Problems of Management in Educational Institutions - Essay Example

Problems of Management in Educational Institutions Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: University: Problems of Management in Educational Institutions 1. INTRODUCTION To a large extent, the problems of management in educational institutions in United Kingdom and elsewhere are different from that faced by other organizations. The main reason for this is that educational institutions cater to a set of clients who look at gaining knowledge, unlike other organizations, where the clientele is aiming at mutual profits or services in return for profits (Ball, S J (1993)). 1 Educational institutions are service providers, but the service is rendered to the students, but generally, the financial support for the education comes from the parents of the students. In this regard, their management differs from the way in which other organizations are managed. But at the same time, human resources, finances and staff management problems are often similar to those faced by other corporate firms and business organizations. The paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the problems of managing educational institutions and the management of other organizations, with specific reference to the staff management, financial management and client satisfaction management. In short, the research should cover both the external and internal management problems faced by educational institutions and their comparison with other organizations. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW The literature review is to be in three parts; the human and staff resources management in educational institutions and other organizations, a comparison of aspects of financial management and the public relations and client satisfaction management. Contemporary universities, serving mass higher education markets, find themselves delivering complex, broadly based projects such as student support and welfare, human resource development, and business enterprise. Concepts of academic administration and management devolution have been overlaid by more flexible structures in institutions and boundaries, both internal and external have been broadened. This led to identity shifts in professional administrators and managers, as they started adopting more project-oriented roles crossing functional and organizational boundaries. 2.1 Staff Management Staffing is the most recurring expenses that most institutions incur, whether educational or otherwise. This contributes to around 58% of expenditure in educational institutions of the United Kingdom. Increased participation has been achieved in the country basically by managing the staff student ratios, though it is much higher in other countries, but the UK compensates for the comparatively short length of its degree programmes by the quality of provision and high completion rates (Audit Commission (2004d)). 2 Promotion and increment are two of the main concerns in staff and human resources management in organizations, educational or otherwise. In educational institutions, this becomes more important, since very often many schools and colleges do not have a systematic method to quantify achievements and process promotions and increments. Promotion, according to some of Leeds University recommendations, should not be considered just as a reward for the achievements of the staff, but also should be used to encourage them to shoulder greater responsibilities. However, it is not clear whether such responsibilities are always with respect to the degrees of performance of the staff of educational institutions in the United Kingdom. Sometimes, generalized processes, incremental scales of salary and other factors may lead to overlooking individual performances. The university bases its recommendations on certain principles. Autonomy of educational institutions should be respected in everyway. They need to be given the freedom to function within the broad policy framework given by the Government. Academic freedom within the law should also be taken into consideration and the research and pursuit of knowledge should be given a free reign. Institutional governance should be transparent and subject to the scrutiny of government and other responsible bodies. (Management and Governance of Higher Education Institutions) 3 The term ‘new managerialism’ is generally used to refer to the adoption by public sector organizations of organizational forms, technologies, management practices and values more commonly found in the private business sector. Particular attention is paid to the writings of John Clarke and Janet Newman. Their discussion of organisational forms (including Newman's attention to the gendering of such forms), technologies and narratives under ‘new managerialist’ regimes and of the tensions between managing cultures and performances in organizations operating under ‘new managerial’ regimes, are then drawn upon to analyse two different instances of organizational regimes and management practices in universities (Deem, 1998). In other organizations, the staffing problems are similar, but have a clearer focus on the problems. The strategic management problem is to keep the strategy, structure and human resource dimensions of the organization aligned (Tichy, 1981). Yet few managements have systematically attacked the issues of developing, leveraging, and measuring the intellectual capabilities of their organizations (Quinn, Anderson and Finkelstein, 2005). 2.2 Finance Management This is an important aspect of educational institutions and their management and many institutions face problems in managing their funds and finances. Several public services have been subject to schemes of management which put emphasis on economy and efficiency and consider these their top priority, even at the cost of other aspects like professional development of staff etc (HEFCE (2005b)).4 It has been found that higher education institutions consumed around £6.3 billion in the academic year 2005-’06 and total revenue in the previous year to that for educational institutions was £18 billion pounds. If higher education institutions have to increase their contribution to knowledge development, and also contribute to the economy of the nation, these resources available to them need to be used in a manner that will help them to fulfil the objectives of each individual institution. Even the best educational leaders can be unprepared for the responsibility of spending and accounting for the thousands of dollars that pass through school's books each year. Without a solid understanding of school financial management, administrators may find it a serious distraction from their primary pedagogical mission. They also risk damage to their careers and to the reputations of their schools (Mutter and Parker, 2004). What then, do educational institutions, while administrating their finances, face the real challenge? It is in balancing the need to fulfil the objectives set forth to secure the smooth running and existence of the institution without compromising on the academic quality as well as ensuring that the key academics are maintained. This is also the case of financial management, because of the increasing competition between different institutes of higher education and the scarcity of resources due to the increasing numbers. One of the solutions offered is to introduce private sector in providing resources of higher educational institutions. 2.3 Customer Management The market alternative in education is gaining ground in policy-making circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Parental choice and school competition are seen as ways of achieving reform and raising standards while at the same time reducing State intervention into education planning. It is argued that markets in education provide the possibility for the pursuit of class advantage and generate a differentiated and stratified system of schooling (Ball, 1993) 5. And of course, customer service management is the most important aspect of administration in any organization around the world. 3. Management and Governance in Educational Institutions 3.1 Cost effectiveness in management of educational institution The fundamental step that is capable of delivering the cost effectiveness in any organisation in autonomy up to a minimum extent. It does not mean that only autonomy will guarantee all the effectiveness. This brings responsibility in spending and compels a planning in the management of expenditure. When the institutions are granted autonomy, they will be made responsible for the results incurred by the expenditure. The quality of the management and governance will be a matter for continuing attention. Education institutions must obtain maximum efficiency and effectiveness by supporting the principles underlined the education system. For this thing to achieve, the resources must be spent in a planned manner. The percentage of allotment for each section and activity must be planned at the beginning of the academic year and any unforeseen increase and decrease of funding must be in proportion of percentage allotted. The amount allotted to the salaries of staff and establishment expenditure must not be decreased and if possible can be increased. The decrease of budget for salaries and establishment charges will result in lack of expert staff and infrastructure to sustain the achievement of quality education. This means, the cost effectiveness cannot be achieved by decreasing the spending on the salaries and infrastructure. When the services of experts and good infrastructure are acquired the results will be excellent. That can be termed as cost effective in educational institutions. In case of other business organisations, the concessions and discounts obtained by increasing the business can be cost effective (Carsberg, B. (1975a)). 6 The above thing is not possible in case of educational institutions. If the number of students for each staff member increase (staff student ratio), the effectiveness or quality of the result may decrease. This is not the case in other business organisations. When the number of customers increase, the production charges will not increase in that proportion and more production can be done with the same establishment charges (Baburoglu, O.N. and Ravn, I. (1992),). 7 Conversely in the case of educational organisations, the establishment charges increase with the increase of students (consumers). This requires sustained effort of educational institutions to increase their income resources. 4. Income Resources for Educational Institutions Generating income is possible for only higher educational institutions at the present context. In universities and autonomous higher educational organisations they can generate income by preparing project reports, plans for business organisations and industries. This is not possible in case of under graduate, intermediate and secondary and primary education institutions. These institutions need government funding. The students who train in these schools by government funding will study in higher education organisations and are capable of generating income. So, there must be a compulsion for universities and other higher education organisations regarding generation of income and increase it year by year according the inflation. This is capable of decreasing the burden on the government for funding these organisations. The Government must provide necessary infrastructure and legal support for the higher educational organisations to generate income by working on the projects for the private organisations. This must be included in the curriculum. Though it was included in the curriculum, its participation can be increased. The income generated from the project works that are taken up by the educational organisations must make the organisations run profitably. This cumulated profits can be added to the resources of the organisation or the university and it must be in a position to spend on the costs of education offered to the students. A separate department can be constituted in the higher educational organisational that is other than academic departments to explore different ways of generating income. 5. Funding of Undergraduate and Secondary education There is no chance of generating income from the activities of secondary, primary and undergraduate schools. The purpose of educating the pupils will be undermined if they concentrate on generating the income. In case of higher educational institutions, more practical approach is needed than theoretical approach. In primary, secondary and undergraduate schools the onus of the education will be on character moulding along with the education. This needs to concentrate on theoretical concepts along with practical approach. This cannot be commercial. There are two ways to generate income in these schools: Collecting fees from the students and getting funds from the government. When all the income needed to run an educational institution is generated from the fees collected from the students, the burden will be on their parents and it is not possible to bear that expenditure for all the sections in the society. The present system in UK is funding the primary and secondary organisations along with undergraduate schools. This funding is not making them cost effective. The usage of funds are not resulting in retention of staff and thus achieving the quality in education. When there is no retention, it means that the staff and teachers are not satisfied with the packages offered by the managements. This can be due to the lack of funds or the funds that are allotted to the salaries and other perks are not sufficient to satisfy the staff and teachers. This will be a context in the case of business organisations. They work on the basis of profit. So, the individuals who join there will examine the organisations offerings and their profits and join them. Generally the offerings of the managements will be according to their profits. This cannot be in the case of primary, secondary and undergraduate schools. When it is compared to the non profit organisations, even then the situation is different. The non profit organisations will spend on the projects according to the funding. This is not the case of education system. The expenditure cannot depend on funding. Conversely the spending depends on expenditure. This makes the educational organisation dependent on outside funding mostly from Government. The funding of the government must be in accordance with the needs of the organisation. The amount to be spent on salaries, infrastructure and daily activities must be considered before sanctioning the budget. If there is any possibility the profits generated by higher educational institutions can be diverted to the primary and secondary organisations. This integrates the primary, secondary and undergraduate educational institutions with higher educational institutions. This does not mean that all the funds for the education at lower level must be contributed by higher educational institutions. When the government and the managements of higher educational institutions are successful in generating the profits, the funding for the lower educational institutions from them can be a good management practice. This will integrate the primary, secondary and undergraduate institutions with the higher educational institutions. The higher education institutions can develop rapport with the institutions they fund and can guide them in moulding the students according to the present day needs. This guidance of the higher education institutions should not undermine the character moulding of the students in primary, secondary and undergraduate schools. 6. Improving the Management of Resources As mentioned earlier simply reduction of costs in higher education without increasing the income sources will effect the quality of education negatively. Before reducing the budges for higher educational institutions government must ensure that they are generating income more then the reduced costs. Still they need funding from the government and other donors. This necessity must make the higher educational institutions responsible in achieving quality education. The need of staff, infrastructure and equipment increased remarkably in the recent years. This is due to the increase of standards of education along with the number of students who join the institutions. The institutions must share their strategic plans regarding education and estates with funding councils. The plans that are meant for developing their estates need to maximise their efficiency. The utilising of the funds results in developing of efficiency. The running costs must develop new teaching methods and efforts for innovation must be sustained. If possible a reasonable budget can be allotted to sustain the efforts for innovation in teaching (Tichy, N (1981). 8 The concentration on the efforts that increase productivity of the staff can be done. This increases efficiency in all aspects and results in achieving the targets. Again the productivity in other business organisations is different from the productivity in educational organisations. The productivity in business organisations is increasing the production by maximum utilisation of the skills of the staff and workers. This involves in producing more goods or market by using less staff. This is not possible in case of educational institutions regarding productivity. The staff student ratio maintenance will be a obstacle in doing so. The productivity in higher educational organisations can be a combination of teaching and guidance in project works. The management skills and practical approach towards the project works will increase the productivity. The achievements can be measured by the standards of the works of the students that are produced under the guidance of their teachers (professors). It is clear that “the sector considers that it is both sensitive to maximising the cost effectiveness and is deploying advanced managerial disciplines and techniques to extract the highest efficiency levels”( Management and Governance of Higher Education Institutions, 2006). 9 When compared to the international instances it was found that there are enough efforts in UK to reduce the costs in higher educational institutions. This must be done by increasing the productivity and not by compromising on the costs of education. Good management practices must be implemented in spending the funds by Universities and higher educational institutions. 7. Customer Management in Educational Institutions Perceptions change, nature will not change. The concept we understand depends upon our perception of the world. When profound thinking joins with perception a broader spectrum can be formed based perception. Even today, survival of the fittest is the unwritten law (Mrs.V.Ravi, 2005). 10 It was true in case of education and educational institutions also. The fitness of the educational institutions is about satisfying the customers who are in the form of students and parents. The student can be considered as apparent customer, but the real customer is the parent. There are again two types of real customers. First one are the parents who rely on their ward’s satisfaction, second type are who insist about the quality of the education they want to impart on their children. The first type are a bit easy to deal with as student (the apparent customer) is important there. Dealing with the second one is more difficult as the customer will not be present before the teacher or the management and they have to act according to a number of that type of customers to satisfy them. To achieve the customer satisfaction in these cases the educational institutions have to maintain continuous contact with the parents of their students. Parents meetings conducted regularly can do a useful work in this regard of satisfying them. Their view can be shared and honoured if possible. This is not the case with other business organisations. They first know what majority of the customers want and prepare a product on the lines of their likes. They advertise to motivate the customers to ignore minute differences between their likes and the quality of the product. Educational institutions cannot act in that manner. Though they can advertise, it is about the facilities and quality they offer and the results they achieved. The advertisements about the results achieved cannot satisfy all the parents in secondary and undergraduate educational institutions and schools. The parents who insist on creativity in thinking and character building in the course of education will think differently and approach accordingly. The main problem for the educational institutions is not about achieving the required results or dealing with the parents who strive for creativity and character. The problem lies satisfying and managing both types of parents and systems that impart both types of educations. Present day parent wants his child to carve a niche for himself. As there is no readymade knowledge is available he has to learn himself from the available sources in educational institutions. Here lies the role of educational institutions in satisfying their customers (students and parents) in making them learn and understand the knowledge and situations that are in existence. The customers in the form of students and parents are demanding unadulterated knowledge. Other business organisations have a chance of adulterating the products in guise of innovation. The adulteration may be made public and it can be left for the choice of the customers to use them. The usage of the products can be increased by intensive publicity. This is not possible in the case of educational institutions. They cannot offer adulterated knowledge and publicise in order to make customers satisfy with the adulterated thing. In this context the satisfaction of the customer by the educational institutions will be beyond acting as information providers. They have expand their scope beyond the provision of information. The above mentioned condition demands excellence in educating the children. Excellence in imparting education is possible when we appoint excellent staff. Quality oriented management of education by the heads of institutions can satisfy the parent community who strive for quality education. Keeping up to the demands of the parents and the students can be considered as one of the drives tawards satisfying the customers of education. In a book penned by Peter Krass the words of Robert Lutz, “customer is not always right” were quoted. When the customer (parent or a student) who is not right come into contact with the staff and the management a good leader only can solve the problem and convince the customer about the quality in education they offer. The management of an educational institution must be strong, honest, capable and wise to take criticism on the chin when one does not merit it. CONCLUSION The problems of management in educational institutions are different from those in other organizations to a large extent, basically because the very nature of the profession of education is different from a profit or non-profit organization; education and teaching is a social responsibility that once taken up, cannot be discarded at will. Other business and charitable organizations may not have such long term goals as educational institutions and hence, are not burdened by a responsibility to the public. 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