Part four

ENVIRONMENT
THE NATURE OF ENVIRONMENT

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 INTRODUCTION
 Organizations are subsystems of a broader supra system - the environment.
 School system, as organizations, are in constant interaction with the
environment.
 The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to examine
 the interrelationship between educational organizations and their environment
and the impact that one has on the other
 The chapter discuses
 the nature of environment,
 environmental components,
 environmental assessment and
 organizational influence

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 NATURE OF ENVIRONMENT
 Environment
 Assemblage of things, conditions and influences that exist outside the unit
under consideration.”.
 Anything and everything outside the boundaries of the organization”.
 In terms of an organization, all forces outside its boundaries objects, persons
and other organizations surrounding, sources of inputs and the recipients of
outputs produced.

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 Cont’d…
 School systems are linked into a network with many types of
organizations in the environment.
 Typically, these organizations in the environment of the school
system are outside its control.
 “The school system is very often at the understanding of these
external organizations…
 the school administrator is not in control of the external systems
that play major roles in the conduct of affairs in his or her
organization.
 School administrators rarely write conclusions and make their
decisions on clear account.
 The choices open to them are all too confined by decisions made by
unseen managers, judges, or bureaucrats in other places who are
applying other priorities”.

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 Cont’d….
 Heald and Moore (1968:9-10) provide three basic reasons as to why
we need to explore the environments of school systems.
1. Should help to facilitate the understanding of the factors behind
the diversity between and among systems
2. Man will certainly continue to be force-directed and force
directing. If we assume the environment is force-filled we must
assume that school systems will remain dynamic systems
undergoing constant change.
3. understanding is vital to sorting what must be from what should
be.

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 Cont’d
 With little or no knowledge of the environment, the educational
leader is ill equipped
 to direct the lives of the students in the school system and
 to prepare them for full participation in the society at large at a
later stage.
 The knowledge of environments
 should assist educational administrators in their endeavor to come
as with dynamic goals for the educational system
 which will have greater relevance for the preparation of students.

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 Cont’d
 Environments definitely present limitations to the functioning of a
system.
 The development of dynamic systems of high value within these
limitations requires wisdom and creativity on the part of the
educational administrator.
 However, knowledge of the environment is essential
 to make use of ones wisdom and creativity for a constructive
action.
 understands the limitations inherent in the environment that he
can take measures to eliminate them or at least minimize them.
 Assist the educational administrator in their endeavor to come
with dynamic goals to educational system.
 Greater relevance for the preparation of students

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 Environmental components
 Various researchers have suggested different forms of classifying
environmental domains which affect organizations (Mansing,
1982:118-134).
 Hall (1972:153), for example, classifies environments in two ways:
1) General Environment :- which affects all organization in a give
society.
2) Specific (task) environment:- which affects the individual
organization more directly.

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 Cont’d
 Other authorities, however, (Szilayi, 1981, Atchison and Hill, 1978,
Brown and Moberg, 1980) categorize environment into four separate
components.
 These are-
1) Economic,
2) Political-legal,
3) Social and
4) Technological components

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 1.

Economic Environment
 The economic environment consist of the money value of
 natural resources (land) ,
 human resources (Labour),
 financial resources (Capital), and
 information.
 All organizations are affected by changes in the economic
environment.
 Those who buy are concerned with the costs of inputs and those
who sell, with the values of outputs.
 School systems as institutions of society are both producers and
consumers.

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 Cont’d…
 The major output (products) expected of a school system are
 the students who have acquired the desired behavioral change and skills.
 In order to come up with this products, an investment must be
made in terms of
 Time,
 Personnel,
 Money and
 Facilities, which are considered as the principal commodities.

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 Cont’d…
 Whereas the school as a system, have
 the support from without and
 the internal support as the sources of these resources.
 The support from without refers to all the resources the school
receives from the society at large for the operation of the system.
 This external support takes two forms:
1. It involves the extent to which the youth are placed in the system
for the purpose of education.
2.What percent of the children are to attend school and for how
long is a decision that lies primarily in the hands of the society in
which the school operates.

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 Cont’d…
 The internal support mission for the system refers to the plan for
management within the system of those investments made from
without.
 Internal support, then, involves
 Planning and
 Providing system-sponsored activities for students and
 Procure the necessary facilities for these activities.

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 Cont’d…
 Like for most other organization, physical, human and financial
resources are critical raw material supplies for schools.
 The attainment of the external support is a function of the
distribution of the country’s wealth among its general needs.
 This depends on two factors.
1.The aggregate wealth of a country (which is the environment
in this case and
2.The priorities set or the economic commitment to education

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 Cont’d…
 Countries differ in their aggregate wealth and as result they vary in their ability to
support educational institutions.
 But they also differ in their priorities, which is a more important factor in the
allocation of available resources to education.
 How much of the gross national product (GNP) is to be dedicated to education is
dependent on
 how much a country considers “education is worth” as compared to its other
needs (Monahan and Hengst, 1982: 185).
 Education however,
 is an expensive endeavor.
 It can take a sizeable amount of the gross national product, if given a free
hand.
 One the other hand, it should be noted that money spent on education is money
not spent on other social services like agriculture, health, etc, which are equally
important as education if not more (knight, 1966 ).

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 Cont’d….
 Hence, an increased investment in education implies a reduction
of investment in the other sectors.
 Thus, in a relatively poor economic environment a choice, and an
energetically hard choice, has to be made in as to how much of the
available resources to allocate to education.
 At the School level, the external support comes from both national
as well as local sources.
 The national support a school gets depends on how the
educational system distributes its share of the gross national
product.
 The local support the school acquires, however, is determined by
the local economic environment.

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 2. The Political-Legal Environment

 The other component of the environment to which educational

institutions are subjected constitutes the political – legal
environment.
 Since the various ways in which society as a whole attempts to
develop its institutions are governed by the political-legal
environment; educational organizations must necessarily consider
the political-legal environment in which they operate. Heald and
Moore (1968:88) state:
 Just as an educational system must be responsive and sensitive to
social and economic forces so must it exist simultaneously in several
political and legal environments each of which carries unique
potentials, stimuli, chains, and pitfalls.

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 Cont’d…
 The political- legal environment of organizations contains
government at all levels:
 local
 regional,
national and
 international, activities of legislatures and
the laws they pass,
 the execution of laws by administrative agencies, and
the administration of justice through the court system
 Thus school are compliant to the political-legal environment
surrounding them.

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 Cont’d…
 The political-legal environment both assists organizations as well as
regulates them.
 For instance, governments render the following services to nearly
all organizations.
 They provide:
1. Ways for formation of organization
2. Protection from damage
3. Laws and agencies that determine its relationship
4. An orderly means of setting disputes
5. Advisory services

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 Cont’d…
• On the controlling side, the political-legal environment
regulates the organizations in many ways. It:-
1. Ensures that the country’s overall policy is being implemented or
adhered to.
2. Sets prices for their services and for some public utilities
3. Employs inspectors to monitor such factors as unsafe working
conditions and
4. Determines minimum wages

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 3. Social Environment
 The social environment, involving informal guidelines associated
with
the customs,
culture and
 trends in population,
 That can influence the manner in which most organizations and
mangers function.
 Such qualities may vary by country and by region or community
within a single country.
 Nevertheless, understanding the social environment is an extremely
important element of the manager’s job.

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 Cont’d…
 The major factors related to social environment into three; (Szilagyi,
1982)
1. Demographic or population trends,
2. Individual needs; and
3. Cultural differences.

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 1. Demographic trends
 the existence of significant shifts in demographic characteristics
of the population will affect the organization in terms of
 the nature of the work force and
 the profile of the customer.
 In education, this has a far reaching implication because the
services it renders are directly pointed to people.
 Of all the changes occurring in the population, perhaps the most
critical is
 Its expansion
 Increased population growth, among other things means “More
mouths to feed, bodies to cloth, hands to train, and minds to
educate…” all of which call for more resources.

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 Cont’d…
 Although to a lesser degree, population decline also problems to
organizations.
 The number of births in the United Kingdom, for example, fell from a
peak of 1,013,000 in 1964 to only 657,000 in 1977, a drop of 35%
(Bush et.al. 1980:459).
 This incident brought a new concept known as “management of
contraction” in educational administration.
 The educational system had to close down some schools and to
release some teachers etc.
 Scholars emphasize this point when they write that “No organization
or service can be unaffected by such a dramatic drop in demand.
 In any language, fewer clients means a reduced service” (1980:459).

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 Cont’d…
 Another important change in the population the manager has to
watch is the change in the age spectrum.
 A rapidly increasing population with increased medical care will
result in rapidly rising number of non-productive workers (too young
or old) supported by a relatively constant population of production
age.
 To organizations like educational institutions this implies rendering
more service with less support from the community.

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 2. Individual Needs

 In such cases, changes in demographic patterns will be felt by

organizations as individuals begin to express the desire to satisfy
different needs through the job.
 Two visible changes are currently being observed.
 One is the increased emphasis on the satisfaction of personal
growth and career development needs.
 A second trend that may be related to demographic pattern is one
of the changes in life style.
 Individuals and families are more mobile, and many people wish to
express certain creative needs through work or hobbies.
 To accomplish these and other activities, individual need more
leisure time than is presently being allocated.

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 Cont’d
 Many organizations and labor unions have recognized the growth of
this need by adopting shortened weekends or modified work weeks.
 A variety of options of this concept have been observed in
organizations; for example, individuals must work forty hours, but
can do so either in four days or four and one half days.

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 3. Cultural Difference
 Culture has been defined in many different ways.
 Prosaically it relates to a society’s economic, social, political,
educational and legal attitudes and beliefs.
 Cultural factors can act to facilitate or hamper the performance of
organizations (Szilagyi, 1981:102).
 Behavioral patterns of workers in different cultures vary greatly.

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 Cont.’d
 In some culture, the drive to work hard may be less than the drive
for leisure time or other activities. This is particularly true in some
underdeveloped countries.
 Managers must be aware that identification with certain groups can
be a significant factor.
 Membership in certain groups- sex, age, social group, religion, or
political associations- may reflect the social relations, and hence,
power.
 This affects not only
 whom the organization can hire,
 with whom they must interact in order to perform as effectively
as possible.

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 4 . Technological Environment
 Managers are generally concerned with two components
of the technological environment
1. the process of innovation and
2. the process of technological transfer.
 The process of innovation refers to the efforts to develop
new
 technologies,
 processes,
 methods and
 products.
 In many organizations, this process is commonly called research
and development (R & D).

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 Process of technology transfer
 The process of technology transfer involves taking the new
technology from the laboratory to the market that is the transfer of
science to useful products and applications.
 Technology transfer can occur within and between organizations.

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 Cont’d…
 Factors in the technological environment have at least two
important implications for managers.
1. First- new technologies will be increased product obsolescence
and competition
2. Second, to develop sophisticated monitoring and forecasting
methods and techniques.
 Managers must develop conceptual and diagnostic skills in order
 to monitor new technological development both within and
outside their organization in order for the organization to
maintain a competitive position

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 Cont’d
 On the other hand, however, education has a major role in bringing
about scientific and technological changes.
 Education, however is concerned with:
1. The production of scientific and technological innovations and
2. Discoveries
3. Intelligent use to satisfy the rightful aspiration of people to live a
way which modern science and technology make possible
 Hence, the role of education in science and technology is three fold-
that of
1. Producing individuals who can push forward developments in
Science and Technology,
2. Adjust themselves to the discoveries of tomorrow and
3.Make rational use of the discoveries and inventions already made.

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 Environmental Assessment

 The impact of environmental forces on organizations has been

treated.
 However the environment does not react in the same way to all
organizations.
 Earlier writers had viewed the environment as either being hostile
or kind in its relationship to the organization.
1. A kind environment : a situation where resources are ample and
easily obtained and intra- organizational competition is rather
friendly.
2. A hostile environment is characterized by
• Lack of resources,
• Lack of acceptance or rejection of outputs and
• Cut-throat (aggressive) competition.

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 Cont’d…
 In an attempt to increase understanding of organizational change,
they identified four areas of knowledge necessary for understanding
organizational behavior which are:
1. Intra-organizational interdependencies
2. Two-way interactions between the organization and its
environment
3. The interdependencies within the environment itself
4. The fundamental quality of the environment
 With regard to fundamental qualities, four environmental
dimensions are identified, ranging from
1. Placid environment (peaceful environment)
2. Placid Randomized environment
3. placid clustered environment
4. disturbed-reactive to turbulent fields.

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 Cont’d….
 Placid environments: are relatively stable and fundamentally
predictable
 Placid randomized environment is the simplest environment. The
organization cannot predict the environment but can operate
independently of it.
 The ideal placid randomized environment: would be characterized by
individuals who interact about and with the school organization on
specific issues and in a disorganized fashion.
 The placid clustered school environment: is relatively stable and
predictable. It is characterized by individuals who share in some
generally recognized patterns, interests, goals, and concerns for the
schools.
 A disturbed- reactive environment: is like the placid clustered one
except that there are a number of similar organizations that must be
considered but not necessarily looking for the same input or outcome
from the school organization.
 The disturbed-reactive environment complicates the potential for
conflict
12/2011 by adding multiple role-definer groups for each of the roles
36
 Cont’d…
 The school organizations that may change so often, and the
input/outcome issues move from expenditures to program, to
treatment of pupils – and the strategy varies from discussion to legal
disputes.
 Gaynor (1975:215) citing both Emery and Trist and Terreberry,
hypothesizes that many school organizations, specially many urban
school organizations, have or are moving from a ‘placid- clustered’
environment to a ‘turbulent field’ environment.

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 3.4 Organizational Influence
 Organizations, however, are not passive systems (Kast &
Rosenzweig, 1981:138).
 They are pro-active in their choice of the environment within which
they will function and continually try to shape that environment to
accomplish is goals. (William H. Starbuch, 1976) writes:
“To no small degree, an organization’s environment is an arbitrary
invention of the organization itself. The organization selects the
environments it will inhabit, and it subjectively defines the
environment it has selected”.

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 Cont’d….
 This indicates that there exists a two-way influence between environment
and organization.
 Various examples could be cited to illustrate this point.
 The business firm, for instance, determines a market area for its products or
services.
 The university also makes many decisions that determine is environment.
 What types of educational programs does it offer?
 Does it have a law, medical or business school?
 Does it emphasize teaching or research?
 The hospital too has discretion in its selection of environments.
 What kinds of facilities and equipment will it have in order to treat the
various types of illness?
 Will it engage in preventive health care as well as treatment?
 Every organization has some measure of discretion concerning its
environment.
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 Cont’d….
 Furthermore, once established, the organization tries to manipulate
its environment in order to accomplish its purposes.
 The university influences public school systems to supply high-
quality student input.
 It may negotiate with alumni, other potential donors, and
legislatures to obtain financial support.
 The corporation engages in a major advertising campaign to
stimulate demand for its products.
 It establishes long- term contracts to ensure a supply of raw
materials.
 It may actively seek to influence governmental agencies and
legislative bodies.

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