The educational system, much like or organizations that are found in today’s modern management dynamics, have complicated issues in management which must be addressed. In fact, within the bounds of management as a discipline itself, the study of organization, education, training, and development is a large topic of consideration especially because it deals with the advancement of human resources through the manipulation of incentives and disincentives by managers, trainers, educators, or even the dynamics of the organization as a biological entity in itself.
Therefore, because of this, education management has developed a rich literature concerning the subject. This literature integrates in its field the various discussions that are essential — and even sometimes trivial — for the management of educational institutions and even the training within other kinds of management systems.
The objective of this paper is to be able to collect, analyze, and give commentary on the various literature and popular studies — including those that have been made only recently by management academics in management institutions all around the world — and present them in a manner that would reflect the management structure and issues in managing education systems and the education system as an organization.
However, it is important to point out that this paper would in no way be able to collect and analyze all existing literature and references concerning this subject. Not only would this be practically impossible — because of the changing nature of the science — but academically impractical as well. Among all the studies, conflict management remains to be the most popular in the existing literature of the management of an education organization.
For example, a study published in 2001 highlights that in the realm of conflict management, it is not only the resolution of conflicts which must be taken into consideration especially by higher-level managers but the eventual efficiencies that would result in the improvements of the various barriers to communication in such an education organization (DeChurch & Marks, 2001).
In this study, theoretical models of various barriers to communication were identified as key determinants in the development of conflicts within the educational system and institution, and it also integrates a discussion of the various deficiencies that may be gained when conflicts are solved.
In much earlier literature, specifically in 1996, a book that is still popular today in organizations where in there is an educational setup in school like management system was published and it discusses — through a checklist and manual method — the various points to consider especially in conflict management scenarios within an educational institution environment (Girard & Koch, 1996).
The book collects the various research and literature that have been made in the past pointing towards such conflict management scenarios in institutions where in there is educational scaling and the impacts of conflict management not only focus on the development of the institution itself but also in its various stakeholders such as educators, parents, and school children.
Much earlier, even, in the related literature of conflict management in educational institutions, is a study discussing the various incentives and disincentives of various managerial positions in the educational organization which have interests to conflict management scenarios and the resolution of various barriers to communication (Thomas & Schmidt, 1976).
In this study — again a study that is still being pointed out in management classes when focusing in environments whose main purpose in go was teaching, the various units and players of the game approach in organization were highlighted, which means that these individual units and the organization as a whole have various incentives and disincentives in a conflict management scheme that could significantly impact the outcome of decisions that are made in an educational organization.
However, even in the rich literature of educational management, there is still a wide gap and avenue for further research to be made especially in conflict management scenarios in this specific organizational setup. Because organizational dynamics differs from one kind of organization to another, and because existing literature on the topic of conflict management usually address organizational schemes and classifications that do not belong to the educational organization category, perhaps recent theories in conflict management and the eventual application of such models could be made to the education environment.
Still another rich collection of references with respect to the educational organization comes from human resource management. Although conflict management is indeed a subcategory of human resource management, the over all studies covered by the topic differ depending on the theoretical model that is being applied by the researchers.
For example, a study and research made in 1998 collected data from a sample size of management graduates to see the reflected in their specific jobs and organizations depending on the management methods and human resource methods — human resource theoretical models — that were applied during their academic training (Long, Bowers, Barnett, & White, 1998).
As the authors have discovered, these graduates, although being taught by management academics, still had differences with respect to efficiency and productivity depending on the professors, academic institutions, and overall organizational management methods that were used by these academic institutions. In fact, this study has become popular in the academic circles because of the fact that the sample size that were used were management schools in order to learn about theoretical models of real world examples and applications of management methods specifically in academic institutions.
Another more general study tried to highlight the various variables that were involved in the management of an academic culture, and had discovered that variables such as perception, work-related happiness coming from learning, training, and development, and even interaction with stakeholders and outside organizations were significant especially for the academic and educational organization which was not so significant when compared to the variables of other organizational types and classes (Dill, 1982).
An essential implication of this research provides us a model for studying and the validity for making specified and specialized research in educational organizations which could not be directly associated to the study of other organizational classes and structures. Further avenue for research in the department of human resources for educational organizations party identification of other variables that affect the incentives and disincentives of human resources within the educational setup and be able to formulate other models that would address this specific market and organizational structure.
Because the earlier research has already identified that the variables operating within an educational organization are significantly different from other kinds of organizations, it gives validity to the research because educational organizations are still widely proliferated in today’s market and such management schemes must be adapted specifically to their needs.
References: DeChurch, L. A. , & Marks, M. A. (2001). Maximizing the benefits of task conflict: The role of conflict management. International Journal of Conflict Management, 12(1), 4-22. Dill, D. D. (1982).
The management of academic culture: Notes on the management of meaning and social integration. Higher Education, 11(3), 303-320. Girard, K. , & Koch, S. J. (1996). Conflict Resolution in the Schools: A Manual for Educators. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94101. Long, R. G. , Bowers, W. P. , Barnett, T. , & White, M. C. (1998). Research productivity of graduates in management: Effects of academic origin and academic affiliation. Academy of Management Journal, 704-714. Thomas, K. W. , & Schmidt, W. H. (1976). A survey of managerial interests with respect to conflict. Academy of Management Journal, 315-318.