSIGNMENT -01

Q.1 Give definition and significance of educational management with

reference to models of management.
Ans-
Educational Management:
The origin of the development of educational management as a field of study
began in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century.
Development in the United Kingdom came as late as the 1960’s. Educational
management, as the name implies, operates in educational organisations or
institutions.

There is no single accepted definition of educational management as its

development observed in several disciplines or fields like business, industry,
political science, economics, administration and law. So while defining the
meaning of the term educational management can be said that, “Educational
management is a complex human enterprise in which different resources are
brought together and made available to achieve and to accomplish the desire
and expected goals or objectives.

It is being mainly a human endeavor should be properly planned without

emphasizing the rigid application of mechanical and physical principles. It is
fundamentally a social organisation where inter human relationships must play
a major role. For success of educational management, there must be adequate
freedom and flexibility on the one hand and necessary discipline and decorum
on the other hand in the educational institution.

Thus management of education or educational management implies the

practical measures for ensuring the system to work for achieving the goals or
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

objectives of an educational institution. So educational management operates

in educational organisations or institutions.

There is no single accepted definition of educational management as its

development has drawn heavily on several disciplines like economics, sociology
and political science. But some specialists in this area have propounded their
views in the form of giving their definitions on educational management which
are given below.

Definitions of Educational Management:

School management, as a body of educational doctrine, comprises a number of
principles and precepts relating primarily to the technique of classroom
procedure and derived largely from the practice of successful teachers. The
writers in this field have interpreted these principles and precepts in various
ways, usually by reference to larger and more fundamental principles of
psychology, sociology and ethics. —Paul Monore

“Theory and practice of the organisation and administration of existing

educational establishments and systems.” —G. Terrypage and J.B. Thomas

To him management implies an orderly way of thinking. It describes in

operational terms what is to be done, how it is to be done and how we know
what we have done. Management is a method of operation and good
management should result in an orderly integration of education and society.
—Shelly Umana

In the light of above discussion it is clear to visualize that educational

management is a comprehensive effort intended to achieve some specific
educational objectives. It deals with the educational practices, whereas
educational philosophy sets the goals, educational psychology explains the
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

principles, educational administration tells how to achieve educational

objectives and principles. It is the dynamic side of education.

It deals with educational institutions – right from the schools and colleges to
the secretariat. It is concerned with both human and material resources which
are essential. Because the degree of success of the educational management
of any educational programme depends upon the degree of co-ordination and
organisation of these resources.

Types of Educational Management:

1. Human Resources:
Human Resources of an educational institution comprise the entire staff, both
the teaching and non- teaching – teachers, clerks, researchers and other
elements such as students, parents, members of the community, members of
the managing or governing body and departmental officials. Management of
human resources is of vital importance at present and calls for selection,
recruitment, appointment, hire, retention, development and motivation of the
personnel to achieve the educational objectives.

The individuals involved in the process should be provided with adequate

facilities for reaching the highest levels of achievement and for improving the
professional growth to the maximum. So an educational institution or
organisation in order to be effective and efficient has to ensure that there are
right type of people with the right skills, in the right place and at the right time
for carrying out the various jobs and services.

For this human resource needs are to be identified. Proper selection and
recruitment are to be made, demands and supply of services be properly
matched and suitable forecasting be made about the future requirements.
There are problems of working conditions, promotion prospects, appointment
and transfer, motivation and security, career development and so on which
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

have to be handled with sympathy, understanding, fellow feeling and co-

operation on the one hand and proper sense of commitment and
accountability and involvement on the other hand.

2. Physical and Material Resources:

For every organisation or institution, basic infrastructure in concrete terms is
essential. Buildings, playgrounds, equipment’s, furniture’s, machineries and
stationeries are required for various practical purposes. Libraries, laboratories,
auditorium and so on are part and parcel of an educational institution for
organizing different curricular and co-curricular programmes.

The modern age of science and technology has made it possible to equip the
educational institution with various media and materials, electronic gadgets
including radio, television computers, projectors of many kinds and traditional
aids like illustrations, models, charts, maps etc. at reasonable prices.

Like human resources, there must be proper identification of physical resource

needs, installation, maintenance and the most important thing is their proper
utilization. But the material resources must be of right type with right
specifications to be available in the right place and at the right time so that the
educational goals can be realized without difficulty, duplication and wastage. It
is also necessary that physical resources should have adequate flexibility,
adoptability and stability for meeting the future needs and conditions.

3. Ideational Resources:
The resources which are mostly based on ideas and ideals, heritage, image are
the curriculum, methods of teaching, innovations and experiments. Like the
individual, every organization has its own personality with integrity, its own
culture and its own values which are unique and influential for the smooth
functioning and effective management of the institutions for creating
motivation and self- pride among individuals.
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

All these create feelings, belongingness, involvement and self-satisfaction

among the personnel for working and implementing the programmes in
educational institutions. At last it can be said educational management will be
meaningful if there will be a great deal of co-ordination and inter relation
among these three resources. The cause is that all these three resources are
interdependent and immensely contribute to holistic development of every
educational institution as a whole.

Hence educational management in broader perspective says about:

(i) Setting directions, aims of objectives of educational organisations or
institutions.

(ii) Planning for progress of the programme.

(iii) Organising available resources—People, time, material.

(iv) Controlling the implementing process.

(v) Setting and improving organisational standards.

In the light of above discussion on the meaning of management in education it

implies the practical measures to activate the system of work will be the best
possible assistance or measures in achieving the goals or objectives in a wider
extent bearing the best possible value to the students and the society in a
grand scale.

Q.2 How can the five functions of management defined by Fayol help and
organization level?
Ans-
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

The five functions of Fayol's management

The five functions of Fayol's management are a popular topic that every
student should be familiar with.

But have you thought of yourself as a real practicing manager in an actual

organization?

The BVOP certification is specially designed for managers. Thousands of

professionals around the world are already well acquainted with and apply
BVOP principles in their work. Whether you choose Human Resources,
Organizational Management, People Management, or Project
Management, BVOP certification is for you.

About a century ago, the eminent management expert Henri Fayol formulated
five main functions of management. If a manager performs these functions
well, he will be as successful as possible in his work, other things being equal.

The five (5) functions of Fayol's management

Henri Fayol is a French engineer and one of the prominent theorists and
practitioners of management since the early twentieth century. He is the
creator of the so-called "School of Administrative Management" and the
author of several important management concepts that have become a classic
nowadays.

In 1916, Fayol published his greatest work, the book Industrial and General
Administration. In it, he reveals the five management functions that every
manager should perform.

The five functions are:

 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

 Planning
 Organization
 Commanding
 Coordinating
 Controlling
 Let's take a closer look at each of Fayol's five management functions.

1. Planning

Planning is the first function of management. Planning is an attempt to predict

the future of the organization and to determine the measures needed to
transition to this new state.

At the heart of the planning process is the development of a formal action

plan. This plan should be based on the resources available to the organization
and on possible trends that may occur in the future.

Fayol believes that planning is one of the most difficult and important tasks for
management, in which the entire organization must take an active part.

The ideal plan should combine:

purposefulness, i.e. the general plan to be supported by the separate plans of

the smaller structures and units in the organization;

continuity, i.e. the planned actions to be considered as elements of a

continuous process of development;

flexibility, i.e. the plan to take into account the possibility of unexpected
circumstances;

accuracy, i.e. the plan should be as accurate as possible.

In line with the planning function of management, Fayol pays serious attention

to forecasting, which requires the development of one-day, weekly, monthly,
annual, five-year, and ten-year forecasts, which should be adjusted promptly
given the circumstances.
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

At the time, Fayol's emphasis on planning and forecasting was something

unique that other executives did not have in mind at the time.

2. Organizing

The organization is the second function of management. Organizing is the

activity by which the company receives everything it needs for its operation -
raw materials, tools, capital, and personnel.

Fayol pays serious attention to the so-called "Organizational structure" and

assumes that the form of the organization depends mainly on the number of
staff. As the number of people increases, so do the various functions that are
performed in the organization, respectively the need for control over the work
of people increases.

All this leads to a well-known model of organizational pyramid or hierarchy. In

this connection, Fayol considers that:

"Each new group of ten, twenty, thirty workers needs a foreman to lead it. If
these masters are two, three, or four, the need arises for one of them to be of
a higher rank. Two or three with a higher rank need a head-to-head entire
department.

The organizational pyramid should be built similarly until it covers the whole
organization to its highest level. Also, each new boss should not have more
than 4-5 subordinates. "

3. Commanding

Commanding is the third function of management. The order aims to achieve

the optimal effect of the efforts of workers, in the interest of the whole
organization.

Management success depends on a combination of personal qualities and

knowledge of general principles of management. According to Fayol, a
manager should remember and follow the following rules:

 Try to get to know your subordinates better;

 Fights incompetence;
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

 Be aware of all the details of the contracts concluded between the

company and the employees.
 Give a good personal example;
 Conduct periodic inspections in the organization;
 Hold meetings with leading associates to give directions for action and
emphasize the main priorities of the company;
 Don't go into too small details;

Strive to create such a working atmosphere among the team that stimulates
the unity of staff, energy, initiative, and loyalty of employees.

Concerning the Ordering function, Fayol attaches great importance to

the importance of motivation as well as to the delegation of staff rights. Fayol
believes that:

"The leader can stimulate the initiative of his subordinates by delegating rights
to them, thus providing them with opportunities to fully realize their potential
and skills. This can happen at the cost of making individual mistakes, the
severity of which is significantly limited with proper control.

The manager can quickly turn a person with unspeakable abilities into a first-
class specialist, not doing all the work for him, but helping him through the
method of prompting. Yes, for this purpose the leader will have to humbly limit
his pride. ”

4. Coordinating

Coordination is the fourth function of management. Coordination aims to

ensure optimal harmony between the various activities of the organization.

Good coordination facilitates the work and makes the functioning of the
organization more successful. This function is designed to balance the different
aspects of the work, for example, to observe proportional spending in terms of
available financial resources, production needs, stocks, and market demand.

For the sake of good coordination, Fayol recommends holding daily meetings.
The purpose of the meeting is as follows:
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"The meeting should inform the management of the company's work, discuss
issues of cooperation between the various departments, and address issues of
common interest.

Participants in such a meeting should not be concerned with planning, but with
questions about the implementation of existing plans.

At the meeting, the discussion may take place only for a short period, usually
not exceeding one week, in connection with the harmonization of activities
and setting current priorities. "

5. Controlling

Controlling is the fifth function of management. Control is designed to ensure

compliance with everything that happens in the organization with pre-defined
plans, principles, and standards of work.

In such a context, control aims to detect errors and weaknesses in the work to
neutralize them and prevent them from recurring in the future. As Fayol
writes:

"Control affects everything - products, people, and operations."

Fayol believes that control should not be the sole responsibility of

management. This should be dealt with by impartial quality managers who are
not in a hierarchical relationship of power with the employees. Control of this
nature is a valuable addition to management, which allows obtaining
information that would otherwise remain inaccessible under normal control.

Q.3 Elaborate the critical path method with its advantages and
disadvantages.
Ans-
Critical Path Method (CPM) is a network analysis approach. It find out which
sequence of activities has the least measure of scheduling resilience by which
it predict the duration of the project. It is based on the estimation of the
standard time needed for execution of a activity. CPM manages the both time
and cost of the project.
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

In this method, the critical path of the project is established by identifying the
critical activities of the project. Critical activities are the activities whose total
float value is ‘0’.
Advantages of Critical Path Method (CPM):
It has the following advantages:
1. It figures out the activities which can run parallel to each other.
2. It helps the project manager in identifying the most critical elements
of the project.
3. It gives a practical and disciplined base which helps in determining
how to reach the objectives.
4. CPM is effective in new project management.
5. CPM can strengthen a team perception if it is applied properly.
6. CPM provides demonstration of dependencies which helps in the
scheduling of individual activities.
7. It shows the activities and their outcomes as a network diagram.
8. It gives a fair and concise procedure of documenting of project.
9. It helps in determining the slack time.
10. An explicit and clear approach of communicating project plans,
schedules, time and cost performance is developed.
11. It is extensively used in industry.
12. It helps in optimization by determining the project duration.
Disadvantages of Critical Path Method (CPM):
It has the following disadvantages:
1. The scheduling of personnel is not handled by the CPM.
2. In CPM, it is difficult to estimate the completion time of an activity.
3. The critical path is not always clear in CPM.
4. For bigger projects, CPM networks can be complicated too.
5. It also does not handle the scheduling of the resource allocation.
6. In CPM, critical path needs to be calculated precisely.

Q.4 Justify the role of Environment Scanning in Strategic management

process.
Ans-
Environmental scanning is a process that systematically surveys and interprets
relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats that could
influence future decisions. It is closely related to a S.W.O.T. analysis and should
be used as part of the strategic planning process. 
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

Components of external scanning that could be considered include:

 Trends: What trends are occurring in the marketplace or industry that

could affect the organization either positively or negatively?
 Competition: What is your competition doing that provides them an
advantage?  Where can you exploit your competition's weaknesses? 
 Technology: What developments in technology may impact your
business in the future?  Are there new technologies that can make your
organization more efficient?
 Customers: How is your customer base changing?  What is impacting
your ability to provide top-notch customer service?
 Economy: What is happening in the economy that could affect future
business? 
 Labor supply: What is the labor market like in the geographies where
you operate?  How can you ensure ready access to high-demand
workers?
 Political/legislative arena: What impact will election outcomes have on
your business?  Is there impending legislation that will affect your
operations?

Each organization must identify what external factors are most impactful to
make the environmental scan a useful tool. 
The next step is to conduct an internal scan of the organization. Review the
company's vision, mission and strategic plan. Examine the organization's
strengths and weaknesses. Consider where the company is now and where it
plans to be in five or 10 years. Interview or survey leaders of the company.
Once an organization has gathered information about the external world, its
competitors and itself, it should then develop strategies to respond to impacts
when the need arises.
When conducting an environmental scan, a variety of methods should be used
to collect data, including reviewing publications, conducting focus groups,
interviewing leaders inside and outside the organization, and administering
surveys.
Environmental scanning is an important component of strategic planning as it
provides information on factors that will affect the organization in the future.
The information gathered will allow leadership to proactively respond to
external impacts. 
 Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

Q.5 Define KPIs. What are the different types of Key Performance
indicators (KPIs)? Enlist some KPIs for teachers working in Primary Schools.
Ans-

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates

how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations
use KPIs to evaluate their progress and success at reaching targets. 

In simple terms, a KPI is a goal that you work towards achieving. For the sake
of simplicity, let’s look at this example: you own an apple stand and to be
profitable this month, you have to sell 1,000 apples. 

So, you set your KPI: sell 1,000 apples this month. Whether that’s 250 apples
per week or you sell all 1,000 in the first 3 days, your KPI is to reach that 1K
mark. When it’s the second week of September and you’ve sold 550 apples,
you can look at your KPI and know that you’re on track to achieve your goal. 
What is the definition of a key performance indicator (KPI)?

The definition of a KPI, or a key performance indicator, is “a measurable value

used to evaluate how successful a person or organization is at reaching a
target.”

In businesses, key performance indicators can either be high-level or drill down

to a specific department or individual. High-level KPIs typically look at the
performance of your business as a whole, like achieving $1M in annual
recurring revenue this fiscal year. When you drill down into processes that are
specific to departments, teams, or individuals, those are low-level KPIs. 
What makes a good KPI?

A good KPI is realistic, straightforward, and easy to measure. Here are a few
tips to keep in mind for setting good KPIs.

1. KPIs should be aligned with the overall business strategy and outcomes.

The overarching business strategy should be what informs your KPIs. For
example, let's say your business has a goal to increase monthly recurring
revenue (MRR) by 20% by the end of the fiscal year (a high-level KPI). If
you’re on the sales team, your KPI might be to increase inbound leads by
50% by the end of Q3 (a low-level KPI). Your KPI contributes to the
overall business goal because new leads = revenue potential. 
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2. KPIs should be actionable. Once you’ve set your KPI, you need to outline
the steps you’ll take to reach it and the metrics you’ll measure along the
way. What good is a KPI if you have no way to meet it? If your goal is to
increase inbound leads, you should have a plan in place to do that—like
move more prospects from the MQL to SQL stage. Actionable steps will
set you up for success in reaching your KPIs. It’s also worth noting that
KPIs shouldn’t spur additional questions, they should do just the
opposite: inspire action.

3. KPIs should be realistic. Good advice is to start small. Big, lofty KPIs—

while they might look good on paper—aren’t doing you or your team
any favours if they’re unrealistic from the get-go.

4. KPIs should be measurable. When you set KPIs, ask yourself: What are
you trying to achieve? What is the desired end result? What’s the
timeline? Remember to add: How am I going to measure my
KPIs? Oftentimes, a BI or analytics tool is a great way to track your
progress against your KPIs. This way, you can build a metric (like leads)
and easily and quickly see your progress in a data visualization (and
share it with others on your team or across your organization, too! We
love a data-driven team!) 

What’s the difference between a KPI and a metric?

The difference between a KPI and a metric is nuanced. It is worth noting

though that despite their subtle differences, you often need one to have the
other.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of a KPI and a metric:

How to set KPIs for your team and company

Now that we have the definition of a KPI, let’s take a look at the basics of
setting KPIs.

While you can take inspiration from industry-recognized KPIs, the KPIs you set
should be unique to your business and your goals. 
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It's important to remember that KPIs are a form of communication. When you
write a KPI, keep in mind the basic rules of communication: succinct, clear, and
relevant information is most effective.

Let’s take a look at an example of a bad KPI versus a good KPI. 

Here’s a bad KPI: Make a lot of money this year.

Why is this a bad KPI? To start, it’s incredibly vague. Is “a lot of money” $10K or
$1M? There’s no definitive actions that you can tie to your KPI if you don’t
have a specific amount you’re working towards, there’s no ‘goal post’ (i.e. a
defined amount) to know you’ve hit your target, and there’s no metric to
attribute to it so you can track your progress. 

On the flip side, here’s an example of a good KPI: Increase monthly recurring
revenue by $25K this month.

Why is this a good KPI? It’s specific in more ways than one: it outlines the
dollar amount and the timeframe in which you hope to achieve it. With a
detailed KPI like this, you have an associated metric (MRR) that you can track
against your progress, and you can hone in on what specific action(s) you’re
going to take to achieve your KPI, like going after expansion MRR for existing
customers. 

To develop a strategy for writing KPIs, start with the basics: understand what
your organizational objectives are, how you plan to achieve them, and who can
act on the information. As you iterate and develop, you will gain a better
understanding of which business processes can be on a KPI dashboard and
who you should share that dashboard with.
How to define KPIs

It can be easy to confuse KPIs with business metrics. KPIs, or key performance
indicators, should relate to a specific business outcome with a performance
measure.

Let’s look at an example of how to set a KPI:

Your business objective is to increase your monthly recurring revenue—so,

your team sets a sales growth KPI.