Name: Suad Taleb date 10-2-2020

Organisational models

The bureaucratic model

A bureaucracy is a type of formal organisation which has certain characteristics aimed at making
it work efficiently. For example, large companies and government offices are often run along
bureaucratic principles because they have many people working in then doing lots of different
jobs. Managing all these people is made easier by having strong centralised control with a
hierarchy of administration. This means that power and authority are given to individuals in
accordance with their status and role at each level with the decision-making being controlled by
rules and regulations. In this way, decision-making is depersonalised insofar as it comes from the
official rank of the individual rather than him or her.

Now read p47-48 of Bush to get an idea of these features of bureaucratic organisations.

The features of bureaucratic organisations are firstly, stresses the importance organisations of the heretical
authority structure. Secondly, emphasize the goal orientation of organization and institutions are dedicated to
goals that means the goals need to be clear and process. Thirdly, suggest a division of labour, with staff
specializing in particular tasks. Fourthly, it emphasize impersonal relationship between stuff and clients.

Education systems and schools are large and complex organisations. Even a primary school with
say, 500 students and 20 staff, is extremely large compared to the offices of most businesses or
to most factories. It is not surprising therefore that bureaucratic principles have been commonly
applied in the running of schools by many modern societies. Power and authority rest normally
with the Ministry of Education whose officers make decisions to be passed down to schools.

If you were the Minister of Education, can you list a few reasons why you would be in favour of
some or all of these bureaucratic characteristics to assist you in running the education system of
your country? Pages 48-50 of Bush may help you with this.
In the light of your own experiences, how far would you describe the education system of the UAE
as bureaucratic?

The UAE education system is a four-tier system which are nursery Education, Kindergarten
Education, Primary Education and Secondary Education. So as is currently known that all
organisations around the world and the society are following bureaucratic authority. If I’m the
Minister of Education I will follow the bureaucratic organisations in my country for several reasons
such as it pervades much of the literature on educational management. The second reason is
every organization should follow hieratical structure with head teacher or principle. Also, it
provides teachers specialise in a basis of expertise.

Limitations of the bureaucratic model

Considering that bureaucratic principles were seen as the means to achieve efficiency, it is ironic
that the terms bureaucracy and bureaucratic are most widely used nowadays to describe
organisations which are slow and cumbersome with too much official processing or “red tape” -
in other words, those which are inefficient. This is because the features of bureaucratic
management can have both positive and negative effects.
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Bush outlines some of the disadvantages of the bureaucratic model as it is applied to schools on
pages 50. Read about these before going on to complete the following:

1. There is a danger that the process of administration can become more important than the
goals of the school. More time, resources and energy can become devoted to management than
to the education of children. Can you give any examples of this from your own experience?

Management can help establish a clear vision for company direction. Autocratic leadership is not best for
businesses struggling to implement change effectively. With only the senior executives making decisions.
From my experience in education, I observe that a lot of government school are focuses on on how to manage
the schools and students. And most of schools in UAE the main aims is to follow to complete ministry of
education requirement which affect the quality of education for the students. While the private school focuses
more of who deliver the basic information to the student.

2. Fixed rules and regulations can prevent the kind of flexibility required to make
improvements in teaching and learning.

For example: provide the positive reinforcement in classroom such as prise the students and give
them the star it will work officially with the students to improve their academic learning in the
classroom.

3. Another difficulty in applying this model to schools rests with the people working in them.
Read what Bush has to say about this at the top of page 50 and on pages 62-66. Explain this in
your own words:

The another difficulty in applying this model to schools because in most of schools in the UAE the teachers
are required implement externally imposed changes they are likely to do so without enthusiasm leading to
possible failure. Furthermore, it focus on organization as an entity and ignore underestimated of individual.

Setting goals in a school can be difficult. In a manufacturing business, goals might be centred on
increasing production, lowering operating costs and maximising profits. In a school however,
although a goal might be to increase average examination scores, education involves much more
than this and contains elements which are not easily measured or quantified. Discuss this issue
for a few minutes.

4. Decision-making in a school can present problems in any kind of top-down administration.

In dealing with production levels in a factory, for example, it is relatively easy for the managers
to make rational decisions. In dealing with education and its application to children, the issues
are a lot more complex. Teachers and school principals, collectively or individually, often have
to make decisions about what is best for the children under their care. These decisions are not
always rational nor can they always be based on prescribed criteria. More often, they are based
on personal professional experience applied to situations which may have an infinite number of
variations. Decisions made under such circumstances are often more subjective/emotional rather
than rational. Discuss this and give a few examples of when this could happen.

Top-down management administration is the most common management style. Top-down management is
also called autocratic leadership. Because, it gives companies a drive that they might not have otherwise. In
addition, top-down decisions are often successful when they are highly researched by the leadership. All
aspects must be taken into consideration, especially how a decision will affect employees.

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6. In addition, it cannot be assumed that teachers act as individuals making decisions
consistent with their official roles. We read earlier about how individuals and groups within an
organisation act in an informal way as a result of personality, friendship groups and their own
individual personal and professional needs. Far from being the dispassionate decision-makers
remote from outside influences and acting within the prescribed parameters appropriate to rank,
teachers often act individually or collectively, in accordance with their own preferences, values
and professional judgement.
How might a group of teachers react if a school principal handed down a directive which they did
not feel they could support professionally? Can you give an example?

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To conclude, think about the following quote concerning leadership in bureaucracies and decide
how far a school principal fits this description.

Under the bureaucratic model, the leader is seen as the hero who stands at the top of a complex
pyramid of power. The hero’s job is to assess the problems, consider the alternatives and make
rational choices. Much of the organisation’s power is held by the hero and great expectations are
raised because people trust him to solve problems and fend off threats from the environment.
(Baldridge et al 1978 in Bush 2011 page 59)

Write your comments here

I think this quote is describing principles and manager role because, they are have all responsibility to handle
all the school work. That start from the staff, teacher and students. So, for this reason

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