Thesis 2002

DOLLARS AND SENSE: AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSAL AND CLIMATE ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL ELT MANAGEMENT by Greg Keaney

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Sydney 2002

DOLLARS AND SENSE: AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSAL AND CLIMATE ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL ELT MANAGEMENT By Greg Keaney

ABSTRACT The worldviews of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator are underpinned by differing values that have many points of conflict. These points of conflict may negatively impact on organizational performance and effectiveness. Despite the range of conflicting notions, however, it may also be possible to find areas of shared values between the two discourses. These commonalities are likely to provide a basis for reconciliation strategies between entrepreneurial and educational imperatives that can assist the ELT manager. The need for, and the development of, such strategies are examined in this study. Literature review, analysis of ELT educator and entrepreneur discourses and examination of several international ELT colleges demonstrate the nature and range of these value clashes. Action research at one international ELT college suggests that management approaches based on an awareness of all the dimensions of an organization’s climate, emphasising integration, collaboration and a focus on client service, may offer a management model that assists in the functional resolution of some of these value clashes. The study uses ethnographic methods to gain a fuller insight into management at a small number of international ELT colleges and examines some of the managerial factors that enhance or interfere with their educational and organizational goals. It suggests that integration of all organizational activities from finance to marketing to education should be a core value that has appeal to both entrepreneurs and ELT

educators. Collaboration is another factor that is capable of appealing to, and sharing meanings across, the two discourses. A third commonality may be a strong focus on client service, as notions of student centred learning have been important in ELT for many years, while entrepreneurial thinking has long valued a focus on client and customer care as a primary business advantage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract...................................................................................i Table of Contents.....................................................................i List of Figures..........................................................................v Acknowledgments..................................................................vi Glossary................................................................................vii Chapter 1................................................................................1 Introduction............................................................................1 1.1. Aims of the Study.............................................................1 1.2. Rationale..........................................................................3 1.3. Background to the study..................................................5 1.4. Professional and Academic Background of the Researcher .............................................................................................10 1.5. A Note on Usage............................................................12 Chapter 2..............................................................................15 Methodology.........................................................................15 2.1. Introduction....................................................................15 2.2. Approach........................................................................16 2.3. Data Collection...............................................................19 2.4. Analysis..........................................................................40 2.5. Report of Findings..........................................................48 2.6. Conclusion......................................................................49 Chapter 3..............................................................................51 Management and Organizations...........................................51 3.1. Introduction....................................................................51 3.2. Defining Organizations...................................................52 3.3. Perspectives of Organizations........................................57 3.4. Management and Organizational Effectiveness..............67 3.5. The Description of International ELT Organizations........69 3.6. Conclusion......................................................................77 Chapter 4..............................................................................78 The International ELT College Environment...........................78 4.1. Introduction....................................................................78 4.2. English as an International Language.............................80 4.3.The Growth of the International ELT Industry in Australia 82 4.4. The Regulation of the International ELT Industry in Australia................................................................................87

4.5. The Products and Services of International ELT Colleges 95 4.6. Conclusion....................................................................100 Chapter 5............................................................................101 Discourses and Discourse Analysis......................................101 5.1. Introduction..................................................................101 5.2. Discourse.....................................................................102 5.3. Discourse Analysis and Description..............................108 5.4. Ideological-Discursive Formations................................113 5.5. Conclusion....................................................................114 Chapter 6............................................................................116 The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur: Descriptions .......................................................................116 6.1. Introduction..................................................................116 6.2. The Discourse of the Entrepreneur...............................116 6.3 The Discourse of the ELT Educator................................131 6.4. Conclusion....................................................................141 Chapter 7............................................................................142 The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur: Contestations .....................................................................142 7.1. Introduction .................................................................142 7.2. View of Organizations...................................................143 7.3. Commodification of Education......................................153 7.4. Transaction Costs.........................................................155 7.5. Process vs People.........................................................156 7.6. Commonalities.............................................................158 7.7. Conclusion....................................................................162 Chapter 8............................................................................163 The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur: Institutionalisation...............................................................163 8.1. Introduction..................................................................163 8.2. Institutions and IDFs.....................................................164 8.3. Course Selection and Development..............................166 8.4. The Management of Staff and the Allocation of Resources ...........................................................................................171 8.5. The Recruitment, Placement and Certification of Students ...........................................................................................178 8.6. Conclusion....................................................................183 Chapter 9............................................................................185 The Structure of Work Organizations...................................185 9.1. Introduction..................................................................185 9.2. Organizational Structure..............................................186 ii

9.3. Power distribution........................................................190 9.4. Describing Organizational Structures...........................197 9.5. The Relationship between Structure and Organizational Climate...............................................................................200 9.6. Conclusion....................................................................203 Chapter 10 .........................................................................205 The Structure of International ELT Colleges.........................205 10.1. Introduction................................................................205 10.2. The Bureaucratic Structure in ELT Colleges................206 10.3. The Managerialist Structure in ELT Colleges...............209 10.4. The Management of Structure in ELT Colleges...........213 10.5. Action Research at College E: Structure.....................217 10.6. Conclusion..................................................................223 Chapter 11..........................................................................225 The Milieu of International ELT Colleges..............................225 11.1. Introduction................................................................225 11.2. The Relationship between Milieu and Organizational Climate...............................................................................225 11.3. The ELT Teacher Milieu..............................................227 11.4. The ELT Administration, Marketing and Counselling Staff Milieu..................................................................................236 11.5. The ELT Agent Milieu..................................................238 11.6. The ELT Student Milieu...............................................245 11.7. Action Research at College E: Milieu..........................250 11.8. Conclusion..................................................................262 Chapter 12..........................................................................264 The Ecology of International ELT Colleges...........................264 12.1. Introduction................................................................264 12.2. The Relationship between Ecology and Organizational Climate...............................................................................265 12.3. Ecology and International ELT Colleges......................267 12.4. Ecology and Communication......................................272 12.5. Ecological Change......................................................281 12.6. Action Research at College E: Ecology.......................285 12.7. Conclusion..................................................................290 Chapter 13..........................................................................292 The Culture of Work Organizations......................................292 13.1. Introduction................................................................292 13.2. The Concept of Culture...............................................292 13.3. Organizational Culture...............................................296 13.4. Describing Organizational Cultures............................301 iii

13.5. Organizational Culture and Organizational Effectiveness ...........................................................................................304 13.6. The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Climate...............................................................................308 13.7. Conclusion..................................................................312 Chapter 14..........................................................................313 The Culture of International ELT Colleges............................313 14.1. Introduction................................................................313 14.2. Integration.................................................................314 14.3. Collaboration..............................................................321 14.4. The Development of a Client Service Culture.............327 14.5. Action Research at College E: Culture........................337 14.6. Conclusion..................................................................345 Chapter 15..........................................................................348 The ELT Manager................................................................348 15.1. Introduction................................................................348 15.2. ELT Managers.............................................................348 15.3. Teacher Perceptions of ELT Managers........................357 15.4. Vision and Values.......................................................359 15.5. Climate and the ELT Manager....................................365 15.6. Conclusion..................................................................369 Chapter 16..........................................................................370 Conclusion..........................................................................370 16.1. Introduction................................................................370 16.2. Environment...............................................................372 16.3. Discourse Resolution..................................................373 16.4. Climate.......................................................................375 16.5. Action Research.........................................................379 16.6. Simply the Best..........................................................380 Bibliography........................................................................384 Appendix A............................................................................64 Interview and Observation Guide..........................................64 Appendix B............................................................................68 Sample Interview Sheet and Analysis....................................68 Appendix C............................................................................73 Profile of Informants..............................................................73

iv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure/Table Page Figure 2.1 Data Collection......................................................................21 Figure 2.2 Action Research Process (adapted from Kemmis, 1988, p.11) .............................................................................................33 Table 2.2 Action Research Initiatives at College E................................47 Figure 3.1. Organizational Climate..........................................................76 Figure 5.1. Transactions between Writers and Readers.......................110 Figure 7.1 ELT educator values and entrepreneurial values.................161 Figure 9.1. The Power Configuration...................................192 Figure 9.2. The Role Configuration......................................193 Figure 9.3. The Task Configuration......................................194 Figure 9.4. The Person Configuration..................................195 Figure 9.5 The ELT Structure Matrix.....................................................198 Figure 15.1 The relationship between quality and profit........................364 Table 15.1 Summary of Action Research Initiatives at College E..........366 Figure 16.1 Reconciliation of ELT educator and entrepreneurial values. 378

v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my Supervisor, Phillip Jones, and the staff of the University of Sydney for their assistance with this project. I would also like to thank my wonderful family and many friends and colleagues in Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and a few other of the ‘round earth’s imagined corners’ for a host of insights and many years of enjoyment on the road and in ELT.

vi

GLOSSARY

AARE

Australian Association for Research in Education

ACPET Training

The Australian Council for Private Education and

AEI AIEF

Australian Education International Australian International Education Foundation

Cert TEFLA Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults CRICOS Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students DEET

Department of Employment, Education and Training

DEETYA Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs DEST

Department of Education, Science and Training

DFAT

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

DILGEA Department of Immigration, Local government and Ethnic Affairs DIMA

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

DOS EA ELICOS Students

Director of Studies English Australia (formerly the ELICOS Association) English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas

ELT

English Language Teaching vii

ESOS Act Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial Regulations Act 1991) IATEFL International Association of Teaching English as a Foreign Language IELTS IDF

International English Language Testing Service ideological-discursive formation

NEAS

National ELICOS Accreditation Scheme

OSHC

Overseas Student Health Cover

RSA

Royal Society of the Arts (See UCLES)

TEFL

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

TESL

Teaching English as a Second Language

TOEFL

Test of English as a Foreign Language

UCLES University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate VET

Vocational Education and Training

VETAB Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board

viii

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Aims of the Study The worldview of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator, their Weltanschauung, seem to have a degree of tension, if not opposition, in many international ELT colleges. The respective worldviews are underpinned by differing values that have many points of conflict. These points of conflict may negatively

impact

on

organizational

performance

and

effectiveness. Despite this range of conflicting notions, however, it may be possible to find areas of shared values between the two discourses. These commonalities are likely to provide

a

basis

for

reconciliation

strategies

between

entrepreneurial and educational imperatives that can assist in international ELT college management. The Australian education sector, like its counterparts in other English-speaking countries, is internationalising at a rapid pace. Traditional institutions have expanded their operations to meet this growing need, while more than 200 new institutions commenced operations to service the area in 1999 (DETYA, 2000). Growth in research, however, has not yet parallelled this rapid expansion. ELT colleges and their managers have yet to be subject to much detailed research, 1

even though the industry has become an important segment of growth

in the educational sector in Australia. The

fundamental aim of this research project, therefore, is to contribute to understanding of management practices in international ELT colleges in Australia, especially in those that are privately owned and operated. In order to achieve this primary aim, the study examines some of the underlying constructs and competing values in discoursal areas that affect ELT management. It looks at texts that are indicative of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator, and compares and contrasts the value systems they represent. It explores areas of shared values between the two discourses suggesting that these are fruitful avenues towards reconciliation and functional resolution of discoursal tensions. The study also examines the organizational climate of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney, Australia with data gained by ethnographic means and discusses some of their effective and ineffective ELT management practices. As a result of the discourse analysis and the examination of organizational climate, an action research project at one international

ELT

college

suggests

that

management

approaches based on an awareness of all the dimensions of an organization’s climate, emphasising integration, collaboration and a focus on client service, may offer a management model that assists in the functional resolution of some of these discoursal

tensions.

organizational

It

activities

suggests from 2

that

finance

integration to

of

all

marketing

to

education should be a core value that has appeal to both entrepreneurs and ELT educators. Collaboration is proposed as another factor that is capable of appealing to, and sharing meanings across, the two discourses. A third commonality may be a strong focus on client service, as notions of student centred learning have been important in ELT for many years, while entrepreneurial thinking has long valued a focus on client and customer care as a primary business advantage.

1.2. Rationale Considering the rapid growth in the ELT industry worldwide and in Australia outlined in Chapter 4 The International ELT College Environment, there has been little research work in the area of management in ELT and virtually none in the context of the Australian industry. The internationalisation of the Australian education sector, and the rapid change in the commercial and legislative environment for ELT colleges over the last decade, have made research into ELT management and its capacity to improve educational and organizational outcomes for all stakeholders, a significant area of concern. Jack Richards, one of the most influential applied linguists in the area of ELT over the last two decades recently noted that: Language teaching has often been discussed from a relatively narrow perspective, with a focus on teaching methods and techniques. Improvement in language teaching has been linked to the use of better methods of teaching, hence the extensive literature on teaching methods and the preoccupation with the search for the best teaching methods that has characterized the history of language teaching for much of the last 100 years. …In

3

recent years it has been acknowledged that since language teaching normally takes place within an institution of some sort, some of the principles of effective institutional management identified in other settings can also be applied to language teaching…

Richards, 2001, p.410

Perhaps because of a lean towards the educational aspects of ELT in academic research, the linkages between ELT in the classroom concerns

and of

the

ELT

entrepreneurial

institutions

have

and been

organizational less

carefully

examined. It should be an important concern of those working to improve ELT, however, to obtain data on how the institutions where language teaching and learning occurs are managed, as well as on the beliefs and performance of those who manage such institutions. The need for ELT managers to understand and develop strategies

to

reconcile

value

clashes

between

the

entrepreneurial and educational facets of their organizations is a challenge that most who work in ELT management accept as a workaday fact. Detailed analysis of the clashes and possible strategies for their functional resolution are currently lacking in the research literature. This study expands on the author’s previous research (Keaney, 1994) which suggested that ELT managers at various levels

favoured

notions

developed

from

their

teaching

backgrounds and, in general, preferred the culture and discourse norms of teachers rather than those of managers or 4

entrepreneurs. It also found that there were role confusions and value conflicts in many aspects of their work. As the first study to focus specifically on managers in the Australian

ELT

industry

the

previous

research

report

suggested some possible areas for further investigation into management in the ELT sector. It indicated a demand for research

that

goes

beyond

the

analysis

of

classroom

interaction and sought a better understanding of the ‘profane’ details of the way international ELT Colleges are managed, operated and supervised. The current study, therefore, attempts to expand on the earlier work, and to examine some of the underlying constructs and competing values in discoursal areas that affect ELT management, as well as to explore areas of shared values

between

them

as

possible

pathways

towards

reconciliation of discoursal tensions. It also aims to further explore the ELT environment and aspects of organizational climate such as structure and culture and then use this understanding to examine a number of ELT colleges in Sydney, Australia and explore possible solutions through an action research project.

1.3. Background to the study 1n 1993-1994 this researcher undertook a quantitative research study into ELT managers focusing on people in managerial positions at ELT colleges in Australia. This study 5

investigated

the

relationship

between

ELT

managers'

perceptions of the organizational effectiveness of their ELT colleges and their perceptions of their own work performance. After a review of management models, organizational theory, educational administration, previous work in ELT management and an outline of the Australian ELT industry, the research presented the results of a survey that was sent to ELT managers at 53 ELT colleges. The study examined whether there was a statistically significant correlation between ELT managers’ ratings of the organizational effectiveness of their colleges and their ratings of their own work performance. It is almost axiomatic in management literature that managerial work performance and organizational effectiveness should strongly and positively correlate. There should, therefore, have been a strong relationship between the two variables, as leadership and good management have been shown to be important ingredients of effective industrial and educational organizations. The study gave a basic descriptive profile of ELT managers by job title, gender, age, qualifications, teaching experience, ELT management experience, period in current position, decisionmaking beliefs and decision-making practices. The study combined exploratory interviews with a survey instrument. The survey instrument consisted of 20 Likert style items that sought data on ELT manager perceptions of the organizational effectiveness

of

their

colleges

and

their

own

work

performance as managers. The study was designed to test the 6

proposition that there should be a strong positive correlation between

beliefs

about

organizational

effectiveness

and

manager work performance. The central question of the study was: Is there a statistically significant relationship between ELT manager perception of their work performance and of their perception of the overall organizational effectiveness of their ELT college? Factor analysis on the survey data revealed that there were five areas of survey data, two clearly related to organizational effectiveness and one clearly related to the work performance of ELT managers. When correlations between these factors were presented it seemed obvious that there was only a weak and statistically insignificant correlation between the ELT manager

work

performance

indicator

and

the

two

organizational effectiveness factors, despite an expectation based on traditional management literature of a very strong positive correlation. The study concluded that ELT managers see indicators of the effectiveness of their organizations as less than relevant to the way they judge their work performance. It was clear that the issue required further examination and research. The study suggested possible factors that may account for the lack of correlation between perceptions of ELT manager work performance and organizational effectiveness. The most plausible explanation seemed to be a combination of the following four factors. These were:

7

Firstly, Environment. Many ELT managers may feel that they have little control over the environments they operate in. Change in the Australian and international economy has been extremely rapid in the last two decades and change in the legislative environment for ELT colleges has reflected this. The upheavals in the ELT industry after visa laws were changed in the early 1990s without serious industry consultation forced several major colleges to close. Secondly, Structure. It is possible that old-fashioned management models and metaphors still dominate the profession and only those at the top with actual equity or financial control have any power to influence events. In follow up interviews with ELT managers it was clear that a number still felt that position in a hierarchy is vital. If colleges only allow those at the top to have power then ELT managers 'lower down' may feel powerless. Several surveys indicated a deep-seated antagonism between owners 'squeezing an ELT college dry' and ELT managers struggling to provide high standards of service. It is possible that a large number of ELT managers simply felt that the health of their college more closely related to the whims of owners and equity holders rather than to the ELT managers' work performance. Thirdly, Culture. It is possible that the organizational cultures at most ELT colleges do not emphasise client

8

service but are focused on assigned tasks and roles. ELT managers may be predominantly judging themselves by how well they are doing what their job description says rather than ensuring that an integrated college with a collaborative work culture places client satisfaction at the core of all the college’s work activities. Fourthly, Unresolved Competing Discourses. It may be that because most ELT managers come into the position from

teaching

backgrounds

and

many

play

both

teaching and managerial roles concurrently, they are judging themselves more by the criteria of 'good teacher' than by that of 'good manager'. The limited nature of the study did not allow a considered examination of these factors and the reasons for the lack of correlation

between

organizational

manager

effectiveness.

As

work noted

performance in

Section

and 1.2.

Rationale the current study expands on the earlier work and investigates some underlying constructs and competing values in the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator. It proposes some areas of shared values that can assist in the functional resolution of discoursal tensions. It also looks at the organizational climate of a small number of international ELT colleges, including their structure, milieu, ecology and culture, and then proposes some possible solutions to management dilemmas tested by means of an action research project.

9

1.4. Professional and Academic Background of the Researcher The

role

of

the

researcher’s

cultural

background

and

assumptions can be too easily ignored in ethnographic research.

The

self-awareness

necessary

to

negate

this

influence is probably impossible to attain so the final research reporting

needs

to

outline

the

researcher’s

cultural

background and beliefs so that readers may see how these may have influenced the data gathering and interpreting process. This section outlines my own professional and academic background, therefore, to assist in the explication of some of the values and beliefs that come through in relevant sections of the work. I have been involved with international ELT education for most of my professional life. In 1984 I worked as an English instructor

in

Bandung

Indonesia

preparing

Indonesian

students who were about to go to Australia or the US to study. From 1985 to 1987 I worked at one of Japan's largest English language colleges and was responsible for designing course programs for use by more than 6000 students. From 1990 1992 I was the Assistant Director of the English Department at a US University branch campus in Japan. The university experienced dramatic growth during this period and drew my interest to issues in the management of international education

projects

that

develop

imperatives.

10

from

entrepreneurial

From 1995 – 1996 I worked for an Australian higher education project in Malaysia as the Head of the Academic English Department. This was a Malaysian funded - Australian university accredited and supervised program in association with 11 Australian universities. Again the experience of working there at a senior administrative level revealed a range of managerial and logistical issues that arise in the management of an effective international ELT program. It is my positions in management and administration at privately owned English language colleges in Australia that cater to international students, however, that bear most relevance to the study. In 1988 I was the Director of Studies at a small ELT College in Cairns. From 1989 – 1990 I held the position of Senior Teacher at a large ELT college in Sydney. From late 1992 to mid 1994 I worked as an ELT teacher at a different ELT college in Sydney before becoming the Director of Studies at a new ELT college. After returning from Malaysia I did consulting work for a number of ELT colleges that were gaining provisional and full accreditations for their operations. For most of the period of the doctoral research I was the Principal of a new and rapidly expanding ELT college that has formed the basis for the action research data in this study. I have recently departed Australia once again and now work for the Centre for British Teachers in Brunei Darussalam in ELT and information technology.

11

Prior

to

commencing

this

doctoral

research

project

I

completed a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics with courses in ELT management, curriculum development and other issues related to the theory and practice of language teaching and learning. I presented a dissertation for the Masters

degree

titled

Organizational

Effectiveness

and

Manager Work Performance at ELT Institutions in Australia. This is referenced throughout the current work as Keaney, 1994.

1.5. A Note on Usage The writing style in this report is based on the language norms for an educated Australian user. Having been involved in ELT for many years, and with a range of publications in the popular press, I have tried to satisfy the twin aims of academic accuracy and readability. This is a much more difficult task than I had imagined at the commencement of my doctoral studies! There are a small number of lexico-grammatical points that may require clarification: In

order

to

avoid

the

‘he/she,

s/he,

he

or

she’

awkwardness, throughout the study they and related pronouns are used for the neutral third person. Where possible this has been combined with a plural verb but in certain statements where it is important to retain the

12

singular, they has been combined with a singular third person verb. In this paper data is used in its conventional singular noncount noun usage rather than in its Latinate plural form. Most respected commentators agree that it is now a noncount noun in English analogous in syntax to words such as information. No contortions have been made to avoid split infinitives. This grammatical injunction is based on a false analogy with traditional Latin grammar. As Fowler notes in his famous Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) The English speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish…. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, and are a happy folk, to be envied by most of the minority classes.

The words organize and organization have for the sake of consistency been spelled with a

z

throughout the

report. Many of the management texts in the literature review are originally published in the United States and it was felt that avoiding multiple spellings of the same word would aid readability. By analogy other words that can be spelled with either an –ise or –ize have been standardized to the –ize usage.

13

Program has been spelled in this form rather than its – mme variant. The words sector and industry are used interchangeably in this report based on their common usage. The technical definition of a sector, though, is a grouping of transactors by institutional type of transactor and that of an industry as a grouping of establishments according to the type of economic activity engaged in by the establishment (Jackson, 1989; p.205). In the end, all works of writing are flawed. Any writer of a long document feels as did Gustave Flaubert that: language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.

14

Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

2.1. Introduction This chapter outlines the methodology of this study. It discusses some methodological dilemmas and the way that they have been resolved. It looks at the general approach to the research, then discusses the methods of data collection, the means of data analysis and the techniques used in the report of findings. The chapter justifies the use in this study of a combination of four common techniques in education and management research - a critical literature review leading to a text and discourse

analysis,

followed

by

on-site

interviews

and

ethnographic observation at a number of related organizations and, finally, a detailed action research project in one target organization. This combination of techniques provides a multidimensional way of understanding the relevant aspects of management at international ELT colleges in Australia. Within the social sciences there are several major schools of thought regarding social organizations. As discussed in the following

chapter,

each

school

has

its

own

view

of

organizations, as well as a set of concepts and assumptions that define the preferred approaches to researching them. 15

This variety of perspectives means that each particular research method or technique has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it is impossible to find a single research methodology that is universally accepted as beyond reproach. As indicated in Section 1.1 Aims of the Study, the aim of this research project is to inform the work of myself and other managers in international ELT colleges especially those that are privately owned and operated. The research methodology for the study therefore must be capable of achieving this aim. Decisions about methodology, perspective and interpretation of findings, therefore, have been filtered through the following two questions: 1. Will this methodology/perspective/interpretation be able to deliver findings that may be useful and significant for myself and for other international ELT college managers in a similar situation? 2. Will this methodology/perspective/interpretation be able to deliver findings that may be valuable, unusual or significant enough to be of interest to the broader field of educational research?

2.2. Approach It is possible to identify two broad types of enquiry that can illuminate problems in areas of interest to social and organizational researchers. These two broad types of research can be labelled as the variance approach and the process approach. The variance approach typically requires the surveying of a representative sample of a population using quantitative data in order to draw conclusions using statistical inferencing.

In

organizational

research

this

means

investigating a large number of organizations in, say, a 16

particular industry category and then attempting to draw generalised conclusions about the relationship between a number of variables or factors. The process approach, on the other hand, usually means investigating a small section of a population close at hand, extracting qualitative data to try to get ‘underneath’ the issues of interest. In organizational research it might mean studying one or a few similar organizations in detail in order to understand exactly how people do things and how things get done. While it is possible to have large-scale qualitative research that attempts to examine variance or small-scale case study research that focuses solely on quantitative measures, commonly quantitative data is employed in the variance approach while qualitative data is associated with the process approach. Until the mid-1970s, studies of organizations were dominated by researchers who followed the paradigms of the traditional methods of laboratory science based on logical positivism (Owens, 1995, pp. 297 - 299). The variance approach,

using

quantitative

data

measurement

and

experimental methods, was seen as the more prestigious research technique. Variance type survey research into organizational management and change in industry focused on the content of changes in a large number of organizations and the implications of these changes for the structural configurations and profitability of organizations. Since that time, however, the process approach using qualitative methods has come to be more readily accepted 17

and valued. The realisation has grown that qualitative research can shed light on important aspects of organizational life that may not be revealed by laboratory style experimental research. Many commentators would now agree that the full complexity of human behaviour cannot be confined simply to statistical categories, and that ethnographic accounts of the details of organizational life are immensely important in understanding organizations as complex social systems. The process approach to research attempts to represent reality as a flow of events - a narrative. It is essentially description

with

interpretive

‘attitude’.

Process-theoretic

approaches suit situations where the variables of particular contexts tend to outweigh the variables under study. In such situations it is difficult to unambiguously isolate and identify pieces worthy of investigation separate from their whole. Research into educational institutions has in recent years come

to

look

more

favourably

on

process-theoretic

approaches. As Mohr (1982, p.215) wrote nearly two decades ago: ...the kind of description that would seem to have the greatest potential in social science is description of processes - how things are done by people and groups. To the extent that the pursuit of description increases in prevalence as a research goal, social science will take on an increasingly process-theoretic flavour at the expense of variance theory.

The variance approach is underscored by a belief in an objective reality that can be identified and described through well-constructed research. The process approach, on the other hand,

adopts

what

may

be 18

termed

a

qualitative

phenomenological view, seeing reality as constructed with no real objective ‘existence’ independent of the subjective perceptions of researchers and their subjects. The four phases of the research in this study follow a processtheoretic approach. It has seemed that ethnographic research techniques are well suited to this type of research. Some discussion of the applicability of the findings has been made primarily through the development of tentative management models that may, with appropriate modification, be of use in similar contexts and situations.

2.3. Data Collection Research, like politics, is the art of the possible. The difficulties that face researchers in educational management are varied. The most important issues in data collection for this study follow on from the basic approach. Thus it was necessary to decide whether to adopt ethnographic or experimental techniques or a mixture of the two, and to judge to what extent the data would accurately represent the 'real views' of informants. Other issues included problems of access, status of the researcher and comparability across cases. In order to avoid the dangers of single sources of data and improve the external validity of the data it was decided to break the research up into four phases and use different methods of data collection for each phase. Phase I involved exploratory interviews with peers involved in the management 19

of similar international ELT colleges and a log of my own experiences as a teacher and manager in ten different international education organizations. It also drew on findings of a previous research report by the author into the management of ELT colleges in Australia (Keaney, 1994). Phase II involved a critical review and discourse analysis of the relevant management and education literature. Phase III consisted of multiple case studies involving semi-structured and open interviews, text and document analysis and observations in a range of international colleges in Sydney, Australia. Phase IV involved an action research program in a new college that opened during the study. This college was similar in scope to the colleges investigated in Phase III and involved the writer in a central participatory role as the Principal of the college. Data collection proceeded as shown in Figure 2.1:

20

Phase

Research Activity

I

Survey of ELT Managers, Initial reading and recollections and exploratory interviews with peers involved in the management of similar international education institutions as well as a recollections log of author’s experiences as a teacher and manager in ten different international education organizations

II

Background research, literature review and discourse analysis - a critical review and discourse analysis of the relevant management and education literature

III

Multiple case studies involving semi-structured and open interviews, text and document analysis and observations in a range of international ELT colleges

IV

Action research project in a new college that opened during the study. This college was similar in scope to the colleges investigated in Phase III and involved the writer in a central participatory role as the Principal of the college Figure 2.1 Data Collection

Phase I: Survey, Recollections and Exploratory Interviews The first phase of the research was to undertake a number of exploratory open-ended interviews and to systematically note 21

down my own work recollections. The interviews were with five present or former ELT managers. In this phase I interviewed two Owner/Directors of ELT colleges, a Director of Studies, a former Director of Studies, a Principal and a Financial Controller. I also discussed the directions of the research with several teachers and education academics and a number of current and former ELT students. These exploratory interviews were used to help understand the ways that discourse and climate issues manifested themselves in different colleges, and the ways that these were related to ELT management. In this phase of the research I also wrote in a journal all of my own memories of working in ten different international educational institutions in Australia and other countries. I tried to systematically recall issues that had most affected me especially those regarding the ‘feeling’ or climate of each particular organization. I tried to structure these recollections as a kind of self-interview. I also reviewed data originally gathered for a Masters Degree dissertation in Applied Linguistics on the links between manager work performance and organizational effectiveness at ELT colleges in Australia. Phase II Review and analyse the relevant literature. The literature review, which is incorporated into this report, was

a

significant

component

of

this

research.

ELT

management has not yet had much research attention but the related fields of educational administration and organizational and management research in industry provided a deep 22

background to the issues of interest that were likely to arise in the latter phases of the study. The literature review also enabled the development of an interview and observation guide and the creation of frameworks to organize the data and categorise it in ways that enabled useful comment and comparison. The literature review quickly made it apparent that the supposition of competing discoursal pressures was valid. The management of ELT organizations relies on knowledge, skills and understanding that derive from two distinct, and at times opposing, discourses. The cultures of ELT colleges, their management and the process of growth and change within them, all reflect at some levels these discoursal tensions. It came to be clear that an improved understanding of international

ELT

organizations

and

their

management

required a deeper awareness of the basis for these tensions and conflicts. This has led to a brief analysis of the two discourses as suggested by indicative texts in the published literature. The discourse and text analysis in Chapters 5 – 8 broadly follows a question framework developed by Kemmis (1988, pp.57 - 85) that divides such an analysis into the three areas of language use, contestation and institutionalisation. Usage involves a description of the history and contemporary usage of the key ideas in the discourse. Contestation involves points where there is contestation over language within and between discourses. Institutionalisation indicates how the relevant 23

discourses have been institutionalised in particular work situations. The discourse analysis is intended to be illustrative and suggestive, as a comprehensive analysis is far beyond the scope of this study. The purpose of the analysis is not to provide a thorough and complete overview of the discourses and

all

of

the

areas

of

contestation

or

resultant

institutionalisation, but simply to indicate a ‘feeling’ for the language use, contestation and institutionalisation as an aid to discussing the data in other areas of the study. It also enables the development of three key cultural notions that may provide a basis for some reconciliation between the two discourses. Phase III Multiple Case Studies (Interviews, Observation and Text Analysis) Phase III was a multiple case study which examined four colleges that have been founded since 1990. All these colleges have come into existence as a result of the growth in international education in Australia since that time. The colleges

have

reasonably

similar

student

profiles

and

educational goals with a range of ownership profiles. They all consisted mainly of international students and were run on profit-making lines. The annual turnover at each college was less than $5 million as organizations with turnover in excess of that amount probably have very different systemic and managerial concerns (DETYA, 2001).

24

Phases III and IV of the research adopted ethnographic techniques. According to David Nunan, one of the most significant

researches

into

ELT

teaching

methods

and

classroom practice over the past two decades: Ethnography involves the study of the culture/characteristics of a group in realworld rather than laboratory settings. The researcher makes no attempt to isolate or manipulate the phenomena under investigation, and insights and generalisations emerge from close contact with the data rather than from a theory....

(Nunan, 1992, p.55) Nunan sees ethnographic research as having the following characteristics: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

It is contextual being carried out in the context where the inhabitants normally live and work. It is unobtrusive in that the researcher avoids manipulating the phenomenon under investigation. It is longitudinal in that the research is relatively long term. It is collaborative in that the researcher involves the participation of other stakeholders. It is interpretive in that the researcher carries out interpretive analysis of the data It is organic in the sense that there is interaction between questions/hypotheses and data collection/interpretation.

Phase III utilised interviews, observation, informants’ reports of unobtrusive measures such as number of enrolments and staff turnover and text analysis techniques. Interviews and observation

proceeded

by

a

series

of

'guides'

and

standardised formatted observation sheets. Data was collected using an open-ended interview instrument that consisted of questions in the four areas of climate. Each area was divided into sub-topics and the interview proceeded 25

using these sub-topics to ‘guide’ the interview. Frequently the answers would not proceed in a linear fashion, as an informant would cover several points in one answer or take several questions to provide data for one sub-topic. For each item I asked as many probes as were thought necessary to elicit full responses, where a sub-topic appeared irrelevant for that particular informant the question was still asked but with a phrasing such as: "I don't suppose you know anything about...” The interview instrument is included in Appendix A. Analysis generally proceeded

by

using a

key

concept

approach discussed more fully in Section 2.4 Analysis. In most instances it proved much more difficult getting interviewees to stop talking than to start, itself a useful insight into the fact that many who work in education and management have too little time to reflect upon what it is they actually do, and how it is that they create value for their organization and the community. Many interviewees explicitly commented

that

they

enjoyed

being

interviewed

and

discussing their work, suggesting perhaps that an avenue for reflection on work is an important, if frequently overlooked, organizational activity. The colleges used in the Multiple Case Study phase of the research were: 1. College A This Sydney-based college is owned and operated by an Australian management team. The college was originally a business college that has expanded from this base into the 26

teaching of English language courses. I have been involved with this college as a Director of Studies, as an educational consultant and as an IT instructor. 2. College B This Sydney based college was part-owned by a large private Japanese educational organization but has since become fully Australian owned. The college was required to raise the prestige of the organization in Japan and give it an international profile as well as its profit making function. I have been involved with this college as a part-time ELT instructor and as an educational consultant. 3. College C This college also offers vocational courses in business and information technology in addition to its English language courses. This college has had several changes of ownership, premises and leading educational managers during the course of the study. I have been involved with this college as an educational and marketing consultant. 4. College D This institute was initially designed to assist students to prepare for studies in Christian ministry. The institute started to accept international students after detecting an interest in ELT courses as preparation for its other courses from overseas students. It subsequently changed premises and ownership structure and in late 1999 was subject to an ownership dispute that led to the closure of the college and the transfer of its students. I was an educational consultant to the institute in the initial process of accrediting its ELT program. Interviews Interviews were conducted with a range of people in each college. At each college the Principal or person responsible for the overall strategies of the college was interviewed, as well as the Director of Studies (DOS) of ELT and any senior teachers. Principals or Directors of Studies in each college 27

were asked to nominate teachers who would be willing to be interviewed with the nominated teachers being broadly representative of the staff as a whole. Students were interviewed on both a nominated and ad hoc basis (i.e. some were nominated by the college others just happened to be around when I was around). A total of four Principals, five Directors of Studies (one college had a change of DOS during this phase), 25 teachers, 19 administrative workers and 27 students were interviewed for this study. The times of the interviews varied widely, although the average figure for the Principal and DOS interviews was 90 minutes and for the teacher interviews 20 - 40 minutes. The student and admin workers generally took from 10 - 30 mins. The multiple case study data was gathered in two series. The first series was from August 1996 to January 1997, the second was from August 1999 to January 2000. In both series of data collection I followed the same procedure of asking informants for and/or observing recollections, actual (current) information and projections of the future. The purpose of having two series of data collection was partly based on an original plan to include a large component on organizational change into this report that has subsequently been withdrawn for space reasons. The multiple series of data collection did assist in stabilising

data,

however,

and

provided

opportunity

to

examine changes in environment, ecology, milieu, structure and culture as well as changes in perceptions, projections and recollections among organizational members. 28

In attempting to elicit data I tried to maintain an ‘active listening’ stance and phrase questions in a non-directive, ‘open’ way as opposed to the directive, closed questions of a formal interview. Observation The observation involved both an inspection of premises, facilities and equipment as well as observations of office and staff room interactions, some classroom interactions and occasional recreational interactions at activities such as parties and holiday celebrations. As noted in Chapters 13 and 14 on

Organizational Culture

and the Culture of ELT

organizations, the selection of which holidays and occasions to celebrate is in itself one indication of rituals, which can be an important indication of an organization's culture. Textual analysis Ethnomethodological techniques can also make use of other resources besides the oral and written information provided by participants. When investigating organizations, documents can be important as resources not only as a basis for gathering statistics but for information they reveal about an organization. Brochures and enrolment forms, for example, can indicate what is regarded as useful and not useful to the organization. Public information, such as marketing material, student handbooks, accreditation and curriculum documents, workplace notices and signs, have also proven to be informative pieces of data.

29

At each college I acquired all of the public documents that were available. I also obtained copies of accreditation documents, which outlined in a fairly detailed way most aspects of the organization’s activities and aims. Other documents handbooks

that and

were a

few

gathered other

included

miscellaneous

orientation pieces

of

information. I also noted down various signs and notices affixed to walls at each college as these 'public broadcast' texts make important statements about the day to day reality of

an

institution

and

its

concepts

of

boundaries,

insiders/outsiders and other relevant factors. Much research in the social sciences depends upon eliciting talk in some form such as interviews, surveys, attitude scales or participant observation. While this talk is a data resource it is important to remember that the gathering of the data or the interview sessions are sociological ‘events’ and assumptions of the stability of attitudes, personality and beliefs based on survey and interview data collection methods may not be as real as sociological researchers have come to believe (for a full discussion in this area see Benson & Hughes, 1983). I felt this 'staging' of the sociological event keenly throughout this phase of the research project. Formal interview sessions had a declared starting and ending. Often I would be chatting with the interviewee in a public area of the college then say, “Well how about we do the interview, now?”. Always people indicated that they preferred to do it in a private place where other staff members of the college could not overhear them. 30

A discourse analysis of the twin aspects of colleges – their educational and entrepreneurial selves was investigated by means of an overall discourse analysis of the ideological discursive formations of these two areas. There is a fuller discussion of the discourse analysis in Chapter 5 Discourses and Discourse Analysis. Phase IV: Action Research Research in areas involving human behaviour undoubtedly affects its subjects. Stanford (1965, 1956), for example, showed that research into college students at Vassar made a deep impression on the subjects who later saw taking part in the research as one of the most significant events of their college years. Stanford’s findings also had an important effect on the culture of the college. In this research study, too, it seemed important to include a phase that, as Emery (1976, p.25) suggests, would itself be the action rather than merely testing or observing other action. According to Clark (1976, p.1) action research sets out to combine theoretical discoveries with the solution of practical problems. While the proportion of discovery and practical solution may vary with the project, Clark suggests that action research should strive to find an optimum combination of the two. In action research the manipulation or action is not introduced by the experimenter ‘in secret’ but in collaboration with the subjects. It therefore provides the opportunity to study a system as it reacts to certain ‘in consciousness’ manipulations. 31

Action research links the ideas of traditional research, which tends to envisage a passive approach, to the ‘action’ of trying out ideas as a means of improvement and of increasing knowledge. As Kemmis (1988, p. 6) suggests: Action research provides a way of working which links theory and practice into the one whole: ideas in action.” Action research had its origins in the work of Lewin (1946) in a series of community experiments such as housing projects, equal opportunity of employment, children’s prejudice, youth leadership and street gangs. According to Lewin the central tenets of the approach were group decision and commitment to improvement. In Australia, action research has played a significant

role

in

educational

research

and

in

school

improvement since the late 1970s. It has been used in schoolbased curriculum reviews and in the growing area of professional awareness among teachers seeking ways of informing and understanding their work (Kemmis, 1988: p.7). Action research can be seen as proceeding in an ongoing series of spirals or stages as indicated in Figure 2.2.

PLAN ETC

ACT / OBSERVE

32

REVISED PLAN

REFLECT

REFLECT

REVISED PLAN

ACT / OBSERVE Figure 2.2 Action Research Process (adapted from Kemmis, 1988, p.11)

Action research recognises that all social action is somewhat unpredictable and therefore involves an element of risk. The initial research plan has to be flexible in order to adapt to unforeseen

events

and

unforeseen

obstacles

circumstances

and

constraints.

and It

deal

with

should

help

practitioners realise a new potential for action. It is vital in action research that the action that occurs is observed and reflected upon. This reflected-upon-action then becomes the basis for the development of further action. This study utilised ongoing action research in one international ELT college in order to assist in assessing the practical value of the research in the day-to-day management of the college. Observations were recorded in a log by the researcher and through a series of meetings and interviews with other representative members of the college including the owners,

33

the other ELT managers, teachers/instructors, administrative workers and students. The college involved in the action research phase was: College E This college opened to students in April 1997. The owners had previously owned similar colleges in Sydney and had some recruitment contacts for students. I was originally involved with this college as an educational consultant and from its opening until the end of 2000 was the Principal of the college. There were six action research phases. Each action research cycle lasted approximately six months. The cycles were: Cycle 1: July – December 1997 Cycle 2: January – June 1998 Cycle 3: July – December 1998 Cycle 4: January – June 1999 Cycle 5: July – December 1999 Cycle 6: January – June 2000 As well as feedback generated within the normal operating of the college such as student evaluations of the college and teacher evaluations of courses, there was oral feedback every four-week term. More specific feedback was obtained close to the end of each action research cycle and following the conclusion of the action research project. I left the college in December 2000 to work in Brunei Darussalam. Some follow up 34

comments relating to the action research and the college since my departure have also been included in the study. Action research in existing institutions is usually connected with the notion of change in aspects of individual and group behaviour, such as changes in the way people use language, changes in activities and practices or changes in social relationships and organizational configurations. In the current study, because the action research was conducted in a new organization, the focus was on creating an organizational climate and culture that was ‘in consciousness’ as opposed to allowing one to develop by 'default'. There was also a strong effort to reduce the tensions between the entrepreneur and educator worldviews and to try to ensure that all members of the organization understood the possibilities of such tensions. The action research in this study was partly collaborative. In this it differs from the position put forward by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) or Cohen and Manion (1994) who argue that the research must be fully collaborative. As the project does not have matching outcomes for all stakeholders it was difficult to find full partners for the action research, although most staff members enjoyed participating in the project and happily provided feedback. The action research was also supplemented by other research projects into the college. One research project related to an MBA program was an analysis of the marketing strategies of the college. Another was a case study of the institution and an 35

analysis of the internationalisation of its operations. These comprehensive reports also provided written feedback on the operation

of

the

institution

from

an

entrepreneurial/managerialist perspective. Access One of the core problems of any social research is the problem of access and the notion of what can and can’t be observed - the ‘profane’ versus the ‘sacred/taboo’ (BarberaStein: 1979: 15 cited in Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983: p.54). It is possible to view these problems as a research resource and outline some of the issues that arise in gaining research. This can help to reveal the bordering of the organization indicating those parts that are relatively ‘public’ and those that are ‘private’. Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p.54) go on to suggest that one of the most effective ways to gain access is through the mobilisation

of

acquaintanceship,

existing kinship

social or

networks,

occupational

based

on

membership.

Hoffman (1980) showed how her interviews with hospital board members were difficult to obtain and very guarded until she activated her family member’s friendship with one prominent

hospital

connection

the

director.

type

of

Once

data

she

she

activated

received

this

changed

dramatically. Access was also a crucial factor in the selection of research sites in this study. Before commencing this research project I 36

had already had a relationship with each of the colleges as a consultant, adviser, administrator or teacher. While it would have been possible to broaden the number of cases it was felt that there was little of value in doing so, especially as an ‘outsider’ might not receive sufficiently honest accounts to make the expansion of cases worthwhile. Status of researcher Manning (1979) suggests that there is a range of relationships that the researcher can adopt with the organization being observed. It is possible to be a complete participant operating in the organization, subject to the same conditions as other members of the organization. It is also possible to be a participant yet remain in the role of an observer. Manning suggests that these two roles both provide for comparative involvement, some subjectivity and empathy for the subjects. On the other hand it is possible to be clearly an observer but have some minor involvement as a participant or even to be a completely detached observer. These two roles provide for comparative detachment, objectivity and sympathy with the subjects. The complete observer avoids the danger of ‘going native’ but can also misunderstand the perspective of the participants. Manning suggests that there is real value in obtaining multiple perspectives where possible. In the third phase of this research project the perspectives of the observer as participant was adopted. As I have had some professional involvement with all of the colleges that were researched it was possible to be treated as an ‘insider’ with 37

regard to commentary on many issues although the extent of 'insiderdom' varied with each organization. The different role and status of a ‘researcher’ investigating a phenomenon combined with the face validity of formal interviews and other research techniques tended to also provide a more detached observer as participant role. In the fourth action research stage of this project I was a complete participant. Credibility Owens (1995, pp. 267-268) notes six procedures to enhance the credibility of naturalistic research into the organizational behaviour of educational institutions. These are to leave an audit trail, to allow sufficient time to gather data, to use triangulation (using multiple sources to gather information and data), to cross-check important information with other members of an organization, to maintain a comprehensive materials file, to regularly consult with peers on the progress of the work and to use thick description in the final research report. In this study an audit trail was left by filing notes and edited summaries of interviews, raw notes and summaries of observations, all documents used as data sources (edited copies of confidential documents), interview and observation guidelines, an action research journal and drafted copies of the research proposal and report. Material used in the research report has been assembled electronically on a database.

38

Nearly four years has been allowed to gather data and this data gathering built on data that had been previously acquired for a research project in a related area. Multiple sources were used

both

by

investigating

multiple

colleges

and

by

interviewing and surveying various members within each college. Important information that was revealed in interviews was, as far as possible, cross-checked with other members of the college in later interviews. All materials gathered for the research including notices, photos and marketing materials from each college were kept in a designated materials file. The research report has been written in a traditional commentary style. Throughout the writing there has been regular consultation with a doctoral supervisor and with peers involved in other research in the fields of education, applied linguistics and management. Ethics Ethical considerations in this research are based on those outlined in AARE (1993). Each organization being researched was informed about the aims of the project and the types of issues being researched before I obtained the cooperation of the senior educational manager at each organization (either the Principal or the Director of Studies). The writing style of the

dissertation

is

intended

to

allow

participating

organizations and informants to remain anonymous. The use of commercially sensitive information has been avoided unless completely

relevant.

Pseudonyms

have

been

used

for

informants and colleges. All undertakings, both formal and 39

informal, made to informant organizations and individuals were met before the research project was submitted. Language competence and cultural background played a significant role in various parts of this research. Interviews with students, for example, were obviously moderated by their developing English abilities, where interpretation of answers has seemed important I tried to confirm responses as explicitly as possible.

2.4. Analysis Phase I The data collected in the first phase of the study was reviewed in order to consider the primary issues that arose and their possible significance in the research. In this exploratory phase there was a need to identify avenues of exploration. The structure of the research project and its emphasis on the contestations between entrepreneur and educator discourses were developed in this phase. Phase II In Phase II much more detailed investigation of the issues in the 1st phase allowed a refinement of constructs and led to a clarification of methods and structure of the research project. The importance of including some form of discourse analysis was also an outcome of this phase of the research.

40

Phase III In order to arrange the data and record it in a coherent and systematic

way

frameworks

were

used.

Initially

one

framework was developed from the literature to correspond to each dimension of the research. The development and modifications of these frameworks are discussed in detail in the relevant chapters. The framework used to organize and assemble data related to organizational climate is discussed in Chapter 3, Management and Organizations while additional information in the dimension of organizational culture is discussed in Chapter 13, The Culture of Work Organizations. Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p.2) note that the ethnographer participates, overtly or covertly in people’s daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions, in fact collecting whatever data are available to throw light on issues with which he or she is concerned.

In many ways ethnography is the most basic form of social research, as it is the research technique that most closely resembles the way in which humans make sense of the world in everyday life. But this means that one of the most important aspects of the ethnographic method is the analysis of what is said. Ethnography involves many judgements about who to talk to, where to talk to them, when to talk to them, when to observe, what to observe, what to record and how to record

it.

The

ethnographic

process

involves

making

judgements about relevance and, while applied linguistic research has shown many problems with this judgement

41

process and the possibility of researcher bias distorting data, some selections must be made. It would seem that the main defence against such distortion is to make as explicit and systematic as possible the criteria used for determining relevance and irrelevance. Data has to be collected in some forms, and the best defence against the misinterpretation of data is a system of data collection from multiple informants and a variety of sources, as well as clarification on the part of the researcher of the linguistic issues that are raised in the analysis and interpretation of the data. The analysis of data in the third phase of the study proceeded along

several

lines.

Interviews

were

noted

down

on

standardised sheets. Responses that were felt at the time to be

important

were

paraphrased

and

rechecked

with

informants. A key issue that came out early in this method was that some interviewees have a better way with words than others and it is difficult not to give their point of view higher weight. The interviews were gathered together by institution and were then analysed using a key concept and theme approach. Key concepts tended to follow groupings within the questions themselves. A sample interview notes sheet and its analysis is included in Appendix B.

42

Analysis of texts proceeded in tandem with the analysis of the interviews and observations operated as a confirmation of the interview data. Those items in the texts that illuminated or underscored points made in the interviews were regarded as significant. Usually the textual data was illustrative of a particular college, policy or facet of organizational life and was used for this purpose. Phase IV The action research phase attempted to implement most of the significant notions that emerge from the body of data in Phases I, II and III. It was around these notions that the initiatives in the action research phase were developed. The action research phase made a realistic effort at implementing the findings of the first three phases and attempted to observe their outcomes. The main themes of the action research were to implement strategies that encouraged integration of all college work tasks, activities and functions, helped develop a collaborative work culture and that had a strong client service focus. Some of the areas of improvement and issues that organizational members tried to implement through the action research are listed below. The theoretical underpinnings of each notion within this study are listed in brackets: 1. That ELT staff be aware of the tension between entrepreneur and educator worldviews. (Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse)

43

2. That as far as possible ELT educators at the college

understand

the

financial

and

administrative aspects of college life and owners and administrators be aware of its educational aspects. (Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters 13- 14 on Organizational Culture) 3. That all staff be strongly aware of their marketing role and the private and profit driven nature of the college as well as the importance of client service. (Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters 13-14 on Organizational Culture) 4. That the

college

organizational

structure

be

perceived as a fronted organigram with those in client

contact

including

administration

and

teaching staff being seen as the most crucial in the organization with those ‘behind’ playing support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in front’. (Chapters 9 - 10 on Organizational Structure,

Chapters

13-14

on

Organizational

Culture) 5. That the mixture of exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators used to determine educational

and

institutional

quality

for

the

international ELT college would reflect rather than conflict with organizational goals avoiding the perception common among ELT educators, (and other professional groups in education, medicine, 44

law, architecture) based primarily on endogenous factors determined by providers/suppliers rather than

exogenous

factors

determined

by

the

consumers favoured by an entrepreneurial view. (Chapters 9 and 10 on Structure) 6. That all college staff try to ‘walk in the students’ shoes’ and perceive interactions from the client point of view. (Chapter 11 on Organizational Milieu,

Chapters 13

– 14

on Organizational

Culture) 7. That the college encourage awareness among all staff of the cultural and linguistic factors that affect

the

provision

of

ELT

to

international

students in Australia. (Chapter 11 on Milieu) 8. That the ecology of the college works with its limitations to support the development of the organization’s

structure,

culture

and

milieu.

(Chapter 12 on Ecology) 9. That its members see the ecology of the college as a positive feature of the organization and a reflection of its structure, culture and milieu. (Chapter 12 on Ecology) 10.

That the culture of the college encourages

diversity of views but unity of operation. (Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters 13 and 14 on Culture)

45

11.

That ELT staff feel enabled to satisfy clients and

not feel constrained by any notion that ‘pleasing the boss’ and pleasing the client’ would ever conflict. (Chapters 13 - 14 on Culture) 12.

That the college encourage an in awareness

development

of

the

organizational

culture

especially on factors that are typically ‘out of awareness. (Chapters 13 and 14 on Culture)

The actual action research initiatives are listed in the following table:

46

Table 2.2 Action Research Initiatives at College E Initiative Structure Initiative 1 (S1): That the college organizational structure be a fronted organigram with those in client contact including administration and teaching staff being seen as the most crucial in the organization with those ‘behind’ playing support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in front’. As well that the mixture of exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators used to determine educational and institutional quality for the international ELT college reflect with organizational goals focusing primarily on client satisfaction Structure Initiative 2 (S2): The organization will try to have as few barriers as possible between staff. Teachers were to be encouraged to teach across both vocational and English subjects. Teachers were to be encouraged to do marketing and/or administration work. Administration and marketing staff were to be assisted in upgrading their qualifications both internally and externally. Structure Initiative 3 (S3): Management decisions on structure were to be explicit and communicated to all employees. As far as possible staff should also have the opportunity to witness managers in action and to be able to question them about their activities and decisions. Milieu Initiative 1 (M1): An enforced program to ensure student diversity, particularly of national groups over the whole college and in individual classes. Such a program to include the development of positive incentives such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support for the development of new markets. The program also to include the ‘negative’ reinforcement of the imposition of a quota system over such that no one nationality could exceed 25% of the student body. Aim to build a milieu that supports the development and maintenance of a student culture at College E that was upbeat, active and enhancing from the student perspective Milieu Initiative 2 (M2): At point of hiring ensure that selection of staff includes those likely to positively affect the staff milieu. Ensure that future development has an equal weight with past qualifications and experience in selection of staff and make newly hired staff feel that their special qualities ensured selection. Over time, work with teaching staff individually to ensure that professional development is targeted to each teacher’s personal and professional interests. Ecology Initiative 1 (E1): Management not be physically separated from staff Ecology Initiative 2 (E2): Workspaces were to be mixed and an ‘open classroom’ policy was to be implemented Culture Initiative 1 (C1): That the culture of the college encourage integration and unity of operation while recognising the diversity of views and work tasks and that the college encourage an in-awareness development of organizational culture. Culture Initiative 2 (C2): That the college develop a collaborative work culture both within areas such as teaching and administration and between functional areas. Culture Initiative 3 (C3): That the organization have a core commitment to clients and client service. This commitment had to apply both to front-line staff who are in constant contact with students, as well as to management in their dealings with both students and staff.

47

Cycle(s)

1-3

3-4

3-4

1-2

1-6

1-2 1-2 1-6

1-6

1-6

2.5. Report of Findings Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p14) note that “there is no way we can escape the social world in order to study it” despite the research tradition that the social world is an independently

perceivable

phenomenon

that

observers

“delineate, describe and make coherent” (Manning, 1979: p.660). It is important for the researcher, however, not to confuse language systems used to explain the world with the objects of study. Simply reconstructing the language of the data into modes of scientific or analytic discourse and then mistaking this reconstruction for ‘real’ relationships among objects inhabiting a posited semantic domain can be a flawed process. Reification for its own sake is not the same as theory although it is difficult to completely avoid this trap. A continual tension in the writing of this report is that between being true to life or true to testability, finding a position between

structuralism

and

post-structuralism;

from

the

structuralist notion that the truth is 'within' the text to the post-structuralist notion that the interaction of writer and reader is an ongoing production making reading performance rather than consumption. Ultimately an ethnographer is engaged in telling a story, writing a product that has its roots in the narrative tradition and that uses a ‘pattern model of understanding’.

Part

of

the

reflexive

awareness

of

ethnographic writing must, of course, take into account the potential audience of the product. The primary audience of this research report are readers who are conversant with the 48

discoursal conventions of academic and educational writing and as such these are followed. The truth-value of what is written can be judged by its resonation with those who have had similar experiences to the ones outlined herein. The

role

of

the

researcher’s

cultural

background

and

assumptions need to be taken into account in ethnographic research.

The

self-awareness

necessary

to

negate

this

influence is probably impossible to attain, so the final research reporting has to explicate ways that the researcher’s cultural background and beliefs may have influenced the data gathering and interpreting process. I have outlined my own work experience in ELT in Section 1.4 Professional and Academic Background of the Researcher.

2.6. Conclusion The present research builds on a previous study by the author. The intention has been to investigate the underlying discoursal tensions in ELT management and then examine features of organizational climate at some international ELT colleges in Australia and provide some comment on their management practices. There is a particular interest in the influences of competing discoursal values on ELT managers and, in turn, the ELT manager influence on the structure, milieu, ecology and culture of the colleges. Hypotheses are fluid and have been developed and refined from the data over the course of the research. In this sense 49

the research has favoured exploration over hypothesis testing. This process tends to parallel decision making practices in ELT management, where decisions usually have to be made without possession of complete information and then have to be constantly retested and reworked in order to be made more suitable to an unfolding reality. The methodological issues in this chapter were grouped into four areas: general approach to research, data collection, data analysis and report of findings. The chapter argued that the use in this study of a combination of common techniques in education

and

management

research

-

interviews

and

ethnographic observation, discourse analysis and critical literature review, and action research in different phases of the research was an effective multi-dimensional way of understanding the aspects of organizational climate and its management in the institutional settings under investigation.

50

Chapter 3

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS

3.1. Introduction Research into organizations and their management has become a significant area of late 20th century interest due to the

increasing

industrialised

dominance

countries.

of

How

formal

organizations

organizations

come

in into

existence, how they grow and change, and how they succeed or

fail

have,

therefore,

become

vital

questions

in

contemporary social science research. As a result, there is now a vast range of literature on organizations and it is impossible to entirely reconcile all the differing approaches and perspectives it contains. The underlying tension or dynamic in most organizational research, however, revolves around the interactions of the organization’s members, its culture, its organizational structure and its surrounding environment

and

the

relative

importance

of

each

in

determining the organization’s behaviour and distinctive characteristics. This chapter briefly defines organizations for the purposes of this study and outlines four of the broad perspectives on organizations

and

their

management

that

have

been

developed in the literature. It argues that each perspective 51

tends to illuminate different facets of an organization and that a useful descriptive framework needs to attend to all four perspectives

to

provide

a

useful

understanding

of

an

organization.

3.2. Defining Organizations Despite the importance of organizations and the high level of research interest in them, a precise definition of organizations, as opposed to other social entities, remains problematic. Weber (1947, p.151) suggests that an organization can be seen as a social entity that is "a system of continuous purposive activity of a specified kind". In effect, a social entity that is designed to do something. Weber distinguishes corporate groups from other forms of social organization, defining a corporate group as a social relationship that is either closed or limits the admission of outsiders by rules. In Weber's view, organizations involve social relationships that proscribe individuals' interactions with the organization in a non-random way. Because organizations include some parts of the population and exclude others on the basis of non-random criteria, they have boundaries that can be defined and investigated. Weber's notion that organizations are social entities with boundary conditions that have been designed to do something has been a dominant idea in traditional organizational analysis. While organizations are undoubtedly social systems, they are composed of individual members. Even though organizations 52

can transcend the life of their members, they are shaped and influenced by their participants. Barnard (1937, p.73) in contrast to Weber, stresses the role of the individual, especially the executive, in organizations. While Weber’s view concentrates on the system, Barnard’s focuses on the individual. In Barnard’s view an organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons with an emphasis on the role of those in executive or commanding roles. The combination of Weber’s and Barnard’s views form the basis of the classic body of theory and thinking about organizations which has defined an organization as "a social device for efficiently accomplishing through group means some

stated

purpose"

(Katz

and

Kahn,

1978:

p.19).

Investigations of organizations must illuminate the ways in which the characteristics of an organizational entity affect its population, as well as the ways the individual members of the organization shape its identity and outcomes along with their own. Katz and Kahn (1978) have pointed out that one difficulty with the classical definition is that organizations characteristically include both more and less than is indicated by the purposes of their leaders or founders. They suggest that organizations are better seen as entities in which repeated, relatively enduring, patterned activities occur that are bounded in space and time, and where the energy for the initiation of a renewed cycle of activities arises from the output or outcomes of the 53

previous cycle. In Katz and Kahn's view, a defining feature of organizations is their ability to temporarily reverse the entropic process, resisting the natural law in which all forms of organization

tend

to

move

toward

disorganization

or

randomness. Katz and Kahn also suggest that organizations can be classified according to their primary or first order functions. Under this classification, productive or economic organizations are distinct from social maintenance organizations such as schools and churches. Other distinct functional types are those that are adaptive, such as research bodies, and those that play a political or managerial role such as pressure groups or unions. Katz and Kahn suggest that organizations that attempt more than one first order function have special problems integrating their tasks. They use the example of universities to highlight the functional tension between their social maintenance (teaching) and their adaptive (research) roles (Katz & Kahn, 1978, p.147). The functional tension between the educational and entrepreneurial roles of profitbased international ELT colleges, in effect its multifunction integration, is a feature of international ELT providers in Australia. The data in this research suggests an ongoing tension between the productive, profit-making function and the social maintenance educational function in privately owned and operated colleges in Australia. It is likely that, at least from the ELT manager’s perspective, the ultimate

54

management

task

is

the

effective

resolution

of

the

maintenance and productive functions of the college. Due to the explosion in research into management and organization theory it is no longer possible to use purely quantitative

means

to

investigate

organizations.

While

contingency theory analyses remain largely positivistic and techno-economic, much of the literature in the field has moved to deconstruct the classical model of organizations and replace it with a much more complex and fragmented view. There has been a notable shift in writings for managers from those that regarded organizations as 'organized' to ones that regard them as somewhat anarchic and less integrated, goal focused and ordered than was once imagined. Many theorists now describe organizations as systems of mutually reinforcing contracts of structured games, or as contexts of action where different strategies meet and are adjusted through negotiation and power. Friedberg (1993) sees many of these rules of action as being similar to the rules of a game. In order to achieve power you have to increase your own unpredictability in your behaviours that are important to others while increasing the predictability of their behaviours that are important to you – a sort of macro version of game theory and the prisoner’s dilemma. For the purposes of this research project though, the traditional

view

of

organizations

based

upon

Weber's

definition of organizations, supplemented by Barnard’s notion of the importance of the key individual as well as the system, 55

is used. Katz and Kahn's notion, of recurring cycles of patterned activities and the importance of adequate outcomes to

ensure

sufficient

input

for

renewal,

influences

the

descriptions of tasks and processes within the organizations under review. It is recognised that the stated, 'official' purpose of an organization may represent only one of its many purposes.

It

is

also

acknowledged

that

the

boundary

conditions for these organizations may be fluid and difficult to precisely

define

with

shifting

'edges'

and

increasing

organizational 'fuzziness'. This organizational fuzziness and its relationship to the postmodernist perspectives in general can only be briefly explored in this work, although it does provide a useful insight for ELT managers. Indeed, this boundary fluidity may be one of the distinguishing features of many international ELT colleges compared to more traditional educational organizations. While this research project adopts a largely 'management perspective' on organizational issues, the criticisms by the organizational existentialists about the limitations of the paradigms used to investigate and think about organizational matters need to be noted. Pauchant (1995) for example, argues the need for the further development of the field of organizational

existentialism,

leading

to

a

better

understanding of people in organizations. Organizations must find ways of addressing the loss of personal meaning and other afflictions of the human condition in modern life, and research needs to look more closely at people's lives, deaths, 56

responsibilities, ambitions, loves, lonelinesses, anxieties and spirituality in organizations, as such items are rarely discussed in workplace organizations or in the research on them. Pauchant (1995: p. 2) notes that while talk of career planning and marketable innovations, success and financial incentives, status and power are all readily apparent in the world of work the "...quest to embrace life fully seems to have vanished from many organizations". I hope that some of the feedback presented in the action research phase of this study will reveal some small efforts to make “the quest to embrace life fully” a more than peripheral concern.

3.3. Perspectives of Organizations Organizational theorists can be broadly divided into those that have focused on the rational elements of organizations as systems and those that have focused on the non-rational elements.

Four

varying

organizational

perspectives

are

referred to in this research. Three of these perspectives view organizational

behaviour

as

primarily

rational,

at

least

according to the interests and desires of the members of the organization. The first perspective, which could be labelled structuralist or configurationist, focuses on organizational structure and the formal shape of the organization. The second perspective views human resources as the central feature of organizational life and looks to the nature of human resource usage for explanations of organizational success and failure. The third perspective, which may be labelled the political perspective, advocates the use of political theories as 57

the primary tool in understanding organizations. The predominant non-rational perspective of organizations examines organizations from a symbolic view and sees symbolism and the manipulation of symbols as the most significant aspects of organizational analysis. Examining

organizations

from

a

structural

perspective

emphasises and highlights their goals, roles and technology. Structural analysis of organizations focuses most closely on the structure and the ecology of the organization and the ways that these can be manipulated and managed to improve organizational

outcomes.

variables

an

of

It

investigates

organization,

and

the

seeks

structural to

make

improvements in organizational configuration so that it best fits the purposes of the organization and the demands of its environment. importance

A of

structural formal

perspective

roles

and

emphasises

relationships

the

between

members of an organization such as those usually depicted on organizational charts or organigrams. The structural perspective developed from early work in the field that is often referred to as classical management. It combines Taylor's (1911) work on the scientific management of individual jobs, with the 'universal' management principles of Fayol (1949), and Mooney and Urwick's (1931) work on the design of organizations. Scientific management focused on the techniques and mechanics of production and included the now notorious concept of the time and motion study (Barnes, 1949). Fayol, Mooney, Urwick and others focused more closely 58

on

management

and

came

to

see

managerial

and

administrative behaviour as consisting of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. The

underlying

management

is

metaphorical mechanistic.

conception By

of

classical

concentrating

on

organizational structure and placing all jobs within a hierarchy, classical management theorists have helped create and describe the formal structure of many of our organizations. However

the

classical

management

emphasis

on

organizations as rational, technical entities can mean that aspects of the milieu and cultural dimensions of organizations are overlooked. In practice an overly mechanistic approach to the description of job responsibilities may encourage the "it's not my job to worry about that," attitude in organizations. It has been suggested that defining work responsibilities in a clear-cut manner may thwart initiative and flexibility; as everyone knows what is expected of them but also what is not expected of them (Morgan, 1986). Another limitation of viewing organizations solely from this perspective is that managers who are used to viewing organizations solely from a structural perspective, with responsibility at the top, a superordinatesubordinate chain of command and an under-utilisation of people in the lower levels of the hierarchy, may find their organizations particularly vulnerable to organizational inertia when their environment changes.

59

Nevertheless, many of the classical management concepts have become so firmly embedded in our culture that they are now a part of our conventional wisdom. The notions of the manager as a professional, of the manager as a separate entity from the 'doer', of the exception principle where the manager

deals

circumstances

with

and

the

the

problems

notions

of

and

the

unusual

standardization

and

specialization of work owe much to this area of management study. Even the fact that managers are a distinct entity originates in the work of the classical management tradition. The structural perspective can illuminate many important aspects of an organization and it is still the most 'popular' perspective on organizations. It can help reveal problems with contemporary organizations such as the tendency to organize 'upwards' to please the boss rather than 'downwards' (or as this study suggests with its notion of the fronted organigram ‘outwards’) to please the client. The Human Relations perspective on organizations derives from the writings of Mary Parker Follett (1941) and the famous series of studies done at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in Chicago by Mayo and Roethlisberger (1947). This approach emphasises employee motivation and satisfaction

and

group

morale

as

important

issues

in

management study and organizational theory. The Human Relations approach focuses attention on psychological factors and has had a powerful influence over many areas of 'people' management (see, for example, Kaplan & Tausky, 1977). The 60

concept of the manager as staff motivator and communicator of

organizational

goals

or

the

recent

exhortations

for

managers to act as 'coaches', for example, are drawn from the human

resource

emphasise

the

perspective. relationship

Human between

resource people

theorists and

their

organization. They focus on ways that people within an organization can be better able to be fitted to the formal roles and relationships required of them in their organization. This perspective sees organizational problems as arising chiefly from the lack of fulfilment of the human needs of individual members of the organization. The human resource perspective attends most closely to matters of organizational milieu and organizational culture and the ways that motivation, job satisfaction and morale can be managed. This perspective draws on similar research paradigms to those that have influenced thought on education in industrialised countries in the latter half of the twentieth century. This may be responsible for a view among educators that the human resource perspective is the 'sensible' view of organizations, because their paradigms of organizational and educational issues may be very similar. While this human resource perspective can illuminate certain aspects of an organization it can also disguise others, and due to economic and other constraints can frequently lead to high motivation, job satisfaction and morale for the privileged few 'insider' stakeholders with exploitation and demoralization for the many 'outsider' ones. 61

The third broad perspective adopted in management and organizational

analysis

acknowledges

the

is

the

political

social-relational

and

perspective.

It

formal-structure

perspectives of the first two approaches, but focuses more closely

on

the

distribution

and

use

of

power

in

the

organization. Political theorists see power, conflict and the allotment of scarce resources as the dominant issues in organizational analysis. The role of management, in this view, is its ability to manage power and conflict and reconcile differing coalitions to organizational purposes. This political framing of organizational problems sees difficulties arising because power is unevenly distributed, or is too widely dispersed, to achieve positive outcomes. Managerial solutions, according to political theorists, need to focus on political skill and the ability to organize and reconcile opposing coalitions. Proponents of this approach have outlined a comprehensive theory of cooperative behaviour in formal organizations and have argued that organizations need to be seen as dynamic as well as structural entities. From the political perspective it is possible to perceive two ends of the organizational continuum from conflict to cooperation. The aim of an effective manager would be to move the organization from a conflict system into a cooperative system. A key feature of this perspective is that it illuminates the tremendously high failure rate of organizations. This high failure rate is not intuitively apparent, as failures disappear while successful

62

organizations

continue

to

exist,

thus

exaggerating

the

apparent proportion of the successes (Levitt & March, 1990). The political perspective has helped reveal problems with the classical assumption that superordinate-subordinate linkages are uniform on all matters and that all decisions or 'orders' are treated consistently. This assumption does not allow for the fact that initiatory power in many professional contexts varies by topic and that in educational organizations, for example, there is frequently a lack of uniformity of control with managers being susceptible to peer and subordinate social influence. This susceptibility to peer and subordinate influence and the blurring of a 'line system' of authority was noted by Lortie, who observed in elementary schools that matters of compliance with record-keeping fell into the principal's zone of influence, while in-class affairs fell within the teacher's territory. Conflicts arose in the many areas where hegemony was unclear (Lortie, 1969). This study finds this type of organizational 'fuzziness' in the colleges examined, with similar findings recorded elsewhere (Parrot, 1990: p.7). Pfeffer and

Salancik's

(1980)

demonstrations,

that

supervisory

behaviour is often a characteristic of the social situation, rather than of the supervisor in professional and semiprofessional contexts, also show the important insights that can be gleaned from a political perspective. The essential question for managers from this political perspective becomes just how much organizing and control is needed for the most desirable outcomes. At the theoretical 63

level arguments in this area have swung from those who see efficiency as springing from coordination and control to those who see such coordination and control as self-defeating, creating barriers to efficiency and harming an organization's long term performance. The suggestion within this study of the suitability of a collaborative work culture in ELT colleges grows from a political perspective. The fourth broad perspective on organizations is the symbolic perspective. It is primarily non-rational and sees organizations as being held together more by shared values and inculcated beliefs than by goals and policies. From this perspective problems arise when symbols are inappropriate or ceremonies and rituals have lost their potency. Symbolic theorists argue that managers need to rely on imagery, values and beliefs in order to create common purposes in organizations. Bolman and Deal (1987) throughout their work argue that the symbolic perspective is not based on a rational worldview, and that therefore this perspective is most illuminating and applicable in organizations with unclear goals and uncertain technologies. In such organizations, ambiguity is everywhere and it is uncertain where power lies, how success is defined, whether or not a decision has been made and even what the goals

are.

A

symbolic

perspective

sees

organizational

movements as fluid rather than linear and centres on the concepts of meaning, belief and faith. Bolman and Deal argue that the symbolic frame forms a conceptual umbrella for ideas from disciplines such as: organizational theory and sociology; 64

(e.g. Weick, 1976), political science (e.g. Dittmer, 1977); Freudian and Jungian psychology, where paradigms rely on symbolic concepts to understand human behaviour; semiotics and linguistics with the notion of the arbitrary signifier and the socially constructed signified; and, of course, anthropology, where symbols and their place in the culture and the lives of people are a central concern. For many who have tried to manage or survive in organizations, especially in the service sectors, the symbolic perspective closely mirrors the reality they have experienced. The symbolic perspective can be a powerful "lens for viewing life in collective settings" and it allows for rich description of organizational experience on the part of organizational members. It can help reveal aspects of organizations that the more rational perspectives can ignore. Bolman and Deal (1987: pp.149-150) note that from a symbolic perspective several research and information gathering assumptions need to be foregrounded. These are: "1. What is most important about any event in an organization is not what happened but the meaning of what happened. 2. The meaning of an event is determined not simply by what happened but by the ways that humans interpret what happened. 3. Many of the most significant events and processes in organizations are substantially ambiguous or uncertain - it is often difficult or impossible to know what happened, why it happened, or what will happen next. 4. Ambiguity and uncertainty undermine rational approaches to analysis problem solving and decision-making. 5. When faced with uncertainty and ambiguity humans create symbols to reduce the ambiguity, resolve confusion, increase predictability and provide direction. Events themselves may

65

remain illogical, random, fluid and meaningless, but human symbols make them seem otherwise."

The description and analysis of organizational culture in this study

is

framed

from

a

symbolic

perspective

seeing

organizational practices as being derived from symbols, heroes, rituals and values the organization comes to project over time. All the various models and approaches to organizational theory emphasise different aspects of management activity. No model can possibly map all the relevant phenomena and each of the various conceptualizations can illuminate different aspects of an organization. There are thus a wide variety of views on managerial style flowing from differing conceptions of what organizations are and what they do. Purely rational assumptions can fit well in some organizations. Building electronic devices, for example, can be reduced to a somewhat linear process with a well-understood sequence of steps, clear goals and defined technologies with visible end products. There are a variety of concrete indicators such as sales and profitability that can be evaluated in order to provide clear measures of success or failure. Rational assumptions can also be important in some parts of organizations even though they have limited use in describing the overall organization. Thus in educational organizations it is much more difficult to prove that students are being well taught, or that complex behavioural outcomes are being successfully achieved than it is to show that a college 66

cafeteria is cost effective or that the college's accounting and billing systems are precise and clear-cut. The different research perspectives can be used to illuminate different facets of an organization and a full picture of an organization depends, like a cubist work of art, on a combination of perspectives. Descriptions of organizations in this research project, therefore, attempt to combine aspects of each perspective to arrived at a more complex and multidimensional view of international ELT colleges than would be possible using only one perspective. The rational perspectives pre-dominate in the descriptions of organizational structure and ecology. The human resource perspective and the political perspective are emphasised in the chapters on milieu and in discussions of collaborative work cultures. The symbolic perspective emerges in the chapters on organizational culture and in the descriptions of facets of organizational life in international ELT colleges. This helps to provide a fuller flavour of these organizations and their management.

3.4. Management and Organizational Effectiveness Interest in the activities and the behaviour of the class of people who organize and administer organizations has led to the notion or construct of a distinct organizational sub-group, referred to as 'managers', that can be easily distinguished from the 'doers'. Like the definition of an organization though, precisely defining what a manager is, or even exactly what a manager does, is problematic, despite a large array of 67

research and interest in the topic. The exact function and role of managers is somewhat arbitrary and relates closely to the perspective on organizations that is adopted. This study argues that the primary role of managers is to improve the effectiveness of their organization and it is this core task that charges the manager with the responsibility to view the organization from a holistic perspective. Comment on organizational effectiveness, however, is itself problematic because it is both the most important and the least delineated of organizational constructs. There is a large body of research into the organizational effectiveness of schools and educational institutions but this vast array of studies has failed to produce an unambiguous definition

of

organizational

effectiveness.

Organizational

effectiveness is a central theme of analysis used in 'practical life' and all the various stakeholders in international ELT colleges use effectiveness indicators in practice. On the basis of real or imagined information students choose particular institutions, change from one to another and decide to drop out or to continue studying. Teachers and managers transfer 'horizontally' between institutions believing that certain ones are 'better' than others. International ELT colleges in Australia that wish to be able to provide eligibility for overseas students to obtain visas to study in Australia have to meet the accreditation requirements of bodies such as the National English

Accreditation

Scheme

to

be

eligible

for

the

Commonwealth Register of Intensive Courses for Overseas 68

Students

(CRICOS)

which

are,

in

effect,

minimum

effectiveness indicators. How organizational effectiveness is defined, who determines the criteria, how short or long term a view should be adopted and what criteria are used, can lead to the generalisation that effectiveness cannot be defined or measured and there is no doubt

that

from

a

theoretical

perspective

notions

of

organizational effectiveness can be controversial. In this study comments on effectiveness are linked to those outlined in previous research into ELT management in Australia

(see

organizational

Keaney,

1994:

effectiveness

as

pp.22 linked

– to

26).

This

sees

attainment

of

organizational goals and to acquisition of system resources. Attainment of goals is fundamentally linked to the educational values of the college while acquisition of system resources is a more clearly entrepreneurial aim. A successful ELT college, it is argued, is one that has constantly improving educational quality as well as increasing financial success and profitability.

3.5. The Description of International ELT Organizations The ELT organizations discussed in this report are viewed as entities that are an interrelationship of systems, individual members and cycles of recurring, purposive activities (even if the purpose of the activities differs from those of the leaders or founders). When a new member enters the organization they are confronted with a social structure that embraces 69

interaction patterns and organizational expectations. These patterns and expectations are systematic and the new member

must

respond

to

them

in

some

fashion.

Organizational considerations influence the behaviour of the members of the organization and account for part of the behaviour of these individual members, whose behaviour in turn shapes and influences the nature of the organization. Interested observers can always detect a ‘feel’ to a particular organization. When one walks into an educational institution for the first time, an array of impressions combine to give the observer a notion of the ‘atmosphere’ of the place. These impressions consist of a combination of physical aspects such as the location, furnishings, style of classrooms, type of equipment and teaching resources, human aspects and environmental aspects. In order to describe international ELT colleges, and give a sense of the differences and similarities between them, a standard framework is needed. The various perspectives on organizations outlined above indicate the need to have a framework that examines as wide a range of organizational features as possible. This range of features needs to include a number of dimensions. The physical dimension which includes such features as buildings and teaching resources, the human dimension incorporating such factors as staff and their beliefs and the ways they work (or don’t work!) together, the types of students being educated and the external environment such

70

as the regulatory controls and the state of the economy, all obviously affect the character of an international ELT college. International ELT colleges tend to have higher staff turnover than traditional education institutions for a number of reasons (Griffiths, 1992; p14; Waites, 1999 pp.392 - 459). This obviously means that staff involved in the delivery of ELT tend to work in a number of different institutions over the course of their careers. It is likely that such staff have a stronger awareness of this institutional ‘feel’ than those who remain with one or two work organizations throughout their working lives. Comparisons between particular colleges, between types of institutions and between different countries are a common topic of discussion among staff in ELT colleges. Students in ELT colleges in Australia are also more likely to compare and discuss colleges than is the case for students in most educational institutions. A major reason is that domestic students tend to mix with peers at the same college or institution, whereas international ELT students are more likely to mix with students from their own ethnic or language groups, who attend a range of institutions in Australia. These informal discussions and comparisons, however, do not provide a systematic basis for description and comparison. In order to provide an ordered basis for the gathering and reporting of data a model of organizational climate has been used in this study. The framework is based on Tagiuri's (1968) framework modified by Owens (1995, p.79) that is used to describe

the

distinctive

characteristics 71

of

organizations.

Tagiuri defines organizational climate as the characteristics of the total organization manifested in the four dynamically related

dimensions

of

ecology,

milieu,

social

system

[relabelled as organizational structure by Owens (1995, p.79) which is the terminology used here] and culture. The ecology of an organization is all of its physical and material aspects such as its location, the size and condition of its buildings, the nature of the technology used by its people and all of the items that are necessary to carry out the activities of the organization. More particularly, it refers to all of the equipment and technology used by the members of the organization such as the desks and chairs, the tables in the staff room, the whiteboards and overhead projectors (OHPs), the computers, the tea and coffee facilities, indeed everything ‘physical’ that is used to carry out organizational activities. Ecology is the most tangible dimension of organizational climate

and

frequently

plays

a

symbolic

role

in

representations of organizational culture and structure. The layout and arrangement of premises, furnishings and equipment

is

a

significant

ecological

variable

between

international ELT colleges. Most educators are familiar with the importance of matching classroom layout to learning activity and yet ELT managers frequently pay insufficient attention to the significance of staff room layout, location of senior management and arrangement of resources that can have profound effects on organizational climate.

72

The milieu of an organization, on the other hand, is its social dimension. Milieu reflects the characteristics of the staff and clients of the organization describing such features as age, gender, ethnicity, salary levels, socio-economic backgrounds, level of job satisfaction, morale and motivation, behaviour towards other organizational members and a range of other personal attributes and characteristics. Many of the issues raised by human resource theorists arise in discussions of organizational milieu. Theorists who view organizations and their members from a political perspective also offer insights that are important in discussions of organizational milieu. Matching of client to college can be an area of comparative advantage. Niche creation is a well-known concept in business areas but is less emphasised in educational circles. Targeting particular types of students and those with particular needs as well as focusing on staff selection to assist in cultural outcomes can be a contributor to the growth and success of a college. Other significant areas in the milieu dimension are somewhat nebulous characteristics such as ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘cultural awareness’. While these types of characteristics present problems of definition and measurement, they are frequently used as a basis of comparison of international ELT colleges

by

revenue

contributing

stakeholders

such as

students and educational agents. The third dimension in Tagiuri's framework is the social system

of

an

organization,

its

organizational

and

administrative structure. This dimension relates to the method 73

of organization, the decision making process, the formal communication patterns and the nature of the component work groups. This aspect accords with the type of information typically sought from a structural research perspective. Many of the notions raised by classical management theorists arise in discussions of organizational structure. A significant area in this dimension is the speed and process with which decisions are made. Frequently decisions over hard costs such as equipment purchases, which are relatively insignificant from an overall budget perspective, are made by senior organizational members whereas decisions on soft costs such as staff time and meetings are relatively unplanned and ad hoc. Certain structural features can assume unrealistic importance while other equally volatile or significant ones can be ignored. The fourth and least tangible dimension of this model is the culture of an organization. This is the dimension of the organization that refers to its values, belief systems, norms and ways of thinking, which come to characterise the people in the organization. The cultural dimension includes the forces that comprise the symbols, rituals, heroes and values that reflect and shape the practices of the organization and help to shape and reinforce human behaviour. While organizational culture is the least tangible dimension of organizational climate it has a powerful effect on the other dimensions, and thus on the overall climate, of an international ELT college. This study suggests that an emphasis on the three themes of 74

integration,

collaboration

and

client

service

can

have

repercussions throughout the organization. This emphasis is likely to help to resolve tensions in vision and values drawn from

differing discourses, to assist in configuration of

organizational structure to match core service activities, to provide a basis for decisions on organizational milieu and to give guidance on issues affecting organizational ecology. A modified version of Tagiuri's model is outlined in Figure 3.1

75

Organizational Culture

ENVIRONMENT

è

ê

psycho-social characteristics • norms • belief systems • key values

ç ENVIRONMENT ê

values

Organizational Milieu characteristics of individuals • staff attributes • student attributes • motivation / morale

CLIMATE

Organizational Ecology physical/material factors • layout of premises • design of premises • technology

Organizational Structure

é ENVIRONMENT

ORGANIZATION AL

è

configuration • distribution authority • communication patterns • decision-making practises

é of

ç ENVIRONMENT

Figure 3.1. Organizational Climate This is adapted from Tagiuri's original model and the suggested revisions by Owens (1995: p.79). For the purposes of this research the model is framed by the external environment to enable discussion of external regulatory and market conditions.

76

3.6. Conclusion Comment on the international ELT colleges in this study uses both rational and non-rational theoretical perspectives to highlight differing views of educational organizations, their effective operation and accurate description. The bias is towards the management of the organization, not out of a sympathy with 'managerialism' (Thompson & McHugh, 1995: p.12), but because it is those in the role of manager who are most likely to be confronted with the uncertainties and flux that is highlighted in this data and to be charged with ‘doing something about it’. Ultimately, in a study such as this, the perspective of the researcher colours the theoretical approaches used, as the discussion on the methodology of the study in Chapter 2 indicates. Research into issues such as the way organizational culture

can

shape

performance

and

life

chances

of

organizations and how the structure, ecology and milieu of the organization can shape its culture and ability to learn must be situated in a view of organizations and organizational life that is based on deep philosophical notions about the construction of our social and political realities. As with many areas of social science research the process of asking the questions, and the ongoing search for the answers, can prove as valuable and enduring as the sometimes ephemeral answers ultimately obtained.

77

Chapter 4

THE INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT

4.1. Introduction This chapter looks at some of the external environmental influences on international ELT colleges in Australia. It first looks at the notion of English as the premier international language to explain the environmental creation of demand for international ELT colleges. It then outlines the growth of the international ELT industry in Australia and gives an overview of legislation and other limiting factors that provide the primary environmental constraints and regulations for ELT colleges. It briefly summarizes the typical products and services of international ELT colleges before concluding with a brief summary of the chapter. The organizational climate model in Figure 3.1 indicates that all facets of an organization are shaped by, and inextricably linked

with,

the

external

environment.

Environmental

constraints play an important role in the formation of organizational cultures and differing environments no doubt tend to favour particular types of such cultures. Deal & Kennedy (1982) note throughout their work that there is likely to be a vast organizational cultural difference between companies

that

must

sell

an 78

undifferentiated

product,

compared to those that are chiefly focused on innovation, research and development. In the early 1950s Homans established that the external physical and technological environment generates activities and interactions, which in turn generate sentiments and norms. When these sentiments and norms have formed they become the internal system of the organization, which can then in turn affect the external system by influencing activities and interactions. Thus the link between environment and culture is circular. While the environment determines constraints and options for the development of a particular culture, once the culture is formed the shared assumptions will in turn influence what will be perceived and defined as the environment (Schein, 1985, p.51). In effect the environment is not completely objective, tangible, and measurable but comes to be constructed by the people in the organization and reproduced by the networks of symbols and meanings that unite them and make shared action possible. The shifting nature of the boundary between the 'inside' and the 'outside' of organizations also means that the whole notion of environment has become a very rich and detailed area of organizational data. The environment of international ELT colleges, like other educational organizations in Australia, is directly affected by the great shift in social and organisational phenomena and the evolution of social constructs from the modern to the postmodern. As Baldwin (1997, p.14) writes: 79

It is tempting to draw analogies between what is occurring now in the delivery of education and training and the transformation of the financial sector a decade ago. As with the financial sector, innovation by providers, technological change and internationalisation are undermining traditional regulatory approaches. In education, as with the financial sector, traditional restrictions constraining who provides what sort of 'product' are breaking down and the boundaries between traditionally separate sectors are breaking down.

4.2. English as an International Language It is frequently stated that English is the international language and there is a vast array of statistical support for this proposition. Over 300 million people use English as a mother tongue language and a further 300 million use it as a second language with a further 100 million using it fluently as a foreign language. This has increased more than 40% since the 1950s. If speakers with a lower level of fluency are included the total figure is well over one billion users. English is used as an official or semi-official language in over 60 countries with a prominent place in another 20. It is the main language of the print media, of air traffic, of information technology,

international

advertising,

pop

music

business, and

diplomacy,

academic

and

sport, scientific

conferences. More than 80% of information stored on the world’s electronic retrieval systems is in English (Crystal, 1994, p.358). While some have suggested much of the data in this area is relatively soft (Joseph, 2001: pp212 – 240) and that the spread of English may be less rapid than is commonly

80

thought, there is no doubt that English is the language of the globalisation of the world economy. While there is ideological opposition to the manifestation of this linguistic force, the provision of English language teaching services is no doubt demand, rather than supply, driven. Whatever ideological problems the provision of English instruction may have, [and many writers such as Gregson (2001) and Pennycook, (1994) have assiduously pointed these out], it is certain that the denial of the right to learn English would be a far more repressive measure. On the level of English language teaching, therefore, it is safe to say that whatever the outcome of the ideological debates of post-colonialism there is little chance in the next few decades that any other language will come close to English's place in the world. The huge need for English language teaching services has led to an increasing commodification of ELT and a subsequent explosion in the number of providers around the world. This increasing commodification has also meant a significant fall in the real cost of ELT courses to the student

with

consequent

stresses

on

course

quality.

Commodification is frequently a sign of the maturation of an industry, so while it does present problems for ELT educators and course quality, it is also a signal that the teaching of English has ‘come of age’ as a commercial activity and now holds a significant global economic presence.

81

4.3.The Growth of the International ELT Industry in Australia The delivery of ELT is a highly intangible service. The output is not a physical product or construction and its added value to the client exists in forms such as added convenience, amusement, comfort, opportunities or satisfaction. The core activity of international ELT colleges in Australia is the delivery of English language courses to overseas students. Because they rely almost exclusively on full-fee paying overseas students for their viability (Cervi, 1991; p.4) there is both a far greater element of risk in the ELT sector and an undeniably entrepreneurial aspect that can be lacking in those sectors of the Australian education system with more captive markets (Bundesen, 1992). The ELT industry in Australia is a significant part of its education services 'export' sector. As well as having important links with the rapidly expanding tourism industry, it occupies a crucial role as the first contact point for many overseas students who will later move into institutions in other sectors of the Australian education system, such as universities, schools and VET institutions. The international ELT industry in Australia, especially its delivery by private providers, is very young. It was not identified as a separate item in the export of education services until 1986 and before 1981 there were few available pathways for non-immigrant ELT students. From 1981 to 1986 the industry grew in a fashion similar to many 'new’ industries 82

with little regulation and steady increase in profitability and visibility of organizations offering the services. While some private ELT colleges began operations in the mid-sixties, rapid and sometimes controversial growth in the area began in 1986, as subsidised places for overseas students in Australia began to be phased out and Government funding to education was reduced. Foreign students began to be seen as an important source of revenue rather than as recipients of aid (Cervi, 1991; p.4). The growing demand within Asia that accompanied its rapid industrialisation

and

growth

of

its

middle

classes,

in

combination with the increasing importance of English as an international language, meant the industry began to grow dramatically in 1987 with a particularly drastic increase in the number of students from The People’s Republic of China. By 1989 there were more than 38000 students in ELT courses in Australia, more than 10 times as many as in 1986 (EA, 1991, p. 6). Indeed, in June 1989, there were 20000 students from China studying in Australia and up to 37000 waiting in a 'queue' in Beijing to commence study in Australia. Very

quickly

the

laissez-faire

approach

was

drastically

changed to a highly regulated and controlled market, most particularly one that would restrict the 'visa overstay’ problem. In order to distinguish between those countries where the overstay rate was particularly acute, the notion of low-risk and high-risk countries came into being. This was

83

later formalised in relevant legislation as Gazetted and Nongazetted countries. In the initial phase of this move, almost all of the major nations in Asia were deemed to be high-risk countries, and the effect of the new restrictions was immediate and financially crippling to many colleges. The two legislative 'shocks' of the New Global Entry Criteria of August 1989 and the Regulations under the New Migration Act of December 1989 had immediate impacts in the major markets of China, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Korea. This downturn continued throughout 1990 and was also felt even in the low risk countries that were turned off by the more complex entry arrangements to Australia compared to competitor countries. By 1991 there had been a 49% drop in ELT enrolments compared to 1989, with China declining by 60% and other markets declining by more than 30% (EA, 1991: p.8). The ELICOS Association, as it was originally called, was founded in 1981 as an industry body to represent ELT colleges. It put forward a submission to the Industry Commission Inquiry in 1991 identifying the dilemma that still remains at the core of the international education debate in Australia. The EA report (1991, p.i) states "Australia currently has a choice between a conservative or an entrepreneurial approach to the export of education services. The conservative approach preserves our separation from an ascendant Asia. The entrepreneurial approach puts Australia in a better position to share more fully in the dynamism of the region over the next two decades and beyond."

84

The EA report notes that export of ELT education services is capital efficient with a high positive balance of foreign exchange earnings for invested capital (EA, 1991: p.3). It also emphasises that the formal sector of education has strong limitations in the extent to which it can be differentiated, whereas

English

language

courses

can

be

readily

differentiated to suit changing student demand. Such aspects as course length, starting and restarting dates, focus, media of instruction, purpose, student selection and grouping, level, intensity and student teacher ratios can be mixed in an infinite number of ways to suit a myriad of changing market opportunities. In 2000 there were more than 188,000 students from overseas studying in Australia. They contributed more than $3.6 billion to the Australian economy including more than $1.8 billion on fees that were paid directly to institutions and roughly

$1.8

billion

on

goods

and

services,

including

accommodation, food and transportation. More than 80% of these overseas students studying in Australian institutions come from Asia with Indonesia Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan the leading source countries. The proportion of students in the ELT sector fluctuates much more than in other sectors of international education in Australia. In 2000, 19.5% of overseas students on student visas in Australia were enrolled in ELT courses up from 19.1% in 1999. Over the course of this project student numbers in 85

ELT fluctuated dramatically. The steady growth in the sector in the early and mid 1990’s was severely interrupted by the Asian economic crisis of 1997 - 98. From 1994 to 1995 ELT students on full-time student visas increased by 30.7% from 26,173 to 34,209. From 1995 to 1996 there was a 26.6% increase to 43,307. From 1996 to 1997 however there was a 13.8% fall in student numbers and in 1998 a dramatic decline of 26.8%. Only 27,356 students were issued student visas to study ELT in 1998, which was almost a return to the 1994 levels. From 1998 to 1999 there was a small increase of 6.8% and from 1999 to 2000 the large growth of the early 1990s return with an increase of 25.8% so that there were over 36000 students studying English in Australia on student visas. (DETYA: 2001, Table 5, DEST, 2002b). The raw numbers above understate the true size of the sector however, because they only indicate students who have applied to Australia to study ELT on a student visa. Many in the other sectors (Higher Education, Vocational Education and Schools) would have initially completed an ELT course included in their subsequent visa. Also many students studying ELT do so while holding either tourist visas or working holiday visas, meaning there is a large extra number of enrolments to consider. The DEST estimates for 2000 are that approximately 27000 students were enrolled in shortterm ELT courses in Australia while visiting on a tourist or working holiday visa. This means that more than 63000 students undertook ELT study in Australia during 2000. 86

A developing issue in the branding of international education in Australia is that students coming to Australia perceive freedom as a significant factor differentiating Australia from the United States. Australian Education International after an exhaustive market research study concluded that while the factors of challenge and status appeared to be the heartland of international education Australia had a strong existing position with a sense of freedom and that this will provide a significant marketing focus in the years ahead (DEST 2002c).

4.4. The Regulation of the International ELT Industry in Australia In 1990 the National Consultative Committee on the Export of Education and Training Services (NACCEETS) was set up to strengthen industry consultation between various groups of providers. The committee's title was changed in 1991 to the National Consultative Committee on International Education and Training Services (NACCIETS). NACCIETS includes the various industry umbrella groups such as ACPET, the EA, the AVCC, students represented though the NLCISA, relevant unions, State governments and Commonwealth Departments From 1 January 1990 responsibility for the approval and accreditation of courses offered to international students, and the registration of the institution that enrols them, has rested with State and Territory governments based on a range of minimum standards, which were endorsed by the Australian Education Council in June 1990. Assurance of educational 87

standards, therefore, rests at the state level and depends on the accreditation process. In effect, monitoring of the financial status of institutions, with regard to the use of overseas students fees and the compliance with immigration and visa conditions, is a Commonwealth concern, while the assurance of educational standards and the monitoring of course quality are state/territory functions. International education in Australia and related training is spread across the Commonwealth Departments of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) and more than a dozen state and territory portfolios. This can have the great pitfall, as Graham (1997, p.3) notes, of leading to policies either overlapping or else being deficient. Some of the most important regulatory bodies and legislation are outlined below: The ESOS ACT: DEST (FORMERLY DETYA) DEST is the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training. It has been restructured several times in the last two decades and has formerly been DETYA (Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs), DEETYA (Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs) and DEET (Department of Employment, Education and Training). The Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial Regulation) Act 2000, or ESOS Act, 88

replaced

similar

legislation

first

enacted

in

1991.

It

commenced operation on 4 June 2001 and is currently the most important Commonwealth Act affecting international education in Australia along with the relevant sections of the Migration Acts that cover student visas. In the late 1980's and early 1990s Australia's reputation as a provider of education to international students came under a number of stresses that were identified at Commonwealth level as having the potential to seriously damage its reputation. Some of these pressures were identified by the Senate Standing Committee on Employment Education and Training inquiry (1992, p.5) as: 

the emergence of some unscrupulous providers in the private education sector



some evidence of unevenness in the quality of both services provided and the support structures for students



breaches by students of visa conditions



the

financial

collapse

of

several

private

institutions and the consequent adverse publicity in overseas countries about the problems of students who lost money as a result. As a result of these pressures, and the real or imagined problems that they led to, the ESOS Act was designed to address many of these concerns, especially the way that some institutions were dealing with overseas students. The intention

89

of the Act according to the Senate Standing Committee inquiry (1992, p.5) was: to protect provider and course quality through registration of institutions and to protect student funds held by providers.

The Act also signalled to education providers and potential overseas students that the Government was serious about remedying problems arising from the failure of institutions and the loss of funds by students and preventing any recurrence of such problems in the future. The most important features of the ESOS Act were that 1. Education providers had to be registered with DEST in order to offer courses to overseas students. This registration requires listing on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) that is based on State or Territory approval of the provider. 2. If an institution is suspended by its relevant state or territory body then its registration with DEST and on the CRICOS is suspended or cancelled automatically. Failure to comply with aspects of the ESOS Act can lead to such cancellation

with

defined

procedures

and

appeal

mechanisms for the affected providers. 3.

Institutions

that

receive

Commonwealth

recurrent

funding (such as public universities, TAFEs government

90

schools and most private schools) are exempt from the financial regulation aspects of the ESOS Act. 4. Institutions that are not exempt from the financial provisions of the Act had to establish special accounts for pre-paid overseas student fees and keep transaction records on such accounts. (From mid-2001 the Trust Account provisions have been supplemented by an industry wide insurance scheme known as the ESOS Assurance Fund). The ESOS Act came into force on 27 June 1991 with regulations

made

under

the

Act

being

proclaimed

in

November 1991 and June 1992. The setting up of the CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Course for Overseas Students) by DEET (now DEST) was the central implementation measure of the Act. There were many initial difficulties with the implementation of the Act. The Senate Standing Committee inquiry noted that more than two thirds of the relevant institutions were not at that time complying with various sections of the Act for reasons such as not submitting audited returns, auditors offering only qualified reports, auditors not clearly stating in their reports whether the institution had fully complied with the Act, or enrolment details being at odds with information extracted from Acceptance Advice form lodgements. With ongoing improvement in the efficiency of the Act and its

91

administration, and electronic confirmation of enrolment details, many of these problems were reduced. Some of the backwash effects of legislation and its power to alter perception can be seen in the following example. When the ESOS Act was originally drawn up Schedule 2 of the regulations included a list of exempt providers. This schedule came to be known in the industry as the 'safe list' as it seemed to indicate that the institutions mentioned on the list were safe, and had an implied government guarantee, whereas the private institutions not on the list were somehow riskier. This schedule has since been amended to exempt classes

of

providers,

rather

than

individually

named

institutions, and now exempts all institutions under direct state or territory financial control. It is important to note that the ESOS Act was drawn up to provide financial security for international students studying in Australian educational institutions. As its primary aim was financial, it did not in itself provide any guarantees of standards of courses or of educational quality. Quality of courses and course provision is done through the industry accreditation body, NEAS, the National ELT Accreditation Scheme, which has some delegated powers from State Government Education Authorities. Australia's Overseas Student Program: DIMA The other significant Commonwealth body for international ELT colleges is the DIMA. DIMA supervises the migration and 92

visa areas of the overseas student program, which enables non-Australians to study in Australia on a full fee basis. DIMA sees itself in a supporting role to the DEST in the program, through

supervision

of

the

immigration

requirements

connected with the entry and stay of overseas students in Australia. DIMA sees the Overseas Student Program (OSP) as trying to achieve three broad objectives. These are to increase Australia's

export

revenue

through

the

promotion

of

Australia's education and training sector, to develop bilateral relations through contributions to the social and economic development of the Asia Pacific region and to promote goodwill and an international understanding of Australia to assist in strengthening Australia's future trade and security (DIMA 1997, p.3). For many students obtaining their student visa becomes a significant concern in their initial explorations of study abroad. For students from high-risk countries the obtaining of a visa can be almost an end in itself. Even for those from low risk countries the process is more arduous than most expect. For many students already in Australia in ELT colleges, a major concern is attaining a sufficient level of English to advance to the next stage of study, either at university or a vocational college. Increasingly strict English language requirements on entry to such courses have given powerful extrinsic motivation for ELT achievement to students who want to continue to study in Australia, but they have also allowed an element of 93

corrupt or coercive activities to grow at a few unscrupulous colleges. ELT Institutional and Course Accreditation: NEAS NEAS (The National ELT Accreditation Scheme) is a national scheme that accredits ELT colleges in Australia – including private colleges, university language centres, VET ELT centres and private secondary schools. It has developed a series of standards and guidelines that proscribe such areas as class sizes,

curriculum,

orientation,

social

teaching and

methods

cultural

and

activities,

materials, professional

qualifications of English teachers and welfare counselling It is an industry based, self-funding, autonomous system and has been the accrediting body for ELT institutions since 1990. NEAS has established a set of quality standards and criteria for the provision of English language programs. New ELT colleges that wish to be accredited by the NEAS have to meet all of these standards before being approved to commence operations. NEAS also inspects each college annually to ensure that these standards are being maintained. In general institutional approval is a two-step process. Applicants for NEAS accreditation undergo a twelve-month provisional period before applying for full accreditation. Once institutions have met NEAS requirements they then apply to their State or Territory authority for registration on the CRICOS. After twelve months as a provisional candidate, institutions are assessed for accreditation. If they are able to 94

demonstrate full compliance with NEAS standards they become

NEAS

accredited

institutions.

NEAS

assesses

institutions for compliance with accreditation standards in the following areas: management, finance and administration, specialist student

staff,

premises,

assessment,

student

materials

services, and

curriculum,

equipment

and

recruitment and promotion (NEAS; 2001). Multiple Regulatory Authorities The break-up of regulatory supervision between DEST, DIMA and the NEAS is an institutional symbol of the divided world of the ELT manager. In effect one Commonwealth department controls financial matters, another regulates student visa matters while a third independent industry body, with delegated

powers

from

state

government

departments,

controls institutional and course accreditation matters. It is by no means an unworkable regulatory model but it does lead to many cracks and overlaps. It also reinforces the division between the entrepreneurial/institutional activities of an ELT college and its educational ones.

4.5. The Products and Services of International ELT Colleges ELT,

in

common

pronounced

with

difference

other from

service activities

industries, has

a

and

in

practices

organizations that produce goods. ELT colleges offer an intangible benefit that cannot be inventoried or patented. The ELT service cannot be easily displayed or communicated and 95

determination of pricing levels is complex. It is virtually impossible to standardize ELT delivery, and the quality depends on many uncontrollable factors, including the actions of the clients themselves. There is no sure way for ELT managers to know that the service delivery matches what was planned or expected. The ELT service is simultaneously produced as it is consumed, unlike manufacturing where production

and

consumption

are

separate.

The

clients

participate in, and affect, the transaction and also affect each other. Finally employees, particularly ELT teachers, have an enormous bearing on the outcome of the service with few rigid quality control techniques available. International ELT Colleges provide a range of educational services to international students that have as their core outcome the improvement of English language skills. Courses typically cover the whole spectrum of English language learning from beginning students with little or no English skills through

to

courses

to

prepare

students

for

high-level

academic studies or vocational activities in English. The ELT Colleges in this study offer most or all of the following courses although the actual names of courses vary slightly: 1. General English Courses General English courses typically offer from 4 to 52 weeks of English learning. The courses help students develop their general

skills

in

English

and

help

them

to

practice

communicating accurately and fluently with English speakers. 96

The courses usually focus more on spoken communication, especially at the beginner and intermediate levels but also include components on English writing skills. These courses are usually offered at all levels. 2. English for Business Courses English for Business courses introduce students to the specialised

language

of

business

and

reinforce

the

communication skills required in business situations through classwork,

field

trips,

lectures

and

familiarisation

with

computers and office technology. The courses are usually only available

to

students

with

intermediate

level

English

proficiency or above. 3. Exam Preparation and English for Academic Purposes Courses Many students at international ELT colleges have a desire to do further study in Australia or occasionally overseas. The most common entry exams required for this kind of study are the

IELTS

and

TOEFL

tests

and

many

colleges

offer

preparation courses for these exams. The courses typically help students develop the skills and knowledge required for these English examinations by working on academic reading and writing skills, formal and informal speaking skills and essay/report writing skills. The courses usually have restricted entry although some colleges do not enforce this. The EAP courses (English for Academic Purposes) usually offer more detailed preparation for academic study and may even specialise in particular disciplines. 97

4. English for High School Courses Many students come to Australia to enter high school but do not have sufficient command of English to be placed in a suitable school. The English for High School courses typically prepare students for entry to Australian high schools by combining regular general English language activities with school content and subject specific reading and vocabulary skills. It is a growing area in many ELT colleges due to increasing affluence and interest in the area from PRC and Korea. 5. Holiday, Novelty and ESP Courses There are also many courses that are offered to students on a short-term basis, either for groups of students who come to Australia for short periods of time or for students who have a particular interest in a certain activity and wish to combine their English studies with that activity. Course in English for golf, for surfing, for diving and other recreational activities have been a small but important part of the course offerings of many colleges. ESP courses (English for Special/Specific Purposes) are usually targeted at particular students groups. Typical ESP courses may include a group of workers from the same company who have

particular

specialised

needs

in

English

(say

understanding instructions on the safe use and transport of chemicals or English for International Currency Trading). Like the holiday and novelty courses they are usually peripheral to

98

main revenue activities of the ELT college but are of growing importance. As well as offering the courses above international ELT colleges usually have to provide the following services: 

Student counselling: to assist students with application, study concerns and in adjusting to life in Australia.



Accommodation

assistance:

temporary

or

especially

hotel

homestay

other families

to

arrange

accommodation for

overseas

students. There is frequently a need for assistance with issues relating to rental housing for longerterm students. 

Airport pick ups



Assistance with job seeking: to assist students in job seeking skills and interview skills and provide assistance in resume preparation and job seeking.



Mail facilities: So that students can have a central pick up point for their mail and messages



Student

social

programs:

International

students depend on the ELT college much more than their domestic peers for their social life. Because many students focus their life in Australia around their college, the student social program 99

can be a very important part of the college’s activities. 4.6. Conclusion The ELT industry in Australia is an important part of the education 'export' sector. As well as having important links with the expanding tourism sector, it occupies a crucial role as the first contact point for many overseas students, who will later move into institutions in other parts of the Australian education sector, such as TAFEs, universities or private vocational colleges. This

chapter

has

looked

at

some

of

the

external

environmental influences on international ELT colleges in Australia. It discussed the notion of English as the premier international language to explain the environmental creation of demand for international ELT colleges. It outlined the growth of the international ELT industry in Australia and gave a brief overview of legislation and other limiting factors that provide the primary legislative requirements and regulations for ELT colleges. It also summarized the typical products and services of international ELT colleges. The environmental factors mentioned in this chapter are all discussed further in their impact on the structure, culture, milieu and ecology of each of the ELT colleges in the study.

100

Chapter 5

DISCOURSES AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

5.1. Introduction The imperatives that drive entrepreneurs often seem to move in a different direction to those that appeal to many educators. This tension seems to be so common and so pervasive throughout educational enterprises that it is likely that there are some fundamental value clashes arising from competing

worldviews.

The

increasing

importance

of

entrepreneurial values in educational contexts, especially those that are privately owned and operated or are run on profit-making lines, mean that there are many areas of antagonism

between

such

an

'entrepreneurial'

and

an

'educational' view of the world. These are likely to manifest themselves as tensions within international ELT colleges, and the resolution of such tensions is, this study argues, likely to be a critical ability for successful ELT management. The discourse analysis in this and the following chapters broadly follows a question framework developed by Kemmis (1988, pp.57 - 85) that divides such an analysis into the three areas of language use, contestation and institutionalisation. This chapter provides an overview of discourse and discourse analysis. The following chapter gives a brief description of the 101

history and contemporary usage of the key ideas in the two discourses. Chapter 7 outlines some of the contestations between the two discourses. Chapter 8 then indicates how the relevant discourses have been institutionalised in some international ELT colleges, as well as how adequately rhetoric and practice are matched. The discourse analysis is intended to be illustrative and suggestive, as a comprehensive analysis is beyond the scope of this study. The purpose of the analysis is not to provide a thorough and complete overview of the discourses and all of the areas of contestation or resultant institutionalisation, but simply

to

indicate

a

‘feeling’

for

the

language

use,

contestation and institutionalisation as an aid to discussing the

effects

of

the

contestation

on

ELT

managers.

A

management model that contains a partial resolution of these values clashes is also suggested.

5.2. Discourse The conceptual meaning of discourse varies within the social sciences with different meanings being located in different theoretical areas of interest (Williams, 1988; p.254). Discourse and its analysis in this report is a combination of that used by Gumperz (1982) to discuss the dynamics and analysis of communication situations with those of Fairclough (1985, 1992) and Gee (1990) who also use discourse to indicate the ideological nature of language and language settings.

102

Only a very small part of an individual's knowledge of the world originates within their own personal experience, with much the greater part socially derived from peers, parents, institutions and the media. Schutz (1953, p.18) and many other analysts have pointed out the "typifying medium par excellence by which socially derived knowledge is transmitted is the vocabulary and syntax of everyday language.” The language of everyday life includes the naming of things and events that necessitates a typification and generalization of socially derived constructs. Rational action and rational conversation

take

place

within

a

frame

of

largely

unquestioned and undetermined constructs. No

text

or

stretch

of

utterances,

therefore,

can

be

ideologically neutral, as everyone has to have a system of beliefs

in

order

to

make

sense

of

the

world,

and

communication itself would be impossible in the absence of such systems. In a management text, for instance, crafting the relationship between various people used in examples in the text requires an ideology of how social interaction is conducted. The choice of a sympathetic character as the subject or object of an anecdote requires an ideology of what qualities are likable or admirable and so on through the vast array of choices that a writer of a text (or a speaker) has to make. While some choices may appear to particular readers or listeners as more appropriate than others, it is impossible to communicate in an ‘ideology-free’ zone.

103

Ideology plays a role in the creation, the consumption and the prestige of texts and an awareness of the ideological nature of language is an important critical and analytical tool. An analysis of a discourse to reveal its underlying ideology requires an understanding of the ways that the spoken and written texts within it relate to their broader contexts. A range of social and rhetorical practices forms the foundations of any text, and these social and rhetorical practices are not freely available to all. It is at this level of analysis though, that ideology of the discourse becomes a significant contributor to meaning. A joke that depends for its humour on knowing a particular topical event is likely to exclude those who don't keep up with the news, a person who does not understand or refuses to use the conventions of a particular scientific journal would be seriously handicapped in their quest for publication. All linguistically constituted modes of discourse, therefore, are informed by, surrounded by and encased within non-linguistic values, assumptions and beliefs that are an integral part of them. Quite apart from the 'information' in the text, an attitude of mind, an historical occasion, a belief system and a social context are portrayed. Gee (1990 pp.175-176) argues that people learn to speak, read and write in certain ways by serving apprenticeships in social settings, where people characteristically read, write and speak in these ways. Each discourse is attached to a particular social identity and a particular social group that is embedded in particular social settings and institutions. In this sense a discourse represents a 104

way of being in a family, a classroom, an educational institution, a peer group, a business organization, a gender or a profession, with the membership of the discourse enabling the individual to take up particular roles and be recognised by other discourse members as playing that role. Involvement in a discourse by an individual is not an automated following of rules stored in the data banks of the mind. A useful analogy may be that of dancing. The individual’s participation in the discourse is like a dancer dancing with body, mind and soul carrying out a complicated and sophisticated set of routines and actions that can be combined with an individual's own creative style, as long as this creativity does not make the dance unrecognizable as dance or as a particular kind of dance. If the ‘dance’ does not look fluid because an individual is having to 'think' and 'follow the rules' the dance fails and other ‘members’ reject the individual as a ‘dancer’ (Gee, 1990; p.171). Much of the modern work in the analysis of discourses has grown

from

the

writings

of

Foucault

(1972).

Foucault

wondered how it was that we knew that a particular statement or text ‘belonged’ in a particular academic discipline. He demonstrated that it was not simply because all the texts referred to the same object by showing the great changes in the discourse of psychopathology from the 18th Century to the 20th. Foucault argued from the premise of the right to speak, showing that, for example, the medical discourse expressed 105

by a surgeon is legitimised to a far greater extent than that expressed by a folk medicine practitioner. He also rejected the notion that such statements and texts can be simply linked by style, ‘a certain constant manner of statement’ (Foucault, 1972, p.33) by showing the drastic changes in style that have occurred over time within discourses. He rejected the idea that it can be simply based on themes for similar reasons. Ultimately he suggested that it is systems of dispersion and formation that allow discourses to be identified. For Foucault the essence of a discourse lies in its power

to

'produce'

reality

and

cause

new objects

of

knowledge to appear within its domains or prevent other new objects from forming. He saw discourses as perspectives that can not only observe truths but create or disallow truths as well. Work since Foucault has often focused on this notion of the power of particular discourses and their ability to determine what is relevant, what is true and what counts as important. Gee (1990, pp.176-178) makes the distinction between primary discourses that belong to the initial socialising group such as family, class or ethnic group (i.e. social and cultural in the broader class, ethnic or national sense) and secondary discourse produced within such groups and institutions as churches,

schools,

gangs

and

offices.

Such

secondary

discourses are a tradition handed down through time that constrains what happens in the present, since only what is

106

recognisably similar to what happened in the past can be recognised as a meaningful performance within the discourse. Discourse is used in this report in Gee’s notion of a secondary discourse - an area or discipline that is a more or less unified system revolving around identifiable themes, objects and styles, but, most importantly, around a system of the dispersion and formation of what is seen as true. A discourse comes to take an area of knowledge unto itself and in the process develops systematic language for doing so. Discourse insiders have a sense that the truths of their particular discourse

are

‘self

evident’.

Secondary

discourses

are

something like a tradition handed down through time that constrains what can happen in the present. Each new performance in the discourse must be similar enough to earlier ones to be recognised, but can be just new enough to change slightly what can be recognised as within the discourse in the future. Gee (1990, p.179) notes that people can be members of two conflicting discourses living out “internally and in the world the opposition between our discourses”. It is the contention of this report that many ELT managers are in exactly such a role; trying to resolve the discourse of the entrepreneur with that of the educator. Living with this cognitive dissonance can have the advantage of opening up possibilities for resistance to domination and hegemony although it produces intellectual and emotional tension through the attempted resolution of competing moral systems. 107

5.3. Discourse Analysis and Description Bloom (1979, p.6) has noted that the innocence of reading is a pretty myth. Even realistic texts are ruled by a set of conventions that readers have to construct as being realistic. This makes the transactions between authors and individual readers (or in oral communication between speakers and listeners) a kind of contract. The real world writer uses language that makes reference, and the real world reader accepts the obligation to cooperate with it. The text or story is then constructed and mediated by discourse practices which are embedded in socio-cultural practices as described by Fairclough

(1993).

In

a

written

text,

the

events

and

information are mediated by the discourse practices of the narrator, who is the speaker 'inside' the text, and the narratee who is the listener 'inside' the text. This speaking and listening inside the text is, in turn, filtered by the socio-cultural practices of the implied author - the persona of the real world author as revealed in the language and notions in the text and the implied reader who is an idealised version or mode of attention of a reader, as suggested by the language and assumptions made in the text (Palmer, 1992, p.108). An analysis of a text therefore requires not only an analysis of the events and information described, but also of these various levels or stages in the transaction between real world author and real world reader. The analysis of entrepreneurial and educational texts in the following chapters uses the terminology

from

the

frame 108

of

written

communication

transactions shown in figure 5.1 below. This frame is adapted from one devised by Stephens (1992, p.21).

109

AUTHOR (real world) IMPLIED AUTHOR (socio-cultural practices) NARRATOR (discoursal practices) EVENTS OF ‘STORY’ (text) NARRATEE (discoursal practices) IMPLIED READER (socio cultural practices) READER (real world)

Figure 5.1. Transactions between Writers and Readers

Thus in any written transaction the writings or sayings of a real world author are filtered by the implied author, who is identified by the socio-cultural practices - the attitudes, values and underlying ideologies - in the work, and realised through a narrator persona who relates the events of the story from particular viewpoints using particular discoursal practices. 110

Real world authors and readers successfully conduct this transaction by cooperating in ways similar to those outlined by Grice (1975, pp.45-48). The narratee (the listener 'inside the text') has to actively work with the narrator to note the implications of each incident that is being related, and assist in forming a narrative of these incidents that 'makes sense' in order for the work to be successfully interpreted. The implied reader has to share in the values of the implied author, not only regarding the central themes of the work, but also in the large number of underlying assumptions and beliefs that are required to keep the narrative and the text moving. The creation of meaning in a text depends on a range of levels. At the heart of a text analysis is the actual events of the story or information being conveyed which are easily retrievable and relatively unambiguous. One of the great difficulties in comment on discourse, however, is that the most easily retrievable and unambiguous data is the least useful in determining the underlying shape of the ideology. The role of implied author and implied reader, for example, can be extremely difficult to tease out and isolate, although it is at precisely these positions in the transaction of meaning that much of the work in the construction and revelation of the discourse and its underlying ideology takes place. Not only is the most crucial data the hardest and most controversial to unambiguously select and discuss, but also what is not said is frequently more critical than what is. Pennycook (1994, p.39) has illustrated this with regard to 111

advertisements for the growing world coverage of the media, listing a whole range of questions that are typically ignored. As well as the problem of ‘silences’, there is the problem of noticeability. The more powerfully something ‘works’ in a text, the less likely an analyst will see it as worthy of comment, for it is precisely the most naturalised ideological representations which come to be seen as non-ideological 'common-sense' (Fairclough, 1985; p.739). A recurring weakness in discourse analysis has been the hidden motivations and collusions of the analysers. Many analyses are implicitly attempting to create new secondary discourses based on new ideologies that would usually put the analysers themselves in positions of increased power. As most discourse analysis has so far been carried out by liberal intellectuals there has also been a tendency to label aspects of discourses being analysed in particular ways as signals of 'good' and 'bad' ideology. As Myers (1997) has pointed out, the jargon of such analyses, and of much post-structuralist writing itself, bears interesting discoursal echoes of the language used in the propaganda works of former Marxist regimes. Under such regimes once something was labelled feudal or reactionary or bourgeois or capitalist it was conveniently dismissed as evil. Likewise in many discourse analyses once something is labelled as 'neo-fascist', 'neoimperialist', 'neo-colonialist', 'patriarchal', ‘sexist’, 'racist', ‘managerialist’ or ‘economic rationalist’ it is readily dismissed

112

as evil without any intellectual consideration of the actual points raised. It is clear that there is a need to examine what is around, above and beneath texts in order to draw out the assumptions that form the basis for the beliefs and values that are expressed, and the ways that they are expected to be understood. The ideological nature of all writing, including ‘objective’ scholarly writing, is sometimes disputed but, as Owens (1995, pp.5-6) points out in the area of educational management: Academics, who appear to be engaged in dispassionate research or at least an even-handed search for understanding, are often in fact guided by the pursuit of more or less well-hidden social and political agendas. On the other hand reformers and entrepreneurs with political instincts often find it helpful to disguise their polemic as coolly detached analysis. Thus the roles of scholar, researcher and entrepreneur frequently have become badly entangled with the result that they often use similar language and style in their appeal to the heart and mind....

5.4. Ideological-Discursive Formations In discussing the discourse of the ELT educator and that of the entrepreneur the values and representations that are drawn on create what Fairclough (1985, p.739 ff) calls an ideologicaldiscursive formation (IDF). Fairclough argues that typically one group holds dominant power in an organization and the way that it represents reality, its IDF, becomes dominant. This IDF if unchallenged then becomes naturalised. The premises and 113

practices of the dominant IDF are taken to be commonsensical and natural ways of acting, talking and thinking. New members

of

an

institution

become

inculcated

into

a

community of practice and into the IDF of their situation. Fairclough suggests they almost unwittingly act to both reflect and reproduce that IDF by their discourse and by their practices. Such naturalized ideologies and IDFs come to be seen as 'essential' background knowledge, schemata or frames of reference. The naturalisation of the dominant group’s IDF acts then to alienate the IDFs of other groups within the institution.

5.5. Conclusion This chapter has discussed discourse and discourse analysis. It has provided a definition of discourse as used in this study and indicated the terminology and the framework that is used to discuss the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in the following chapters. The chapter has shown that all writing and communication exists within an ideological framework. It has noted that, while there are inherent difficulties with both the acquisition and interpretation of data in discourse analysis, the examples used in the following chapters aim to be illustrative of serious discoursal tension and conflict between the ideologicaldiscursive formations, the values and representations of reality, of the entrepreneur and the educator in international ELT college settings. 114

115

Chapter 6

THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE ENTREPRENEUR: DESCRIPTIONS

6.1. Introduction This chapter gives a brief description of the notion of the entrepreneur and the educator and then uses examples from a small number of texts to hint at their respective discourses and to get a flavour of the discoursal values concerned. The examples are illustrative and the distinction between these two secondary discourses is necessarily focused more on their contestations than on their agreements. This chapter examines and describe some of the values and the attitudes that form parts of the worldviews of the entrepreneur and then of the educator. These broad areas reflect a range of opinions underpinned by a range of assumptions,

but

the

contrast

between

the

normative

assumptions in the two is sufficient to explain many of the recurring tensions for ELT managers in international colleges. The chapter concludes with a brief summary.

6.2. The Discourse of the Entrepreneur To some, the idea of the entrepreneur is that of the courageous adventurer rushing in where those less bold fear 116

to go, sacrificing and struggling to build in an alien environment –the notion of the Rhodes-ian figure who creates value in the far flung outposts, developing and exploiting them ruthlessly but efficiently. The opposite pole has the view of the entrepreneur as a sleazy, white shoe-wearing individual manoeuvring around the edges of the law to extract merciless profit from the toil of honest labourers through a variety of murky schemes. While the dichotomy can be exaggerated, it is nevertheless a very real problem in trying to obtain an objective outline of the notion of an entrepreneur. Casson (1982, p.9) has noted that even within the discipline of economics there is no established economic theory of the entrepreneur.

The

Australian

Industry

Task

Force

on

Leadership and Management Skills (1995, p.107) uses the following definition of entrepreneurship based on that of Kao (1983): Entrepreneurship is the attempt to create value by an individual or individuals: through the recognition of significant (generally innovative) business

•

opportunity through the drive to manage risk-taking appropriate to that project

•

and through the exercise of communicative and management skills

•

necessary to mobilise rapidly the human, material and financial resources that will bring the project to fruition

The Task Force sees entrepreneurship as a set of values that should infuse and underpin the motivation and practices of all 117

business

enterprises.

critically

defining

It

regards

characteristic

entrepreneurship of

good

and

as

a

effective

management. For the purpose of this paper an entrepreneur is seen as a person who willingly takes on the responsibility (either through equity or representation) to make commercial decisions

with

far-reaching

consequences.

When

their

judgement is proven correct and with the benefit of historical hindsight other analysts can see that the entrepreneur was right at a time when others were wrong. Acting differently, and achieving success (or failure) because of these actions, causes others to change their minds as well. According to this view the entrepreneur is atypical and, despite holding a minority viewpoint, has to be able to persevere in the face of opposition who are wrong. The entrepreneur needs to be a value judge of untested operations. In smaller organizations such as the ELT colleges in this report the entrepreneur is required to decide the potential success or failure of each new major revenue-generating project that the college takes on. The notion of the entrepreneur is usually bound up with the idea of individuals who perceive the profitability of a good or service

and

therefore

arrange

its

production

and/or

distribution. The notion of the entrepreneur is also closely bound up with the idea of profit which is the residual after all other factors of production have been met. The concept of a single entrepreneur owning and running a business is a theoretical abstraction and the ownership and management of many large enterprises are often distinct. In all of the ELT 118

colleges referred to in this study the founding of the college and its continuing operation arose from entrepreneurial, rather than social or political considerations. Managers have to acquire entrepreneurial habits if they are to enhance organizational effectiveness especially in financial areas. The development of new projects and commercial initiatives as well as new or different ways to control the cost of inputs are significant management responsibilities. The entrepreneurial world view has been pejoratively labelled fast capitalism by critical theorists such as Gee, Hull and Lankshear (1996, p.24) who see its value system as represented most clearly in the popular management texts of the last two decades such as Senge’s The Fifth Discipline, Peters’ Liberation Management, Handy’s The Age of Unreason and Waterman’s Frontiers of Excellence. Other writers have also noted the development of a specialised discourse that has evolved in this area. McGregor (1997), for example, has argued that fluency in the discourse is now absolutely necessary for success and even survival in the business world. Micklethwait and Wooldridge (1996) see much of the publishing in the area as being based on greed and fear, preying on the paranoid anxieties of managers. They also note that the range of texts that is included in the area is very broad from serious academic tomes such as the Competitive Advantage of Nations to the fantastic Leadership Lessons from Star Trek The Next Generation, to the folk traditional Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary 119

Leadership to the faintly ridiculous Burst into Flames: Drive Your Company Like a Huge Dirigible. The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge is one of the most widely admired of this entrepreneurial ‘fast capitalist’ group of texts. The Australian Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management

(1995,

organization

outlined

p.167) by

argued

Senge

will

that

the

learning

be

the

standard

philosophy for many Australian enterprises and a major way they cope with change and turbulence. His work has also influenced thinking on educational organizations, perhaps because of its appeal to aspects of learning and education. In the book, Senge describes the art and practice of a prototypical

organization

that

he

calls

the

Learning

Organization. Senge's ideas about the learning organization are based on five principal areas or disciplines. These are Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision and Team Learning. Senge sees Systems Thinking as the ability to understand nonlinear causes and effects and to see events holistically as part of a complex and interrelated system. The unit of the whole, though, is the organization rather than the individual, the society or the world. Personal Mastery, while including competence and skills, emphasises aptitude for personal growth

and learning. Senge (1990, p.141)

writes that

"[p]eople with high levels of personal mastery are continually expanding their ability to create results in a life they truly seek", involving individuals continually clarifying what is 120

important to them and continually learning to see current reality more clearly. Mental models are the cognitive patterning devices or internal images that people have to explain at a fundamental level how the world works. The book argues that whatever these are, they limit people to familiar ways of thinking and acting. These mental models are similar to Argyris' (1978) notion of theories-in-use. Indeed Senge (1990, p.175) cites Argyris: "Although people do not [always] behave congruently with their espoused theories [what they say] they do behave congruently with their theories-in-use [their mental models]". This notion of mental models is also loosely based on the ideas from cognitive science of selectively attending to sensory input. Two people can observe exactly the same situation and yet describe it totally differently because of their differing mental models. Senge argues that these models need to be in-awareness rather than out-of-awareness. Shared Vision is described by Senge as a force that is carried by people throughout an organization, an empowering force that creates "a sense of commonality that permeates the organization and gives a coherence to diverse activities" (Senge, 1990: p.206). Team learning is seen as the process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members truly desire. The team is a group who need one another to act with Senge using the analogy of a great sports team or jazz ensemble as his image of an ideal team. 121

All five disciplines outline the sort of universal positives that are virtually motherhood statements - it is impossible not to agree with their desirability. However the central issues of power,

control

and

determination

of

insider/outsider

boundaries are powerful silences in the book. How does one become a member of a learning organization? How is that membership terminated? What is the purpose of a learning organization? Who decides on that purpose? What are the relative positions of stakeholders and why? What happens when things go wrong? How can shared visions be created when some organizational members need to suffer so that others may prosper? Like texts in many areas of human behaviour, including education, the 'hard yards', the dirty specifics and the common but tricky win-lose situations are ignored in favour of the simple win-win pieces of the organizational puzzle. The

implied

reader

of

most

texts

that

favour

an

entrepreneurial worldview is a believer, an owner or manager and the books only make sense when this mode of attention is adopted.

There

are

other

important

assumptions

and

adjustments that the implied reader must adopt. As noted above, the unit of analysis used throughout the work is the organization and its profitability, and the possible conflict between organizational success and societal failure is avoided. An implied reader must see growth and size as measures of success, measures that even many economists and financial analysts would now dispute. The implied reader must also 122

ignore real world knowledge of the corporations cited that does not appear to conform to Senge's analysis. The Shell Corporation, for example, is referred to throughout the work as one the best examples of a learning organization with an ethical vision, yet its activities in Nigeria and North Sea oil rig scuttling would seem to contradict an organization-wide shared ethical vision. By using the organization as a unit of analysis, the entrepreneurial world view adopts the implicit position that what matters is what is inside the organization, and that 'what is not the organization' is to be treated differently from 'what is

the

organization'.

The

wider

implications

of

global

economics are left out of the calculations. Gee, Hull and Lankshear (1996) use the example of small cooperative organizations in Nicaragua to show that it is not possible to take such texts and apply their formulas to many small third world

organizations.

The

Fifth

Discipline

and

other

entrepreneurial texts may be describing a formula for organizational winners, but the total situation they describe will still require winners and losers in a regular capitalist fashion. The narrator and narratee throughout the work switch from management consultants to CEOs of large corporations to direct dialogues between the implied author and implied reader. The assumption is that narrator, narratee and reader are all important people who have real control in their organizations and can direct others to change. It also assumes 123

that readers, like narrator and narratee, work in areas with strategic responsibilities rather than operational ones. It would seem to exclude the work activities of many members of many organizations who have little or no control over the strategies of their organizations and are engaged in the satisfaction of operational needs, dealing with the 'here and now' rather than the future 'there and then'. From the opening sentence The Fifth Discipline includes the reader inside its world: From a very early age we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world.

(Senge, 1990: p.3) The use of we indicates that writer and reader share a common purpose. This common purpose is to build learning organizations: ...where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.

(Senge, 1990: p.3) The commercial motive for this wonderful new plan is revealed in the third paragraph of the work with the imprimatur of Arie De Geus, then Head of Planning at Royal Dutch Shell, and the most prominent commercial advocate of Senge's techniques: The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.

(Senge, 1990: p.4) 124

The linking of competitive advantage to collective aspiration and the expansion of thinking and creativity is a tension within the discourse of the entrepreneur. Is the learning organization (or any other management tool) a vital technique because it is expanding people's capacity to create results they truly desire, or is it to sustain competitive advantage? What about those whose desires conflict with their organization? What of those who wish to learn destructively? What of those whose true desires lie outside their organization? Senge makes a firm distinction throughout his work between learning organizations, which are new, uncertain, adaptable and fast-changing, and controlling organizations, which are old, bureaucratic, rigid and inflexible. The way that power has traditionally been exercised in controlling organizations has limited the ability of organizational members to fulfil their aspirations. In learning organizations, according to Senge, members are set free to achieve far greater outcomes. This

tension

controlling

between

organizations

the

old

and

bureaucratic

the

new,

'modernist'

uncertain,

fast-

changing 'postmodernist' learning organizations is presented to readers of this book, and many similar texts, using one of the recurring techniques in western literature - that of the quest to the unknown land. Said (1978, p.54) in an analysis of how Asia was constructed in western fiction found the most frequently occurring theme to be the contrast and tension between a place or state of order and safety on the one hand 125

(the West, home, the settled colony, the garrison, the club and the company of 'one's own kind') and a troubled hinterland on the other (the East, far from home, the frontier, the native world, 'out there'.) Crossing from one to the other often rewards protagonists with conquest, praise, wealth and sexual gratification but doing so is also dangerous, confusing and sometimes disillusioning. There is a strong assumption at the implied author/implied reader level in the entrepreneurial literature that those bold explorers and adventurers who lead the charge to the brave new organizational world will be similarly well rewarded. The quest plots of western literature and mythology and the how to’s of entrepreneurial success run a surprisingly parallel course. There are occasional indications in the work that power is ownable and transferable in organizations and thus only some organizational members are able to empower others: Empowering the individual when there is a relatively low level of alignment worsens the chaos and makes managing the team even more difficult.

(Senge, 1990: p.235).

Of course, this assumes that certain people (who are different to the 'individuals' in an organization!) can choose to empower others, that these certain people can determine when there is alignment and that team management is really a

covert

line

management

responsibility,

something that is generated within the team.

126

rather

than

All five disciplines in Senge's learning organization seem reasonable and desirable and yet certain aspects of his prototype may cause the counter-intuitive results that Senge notes in his discussion of Systems Thinking. Indeed the notion underlying Systems Thinking itself, that things are so complex that no-one can really do anything effective unless they understand a whole chain of sophisticated cause and effect loops, can be a very disempowering view, ultimately stripping people of power and a sense of personal control. Discussions of Personal Mastery within the text rarely refer to what is, perhaps, the central issue in such mastery, at least from a materialist perspective, and that is access to, and control over, actual material resources. Ownership and control of such resources usually determine a person's control and fit with their environment. Yet an equitable redistribution of material wealth within organizations is another ‘loud’ silence within the Fifth Discipline. Senge's notion of Shared Vision has similarities with the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in early Christian writings. Indeed it is one example among many of a broad salvationist and millennial flavour throughout much of the entrepreneurial discourse. The Fifth Discipline, like many such texts, proceeds by a series of anecdotes, tales and parables which are often uncritical accounts of all the benefits that accrued to particular organizations that followed the path to salvation offered by the author. The prescriptions are rarely based on sustained quantitative research but rather on accounts of 127

particular organizations that have entered a state of 'grace', had

their

workers

empowered

and

consequently

been

transformed (Gee, Hull and Lankshear, 1996: p.73). Team learning and induction into learning communities has become a powerful theme in the entrepreneurial discourse largely due to Japanese corporate success in the 1970s and 1980s that truly shocked most western managers. However the fatal flaws of groupthink and the abilities of groups to magnify mistaken perceptions, rather than correct them, have been well documented by anthropologists, a finding again notoriously absent from the work. The tribulations in East Asian economies in the late 1990s and Japan’s continuing inability to enliven its moribund economy would also seem to indicate that notions of team and community are not enough of themselves to guarantee success. Critics have argued that the whole desire for these new learning organizations is suspicious. Gee, Hull and Lankshear (1996, p.27) for example, maintain that old capitalism was based on a working class that did not have to think, having only to do what it was told, whereas now it demands workers who can operate at all levels. The old capitalism was about standardisation

and democratising desire, while

today’s

capitalism is about specialisation and customising desire. As a result of technological and social changes the competition is now global and the winners are those who can design and produce customised products and services faster than their global

competitors.

Factors

such

128

as

'hypercompetition',

massive technological changes and the demands and desires of increasingly sophisticated consumers have meant that organizations

have

to

respond

accordingly.

The

entrepreneurial discourse is simply a new coat of paint on good old-fashioned exploitative ideas. The Fifth Discipline, and other texts within the entrepreneurial discourse, work by grabbing their readers, building on words and metaphors that have positive connotations and with which readers are already familiar, and then twisting them to give them entirely different meanings. The discourse extends from the typical domains of business and management into domains of human behaviour and motivation that have, until now, been considered 'soft'. This extension, though, has not been without a continuation of the primary motivations of entrepreneurial theories - bottom line performance, profit, growth

and

motivators

of

cost/benefits the

that

discourse.

remain

The

the

underlying

organization

and

its

performance are seen as more significant than individual fulfilment or national or international social equality. There are many silences and absences of questions in the entrepreneurial worldview. The dysfunctional side of science and technology, its uneven effects on the distribution of power and knowledge, the free market for goods but not for labour to name a few. As the real world readers of these texts are mainly white-collar workers in the developed world, it is not surprising that very real issues that face the majority of the

129

world's population in developing countries do not rate a mention. The entrepreneurial discourse is usually seen as particularly male. Burrell and Hearn (1989) throughout their work have shown that most organizational theory has largely excluded non-hetero, non-male forms, with the whole discourse of organizations and organization theory exuding an acritical 'malestream' point of view. The entrepreneurial discourse also shows a preference for humanist, universalist ideologies rather than cultural relativist ones, assuming that there is a pan-global business culture that outweighs the influence of local and national cultures. This universalist - relativist debate is

a

fundamental

tension

between

the

entrepreneurial

worldview and its critics. Gee, Hull and Lankshear's (1996) core complaint against fast capitalism, for example, is its universalist

notions

and

the

resultant

parallels

with

universalist notions of literacy that are taken as discredited by those who believe in the notion of critical literacy and language learning. Discourses are built around mutually shared beliefs that ultimately form coherent worldviews. The values discussed in the section above were grouped into a discourse that has been labelled that of the entrepreneur. Some central values of this discourse are the reward of considered risk-taking behaviour with an admiration for such qualities as boldness, courage, strength in adversity, going against the tide, individualism and field independence. The discourse has a 130

male orientation (in the psychological sense of the word) and is little concerned with those of limited power or means. It sees organizational success in financial terms and focuses on strategic and dynamic complexity, rather than day-to-day operations. It favours individuals rather than processes, and opportunity is seen as fortune favouring the brave. It has an emphasis on effectiveness or doing the right thing and ultimately sees profit as the core purpose of organizational activities.

6.3 The Discourse of the ELT Educator Most ELT colleges in Australia that cater to international students exist because of the worldwide demand for English language

skills

activities. Even existence

to

needed

for

commercial

and

though many such colleges entrepreneurial

imperatives,

academic owe their

many

ELT

practitioners identify with a discourse that has underlying values somewhat opposed to those of entrepreneur. The discourse of the international ELT educator, like that of the entrepreneur presents difficulties of precise definition. Core

educational

activities

are

becoming

increasingly

differentiated and activities that have perhaps little relevance to what would have been considered ‘education’ in previous decades have assumed greater importance. Teachers in accredited ELT institutions in Australia must have university qualifications in education and either an ELT 131

certificate or at least 800 hours of classroom teaching experience. This suggests that many of the general principles that underlie constructs in education also apply to ELT educators. One difference between ELT educators and those in other fields of education may be in their more global orientation. Because English teaching is in demand around the world many in ELT have worked in several countries during their careers. In the last three decades much educational writing has been conducted within a liberal-democratic framework that has been influenced by broader philosophical notions of liberalism and liberal values (White, 1995: p.216) In recent times the foundation notions of the educational worldview have involved the attempts to demonstrate the value of education in a modern liberal society. The central focus has become the notion that everyone should be equipped to determine his or her own major goals in life and not have these paternalistically imposed whether by custom, parents, teachers, or religious and political leaders.

(White, 1995; p.217)

The discourse of ELT has developed from related discourses in other fields of education. It has tended to develop practical and theoretical strands that focus on different areas and influence practitioners in different ways. The connection between the teaching of English and the study of applied linguistics has meant that ELT has been a more reflective discourse than that of the entrepreneur, with writers and 132

practitioners in the field occasionally questioning why English is in such tremendous demand around the globe, and whether or not this is a 'good thing'. In general however the discourse is dominated by texts that address the logistical issues raised by the rapid spread of ELT and the seemingly insatiable demand for English learning around the globe. As Candlin notes: …the twin pressures of commercialisation and the often shortterm imperatives of research have conspired to make difficult a general reflection on the purposes and objectives of language teaching and learning as part of the personal and cultural experience of teachers and learners…

(Candlin 1991 p.ix)

While

there

is

more

understanding

of

entrepreneurial

imperatives in ELT than in some other areas of education, the discourse overwhelmingly favours its educational roots. In Japan for example there is tremendous demand for a nontraditional form of ELT known as eikaiwa or 'meeting-speaking' English. Even the famed shinkansen bullet trains offers such English learning activities after polling found that this was the most popular activity that commuters would pay to do on their journeys to work (Japan Times, 1989). ELT experts however often denounce eikaiwa because it does not follow any existing language teaching methodology. A common criticism of such activities is that "ultimately the western teacher of English is paid to be a westerner rather that to teach anything" (Evans, 1990, p.28). Eikaiwa is also held in low repute because of the lack of conventional educational 133

qualifications and experience of those who do it. Syed (1992) notes that native speaker was the principal prerequisite of employment; 82% of the language school teachers he surveyed were native speakers but only 11% had ELT qualifications and experience and 75% listed Japan as the first and only place that they had ever taught English. Michael Lewis and Jimmie Hill's (1992) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching is an introductory text for new language teachers that has a strong emphasis on the practical classroom side of ELT while Alistair Pennycook's (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language is a socio-cultural analysis of the impact of the spread of English and ELT written for more experienced members of the profession. Both texts assume that the implied readers are teachers or ELT professionals that have a close working relationship with non-native speaker students. Both works reflect the idea that English is largely taught by Anglo native speakers to non-Anglo learners. Practical Techniques is described as "a basic teacher training handbook for all less experienced teachers. It covers the syllabus for the RSA UCLES CTEFLA, which is one of the usual entry-level ELT qualifications to the profession in Australia. The narrator in Practical Techniques is like that of an experienced teacher to a novice. As the review on the back cover says, "conveying an upbeat, can-do attitude.” All the techniques are in classroom and there is no mention of what will occur outside the classroom, how to relate to students or 134

any mention of managerial, entrepreneurial or logistical functions. At the 'chalkface' level of ELT, there is a strong emphasis on what 'works' in the classroom, with ideas judged by their immediate utilitarian value. Learning English, like all foreign language learning, is a long, hard slog and, for speakers of non-European languages, many hundreds or even thousands of hours can be spent in ELT classrooms. Thus texts such as Practical Techniques stress their utilitarian value from the opening pages: This book is not theoretical. It is a collection of practical ideas and techniques which you can use to make your own teaching more effective, and more enjoyable for you and your students.

(Lewis and Hill, 1992; p.3)

The guiding principles of this book are that: ...language teaching is only an aid to language learning, and that it is those things which help the students to improve which are of particular importance; and secondly that language is first and foremost communication. Those activities which mean that students can use the language, and communicate better, are to be encouraged at the expense of activities which will only mean that students ‘know’ the language.

(Lewis and Hill, 1992; p.3) The values that underpin the ELT discourse are revealed in the ways that classroom activities are to be conducted. These stress that ELT should be: 1. Learner centred (teach the students not the book, learning is more important than teaching) 2. Active (involve students in the learning process, don't tell students what they can tell you, vary 135

what you do and how you do it, activities and relationships in the classroom change) 3. Comfortable and non-threatening (we all learn best when we are relaxed, don't emphasise difficulties, useful and fun is better than either alone, students can be silent but still involved) 4. Self aware (students need to learn how to learn) These notions value a ‘caring and sharing’ emphasis in human relations – one where there should be little loss of face or fear of failure. Thus the texts written for classroom practitioners emphasise the notions that English language learning and teaching should be enjoyable, practical and of immediate use, with ideas based on practical experience. The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language, (Pennycook, 1994), on the other hand, is far more general and questioning of the rationales behind the teaching of English. Pennycook examines the teaching of English around the world, the development of the discourse of ELT and the neocolonial effects of the growth of English as an international language, before arguing the need for refinement and change in the ways that ELT is conducted around the world. English language teaching is usually understood by its practitioners to be a 'good thing' although the view of why it is good have shifted from the need of English for development to the need for English for growth in a global market. Pennycook 136

(1994) argues that a particular view of English as an international

language

has

come

into

being

through

colonialism and the neo-colonial agendas of linguistics and applied linguistics and the global spread of teaching practices. He points out that English can never be removed from its social, political, economic and cultural contexts and would prefer English teachers to develop alternative methods of dealing with international English. Whether or not languages can be successfully removed from the social and political contexts of the speech community within which they developed is complex. Whether English can only reflect the 'mindset' of its Anglo native speakers, or whether it can be used to reflect the mindsets of any of its individual users is, as yet, unresolved. It would be common among ELT practitioners to hold that the power any member of the world community attains by becoming fluent in English far outweighs the possible disadvantages to themselves as individuals, although on a societal level the expansion of English is sure to wipe out many languages, in a similar fashion to the disappearance of the many distinct regional dialects with the growth of literacy and standard national languages. Language may well be more elastic than socio-cultural theorist realise however. To demonstrate one example among many: Chinua Achebe the Nigerian novelist, poet, broadcaster and diplomat for Biafra has written about Ibo society and the impact of colonialism in English in novels such as Things Fall 137

Apart (1958) and A Man of the People (1966). Achebe (cited in Kachru, 1987) has discussed the possibilities and limitations of international English and used two passages on the writing of Arrow of God as examples, one 'Africanized' and the other 'Englishized'. The passages are: I want one of my sons to join these people and be my eyes there. If there is nothing in it you will come back. But if there is something then you will bring back my share. The world is like a mask, dancing. If you want to see it well you do not stand in one place. My spirit tells me that those who do not befriend the white man today will be saying, 'had we known' tomorrow.

Compared to: I am sending you as my representative among those people just to be on the safe side in case the new religion develops. One has to move with the times or else one is left behind. I have a hunch that those who fail to come to terms with the white man may well regret their lack of foresight.

In certain areas Pennycook's critical analysis shows that the western model of education has led to a deskilling of populations in many non-Western countries in terms of indigenous systems of belief, folklore, language, symbols, art, music and knowledge (Pennycook, 1994; p.49), echoing the argument that school and schooling, far from being an opponent of the new world order, may well be its leading missionary edge. If there are many examples in entrepreneurial writings that have echoes of the quest theme that has pervaded Western Literature since Homer, education texts have echoes of notions of the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’. Educational matters 138

are held to be ‘purer’ than matters of administration, coordination and operations. This sacred/profane distinction is at the heart of much thinking on education. The teacher training

textbook

above

or

teacher

training

courses

themselves, for example, rarely impart understanding of issues such as timetabling, funding, resource allocation, logistics or even such matters as classroom discipline. These details of a teacher’s existence are lumped into the profane. The symbolism of medieval clerical robes that are de rigueur dress ups for university and college graduations are perhaps a visual symbol of this link. The notion of equal distribution of power is firmly placed within ELT educator discourse. EA Journal, the journal of the international ELT industry in Australia, shows a recurring tendency for writers to disassociate themselves from being managers or holding power and to be uncomfortable with a perception that such is the case. Heap, for example, writes that he was shocked when students identified him as holding incredible power due to his position as the Director of Studies at an ELT centre connected with a university. He writes: " I don't think I had ever considered myself powerful although I've had various positions of more or less responsibility over the years. I was rather taken with the idea but also felt somewhat uncomfortable with it, subscribing as I do to notions such as 'Strength is made perfect in weakness', 'Blessed are the meek', 'The only power is no power', 'To lead is to serve' and not to sentiments found in books with such titles as Power! How to Get it, How to Use it.

(Heap and Cole, 1996 p.18)

139

That the holding of such values, and the actual interpretation of actions, can be very different is again highlighted by Heap (1996, p.19), who uses an example of the DOS and Assistant DOSes at his ELT college who changed the time of an inservice session after a different time had been agreed at a staff meeting. The memo that informed staff of this change read "we have decided to ..." these words were anonymously circled by one of the English instructors with the comment WHO??? - an indication that the instructors found such actions 'disempowering' despite the intentions of the manager. He also notes in ELT contexts that there can be euphemisms used to disguise the raw notions of power in such colleges and that therefore

words

such

as

leadership,

management

and

responsibilities can all indicate control and power (Heap 1996, p.19). The discourse of the ELT educator is a reification of a set of concepts

that

plays

a

role

in

the

transmission

and

development of educational culture. Its description and analysis is meant to be illustrative in order to compare and contrast it with that of the entrepreneur discussed above. Nevertheless the set of values, beliefs and prejudices that educators draw upon to pejoratively deride aspects of financial, commercial or industrial thinking mean that there is, at root, a discursive formation that has developed and is transmitted within the education sector in Australia and elsewhere and that this discourse can be identified and described. 140

The discourse of the ELT educator as represented in this paper is not, of course, a monolithic entity. The fast capitalist notions that underpin an entrepreneurial market driven worldview, however,

grow

from

very

different

origins

and

create

divergent values to many of those that underpin the worldview of the ELT educator. The ELT educator is likely to value the detail complexity of daily operations in the college and the mechanisms by which English is taught and learned. They are likely to have a greater trust in processes and have an event orientation to work, seeing each class as somewhat different. They are likely to value efficiency and doing their assigned tasks well with a belief in accountability. Most importantly they are likely to value educational quality of a college over profitability or financial considerations.

6.4. Conclusion This chapter has briefly examined and described some of the values and the attitudes that form the worldviews of the entrepreneur and then the ELT educator. A small range of examples were taken from published texts. The examples were illustrative and it was noted that the distinction between these two secondary discourses is necessarily focused more on their contestations than on their agreements. It is to these contestations and possible commonalities that this study now turns.

141

Chapter 7

THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE ENTREPRENEUR: CONTESTATIONS

7.1. Introduction The

political

and

ideological

nuances

of

the

words

entrepreneur and management make them awkward concepts for many involved in education. The words seem to somehow belong to business, industry and commerce with education somehow apart from, or perhaps above, such profane activities. Yet of course upon reflection most educators would agree that the tasks of principals, directors of studies, college owners, deans and department heads all involve the same skills as those required by managers and entrepreneurs in the commercial world. The contrast between the values of the entrepreneur and the values and outlooks of ELT educators is, like any structuralist dichotomy, a less than accurate depiction of a complex situation.

Nevertheless,

anyone

who

has

worked

in

international ELT colleges in any capacity would be aware that a clash of values frequently occurs and there are few educational institutions that are free of problems relating to resource allocation for educational activities.

142

There are, therefore, a number of areas of important contestations between the discourses of the entrepreneur and the

educator.

This

chapter

examines

some

of

these

contestations at the general level before discussing some possible commonalities that may be of assistance in finding a functional resolution of the clashing values. The following chapter then examines some specific institutional difficulties resulting from the discoursal conflict, and looks at examples of these contestations in international ELT colleges. The main contestations examined in this chapter are the respective views of organizations and the competing notions of modern and postmodern organizational units, varying perspectives

on

the

commodification

of

education,

understanding of transaction costs, orientation towards the future (optimistic or pessimistic), views on injustice and elitism and finally acceptance of universalism compared to relativism.

7.2. View of Organizations Johnston has reflected on the ways ELT management might differ from management in other areas and speculated that, in ELT, management is: amorphous, largely unsupervised, often ill at ease with itself; but also thanks to its closeness to ELT perhaps uniquely open to influence from some of the healthiest trends in interpersonal dealings, such as humanistic approaches.

Johnston (1989, p.5)

143

Almost all ELT managers, and indeed ELT practitioners, would agree, that it makes business sense to satisfy clients rather than dissatisfy them, to win them rather than lose them, to strengthen 'revenue earning' teaching operations rather than degrade them and to cultivate markets rather than to sell them short. Charles (1993, p.15) argues that the more the ELT profession mixes with the 'outside' business and professional world the more it learns to engage with the management content of that world, and match its performance standards. Yet suspicion and hostility remain. Hammond (2001, p15) notes that even in academic ELT journals there are laments of ‘losing colleagues to business’ meaning teachers moving across to management and that there is a strong perceived polarity of the ‘camps’ in ELT colleges. While the entrepreneurial world view draws on beliefs that come from notions of supply and demand and monetary motivations, notions that derive from the discipline of economics, the world view of the ELT educator derives from notions of personal growth, fulfilment and social harmony; ideas that are broadly situated in sociology and psychology. The idea that the college exists to make money is an entrepreneurial one. The notion that the idea of the college is to offer courses that will provide outstanding educational services to students, and be a motivating and inspirational work environment, is an educational one. While the two views are not totally incompatible, resolution of the two aims has many difficulties. 144

Many of the values that are important in the communicative classrooms of ELT educators give rise to predominant view among such educators that the human resource perspective is the 'sensible' view of organizations and that this view of organizations is the one held as the ‘common sense’ view of organizations by many educators, whose paradigms of organizational and educational issues may be very similar. The entrepreneurial discourse, on the other hand, tends to favour explanations from the views of traditional management or its more recent symbolic / cultural iterations that put the needs of some organizational members above others, largely based on their power and influence. Part of the discoursal clash between the educator and the entrepreneur may be due to a much broader historical process. Hargraeves (1995; p. 15) sees the forces of entrepreneurial and educational worldviews as part of a larger conflict between modernity and postmodernity. He describes the trends thus: The fate of teachers work, its structure and culture, is caught in a powerful and dynamic struggle between two immense social forces: those of modernity and postmodernity. On the one hand, is an increasingly post-industrial, post-modern world, characterised by accelerating change, intense compression of time and space, cultural diversity, technological complexity, national insecurity and scientific uncertainty. Against this stands a modernistic, monolithic school system that continues to pursue deeply anachronistic purposes within obstructive and inflexible structures. It is in the struggles between and within modernity and postmodernity that the challenge of change for teachers' work, educational leadership and schools as workplaces is to be found.

145

The postmodern organization is often used as a label for a collection of characteristics that are becoming more prevalent in certain organizations in the latter half of the 20th century and the initial years of the 21st. This broad movement from modern to postmodern is impacting on many organizations. It has made the ability to adapt and change ever more important to an organization's perceived success and meant that the ability to change effectively is ever more essential to an organizations continuing life chances. Aspects of postmodern organizations have been linked to some of the diffuse intellectual notions that underlie the postmodernist tradition and its relationship to the broad assumptions of the modern era. Like many terms that are used to describe broad movements in social, economic, political and cultural life though, postmodernism is rather vague and ill-defined. The collection of ideas that has come to be labelled as postmodernism can be more correctly seen as a partial description of the breakdowns and transformations in the central structures and organizing principles of the modern era. In organizational theory archetypical 'modern' organizations are those large bureaucratic organizations that adopt a rationalist view of their operations. Such organizations are usually configured with a hierarchical structure and emphasise the job and the tasks rather than the people who fill them. In this type of organization the job description is more important 146

than the individual who fills it and there is an assumption that the organization has 'positions' to fill rather that a range of members whose talents must be combined and maximised. The rationalist paradigm of modernism has begun to be seen as only partially suitable to the solution of many of the deepest human problems. Disenchantment with the rationalist paradigm has led to the postmodernist reaction where almost everything is pre-paradigmatic (Bergquist, 1993. p.16). In the organizational literature this is becoming ever more apparent. Peters & Waterman's book in the early 1980s suggested that something was known about the ways that organizations achieve excellence; by the late 1980s it was admitted that they had been too hasty in forming conclusions; many of their ‘excellent’ organizations of the early 1980s had become troubled institutions by the end of the decade (see Peters, 1988). Most organizational theorists conceive of organizations as social systems which possess two essential attributes: a reason for being such as a mission or purpose and a range of constraints such as boundaries or limits. Bergquist (1993: pp.65-66)

notes

that

an important

distinction

between

traditional work organizations and postmodern organizational identities lies with the differing emphasis on mission and boundaries. In order to succeed traditional organizations have tended to emphasise their boundary conditions while paying less attention to their purposes or missions. Postmodern organizations, on the other hand, need to have much clearer 147

missions because their boundaries and limits are fast changing and can become extremely blurred. This

fundamental

difference

in

purpose

and

boundary

conditions means that archetypical postmodern organizations are more likely to be of small to moderate size and complexity and have flexible structures and modes of inter-institutional cooperation to meet their more turbulent organizational and environmental conditions. They have to emphasise clarity of mission partly to compensate for their increasingly diffuse boundaries. It is a significant dilemma faced by these kinds of organizations and the successful management of the state of flux of their rapidly changing boundaries is a central organizational concern. Jameson’s (1991) core argument is that because postmodern organizations by definition possess such boundary fluidity, organizational purpose is the essential element in their continued existence. Traditional organizations orchestrate a clear demarcation between the inside and the outside of their institutions, making the organization and its location virtually identical. In the postmodernist view of organization, however, the location of the organization and its boundaries is far less fixed in physical and even in psychological terms. Such organizations can change premises easily and frequently enabling them to take advantage of differentials in ecological variables such as asset values and changes in their market niches.

148

The activities and clients of postmodern organizations may also be expected to change rapidly - in the educational sphere this might involve rapid shifts in the age of students (moving from teaching adults to school children for example) or their first language backgrounds (eg changing from teaching Vietnamese-speaking

migrants

to

Australia

with

severe

learning difficulties to Japanese short term tourists who wish to combine language learning with holiday activities). It has been suggested that working in the these kinds of organizations is like living on the edge, a kind of threshold or flow experience that may present more exciting opportunities and challenges for those who have learned to thrive on change and can live with instability. For those whose expectations, coping abilities and learning behaviours were shaped through experiences in modernist organizations, however, life in these organizations may be more likely to be troubling and unsettling. Indeed, underlying many of the tensions in international ELT colleges, and the anxieties of their educational managers, are some of these differing conceptions of how an organization is configured. Some characteristics of the postmodern organization, such as their uncertainty of operations and fast-changing work patterns, are probably less alienating to those with an entrepreneurial orientation. The similarity between the research paradigms for education and those of the human resource perspective on organizations can mean that many educators hold one particular view of 149

organizations. It may be that the fact that most large traditional

educational

organizations

are

still

chiefly

configured on bureaucratic modernist assumptions, while international

ELT

organizations

are

more

likely

to

be

configured on postmodernist patterns, makes tensions and 'culture clashes' more likely. At the institutional level these clashes can also be important in areas such as career structures and pay scales. One of the key aspects of the entrepreneurial world view is that jobs only exist as part of the process of adding value to activities, and once such activities do not add value the workers who perform them should be dispensable. The tension between this view and the ‘jobs for life’ of the modernist era has been one of the key changes of the last two decades, and the rise of temporary and part-time work is a key feature of it. At a meeting of the Directors of Studies from ELT colleges around Sydney the inability of structures developed for modern era organizations

to

keep up

with

the

changes

was

well

demonstrated. The teachers’ union representative who was speaking insisted that ELT teachers should conform more to the way that school teachers were employed. The notions of casual, part-time, sessional and full-time built in to the union negotiated award used schools and school teachers as a model. It does not have, and probably never did have, much relevance to the real employment situations of most ELT educators in Sydney, but the fact that the business activities of the ELT colleges had many points of difference to traditional 150

schools was seemingly unimportant. The union negotiator said, “I’ve never understood why [ELT Colleges] you employ so many casuals.” Explanations of the swings in student enrolments and the difference in structures between small entrepreneurial colleges and schools with annual government funded budgets did not register. The differences were viewed as deficiencies, not only by the union negotiator but also by many of the ELT managers present. Much of the international ELT industry thrives on temporary or casual work. Gee, Hull and Lankshear (1996) comment on this feature of capitalism in recent years: In recent years temporary work has become more and more prevalent in fact such jobs are the fastest growing category of job in the new capitalism. Temporary jobs provide workers with no job security and few benefits like health insurance, but enable corporations to adjust their labor overheads to the ebb and flow of the market (Parker 1994). Indeed the largest employer in the United States is Manpower Inc. a temporary-employment agency.

This notion that certain things in the world of work are good and others bad though can be a limiting feature of educator thought, at least from an entrepreneurial perspective. A closer look at the above statement reveals an array of value judgements that, at the very least, call for examination: 1. The rise of temporary work has been consciously created by disembodied entities called 'corporations' rather than in response to conventional supply and demand notions.

151

2. The lack of job security is the overriding issue for workers [compared to pay, time flexibility, quick start (interview today/start tomorrow) and other aspects of temporary and part-time work which for many workers can be far more important than security.] 3. Adjusting labour overheads is a 'bad thing' that corporations do (rather than a good thing in reducing transaction costs and hence creating extra work in the future). 4. On costs such as job security, health insurance and other benefits are entitlements that are not contributing factors to the rise of temporary work. (It is this lack of understanding of transaction costs that has been partly responsible for the demise of many traditional jobs with increasing global competition and the removal of public subsidies for private operations.)

ELT colleges that are privately owned have many points of difference with traditional educational institutions and share many features with those types of organizations that are coming to be labelled as postmodern. Entrepreneurs are likely to view the organization as one that offers temporary financial opportunity

whereas

ELT

educators

with

organizational

models based on those in other areas of education may view this uncertainty as threatening. This is a prime contestation between the two discourses.

152

7.3. Commodification of Education Reid (1996) throughout his work argues that a discourse of commodity

production

has

pervaded

the

administrative

practices of educational institutions in Australia in recent times. His analysis of the language that constitutes what he sees as a value shift in the provision of higher education in Australia includes a strong focus on the terms commodity and production. The terms ‘commodity’ and ‘production’ can appear in many contexts with positive or neutral connotations. In Reid’s analysis, however, there are clearly shared values in the use of such terminology, indicating that they are extremely negative when applied to education. Commodities are things and so are dehumanising when applied to human interactions, and production is chiefly to do with material goods and factories and has a linkage with ‘mass production’ that seems to counter notions of individualism that underpin the service at the heart of education. Reid uses this shared discoursal value system to develop ideas put forward by Fairclough (1992: pp.6-7). He argues that there has been a process of re-wording that changes learners into consumers, courses into packages and an 'invasion' of teaching and research by the vocabulary of advertising and management. educational administrators

These

new

institutions need

to

ways do,

of

talking

and

what

strive

for,

about

what

educational

leads

to

the

acceptance/inculcation of new attitudes. Reid lists a range of terminological contrasts that are indicative of educator as 153

opposed to entrepreneurial values. The first word in each partnership is the preferred terminology from an educational perspective the second pejoratively assigned to the outside. Thus ‘values’ versus ‘prices’, ‘leaders’ versus ‘managers’, ‘collegiality’ versus ‘corporatism’ and ‘education’ versus ‘training’ (Reid, 1996, p.iv). Despite the criticism of managerial trends in higher education, Reid does suggest that many familiar notions about what educators feel education should be are nostalgic 'beat ups’ commentators constructing as normative what they think they remember from the past. The very awareness that the language of management and that of education are distinct, however, confirms the reality of an educator discourse. At bottom, Reid's analysis reveals a preference for public, rather than private, funding of educational activities. This, when viewed from an entrepreneurial perspective, can lead to the domination of educational activities by producer interests such as teachers, education academics and bureaucrats over the more diffuse consumer interests. As Harrison (1996, p.5) notes: The exercise of public authority in an industry affects the distribution of wealth between producers and consumers. In the political battle for the use of public authority, producer groups are favoured. Concentrated producer interests, often already organized, will tend to dominate diffuse consumer interests….In practice educational decisions are dominated by public education producer interests, and consumer desires are neglected. Change takes place only if producer interests do not object too much and changes that benefit producer interests are favoured.

154

Educators can acquire an admiration for a system that tends to focus on political action rather than improved services as a way to enhance producer benefits (Lieberman, 1993: p.273). It retains appeal to many educators because it seemingly enhances their own prestige. By reducing the emphasis on client service, however, it may have long-term disadvantages for organizational development and renewal.

7.4. Transaction Costs One feature of postmodern organizations is the more global and internationally inter-reliant nature of their business transactions. Casson (1993, p.38) indicates that a good deal of entrepreneurial effort in market economies is involved in improving trading arrangements. This often involves reducing transaction

costs

such

as

advertising,

specifying

requirements, negotiating terms, transferring title, physical exchange of goods or services, checking compliance and sanctioning defaulters. The issue of transaction costs is, however, another area of contestation

between

the

two

discourses.

From

an

entrepreneurial perspective the reduction of transaction costs is almost the prime area of managerial effectiveness. Frequently though, from an educator perspective, such reductions are seen as a serious threat to prestige or status. For example, a staff meeting may be held to be an important means of communication for little apparent cost. The real cost 155

of the meeting though, when one totals the salary of all members of the meeting can be vast. A one-hour meeting of twenty teachers who earn an average of $50 per hour gives a cost of $1000 or around the price of a new computer. The college could outfit two new computer labs every year if weekly staff meetings were not held! This results in a contestation over the nature of efficiency. While ELT educators value efficiency, they see it in terms of delivering sound educational experiences. Entrepreneurs on the other hand view efficiency as maximising financial benefits while minimising costs. For educators this can come to be seen as a negative single-minded drive to cut costs at all costs (Harrison, 1996: p.2). Educators, though, have a tendency to allow hidden costs to develop, especially in the soft areas of staff time allocated to non-revenue earning activities. From an entrepreneurial perspective it is vital for the financial success of private ELT colleges to be effective in reducing these costs so as to minimise overall transaction costs. The balance of reducing transactions costs while maintaining educational quality is one of the most difficult for the ELT manager to resolve.

7.5. Process vs People Ironically Foucault’s fears of the productivity and efficiency of instrumental-rational forms of organization, which Weber also suggested

were

to

be

found

in

modern

bureaucratic

organizations, now underpins much institutional educational 156

thought. Many educators place a high value on processes rather than favoured individuals, and would agree with the proposition that power and its distribution in modern societies should not depend on the personal prestige or prowess of individuals but rather should be exercised through an impersonal administrative system that operates in accordance with abstract rules. The mechanisms by which these abstract rules are determined, though, is not brought up and their possible unfairness is little examined (Sarup, 1988: p.77). Determination of salary levels for teachers by qualifications and years of experience, for example, does not stand up to performance management best practice. The highly intangible nature of teaching has led to a certain level of assumption among teachers that the difficulties involved in assessing performance means that no performance measurement can take place. From the entrepreneurial perspective however, some teachers are clearly of greater value to the organization than others for an array of personal and professional reasons. At present such clashes tend to be resolved at the minimalist legal level. Few international ELT colleges in Australia have successful strategies to reward staff financially for their success or to implement pay regimes that differ from the usual award scales and those that do typically simply pay less than the required minimum award wage – hardly a strategy to endear the entrepreneur to the educator! Over time however it is possible that some ELT organizations in Australia may look to develop different incentive strategies to attract and 157

keep certain kinds of ELT educators. There is little doubt that many young dynamic teachers would be attracted to an organization that had other financial incentives besides years of service and qualifications acquired.

7.6. Commonalities While there are a range of conflicting notions between the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator, it may also be possible to find commonalities or areas of shared values between the two. These commonalities are likely to be fruitful avenues in the process of reconciliation of discoursal tensions. For different reasons both ELT educators and entrepreneurs are familiar with, and tend to support the idea of, integration and the notion that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. ELT educators are used to ideas of humanism in education, educating the whole person and not separating affective and cognitive activities. ELT has a strong research tradition of valuing authenticity in the language classroom and valuing

the

contextualization

of

learning

content.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are also likely to regard holistic thinking as important, as a focus on the organization as a dynamic whole is an important notion in entrepreneurial thinking. An emphasis on integration of all organizational activities, from finance to marketing to education, therefore, should be a 158

core value that has appeal to entrepreneurs and educators. Effective outcomes are more likely for ELT colleges that have a culture of responsibility for overall success rather than of being commissioned for one specific task. The sense of belonging and participation that springs from a focus on integration should assist both profitability and educational quality,

satisfying

both

entrepreneurial

and

educational

prerogatives. Collaboration may be another factor that is capable of appealing

to,

and

sharing

meanings

across,

the

two

discourses. From an entrepreneurial point of view greater collaboration has obvious appeal in the savings to costs of duplicated effort and the greater likelihood of successful financial outcomes if all staff are cooperating. Hargreaves (1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures of collaboration in education seeing collaboration as one of the most promising devices for assisting in principles of action, planning, culture, development, organization and research. Collaborative work cultures provide moral support, strengthen the resolve of organizational members and contribute to improvements in efficiency through a reduction or elimination of duplication and redundancy. Again ELT has a tradition of classroom collaboration and group dynamics, reflected in such texts as Classroom Dynamics (Hadfield, 1992). Hadfield notes that a successful

group

learning/teaching

dynamic process.

is She

a

vital

reflects

element upon

in

her

the own

experience, shared by many in ELT, of two contrasting 159

classes. One, a group of affluent, well-educated Europeans in a well-resourced and well-equipped ELT department in the UK using an enjoyable and lively textbook; the other a group of Tibetans in an unheated room without electricity in the middle of a -20oC Tibetan winter using dog-eared, badly stencilled copies of dry TOEFL preparation materials. The experience with the European group was awful while that with the Tibetans was one of the most successful and rewarding of her ELT career. The contrast was due to the group dynamics and greater sense among the group of collaboration (Hadfield, 1992, pp.9-10). A third commonality may be a focus on the client. Notions of student-centred learning in ELT have been important since work on the development of communicative ELT course programs began in the 1970s. In entrepreneurial thinking focusing on client and customer care as a primary business advantage has always been a fundamental idea in marketing and general management. Each of these three areas is discussed more fully in Chapter 13 The Culture of Work Organizations and Chapter 14 The Culture of International ELT Colleges. For now the simple model of these commonalities and clashes in Figure 7.1 may aid the discussion of discoursal contestation and possible resolution in the following chapter.

160

Other Stakehold ers Managem ent Focus on Integration

Staff

Focus on Collaboration

Focus on Client Service

Managem ent Staff

Other Stakehold ers

Figure 7.1 ELT educator values and entrepreneurial values

161

Ideal Direction

7.7. Conclusion This chapter examined some of the contestations between the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator. The main contestations examined were the respective view of organizations including the competing notions of modern and postmodern

organizational

perspectives on

structure,

the

differing

the commodification of education, the

divergent understanding of transaction costs, the varying orientation

towards

people

and

processes

within

organizations. As well as indicating some of the general contestations between the two discourses this chapter has briefly foreshadowed discussion of some areas of commonality between the discourses that may provide some means of functional resolution for an ELT manager. The following chapter discusses some of the contestation of the two discourses in particular institutions and some of the practical implications of these contestations.

162

Chapter 8

THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE ENTREPRENEUR: INSTITUTIONALISATION

8.1. Introduction This chapter briefly describes the institutionalisation of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in international ELT colleges, and discusses their manifestations as ideological-discursive formations. It furthers the discussion of the previous three chapters through an examination of some of the actual conflicts of the discourses and their values at particular institutions. This chapter argues that the IDFs of both the entrepreneur and the ELT educator are institutionalised in international ELT colleges. Each IDF is clearly dominant in particular zones of activity so that areas of college life, such as curriculum and timetabling, tend to favour the ELT educator view of operations, those of finance and marketing those of the entrepreneur. There are also a number of clearly contested zones. Three specific areas of contestations at the institutional level are discussed in the following sections. Each of these institutional contestations is linked to one of the three areas of integration, collaboration and client service discussed in the management model in Chapter 7 above. The contestations reviewed here are: 163

1. Course selection and development (integration) 2. The management of staff and the allocation of resources (collaboration) 3. The recruitment and placement of students and the certification of student achievement (client service) The value of the model in assisting in the resolution of discoursal tensions is then briefly examined. This chapter is illustrative and further discussion of institutional contestations occurs in the examination of the four climate dimensions of ELT organizations in subsequent chapters of the study.

8.2. Institutions and IDFs Reconciliation

between

entrepreneurial

and

educational

imperatives needs to be found by managers at international ELT colleges if they are to thrive. Yet despite this need, the many areas of antagonism between an entrepreneurial and an educational view of the world manifest themselves as contestations at the institutional level. Before discussing these contestations in detail, however, a brief overview of the nature and

construction

of

ideological-discursive

formations

is

required. International ELT colleges, like all such social institutions, involve significant groups of subjects who differ in their ideologies. It was noted in Chapter 5 Discourse and Discourse Analysis that typically one group holds dominant power in an 164

organization and that the way that it represents reality, its ideological-discursive formation (IDF), becomes dominant. This IDF then becomes naturalised, and the premises and practices of the dominant IDF are taken to be the natural ways of acting, talking and thinking. New members become inculcated into the IDF of their situation and act to reflect and reproduce that IDF through their discourse and their practices. At the institutional level of international ELT colleges the notion of a single dominant IDF is not completely accurate. Neither the discourse of the entrepreneur nor of the ELT educator completely prevails. ELT managers interviewed in this study regard the situation within their own institutions more in terms of zones. In certain areas and activities of the college, entrepreneurial values hold sway. In other areas, the values of the ELT educator are to the fore. To the extent that owners and financial controllers lean more to the values of the discourse of the entrepreneur, the corresponding IDF had more influence and power over the institution than those of the ELT educator in contested areas. However to the extent that the core revenue earning service of the college is ELT, its corresponding IDF retains influence. When

conflict

occurs

between

competing

discourses,

language can be used by a dominant group to suppress articulations of conflict that are against their interests and to frame ideological struggle. Where struggle is framed in the ‘talk’ of the dominators, it is difficult for the weak to regain the momentum. ELT managers with a sense of powerlessness 165

come to believe in the ‘right’ of an ‘employer’ to overrule an ‘employee’. Thus: Ultimately if owners don’t like you they can always find a reason to get rid of you. They don’t even have to say it…you’re always aware that your job depends on them.

Angela, Director of Studies, College B, 1996

And You have to adopt their point of view to a large extent because that is what you’re paid to do. Sometimes I’ve got to persuade them that what they want might ultimately damage the college but there are a lot of grey areas.

Peter, Director of Studies, College C, 1996

In response, the expression of ELT discoursal values falls back on the power of the regulator. Thus: They’ll [the owners] only listen to things we have to do for the inspectors.

Elliot, Senior Teacher, College C, 1996

All ELT managers interviewed accepted the profit rationale of their colleges and that ultimately it is the bottom line that counts. Their vacillation as to the extent of their responsibility for creating and maintaining this profit though, suggests that the resolution of entrepreneurial and educator values is elusive.

8.3. Course Selection and Development The selection and development of particular courses is an important area of overlap between IDF zones. Owners, marketing staff, and others in contact with educational agents 166

and frontline trends affecting the organization, may often discover opportunities for the college. The ELT management however, may also see the potential difficulties and pitfalls of branching into new course areas that require additional resources and expertise beyond the capacity of the institution. For example at College B, after several marketing trips to South Korea the Managing Director was firmly of the belief that an English for High Schools course would attract students and quickly realise a substantial profit for the college. The Director of Studies of English was aware of this enthusiasm, but tried to dissuade the Managing Director because of the difficulties of hiring high school trained teachers, having to acquire large numbers of suitable texts, and the problems of attracting older students to a corporate look college that would have ‘youngsters’ bouncing basketballs in the corridors. The Managing Director looked ahead and saw the possible benefits, the ELT manager the costs. Ultimately the course did take place and realise a small profit although the difficulties foreseen by the ELT manager did all occur. An understanding of what occurs in the classroom, and the exact nature of student satisfaction while learning English, frequently

mystify

marketing

managers,

entrepreneurs,

owners and other non-ELT managers working in colleges that do not place any emphasis on integration. In only one of the colleges examined here had the financial owners of the college any background in English language teaching. For most, actual operations of their core service were a slightly 167

mysterious activity about which they understood very little. As a consequence, ELT managers usually experience little interference in areas such as curriculum, choice of materials, professional qualifications of staff and other ‘educational’ features of life at the college. This ignorance of the nature of the activity however, has advantages

and

disadvantages.

Often

the

limited

understanding leads to inappropriate decisions on the part of owners. At College C, for example, students who had the same native language as the owner of the college had their complaints heard more readily than other language groups. Because they tended to be younger and more likely to be progressing to further study in Australia, the owner did not realise that some of the complaints, when acted upon, would alienate students from other countries at the college. The owner recommended getting rid of excursions from the college timetable, but the effect of this was to lead to a transfer of older (and higher yielding) working holiday students from the college. This led to a greater concentration of students of one nationality there, and ultimately an increase in the problem of attracting students, because the college had come to be seen as dominated by a single student nationality group. Course selection and development is closely concerned with price and return on investment. From an entrepreneurial perspective courses have to be evaluated with regard to their profit making potential. ELT managers, on the other hand, 168

may look to the ‘prestige’ benefits of certain courses, without true regard to their costs, and ignore less prestigious ones. The Director of Studies at College D, for example, argued against offering courses to beginner and elementary level students, as these were not ‘academic’ courses. Without such courses though, it became very difficult to achieve sufficient numbers of students to run a profitable language centre. There is a tendency among more academically inclined ELT managers to view students’ primary reason for studying English as being in order to do other courses, rather than as a stand-alone life skill or interest. For many of the students in international ELT colleges in Australia however, English and social activities are their primary motivation to be in Australia. Even much of the vocational education sector in private colleges is, in effect, running English language content courses for students whose main interest is to improve their linguistic, rather than their vocational or academic, skills. Similarly, popular courses, such as holiday courses that combine English language learning with sports or social activities, are frequently derided by ELT professionals, despite their obvious attraction to students and their profitability to the college. Integration was identified in the previous chapter as being a significant managerial tool for resolving clashes of values that are likely to impact upon organizational performance in ELT. A management emphasis on linking teaching, administration and marketing so that they reinforce each other should lessen 169

the possibilities of poor decisions being made with regard to course selection and development. Such integration needs to be kept in-awareness and continuously reinforced at all levels to prevent a drift to balkanisation. Integration is an ongoing process, not a one-off event. Effective integration is time consuming and involves a lot of reflection as well as a great deal of listening and communication. Integration of aims and activities should be an important goal in international ELT colleges. The attempt to retain control over familiar areas of the organizational landscape and to pay insufficient attention to areas that are unknown is a trap for unwary managers. An emphasis on integration by ELT managers can allow decisions on course selection and development to be taken with consideration of effects for all areas of the college. Considerations of opportunity cost, or what the college loses by not offering the course, as well as the impact of new course offerings on existing courses, should be taken into account. Some recognition needs to be made that

values

inculcated

within

the

discourse

of

the

entrepreneur look towards the possible opportunities and minimise

the

potential

pitfalls,

while

those

within

the

discourse of the educator may more accurately perceive the drawbacks in new offerings. Responsible ELT managers also have to examine courses impartially. Premium courses that carry prestige have to be carefully considered from a financial as well as an educational view. Less prestigious courses and opportunities have to be 170

considered in order for the college to maximise its financial viability. Effective communication of the benefits and costs, the advantages and disadvantages of courses and course structure

must

be

transmitted

across

marketing,

administration and education areas. Decisions need to be made with a sound regard to all three zones.

8.4. The Management of Staff and the Allocation of Resources Integration is focused primarily on work activities and tasks across the organization. An important cultural concept that may assist in the development of integration is an emphasis on collaboration. The creation of the sense that all in the organization are collaborators pulling together for a common purpose is linked to, and grows from, an integrated approach to organizational activities. Collaboration focuses on the people within the organization and their spirit of cooperation and common purpose. The recruitment of teachers is frequently an area of contestation

within

international

ELT

colleges,

and

management difficulties occur because of competition for ‘scarce’ positions arising from poor recruitment strategies. Because of the structure of payment awards, it is vital for cost control to have as many teachers as possible on the lowest salary ‘steps’ from an entrepreneurial perspective. This means that young, inexperienced teachers are desirable from a profit maximisation point of view. Because salaries rise quite rapidly 171

with years of service, there is also an entrepreneurial imperative to increase staff turnover. In order to facilitate staff turnover, it is important to have as many teachers as possible on casual or temporary contracts rather than in permanent full-time positions. Each of these points is difficult to support for an ELT educator. The presuppositions of most educators would be that: experience is a vital factor in good teaching, that rapid turnover is bad for an educational institution and for students, and that job security increases the work performance of teachers, both in the classroom and in the creation of educational resources for the college. Once again resolution of the entrepreneurial and the educational is needed. Lynn (1996; p 86) points out this potential contradiction of ELT management. ELT managers often have to confront situations which sit uneasily with the warm relaxed atmosphere of the ELT classroom, one of which is the conflict between caring for staff needs and desires while also facing business realities. This conflict is shown in some ELT manager responses to the Asian crisis of 1997 and 1998: Suddenly I was asked to choose to fire about a quarter of the staff. Even though legally they were on casual pay there’s still a kind of expectation that work is going to continue. The owners just seemed to be completely ruthless about it.

Anna, Director of Studies, College D, 1999

The hardest part of the job is when you have to get rid of good teachers because student numbers are down. Even though

172

teachers are on casual contracts there is still a kind of feeling that you are responsible to keep them employed. I hate it!

Sam, Director of Studies, College A, 1999

Ongoing professional development of staff is also difficult in a high turnover environment where little trust is usually developed between organization and teachers. Financial realities can also cause bad publicity for a college especially when hard-working or particularly loyal staff lose their positions. Danni, for example, returned to College B after an overseas trip but found that there was no position available for her, despite several years of committed work for the college, and a ‘word of mouth’ promise that a position would be available. The Managing Director was going to Spain on a student recruitment mission at about the same time and bringing his wife along as a ‘consultant’; whatever the real merits of the situation were, Danni became a persistent critic of the college in her subsequent position at another college. Obviously staff recruitment and management issues pose special problems in the development of a collaborative work culture. ELT managers who can maximise collaboration are likely to be among the most successful. Perhaps the most critical skill in this area is to be able to hire appropriately. Colleges need to carefully analyse each teacher and staff member’s individual situation before employment is offered and be wary of making commitments that may not be able to be honoured.

173

ELT managers need to have a range of teachers with varying time frames of employment expectation. ELT managers at each of the four colleges stressed that at interviews they were most interested in professional skills of the applicant and rarely probed expectations of employment. This is likely to lead

to

a

greater

number

of

staff

wanting

full-time

employment than can be reasonably offered. Alternatives such as hiring teachers from the UK or Ireland on working holiday visas, for example, who are only allowed to work for three months with one employer, are often not considered. Several ELT managers interviewed saw this time restriction as a serious disadvantage and would not offer positions to such candidates. The experience at College E, however, was that they were often extremely energising for longer term staff, thankful for the opportunity for a short-term professional position abroad and were grateful for a ‘short-term’ security that was as valuable for them as full-time employment would be in other cases. From the entrepreneurial point of view such teachers provided a buffer in case student numbers declined. Offering development opportunities to teaching staff with an expectation that employment with the college is a phase, rather than an ongoing certainty can also improve a sense of collaboration without a continuing obligation of employment. A recognition by ELT managers that ‘none of us is here forever’ and a focus on making staff more employable for their ‘next’ position can also assist in developing a collaborative culture and prevent a climate of fear and uncertainty 174

developing. Nevertheless, staffing issues are a particularly difficult area of ELT management and a range of contesting values in personnel management have to be resolved if the college is to succeed. Resource allocation is another common area of dispute in many international ELT colleges. At College A, for example, the Director of Studies strongly argued for the acquisition of new learning materials such as graded readers for the college library. The college owners, however, decided to use available funds to convert one room at the college into a gym. Feedback from students and agents about the new gym facility was extremely encouraging. For the DoS however, it seemed a symbol of the dominance of the entrepreneurial as compared to the educational value system at her college. In her

view,

despite

positive

feedback

from

important

stakeholders, it was a decision that disempowered teaching staff and their commitment to educational quality. The large numbers of students who came to use the gym and informed the DOS about the enjoyment that they found there and how much it added to the college did present some challenge to the DOS. Interestingly one of the chief reasons that the English students expressed enjoyment at the gym was that it was a place in the college where they could ‘hang around’ and meet other students and talk, whereas the more educational facilities such as the computer rooms and library were ‘silent places’ where speaking and practising oral English were not really encouraged. 175

ELT managers see the allocation of resources within their colleges as a significant and frequent point of contention with other managers and owners. In general marketing activities seem to attract a large share of discretionary expenditure. At College D, for example, funds for coursebooks and other teaching materials were difficult to obtain beyond those mandated for the initial inspection and accreditation of the college. Spreading awareness of financial constraints and encouraging collaborative solutions to them, however, can actually lead to better outcomes. For example, in most international ELT colleges students undertake social activities as part of their studies. One popular activity in the Sydney area is class picnics or BBQs. It would seem that if the college pays for all the food and provides all the catering then the students will be grateful and the event will be a success. Often however, in these circumstances a customer/provider relationship is set up, so that if the food is not suitable, is too hot or too cold, then there is cause for complaint despite its ‘free’ provision. At College B, for example, a group of students was taken horse riding to the Blue Mountains area near Sydney and lunch was included. The lunch, a typical Australian country fare of sausages, salad and bread was not suited for many of the East Asian students who felt 'cheated’ even though it had been provided as an extra. On the other hand where the college pays little or no amount for the picnic students can tend to take ownership of the 176

event. As a result of ELT manager reports of these and similar experiences, at College E the students were responsible for financing and menu selection at some of the college’s events. These activities were always very successful and international lunches, for example, where students all brought food from their country and shared the food in picnic settings were features of college life. Because the students had ownership of the events and because they were forced to contribute they got far more out of their participation and the events themselves were more rewarding for all concerned. This type of financial constraint can often bring valuable pedagogic outcomes as well. Thus in the above example, because the students have all prepared and brought food from home there is a 'real' communication gap that allows students of different nationalities to try each others foods and explain how various items are made and when they are typically eaten. Unlike the simulated language gaps of English classes

this allows authentic communication

in a real

environment. As a teacher it is easy to see that far more is learned on occasions such as these than in passive classroom environments. Chapter 14 The Culture of International ELT Colleges notes that collaboration involves risk on the part of the ELT manager. Open communication in times of uncertainty such as downturns in student numbers leaves ELT managers emotionally exposed. The more that ELT managers work to have staff collaborating, though, the more likely it is that staff 177

will understand the reasons behind hard decisions and will assist in their implementation. Like integration strategies, collaboration is a very time-consuming area of management. Learning how to get staff to work together, to share lessons and ideas, to respect difference and enjoy their diversity are significant management skills. Fortunately they are ones that ELT managers who have been successful teachers should already have some aptitude for.

8.5. The Recruitment, Placement and Certification of Students Collaboration is an important goal for inter-staff relations. Collaborative work cultures in ELT colleges are likely to encourage the third area of advantage for ELT colleges from the model in Chapter 7 - the development and promotion of a client service ethic – ensuring the college is highly responsive to and caring of its clients. Contestations about the exact nature of client service are a feature of ELT colleges and strategies of student recruitment and placement reflect this. It is in the interests of the ELT professionals in a college to have students who have the greatest chance of learning success, who are keen and committed learners, who are financially secure, who have no intention of breaking any laws or violating visa conditions and who plan to come to all classes. From an entrepreneurial point of view however, all course fees are equal and in many cases ‘bad’ students can actually be a much higher yielding financial 178

‘resource’ because of their need to repeat courses, to stay a longer

time

in

the

college

before

attaining

required

certification and, in the case of students who are frequently absent, make minimal use of services to which they are entitled. At College D, for example, the DOS was under significant pressure to enrol students to attain a sufficient number of students to make the college financially viable. Clashes arose over students who were too weak for particular courses such as IELTS preparation classes and Academic English classes. With

the

enrolment

of

such

‘undesirable’

students

entrepreneurial imperatives were temporarily satisfied but longer-term problems were created. Such clashes can lead ELT managers to feel that they have little control over the acquisition of students. You kind of drift along with the ocean currents. You know… DIMA changed the laws for China today – let’s get more Chinese. Oh the Japanese economy’s in recession less Japanese next month. Riots in Jakarta mean a heap more Indonesians coming even though none of them really want to study. You simply can’t control or plan anything. I just leave it to the Director to worry about that kind of stuff. I just deal with the students once they arrive…

Angela, Director of Studies, College B, 1999 and I used to think there was a science behind it but its all just gossip and hearsay. Max (a Thai agent) speaks to the owners for 10 minutes and suddenly next week 30 Thais turn up at the college. You can’t make any real decisions.

Peter, Director of Studies, College C, 1999

179

A feeling of powerlessness in the above comments and others like them suggests entrepreneurial values frequently override educator ones in international ELT colleges. In such cases ELT managers

become

reactive,

become

implementers

of

decisions rather than partners in them. It remains unclear to what extent this is self imposed – a kind of avoidance strategy of being responsible for the consequences of the hard decisions, by simply blaming them on those ‘above’. Class size is another frequent area of contestation. At its crudest level there would appear to be a tension between a small number of large classes which increases profitability and decreases student satisfaction and a large number of small classes which has the reverse effect. The relationship is not exactly linear though: One of the most surprising things was how little we were affected by the Asian crisis. At the time we reduced the number of teachers but we kept on getting enrolments. This meant that most of our classes were full to overflowing. Far from making the students discontinue most of them re-enrolled – it was almost as if they liked the crowding.

Brian, Senior Teacher, College C, 1999

This was also the case at College E where, despite frequent overcrowding, enrolments were barely affected during this time. At College E, which would have had one of the largest class sizes in Sydney, the re-enrolment rate was superior to all other colleges investigated. Both College A and College B which had limited class sizes and promoted this as a feature of their colleges subsequently had to introduce price incentives 180

for re-enrolment; indicating that small class sizes are by no means a critical factor in student choice of international ELT college. Perhaps the social motivations for students learning English in Australia – the need to meet friends and have a wide range of social contacts – are at least as important to many students as their gains in English language proficiency. Students may judge their short-term gains in friends and social life as more significant than the long-term outcome of their improving English. Also because students are living in an English speaking country, their English proficiency is increasing ‘by default’ however effective or ineffective their formal tuition. It is up to ELT management to understand their clients’ needs and wants well enough to make appropriate decisions in this area. The tension in all international ELT colleges about appropriate class size also relates to the physical size of students in classrooms: It didn’t matter when we had 18 or 20 young East Asian students in one class but I’ve got a class now that has 12 guys from East Europe in it as well as six Japanese and Koreans. The great big sweaty boys from Slovakia and Poland fill the room and then some – it really makes the class seem overcrowded.

Kate, Teacher, College E, 1998

Certification of student achievement is another area of contestation. Clashes in this area go to the heart of the differing values of the entrepreneur and the educator. What to the entrepreneur can be only a grade on a piece of paper can 181

to the educator appear to be fraud bordering on criminal behaviour. A growing trend for internal certification at international ELT colleges that allow progression to further education in vocational and university courses has increased contestation in this area. Visa requirements for full-time students mean that those whose attendance falls below 80% have to be reported to the DIMA. In such cases it is usual to cancel the student’s visa. Colleges with high absentee rates may also become somewhat suspect in official eyes. Skilful resolution in this area is a primary concern of effective ELT managers. All ELT managers in this study indicated that pressure from students, agents and other managers in the college with regard to the issuance of student documentation about attendance and achievement were a significant area of pressure in their jobs. Client service should never extend to manipulation of exit documents, but industry gossip would suggest that such practices occur at a number of colleges. Advance warning and effective counselling systems would seem to be the solution in this area. Many students with the cheerful abandon of the teenager do not realise the consequences of skipping class until it is too late. Appropriate warnings before the damage is done are frequently sufficient to prevent problems occurring.

182

8.6. Conclusion This chapter has shown that the IDFs of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator are both institutionalised in international ELT colleges. Commonly each IDF dominates in particular zones. This chapter argues, however, that there are a number of contested zones within the institutions. Some of these are course selection and development, the management of staff and

the

allocation

of

resources,

the

recruitment

and

placement of students and the certification of student achievement. Tensions between the IDFs are apparent in these aspects of ELT college life. Managers in ELT organizations have to find resolutions to these value clashes in order for their ELT organizations to satisfy both their entrepreneurial and their educational responsibilities. This means that the discourses of the ELT educator and of the entrepreneur coexist in international ELT colleges. There is a tendency for those in administrative and managerial functions of the college to identify more with the discourse of the entrepreneur and for those involved on the teaching side of operations to identify more with the values of the discourse of the ELT educator. This leads to activities becoming compartmentalised. The crucial dilemma for ELT managers lies in finding optimal resolutions to these value clashes. The model of integration, collaboration

and

client

service

has

been

tentatively

suggested as one possible approach to a resolution of such discoursal value clashes. 183

This

chapter

has

contestations

that

entrepreneurial

only

initiated

occur

and

in

ELT

the

the

discussion

of

institutionalisation

educator

discourses.

the of The

contestations are spread over the range of organizational dimensions. These contestations are played out in the evolution of each organization’s structure, milieu, ecology and culture. The following chapters provide brief theoretical backgrounds to each of these climatic dimensions before demonstrating the range of management dilemmas faced by ELT managers in designing solutions. It is to the organizational climate dimension of structure of international ELT colleges that this discussion now turns.

184

Chapter 9

THE STRUCTURE OF WORK ORGANIZATIONS

9.1. Introduction The previous four chapters have analysed the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator and discussed some of the contestations that exist within international ELT colleges. This chapter examines the structure of work organizations and its relationship to international ELT colleges from a theoretical perspective,

before

comment

in

the

next

chapter

on

organizational structure issues at international ELT colleges in Australia. This chapter defines the concept of organizational structure and power distribution for the purposes of this analysis. It then provides some theoretical background to the types of structures that appear in educational organizations and in international ELT colleges. It analyses these structures and their suitability for promoting integration of management activities, a strongly collaborative work culture and a clear focus on client service. It explores the relationship between organizational

structure

and

other

elements

of

the

organization’s climate and argues that informal structures influenced by an organization’s culture, ecology and milieu can be as significant as formal structures in the understanding 185

of organizational behaviour and in the analysis of educational and entrepreneurial outcomes.

9.2. Organizational Structure The study of organizational structure and configuration is a broad field. The interest in the field stems primarily from the belief that particular organizational structures are more suitable than others for improving organizational outcomes. Frequently formal roles within organizational structures are depicted on organizational charts or organigrams. Formal structures such as departments, teams and divisions and their hierarchical

arrangement

are

obviously

of

concern

to

managers, but informal structures, such as friendship groups, people working in close proximity, project teams and even smokers outside the door of the building also contribute in important ways to the overall system. Both informal and formal groupings are powerful in shaping organizational behaviour. An examination of an organization’s structure, therefore, has to investigate the formal and informal roles and relationships between members of an organization and how these

affect

task

allocation,

coordination

of

activities,

supervision and performance. After an analysis of the literature in the field, Mintzberg (1981, p.104 and 1983) found that, despite the vast array of research into organizational structure, there is a convergence in the descriptions leading to five clear and distinct organizational configurations. These five configurations are based on varying 186

assemblies of the component parts of all organizations. These parts are the strategic apex, the operating core, the middle line of managers, the technostructure and the support staff. The strategic apex is the top management of an organization – owners and executive managers. In international ELT colleges the strategic apex usually involves the owners, the Financial Controller and the Principal. The operating core consists of the people who do the basic work of the organization. In international ELT colleges the operating core are generally the teachers and the reception and marketing staff. The middle line is made up of managers, who are intermediate between the strategic apex and the operating core. These would include the Assistant Directors of Studies and Senior Teachers as well as the Marketing Manager, the Chief Bursar and the Registrar. The technostructure and the support staff provide services to the staff of the organization. The technostructure consists of personnel who design systems concerned with the planning and controlling of work. In many international ELT colleges the primary role of the ELT Director of Studies lies in this area, a further

indication

of

the

ambivalent

nature

of

ELT

management at this level. The support staff, on the other hand, provide services to the rest of the organization such as copy

assistants,

computer

network

cafeteria employees and similar staff.

187

engineers,

cleaners,

Using these categories Mintzberg derives five different kinds of fundamental organizational configurations. These are: the simple structure found in very small organizations such as corner shops, the machine bureaucracy that would be commonly

found

in

manufacturing

organizations,

the

professional bureaucracy found in organizations that need highly trained professionals in their operating cores, the divisionalized form which tends to exist in organizations with a number of parallel operating units with autonomy for the middle line managers of each and, finally, the adhocracy configuration, in which staff have to combine their efforts and be coordinated primarily by mutual adjustment and where line authority

and

similar

distinctions

tend

to

break

down

(Mintzberg, 1981; p104). International ELT colleges, because of their need for the services of ELT professionals, tend to conform most closely to Mintzberg’s professional bureaucracy configuration or to the divisionalized form. The distinction largely depends on the degree of autonomy of the ELT manager and whether their primary responsibility is for overall performance, such as revenue and profitability, or solely on execution of operational tasks largely within the sphere of the educational activities of the college. While the adhocratic structure is difficult for management to implement and maintain at the formal level, it may be the most suitable to reinforce goals of integration, collaboration and client focus for international ELT colleges. The following 188

chapter shows, however, that it also requires a degree of commitment that makes it quite vulnerable to changes in management. There are a number of elements of structure in Mintzberg’s (1981, p.104) descriptive framework that are relevant in the description and differentiation of international ELT college structures. One of the most significant is the degree of formalization of procedures such as written job descriptions and procedure manuals and the extent of compliance with them. Procedures that are codified and standardized are often referred to as bureaucratic while those that do not fit this description are organic. Another element is the nature and extent of control systems in the organization combined with the sorts of communication and liaison devices used to facilitate adjustments between and within organizational units. The more centralized the decision making the greater the likelihood that decisions are made by managers in the traditional line management model. In general, centralised structures tend to reinforce past behaviours

and

favour

bureaucratic

procedures.

More

decentralised structures may facilitate the assimilation of new patterns and associations by encouraging experiments on the edges of the organization (Nicolini & Meznar, 1995, p.731) but may also experience problems with accountability and record keeping.

189

The third significant element is the ability of the structure to focus on, and respond to, the external environment most especially changing market conditions and the organization’s clients.

9.3. Power distribution The control system reflects the delegation and dispersal of power in and around the organization and is a significant indicator of an organization’s structure. Handy has identified four

main

configurations

of

power

distributions

within

organizations based on the way tasks and work roles are assigned. These four configurations are: power, role, task and person (see Handy, 1993 for a complete discussion of these configurations). Power, however, is not a unitary concept. Four principal ways that power may be obtained and observed are resource power, position power, expert power and personal power. Resource power is the power obtained by control of resources such as money, guns, information, or brute physical strength. Position power is the power that comes from occupying a position or a formal role in an institution or society. Expert power is the power obtained and exercised by possessing knowledge, expertise or wisdom while personal power is the power that can be obtained and exercised through charisma or strength of personality (for a more complete discussion in this area see Aitken & Handy, 1986).

190

In most organizations resource power and position power are given from above or outside. The response to the exercise of these kinds of power is compliance - those in power may need to check that their ‘orders’ have been ‘carried out’. Expert power and personal power, on the other hand, are given from underneath, from the people over whom that power may be exercised. The response to this type of power is identification, which obviates the need for checking or the exercise of formal authority. The power configuration can be visualised as a web with rays of power and influence spreading out from a central powerful source. It is the kind of power distribution system that would be expected to be found in entrepreneurial organizations that depend on a central power source such as an owner or a strong charismatic leader with strongly centralised decisionmaking. Bureaucratic procedures become important in such a configuration because most decisions rest with one, or a small number of, powerful individuals. It largely depends on the resource power of the source. A diagrammatic description of a power structure is given in Figure 9.1.

191

Figure 9.1. The Power Configuration

The power configuration is favoured by many with an entrepreneurial outlook. At its best it is a benevolent dictatorship with an efficient allocation of resources, providing the central powerful clique has a sound understanding of the organization’s operations. At its worst a power configuration can be an egotistical dictatorship with resources allocated inefficiently

because

the

central

core

has

a

poor

the

role

understanding or organizational requirements. Handy’s

second

type

of

power

distribution,

configuration, is synonymous with bureaucracy. It can be depicted as a Greek temple with the pillars representing the various functions or specialties of the organization that are coordinated by a top band of senior management. In this structure the role or job description is seen as more important than the individual who fills it. It is the dominant paradigm in many people's thinking about organizations and Waterman, (1994) describes our society’s thinking on organizational issues as still being "entombed in the pyramid". In many larger organizations the pyramid defines who you are and 192

determines how much you get paid. There is frequently a direct correlation between how many bodies sit 'below' you on the pyramid and the amount of your pay cheque. This configuration largely depends upon position power although positions in the hierarchy can be determined by expert and person power. The role configuration is illustrated in Figure 9.2.

Figure 9.2. The Role Configuration

The role configuration at its best provides predictability, fairness, sound long term decision-making and high levels of accountability and legal compliance. Because of the time lags and distractions of bureaucracy however, organizational purposes can be distracted by procedural issues and few individuals feel responsibility for the overall health of the organization. The task configuration is more oriented towards the job or project at hand than towards a formal hierarchy. It is usually symbolised as a net or matrix. The whole emphasis in such a structure is on getting the job done by bringing together the 193

appropriate people and resources and basing influence on expert and personal power rather than on position or resource power. The growing use of consultants and contract workers in many

Australian

organizations

reflects

an

increasing

preference for this type of organizational structure. The task configuration is illustrated in Figure 9.3.

Figure 9.3. The Task Configuration

The task configuration is most likely to encourage and strengthen a collaborative work culture in an organization. When teams work cooperatively and communication between task groups is good resource allocation is appropriate, talented people are encouraged to develop, teams can learn from

mistakes

and

organizational

members

are

more

motivated because there is little perceived coercion. However if task groups conflict, resources can be allocated inefficiently because of poor communication. The lack of dissent in task groups can easily lead to groupthink and talented individuals who lack appropriate teamwork abilities can be frustrated. There

can

also

be

a

lack

responsibility and accountability. 194

of

ultimate

management

The person configuration is not found in many organizations as it essentially subverts the organization’s needs to those of the individual members. Control and management in person structures is difficult, except by mutual consent, and the organization is therefore subordinate to the individual. It is a frequently expressed desire of many professionals to work in organizations with person-oriented power distribution systems and it has been argued that barristers' chambers and some universities can be identified by this type of configuration. A person structure can be represented iconically as a cluster or galaxy of individual stars.

Figure 9.4. The Person Configuration

In an effective person configuration each member of the organization would be likely to be highly motivated because there was no coercion. Pride would be easy to create as members would be doing exactly what they wanted with resources provided by the organization and the organization would be very innovative because members would be free to experiment. On the other hand it is likely that such organizations would quickly become balkanised with everyone 195

doing their own thing. There would be an overlap of activities and functions due to a lack of coordination and the lack of a common purpose would over time harm pride in the organization. Without sufficient group encouragement the organization would also tend to become inward looking and conservative. Handy contends that each of these configurations may be appropriate and effective in particular circumstances, and it is the suitability of the fit of the power distribution system to its purposes,

environment

and

stakeholder

needs

that

is

significant rather than the classification of particular kinds of power distribution as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The combination of Mintzberg’s and Handy’s models have a number of implications for the following sections on the structure of educational organizations. These are that the structure of the organization influences the patterns of work within it, that the structure of the organization is closely related to the control system and formal procedures within it, that both the formal and informal structure of the organization are significant and that there is an interplay between the organization’s structure and its ability to focus on clients and the market. In general, organizations that lean towards power and role configurations favour centralised or hierarchical decision-making processes, whereas those that exhibit task and person configurations tend to favour more collaborative decision-making. It is likely that power and task configurations would have more rapid response times to clients and markets 196

due to their more effective liaison and communication mechanisms while the role configuration is likely to provide greater stability and accountability.

9.4. Describing Organizational Structures Educational organizations vary across a number of structural variables. These are the formalization of procedures, the nature and extent of control systems including the delegation and

dispersal

of

power

in

the

organization,

their

communication and liaison devices and their ability to respond to changing markets and client needs. Strong control systems lead to formalization of procedures in all but the smallest organizations.

Both

strongly

controlled,

centralised

organizations and collaborative decentralised ones however can have a strong or weak external focus on the markets and clients they serve. This leads to a simple matrix that can assist in the description of organizational structures in education generally and in international ELT colleges. The horizontal axis indicates the extent of centralized management control and the amount of formal procedures, while the vertical axis indicates the level of external focus. Each quadrant is labelled according to the most significant feature of power dispersal that the organization’s structure would display with that matrix combination.

197

Management Control and Formal Procedures  Client Focus 

Low (Organic) -

High (Bureaucratic) +

Low

INSULATED

BUREAUCRATIC

-

[PERSON]

[ROLE]

High

ADHOCRATIC

MANAGERIALIST

+

[TASK]

[POWER]

Figure 9.5 The ELT Structure Matrix

While this study suggests that it is important to disperse power and control and encourage collaborative work cultures, it would seem likely that educational institutions that have insulated structures would experience difficulties. By having low

internal

control

but

also

responding

slowly

to

environmental and consumer imperatives the institution would quickly become directionless and ultimately be less relevant to clients and the market. Educational

institutions

have

traditionally

had

quite

bureaucratic structures with high internal control mechanisms that can optimise quality and provide stability. Those with only a

low

level

of

response

to

clients

and

the

external

environment may not exploit new opportunities and markets with sufficient speed. In the 1980s the university, TAFE and 198

migrant education systems in Australia, for example, despite possessing the necessary infrastructure and expertise, did not use their advantages rapidly enough to dominate the operation of the international ELT sector in Australia, in part because

of

their

bureaucratic

structures.

This

allowed

privately owned colleges to move into the sector and attract large numbers of fee-paying international students. Most of these larger educational organizations in Australia have made and are making significant changes in their focus on client needs,

but

still

see

the

need

to

maintain

significant

management control and formal procedures. This has led many such organizations to be more managerialist in structure. Like other educational organizations, most privately owned international

ELT

bureaucratic

or

colleges

in

managerialist

Australia structures

have with

either a

high

centralisation of power. A high level of internal control gives the advantage of longer-term stability and perhaps higher educational

outcomes

but

increases

bureaucracy

and

response time. A managerialist structure provides a greater focus on the client and better entrepreneurial outcomes. Neither structure satisfactorily resolves the tensions of loose coupling and the ongoing value clashes of educators and entrepreneurs. It may be possible for educational organizations to focus closely on clients and external market factors without high levels of manager control and excessive formal procedures 199

however. This quadrant of the matrix is closely aligned with Mintzberg’s notion of the adhocracy and displays a task configuration. An adhocratic structure uses mutual adjustment as the key means of coordination and there is little formalization of procedures and a high degree of trust. Relationships among organizational members are multiplex and an essentially organic system is in place. There is limited planning but an acceptance that the organization has to respond to change quickly. There are many liaison devices and a selective decentralization of decision-making. Power is distributed both by expert control and by mutual agreement.

9.5. The Relationship between Structure and Organizational Climate Different

structures

obviously

influence

the

type

of

interactions in organizations and the ability to understand and design

organizational

diagnostic

tool

for

configurations

managers

is

(Mintzberg,

an

important

1981

p.113).

International ELT colleges offer a highly intangible service, part of the trend to an increasing proportion of economic activities in advanced economies being services rather than goods. Many of the elements of traditional organizational structure, such as command and control or standardization, are less suitable for ELT colleges because of the intangible nature of their service and the fact that the quality depends on many uncontrollable factors, an especially critical one being the motivation and performance of the ELT teachers and the make-up of and relationships between the students 200

themselves. As with most service industries, employees in ELT colleges have a strong bearing on the outcome of the service and so have to play an important role in management systems and organizational structure. The contested institutionalisation of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator, discussed in Chapter 8, can be partially explained through structural analysis. Myer and Rowan (1978, p.79) suggested two decades ago that, in educational organizations, instruction tends to be removed from

the

control

of

the

organizational

structure

both

bureaucratically and collegially. This leads to the idea of educational organizations as "loosely coupled systems" with the structure being disconnected from the work activity, and the work activity disconnected from its effects. Educational administrators

often

have

little

direct

authority

over

instructional work but generally make decisions about support aspects such as scheduling, allocation of classes and hiring. They describe the elaborate sets of formal rules that were used to classify teachers and students, which may be 'selfevident' to insiders but be almost nonsensical to outsiders. They suggest that there were significant contradictions in performance

and control systems in many educational

organizations. Thus: documents of what teachers do are either non-existent or vacuous while documents that define persons as teachers are elaborately controlled

(Myer and Rowan, 1978: p.85)

201

On the same page they cite a study in the San Francisco Bay area by Cohen and others that found that 77% of elementary teachers agreed that personality characteristics were more important

for

success

in

teaching

than any

particular

knowledge or professional skills. Yet the regulation of paper qualifications remains standard procedure in almost all educational

organizations.

ELT

teachers

with

years

of

overseas teaching experience, abundant enthusiasm, crosscultural skills and glowing references from former employers, for example, would find it difficult to obtain employment without the possession of a one month teaching certificate that has, at best, only partial relevance to the daily tasks of many in ELT. In the large school, university and vocational systems there may be important reasons for a continuation of this loose coupling; there may be political imperatives to maintain public confidence in the system or financial imperatives to acquire sufficient resources. In the more entrepreneurial world of international ELT colleges, however, this loose coupling tends to lead to a range of conflicts unless strategies are developed to overcome them. The ecological features of a college can assist in the development of a particular organizational structure especially in

the

facilitation

of

informal

communication.

The

management of milieu can be important so that staff are hired who value the type of structure the college wants to develop. The organization’s culture is perhaps a prime determinant of 202

the success or failure of its structure. The following chapter demonstrates that even where two colleges have similar formal structures and operations the underlying organizational culture and the informal structures it creates can have a significant bearing on overall outcomes. An emphasis on the three themes of integration, collaboration and client service can provide improvement

of

the

a significant basis for

organizational

structure

of

an

international ELT college. An effective organizational structure can also serve to reinforce these goals and help resolve the competing values of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator.

9.6. Conclusion The basic function of an organization’s structure should be to establish patterns of human interaction that accomplish organizational

tasks.

It

is

difficult

to

select

a

single

configuration that is best suited to optimal organizational outcomes across the whole range of work organizations and it is likely that different configurations are best, depending on other variables such as size and nature of work tasks. This chapter has given a brief overview of some models of organizational

structure.

It

has

examined

Mintzberg’s

hypothesis of the five principle organizational configurations, combined with Handy’s notion of power distribution across organizations. It has looked at the notion of educational 203

organizations as being loosely coupled systems and examined the combination of an organization’s internal control with its external focus. In the following chapter some linkages between these configurations and educational and entrepreneurial discourses is made. The discussion of the structures of international ELT colleges examines the nature of the configurations of the organizations under review and diagnoses some of the conflicts and difficulties that beset them due partly to structural dilemmas. It is then proposed that the use of an adhocracy structure may be considered as an effective organizational configuration for these colleges.

204

Chapter 10

THE STRUCTURE OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

10.1. Introduction Educational organizations are often "loosely coupled systems" with the structure being disconnected from the work activity, and the work activity disconnected from its effects. Creating greater links between administrative and teaching activities and developing awareness of entrepreneurial and educational goals can be assisted by managerial efforts to help minimise the negative effects of this loose coupling. Bureaucratic and managerialist structures are the default configurations in ELT colleges but an adhocratic configuration that reinforces collaboration between staff may be a more suitable structural goal. This

chapter

examines

the

structure

of

a number

of

international ELT colleges and compares their configurations to the theory discussed in the previous chapter. It also describes some structural initiatives that took place at College E and their effect on the climate of that college. The chapter suggests that the adhocracy configuration may help to reinforce goals of integration, collaboration and client focus for colleges, although it requires a degree of commitment that makes it vulnerable to changes in management. 205

10.2. The Bureaucratic Structure in ELT Colleges The bureaucratic structure was described in the previous chapter as having relatively high levels of formal procedures and internal control and relatively low focus on external matters. Its advantages are the perpetuation of a stable organization and strong accountability and legal compliance. Because of the lower degree of external focus however such organizations can be vulnerable to changes in market conditions. College B and College D both displayed many of the structural features

of

bureaucratic

organizations.

College

B

was

originally part-owned by a large private Japanese educational organization but in 1998 became fully Australian owned. The college was initially required to raise the prestige of the organization in Japan and give it an international profile as well as to make a profit. Given this history of external accountability there has been an emphasis on written procedures at College B. There was also a deep sense in the early development of the College that teachers were separate from the management core of the organization. At College B procedures were formalized and there were written job descriptions and procedure manuals that staff were expected to adhere to. All staff were expected to have the minimum amount of formal training and knowledge stipulated for their job and, in general, substantially exceeded it. Hiring would generally proceed on formal assumptions of qualifications and experience. Consequently College B had the 206

most qualified and experienced staff of the ELT organizations reviewed in this study. The emphasis upon quality of educational work also meant that the standard of classwork at College B was very high. There was also a scrupulous adherence to record keeping of student attendance and performance. Decision-making and control

were

centralized with

the

General Manager of the organization ultimately responsible for all significant managerial decisions and the ELT managers primarily responsible for operational rather than strategic matters. ELT managers played a more subordinate role as gatherer of information and implementer of decisions. There was little delegation of power downwards or outwards from the General Manager except in areas of content expertise such as curriculum or testing matters. Like College B, College D had a bureaucratic structure. Employees were expected to fulfil the duties outlined by their role with little input into the organization either horizontally or vertically away from this role. College D had an emphasis on written

procedures.

The

written

job

descriptions

and

procedure manuals formed the basis of the management of staff. Staff were expected to understand the procedures and to adhere to items such as dress codes and rules of fraternisation with students. In general procedures were formalized and all staff had the minimum amount of formal training and knowledge stipulated for their job although there was a pressure to hire less experienced staff in order to 207

minimise costs. As part of a larger institute the ELT college was initially designed to assist international students to prepare for studies in its other courses. It was expected that the ELT managers would be familiar with all necessary components of running and administering an ELT college, such as marketing, administration and reporting requirements as well as those that fell into the realm of educational

matters.

Because

the

institute

had

little

experience with international education there was a lack of understanding of how to implement appropriate structure and budgets

for

international

ELT.

Many

procedures

were

formalized with written job descriptions and procedure manuals but development staff such as marketing staff were not catered for. The institute commenced operations on the assumption that “if you build it they will come” but many of the subsequent difficulties

of

the

ELT

operations

stemmed

from

the

inappropriate structure with poor centralised decision making. Decision-making and control were centralized as far as ELT operations and business college operations were concerned. The failure of senior institute managers to fully understand the potential for legal and financial difficulties in international education ultimately led to organizational failure. Indeed, subsequent to this study, College D changed premises and ownership structure and after numerous disputes between the top managers of the institute and the new owner of the ELT 208

college the college was closed and the remaining students were transferred.

10.3. The Managerialist Structure in ELT Colleges College C and College A both had more managerialist configurations. At College C the college’s founders sold it to the current owners in 1993. The current owners were a syndicate of active and inactive partners. The inactive partners had equity stakes but did not have any operational control over the college. Because of this structure it was imperative that College C be able to produce dividends each year for its inactive partners/investors. This ownership pattern also meant that College C had an emphasis on written procedures. The owners of College C were all from one particular ethnic group. There could be a subversion of the typical ‘line management’ pattern at College C by students from that same ethnic group who had extra access to the top management of the college. Jacques, in a series of studies in the 1950s, found that in bureaucratic organizations where there was a confusion of role boundaries or when the same person fulfilled multiple roles, high levels of insecurity and frustration resulted (see Jaques, 1951, 1956). The ELT managers at College C indicated that while there was a clear formal structure at College C, there were various escape routes

and

diversions

to

this

209

structure

that

led

to

unwillingness

by

management

employees

to

exercise

authority. This matter was particularly significant in areas that were typically under direct ELT manager control such as issues of course content, student attendance records and student performance certificates. The marketing staff at College C were not salaried employees but

rather

‘consultants’

on

small

retainers

and

large

commissions. This had certain advantages for the organization but led to problems of control and competition among staff. Marketing staff, who were reluctant to ‘lose’ commissions, did not always adequately advise potential students or implied commitments to potential students that ELT managers found impossible to fulfil. A common problem in this regard was assuring students with weak English that they would be able to commence an IELTS exam preparation class although subsequent testing by ELT staff revealed unsuitably low levels of English for such a class. Decision-making and control on financial matters were centralized with the two active partners retaining authority in these matters. ELT managers were seen as gatherers of information and implementers of decisions. There was little delegation of power except in day-to-day operational matters. College A was also managerialist. It was originally a small vocational college unit of a much larger English college. In 210

1992 the large English college began to accumulate debts resulting from the changes to entry requirements for students from the People’s Republic of China. This debt problem led to the owner of the English college wishing to file for bankruptcy. The three current owners of College A discussed the pending closure of their organization with the former owner. An agreement was made that they would continue to operate the business college taking over all debts owed by that division of the college and creating a new business entity. This entity would lease premises and equipment from the English college and share particular administration facilities. Initially the three owners fulfilled all the roles at the small college providing teaching, student administration, marketing and financial administration of the college. Due to fears of incurring debt, extra teaching staff were only hired on casual weekly or monthly contracts. The managerialist structure of the college grew out of these early experiences. The three owners saw themselves as survivors and builders of the organization that followed. As soon as the college moved they commenced preparations for an English language college. The senior ELT manager, who would be a Director of Studies, was ultimately to become an employee even though the owners would have preferred an ‘entrepreneurial’ risk-taking ELT manager to take an equity role in the college as a fourth partner it proved extremely difficult to find such a person. Because each of the owners had of necessity made the crossover from teaching to an 211

entrepreneurial view of management they also expected that their ELT manager would share their views. All significant decisions were made by the owners but there was also an informal expectation that people would not limit themselves to their job description. For example, the ELT Director of Studies was expected to take on the duties of the Business Director of Studies, while the Business DOS was on vacation. The formal written job descriptions and procedure manuals that existed were largely the products of external monitoring requirements and an array of more informal expectations assisted in the maintenance of a strong client focus. Such documents were occasionally referred to but it was much more important for staff to be satisfying the immediate requirements identified orally by the owner managers than to be laboriously following the job description. There was a limited performance appraisal system although once again this was largely oral and informal. The formal training and knowledge required for ELT positions at College A were largely those set by external monitoring authorities. There was a desire on the part of the ELT managers to ensure personality fit for the organization too. In general there was a perception among the managers that those who had previously been comfortable working for large bureaucratic organizations would not find the patterns of work and organizational life at College A suitable.

212

Decision-making on minor matters was de-centralized and staff were given to understand that they were expected to take relevant decisions and solve disturbances without constant recourse to senior management in such cases. There were various communication and liaison devices although in general these operated at the management level with meetings between Directors of Studies and Owners and then at the staff level with contacts between staff of different divisions of the college. Such meetings and contacts were primarily informal and oral and indeed there was a suspicion of the procedures of formal minuted meetings.

10.4. The Management of Structure in ELT Colleges Pickering (1999, p.5) has indicated some of the metaphors commonly used to describe organizations in the management literature such as machines, organisms, brains, culture, political systems, psychic prisons, transformational flux and domination instruments. A brief survey of ELT teachers however, added a range of new metaphors to the list. Teachers

saw

their

respective

colleges

as:

brothels,

Rottweilers, headless chickens, ivory towers, dinosaurs, The Spanish Inquisition, warm baths, families, private armies, jazz bands, tightropes, circuses and headless dinosaurs. It would seem therefore that in ELT, in common with most industries, the design and improvement of an organization’s structure is an important management task. Organizational structure however, is a contingent variable, which means that 213

a similar configuration may be successful in one college and not in another. College D and College B, for example, both leaned towards the bureaucratic configuration. It would seem that despite the similar structures, however, there were elements that made this configuration work more effectively at College B than at College D. On the other hand College A and College C were both configured similarly on managerialist lines. Again though, there were other organizational factors that suggest that this structure was more effective at College A than at College C. Charles (1993, p.11) suggests that international ELT colleges require new structural metaphors by changing the traditional hierarchical

structure

of

such

colleges

to

‘fronted’

organigrams. In essence the organizational chart should be turned on its side with teachers, administration and marketing staff at the 'front' of the operation being 'producers' in a prime position to gain market intelligence and senior managers and the technostructure being seen to be in support roles ‘behind’. This parallels an emphasis on client service as the focus of the organization’s activities A significant drawback of the bureaucratic or managerialist configuration for international ELT colleges is that managers may see their organizations as consisting of jobs and roles rather than an integration of activities matched with people and skill sets. Favouring a clear assignment of responsibility but limiting the capacity of people in organizations can render ineffective many of an individual's greatest strengths and 214

exacerbate their weaknesses. An emphasis by managers on an integrated organization, on the other hand, would favour the development of an adhocratic configuration The analysis of the above four colleges and research into organizational configuration

structure may

well

suggested be

that

desirable

the

adhocracy

structure

for

an

international ELT college. An adhocracy would allow the organization to innovate in complex ways and to adapt well to the fast-changing ELT environment. An adhocracy could draw on the strengths of the bureaucracy in that it relies on experts and professionals to get the bulk of its work done. It should emphasise, however, the working together to improve the current situation rather than the working apart to perfect established skills. Rather than remain in the operating core as in a professional bureaucracy, the experts need to be dispersed throughout the organization. Managers in the adhocracy have to see themselves as linkage experts rather than controllers. They need to see coordination and an encouragement of collaboration as their primary functions and allow their control function to be subsidiary. Research on school effectiveness shows that teachers prefer task configurations that demonstrate cooperative, collegial and collaborative structures with staff working as a team with shared goals (McGaw, Piper, Banks and Evans, 1993; p.1). Because teachers are the critical element in the service delivered by ELT colleges it makes sense to encourage such

215

collaborative

cultures

and

reinforce

them

through

the

organization’s structure. A clear focus on integration and collaboration, and the development of an adhocratic structure, would stress that the organization is a field of activity that encompasses a variety of tasks, projects and services. It views the workplace as a network of collaborative relationships rather than as a site with people and systems located together (Field & Ford, 1995, pp 74-75, 81). An international ELT college based in Australia therefore, needs to see its sphere of operations as including the various cooperating institutions, the agents and marketing teams, the homestay families and, up to a point, the government regulators such as the Federal Department of Immigration and the State Department of Education as well as the relevant accrediting bodies such as NEAS and industry bodies such as the EA, ACPET and Trust Fund providers. There are also limitations to the adhocratic structure however. There is a constant need for hands on management to retain an adhocratic configuration and there is a serious time cost in raising awareness among organizational members. As the organization ages there seems to be a desire among many organizational members to pursue bureaucratic rather than adhocratic organizational goals. Finally it can be difficult for senior management to agree to subdue their control functions to linkage ones.

216

10.5. Action Research at College E: Structure As a result of research into organizational structure and the observations of structure at other ELT colleges, at College E four structural initiatives formed part of the action research. At the commencement of the action research discussions on structure with staff showed that there was an enthusiasm for working

towards

a

different

type

of

organizational

configuration from that most teachers and administration staff had previously experienced. Each of the action research initiatives in the area of structure was

designed

to

reinforce

the

values

of

integration,

collaboration and client service. The action research cycles in 1997 and 1998 emphasised the intent to move towards an adhocratic structure encouraging the best features of person and task configurations. Action research cycles three and four in late 1998 and early 1999 attempted to build on and reinforce the structural achievements of cycles one and two. The three structural initiatives were: Action

Research

Initiative

S1:

Action

Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) to 3 (July December

1998):

That

the

college

organizational

structure be perceived as a fronted organigram with those in client contact including administration and teaching staff being seen as the most crucial in the organization with those

‘behind’

playing

support

roles

to

ensure

the

effectiveness of those ‘in front’. As well that the mixture of 217

exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators used to determine educational and institutional quality for the international ELT college reflect organizational goals focusing primarily on client satisfaction.

Action

Research

Initiative

S2:

Action

Research

Cycles 3 (July – December 1998) and 4 (January – June 1999): The organization would try to have as few barriers as possible between staff. Teachers were to be encouraged to teach across both vocational and English subjects. Teachers were to be encouraged to do marketing and/or administration work. Administration and marketing staff were to be assisted in upgrading their educational qualifications.

Action

Research

Initiative

S3:

Action

Research

Cycles 3 (July – December 1998) and 4 (January – June 1999): Management decisions on structure were to be explicit and communicated to all employees and be reached as far as possible through consultation. All staff should also have the opportunity to witness managers in action and be able to question them about their activities and decisions.

218

In order to implement Structure Initiative 1 the Principal and other managers made constant efforts to inculcate the value of client service as the primary operational task in the organization.

Open

door

management

policies

were

implemented from the start of operations and there was no shielding of senior managers from students or agents. This was a very effective initiative during the early phases of the college. As student numbers grew it did impose a time and efficiency burden on managers that was never entirely resolved. All ELT educators at the college were advised during interview and induction phases that evaluations of their work would be based primarily on student satisfaction. Staff room discussions were held on the importance of understanding students’ real needs and motivations. A lot of thought and planning went into the college excursion program so that students were taken to places that were ‘off the beaten track’. Socialising with students was strongly encouraged and the college used to provide funds for teachers to drink on Fridays after lessons in the same location as the students. Nathan a teacher at College E at the time recalls: The emphasis on excursions and staff-student bonding that existed at that time was fantastic. The situation in 98/99 was so good partly because we were encouraged to share our experiences of Sydney and its environs with the students, and helping them find their way around here other than to and from Darling Harbour.

219

In order to implement Structure Initiative 2 a corresponding ecological initiative (see Section 12.6) was introduced that set out a plan for open classrooms and mixed staff rooms. A concerted effort was also made to ensure a diversity of duties. For example, many English teachers also hold qualifications that permit them to teach courses in business and computing. As the clientele for ELT and vocational courses at College E was very similar, and there were mainly non-native English speakers

in

advantages.

the Many

vocational of

the

courses,

English

this

teachers

had

many

found

the

opportunity to work in content subjects refreshing after years of working solely with language and the initiative was seen as a very positive feature of College E. As vocational subjects were taught both morning and afternoon while English was only taught in the morning it also offered an extra income stream for a number of teachers. As ELT is, in general, a less well-paid profession than many, this was also welcome for those who loved teaching but may have otherwise had to change careers due to financial pressures. This initiative also led to a preference for hiring teachers who had the ability to teach across disciplines, which itself led to an ongoing commitment to preventing a break into a divisionalized form. As well as the teaching across disciplines, teachers were involved in college marketing activities and in records administration. The vocational college taught a Diploma course in Records Management and several members of the ELT staff took this course and assisted in the building and 220

maintenance of the college database. Two teachers moved from teaching into marketing with one becoming the college Marketing Manager. Structure Initiative 3 was also supported by an ecological initiative that had managerial staff share workspaces with other teaching and administration staff. This initiative is not concrete and fell more into the level of consciousness-raising. Many people, even those trained in critical awareness, do not reflect in a structured way on their work organizations and their possibilities for improvement. It is therefore difficult to assess the effectiveness of this initiative although a range of comments from teachers at College E during interviews for this project and afterwards reveals an awareness of structure and culture variables. For example;

1. (The) management style is heartfelt and appreciated. (Pamela, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 2, College E, 1998) 2. (The) open support of teachers and all the other staff is hugely encouraging and genuine. (Yumiko, Marketing employee, Action Research Cycle 3, College E, 1998) 3. It demonstrates the type of mutually respectful relationships that exists at College E (James, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 4, College E, 1998) 4. I worked at the language schools within the University of F and Institute G and H College as a casual/relief teacher for spells of six - eight weeks. The staff atmosphere at College E was outstanding in comparison – particularly friendly, supportive, fun, transparent and workable. By comparison, I found the other colleges isolating, scary, daunting and at times distinctly unfriendly.

221

(Penny, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 5, College E, 1999) 5. The idea of the front not the bottom is a great one. Seeing the college from front to back rather than from top to bottom makes a lot more sense. I also like the idea that a lot of teachers teach other subjects besides English. The computer teaching has been a real benefit for me. (Marie, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 4,College E, 1998) 6. I like the emphasis on seeing the whole place as one. I don’t feel like a cog in the machine as I used to in other places I’ve worked. I get a lot of chances to do other things besides teach… as you can see I’m now the Marketing Manager! (Ivan, Marketing Manager, Action Research Cycle 6,College E, 1999)

Along with the success of these measures were many areas of contestation. Division of tasks is a familiar construct to many people. Several teachers at College E objected to open classrooms especially for ‘trial’ students, which they saw as an exploitation of their professionalism. Partly this is explained by the fact that for marketing reasons certain teachers would be more likely to have trial students placed in their classes than others and so bore the burden of this arrangement. This difficulty was partially solved by allocating one session of the teaching day, the third session from 12:00 – 1:00 each day, as the only session that trial students could observe classes. As part-time students attended class until 12:00 only this avoided any problem of overcrowding and limited disruptions. On the other hand, despite some initial teacher opposition, many teachers took an interest in this area of college operations and were quite proprietorial about ‘their’ trial students.

222

The owners of the college took to the management initiatives from a bottom line perspective. There were cost savings to open

plan

offices

and

logistical

advantages

to

open

classrooms that made them accept the initiatives. On the other hand, they found it hard to relinquish a certain manner of control, which they had been used to exercising in previous colleges that they had owned. As time went on though, the proof was ‘in the pudding’. The growth and success of the college, far beyond their initial expectations meant that they came to value the different structure of the college and to an extent accept it. Since the end of active commitment to an adhocracy however there has been a drift back to the bureaucratic configuration. This may suggest that this form is felt to be a more ‘natural’ configuration for an international ELT college, in spite of less effective organizational outcomes. In common perhaps with some other action research in educational organizations, many of the initiatives were not successfully embedded into the college. Once the commitment to action research was removed, and management personnel had changed, College E drifted away from an adhocratic configuration.

10.6. Conclusion Organizational structure is a significant area of organizational climate. Manipulating the structure of an organization can impact upon culture and organizational outcomes. While improvements to structure are not the only method of 223

enhancing organizational culture they can prove to be the most effective (Anthony 1994 p.3). There is a value in using organizational

structure

models

as

management

tools.

Analysing the configurations of similar organizations can be of benefit to international ELT managers who can attempt to find patterns and systems that work best. There is also a value to inculcating staff in the understanding of such models in order to bring about a greater empathy with organizational goals and their own ability to work towards a configuration that is most likely to lead to successful outcomes. It would seem likely that ELT managers should strive to manage structure proactively rather than let the traditional configurations of ELT develop by default. In the growth and development of College E the adhocratic structure worked effectively for the time of the action research project. With the increasing age of the organization, changes to the ELT management

and

a

lessening

of

commitment

to

the

adhocratic structure however, a drift back to a bureaucratic configuration occurred. The people who are stakeholders in an organization, its milieu, are also strongly linked to the production and maintenance of the organization’s structure. It is to the milieu of international ELT colleges that this discussion now moves.

224

Chapter 11

THE MILIEU OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

11.1. Introduction This chapter examines the milieu of a number of international ELT colleges and provides some examples of the need for reconciliation

between

educational

and

entrepreneurial

concerns in this organizational dimension. It first looks at milieu and its relationship to organizational climate. It outlines some features of milieu relevant to ELT colleges and the nature

and

range

of

management

difficulties

in

this

dimension. It then examines the milieu at College E and some action research initiatives that took place there. It analyses some of the impact of these initiatives in relation to the organization’s climate and then concludes with a brief summary.

11.2. The Relationship between Milieu and Organizational Climate ELT is a very person dependent industry. Many of the students studying English in Sydney are doing so for a complex array of educational, social and economic reasons. For many, the interaction with college members and fellow students is far more important in judging and recommending colleges than course content or teachers’ linguistic 225

expertise. Subtle

differences

in

the

milieu

of international

ELT

colleges

therefore, can influence their organizational outcomes. Impey and Underhill (1994, p.vii) in the introduction to their ELT Manager’s Handbook note that People are the key to successful management: the provision of high quality ELT is a meeting of people and minds. Even among traditionally labour intensive service industries, teaching is unusually intangible and dependent upon the motivation and good will of all staff; successful interaction is all...

The milieu dimension relates to this ‘people’ aspect of the organization. It includes the characteristics of the staff, clients and other stakeholders of the organization; their ages, genders, ethnicities, expectations and levels of satisfaction, socio-economic

backgrounds,

morale

and

motivation,

behaviour towards other organizational members and a range of other personal attributes and characteristics. Milieu and organizational culture are closely linked. In this study, milieu refers to the organizational members as individuals and their relatively enduring physical and social characteristics and attributes, while organizational culture is the collective interaction patterns and assumptions that influence

organizational

members.

The

discussion

of

organizational culture in chapters 13 and 14 focuses on the interactions between people and the symbols and values that give meaning to their work within the organization. The chief groups of stakeholders in international ELT colleges are

the

teachers,

the

administration, 226

marketing

and

counselling staff, the agents (who are usually external to the college) and, of course, the students. For ELT managers with responsibility for the hiring and replacement of ELT teachers and support staff, awareness of the contribution of the milieu dimension to organizational climate can provide significant leverage

towards

organizational

the

outcomes.

achievement The

of

possibilities

successful for

actively

managing student intakes also allows some management of the overall student milieu, especially in the ratio of learner nationalities. Many international ELT colleges have a relatively rapid turnover of teaching staff, administrative staff, and students compared to other types of educational institutions. This means that opportunities to implement management strategies in the area of milieu are available not only through choices in the start up phase, but on an ongoing basis. Organizational culture can have a powerful effect on decisions that affect the milieu of an international ELT college. An emphasis on the three cultural themes of integration, collaboration and client service can provide a significant basis for steering the course of the milieu of an international ELT college. This can, in turn, both reinforce these cultural values and work to resolve the competing values of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator.

11.3. The ELT Teacher Milieu The types of teachers employed in a college, their ages, genders, life experiences, career aspirations and approaches 227

to teaching can provide significant variance in the atmosphere of different ELT institutions. All of the colleges in this study hired a range of teachers from those who had just completed their ELT qualifications to those with 10 or more years of experience. Most of the teachers had only the minimum required ELT qualifications and there were a number of teachers who had not completed full teacher qualifications but had taught ELT overseas for a number of years. Most of the teachers felt that, while the knowledge and skills obtained in their ELT certificate courses was not perfectly matched with their work activities, it was an appropriate entry qualification and many had recommended such certificate courses to friends. Only three teachers at the five colleges in the study were over 50 years of age and more than two-thirds of the teachers were under 40 years of age. This tends to confirm the view of ELT as a ‘young person’s game’. Waites (1999, pp244-305), in a research study conducted in Geneva and Sydney to examine the career cycles of ELT teachers, found they had far more variations during their career cycles than school teachers, who were in a more stable and

predictable

situation.

According

to

the

teachers

interviewed despite the ELT becoming increasingly more professional, its unpredictable nature made it stimulating and rewarding. In spite of the instability of the ELT career many appeared to have more positive career experiences overall, than school teachers with more stable career paths. Waites also

concluded

that

the

perception

228

of

professional

development issues between ELT teachers and ELT managers were divergent. ELT teachers are largely responsible for the generation of the functional quality within their ELT college and can create considerable competitive advantage for it. Agents regularly inform their clients of ‘star’ teachers at particular colleges. The main IELTS teacher at College A, for example, had a reputation for achieving very good results with her classes. Three

different

agents

interviewed

indicated

that

they

recommended potential IELTS students to College A because of the feedback they had had about the teacher. Likewise at College E, one teacher had a background in the theatre and was an extraordinarily outgoing and personable teacher. College E would frequently receive requests from agents to inform them of which class or level the teacher was currently teaching. Most of the teachers at the five colleges examined were between 25 and 39, single or in a de facto relationship with no children, interested in travel and other cultures and not strongly career focused. Most had moved into ELT because they wanted to travel or had been living in a country where work as an ELT teacher was easily available. Staff room conversations had a high frequency of discussion of overseas destinations for holidays and work, and Lonely Planet Guidebooks seemed to be a common ‘reference’ book in staff rooms.

229

A number of teachers who were about to get married or have children spoke of the necessity of finding either managerial positions within ELT or changing careers to gain greater employment stability for the raising of a family. The connection of life changes with moves into ELT management is taken up in Chapter 15. Teachers, not surprisingly see themselves as a critical factor in successful ELT colleges. The college is only as good as the teachers…

Brian, Teacher, College C, 1996

If the teachers are good, then the college will be successful. When the teachers are unhappy it’s really hard to satisfy the students or put on a ‘happy face’.

Maria, Teacher, College D, 1997 English language teaching can be seen as one of the more ‘postmodern’ occupations. Forth (1998, p.22) notes that few people enter the ELT profession with a burning desire for lifelong

membership

as

teachers.

Rather,

for

most

newcomers, ELT is an attractive stop-gap. The temporary and casual nature of the work, the contact with exotic groups of students of similar age, and the practical and realistic entry requirements seem to suit the desire of many in their mid to late twenties to postpone hard career decisions and enjoy freedom and interesting experiences for as long as possible. For those who remain in ELT however, a certain cynicism and frustration can creep in: 230

The short-term contracts, the lack of development opportunities, the repetitiveness of certain kinds of teaching, far from being liberating, at a later stage in the life cycle become oppressive. This can lead to a scepticism and pessimism about the whole ethos of ELT. In particular, one can find expressions of scepticism about the management of language schools, a scepticism that sometimes borders on hostility.

(Forth, 1998; p.22)

This scepticism towards management is discussed in Chapter 15 but it needs to be noted in passing that antipathy to ELT managers is a relatively enduring characteristic of many teachers, and a severe disadvantage for ELT managers to overcome. All of the international ELT colleges discussed in this study have

a

high

ratio

of

casual

employees

and

contract

consultants to permanent full-time employees. This has consequences for the relative power of the different groups of stakeholders. College C, for example, has two owners, six fulltime

employees

(two

permanent

full-time

educational

administrators, a full-time Registrar, a full-time Marketing Manager

and

two

full-time

office

administrators),

approximately 30 teaching staff engaged as casual/contract employees and three to five marketing staff who are paid a small retainer and then a five percent commission on each student enrolment they bring to the college from an agency and a nine percent commission on each direct student enrolment. The college also uses a range of consultants for course development and staff training, generally paid on a fee for service basis.

231

In the last decade in Australia there has been significant pressure by regulatory authorities to ‘professionalise’ the industry and teachers in accredited ELT colleges must now have a suite of qualifications. In order to be employed, teachers

must have

a

recognised

pre-service

teaching

qualification plus an appropriate ELT qualification, or a recognised degree or diploma plus at least 800 hours (about 1 year) classroom teaching experience, plus an appropriate ELT qualification. English for High School courses must have 50% of such courses taught by teachers whose pre-service qualification is for high school teaching or who have at least 800 hours classroom teaching experience in Australian high schools. Colleges can still employ some teaching staff who do not completely fulfil these requirements, but they must be able to supply written evidence that such teachers have proof of outstanding competence in ELT. Such proof may include a high grade in their ELT qualification, documents from previous employers or references from ELT course directors. Colleges however, are not allowed to have more than 20% of their teaching staff employed under this provision. Staff selection policies based primarily on qualifications and experience,

a

common

practice

in

many

educational

institutions, may not be entirely suitable in international ELT colleges. Characteristics such as ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘cultural awareness’ play a significant role because of the personal nature of the activity. Many students who come to Australia to 232

improve their English desire a different type of learning. In their home countries they have usually been taught by nonnative

teachers

and

looked

at

the

lexicogrammatical,

semantic and phonological aspects of English, the areas of traditional language teaching focus. For their English classes in Australia, on the other hand, they usually expect native speaker teachers of English who focus less on grammatical or semantic instruction than on communication skills. ELT classes in international colleges usually involve interaction solely in English between the teacher and an array of students of various nationalities. Mostly the classes are small, as the NEAS accreditation requirement is an average of fifteen students per class. Lessons vary depending on the age, ability and interests of the students, but the teacher usually suggests the topic of conversation, perhaps provides some reading material for stimulation, asks questions that will rekindle the conversation when it lags, and provides correction and feedback as needed. Considerable judgement and skill are necessary

in

the

selection

and

encouragement

of

conversational topics. The object is to maintain fluency and enjoyment rather than to directly challenge or threaten student beliefs. Differences in personality need to be handled, turn-taking occasionally needs to be made obvious and timid learners need to be encouraged to speak. Students are frequently asked to explain their comments, to increase the amount of communication they offer in answer to questions, to realise when more than a literal response is 233

required to questions, to take a more active role in conversations, to ask more questions, to be more voluble and to use gesture and eye contact in more effective ways. Even Academic English courses and exam preparation classes for IELTS

and

TOEFL

involve

far

more

interaction

and

communication between teachers and students than is usual in many other learning situations. Teachers can feel that they are as much hosts trying to keep a dull conversation going as they are educators. There is a slightly unsettling effect of this type of teaching, especially in colleges that focus on short-term client feedback, such as exit questionnaires and satisfaction surveys. Teachers have to juggle the satisfaction of short-term and long-term client goals. Is the ‘customer’ always right? Giving the ‘customer’ what they want puts teachers under a lot of pressure. What the ‘customers’ want and what the teachers think are their educational needs varies considerably.

Mike, Teacher, College B, 1996

How we judge our lessons may be different to how the students judge [them]. It’s hard to make sure they’re enjoying themselves and learning at the same time.

Diana, Teacher, College B, 1996

Teachers are also under some pressure to involve themselves to a certain extent in relationships with the students that go beyond the classroom.

234

Our role goes way beyond the classroom and students become very attached to us and bring us their problems

Henry, Teacher, College A, 1997

We often socialise with students and see a lot of them at the pub on Friday nights. We look after them even after they have left the college. They are always asking us about visas and their financial problems, and finding work and stuff like that.

Paula, Teacher, College B Indeed Underhill (1995, p.2), in perhaps a moment of quiet cynicism, felt that the professional aspects of ELT are somewhat suspect: The profession that seems to me most comparable to [ELT] is prostitution, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is ubiquitous; secondly it needs at the most basic level only two participants, but no resources or equipment, and can be conducted anywhere at any time, in varying degrees of comfort; thirdly, the majority of the activity is unregulated and delivered by unqualified practitioners, as far as one can gather to the satisfaction of the clients; fourthly there is a continuous scale from highly formalised, organised, managed, fully-charged at one end to the completely informal, spontaneous, spur of the moment exchange, barter or gift. In other words our central activity is virtually indistinguishable from ordinary everyday human intercourse. Our problem is to justify asking a lot of money for what many give for free. This clearly distinguishes us from the traditional so-called professions. I cannot readily imagine wanting to engage in a little casual dentistry on a Friday night, on an informal basis, as a gesture of friendship.

Whatever

the

validity

of

Underhill’s

analogy,

it

does

emphasise that ELT only exists because of the people who engage in the exchange of learning and teaching. A keen feel for teacher personality and motivation levels needs to be developed by effective ELT managers. Recognising the 235

qualities that students want in their ELT teachers, and then implementing

this

through

recruitment

of

appropriate

teaching staff, is essential for the overall quality of the college.

11.4. The ELT Administration, Marketing and Counselling Staff Milieu Reception staff in ELT colleges play an important role in forming impressions of the college. For many students the receptionist is their primary point of informal contact with the college. Effective ELT managers need to recognise the importance of building a strong reception team. Likewise marketing and counselling staff, especially those from the same language group as the students, play a critical role. Frequently such staff are bi-cultural, knowing their own culture and that of Australia well. For many students these staff are the interpreters of the confusing events that are surrounding them. Such staff have the potential to influence student opinions of the college especially with those students whose English proficiency is poor. They are also a valuable source of information for ELT managers who need to absorb important cultural details about a diverse range of ethnic and national groups in order to treat students politely and appropriately. Such bi-cultural staff make promotion of the college much easier. In early 2000 College E had a marketing exhibition in 236

Thailand. I travelled to the exhibition with the College Registrar, who was born in Thailand and had lived there until she came to Australia in 1992. She had arranged for two of our ex-Thai students to meet us at the promotional fair. At the exhibition the response to our display was overwhelming, despite the presence of many more established institutions with lower priced courses. One of the main selling points was that potential students saw the ex-students and the Thai Registrar obviously laughing and joking in English with the Principal of the college. The ‘intangible’ service of an English course was made tangible. They could see that they could acquire these abilities, the ex-students were able to give them the ‘student low-down’ that young people want to hear. It was so different to most of the other displays with a senior ELT manager forlornly sitting with an ‘official’ interpreter, who knew little about the college or its courses, trying to ‘sell’ the institution. In many colleges these marketing and administration staff are poorly compensated for their work relative to the teaching staff. Frequently the opportunity to acquire work rights in Australia is the motivation for such employees to stay with the college. In three of the colleges in this study some or all of such staff had taken employment with the colleges because it would allow them to remain in Australia and change their student visas to temporary resident visas. A number of such staff appreciated the chance to socialise with the ELT teaching staff and saw it as a real benefit of their position. 237

11.5. The ELT Agent Milieu Few international ELT colleges have the resources to market directly overseas to their potential students in all countries and

so

they

depend

on

a

network

of

agents

and

representatives to attract students for them. These agents act as college representatives in the recruitment of students. They operate in a similar fashion to travel agents acting for airlines. Such agents are, in effect, outsourced marketing representatives and are a concrete manifestation of the blurring of the traditional boundaries in postmodern work organizations. Educational agents can be key figures in the success of ELT colleges even though they are external stakeholders in the organizations. The management of agents and the information they deliver to prospective and current students, therefore, is a key management task at educational institutions that recruit overseas students. The success of a college and its intermediation strategies with domestic and off-shore agencies is of immense importance in getting a sufficient flow of students to maintain operations. Many ELT managers, though, regard agents with some suspicion, even where they recognise the organizational need for developing and maintaining relationships with them. Seeing the agents as outsourced departments of the college rather than as rivals, drains or enemies of the institution is a most

significant

step

in

bridging

entrepreneurial

educational values and thus in effective ELT management.

238

and

The relationship between colleges and agencies is complex. For the colleges in this study, owners, ELT managers and the agents themselves all agreed that payment was the primary factor in developing and maintaining relationships between agencies and colleges. The relations with agents are subtle however, and have to be much more than a ‘provider – distributor’ relationship to be of maximum value to both parties. Agents frequently provide valuable endorsement of the quality of the educational service offered by the ELT college to students and in return are an extremely important source of primary market information. Reader (1996, p.8) notes

that

agents

in

many

markets

are

becomingly

increasingly choosey over the colleges they represent. In listing the factors that make agents accept or reject to represent colleges, he concludes that commission amounts and percentages top the list. He suggests that ELT colleges …expecting to be overwhelmed by responses to tuition only commissions of 10 per cent or even 15 percent are still living in the early 1980s. Many agents now work as full-blown tour operators and themselves have to pay hefty considerations to regional travel agents.

Reader (1996, p.8) also notes that the global ELT market is increasingly cost sensitive and there is immense difficulty for agents in selling high-priced top range courses – however frustrating that is for colleges who wish to prioritise quality over economy.

239

Local and national location is another important factor for agencies. Some agents reject or drop colleges over location frequently because of client concern about issues such as safety and convenience. Australia as a whole benefits from perceptions about danger in large cities in the USA and the UK, which the terrorism scares following the September 11 tragedy in New York, have exacerbated. Regional Australia however, suffers from a perception in many Asian countries that it is ‘boring’ and ‘racist’. One area of great to concern to agents is other agents. Disputes over national or regional exclusivity are a frequent cause of dispute and can result in termination of cooperation between colleges and agents. On the other hand, a degree of inertia in established relationships frequently means that once agents have an ongoing relationship with one college they do not quickly change, even when they are convinced that a new organization is better. There is “a liability of newness” (Haveman, 1992, p.48) to overcome. Agents cover a wide range of legal ownership types. Some agencies may be wholly owned subsidiaries of the college in which

case

it

might

be

more

correct

to

label

them

representative offices. Such representative offices direct all students who enquire in their offices to the college that owns them and are usually a regional centre for enrolments and client support. There is a range of incentives to setting up such offices. Most obviously is the fact that all students will be encouraged to come to the target college and advice will be 240

up to date. Such offices can also attract government funding from programs aimed to boost exports such as the Export Market

Development

attractive.

Applicants

Grants

making

them

may

qualify

for

even

up

to

more 50%

reimbursement of eligible export marketing expenses above $15,000 pa to a maximum of eight grants. Up to $200,000 pa may be reimbursed (DETYA 2001; p.7). In large markets or for large institutions such representative offices can be more economical than the standard industry commission only agencies. Most

agencies

however,

are

established

as

separate

businesses and may range from sole traders acting without any bona fides to partnerships and properly registered companies with migration advice licences. The fiduciary relationship between colleges and agents has been uncertain for many years and is a clear area of concern within the industry and for its regulators. Percentage commissions paid to educational agents is perhaps the most closely guarded “commercial in confidence’ secret in the industry. Federal Government guidelines under the ESOS Act during the late 1990s allowed an initial 20% draw down of student tuition from the trust account before tuition commenced. This is a rough indicator of the expected market rate of commission although the real situation is much more complex. Agents tend to think in terms of amounts of money received rather

than

percentage

commissions.

A

ten

per

cent

commission on an A$10000 annual university tuition fee is 241

$1000. To make the same amount of money from a 3-month ELT course enrolment the agent would need to charge 33% (assuming the base ELT fee of $1000 per month). In general if the course fees are large (more than $8000 per year) the commission is usually (though not always) below the 20% mark. Universities, expensive vocational college courses and longer ELT programs therefore fall in to this category. On the other hand, cheaper courses such as classroom-based vocational courses and short-term ELT courses are far less valuable to agents to promote and so colleges usually offer far higher rates of commission. Commission rates of 30% are not uncommon at ELT colleges in Sydney and rates as high as 50% and even 60% have been recorded. Often the only viable method of competition for small new colleges is on the amount of commission that they offer agents. While these figures may seem astoundingly high to those unfamiliar with international education practice they are not dissimilar to discounting and commission approaches in the international tourist industry – an industry that ELT has many links with, and one that increasingly shapes its thinking. It is not usual for the agent to keep all this commission. Frequently part of the commission is passed on as a discount to the prospective students and one of the main ways that agents, especially those within Australia, promote themselves to students is as ‘bucket shops’ that are able to give students a ‘discount’ price over a direct enrolment at the college.

242

Dealing with agents is an especially complex part of the ELT manager’s work. The communication network of a college and its agents throughout the world can be very intricate and there are many features of such networks in educational enterprises that require a large measure of trust. The time spans for materials to reach each agent and the complexities of the visa processes make this a particularly difficult barrier to entry in the industry and are reasons why many private colleges tend to be skewed towards a couple of national markets. Problems with agents can occur and must be remedied. The Seoul office of the AIEF, for example, made the settling of disagreements between various agents and organizations that send students abroad its top priority in 1995. Once such issues were resolved the number of students rose 60% (AIEF. 1996b). The value of a strong network of agents is clearly seen in market downturns. In the Asian currency crisis of 1997 and 1998 numbers at College E steadily rose. A key factor was that College E had a policy of giving agents commission on reenrolments. All payments that students made, not just the first ones, earned the agents commission. In ‘good times’ this had meant a smaller profit for the college as student fees had to be paid out to overseas and local agents – in lean times however it became even more important for agents to worry about their ongoing remuneration and in such an environment

243

agents were more likely to steer students towards colleges that were perceived as being ‘on the agents side’. Over the life of this project educational agencies in Sydney came in for a sustained campaign of attack in Federal parliament by Senator Carr, a Labor Senator from Victoria. Senator Carr’s research listed the many ruses that agents used to assist students in obtaining or renewing their student visas. In a tribute to the overhaul of the ELICOS / ELT sector in the early 1990s however not a single abuse was noted in the ELT sector with almost all of the alleged misconduct occurring in the Vocational Education and Training sector. This campaign continues and considerable pressure exists for ELT colleges to ensure that they comply with all of the provisions of relevant DIMA regulations. Senior DIMA officials were questioned by the Federal Parliament’s Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee hearing in mid2002 over links between the international education industry and ‘people smuggling’ with DIMA indicating that more than 6000 overseas students had been expelled from Australia in the previous 12 months for visa irregularities (Contractor and Noonan, 2002). In fact most of these students were attending vocational and pre-university courses. Unfortunately for the ELT industry, considerable confusion exists in Senator Carr’s press releases and in subsequent reporting in the media over the distinction between ELT colleges and those offering vocational education.

244

11.6. The ELT Student Milieu Students and their families provide the revenue base for international ELT colleges. Students represent very different constructs to the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in part because of the divergent aims each has for them. Much of the ELT entrepreneur’s work revolves around attracting students to the college, so that issues such as product placement and price point are uppermost. “Sell ‘em cheap and pile ‘em high” is how one ELT entrepreneur explains his marketing approach. ELT educators, on the other hand, deal with the students after the buying decision has been made and more keenly feel the quality squeeze. It is up to the ELT manager to juggle these two imperatives and negotiate the means by which attracting students and keeping them satisfied do not become separate and antagonistic aims. AEI conducted a survey of international students studying in Australia who finished a course of study in 1999. The questionnaire covered a wide range of issues including satisfaction with course, institution, life in Australia, visa regulations and related matters. The survey found that around 90% of international students were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of education in Australia and with the quality of the course they were enrolled in, and that more than 90% of them would either ‘strongly recommend’ or ‘recommend’ studying in Australia to other students in their home country. These satisfaction levels appear to have increased on results

245

from similar surveys conducted in 1992 and 1997 (DEST 2002a). While international students were very satisfied with the quality of the education delivery and support facilities, the lowest levels of satisfaction in the survey were for the opportunity to interact with Australian students (62% were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’) and with the quality of this interaction (72% ‘very satisfied’/’satisfied’). This may in part explain why many international students see the people aspect of ELT colleges as critical, in the main valuing colleges with a friendly, welcoming and supportive feel.

I’m happy with my college because all the staff are nice [and] the receptionist is friendly and knows my name.

Kim, Student, College A, 1997 A good college should look after students more than mine does

Lee, Student, College D, 1999

This is my third college and is the best one because everyone is friendly

Masao, Student, College E, 1999

It is important for ELT managers to successfully communicate to owners, managers and college staff the customer lifetime value of students across various stages in the buying cycle. Students have to be regarded as providing value to the college at all stages of the buying cycle rather than solely at point of initial tuition payment. The cycle starts with the 246

student recognising a need for education abroad. The first value to the college, in terms of revenue, starts with the student's decision to enrol at the ELT college and the payment of initial tuition fees. Students however then enter the second step of implementation, where they add value to the college, as they actively participate in college social life, sharing their diverse personal experiences, cultures and skills, thus creating a multicultural and international atmosphere which helps attract further students. There are opportunities for the college in this phase. A student who is happy in Sydney and satisfied with the course may decide to either add on to their existing course by extending the enrolment period, or take up another course with the college upon completion of their initial course. After students leave the college, their lifetime value goes on in terms of their role in Australia or their home country, recommending the college to friends and family. In some cases the value of the departing student to the college is further increased when students return to their home country and become agents. English teaching to overseas students in Australia follows a wide range of paths and it is very difficult to completely define all of the goals and purposes of the students especially those that do not follow traditional academic paths. Many students have a two or three step progression. They first complete a General language course to provide them with a sufficient linguistic attainment in English to commence an Exam Preparation class. The Exam Preparation classes in Australia 247

typically prepare students for the UK/Australian IELTS test of English proficiency (International English Langauge Testing Service) or less commonly for the US based TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Following successful completion of the required language entry level (an IELTS band score of 6.0 – 6.5 or a TOEFL score from 550 – 600) students may then enrol in an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course to further prepare them for tertiary study. Students following these steps are considered ‘normal’ by many

outside

the

English

teaching

industry

and

in

organizations that are of importance to overseas students coming to Australia such as the Department of Immigration. At most private colleges however these types of students are becoming a minority. Even of the students who intend to follow this path many, for English language or financial reasons, do not end up pursuing it in exactly this way. This has led to growth in many other pathways into tertiary education; a popular one pursued by universities is the Foundation Studies program that attempts to cover the High School syllabus with modifications for overseas students. Foundation Courses are typically one year in duration and are frequently offered either by or in conjunction with the university language schools. Another important pathway that has emerged in recent years for both Australian and overseas students is that of vocational study leading into related university programs.

248

Unlike many overseas students struggling with university courses, ELT college students have enough time to begin to establish a network of Australian friends and employers and to learn more deeply about the work system and the nature of Australian society. Non-academic aspects of the educational experience, however, cause many administrative headaches for managers in international ELT colleges. A student who is having problems with their teacher is usually less unhappy than one who does not like their homestay family. Those who have trouble with Australian food are likely to be far more miserable than those who do poorly in a particular course. Tax forms, illegal employment, sexual harassment and all the issues of the workplace can intrude on a student’s English study. Effective managers should know and understand their student clients as well as possible. For ELT managers a keen awareness of individual students and strong relationships with them spreads to all other staff within the institution. An attitude of I’m too busy to spend time with the clients can be poisonous. This could almost be a "compare and contrast" exercise. To wit: [Senior ELT managers during the period of the action research] would use first names with the students and know a fair few of them socially. I doubt the New Guard here would be able to put names to more than a half dozen faces, and if seen at the bar on a Friday, keep themselves to themselves. [This] serves to highlight some of the things that really made College E work back then. The students are just as pleasant a bunch as they generally tend to be, but for the first time in my experience they have been directing complaints about management to teachers, and I find myself agreeing with their concerns.

249

Nathan, College E, 2001

11.7. Action Research at College E: Milieu As a result of research into organizational milieu and the observations of milieu at other ELT colleges, at College E aspects of milieu were part of the action research. From the commencement of the action research discussions on milieu issues

with

owners,

teaching

and

administrative

staff

formalised two issues that would benefit both the educational and the entrepreneurial aims of the college. As with initiatives in other organizational dimensions the milieu initiatives aimed to have positive outcomes in both educational and financial domains. The milieu dimension in an ELT college divides into two broad areas of emphasis. These are issues affecting the student milieu at the college and those affecting the staff milieu. The first area was to support the attraction of a broad cross section of students by nationality to the college and build a student milieu that assisted in the development of a student culture that was upbeat, active and enhancing. The second area was the recognised management task of attracting and keeping staff who would benefit the organization. Two initiatives, one in each area, were implemented within the milieu dimension. Because of the nature of milieu implementation and the time frames involved in hiring staff

250

and building a student body, the milieu initiatives lasted throughout the action research. The initiatives were: Action

Research

Initiative

M1:

Action

Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997), to 6 (January – June 2000): An enforced program to ensure student diversity, particularly of national groups over the whole college and in individual classes. Such a program to include the development of positive incentives such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support for the development of new markets. The program also to include the ‘negative’ reinforcement of the imposition of a quota system such that no one nationality could exceed 25% of the student body. The overriding aim being to work towards the development and maintenance of a student milieu at College E that was likely to produce an upbeat, active and enhancing culture from the student perspective. Action

Research

Initiative

M2:

Action

Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) to 4 (January – June 1998): Develop a staff milieu likely to support a college culture that was student centred and focused on student learning experiences. Hiring to ensure that selection of staff includes those likely to positively affect the staff milieu,

judging

potential

development

equally

with

qualifications and experience. Professional development to be targeted to each teacher’s personal and professional 251

interests but also to include a strong emphasis on teacher awareness of college management issues in all climate dimensions.

The notion behind the first milieu initiative was that language learning success and student satisfaction were likely to be linked to group dynamics among a broad cross section of students. Many ELT colleges in Sydney, such as College C, created significant institutional problem by neglecting the importance of this factor and attracting too many students from particular countries. In order to implement the first milieu initiative, therefore, and ensure student diversity, a range of positive incentives such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support for the development of new markets were part of the management system at the college. Such policies led to a range of significant management issues in this area. In order to broaden the student clientele, markets had to be developed in a wide range of countries and regions, not only those that College E had strong links with due to preexisting relationships. The second, and more controversial area, was the institution of differential pricing structures that would serve to attract students from different regions to build diverse classes, while avoiding charges of discrimination that students from country X had to pay more for their study. The approach was modelled on that of airline seats. Markets such as Vietnam that required heavy discounting on tuition 252

fees had many more conditions attached to their enrolments. Courses were also packaged with Vocational College courses at College E to disguise the amount of tuition for each separate part of the package. Students from markets such as Korea, which had to be limited, paid higher fees but had much greater flexibility in the conditions of their enrolments and in other services such as homestays offered by the college. The differential pricing continued to be a feature of College E’s marketing even after the end of the action research period demonstrating

its

success

in

assisting

organizational

outcomes. A quota system was imposed over the whole college and in each class at the college such that no one nationality could exceed 25% of the student body. While this quota system had significant effects on revenue in the early months of the college it was ultimately one of the most important reasons for the continued growth and success of the college. Like many of the most difficult managerial decisions there was a short-term sacrifice of revenue for longer-term organizational gains. The only exceptions to the quota were at the extremes of the student learning range so that beginner classes and Academic English classes at times exceeded the quota. The most significant difficulty in this area was not offending agents who frequently requested just one more student be squeezed in.

253

While certain actions changed and evolved, the underlying emphasis of the initiative remained throughout the action research period. Staff and management systems at the college also had to ensure that the milieu supported the development and maintenance of a student culture at College E that was upbeat, active and enhancing from the student perspective. Another tool to support this initiative was the use of scholarships and tuition reduction aimed at retaining students who by their personality or skills contributed significantly to the ‘atmosphere’ of classes. This initiative required management to raise awareness among teachers and administration staff of the importance of getting to know the students who made classes work, and seeing classes as groups that could be made to be functional and successful, not only by the actions of the teachers, but also those of key students. In 1997 and 1998 a number of discretionary scholarships were awarded to students of limited financial means who had proven to be ‘energisers’ of their classes. For example, Yoko, a 20-year-old Japanese female student, enrolled at College E, for a single four-week cycle. Yoko was a wonderfully supportive student interested in everyone and everything and saw her experiences in Australia as the realisation of a long held dream. She had the rare ability to motivate a group of students from within. Her disarming manner and obvious interest in all the details of other students lives and cultures ensured that classes of which she was a member flourished – 254

out of the eight students in her class who had the option to extend their tuition at College E at the end of that cycle every single one did. Yoko was offered tuition at 25% of the regular fees because of the contribution she had made to the college. She was well versed in traditional Japanese culture and was asked to give various culture displays as ‘payment in lieu’. These displays were so popular that students from other nationalities arranged similar demonstrations and these informal activities led to the development of a Culture Day at College E that became a very successful annual event. With imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, the format of College E’s culture day has since been copied by a number of other ELT colleges in Sydney. Student satisfaction is a slippery and awkward construct to measure. The main indicators used at College E were marketing staff and agent feedback based on the students they represented and student extension of courses. While agent feedback was based primarily on hearsay, rumour and a limited understanding of educational issues, it still made a critical difference to the success of the college. Because students told their friends and their agents that their experience at College E had been significantly better than at competitor colleges, enrolments increased rapidly over the course of the project from 0 in April 1997 to nearly 300 fulltime ELT students by the end of the project.

255

In order to implement the second initiative in the Milieu dimension a number of management activities had to occur. The hiring process at College E was streamlined to ensure that potential new teachers were informed of hiring decisions within a day of coming for interviews. All potential teachers who came for interviews were treated with great courtesy as their impressions of the college would also be communicated to outsiders should they not obtain a position at College E. Similarly short-term staff, such as relief teachers, were always to be treated with great respect. Teachers who do relief work at a number of colleges are very important sources of information

about

comparative

advantages

of

different

colleges and can be roving ambassadors for a successful international ELT college. Great effort was made at point of hiring to ensure that selection of staff included those likely to positively affect the staff milieu. Future growth was seen as more important than past qualifications and experience in selection of staff, and newly hired staff were made to feel that their special qualities ensured selection. Induction was personal and intimate. The flexibility in the NEAS guidelines for teachers who do not possess the full range of required qualifications was an effective motivational tool in some cases. Peta, at College E for example, was completing a Masters degree and had a strong intellectual background. She had been a teacher of deaf students and had various training and life experiences 256

such as running a large rural property that made her a very appealing teacher. She was offered a position before she completed her degree and was always most grateful for being given a chance. The

importance

of

constant

informal

reinforcement

of

contributions to the college was also stressed. Recognition involves

praise,

responsibilities, opportunities

being

offered

challenges, and

getting

additional

projects rid

of

rights

and

and

learning

mechanisms

that

communicate mistrust and lack of respect (Field, and Ford, 1995; p.58). Teaching staff had to be encouraged to see that the student experience at College E would be as significant for them in terms of social and affective domains as educational ones. This initiative was largely implemented through constant ELT manager support for staff who ‘went beyond the classroom’. Functions,

excursions

and out of class

activities

were

supported financially and a strong emphasis was placed on developing social activities for students. Students were invited to socialise with staff most especially after excursions and on Fridays after class. From the very beginning of the college it was stressed that the college wanted teacher involvement in a whole range of activities.

Teacher

attendance

at

functions,

parties,

graduations and so on are extremely important to students. College E had graduation ceremonies in class time every four 257

weeks with all teachers present. Structured opportunities for photo sessions and exchange of addresses were built into these ceremonies and student performances were encouraged at them. These graduations became significant cultural events for the college and became an important marketing tool. Students were able to hire black academic gowns for the graduations. The ceremonies were informal but were an overwhelmingly popular initiative. Many students, especially those from East Asia, attach tremendous importance to such ceremonies for the closure they offer. The chance to have a formalised time to take photos of, and exchange addresses with, other students and teachers was of tremendous value. The ceremony took one hour out of every hundred teaching hours so for the 1% loss in teaching time an effective closure was made. It also made for a great marketing opportunity to invite guests to the college and had minimal ‘bottom line’ costs and a large number of benefits. Especially appreciated by the students was the attendance of their class teachers at such functions. For teachers it was a relief from the constant pressure to be developing lessons and it became quite a ‘hot’ monthly social occasion. This initiative was successfully embedded in College life and became an important ritual in the cultural sense. The ceremonies are still held: …at every graduation, I mention every positive comment from students about every teacher I can (and there are still so many) and every mention of the fun and friendly vibe of College E…

258

James, Teacher, College E, 2001

One valid criticism of educational administrators that is levelled by opponents is that attempts to be inclusive and build participatory styles of management are frequently a disguise for manipulation. The sense of participation is a veneer to maintain power (such as it is) while followers are fooled into believing that the old style hierarchical system has been broken down. To a certain extent this charge is as true for College E as in other educational institutions. For example, in 1997 and 1998 the college paid many teachers on an hourly rate for four hours teaching per day. The teachers who performed self-access supervision or other duties in the afternoon were paid on a daily rate that equalled five hours pay. This division came to be interpreted by staff as an equitable arrangement so that those who required higher pay could work longer hours. Later

investigations

by

the

teachers

union

however,

suggested to staff that all teachers who were working on monthly or longer contracts should be paid on the daily rate whether they had afternoon duties or not. Only written requests from staff to be paid for shorter hours would be legally

effective.

By

the

time

this

matter

had

been

investigated many staff, especially those who had other outside work commitments, specifically did not want the extra time commitment imposed. To a certain extent staff had been manipulated to suit organizational ends. On the other hand, 259

simple award style conditions frequently do not match the working situations for all teachers. Certainly since the implementation of this system there has been a trend at College E to hire younger and less experienced teachers to compensate for the increase in the salaries component of the organization’s budget. The difficulty of management attempts at manipulating milieu factors is that it is almost impossible to synthesise genuine human emotions and relationships. Those with certain types of dispositions cannot easily be turned from grumpies to happies. Many staff however are strongly affected by the first experiences in an organization and regulate much of their behaviour based on these early experiences. Staff initiatives focused on hiring practices and the importance of team building. Once again affective reasons were given due place in decisions of hiring. Because the first three teachers hired each had some reason to be grateful for the chance to work at the college this key notion became one of the factors in hiring. Owners, marketing staff and senior ELT staff agreed that where other factors were equal positions should be offered not necessarily on the basis of qualifications and experience but also on factors related to lifestyle and ability to contribute to the total feel of the college. In all but one case of the hirings made under these conditions the initiative proved a great success. For example one teacher hired had previously owned an outdoor landscaping and 260

gardening business. Because of the long hours and hard physical work involved in such a business Ken brought a fresh perspective to the work of an ELT instructor, rarely seeing any imposition when compared to his previous work. He also was able to get on very well with the large number of students who were working in labouring jobs in their spare time and was able to assist in both securing jobs and ensuring that the students were treated fairly by their employers. Danny, a former storyteller who lived in a small town a number of hours away from the city, had previously had trouble attracting the right kind of work because of restrictions caused by his raising a child by himself and his out of city location. By working with Danny to ensure that he could secure employment at College E but retain his lifestyle the services of a very talented and committed teacher were obtained. It is not always possible though, to secure such commitment. In the case of Ben, a divorced father of four in very dire economic circumstances an array of personal reasons and an approach to work relations based on hostility in the past did not lead to an outpouring of commitment but rather an attempt to see a more embracing form as management as a sophisticated capitalist trick. Attempts by staff to change this point of view had only temporary effects and ultimately Ben left the organization to work for a lower salary and with many more restrictions in a more bureaucratised workplace. There is no doubt that particular types of people become comfortable 261

even with dysfunction and cannot be easily motivated to interpret management requests with anything but suspicion. Professional development of staff was also important. Rather than focusing solely on the attainment of extra academic qualifications the college tried to entice ELT teachers to undertake courses in computing, marketing and management offered by the college. ELT teachers who were looking for branches in their careers could avail themselves of these opportunities. Mike, for example, was recruited as an English teacher but was assisted in developing database skills and ultimately

moved

from

teaching

English

to

teaching

computing. This gave him the opportunity to develop on-line ICT materials that ultimately enabled him to obtain a highly paid position with another organization as a professional technical writer.

11.8. Conclusion There are many features of milieu that can be manipulated by an ELT manager to improve organizational outcomes. Action research at College E suggests that strategies in the area of milieu can have positive effects in other organizational dimensions at international ELT colleges. The milieu dimension is a reflection of the people who make up the organization. Organizations however while made up of people tend to be linked to a place with technology and artefacts that can also be managed in many ways to bring out 262

the best in the people and that can demonstrate many concrete symbols of the culture and structure of the organization. The technology, artefacts and premises of an organization relate to the climatic dimension of ecology and it is to the ecology of international ELT colleges that this discussion now turns.

263

Chapter 12

THE ECOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

12.1. Introduction Despite the increasing disintegration of the bounded spaces of the modernist organization, place remains an essential element

in

work

organizations.

The

dimension

of

organizational ecology discussed in this chapter includes all of an organization’s physical and material aspects, including location, premises, equipment and technology and other ‘physical’ items used to carry out organizational activities. This chapter discusses the ecology of international ELT colleges and the implications for ELT managers. It first looks at the notion of ecology and its relationship to organizational climate. It then outlines some ecological features of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney and gives a brief overview of some of their more significant contrasts. It provides some examples of the links between ecology and communication flows. It then briefly discusses ecological change at some ELT colleges before noting in more detail ecological initiatives at College E and the relationship of these to structural and cultural variables at the college. It then concludes with a brief summary of the chapter.

264

12.2. The Relationship between Ecology and Organizational Climate Ecology is the most tangible dimension of organizational climate and can be a symbolically significant statement of organizational structure and culture. Ecological variables are often taken to be indicators of the less tangible features of organizational hierarchy and cultural imperatives. The extent to which ecological variables can be manipulated to affect organizational structures and cultures is hard to quantify but there is no doubt that ecology can be a concrete expression of a commitment to particular structural forms and cultural values. Organizational culture can have a powerful effect on decisions that affect the ecology of an international ELT college. An emphasis on the three cultural themes of integration, collaboration and client service can provide a significant basis for ensuring that the ecology of an international ELT college will reinforce these themes and assist in the resolution of the competing values of the discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator. As noted in Chapter 9 The Structure of Work Organizations, the basic function of an organization’s structure is to establish patterns of human interaction that accomplish organizational tasks. Formal structures such as departments, teams and divisions, and informal structures such as friendship groups and people working in close proximity all contribute to the system. These formal and informal groupings are powerful in 265

shaping

organizational

behaviour.

Aligning

ecological

variables to maximise formation of appropriate structure and culture is a tool that can easily be ignored by ELT managers but it can be extremely effective if used appropriately. Interaction processes include communication, motivation, leadership, goal-setting, coordination, control and evaluation (Owens, 1995; pp. 92-93). All of these interaction and communication processes can be assisted or hindered by organizational ecology and management approaches to it. It is likely that communal workspaces in an ELT college would assist in the development of a different culture from that where each teacher or staff member had a separate office. The development of strongly collaborative task-based cultures in organizations that are widely dispersed and segmented is obviously more difficult than in those where members are in constant contact. An organization's culture can be shaped and strongly influenced by ecological factors, and cultural values and beliefs are often indicated in ecological ways. Indeed a frequent recommendation of management consultants to organizations attempting cultural transformation is to move to more appropriate premises. For example an internal 'culture assessment study' by Corporate Impacts Consulting to South Sydney Council strongly argued that the Council's buildings were responsible for preventing attempts to change from a traditional protected environment to a more contemporary work culture "characterised by flexibility, empowerment and 266

collaboration." The report blamed the poor building design and

location

for

producing

a

lack

of

trust

between

management, employees and the public and recommended that the Council shift its entire operations because of the poor design of its building (Wainwright, 1996, p.3).

12.3. Ecology and International ELT Colleges ELT college management have to make many ecological choices at various phases of the college’s development. In the start up phase crucial ecological decisions determine the look and feel of the institution. The choice can be made, for instance, to exude an established look by renting premises that have a historical look, such as a 19 th century bank building for example, or alternatively make a strength of the newness of the college and adopt a modern corporate look. There is no doubt that college premises play an important role in creating impressions of an institution. One of the most significant areas of NEAS accreditation inspections for new colleges is of their premises to determine their suitability for the teaching of English. Indeed, the Industry Commission report (1991, p.5) spoke of the emphasis on ecological factors in the accreditation of ELT colleges but also noted its limitations: Accreditation is essentially intended to indicate that an institution has met or will endeavour to meet, certain quality standards. However there is reason to doubt that quality can be, or indeed, should be, regulated in this way. Regulating inputs such as floor space and library size can never guarantee the

267

quality of the course ultimately provided, and it is a costly process. It may also constrain innovative course design and act as a barrier to competition

Many

agents,

especially

those

without

backgrounds

in

education, form their strongest impressions of a college from its ecological factors. For new ELT colleges the common gossip among agents and other third parties about the size and look of premises can be ‘make or break’ in encouraging or discouraging recommendations. Indeed in the intangible domains of service organizations such as ELT, potential customers tend to rely on the few available tangibles to provide some indication of the quality of service. Walker (1999; p.18) notes that an English language student or agent therefore, may place considerable emphasis on quality of marketing materials, the physical make-up of the institution, décor, facilities, furnishing and equipment, facilities such as the self-access centre, library and student common room, the physical

appearance

and

dress

of

the

teachers

and

administration staff and possibly the look and feel of teaching materials and certificates and awards. Prentice (1996, p.10) discusses the importance of design and other ecological factors in ELT and their relatively under-utilised nature. She writes that In ELT we have to create our own definition in order to focus on our customer’s particular needs. We are highly visual – our students are surrounded by noticeboards, displays, handouts, brochures, pamphlets, etc…

268

It is obvious that colleges need to be located in places where students want to come (McGowan, 1996; p.5) and that the premises are properly outfitted for the clientele. Most of the ELT colleges discussed here are located in rented or leased premises that are not purpose built educational buildings. For many, such ecology is desirable and can lead to important competitive

advantages,

such

as

low

infrastructure

maintenance costs, easy organizational renewal and the marketing advantages of an up-to date 'corporate' look. In Sydney, in the central business district property recession of the early 1990s for example, some ELT institutions moved from unfavourable suburban locations into the ‘business’ end of the city to take advantage of falling rents. As CBD rents escalate this trend is reversing. Many teachers and students have commented how important it is for their college to be centrally located. The overall demand for this in the Australian ELT market is evidenced by the fact that almost all private English colleges in Australia are concentrated in Sydney and in the Gold Coast/Brisbane area. Despite attractive price differentials very few colleges are able to operate successfully in rural settings and the few that do are attached to regional universities. Within the capital cities such as Sydney, various suburbs and the CBD tend to attract all the ‘action’. In Sydney most colleges are in the CBD, or at Bondi Junction, a major rail terminus near Bondi Beach. Colleges that operate in suburbs further afield have tended to 269

have problems attracting and holding students and this was one of the reasons for the difficulties College D experienced in attracting students to a suburban location. The nature of ELT institutions has meant that many can move premises without their institutional character being lost. Many prominent ELT colleges have moved premises or relocated during the past decade and it is not seen as essential to stay in the one place. The fact that accrediting authorities include provision for adding or moving premises as a ‘standard’ feature on accreditation documents is another indicator that the fixed boundaries of the ‘modernist’ organization are less and less influential over international ELT colleges. College A, for example, has a very affluent look. It is located in an office building on top of a fashionable shopping arcade in the centre of the city. The college has expanded twice since moving to its current location and moved premises twice before this. The moves and expansions seem to provide a tangible feel of success to staff and students rather than hindrance or inconvenience. From the students point of view College A’s current location is excellent. It is in the city centre in the ‘shopping’ part of town. It is close to all the major urban transport terminals and is surrounded by an array of famous tourist landmarks. There are however a number of internal shortcomings with the building itself. Colleges cannot usually afford to rent premium office space and so tend to be in older buildings. The elevators 270

are very slow and there are no internal stairs, which tends to make a division between the bulk of the students and the college administrators. By having students on a different floor to administration an alienation process can occur with students removed from the focus of the college. In many ways though these shortcomings are only noticed after a student is already well settled at the college. The leasing of colleges premises in the CBD is not without difficulties. Service organizations such as colleges can find opposition from landlords because building owners want more ‘upmarket tenants’. Colleges can cause difficulties with owners and other tenants for a number of reasons. Cameron Algie, Director of Tim Green Commercial Real Estate (SMH, 2001; p.17), lists some of these as: students tend to congregate at the entrance to premises, they smoke close to the entrance, they leave rubbish and make noise. For these reasons Algie suggests colleges will find it increasingly difficult to find landlords willing to accommodate them. More serious obstacles for college owners are the increasingly stringent council requirements over health concerns, ventilation, zoning and access. The numbers of students who frequent a college on a daily basis is far in excess of most traditional users of corporate buildings, which in turn increases wear and tear on all services in the building such as foyers, elevators and common areas thus escalating outgoings for landlords. Algie suggests that landlords who lease to private colleges tend to

271

ask for colleges to commit to long-term leases at above market rentals.

12.4. Ecology and Communication The ecology of an international ELT college has a significant impact

on

management

communication

functions

and

contributes to the overall creation of the climate of the college. Hammond (2001, p.15) notes the importance of communication between departments at ELT colleges, as well as the fact that too often senior management intrude in the communication flow to the detriment of the organization. Bowers (1999, pp.3-4), in summarising a discussion on management issues at the 1998 IATEFL conference, suggests that organizational communication from a management perspective can be arranged into the areas of sociating (social functions such as greetings, wishing happy birthday, etc.), organising

(such

as

staff

meetings,

non-confrontational

seating arrangements) directing (official notices, performance targets, codes of practice) presenting (annual reports and accounts, prospectus, promotional video, briefing material, technical proposals) eliciting (suggestion box, open day, bulleting board) responding (FAQs, open staff meetings) and evaluating (appraisal systems, course reviews, feedback questionnaires). The

sociating

function

of

management

is

frequently

undervalued in the world of work. Phatic communication, the term used to describe communication with little or no 272

significant content that greases the social wheels (such as How are you? Nice weather we’re having, etc) is an essential feature of human relationships. Ecological layouts that prevent the regular run of sociating can create tension and hostility. Social contact begins with these types of greetings and they are often a stress-free way to steer conversations to areas of significance that would otherwise be awkward to broach. The organization of staff is generally the communication pattern that receives the greatest in-awareness planning attention because it is the way that many managers see their activities. All colleges in this project had effective systems of staff meetings and distribution of information although the colleges with more clearly hierarchical structures had less oral contact between senior college managers and others. In the area of directing the layout of noticeboards, most managers gave little thought to where staff spend their time. At College E the simple initiative of putting teaching noticeboards above the photocopier where every ELT teacher would spend 10 – 20 minutes a day created a significantly greater awareness of notices than at other similar colleges. Information such as evacuation procedures is often posted willy-nilly on the day before an inspection and then left to fall off the walls until next year’s inspection. One innovative idea at College C was to have students undergoing ICT training to produce the fire evacuation notices and diagrams. Because they were individuated and were produced by students from 273

similar countries to the ELT students more attention was paid to them and they became a part of the classroom rather than an ugly appendage. Each of the colleges made some effort to have presentation material available in the foyer of the college. College B, perhaps because of its affinity with Japan made very effective use of these presentation materials. Due to space restrictions the large photocopier was moved to the foyer – this had the effect of removing the formality of the area and having potential clients and students entering and leaving the college being able to interact with teachers. While some teachers did not enjoy the added burden of attention after class hours, in general it contributed to the intimacy of College B and was an ecological initiative worth copying. At College E common photocopy facilities for teachers and students had a similar result. Eliciting information in traditional ways did not seem to work effectively in any of the ELT colleges, a combination of language and cultural difficulties made the eliciting of all but practical information quite difficult. Student noticeboards generate items of interest to students, such as share accommodation and cheap mobile phone or Internet deals, but little in the way of information that is of use to the ELT manager. Copies of inspection reports were placed on staff noticeboards at College A and the idea was implemented at College E. 274

There is an advantage to making staff aware of the inspection system and being able to see the results especially when there are words of praise for the overall quality of the institution. For many in ELT, especially younger teaching staff, there is little basis for comparison and a team of inspectors who comment that the college was successful in achieving its mission can be of considerable importance. One of the features of many workplaces is the rigidly held views of territoriality and the desire of many to have office space as an indicator of their status. While this may satisfy the ego demands of managers, and help get them contributing, it is likely that the enclosed office prevents the informal, spontaneous communication that is so essential for an organization’s success. The more that ELT managers can be in places where ‘spontaneous’ communication happens the less likely it is that serious management problems will develop. Informal

conversations

with

teachers,

students

and

administration staff are like smoke detectors – they are effective warning tools should problems be developing. The area near the photocopiers is a busy place in most colleges. In one sense the copier is simply a resource that is used by administration staff, teachers and managers to make duplicated copies of material for marketing, student records, or teaching notes. Because there are frequently delays using the machines – paper jams, toner replacement and lack of user knowledge however waits and queues develop. The copier becomes an important socialising place, perhaps a 275

focus for office gossip, an area where work information is exchanged. There is often a conversational stimulus to discuss the material to be copied so that the ELT manager may say “Oh I’ve just finished this submission on our new English for High Schools course” while looking at a teacher’s lesson materials for that day with the intermediate class. Small

tinkering

with

the

relatively

photocopying

arrangements

organizational

effects

may

changing

the

minor

have way

matter

much

of

larger

organizational

members see themselves. There are notable variations in social distance and hierarchy between ELT colleges where teachers do their own copying compared to those with copy assistants who frequently come to be held in lower status. Likewise colleges that allow staff to make as many copies as they want compared to those that place restriction; those that allow students to make copies freely compared to those that charge a fee; those that allow students to use the same machines as staff compared to those who don’t. In general terms the more this potentially rich zone of organizational interaction is proscribed and controlled the less valuable it becomes as a means of meaningful communication exchange. Two years after opening College E implemented a change from allowing students free copying bound only by Australian copyright laws to one where the students had to pay using a student only machine that was located in a different room. This had a noticeable effect on increasing the social distance between staff and students. The efficiency advantages were 276

considerable but they came at the expense of greater connection with the clients. The placing of pictures on the wall after social functions is another effective ecological tool for the college. For example, at College A on the day after Halloween, all of the students were milling round the noticeboard outside the staff room to see the photos of the previous day’s social event. The tradition of putting the photos on the board creates a kind of bonding as the teachers and the students share ‘memories’ of events that have been important in creating the culture. The spontaneity of having to look at something increases the chances of communication – the business of the ELT college. As in many other areas of teaching, displays on walls and noticeboards around the college can also be effective. English language students frequently produce work for display in their classes and for social activities. Some ELT managers prefer to keep the displays to ‘liven the place up’. This has advantages but work with a clear calendar focus needs to be monitored. At College C, for example, seeing the evidence of the Valentine’s Day festivities in October simply gave more an impression of negligence rather than a fun-filled, activity crammed social calendar. Each year College E holds a Culture Day where student national groups are given a budget to plan a display and food and drink from their own culture. The day produces a great buzz of activity, as there are over thirty nationalities and 277

cultures represented. Consulates and Embassies supported the event and students themselves were quite competitive as to who had the best display and tastiest food. For a small outlay the college had an astonishing multicultural look and the displays were kept for three weeks afterward. Each year in the weeks after Culture Day at College E, there were noticeable increases in local enrolments from students who visited the college and saw the displays and photos on the walls. Many agents commented how striking the alteration to the usual look of the college was, and the impact that it made on themselves and their clients. As noted above, the layout of a college has particular effects on the type of informal communication that can be central to the creation of organizational culture. The creation of zones of communication between the different dimensions of a college – administration, management, teaching and students can have a significant impact. At College A for example behind the reception area is an array of copy machines that all staff and students at the college have access to. On the wall behind the machines is a display board for photos of student events. This area allows for a heavy flow of informal communication and allows frequent contact between all members of the organization. On the other hand the offices of Principal, Registrar and Directors of Studies are all separate and across the corridors from the teaching staff rooms which creates a strong feel of having to ‘make an appointment’ to discuss issues with ‘the boss’. 278

At College B though, the staff room in 1996 led into the Principal’s office. In order for the Principal to access copy machines, coffee facilities, go to the washroom and so on he had to walk through the staff room, providing a greater chance that problems can be raised informally, in turn leading to minimisation of conflict. By 1999, due to expansion, this layout at College B was changed and the Principal’s office was moved to a different floor. This has had the noted effect of increasing

management

distance

and

increasing

the

difficulties of management – staff communication. At College C the layout erected enormous barriers to management-staff

communication.

All

senior

ELT

and

Administrative management offices were at the back of the college with their own kitchen, washrooms and copiers. This meant that there was virtually no way to ‘run into’ the managers for anyone on staff and is perhaps one explanation for the greater staff communication difficulties at College C and the sorts of discontent that led to a disgruntled former employee going to a Sydney current affairs program about irregularities at the college. At College E, with the benefit of closely examining these three different patterns of layout for ELT management, it was decided in the initial premises to combine some of the features of College A and College B. The Principals office was sited in the teachers’ staffroom with a meeting room that could be used for private discussions (or as a small conference room) next door. The Financial Controller and Registrar shared 279

an office next to reception with an open entry arrangement so that it would be possible to greet those inside from reception. Both offices were located between the elevators and the students’ computer rooms where all students could go to and so would be able to see senior staff in informal ways. Staff, agents and students themselves frequently commented on how appealing this layout was. It certainly assisted in the early success of College E. The ecology of an organization can also impact on its ability to be an organization that learns. While there is no particular physical

layout

that

of

necessity

produces

a

learning

organization, some thought has to go into workplace design to ensure that the chances of the workplace becoming a learning one occur. Perhaps the most significant aspect of ecology for assisting learning organization is the chances of interaction especially among those who may have different divisional responsibilities for similar clients. In small colleges and educational institutions this may be the amount of contact between those who work in the administrative and teaching areas of the college. Frequently the workplace is designed so that educators are effectively screened off from administrative areas of the college; consequently teachers do not understand the

administrative

aspects

of

their

workplace,

while

administrators rarely venture into teaching areas of the college.

280

Student to student communication is also vital for ELT managers to think of in the ecological audits of their college. Free access to computers, printers, fax machines and photocopiers such as existed at College A and College E encourages students to see the organization as their home or drop in centre and helps end the dilemma of ‘nowhere to go’. Computer labs, as well as providing traditional educational support and communication facilities over the Internet, also fulfil a social role for students. A glance at any of the nonteaching computer labs at College E would usually reveal a lab nearly full of people either sending e-mail to their friends, reading their country’s newspaper in their own language or downloading pages of movie stars or similar. Activity logs of Internet use showed that less than one in 20 sites visited in 1998 was a business or education related site. Nevertheless the computer labs offered a semi-educational activity within the college for international students who were often lonely and alienated. They saw and see the college as a refuge while they find their feet. It is perhaps taking over from the libraries of a previous age and indeed students from South Korea often commented that the computer labs at College E fulfilled a similar function to libraries in their country where students would go as much to socialise as to learn.

12.5. Ecological Change Changes in other climatic dimensions lead to ecological change. Colleges expand and contract, leases expire, different 281

courses are offered, staff numbers grow and many other factors lead to need for ecological change. New ELT colleges that need to project a strongly client focused image can, after periods of strong growth, look more inward at their internal procedures and see how ecological changes that have costs as well as benefits can be rationally implemented. Ecology is a contingent variable and getting the balance right is an important management skill. Further choices in premises occur when opportunities through growth

or

contraction

of

student

numbers

present

opportunities to move or expand premises. Often in successful colleges there is a need to acquire space as similar as possible to the original to maintain the same look and feel to the institution. For smaller ELT colleges other factors such as distance become important because it is expensive to duplicate many facilities and to have twin management or administration systems across multi-campuses. Even the largest ELT colleges can move with impunity and apart from the notification that is needed not too many problems arise indeed as colleges often move because they are becoming financially better off, and because the move is to a better premises, then all involved are actually welcoming of the move. The systems of ecological change are often implemented top down so that people in the college are only aware of the ecological change as it is being implemented. Discussions of ecological change can often involve the most senior managers 282

first, who have to be aware of the costs and dimensions of the project and then the next layer of management who may have to be involved in decisions on layout, and then finally operational staff who may decide such matters as the location of furniture within rooms. After eight months of operations at College E there was already discussion of the need for new or expanded premises. Despite the difficulties of being ‘full’ staff in the organization had the very strong impression of organizational success. There was a sense that future expansion of place meant expansion and growth. So while at College E in the few months after opening the primary ecological imperative had been to ‘fill the space’ within a few months the problem had changed to one ecological pressure: Numbers are growing steadily - we now have about 50 English students and 200 business students. New problems now arise as the pressure on classroom space becomes apparent. It is interesting that we have now moved into a new phase where rather than being too 'empty' being the problem it is now that it is too full. Various small technical problems like air-conditioning not working in a classroom also become more of a problem now that there are no spare classrooms.

Action Research Notes Nov 1997 Expansion, which is the next ecological phase of a successful college though, creates its own set of management dilemmas. This is evidenced in the action research notes in mid-1998 Stresses and strains are again beginning to appear at the ecological level. The current premises is full to capacity and so we again have to find some extra space - it will be hard to manage the new annexe however we arrange it - it is not clear

283

how students can have breaks, how staff can be inducted and assisted etc…

Action Research Notes June 1998

In the case of College E the promise of expanded premises proved somewhat better than the reality. A host of logistical issues are involved in the fitout of a new work premises. A move or an expansion of a successful college involves the attempt to replicate features of one location that may themselves have been imposed by constraints. Frequently external environmental factors can provide the impetus for ecological change. Management frequently view these types of pressures as threats to the established order of the organization and yet they can be strong opportunities as well. College A, for instance, was initially affiliated with another college and shared premises and facilities with it. The affiliate college was a victim of the 1990 upheavals in the then ELICOS industry and was finally taken over by a much larger ELT organization. As soon as the takeover was complete College A was instructed to ‘pack their bags’ and find alternative accommodation. At that time the owners and managers of College A thought it was a devastating blow. With little experience in commercial real estate and no expertise in premises selection they had a very tight 2-month deadline to finalise leasing details on a new college. Close to despair they finally decided to fitout a new floor above one of downtown Sydney’s premier shopping 284

arcades. At the time the arcade was looking to refurbish its entire seven floors and was anxious to attract the first few tenants who would fitout their floors to enable other prospective tenants to see what could be done with the space. The fitout period took three months. During this time College A had to operate from another floor in the building that had a very cheap-looking 1960’s office partitioning fitout. The owners thought that their predominantly Asian students would be horrified by the temporary premises, but had no real alternatives other than to complete the move and hope that the promise of better facilities in the near future would appease the students. Far from being dissatisfied with the temporary accommodation though, the students loved it. Many referred to its comfortable lived in feel and the fact that there were small study rooms where they could chat in small groups rather than the usual large cafeteria/common room configuration of most colleges. Many of the students from the People’s Republic of China commented that the décor reminded them of corporate facilities back in PRC. Indeed when the time came to move to the brand new beautifully fitted-out premises two floors above, many of the students were sorry to be leaving their ‘home’. Getting ecology right is complex management skill!

12.6. Action Research at College E: Ecology As a result of research into organizational ecology and the observations of ecology at other ELT colleges, at College E 285

ecological

initiatives

were

incorporated

into

the

action

research. At the commencement of the action research, discussions on ecology with teaching staff showed little awareness of ecology except within the classroom where types of furniture and classroom layout were an area of strong interest. Chairs/desks in the classroom should be easy to move and preferably the teacher should have a chair on wheels to "spin" between groups. Katherine, Action Research Cycle 1, College E, 1997

Teaching and non-teaching staff were happy though to experiment with changes to more usual ecological settings. The Action Research cycles in 1997 and 1998 emphasised, in tandem with the other climate initiatives, the attempt to reduce

barriers

across

the

organization

to

encourage

integration of activities, collaboration among staff and a greater focus on clients. This meant reducing the physical boundaries

between

teaching

and

administration

staff,

between teaching staff and students, between management and staff and between management and students. These areas of emphasis led to two concrete initiatives. These were: Action

Research

Initiative

E1:

Action

Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) and 2 (January – June 1998): Management not be physically separated 286

from staff except for meetings that had to be private for reasons of confidentiality. Action

Research

Initiative

E2:

Action

Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) and 2 (January – June 1998): Workspaces to be mixed and an ‘open classroom’ policy to be implemented. An open classroom policy was suggested where outsiders were welcome to classrooms and could be authorized by the teacher concerned without any need for permission from management.

Owners

of

the

college

were

particularly

supportive of this measure because many potential English college students like to have a first hand experience of the college and class by having a ‘trial lesson’. In many colleges this can cause friction with teaching staff who do not welcome the regular intrusion of unknown students into their class. The explication of the measure within a framework of open classrooms and combined with the ability of teachers to also feel welcome in each other’s classrooms was a win-win result. Teachers in training for ELT such as those doing TEFLA certificate courses were also welcome to observe and assist in lessons. In order to implement Ecology Initiative 1 a meeting room was created with conference table and chairs. This room was located

between

teaching

staff

rooms,

administration,

reception and marketing offices so that any who needed a confidential meeting could use the facility but at other times 287

work would be in communal spaces. The Executive Manager of the college also reserved a private office as he conducted other businesses as well as College E. While the request was reasonable it did limit the absolute commitment to this principle. Many

routine

management

tasks

such

as

preparing

documents, assembling material for accreditation authorities, developing courses and dealing with student requests for consideration in areas such as poor attendance or academic performance did not suffer from this open approach and many teaching staff were able to acquire management and counselling skills by an osmosis process. The extra advantage of this was that the day-to-day accumulation of operational details was easily disseminated among staff. In order to implement Ecology Initiative 2, teachers of English, Business and Computing courses all mixed in different staffrooms and marketing, administration and reception staff easily mixed over two offices and the reception area. At first teaching staff and administration staff were able to share workspaces but after the first phase of the action research finished the division of teaching staff and administration staff recommenced. One initiative that spontaneously grew out of this experience though, was that a ‘women’s group’ of one Business teacher, one English teacher, the deputy Principal, the Registrar, the Bursar and the Chief Receptionist who all met once a week for a few hours to discuss issues affecting their work at the college as well as chat about personal issues. 288

The official meeting was then followed by a long lunch. While the intended means of avoiding separation of line and support staff did not last much beyond its experimentation period, in many ways this group helped achieve its intended effect of avoiding horizontal miscommunications at the college. Debate about separate offices for managers was a fairly constant feature of discussion throughout the action research period. A concrete symbol of the end of management experimentation was the building of separate offices for the new ELT managers in the middle of 2001. …a wall has literally been erected in the staffroom and (the new Principal, the ELT DoS and the Business DoS) all have their own little offices. It is so good that they are not in our space any longer. Their personalities are not conducive to an open-plan staffroom…. They are pure and simple, fish with big chips on their shoulders. (James, Teacher, College E, 2001)

and

...newer staff cannot believe how strongly we supported the idea of all staff in together in ‘the old days’, just goes to show that even the soundest of management principles can f… up if people are assholes. (David, Teacher, College E, 2001)

The underlying aim of an ELT college’s ecology should be that, within its limitations and constraints, it works to support the development of the college’s structure, culture and milieu. Its members should

see

it as a positive

feature

of

the

organization and a reflection of the other dimensions of the organization. 289

12.7. Conclusion The label ecology can be used to cover the place and the physical attributes of a work organization. This includes the premises, its location, the fitout, the furniture, the resources and the layout of the workplace. Issues that arise as to where people spend their time and why certain places are attractive or

unattractive

are

important

managerial

concerns

in

understanding ELT colleges and their dynamics. This chapter has discussed the ecology of international ELT colleges and some ELT management implications. It looked at the notion of ecology and its relationship to organizational structure and culture. It then outlined the premises and locations of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney and gave a brief overview of some of their more significant ecological contrasts. It gave some examples of the links between ecology and communication flows. It then briefly reviewed ecological change at some ELT colleges before noting in more detail ecological changes at College E. There are many ecological features that can be manipulated by an ELT manager to improve organizational outcomes. Action research at College E suggests some strategies that can be used in the area of ecology and some of the effects these had on other structural and cultural variables at the college. The success of these strategies may offer direction to ELT managers in similar situations. 290

It is to the cultural variables of ELT colleges and their management that this study now turns.

291

Chapter 13

THE CULTURE OF WORK ORGANIZATIONS

13.1. Introduction This chapter defines organizational culture for the purposes of this discussion, then outlines some of the observable features and behaviours of organizational cultures and the connections between an organization's culture and its structure, milieu and environment. A framework of analysis that can be used as a classificatory and descriptive tool in ethnographic research into ELT colleges is then suggested. The chapter explores some of the implications of research into organizational culture for international ELT colleges and argues that an understanding of an organization's culture is an important factor in the analysis of its educational and entrepreneurial outcomes.

13.2. The Concept of Culture In the social scientific literature the study of symbols and symbolic forms has generally embraced the concept of culture. Despite the enormous difficulties of ascertaining a precise

definition

of

culture

and

the

manipulation

or

management of symbolic forms, few analysts would disagree that the concept is crucial in the understanding of social scientific phenomenon. The concept of culture as a focus of 292

study has a long background and this has led to divergent investigations into 'culture' based on varying interpretations of the notion. Before discussing the cultures of a number of international ELT colleges in Australia the construct of culture must be examined and defined. Thompson (1992, pp.123 - 162) distinguishes four basic senses of culture. Firstly the classical conception of culture as a process of spiritual or intellectual development which figured

in

philosophers

the and

discussions historians

of

culture

during

the

among

German

eighteenth

and

nineteenth centuries; secondly the anthropological notion of culture which Thompson terms the descriptive conception which refers to the array of values, conventions, customs, beliefs and habits of particular cultural grouping and the later symbolic conception which focuses on the use of symbolism as a cultural phenomena to transmit understanding and to maintain cultural patterns. The fourth sense that Thompson identifies builds on the symbolic conception but takes more account of the structured social relations within which symbols and symbolic action are embedded. Thompson refers to this as the structural conception of culture. The structural conception of culture means that cultural phenomena: may be understood as symbolic forms in structured contexts; and cultural analysis may be construed as the study of the meaningful constitution and social contextualization of symbolic forms.

(Thompson, 1992; p. 123).

293

The classical conception of culture is of little relevance for this study except in as much as it serves as a reminder of the debate between prescription and description, relativism and universalism, that underlies all social scientific research. Identifying particular cultural activities as more or less desirable, as higher or lower is an activity that assumes the possibility of objective universal criteria of comparison. The early universalist prescriptions of organizational cultural theorists have been jolted by the failure to identify ready made cultures that can be universally applied and notions of 'fit' or suitability to local conditions have prove awkward when generalised across sectors. The descriptive conception of culture has grown from the works of the anthropologists and cultural historians who were concerned with the ethnography of non-European societies. This descriptive conception can include all variation between human groups except perhaps for physiological ones. This conception of culture has been criticised, therefore, as being too broad and too vague becoming more extensive than anthropology itself. These problems with the descriptive conception of culture within anthropological circles led to the development of the symbolic conception of culture. The symbolic conception argues that culture refers to symbolling - the peculiarly human mental ability that allows events and phenomena to be seen as a web of significance that has been spun by humans themselves. Analysis based on this conception seeks to: 294

make sense of actions and expressions, to specify the meaning they have for the actors whose actions they are, and, in so doing, to venture some suggestions, some contestable considerations about the [group] of which these actions and expressions are part

(Thomspon, 1992: p.132).

According to Schein (1985, p.50) for example, culture is a group’s solutions to its basic problems of survival and adaptation to the external environment and the integration of its internal processes to ensure the group's continuity of survival and adaptation. This broad view of culture can be used to describe the behaviours and beliefs of any group from a club or gang through to an ethnic or national group. The chief difficulty with this approach to culture is that it gives insufficient attention to the role of power and social conflict within which cultural phenomena are embedded. If cultural phenomena are expressions of power relations that either sustain existing social orders or disrupt them to form new social patterns, then there is difficulty with laying undue emphasis on a neutral 'meaning', rather than on a more individuated interpretation of conflicting meanings according to the divergent meanings that cultural phenomena may have for

different

individuals

according

to

their

different

circumstances, resources and opportunities. In order to analyse and discuss the organizational cultures that are the focus of this area of the study then, there is a need for a more contextually embracing method of culture that can include the contextualisation of social phenomena 295

and the structured social contexts within which cultural phenomena are produced transmitted and received. This study adopts Thompson’s (1992, p.123) notion of the structural conception of culture, which emphasises the symbolic character of cultural phenomena and the embedding of such phenomena in structured social contexts.

13.3. Organizational Culture Whenever a person comes into contact with an organization from a football club to a school to a work organization it is apparent that they also come into contact with a variety of rules and norms, stories about what goes on, various policies and procedures, jargon, formal documents, insider jokes, unusual rituals and varied tasks. It is because members of each organization are able to interpret the meanings of such phenomena in a fuller way than non-members that has led to the idea that organizations have 'cultures'. Alvesson (1993, p.1) however, notes that organizational culture is studied by researchers from a wide variety of disciplines including management, communication, sociology, anthropology,

psychology

and

folklore

with

research

orientations ranging from the positivistic to the interpretive and post-modernist. This variety leads to a wide range of research purposes, interests, points of focus and philosophical foundations of inquiry in the field and makes it extremely difficult to view 296

organizational culture as a single, well defined, coherent area of study. The differing research purposes and philosophical foundations also make the precise definition of culture an area of

intense

dispute. There

can be

a real difficulty

in

disentangling the ‘organizational culture’ of management and organization theory from the concept of culture used by anthropologists because organizational studies, as studies of groups or cultures, are based either explicitly or implicitly on anthropological paradigms (Gamst, 1989, pp. 12 - 19). Traditional organizational research has been criticised as being based on outmoded anthropological perspectives, such as structural-functional or configurationist views that fail to explore “multiple native views” (Gregory, 1983), and even in anthropology culture has no fixed or broadly agreed meaning. In fact the whole notion of culture and the 'culture paradigm' is a central feature of debate in recent anthropology. Organizational cultures are neither monolithic not entirely cohesive and each member's beliefs, values, memories and experiences of cultural phenomena will vary. Nevertheless regular interpretive patterns and configurations can be discerned in each organization and allow organizational culture to be discussed. According to Tagiuri's model of organizational climate, the culture of an organization is the dimension of the organization that refers to its values, belief systems, norms and ways of thinking, which come to characterise the people in the organization. The cultural dimension includes the often 297

unseen,

almost

unconscious,

forces

that

comprise

the

symbolic side of organizations and help to shape and reinforce human behaviour in them. This dimension is frequently described as “…the way we do things around here”. The link between climate and culture is strong and in many ways difficult to clearly demarcate. In particular there are strong and recurring links with the structures. When describing and comparing the cultures of different organizations it is important for the ethnographic researcher to

try

to indicate

organizational

how

structure

items

of

interact

ecology, with

milieu

the

and

particular

organizational culture. Indeed it is this dynamic relationship of the different facets of the organization that ethnography is most usefully able to illuminate in comparison with traditional experimental or survey research. The

term

specialised

‘organizational interest

in

culture’ academic

became

an

literature

area

of

following

Pettigrew’s (1979) article On studying organizational cultures and the work of Charles Handy. Pettigrew's article paved the way for later research on cultural phenomena in organizations by legitimising it as a concept worthy of investigation. He defined organizational culture as the system of generally and collectively accepted meanings, which operate for a certain group on a certain occasion (Pettigrew, 1979, p.579). Pettigrew emphasised the concept of the symbol and introduced notions such as the role of language, ideology,

298

belief, ritual and myth in organizational life (Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv, & Sanders, 1990; Alvesson & Berg (1992). There

has

been

an

increasing

research

interest

in

organizational cultures since the early 1980’s (Alvesson, 1993; p.3). There is now a huge body of literature on the culture of organizations and how their customs and traditions influence the behaviour of their members. The various models and approaches to organizational theory emphasise different aspects

of

organizational

and

management

structure,

however, and no model of organizational culture can possibly map all the relevant phenomena. While research into organizational culture pre-dates the corporate culture boom of recent years, since 1980 a broader and more consistent interest in it has emerged. It is probable that when the impact of Japanese economic success began to be noticed in other OECD countries, many western managers felt that Japanese success may have been linked to their corporate cultures. This suggested to many researchers that the

concept

of

organizational

culture

required

further

investigation (Alvesson, 1993, pp.3-4). Thus, research interest in organizational culture accelerated and in the early 1980s Ouchi's (1981) book titled Theory Z and Peters & Waterman's (1982) volume In Search of Excellence were both best-selling works that explored the effects of culture and values on corporate performance. Peters & Waterman, Ouchi and Deal & Kennedy all define organizational culture functionally seeing it as a system of shared values and beliefs that interact with the 299

people, structures and control mechanisms in an organization to produce the norms of behaviour in that particular organization. All these writers view shared values as "what is important", beliefs as "what is thought to be true" and norms of behaviour as "how things are done around here" (Owens, 1995; p.81). While organizational culture was a concept ‘waiting to be discovered’ it may also be that changes in the economies of OECD countries and the growth of a more systemic analysis of work interactions have made organizational cultures more visible. The trend away from mass production industries to those, such as ELT, that are based on service and information also mean there are now many more organizations where cooperation is more important than compliance. Organizational culture, therefore, is now accepted as a very real and observable feature of organizational life. It can be best understood as a collection of solutions to the problems that are typically faced by an organization, solutions that have worked consistently and are therefore taught to new members of the organization as a correct way to frame, understand and perceive the problems that the organization typically faces. As the organizational culture develops over time it shapes assumptions about such deep culture notions as truth, humanity and normality. In some senses it is a cognitive patterning device - a way of structuring thought in order to increase certainty and predictability so that meaning can be created and enhanced. 300

The shifting emphasis in writings on management and administration away from the traditional focus on 'hard' issues such

as

management

systems,

schemes,

devices

and

structures towards 'soft' issues such as culture reflects the notion that hard issues can distract organizational leaders from their real goals. Two basic elements of managerial success are creating pride in the organization and enthusiasm for its works, both of which are ultimately cultural phenomena. At bottom effective management for superior performance requires an organization to take exceptional care of its clients or customers and to constantly innovate. This

emphasis

touches

on

three

areas

of

concern in

organizational culture for international ELT colleges. These are integration of activities and organizational goals, collaboration among organizational members and a focus on service and care of clients as the core mission of the college.

13.4. Describing Organizational Cultures While organizational culture is an awkward and controversial area of research it is a vital difference between organizations and an important ‘real world’ indicator of what makes a particular

organization

an

identifiable

entity.

Hofstede,

Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders (1990) developed an analytical framework of organizational cultures for their study of organizational

cultures

in

Denmark

and

Holland.

Their

framework sees organizational cultures as consisting of specific symbols, heroes, rituals and values that only ‘insiders’ 301

in a particular organization can readily identify and respond to. They see each of these levels of an organization’s culture as being identifiable through practices that are observable by, although less than fully meaningful to, outsiders. Their model is reproduced in Figure 12.1. Symbols Heroes Rituals Values Practices

Figure 12.1: Analytical Framework of Organizational Culture (based on Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders, 1990)

In order to try to identify, describe and compare the organizational cultures of the ELT institutions examined in this research project the above framework was used to gather and organize data. While there are obvious theoretical problems associated with overly simplistic models of organizational cultures it would appear that in comparing organizations that are involved in similar fields of activity an analytical framework

such

as

that

described

above

is

a

useful

comparative and descriptive tool. It can help to focus the researcher on relevant phenomena and enable comparison between different ELT colleges to occur. It also works as an organizing principle in recording and writing up research data. 302

For the purposes of this framework symbols are seen as the most easily retrievable pieces of data about an organization. They are the words, gestures, pictures or objects that carry a particular meaning within a culture and are often not readily comprehensible to outsiders. Heroes are persons alive or dead, real or imaginary who possess characteristics highly prized in the culture and who thus serve as models for behaviour. These people personify the culture's values and provide tangible role models for others. Rituals are collective activities that are technically superfluous but are socially essential within a culture - activities that are largely carried out for their own sake. It is possible to further distinguish between the systematic and programmed routines of day-to-day organizational life and the orchestrated or extravagant

aspects,

which

are

sometimes,

termed

'ceremonies'. The practices relating to these symbols, heroes and rituals can be observed by outsiders but the meaning of such practices lies in the way they are perceived by the insiders. Penetrating this network effectively can aid a researcher in understanding what is really going on. Learning about the cultural network and the practices relating to the organization's symbols, heroes and rituals assists in identifying the values which are the core of any organizational culture. These deep values inform all other organizational activities and may be seen through the outward manifestations and practices of the members of a particular cultural grouping. 303

Organizational culture can be inferred by observing behaviour, but it is not the study of the behaviour but rather of the system of knowledge, values and beliefs that gives rise to the behaviour. The following chapter examines how college practices in the culture areas of integration of work tasks and organizational

goals,

collaboration

among

organizational

members and a focus on service and client care are enhanced or inhibited by various symbols, rituals, heroes and values of the organizations concerned.

13.5. Organizational Culture and Organizational Effectiveness Organizational effectiveness, while a common real world basis of comparison between organizations, presents tremendous theoretical problems. In this research project when comment is made about organizational effectiveness it is considered from a managerial perspective and is a combination of organizational

goal

attainment

and

system

resource

acquisition. Organizational effectiveness can obviously be viewed

very

differently

by

other

stakeholders

in

an

educational organization such as teachers (who may focus more on 'needs satisfaction' of staff) or students (who may focus on the appropriateness of instruction for their individual goals). One of the advantages of the ethnographic approach is that these perspectives can also be illuminated and allowed some 'voice' in the data.

304

Nevertheless much of the research interest in organizational cultures stems from the hypothesis that culture is an important variable in organizational effectiveness and that certain types of organizational cultures are more likely to lead to effective organizational outcomes than others. It is possible to take either a positive or a negative view of the link between organizational culture and effectiveness. The positive or tool view of culture sees it as offensive, something to be used by management to improve effectiveness. The negative or trap view of culture sees it as defensive - a possible impediment to the attainment of organizational goals such as financial profit and stakeholder satisfaction. Many writers have argued that there are close links between organizational culture and organizational change. Indeed managing culture is frequently equated with changing culture and the improvement of organizational performance is frequently seen as a matter of achieving planned cultural change. One possible reason why organizational culture has such

an

impact

on

performance

and

life

chances

of

organizations is because when choices must be made, organizational values become, at least for most members of an organization, an indispensable guide in making them. Kanter (1983) in her analysis of culture and climate in a number

of

organization

US and

corporations a

focus

found

on

that

successful

pride

in

the

organizational

outcomes seemed to correlate with the level of integration of the

organization.

Holistic

thinking 305

combined

with

a

questioning of traditional practice seemed in Kanter’s wideranging study to be significant cultural factors. Segmentation on the other hand, where organizational members are isolated and mandated to focus solely on their particular corner of operations may make it difficult for members to feel a sense of belonging or pride in their organization. An emphasis on integration, belonging and participation can assist in achieving both increased profitability and increased educational

quality

satisfying

both

entrepreneurial

and

educational prerogatives. Effective outcomes for ELT colleges are more likely for colleges that have a culture of belonging to the whole organization and one where members feel a sense of responsibility for overall success rather than simply being commissioned for one specific task. Senge (in O’Neil, 1995: p.21) has noted that educational institutions can suffer the twin cultural disadvantages of being stratified but with people at most levels seeing themselves as holding very little power. He argues that one characteristic of an organization that has a low ability to learn is that people at all levels feel ‘disempowered’ – the general mood being that one does not have any leverage with which to make any difference.

This

problem

of

fragmentation

and

disempowerment is a sign of a weak organizational culture and one that proactive ELT managers need to inhibit. The second cultural construct that would seem of importance in

international

ELT

colleges 306

is

that

of

collaboration.

Hargreaves (1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures of collaboration in education. He sees collaboration becoming a kind of metaparadigm of educational and organisational change. He sees collaboration as one of the most promising metapardigms of the postmodern age as a device for articulating and integrating principles of action, planning culture, development, organization and research. He argues that some of the reasons supporting the positive effects of collaborative work cultures are that they provide moral support, strengthening the resolve of organizational members and allowing vulnerabilities to be shared. Collaboration also contributes to improvements in efficiency through a reduction or elimination of duplication and redundancy. Collaboration is likely to improve prospects of the college remaining effective by encouraging a degree of risk taking and a greater diversity in educational strategies. Managers in a collaborative organization are likely to avoid overload because of some sharing of the burden of decision-making. A further advantage is likely to accrue to the college as a whole because of a narrowing of the difference of time perspectives between administrators and teachers. A greater unity of time perspective also assists in reconciling the event orientation of teachers with the process orientation of managers. (For further discussion of event orientation and process orientation see Chapter 15). Hargreaves (1994a, p247 ff) also notes some of the problems of collaboration including that it can be comfortable and 307

complacent, confined to the least controversial areas of teachers’

work

consolidating

rather

than

challenging

traditional practice. It can also be terribly conformist leading to groupthink and suppressing individuality and can be a contrived administrative device that can be used to suppress effective change. It seems important that collaboration is not seen as being located within a division of an organization where all members are responsible for a similar task but rather across organizational divisions so that the collaboration is for the organization. The third cultural area that may impact positively on organizational outcomes for ELT colleges is that of a focus on service. Walker (2000, pp.23-33) has argued that ELT practitioners have largely located their activities within education and linguistics but that the underlying commercial nature of many ELT operations also makes their activities similar to those of other front-line service providers. They share

a

range

of

communicative,

interpersonal

and

reflective/analytical skills with others in front line service provision. ELT teachers are largely responsible for the quality of the core operation of their colleges and under the right conditions can create considerable competitive advantage.

13.6. The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Climate While all four dimensions in Tagiuri's model obviously play an important

role

in

determining 308

the

performance

of

an

organization, organizational culture has come to be seen by many researchers as the most significant of the four dimensions in defining the character and quality of the climate of an organization (Owens, 1995: p.80). In the 1980s business and management writers such as Deal and Kennedy (1982) strenuously argued the urgent need for organizational leaders to understand the power of organizational culture. They suggested that the creation and cultivation of effective organizational cultures was the chief variable in determining organizational outcomes. Organizational culture is often intuitively felt to be a critical aspect of organizational climate. The ‘feel’ of a college may well be related to ecological or milieu features but the organizational culture is often responsible for emphasising or bringing about such features. As Owens (1995, p.82) points out, when studying organizational culture: ...one looks at the artefacts and technology that people use and one listens to what they say and observes what they do in an effort to discover the patterns of thoughts, beliefs and values that they use in making sense of the everyday events that they experience. Thus organizational culture is the study of the wellsprings from which the values and characteristics of an organization arise.

One of the reasons that organizational culture is of interest in management research is that it seems to be an area that offers leverage to the manager to bring about more effective outcomes for an organization.

309

Organizational culture is the patterning of the social structure, the patterning of communication/interaction and the group expectations that come to distinguish and define particular organizations. Such 'culture' is not a completely static or unitary entity and it can be realised through multiple identities and levels, both formal and informal, reflecting the fact that organizations are frequently worlds "locked in a war of meanings" (Hamada, 1994, p.10). The transition from modernist to postmodernist organizations brought about by rapid social and economic change has demanded and will demand deep changes and adjustments in attitudes. Owens (1995, p.207) points out that such changes that touch on the central core of assumptions and structures of an organization are far more difficult to achieve than simple behavioural

changes.

Reworking

this

central

core

of

assumptions and structures involves significant adjustments in the organization's culture. For this reason organizational culture is frequently identified as a significant area of leverage in organizational change. For

those

who

wish

to

change

and

improve

their

organizations, however, the question is to what extent the organization's

culture

can

be

consciously

altered

and

manipulated to produce desired outcomes. In the narrow managerial

view

of

culture,

culture

is

something

an

organization 'has' which can be easily tampered with to improve performance. The broader anthropological view of culture,

though,

which

sees 310

culture

as

something

an

organization 'is', suggests that deep changes to organizational cultures may be far more difficult than is usually thought (Anthony, 1994, p.28). The two differing views of organizational culture lead to distinct and often conflicting commentaries in research data. Occasionally

the

two

become

confused

so

that

the

'inspirational view' of an organization's culture, how managers of the organization wish the organization's members and the public viewed them, is taken to be the real culture of the organization even when there are big differences between this espoused corporate culture and the 'real' one. Analyses of the influence of organizational culture on organizational change have

usually

focused

on

changes

in

this

idealized

management version of culture. Ethnographic studies of organizations need to get 'underneath' the management view of the organization's culture to reveal the tensions between the idealised and the actual culture of the organization. Nevertheless the drive to manage culture springs from the possibility of using its evident strength and its ability to influence behaviour and relationships so as to harness an as yet

minimally

tapped

organizational

resource.

From

a

management perspective the aim should be to bring the meaning given to the organization by its members ever closer to the view that the organization or its leaders takes of itself. The, perhaps unreachable, goal is that the organizational culture

ultimately

does

become

synonymous

idealised 'corporate' one (Anthony, 1994 p.48). 311

with

the

13.7. Conclusion This chapter has examined the construct of organizational culture and some of the difficulties involved in investigations of the cultures of work organizations. It has outlined the frameworks used in both investigations into work cultures of ELT colleges and of the relationship between culture and other aspects of an ELT college’s climate. The framework of Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders was used to guide data collection in the area of ELT college cultures in the following chapter. Three cultural themes, those of integration, collaboration and service have been identified in this study as being of significance in the enhancement of organizational effectiveness in an international ELT college. While recognising the theoretical difficulties involved in the use

of

cultural

constructs,

organizational

culture

at

international ELT colleges is likely to be a significant variable influencing organizational effectiveness.

312

Chapter 14

THE CULTURE OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

14.1. Introduction Organizational culture is the least tangible dimension of organizational climate and yet it is likely to have a powerful effect on the other dimensions and on the overall climate of an international ELT college. It is argued throughout this work that an emphasis on the three cultural themes of integration, collaboration

and

client

service

can

have

positive

repercussions throughout an international ELT college and influence its vision and values drawn from differing discourses, its organizational structure, its milieu and its ecology. Richards (2001, pp.374 – 377) has identified organizational culture as a primary institutional factor affecting quality language teaching in ELT colleges. The discussion in the previous chapter highlighted, however, some of the difficulties that arise in the discussion and analysis of organizational culture. Nevertheless it is a concept with significant real world consequences, and one that instinct and intuition, along with research, indicate as a vital area of concern for ELT managers. This

chapter

examines

the

organizational

cultures

at

international ELT colleges and considers them in relation to the theory discussed in the previous chapter. It describes 313

some cultural initiatives that took place at College E and their effect on the organizational culture of that college. The argument is made that a strong in-awareness focus on the creation and maintenance of an integrated and service oriented organizational culture with a collaborative approach to work tasks is an essential and achievable ELT management aim.

14.2. Integration Organizational

cultures

obviously

vary

in

intensity

and

strength. White, Martin, Stimson & Hodge (1991, p.17) in one of the central practical books on ELT management argue that ELT colleges with a strong sense of mission, effective leadership, committed staff and students and a strong base of social support will be more likely to succeed. Integration was identified in the previous chapter as being a significant aspect of organizational culture that is likely to impact upon organizational performance in ELT. Where management strategies, teaching styles

and underlying

organizational culture are in harmony they can reinforce each other, whereas when management strategies and teaching styles clash, teachers and managers are likely to experience conflict and difficulties, negatively influencing their work and their relationships with each other and with their clients. ELT managers, in their bridging role between the operational and the administrative arms of their colleges, can work to

314

integrate consistent values from the classroom to the reception desk to the managing director’s office. Such

integration

needs

to

be

kept

in-awareness

and

continuously reinforced at all levels or else a drift to balkanisation can occur. This need for a constant hands-on implementation of integration values and strategies was noted by Learning Organization theorist Peter Senge in an interview about educational institutions as learning organizations. Senge (in O’Neil, 1995, p.22) noted that in many cases even organizations that have worked to produce and implement a vision have it undermined by making the vision an ‘event’ rather than a ‘process’. Going off to write a vision statement and then going back to work is pointless. The production of shared visions, the creation of a field of shared meaning that is likely to produce a deep sense of trust and mutual understanding, and its integration across an organization takes a long time and involves a lot of reflection and a great deal of listening and communication. In Senge’s opinion 20 – 40% of management time ‘forever’ needs to be spent on working to get people to reflect on and articulate what it is they’re really trying to create and keeping a focus on the whole organization working together. Senge’s work on learning organizations is one meta-strategy that bridges the discourses of the entrepreneur and the educator.

It is, at heart, a strategy

of organizational

integration, staff collaboration and a clear focus on clients. Many of the principles outlined in learning organization 315

descriptions are focused on integration and the cultural dimension. One definition of a learning organization is a …group of people pursuing common purposes (individual purposes as well) with a collective commitment to regularly weighing the value of those purposes, modifying them when that makes sense, and continuously developing more effective and efficient ways of accomplishing those purposes

(Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1995; p.231)

A work culture of integration allows a greater degree of organizational learning. Argyris and Schön (1978, p.353), argue that organizational learning is a process of the sharing and modification of assumptions shaped by cultural means. They suggest that organizational learning is related to all other aspects of an enterprise but that if no conscious effort is made to direct and integrate learning across the organization the learning will be haphazard and ultimately directionless. As well as haphazard learning Argyris and Schön identify the concepts of single loop or goal-based learning and double loop learning in organizational contexts. This notion has become a central idea in later writings on the learning organization. Argyris and Schön (1978, pp.2-3) define single loop, goalbased learning as learning content; that is the acquisition of a greater amount of knowledge relating to the solution of a familiar problem. It is thermostatic, detecting when it is too hot or too cold and then responding by turning the heat on or off. If an error is detected and then corrected allowing the organization to carry on its present policies or achieve present objectives, then that error detection and correction process is single loop learning. Double loop learning, on the other hand, 316

involves learning about processes, and thus questions and challenges

the

organizational

fundamental transactions

assumptions

are

occurring.

under Double

which loop

learning involves reflections upon an organization's underlying values and norms and leads to the modification of those that are unsuitable. Double loop learning occurs when error is detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization's underlying norms, policies and objectives. Handy (1991, p.56) also makes a distinction between the learning required to solve a particular problem and the habit of learning to examine the processes that lead to such problems occurring so that they can be avoided. While learning, especially for educators, has very positive and powerful connotations Argyris and Schön (1978, p.353) are careful to note that organizational learning can also be dysfunctional. Learning is an 'amoral' process and certain kinds of learning and change such as deterioration or learning how to deceive and manipulate are negative. The notion of the learning organization has become a popular organizational and management concept over the last decade. Field and Ford describe the concept thus: The learning organization … sees knowledge as the primary resource and learning as the key tool to obtain it. In this sense knowledge is not theories and technical abstractions but a living mixture of information and concepts combined with the understanding necessary to apply them to the analysis and solution of problems, planning and prediction. In order to obtain maximum benefit from this the organization and the employees need to be effective at learning. Part of this learning is the

317

recognition of the need for integrated approaches and the understanding that no strategy is sufficient by itself. … what is important is getting the right combination of strategies

(Field & Ford, 1995: pp.4-5)

Most educational organizations have reasonable levels of support

for

individual

learning

but

not

enough

for

organizational learning. In many cases the knowledge that the organization really needs to improve is too fragmented and piecemeal to be utilised effectively (O’Neill, 1995: pp20-22). Analyses of entrepreneurial businesses suggest that they require less up-front planning and more implementation analysis and double loop learning than is typically practised in larger or public sector organizations. Survival often depends on a combination of creativity and a "superior capacity for execution". This ability to execute creative ideas quickly and successfully requires integrating action and analysis in a process that resembles constant action research (Rist & Joyce, 1995; pp.127-131). The combination of typical ‘educator’ learning with that of typical ‘entrepreneur’ learning is, therefore likely to be more beneficial to an organization than either one alone. Improvements in integration of financial and educational matters can improve organizational outcomes. At none of the colleges in this study except College E did teaching staff have even remote ideas of the pricing of the courses they were teaching. While most ELT teachers perceive that this is something for ‘administration’ a simple understanding of course fees and advantages and disadvantages in such 318

factors

as

long

and

short

term

enrolment

can

assist

tremendously in attracting students to the college, advising them once they are there and in understanding the overall operation of the college. In non-financial areas too, integration can easily produce improved outcomes. College D for example had Australian students studying in the same institution as the international ELT students. Little thought or effort was given to procedures that could improve the learning experiences of both groups even though contact with young Australians is, according to data on international students collected by AEI (DEST, 2002a), the area of least satisfaction for international students in Australia. College B, on the other hand, made use of the limited opportunities for mixing the international students with the Australians learning Japanese in the evenings at the college. The promotion and support of events that encouraged such mixing was an important feature of college life for many of the international students at the college. Integration of activities also extends to documentation and external inspections of the college. In some colleges the requirements of the NEAS and its annual inspections are seen as a kind of flaming hoop that needs to be leaped through once a year and then forgotten. Systems do not get put in place that can satisfy regulatory requirements and practices are allowed to develop that have to be covered up or disguised at inspection time. At College C for example the accreditation requirements were perceived as having a lack of 319

relevance to day-to-day operations, so much so that a consultant had to be brought in to assist the Director of Studies in completing annual accreditation returns. Most of the elements required, though, were sound commercial and educational items and would have required little management effort to integrate into routine college practice. A reluctance on the part of owners of the college to work more collaboratively with the ELT management and staff, and a tendency to make abrupt policy decisions without sufficient consultation, suggest that a lack of commitment to integration was responsible for these difficulties. Integration strategies can also be useful across educational arms of a college. College A and College C each had vocational and English colleges on the same premises. There was some management level awareness of the need for greater integration to increase collaboration between the two areas. Teaching staff, however, saw a strong difference between the two divisions and without active programs to ensure integration both colleges ended up with divided staff rooms and areas of conflict between their ELT and vocational operations.

Part

of

the

difficulty

was

that

many

ELT

practitioners had a view of vocational courses as more ‘serious’ and academic, while in return vocational college staff saw the ELT teachers with, often, better teaching skills and a more creative and innovative approach to classroom practice. Differences

in

hours

and

resentment. 320

expectations

also

caused

At

College

A,

for

example,

two

teachers

of

business

communication had less qualifications and experience than the English teachers but were employed full-time with a very light workload. The English teachers resented the distinction: It would have been more bearable if either of them were really qualified and then you could think, “Well one day I'll be able to bludge like that,” but the fact that they were barely qualified to teach made things really irritating.

Gloria, Teacher, College A, 1997

College A may have been able to avoid this point of contention if it had offered the teaching of courses in Business Communication to English teachers who had a background in the

area

or

perhaps

by

restructuring

the

Business

Communication modules of the vocational courses to increase their teaching workload. It is not only integration among organizational members that is a key feature of a sound organizational culture; ELT managers themselves have to think holistically. An emphasis on a culture of integration allows solutions to organizational problems to be taken in wholes, not parts, by college management.

14.3. Collaboration There is a palpable feel to a thriving work organization. The slings and arrows are just as present, the tensions and discoursal contradictions never completely disappear, but there is a sense that we shall overcome, that no problem is 321

insurmountable, that one works to solve difficulties not to be ground down by them. In such an atmosphere people can grow and experiment rather than shrink within themselves. In person dependent service industries such as ELT the creation of this feeling may be vital. One concept in the area of organizational culture that may assist in the development of such a feel is that of collaboration. As the etymology of the word suggests, collaboration is simply working together with others for a common purpose. It is the sense that all in the organization are collaborators, pulling together that it likely to contribute to a strong positive work culture with consequent impact on organizational outcomes. It is linked to and grows from an integrated approach to organizational activities but it focuses on the people within the organization and their spirit of cooperation and common purpose with each other. The management of culture springs from an understanding of the symbols, heroes, rituals and values of the organization all of which underpin the ongoing practices of organizational members. Managers have to be initiators and creators of some of the symbols, rituals and values but also need to encourage other organizational members to be ‘heroes’ to allow the culture to flourish. In fact a successful manager should be able to eventually remain in the background with the development and increasing confidence of organizational members who take on the role of heroes. Over time, as staff are inculcated into the organization, they take on the ethos of 322

the college and many are keen to further its values. Such organizational members have to be encouraged. In such cases the ELT manager may still need to fine tune proposals, ensure that they align with other organizational goals, perhaps contribute on budgetary matters and an understanding of implementation

of

more

complex

initiatives,

but

allow

experimentation and a chance for organizational members to grow the college and contribute to its value. Collaboration through

a

contributes

reduction

or

to

improvements

elimination

of

in

efficiency

duplication

and

redundancy. International ELT colleges become repositories of enormous amounts of data and records. In many colleges by default these records become dispersed and do not feed back into decision-making. Even with the advent of computerised record keeping few colleges are able to systematically use their

records

to

assist

college

development.

Keeping

academic, financial and feedback records in one physical location and on one linked database is a simple but effective collaborative strategy. Data mining for links, such as that between student progress and re-enrolment, can provide valuable information for college marketing. Simple monitoring of student feedback can suggest which teachers need extra attention or support. Ecological factors can be used to assist in the development of collaborative cultures. Communal workspaces and open plan offices allow more collaborative cultures to develop than those where each small group of teachers and administrators have 323

separate offices. Among teaching staff the sharing of lessons and

resources,

timetables

that

share

classes

between

teachers, work tasks that involve teachers in collaboration to produce common exams or to team-teach for particular projects, all serve to reinforce collaboration and break down the isolation of the classroom. Collaboration influences the way decisions get made. At College A, for example, a style of informal discussion-based decision-making in place of formal minuted meetings and decisions by committee led to an enormous advantage in the speed of decision-making. The possibilities of mistakes, where a single owner makes the decisions, are avoided as well as the time delays of formal committee decision-making. Trivial items can become symbols laden with cultural meaning for good and ill. Two particular symbols that seem to vary across different international ELT colleges in Australia are those relating to dress standards of teaching staff and the management of and access to resources within the college. Restricted access to photocopiers, for example, can cause staff resentment out of all proportion to the cost savings. Hal had taught at another college in Sydney before commencing work at College E. He frequently denigrated his former college. Thus: I did some work at College H. Absolutely awful. All men had to wear ties, which was silly enough, but there was a photocopier that required a code before copying could be done. I spent a week there before [an ELT manager] finally got a code sorted out for me. For that week I couldn’t even make a single copy at

324

the college and none of the other teachers would tell me theirs or let me use theirs as the number of copies they could make was so restricted they had none to spare. As I said, awful!

Hal, Teacher College E, 1998

The lease of a photocopier is a fixed resource. Most leasing arrangements work out to approximately 5c per copy. Reducing the number of copies in a college by 100000 per year (nearly 2000 per week) still only works out to a ‘saving’ of $3000 - $5000 or the average cost of one twelve month student enrolment. For the extra stress on teaching staff, the reduced service to students and the possible damage to the college’s long-term reputation by ex-teachers criticising the college the savings in this area are highly suspect. It is difficult to see this strategy being implemented in ELT colleges with collaborative approaches to decision-making and thought given

to

the organization

wide

consequences of

such

decisions. Humour is increasingly discussed as a sign of heath for both managers and organizations generally. Rodger (2002, p.8) lists a sense of humour as one of the most significant features of a good ELT manager and the ability to promote humour and share in it as a significant management task. It is important to teachers, too. John, a teacher at College E in discussing some changes at the institution in 2001 commented that because of an increasing formality at the workplace:

325

…the staff grew sadder and more restless, teaching began to decline, and nobody sang songs in the office, not even me! It was so sad, and the 'older' staff began to reminisce…

John, Teacher, College E, 2001

Humour can be exclusive as well as inclusive, though, and the use of humour as a bonding agent can be problematic. Managers have to be careful because those who don’t appreciate the humour often do not feel they have the power to voice their feelings and in many organizations it becomes obvious that if you want to ‘get ahead’ you need to accept the prevailing sense of humour. The relationship of management to staff is significant in producing a collaborative culture. Written communication as a record of communication is an essential feature of modern organizations but in order for collaborative cultures to work management

has

to

spend

a

great

deal

of

time

communicating orally. People simply do not respond to printed exhortations as they do to information imparted by oral increments and a ‘talking’ route to understanding. The bureaucratic board structure of College D, for example, slowed the flow of information both ways and delayed an effective response to many organizational issues affecting the college. An appreciation of staff and generosity of treatment also assist in developing collaborative work cultures and also as an effective way of ensuring compliance. At College A, for example, one morning a teacher rang to say that she had just missed her bus and would be considerably late. The Principal, 326

who took the call, responded that it was no problem, just jump in a taxi and the company would reimburse her on arrival. The teacher started to argue that she had no money on her, “Don’t worry,” responded the Principal, “Just keep the meter running downstairs and come up to the college to get the money. Tell the taxi driver to ring the college if there is any difficulty.” It was probable that the teacher’s ‘excuse’ was not entirely honest. Whatever its veracity it would be difficult to be aggressive or feel slighted by an offer of generosity. The teacher was at the college shortly after the phone call. Ultimately the most important advantage of collaboration may be that described by Hargreaves (1994, p.245) as situated certainty. Ignorance and certainty are both problems for educational

management.

Collaboration

can

assist

all

organizational members in using professional and experiential judgements, not as irrefutable scientific truths, but as situated certainties, a type of professional wisdom or collective best guess to help guide the college forward.

14.4. The Development of a Client Service Culture Collaboration is used above to refer to the relationship between staff members. However the notion of collaboration needs to flow through to the students as clients of an international ELT college. Highly collaborative work cultures in ELT colleges are likely to encourage the third area of cultural advantage for ELT colleges - the development and promotion

327

of a client service culture – ensuring the college is highly responsive to and caring of its clients. ELT colleges

have

to focus

on the

development and

maintenance of a service culture. Client service is the service provided in support of the organization’s core activities and includes

such

features

as

awareness,

understanding

difference,

answering

reducing and

anxiety,

responding

questions,

dealing

to

increasing individual

promptly

with

payment and other issues, handling and resolving complaints, responding

swiftly

to

feedback,

attending

to

students’

problems outside the college, giving specific advice and providing recommendations. Although education is a service industry, in traditional educational institutions clients have frequently been relatively powerless stakeholders. Students at schools and universities may have little say over curriculum, timetabling or patterns of interaction within institutions because more powerful stakeholders such as government, educator

bodies

and

community

groups

have

greater

influence. Most international ELT colleges, on the other hand, do not rely for their income on government funding or community grants. In order to continue operations individual clients have to be sufficiently satisfied with the ELT college to continue to pay tuition and other fees. The fact that it makes sounds financial sense is evidenced by the high rate of word of mouth recommendations

to study at particular colleges. Data

gathered by the EA a decade ago indicated that more than 328

40% of students got their information to study in Australia by word of mouth (EA, 1991, p.47) and a further 8% received information from a teacher who presumably had also had personal contact with Australia. This importance of the word of mouth value of an educational experience is one little utilised bridge between the entrepreneurial and educational worlds. It makes sound financial and organizational sense to satisfy clients because they are the primary marketing channels in a service industry such as ELT. A focus on client service as an in-awareness part of an organization’s culture is essential to build relationships with clients. An attention to client service across an international ELT college can significantly improve word of mouth recommendations to study at the college and consequently lead to an increase in student enrolments. Attention to client service should be an integral feature of their management. The appropriate level of client service is not always easy to determine. Clients hold differing expectations about level of service and have a range of tolerance for the service they ultimately receive. They have a hoped for or desired service, which is the ‘wished for’ level of performance. At the other end of the range they have a notion of adequate service, the minimum standard of service they will accept. In between these two levels is a zone of tolerance within which the service of the organization does not make much impact either positively or negatively.

329

Most ELT colleges provide service within this zone of tolerance. Their student clients are receiving more or less what they expected for the price they are paying. For advantage to accrue to the college through a focus on client service, however, the goal has to be to exceed the client’s desired level of service. Searching for ways to please clients without significant costs to the organization can be an enormously productive activity. At College E client feedback consistently indicated that simple, relatively inexpensive aspects of college life were considered most valuable by students. Access to teaching staff outside class time, a willingness by teachers to socialise with students, college assistance with work and tax matters and an atmosphere of friendliness were highly important. Likewise there was an ongoing appreciation of being recognised by the Principal and other ELT managers by name. Making the effort to learn the names of as many students in the college as possible and greeting and chatting to them at every opportunity can improve enrolment rates as efficiently as a high profile marketing campaign. The notion of client service, therefore, needs to be inculcated within the college. Traditional thinking sees managers on top and the responsibility of subordinates to obey the commands from ‘above’. The organizational structure suggested in Chapter 10 of the fronted organigram sees managers as involved in the provision of service to their staff who are, in turn,

engaged

in

serving

the

330

organization’s

clients.

Traditionally ELT practitioners have seen their work activities as primarily educational and linguistic but the underlying commercial nature of many ELT operations also makes their activities essentially that of front-line service providers. The flow of this idea of service spreads from staff to students and on to potential students. The provision of responsible advice is an important aspect of service delivery. If the college does not currently offer a course in business English it makes no sense to misinform a potential student and then ‘trap’ them, an unfortunately all too common practice at the ‘bottom of the food chain’ of ELT. One of the ironies of ensuring that marketing and counselling staff adopt an ‘honesty is the best policy’ approach is that many students who ask for advice and are told that the college absolutely can not meet their stated educational needs either subsequently enrol or recommend the college to friends because they have been so impressed with the honesty of the information. At College A virtually no active external recruitment was done and no advertising or mass-market strategies were adopted. Few new agents were allowed to represent the college and commission payments to current agents were below industry averages. Marketing material was simply photocopied and had none of the high gloss brochures and expensive videos common in the industry. Virtually the entire student body had been recruited by word of mouth. An overriding ethos had developed that the needs of the students were an absolute priority and that marketing in its traditional sense of 331

advertising and overseas promotion was an expensive waste of resources. Savings could then be utilised to give a strong sense of generosity to students. Walker

(2000,

pp.30

–

32)

argues

that

key

services

management themes should characterise the management of ELT colleges and that the professional development of teachers should not be confined to pedagogical issues but should also include elements of services theory and practice. One of the cultural initiatives that took place at College E and discussed in the following section was to try to implement such a program of improved services practice. A client service culture extends to decisions on staffing and hiring. From the student point of view many other factors besides teaching

the

qualifications

awards

affect

and

experience

their

perception

indicated of

in

teacher

performance. Significant opportunities to provide outstanding client service also exist for educational organizations when clients join the organization to commence study, when they change status within the college and upon departure. First impressions are vital and frequently commence well before the student begins a course. How the college deals with enrolment and provision of advice can provide opportunities to demonstrate the centrality or otherwise of client service to the organization. The formality or informality of a reception desk can also be an important cultural tool. In general most people are pleasantly 332

surprised to be greeted warmly and spontaneously and extroverted,

friendly

receptionists

are

very

valuable

employees in an international ELT college. College

parties

mark

the

growth

and

success

of

an

international ELT college. Few ELT colleges see the marketing potential in such occasions and frequently do not even encourage staff to attend seeing them as a ‘student’ occasion. At College A the annual party was fully paid for by the college and has always been a large affair. Anyone who was connected with the college could come and students were allowed to bring their friends. Many such friends subsequently joined the college or kept it in mind to recommend to their friends. Even the dress code of a college needs to be seen through the lens of client service. What are the clients looking for? What is their hope or expectation of the ELT teachers? The point is not that one particular dress style or another is superior, only that it is a recognised point of difference and should be decided from the client perspective. Clothes have an important symbolic role in all cultures and organizations. Many teachers interviewed saw management as ‘suits’ and the wearing of business clothes, suits or ties as a badge of dishonour or selling out. Whatever the view of staff though, it should be the students’ view that matters. At College E client and agent feedback suggested that ‘smart casual’ dress was the most desirable. 333

There was an expectation that the Principal, however, would wear a suit or formal business clothes and this was shared by all the other Principals interviewed. Directors of Studies on the other differed in their approach. At College A the two English DOS’s had very different dress styles and yet both easily blended in. The first DOS, a women, dressed very elaborately and formally and on days such as inspection visits was dressed far more glamorously than would be expected in Australian business situations. The second DOS had a background in the theatre and communications industry and had a far more casual style of dress. He initially made an attempt to conform to business attire and wear a suit and tie but within a month he dressed very casually. Interviews revealed a predilection for those in supervisory positions to dress one level ‘above’ their staff. Thus if the teachers wear casual clothes, the DOS should wear smart casual ones, the teachers smart casual the DOS a tie or business clothes, the teaches business clothes the DOS a suit and so on. The DOS at College B however saw the wearing of different clothes from teaching staff as a distancing device and had worked hard to convince the Director that it was not necessary for an ELT college to project an overly corporate image

despite

the

director’s

experience

dealing

with

corporate classes in Japan. Only the clients can determine whether teachers should dress informally to match the expectations of students who want their teachers to break the authoritarian teacher stereotype, 334

or project a more serious and formal image through the wearing of business clothes. Access to equipment such as computers and copiers also needs to be seen through a client service lens. Are students part of a college family, in which case everything in the college is theirs to access? Are they guests who have to be provided with special privileges? Are they valued clients who should be given access to resources that they might commonly need but will be restricted from private parts of the college or those reserved for staff? Or are they cattle to be herded appropriately and denied access to any but the most basic of college resources? The last seems to be the default position in many international ELT colleges. A similar issue occurs with the level of bureaucracy and form filling. If every appointment and every request has to be accompanied by a bureaucratic process clients can become restive and unhappy. All paperwork makes sense in isolation but a focus on integration and a client service perspective can keep controls on the overall level of paperwork with which a student needs to contend. As noted in Chapter 8, excursions and college activities are also a transmitter of cultural signals about the college. The deletion of excursion activities from College C had a negative impact on their business, especially with a loss of working holiday students from the college and ultimately a greater concentration of students of one nationality. This in turn led to 335

an increase in the problem of attracting students because of the increasing dominance of one nationality group. Excursions and co-curricular activities are also an important way to bond teachers and students in more natural settings than classrooms, which by the very nature inhibit the development of such relationships. Nathan, a teacher at College E contrasted two management views of excursions: The emphasis on excursions and staff-student bonding that existed at that time was fantastic and takes on even more significance now, given its unfortunate absence from today's College E. The management now seems to be directing its energies away from social events, and indeed, away from student welfare on the whole. Excursions seem to be regarded as teachers having a "bludge", and recently it was proposed that they been done away with. They are still part of College E life, but are given extremely low priority. The situation in 98/99 was so good partly because we were encouraged to share our experiences of Sydney and its environs with the students….

Nathan, Teacher, College E, 2001

Final impressions are also powerful and maintaining this dimension

‘in

– awareness’ provides

leverage

for ELT

managers. Much that hasn’t worked in a client’s experience can be wiped away by highly positive final impressions and nostalgia. Care and effort for graduation ceremonies for students and staff farewells that honour departing staff, fully noting contributions and the many friends made should be concerns of all good ELT managers. Former staff and students often unknowingly market the college and when satisfied with their work and study experiences can provide valuable firsthand endorsement of its operations. 336

14.5. Action Research at College E: Culture As a result of research into organizational culture and the observations of culture at other ELT colleges, at College E several cultural initiatives were implemented through action research. Discussions on organizational culture, and a sharing in its creation and development with teaching and other staff, were a prominent feature of organizational life at College E. The underlying culture was intended to resolve the tensions that exist in ELT based on the recognition that people in the organization differed in terms of some of their fundamental value systems. The underlying premise was that a functional and inclusive resolution of these differences needed to be worked at and that a common ground for ongoing action could be found that would be perceived as being in the interests of most organizational members. The key cultural themes of integration, collaboration and client service provided a basis for these cultural initiatives. The primary cultural goal was to develop an integrated organization with a culture of collaboration that had a strong focus on service to clients. The initiatives on integration were linked with those in structure and ecology in the attempt to reduce barriers across the organization. Milieu initiatives also assisted in reinforcing collaboration goals. The three initiatives in the cultural dimension were: Action Research Initiative C1: Action Research Cycles #1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000): 337

That the culture of the college encourage integration and unity of operation while recognising the diversity of views and work tasks and that the college encourage an in-awareness development of organizational culture. Action Research Initiative C2: Action Research Cycles #1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000): That the college develop a collaborative work culture both within areas such as teaching and administration and between functional areas. Action Research Initiative C3: Action Research Cycles #1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000): That the organization have a core commitment to clients and client service. This commitment had to apply both to front-line staff who are in constant contact with students, as well as to management in their dealings with both students and staff. In order to implement the first organizational culture initiative several related measures were undertaken. Initially the planning for the college envisaged strong linkages between the English College and the Vocational College with hiring of senior

staff

to

emphasise

candidates

with

skills

and

understanding of both areas. The Principal, Executive Director and Financial Controller shared a commitment to integration and the need for collaborative decision-making. An in-awareness focus on organizational culture involved consciousness-raising achieved through ongoing discussions 338

both

inside

and

outside

the

organization.

Staff

room

discussions, formal meetings, regular chats at the pub, input into college activities and assistance with formal study assessments for organizational members undertaking Master Degree studies into education, marketing and management and Certificate studies in workplace training all encouraged this development of an in-awareness focus on organizational culture. Issues such as the sharing of classes were justified by explication of improvements in collaboration among teachers; relations

between

management

and

staff

about

the

importance of integration and collaboration and treatment of students, agents and visitors to the college that of the importance of clients In order to implement the second organizational culture initiative several steps were undertaken. The first was to try to meet and interview as many applicants for teaching positions at the college as possible. Right from the interview stage staff were made to feel that it was a people-focused college. The marketing materials for the college had the recurring themes of warm, friendly, exciting and multicultural and these were emphasised as significant values. It was emphasised that the college viewed ability to perform, produce quality outputs and deliver client satisfaction as more significant than controls on entry such as levels of professional qualifications. Timetabling was used to assist in the development of a collaborative approach to work. At College E the courses were structured over a five-day week. One teacher would be 339

responsible for a class for three days and another teacher would be responsible for the same class for two days. This meant that each full-time teacher shared a class with two other

teachers

and

some

thought

was

given

by

ELT

management to pairing and grouping teachers to further encourage collaboration. Simple professional development activities such as a lesson of the week noticeboard and brief sessions where every teacher had two minutes to show and tell their best lesson also assisted in the encouragement of a collaborative culture. An appreciation of staff and generosity of treatment also assist in developing collaborative work cultures. One of the first teachers at College E who left because of immigration difficulties for her husband was given a substantial cash gift on departure. Her contribution to the college and unfailing positive approach despite a range of personal and financial difficulties had been tangibly appreciated. The flow on of goodwill to college owners in such circumstances cannot be ignored. In my own case receiving a substantial sum in gift vouchers on the birth of my second child inculcated an extra loyalty and bond to the organization – not because of the extra remuneration but simply because it indicated a generosity of spirit and an appreciation of one’s contribution to the organization. The fact that such acts transcend the awards and contracts and daily whirl of business and are absolutely voluntary makes them doubly appealing on a human level. 340

Teachers value the sharing of lessons and resources and this was instituted in various ways. Timetabling meant that teachers had to share classes and levels and that schemes of work and lesson materials had to be prepared collaboratively. Testing procedures for end of cycle promotion of students also had to be done across classes and levels so that teams of teachers had to develop tests and discuss results together. Grading

of

tests

and

standardisation

of

results

also

encouraged collaboration among teaching staff. In order to implement the third organizational culture initiative a number of steps were taken. Walker (2000, pp.30 – 32) argues

that

key

services

management

themes

should

characterise the management of ELT colleges and that the professional development of teachers should not be confined to pedagogical issues but should also include elements of services

theory

and

practice.

Professional

development

sessions were held that included feedback from students and agents

on

teacher

performance.

The

balance

between

delivering long-term educational outcomes for students as well as short-term enjoyment of classes was discussed and debated. The issue was never entirely resolved but the process of reflection on this important area was in itself significant. Management approaches to students were made more visible than is usual in ELT. Senior ELT managers at most colleges spend much of their day dealing with students and their difficulties. By working in shared spaces and demonstrating to 341

teachers the level of responsiveness to students that was expected at College E, teachers could be helped to acquire a service ethic. Staff room discussion regularly focused on the importance of students and their positive impressions to the ongoing health of the college. Staff meetings emphasised that satisfying clients was most important and that ‘pleasing the boss’ and ‘pleasing the client’ should never conflict. At College E, for example, in early 1998 some students from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan came for a visit. These students were accompanied by their English instructor from Japan who was interested in seeing the operations of several ELT colleges in Australia at first hand. The Ministry is a conservative body with deep pockets and the students had typically

undertaken

their

studies

at

Sydney’s

most

established and expensive colleges. The Ministry wanted first class service whatever the cost. At two of these ‘high quality’ colleges the group had been lectured by the most senior ELT manager on the reputation of the particular college, the outstanding nature of the course programs, the qualifications and experience of the ELT staff and many other virtues. The Ministry instructor later informed me that at both of these colleges the senior ELT manager had issued him stern warnings about even visiting College E as it was at that time a very new college operating under provisional NEAS accreditation and had not developed a strong brand name or reputation.

342

When the group came to College E I knew that it was unlikely they would want to study at such a new college. A few teachers at the college talked to the students and their instructor about their studies, about their hope for their life in Sydney and similar topics handling the occasion in the manner of effective ELT teachers – a minimum of teacher talk time and a maximum amount of student led discussion. These high profile trainee diplomats commented at the time that it was so nice to be listened to and have the chance to discuss their feelings. Each of the students subsequently enrolled for expensive private courses at College E. A key point was that these students were about to commence masters degree courses and the assumption made by the other colleges was that they would automatically require academic English courses. In fact the students had very high levels of academic reading and writing skills and were most concerned about conversational and oral skills development practice. The incident underscores the importance of early impressions and a focus on the client rather than the organization. Many aspects of life at College E sprung from a client focus. The graduation ceremonies mentioned in the action research initiatives at College E in Chapter 11 Milieu sprang from student desires for a more formal recognition of course completion. Ceremonies and rituals such as Culture Day and international picnics likewise grew from student and teacher initiatives. 343

The above initiatives did for much of the action research period

produce

a

successful

and

tangibly

vibrant

organizational culture. Many visitors to the college from both within and outside the profession commented upon this from the Minister of Education for Slovakia, to instructors from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Principals and Directors of Studies at other colleges who had heard things ‘on the grapevine’, to the steady stream of agents and prospective students. As with the action research initiatives in other organizational dimensions a lack of fixing these cultural initiatives to the organization led to a reduction in emphasis after the conclusion of the action research. Even though the culture had helped the college to grow and succeed in quite difficult years, once the action research was complete and changes in key management occurred, many of the cultural features of life at College E were eroded. The practices became more identified with particular ‘heroes’ of an earlier era and did not institute themselves effectively. Culture can also deliver relief from other organizational and logistical shortcomings. For much of 1998 and 1999 College E was crowded to capacity. For much of that time ELT management saw this as a negative feature of the college and were concerned that maximum class sizes would deter enrolments. In retrospect it would seem that a type of organization culture ‘buzz’ was at work. The fact that the college was crowded had a similar effect to that in the 344

nightclub or restaurant industries – everyone wants to be at the one that is ‘happening’ and there was little apparent fallout from what could have been a very negative aspect of study at the college.

14.6. Conclusion The core task of the ELT managers is to take responsibility for the ongoing health and success of the college. It falls to ELT managers to work hard to develop a culture that assists the college in traversing the pressures of competing discourses, the turbulent environment and a wide range of organizational climate factors. This chapter has discussed the organizational cultures of international ELT colleges and described some cultural initiatives that took place at College E. The chapter has argued that an in-awareness focus on the creation and maintenance of an integrated, collaborative and service oriented organizational culture is an essential and achievable ELT management task but that difficulties can arise in the fixing of such cultural efforts into long-term organizational procedures. Organizational culture does matter in ELT and there are many cultural features that can be developed and manipulated by ELT

managers

to

improve

organizational

outcomes.

Balkanised cultures that reflect traditional structures can hinder ELT organizations and prevent them attaining their goals. The development of cultures that can satisfy both entrepreneurial and educational aims, without compulsion for 345

either to shed their core values or worldviews, is an important management and leadership task. Action research at College E suggests some strategies in the area of culture that assisted in the development of a successful college. Such strategies may offer direction to ELT managers in similar situations. On the other hand their ephemeral nature, and links to a particular management team at a particular stage in the College’s development, indicate the difficulty of overlygeneralised solutions in the dimension of organizational culture. Despite many shared environmental constraints international ELT colleges can have important differences in cultures among the different institutions. Ongoing managerial effort in the development of a strong, integrated organizational culture with a sense of collaboration and an emphasis on the service components of the organization affects all other organizational dimensions and activities. Nathan, a teacher from College E recalls: Firstly, a few words about my experience at College E in [1998 and 1999]. The Principal-staff-student relationship was what made it for me. College E at that time was the most fulfilling place I have ever worked at, mainly in terms of the friendliness engendered by [senior ELT managers], and which was also evident in just about everyone else who worked there. I felt welcome from Day One, and also felt the freedom to plan lessons with the aim of encompassing not only language, but culture and current affairs as well. If I have not yet thanked [senior ELT managers] in so many words for having provided us with that atmosphere, then this is an opportunity for me to do so. It was good. Really good.

346

College E as it was provided an object lesson in working in a cooperative, friendly environment. Teachers were able to concentrate on their students and feel secure in their occupational environment.

Nathan, Teacher, College E, 2001

ELT managers, it would seem, have much to do. The following chapter discusses some of the character and practices of ELT managers and develops a model of ELT management that may provide a useful managerial framework based on the analysis presented thus far.

347

Chapter 15

THE ELT MANAGER

15.1. Introduction This chapter profiles ELT managers in international colleges and examines the choices with which they are typically confronted. It first looks at the personal attributes of ELT managers. It then examines teacher perceptions of ELT managers. It outlines a simple model that shows the possibilities for ELT managers when gearing the organization to respond to the pressures on organizational values and vision brought about by the competing discourses of the industry. It discusses ELT manager strategies in dimensions of organizational climate that were implemented through action research at College E before concluding with a brief summary.

15.2. ELT Managers Like other forms of management (see Willis 1985, p.139), ELT management is susceptible to interruption, superficiality of treatment and shifts of location – all of which contribute to a general discontinuity of work. It is a people-centred job demanding interpersonal competence. Much of it may be ‘invisible’ to other people in the organization and lacking in personal feedback. It involves a holistic perspective that tends to be at a variance with the more parochial frame of reference 348

held by other organizational members. It requires ‘boundaryspanning’ and links with the relative uncertainty of the organization’s environment. It has as its core communication, which is both interpersonal and informational, depends on human relationships and the fast and effective flow of information. Finally it calls for an involvement in the work organization that makes for difficulties in preparing people for the job and imposes stressful conditions upon the manager After a discussion forum on management issues at the IATEFL conference in 1998, a range of international ELT managers concluded that the best ELT managers, like the best teachers, have a certain indefinable factor about them, which is a mixture of intellectual calibre and of personal persuasiveness. Management skill is frequently realised in a strong ability to communicate, but it is in fact a much deeper and more fundamental skill set (Bowers, 1999, p.4). It is near impossible to provide perfect solutions to the wide variety of roles and functions that the ELT manager has to address. The international ELT manager in Australia, such as the Principal Administrator or the Director of Studies is responsible to NEAS for the content and quality of the ELT courses as well as to DIMA for the overall compliance of students with their visa conditions. The ELT manager is primarily

responsible for maintaining the motivation of

teachers

and

marketing

staff

and

for

much

of

the

maintenance of the network of agents and industry contacts who

provide

valuable

services 349

to

the

college.

Other

relationships, such as those with the photocopier repair and air-conditioning service personnel also play an important role! ELT managers have to remain abreast of industry information in order to ensure the organization remains aligned with the outside environment. They also have to communicate relevant parts of this information to staff. Effective ELT managers also need to be entrepreneurial, searching for future opportunities for the college. They must respond to disturbances and allocate resources appropriately. They frequently have to represent the organization externally as well as be responsible for internal negotiations of staff conditions. Many of these roles and functions correspond to those outlined for general managerial work. Unlike those involved in general management, however, ELT managers usually remain more closely aligned to the ELT world through which they’ve grown and it is uncommon for ELT managers to transfer from educational management to management in non-education areas or industries. Most ELT managers move into management from teaching and have usually been promoted to their positions due to their success as classroom practitioners (Fowle, 2000, p.16; Gore, 2002; p.3). One important motivator for the ‘jump’ into ELT management can be life changes brought about by marriage or children. A number of teachers interviewed in this study who were about to get married or have children, spoke of the necessity of finding either managerial positions within ELT or changing careers to gain greater employment stability for the 350

raising of a family. There is perhaps a sense that the career outcomes of an ELT manager are more stable than those of the ELT teacher. Because most ELT managers come into the position from teaching backgrounds, and many play both teaching and managerial roles concurrently, they can continue to judge themselves more by the criteria of 'good teacher' than by that of 'good manager'. Good teachers may attempt to minimize conflict, even if good managers may find it a necessary tool to improve performance. Good teachers may try to 'keep everyone happy' whereas good managers may need to treat people justly and come down hard on those who are damaging the effectiveness of the institution. A survey form in the October 1991 issue of the ELT Management newsletter was distributed to members of the SIG and readers of the newsletter. The survey was broad and exploratory trying to "tap into issues and feelings" which were important to ELT managers (Griffiths, 1991). A range of ELT managers such as principals, directors of studies, course directors, heads of department, senior teachers and teacher trainers completed the survey. The survey found that, although there was no clear 'route' to becoming a manager or senior manager in ELT, all managers came from a teaching background. The survey also found that most ELT managers agreed on the need for financial management training and that senior ELT managers' main functions - personnel management and financial management - were two quite 351

different areas requiring completely different sets of skills. Most ELT managers saw their strong qualities as a natural aptitude for organizing and dedication to work and their weak qualities as being a lack of delegation and over-compromising (Greenland and Griffiths, 1992: p.13; Griffiths, 1993: p.6). 'Over-compromising' and a 'lack of delegation' may well be one of the consequences of teachers becoming managers. The zones that arise in educational institutions can lock ELT managers into a system of "soft" and "hard" rules similar to those outlined by Lortie (1969). The ELT manager may see issues of finance and accounts as "hard" and therefore subject to the ‘entrepreneurial logic of costs and efficiency whereas such items as curriculum and instruction, which are difficult to visualise in such a way, are "soft". Wajnryb (1993; pp.56-62) has shown the effects of mitigation in supervisory discourse in ELT contexts; mitigation that may initially save 'face' for teachers but may ultimately lead to future management problems if the mitigated criticism has not been clearly communicated. The rights of teachers, can readily become overemphasised in such situations, while the rights of less powerful

but

vital

stakeholders

may

be

conveniently

overlooked, leading to an overall decline in the organizational effectiveness of the institution. The two most common texts for ELT managers (White, Martin, Stimson and Hodge, 1991; Impey and Underhill, 1994) both stress the need for ELT managers to create focus and work toward common causes in order to produce that warm and 352

friendly atmosphere that is widely admired in educational writing. Lynn (1996) however, based on work by Stacey (1992, 1993) and Pascale (1990), points out that this can also result in the lack of contention and individuality that breed creativity. Lynn (1996, p.86) notes: As teachers we are often deeply committed to the establishment of a non-threatening, warm, environment in our classrooms in order to nurture the emerging confidence and skills of our learners. Whilst I am not in any way contesting this philosophy for teaching, a considerable body of research and opinion in management argues that a similarly relaxed environment will not produce the tension or contention vital to a vibrant and innovative organization - and in today's competitive ELT environment, innovative attitudes are essential.

Clarkson and Lodge (1999, p.23) argue that most ELT managers have moved into the position from teaching because of success as teachers. The first steps in to management often commence with the taking on of academic management

tasks

such

as

placement

testing,

exam

coordination and resource management. From there, ELT managers take increasing responsibility for areas such as staffing, budgeting and marketing of the college. Gore (2002, p.3) notes that most ELT managers come from a teaching background and have no management training and then develop through a combination of experience, trial and error and possibly some short management courses – a very precise outline of the professional experiences of this ELT manager! Often, experienced teachers who are promoted to become inexperienced managers learn the vital skills of personnel

management,

budgeting, 353

marketing

and

forecasting by default (Underhill, 1989; p.2). They end up isolated in management roles with little or no specific preparation or training (Johnston, 1989: p.3; Leather, 1989: p.3). Charles (1993, p.11) has questioned whether it is a valid expectation that teachers should 'rise above' the classroom and take their place in the management structure of ELT organizations. He argues that by seeing management as 'promotion' ELT may be accepting a career structure that is conceptually flawed. While there is obviously some transfer of skills between the two functions, especially in the area of communication skills, being a skilled classroom teacher does not provide the full range of skills required to become a successful educational manager (Fowle, 2000; p.18). The acquisition of good management skills in areas such as finance,

administration,

marketing

and

office

skills

is

haphazard especially when compared to management training and development in other fields (Gore, 2002, p.3). One significant change in outlook that occurs with the transition to ELT management is much closer alignment with the organization. ELT teachers work in an occupation that offers an unusual level of mobility. Changes from one workplace to another, even across countries, is far less difficult than in most other professions and is indeed a prime motivator for new entrants to the industry. For ELT managers on the other hand, their fortunes become more entwined with their organization. It is a more stable appointment. Unlike 354

teachers who are frequently hired on contracts, ELT managers in Australia are almost always full-time employees with negotiated salary packages. Salary awards in ELT in Australia provide allowances for lower level ELT managers, such as coordinators and senior teachers, but Directors of Studies and Principals have no proscribed conditions. As such their compensation and work conditions are strongly related to the health and success of their institutions. There is little published biodata on ELT managers in Australia. A previous study by the author (Keaney 1994, pp.43 - 48) found the mean age of the 44 ELT managers surveyed was 38 years and ranged range from 24 to 58 years. They had an average of slightly less than 10 years ELT teaching experience and about four years of ELT management experience. They had been in their current position for an average of two and a half years and only 5% had been in their current position for more than seven years. ELT managers had a wide range of qualifications but all came from teaching or educational backgrounds.

Only

one

respondent

had

traditional

management or financial qualifications (an MBA) but 34% of the managers surveyed had a Masters degree or higher in a language

or

education

field

and

a

further

30%

had

postgraduate ELT qualifications or RSA diplomas in TEFLA. ELT managers interviewed in the current study were also primarily in their 30s and 40s with similar levels of teaching and management experience noted above. None had traditional

355

financial or management qualifications even though all were involved in making budgeting and financial decisions. ELT management can be a tough job. The ELT manager at College A spoke of often having a sick feeling in the stomach on a Sunday evening starting to think about the return to work on Monday. Even at a college that was financially successful and where staff and students relations seemed most amicable there were many hidden stresses to the job. The ELT manager at College C spoke of the awful personal strain on trying to find resolutions for so many small but intractable problems. Paying customers demand a high level of service and the human nature of ELT teaching staff can make getting high performing teachers in front of every class every day a difficult task. ELT colleges have few if any reserve teachers or activities and so sudden illness or departure of staff can create

tremendous

short-term

difficulties.

Good

communication requires time, and repeated interruptions to work because of small but urgent problems is an ongoing feature of ELT management. It is precisely because there are pressures and difficulties though that the role of the ELT manager exists. Ultimately the ELT manager has to accept the responsibilities of the leader. Owens (1995, p.130) notes that: … leadership involves mobilizing resources, including human and intellectual resources … so as to arouse, engage and satisfy the motives of others. Therefore vision building is not always a placid process but often requires engagement with different world views of people in the group, different temperaments

356

different personal agendas, different levels of understanding, different hopes and aspirations, different pedagogical approaches to the future…(the educational manager) must have developed a clearly thought out position from which to unhesitatingly and convincingly contribute to the discussion.

Leadership can be a difficult step to take and many who want to become leaders are unsuited for the role. College staff however put a high value on ELT managers who can lead rather

than

merely

manage.

Effective

leadership

is

appreciated and is a very human reward of management. James at College E looks back nostalgically to the time of the action research at College E: Sometimes I don't know if I idealise my first 2 years here, but so many others do too…or maybe it's just a fierce loyalty we have as educators and people to an institute that for a long time put our interests and skills first…not sure… but we miss you.

James, Teacher, College E, 2001

15.3. Teacher Perceptions of ELT Managers Research into English language teaching has concerned itself largely

with

teaching

removed

from

its

context.

This

professional distancing has certain advantages but it creates ambiguity for the ELT manager in assessing their role and responsibilities. There is scepticism towards management throughout the ELT profession. Such antipathy to ELT managers is a relatively enduring characteristic of many teachers, and can be a severe disadvantage for ELT managers to overcome. Teachers usually hold ELT managers in low regard: 357

I have realised that I have spent many years at many colleges and one constant with the odd exception is definitely incompetent management

Derek, Teacher, College E, 2000

Meanwhile Forth (1998, pp.22-23) notes that: It is not uncommon to find perceptions of management among teachers who have worked in the industry for a while which seem to indicate the belief that management is self-serving, that it operates in a kind of closed world with its own mission and has nothing to do with human relationships or the messy business of teaching. Many language teachers often appear to have a folkloric model of management in their minds that management is invariably calculating and rational. Teachers often view managers as systematic, ‘hard-nosed’, ‘win-win’, ‘big brain’ sort of people instead of a more real picture of managers who are engaged in a mess of fragmented activities with constant interruptions and unanticipated meetings and demands…

A tongue in cheek website for ELT teachers provides a guide for the various types of ELT managers. According to the site such managers are either lazy, and hands off spending all their time sitting in front of the computer emailing friends and playing computer games, snide, hyperactive power-crazed martinets, a Mommy Dearest-type whose executive spouses simply want them out of the house, sex-craved maniacs whose sole motivation for working in ELT is to make out with students, Afflicted Ones who carry a general air of misery and feel abused by the job, the staff and the students, Menopausal Nutcases (of both genders) who scream, rant and rave to demonstrate power, Jolly Hockey Sticks who overvalue

358

excursions and sports days while ignoring the educational focus of the college and finally a dream ELT manager who: …is helpful, friendly and kind. When it (ELT managers have been neutered according to the site) must have faculty meetings, it keeps them short and serves food. It listens to your problems and genuinely seems to care. Sometimes, it even solves them. Personally it has a good sense of humour, a sense of proportion and an ability to bend the rules when it is the only sensible option. It defends the teachers against students and management. It makes sure school equipment actually functions and that you can find materials. The only problem with this DOS is that, like Santa and the Tooth Fairy, it does not exist….

Henry (2002, p.5)

15.4. Vision and Values Somekh (1996, pp.5-6), after listing some of the tensions within ELT organizations, concludes that the primary tension relates to the main aim of the college, and whether it is to succeed as an educational institution or as a business. This study argues that these two aims need not be regarded as mutually exclusive. They need to be seen as forces that must both be successfully harnessed for the college to succeed. The ELT manager has to allow values developed from the discourse of the educator to be modified by insights from the value system of the entrepreneur. In turn it is also the responsibility of the ELT manager to persuade owners and top financial

managers

that

it

is

in

their

interests

to

accommodate, if not embrace, the values that educators hold

359

in regard that are likely to lead to the long-term financial and educational success of the institution. The turbulence of the international ELT environment, the complexity and globalisation of international ELT operations, the postmodern employment and organizational structures of many ELT colleges and a range of other climatic factors come to overwhelm many ELT managers. In such situations the vision guiding the activities of the college and the values that support this vision become essential. Turner and Crawford (1992, p.2) note that organizations …create and sustain value for their stakeholders in two ways. The first is through the effectiveness with which they manage current operations. The second is the way they change over time, dealing with new circumstances in ways that are value creating.

The ability to manage these two aims is complex, as frequently the strategies that maximise stakeholder value now are different from, and even antagonistic to, those needed to develop future options for growth. Some of the disconnection that ELT managers can bring to their work may be caused by maintaining an ‘event’ orientation towards the college’s activities. This focuses on efficiency or doing things right without questioning their underlying need or worth. It is a focus

on

managing

current

operations.

Entrepreneurial

thinking, on the other hand, shifts the orientation to one that focuses on the cycles and patterns of events rather than only 360

on a particular event in the cycle. It looks to effectiveness or doing the right things and the creation of future value. A retreat by an ELT manager into efficiency – aiming only to ‘do’ allocated tasks right and run things smoothly – while ignoring effectiveness or ensuring that the right ‘things’ are being done, is likely to cause difficulties for the manager and the college. ELT managers must focus on the dynamic complexity of their organizations as well as on the detail complexity. Dynamic complexity and the linkage to revenue creating stakeholders of the organization have been the traditional area of focus of the entrepreneur. ELT managers who move into the area from teaching may find that the detail complexity, which has traditionally been the area of concern of the educator, is the more ‘natural’ and appealing set of work tasks to embrace and may build a Chinese wall around such tasks. It is apparent that ELT management in general is not yet highly respected by staff in the industry. Hargreaves (1994, p.248) notes that education is facing demands by the previously unheard to be given a voice. There is an extensive and increasing demand to reconstruct intimacy, warmth and localisation of aims so that work patterns are more meaningful and self-determining. ELT managers have to find a new path that combines a trust in people with a trust in processes. Bureaucratic approaches to organizations and those that emphasize the human dimensions of organization exist side 361

by side. The creation of impersonal processes to address most issues of concern can be a successful management strategy in larger organizations but can also lead to resentment and isolation. It is a strategy that has in the past corresponded to some of the values of the educator perhaps because it is aligned with the management of the large state school and university systems. In recent times thought many educators are becoming increasingly alienated from it. Human approaches based on a trust in people can be very effective in small to medium enterprises but they have to be accompanied by a strong commitment on both sides to complying with undertakings and large amounts of time have to be spent on induction and ongoing communication. It is a strategy that corresponds to many of the values of the entrepreneur. Its great disadvantage has always been that people can allow personal bias, favouritism and flawed hunches to play a dominant role in their decisions and when completely unchecked can lead organizations into immense difficulties. Skilled judgement by ELT managers is needed to reconcile the two types of approach. Many colleges are over-regulated, producing unnecessary alienation of both students and staff. More routine matters and those that are likely to reoccur frequently need to be handled through ‘process’ and less frequent disturbances and exceptions can be handled through personal relationships. Managers who use the ‘rules’ to defend

362

inefficient or unfair practices are likely to be held in low regard by staff and clients. A simple model of the competing pressures of educational and entrepreneurial values can be a broad guide to ELT manager behaviour. In many ways the values of the entrepreneur are a guide to the development of the college over time, its change strategies and the linkages between activities and tasks. The educational values, on the other hand, need to be uppermost in the awareness of the clients of the college and the outcomes it delivers for them. The overall experience students have at the college, the trust that regulatory authorities and agents can have in the college to deliver its ELT product well, and the overall focus of college life need to be underwritten by these values. The way forward is to allow the competing pressures of educational and entrepreneurial values to balance. Colleges that focus too much on the educational and product quality aspects take serious medium term risks that changes to market conditions or actions of aggressive competitors will threaten their existence. On the other hand colleges that skew their activities too far in the entrepreneurial direction take the severe short term risk that they will not satisfy regulators as to their educational quality and the medium and long term risk that they ‘screw’ students, staff and other stakeholders. The relationship may be demonstrated graphically as follows:

363

Entrepreneurial Values

Ideal Direction

Dynamic Complexity Effectiveness Pattern Orientation Trust in people Opportunity Doing the right thing Profit Quality

Integration Collaboration Client Service

Educational Values Detail Complexity Efficiency Event Orientation Trust in processes Accountability Doing things right Quality Profitability Figure 15.1 The relationship between quality and profit.

Entrepreneurial

values

push

towards

increasing

college

profitability while educational values push towards increasing educational quality. The ELT managers in a college have to ensure that the balance between the two is maintained. Increases in quality without corresponding increases in profit will lead to a loss of financial capacity while increases in profit without corresponding increases in quality of product and service will harm the life chances of the organization.

364

15.5. Climate and the ELT Manager There is a need for an ELT manager to understand the various dimensions of the organization’s climate and to ensure that proactive management strategies exist in each dimension. Such strategies have to reinforce rather than undermine each other. At College E 11 simple initiatives linked across the four climate dimensions had many positive educational and financial

outcomes

for

the

college.

summarised in the table below:

365

The

initiatives

are

Structure

Client Service

Milieu

Culture

S2. Limited barriers

E1. No physical separation of management

C1. Emphasis on integration and in-awareness development of organizational culture

S3. In awareness understanding for staff of management tasks

E2. Mixed workspaces. Open classrooms

C2. Development of a culture of collaboration

Integration

Collaboratio n

Ecology

S1. Fronted organigram and client focus

M1. Student diversity

C3. Culture of client service

M2. Attraction of client focused staff Table 15.1 Summary of Action Research Initiatives at College E

At College E effort was made to have those in client contact including administration and teaching staff seen as the most crucial in the organization with those ‘behind’ in management playing support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in front’. Quality was seen primarily from the point of view of client satisfaction. Barriers between staff were discouraged to prevent ‘balkanisation’. Management decisions on structure were explicit and communicated to all employees. Staff had 366

the opportunity to witness managers in action, so that they could question them about their activities and decisions and ultimately learn management skills on the job. There was an enforced program to ensure student diversity, particularly of national groups over the whole college and in individual classes. The program included positive incentives such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support for new markets as well as negative reinforcement in the form of a quota system with no nationality allowed to exceed 25% of the total. Hiring and staff development aimed to obtain and retain staff most likely to support a college culture that was student centred and focused on student learning experiences. Management

was

not

physically

separated

from

staff.

Workspaces were mixed and an open classroom policy was maintained Effort was made to develop a work culture that encouraged diversity of views but with an overall unity of operation. Staff were made to feel certain that satisfying clients was their prime task. Finally the college encouraged an in-awareness development of organizational culture trying to have a sense of intimacy and spontaneity that is frequently lacking in work organizations. Of course there are many other possible management initiatives that could be added to this list. The action research at College E did not involve intensive curriculum reform or

367

renewal, for example, even though in more established colleges this would obviously be a favoured area of activity. ELT managers who do not hold equity in an international ELT college must convince owners that they are committed to the ultimate financial success of the college. Developing a history of commitment to decisions that maximise the equity returns to owners without compromising staff loyalty or student educational

experiences

is

a

powerful

means

for

ELT

managers to gain the trust of all stakeholders. In this area a personal reconciliation of the values of the educator and the entrepreneur needs to be made. ELT managers who can communicate owner paradigms through their own resolution of the competing discourses can frame other staff members’ understanding of the organizational realities and constraints. In many cases the stress that owners are put under is poorly communicated to organizational members who don’t see the immense financial and legal responsibilities taken on by company directors. Bankruptcy and loss of personal assets is not a risk of the employee and many poor or seemingly haphazard decisions taken by college owners are the result of financial stresses. A sound understanding of financial matters can also assist. Educators and other employees, for example, often poorly understand cash flow. The need for resources to be allocated on a cash flow basis so that the spread of outgoings is even throughout the year can lead to significant improvements in college life. Understanding the real costs of equipment and 368

staffing is another area that ELT managers need to grasp. Paying a librarian $40000 per year to ensure that a few thousand dollars of books do not go missing is not a sound commercial decision. Employing staff without any thought given to their relative pay scales or on-costs is another area where

conflict

can

arise

through

limited

financial

understanding by the ELT manager. A focus on the core goals of the college and the constant communication of them throughout the college are essential. It is ultimately the ELT manager’s role to ensure that this focus is maintained.

15.6. Conclusion ELT managers are often held in low regard by their staff. Improvements in management performance and in the esteem in which managers are held probably lie in developing a clearer sense of personal and professional values, followed by the ability to then implement these values across organizational dimensions. ELT managers need to understand and reconcile the entrepreneurial and educational imperatives that buffet the direction of their colleges. They need to develop strategies that demonstrate a commitment to the future of their college, and ensure that the implementation of such strategies satisfies financial goals without seriously compromising educational ones.

369

Chapter 16

CONCLUSION

16.1. Introduction Management is a very human activity. Decisions affect people, and their costs and benefits are of concern to all stakeholders in an organization. Finding managerial solutions that offer the greatest good to the greatest number without compromising the core values of the organization is as much art as science. Impey and Underhill (1994, p. viii) stress that successful management

is

not

an

academic

discipline.

Ultimately

management activities and tasks take place in real time in the real world and offer a lack of time for reflection and the attainment of complete information upon which to base decisions. Over the life of this research project the notion that the management world ‘outside’ the classroom is a significant arbiter of ELT practice has become increasingly recognised by educators and researchers. Savage (1996, pp.24 – 27) has argued that while there is a vast array of information on general management and educational administration there is a lack of

research and application

of this

theory to

management practices in ELT centres. Walker (1998, pp.30 – 39) has noted the lack of research into ELT management in 370

general and its services management in particular. In a later article Walker (2000, pp.23 – 33) argues that ELT managers must ensure that their ELT instructors focus as much on the services elements of ELT provision as on pedagogical issues. Clark (1999: p.31) writes: If we continue to focus exclusively on the classroom as the locus for change, our efforts will surely fail, and teachers will increasingly become the scapegoats for what are, in fact, systemic problems.

Even Jack Richards (2001, p.410) one of the most influential applied linguists in the area of ELT principles and pedagogical practice over the last two decades has recently argued that the narrow focus of research into ELT, which has focused on teaching methods and techniques, has to be broadened to include an understanding of the context of ELT and the institutions within which it is conducted. Richards notes that principles of effective institutional management identified in other settings need to be applied to ELT. The introduction to this study noted that ELT managers in Australia saw little correlation between their perceptions of their

work

performance

and

of

their

organization’s

effectiveness; in other words ELT managers did not judge their own work performance by its effect on organizational outcomes. A mix of environmental, climate and discoursal factors was proposed as the likely explanation for this. The current study has suggested that strategies may be available

371

to ameliorate each of these inhibitors to efficient and effective ELT management. This study has explored three primary areas of concern for effective ELT management. These were: i) environmental factors, ii) problems of values and vision arising from a clash of discourses and iii) climate factors including organizational structure, milieu, ecology and culture. Some management initiatives in the area of organizational climate were put in place through an action research project at one international ELT college and the outcomes of these initiatives were discussed.

16.2. Environment The turbulent environment of international ELT can lead managers to feel that they can have little control over it. The international ELT environment exhibits the paradoxical trends of

Postmodernity.

organizations organizations

As

the

becomes are

reach

of

progressively

pressured

to

even

small

more

increasingly

work global,

segment,

differentiate and personalise themselves. ELT colleges on the one hand are drawing their educational clients from a vast range of countries, yet on the other, are becoming increasing specialised in order to cater to various market 'niches'. In such circumstances absolute managerial control over the intensely unpredictable environment of ELT is an elusive goal. Managers are unable to build walls against the surging 372

currents of the external environment. The skilful manager has to be more a surfer using the currents and tides to best advantage than a King Canute attempting to hold the tide at bay. The surfer retains control and direction despite the unpredictable forces. The aim is not to go against the surging waves,

but

to

understand

the

environment

so

that

organizational direction and purpose can be attained.

16.3. Discourse Resolution From an anthropological perspective each organization is “a world locked in a war of meanings” (Hamada, 1994: p.10) and in international ELT colleges this ‘war of meanings’ has largely been realised as a conflict between entrepreneurial and educational values. This study has argued that international ELT colleges are likely to be organizations in which key players differ in terms of the fundamental value systems that bring meaning to their work. The argument has been made that managers in international ELT colleges need to search for solutions that use the values and insights of both the educator and the entrepreneur and, as far as possible, allow this resolution to permeate through the organization. Because most ELT managers come into the position from teaching backgrounds, and many play both teaching and managerial roles concurrently, they must avoid judging themselves simply by the values of the educator. The view that managerial responsibility stops at the division between

373

teaching and marketing, or educational and financial matters, is unlikely to lead to organizational success. ELT managers in international colleges need to find working resolutions between the values and insights of the educator and the entrepreneur. The limiting feature of any discourse is that its interpretive power creates blind spots in perception. A particular discourse simultaneously enables and inhibits perception. A discourse provides a framework to make sense of input but it is this very framework that limits what is perceived. The beliefs and perceptions that underlie the discourse of the educator and of the entrepreneur form paradigms and it is these internally held paradigms that drive behaviour. An ability to develop a mental set that embraces both value systems and can use points of difference as analytical or interpretive tools would seem an important one for ELT managers to acquire. Managers require a holistic view of operations if they are to attain organizational success. Impey and Underhill (1994, pp.vii – viii) in their ELT management text emphasise that the different aspects of management such as personnel, finance and promotion are merely different facets of an overall whole and not fundamental divisions. They note: Successful management is not only indivisible, it positively looks for the interconnections, between education and finance for example, or between personnel and marketing, and it looks for ways to exploit them.

Impey and Underhill (1994, p.viii)

374

It would seem that a key task for ELT managers, therefore, is to develop

a pragmatic

basis for

functionality

for

all

organizational members. Organizational members have to be enabled to function on a common ground, not through managerial

coercion,

but

through

the

development

of

consensus on key organizational matters. The difficulties in developing

such

a

functional

solution

across

various

organizational dimensions is a complex task and likely to be fraught

with

many

disappointments.

The

personal

and

professional price of failure however is high, leading to a view that the owners are the enemy: The problem in most private sector centres is that the top management (owners) are motivated by exclusively commercial (profit-centred) considerations. Staff (especially senior managerial staff – who have no financial interest in the centre) are overworked, underpaid and under-resourced. Educational quality is irrelevant. Staff training, development and happiness are irrelevant. Profit is everything. It is a business, not an educational institution. We sell language education, but it could as easily be cars, cakes or paper cups. ELT centre owners are industrial relations and human relations dinosaurs. Their creed is greed. Staff exist to be exploited. Students have only a dollar value. As Principal and DoS I do not have the time nor (this is important) the support from the Directors (owners) to perform any one aspect of my job well. Consequently everything is very poor quality. ….

ELT College Principal/DoS (1993)

16.4. Climate The external environment and the competing discourses are pressures outside, around and beneath the daily operations of the international ELT college. The organizational climate, consisting of its milieu, ecology, structure and culture are the 375

variables that ELT managers can manage and manipulate and combine to help create a thriving college. Colleges where only those at the top with actual equity or financial control have any power to influence events may develop problems with staff that negatively affect the quality of students’ experience. Organizational cultures that focus on limits and punishments probably act to reduce the value of an ELT college. Ecological symbols that emphasis stratification and strictly marked territories can allow problems to fester and innovation to wither. Mismanagement of staff and student milieu or reactively accepting ‘whatever comes along’, leaves to luck an area of organizational life that can and should be managed. Of course most management difficulties are contingent on a range of variables that make fixed, off-the-shelf solutions for organizational difficulties very rare. Satisfactory resolutions of management

dilemmas

are

contingent

upon

the

total

situation and are also contingent upon all the relevant variables applying at that particular time and place. Each difficulty or challenge can only be regarded as one instance of a class or type of problem and principles and guidelines can only be established for the general class of problems, not for each specific instance. In each individual case though, there are right and wrong approaches.

A

blend

of

judgement,

experience,

communication skills and luck is needed to make a sufficient 376

number of correct decisions and implement a critical mass of suitable policies to make the ELT college’s climate one most likely to lead to success.

377

Entrepreneur Values

Educator Values

Dynamic Complexity

Detail Complexity

INTEGRATION OF OPERATIONS AND STRATEGIES

Profit Effectiveness

Quality Efficiency

Pattern Orientation Trust in people Opportunity

Client as resource

Event Orientation

COLLABORATION AMONG STAFF

Trust in processes

FOCUS ON CLIENT SERVICE

Client as beneficiary

Improved financial outcomes

Accountability

Improved educational outcomes

Figure 16.1 Reconciliation of ELT educator and entrepreneurial values

378

16.5. Action Research The aim of action research, as noted in Chapter 2, is to solve specific problems within the organization by developing specific actions. The action and the research are linked and are repeated in cycles until the particular problem is resolved. The action research project reported here had a tremendous value for the participants and this researcher. The possibility to shape organizational outcomes is intriguing for many in ELT who have rarely been allowed a voice in the direction of their organizations. The close linkage between particular problems and solutions during this project though, limited the effects of many of the initiatives after the project was complete. Many of the features of the action research became too closely linked with the character and style of the management team at the time of the project. With changes to this team, significant features were altered, and while particular aspects remain, most of the initiatives came to be seen as belonging to an ‘era’ rather than as fundamental characteristics of the college. Some of the action research in this study may seem limited to those who view such research from a different perspective. Gore and Zeichner (1995, p.206) note that Action research, as a methodology for social scientific research and social change has historically been linked to a language of ‘democracy’ and ‘transformation’. …the power of emancipatory action research can be seen to lie in its connection to critical social science…it is precisely these connections which contribute to its ‘dangers’ (as)… perhaps in the name of optimism and simplicity tends towards rather universalised notions of oppression and emancipation.

379

Class, gender and race formations, which are frequently the issues in larger research contexts, are muted in this study. On the other hand, the action research project was meaningful to participants and genuinely proceeded from the particular concerns of those who were involved. The individuals who owned, worked or studied at College E during the course of the action research could feel the difference that such a project makes. The fact that most participants in the action research now look back on those times rather nostalgically is, perhaps, a very human indicator of the significance of the project. The growth and success of the college in the years that the research took place would also seem to confirm its value.

16.6. Simply the Best The aim of this study has been to use ethnographic methods to gain a fuller insight into international ELT colleges and examine some of the factors that enhance or interfere with the management and attainment of their educational and organizational goals. Black (2001, p.11) notes that over the course of his career in ELT management various owner-managed operations have had a variety of organizational outcomes – one is currently in receivership, one has grown steadily but with great staffing unrest and constant compromise and one seems to have stagnated by resting on its former reputation. None of these 380

long-term outcomes seems particularly desirable. A similar range of outcomes exists for the colleges analysed here. By mid 2002 one had closed down, one was suffering serious reductions in student numbers and was on the verge of receivership, one had been taken over by a large ELT college ‘chain’

and

two

were

still

operating

successfully

and

independently. The expertise of the effective ELT manager should enable the ELT college to experience steady growth to an optimum size with a motivated group of staff and a constantly improving educational and service reputation. Pre-packaged answers to enable such an outcome are as difficult to develop as they would be for other types of organizations. The search for such solutions though, is important. The insights gained, and the attainment of even partial answers, are themselves likely to improve organizational outcomes. More than a quarter of a century ago, Mintzberg (1975, p.58) noted that manager effectiveness is significantly influenced by their insight into their own work, and that performance depends on how well a manager understands and responds to the pressures and dilemmas of the job. Those of us involved in ELT management must remember that it is precisely because there are pressures and dilemmas that the role of the manager exists. In the conclusion to my previous study in ELT management I wrote: 381

One of the barriers to research in ELT management is the multidisciplinary nature of the field. This makes choice of discourse style and nature of assumptions more problematic than other areas of applied linguistics and educational administration research. My recommendation to those who feel that research in the ELT management field is too vulnerable to criticism for incorrect assumptions, inaccurate constructs or careless analysis procedures however, is to push on …. I have the strong suspicion, after more than a decade of English language teaching and management experience in five countries and ten institutions, that aspects of ELT management will ultimately be shown to have far more impact on, and relevance to, the effective teaching and learning of second and foreign languages in the classrooms of real world institutions than the mountains of second language acquisition research, teaching methodology research and learning behaviour research that have so far dominated the ELT research agenda.

(Keaney 1994: p. 73)

After another eight years, two more countries and five more institutions

the

words

are

still

appropriate.

Few

ELT

professionals or students discuss or even remember the college that had the finest ELT methodology, the college that had the best tea-making facilities, the one with the most colourful brochures or websites, the one that had the best pension plan or the one that had the biggest library. All however, talk about and remember the best Principal or Director of Studies they ever had. And while many of the solutions to ELT management dilemmas

remain

unreasonable environmental

guide

uncertain, through

turbulence,

perhaps the

this

myriad

discoursal

value

is

a

confusions clashes

not of and

organizational climate factors to which every ELT manager can aspire… to be, and to be remembered as, simply the best

382

ELT manager that your college owners, your staff and your students will ever have.

383

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407

APPENDIX A

Interview and Observation Guide Structure 1. Organigram 2. Which jobs/roles/tasks have the most power? 3. Which have the least power? 4. Who gives permission for what? 5. Who controls financial aspects of organization? 6. Extent of agreement with their decisions? 7. Who talks to whom on a typical day? Socially? Work related? 8. Content of conversations? 9. Organization of hiring and firing? 10.Feelings towards owners/managers/ELT managers of organization? 11. Which areas are they particularly reasonable? 12. Which areas are they particularly unreasonable? 13. Changes in the last month? Six months? Year? Five years? 14.If you were running this organization what changes would you make to the organization's structure? 15. Other? Ecology 1. Locations, rooms and facilities? 2. Suitability/adequacy/etc for purposes of organization? 3. Shortcomings? 4. Best features? 5. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners particularly like? 6. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners feel proud of? 7. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners particularly dislike? 8. Technology of organization? 9. Which technological features are particularly important to which stakeholders? 10.Which technological features are irrelevant to which stakeholders? 11. Which technological features could be used more effectively?

64

12. 13. 14.

Which ones are unnecessary? Changes in the last month? Six months? Year? Five years? Other?

65

Milieu 1. People? 2. Backgrounds? 3. Satisfaction levels? 4. Motivating and demotivating elements of organization/tasks? 5. Is it the job itself you like/dislike or is there elements of the organization that you like/dislike? 6. Pay and conditions comparison to other institutions and to other industries? 7. Overall morale? 8. Sorts of people this organization deals with on a professional basis (agents, inspectors, etc.)? 9. Would you recommend/Have you recommended this organization to friends/relatives to work in? To study at? Why? Why not? 10. Other? Culture 1. Norms? 2. Belief systems? 3. Values? 4. Significant historical events in the organization and their implications? 5. The impact of organizational heroes on contemporary thinking? 6. The influence of traditions and organizational myths? 7. Special terms or workplace slang that only insiders would understand? 8. Type of people most likely to make a fast career or do well? 9. Kind of people who would enjoy working here? 10. Meaningful persons for this organization? 11. Periodic meetings? 12. Events celebrated in this organization? 13. Types of things people like to see happening here? 14. Biggest mistakes a person can make here? 15. Type of work problems that might keep you awake at night? 16. Any special ways of treating each other? 17. Organizational culture? How has it evolved? 18. How appropriate for the institution’s goals? 19. Responds how effectively to changes in the organizational environment? 20. Visible beliefs? If so, what are they? 21. Do people in the organization know these beliefs? If so, who? How many? 22. How do these beliefs affect day-to-day business? 66

23. 24. 25. 26.

How are the beliefs communicated to the organization? Are the beliefs reinforced? How? How would you characterise the performance of the college? Other

67

APPENDIX B

Sample Interview Sheet and Analysis

Organization College A

Situation Interview #1

Participant Francis, DOS

Date 10/10/96

THEME KEY D Mn S M E C O

= = = = = = =

DISCOURSE MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE MILIEU ECOLOGY CULTURE OTHER

Theme Mn

Key Concept Tension

1.

D/C

Opposition

2.

M

Time in org

3.

Comment / Quote Has learned a lot and likes the direct culture but still frustrated and “unempowered” by it in many ways" 2 different cultures - teacher culture and the business culture - why are they so anathematic to each other? Started working for College A in Feb 1995

M

Time in org

4.

Been there almost two years

C/E

Boundaries

5.

S/C

Type

6.

Knows that College A was a breakaway from another org "there was a lot of politics involved and some "ill-will" about resources such as the database but wouldn't know which orgs and personally doesn’t bear any resentments Imagines College A was small and cosy 5 years ago

C

Techniques

7.

Everyone acted on their instincts

68

C/S

Structure

8.

D/C

Opposition

9.

S

Type

10.

C

Heroes

11.

S/C

Problems

12.

M/C

Problems

13.

S/M

Problems

14.

D/C

Tension

15.

C/M

Contrast

16.

S/C

Contrast

17.

Mn

18.

Mn

Motivation to change to ELT management Style

C

Power

20.

C

Planning

21.

19.

Had a family atmosphere that has passed now - directors talk nostalgically about the days when there were very few students Healthy disrespect of what is labelled "academia" this is used derogatorily to refer to a range of matters including structures, formality and the hypocrisy of 'edubabble' College A has completely resisted a formalisation of structures or staff - eg how staff given contracts because the model was the family companies and everything was trust based on people's good will and understanding This culture is overall a positive - helps develop a unique feel - this comes from financial controller who derides things that are taken seriously by the teachers - always taking the piss " make money and have a good time" completely without respect for many values that others take seriously For some teachers this work culture is a problem - people who want to know about their rights and conditions Especially a problem for people who have worked in other places and had their expectations built there and define things in terms of an employer/employee relationship Some of these people have questioned things and when that happens they feel threatened Came to College A from the opposite kind of work culture which was bureaucracy gone mad - uni set up where person in charge of program was totally "form-driven" – Sister has since left and is working for a uni program where most of the teachers are 'degreed' but not qualified in the area - her sister has even been asked to teach on the teacher training program When she came to College A contrast was great autonomy was wonderful up to a point but she felt insecure about what to do? - looking for a little bit of guidance Came from a teaching job, done ELT teaching for 10 years husband looking after baby and studying so need better position- script for employment was completely different If she owned her own college she would do things in a very similar way but encourage a little more regularity and dependence College A is somewhat "feudal" - not comfortable with negotiation comfortable as part of a system Everything at College A is ad hoc

69

M

Heroes

M/C

Heroes

M

Heroes (anti)

22. At College A definition of good employee is one who is like minded 23. Heroes are those who are "light, fresh, humorous, understanding accepting and are happy" 24. Moaners or whingers are come down on heavily

Mn M C

Divisions

M

Salaries and recognition

S

Structure

S

Structure

S/C

Power

Mn

Business education

O C

Vision

vs

25. Attitude of management is that "we have been good to them so they should be good back" 26. The teachers are given casual salary but with benefits of full-time position 27. At times has been resentment - problem of two colleges see computer teachers supervising lab sessions or business teachers with flexible curriculum offered occasionally no students - but English teachers need to always be teaching - but principal and financial controller strongly indicated that vocational college was integral to success of English college 28. Tension that everyone gets the same money with no recognition for different levels (eg someone with no qualifications earns the same as one woman who had five degrees) just have to explain to teachers that that’s the way it is 29. Advantages are that there is no strong hierarchy and everyone feels equal and so no one sees anyone as on top – 30. Also realises that as dos she is not on top of teachers 31. Definitely sees herself as part of the system but the owners have the real control and the final say 32. Used to want owners to toe certain lines eg teacher contract as demanded by NEAS including no food in classrooms, no smoking, dress code - she copied a contract that she had had at a university college - but Principal and owners didn't want a bar of it so she decided to go with the flow and adopt a laissez faire attitude 33. No core text for teaching purposes 34. Owners don’t want their college to become like other colleges

70

M/C

Client focus

Mn

Techniques

Mn

Vision

D

Clash of values

Mn

Future

35. Very focused on student welfare and the need for them to have a good time in Sydney and feel comfortable in the college - all their efforts are focussed on the students that they have "love the one you’re with" –“ don't spend money on some unknown potential student in a far away country printing up glossy brochures for them to read”, “put all your efforts into the students you have and ensure that they build the colleges reputation” 36. New DOS will change the culture of the English college he's got good ideas - but he's going to have a moment of reckoning like she did 37. College A has no strong planning or vision for the future which can be seen in the building’s evolution - everything happens ad hoc and is unplanned 38. There is healthy cynicism about what education is - they see it from a business point of view which helps the business but makes some education decisions hard 39. Doubts whether it can go on forever this way

Mn

Feelings

40. Feeling of living on tenterhooks

Mn

Techniques

41. She's seen problems with records and document handling

M

Client focus

E

Client focus

42. The college gives students a good structure and doesn't try to rip them off 43. The facilities include putting the students first - it sounds cliché but most other places don't 44. Would not like the school to get too big

M M E

Problems

E

Problems

E

Value clash

M/C

Communication

45. College was best when it was 70 - 80 students - now 160 students - it could get to 300 students 46. Admin problems such as database that couldn't print out classlists – principal didn't see the need to upgrade 47. Problems getting enough materials and resources compared to social things 48. Gym easy to get - educational facilities not (eg had to buy books in self access at auction) 49. Unique the way people get involved with networks of gossip

Mn

Techniques

50. Principal as an administrator has a most unusual manner

71

S/C

Values

Mn

Feelings

D

Value clash

51. Owners have the most influence leading to fights about traditional things - they support anything that's fun 52. Sometimes very stressful – have sick feeling on Sunday night thinking about work – sounds crazy when everything here is pretty good but there’s always a million small problems 53. Business and educational culture clash

D

Value clash

54. Business vs tourism vs education

E

Value clash

M

Heroes

E

Premises look and location

E

Communication

Mn

Marketing

55. Strongly argued for the acquisition of new learning materials (eg readers) for library, owners converted room into a gym students and agents liked it but showed domination of owners view – although it was used and enjoyed by a lot of students 56. Star teacher is IELTS teacher – could work anywhere but likes happy-go-lucky style at College A, agents often put students here especially for her IELTS classes 57. College has very affluent look – even NEAS inspectors commented on that and location is perfect right in heart of city 58. Always tries to inform staff about what’s going on eg copies of inspection approvals on noticeboard, conferences etc 59. Virtually no external marketing but still heaps of students

C

Rituals

60. Annual party and Christmas party are very important started doing pantomimes as well and these are becoming big all these events are free to students and friends

72

APPENDIX C Profile of Informants Phase III #

Position

Colleg e

Nationality

M/ F

Ag e

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3

Principal Principal Principal Principal Director of Studies Director of Studies Director of Studies Director of Studies Director of Studies Senior Teacher

A B C D A A B D C C

Senior Teacher

M M M M F M F F M M

48 45 44 51 38 54 40 46 45 34

Exp 0 9 0 0 12 15 13 12 11 7

C

UK/Aust Aust Korean/Aust Aust Sri Lanka/Aust Aust Aust Aust Aust Portugese/Aus t UK/Aust

M

36

8

Senior Teacher

A

Aust

F

52

15

Senior Teacher

B

Aust

M

27

3

Senior Teacher

D

Aust

F

37

9

Teacher

A

Aust

F

26

2

Teacher

B

Aust

M

29

4

Teacher

B

Aust

F

50

8

Teacher

A

UK/Aust

F

33

6

Teacher

B

Aust

F

41

8

Teacher

A

Aust

M

49

7

Teacher

B

UK

F

28

3

Teacher

C

Aust

M

30

4

Teacher

A

Aust

F

32

6

73

ELT

2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 3 8 3 9 4 0 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7

Teacher

A

UK/Aust

M

40

5

Teacher

A

Aust

M

41

8

Teacher

A

Aust

F

29

1

Teacher

C

Aust

F

49

8

Teacher

C

Aust

F

36

3

Teacher

A

Aust

M

29

4

Teacher

A

Aust

M

30

2

Teacher

C

UK/Aust

M

29

4

Teacher

D

US/Aust

M

56

2

Teacher

D

Aut/Aust

F

69

5

Teacher

A

UK/Aust

F

46

3

Teacher

B

Aust

M

27

4

Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker

C

Aust

F

32

n/a

B

Aust

M

26

n/a

B

Aust

F

38

n/a

B

Aust

M

39

n/a

A

Chinese

F

34

n/a

A

Aust

F

39

n/a

B

Aust

F

19

n/a

A

UK/Aust

F

32

n/a

B

Japanese

F

30

n/a

C

Indonesian

F

38

n/a

C

Indonesian

F

23

n/a

D

Aust

F

24

n/a

74

4 8 4 9 5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 6 0 6 1 6 2 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 6 7 6 8 6 9 7 0 7 1

Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Administrative Worker Student

B

Japanese

F

19

n/a

C

Indonesian

F

27

n/a

B

NZ

M

48

n/a

C

Korean

F

23

n/a

D

Aust

F

21

n/a

B

Aust

F

26

n/a

C

Taiwanese

F

28

n/a

A

Taiwanese

F

23

n/a

Student

C

Thai

F

22

n/a

Student

D

Korean

M

26

n/a

Student

D

Korean

F

21

n/a

Student

A

Japanese

F

21

n/a

Student

C

Brazilian

M

47

n/a

Student

A

Chinese

M

29

n/a

Student

D

Slovak

M

31

n/a

Student

C

Indonesian

M

24

n/a

Student

C

Indonesian

F

23

n/a

Student

C

Korean

M

26

n/a

Student

C

Slovak

M

24

n/a

Student

B

Korean

F

20

n/a

Student

B

Japanese

M

21

n/a

Student

B

Taiwanese

M

22

n/a

Student

B

Japanese

F

21

n/a

Student

B

Japanese

F

23

n/a

75

7 2 7 3 7 4 7 5 7 6 7 7 7 8 7 9 8 0 8 1

Student

B

Japanese

F

21

n/a

Student

C

Thai

F

20

n/a

Student

A

Thai

F

24

n/a

Student

D

Korean

F

26

n/a

Student

C

German

F

34

n/a

Student

A

Czech

F

31

n/a

Student

A

Czech

M

29

n/a

Student

B

Slovak

M

26

n/a

Student

B

Malaysian

M

22

n/a

Student

B

Indonesian

F

21

n/a

76

Phase IV Action Research #

Position

Colleg e

Nationality

M/ F

Ag e

1 2

Owner Owner

E E

M F

42 37

Exp 0 0

3 4

Principal Director of Student Affairs Director of Studies Assistant DOS Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher

E E

Korean/Aust Indonesian/Aus t Aust Aust

M F

39 33

13 8

E E E E E E

Aust Greek/Aust Aust US UK/Aust Aust

M M M M M M

29 54 40 51 28 30

5 15 8 3 5 2

Teacher

E

UK/Aust

M

27

4

Teacher

E

UK

F

26

3

Teacher

E

Aust

M

29

4

Teacher

E

Aust

F

50

2

Teacher

E

Aust

F

33

7

Teacher

E

UK

F

41

5

Teacher

E

UK

M

30

8

Teacher

E

Aust

F

26

2

Teacher

E

Irish

F

27

4

Teacher

E

Aust

F

27

2

Teacher

E

Irish

F

26

3

Teacher

E

UK

F

29

5

Teacher

E

UK

F

50

4

Teacher

E

UK

F

33

9

Teacher

E

Aust

M

26

2

5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2

77

ELT

5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 3 8 3 9 4 0 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 4

Teacher

E

Aust

M

41

5

Teacher

E

Aust

F

38

6

Teacher

E

NZ

M

36

5

Teacher

E

Aust

M

41

11

Teacher

E

Aust

M

30

2

Teacher

E

Aust

M

48

9

Teacher

E

UK

F

Administrative Worker

E

Japanese

F

32

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

Slovak

M

26

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

Thai

F

38

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

Aust

M

39

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

Aust

F

19

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

Aust

F

27

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

NZ

F

23

n/a

Administrative Worker

E

Indonesian

F

26

n/a

Student

E

Chinese

F

23

n/a

Student

E

Korean

F

22

n/a

Student

E

Japanese

F

21

n/a

Student

E

Slovak

M

47

n/a

Student

E

Czech

M

29

n/a

Student

E

Japanese

F

20

n/a

Student

E

Korean

M

21

n/a

Student

E

Indonesian

M

22

n/a

Student

E

Thai

F

20

n/a

78

3

9 5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 6 0 6 1 6 2 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 6 7 6 8 6 9 7 0

Student

E

Thai

F

24

n/a

Student

E

Columbian

F

23

n/a

Student

E

Thai

M

25

n/a

Student

E

Taiwanese

F

23

n/a

Student

E

Indonesian

F

22

n/a

Student

E

Indonesian

M

24

n/a

Student

E

Columbian

F

22

n/a

Student

E

Brazilian

M

19

n/a

Student

E

Russian

M

27

n/a

Student

E

Slovak

F

26

n/a

Student

E

Slovak

M

26

n/a

Student

E

Czech

F

24

n/a

Student

E

Japanese

M

29

n/a

Student

E

Korean

M

26

n/a

Student

E

Japanese

M

25

n/a

Student

E

Korean

F

23

n/a

Student

E

Indonesian

F

21

n/a

Student

E

Thai

F

19

n/a

Student

E

Chinese

F

22

n/a

Student

E

Chinese

M

21

n/a

Student

E

Chinese

F

21

n/a

79

80