TEAMS IN CHINA SCHOOL
Introduction
Team management refers to a collection of various activities consolidating a team to carry out joint operations. This implies that teams have to work together towards the implementation of assignments or to carry out day-to-day duties. In this case, the team leader/manager has to take leadership and delegate jobs to the team members in the right proportion and accordance with their abilities and lead in deliberations where difficulties are arising. Effective teamwork in schools, business organizations ensures optimized output.
Various research work has regularly recognized effective teamwork as a prerequisite for improved teaching and learning in institutions. However, there still lacks enough information to make school management teams effective team members and limited details on employing leadership strategies in realizing teamwork in learning institutions. Teamwork has proved vital in the delivery of excellent teaching and learning, resulting in high performance. Currently, teamwork has become common in most schools as well as other business organizations. However, the effectiveness of it calls for a strategy, restraint, and Training, Gyimah (2012:61). Properly molded teams should have the potential to go out and function.
Teamwork brings together a working culture that values collaboration, Rowe (2007:87). The researcher states that thinking, organization, judgment, and activities yield better results when done cooperatively. Individuals know and believe that “none of us is as good as all of us.” By schools and organizations embracing teamwork, they reap the fruits of diversity from member’s thoughts, training, and experiences.
According to Matteson et al. (2007), team management systems must be applied appropriately to realize teamwork and strategic planning. The research findings also found some school management team members beginning to work as a team are better placed in achieving more tasks and deliver higher-value education. Team management systems are responsible for organizing employees into groups and launch teamwork utilizing the planning team’s strategies, setting team objectives, outlining team principles, and governing team performance. Leadership strategies could also be systems e.g., software solutions aiding managers and team leaders to plan, regulate and measure jobs and accomplishments of a team by setting objectives, supervising cooperative workflows, and observing performance (Northouse, 2004).
Different countries apply diverse management methods. In China, elementary school education was formed in the tide of China’s reform and gradually developed into a vital force of the country’s compulsory education. There are currently 161,811 ordinary elementary schools in China, with more than 5.73 million primary school staff (National Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Under this vast number, creating efficient team management is essential.
Essentiality of team management in China schools
Team management in schools offers a conducive environment for articulating the learning process. Learning can be well tested redefined an examined against the requirements of an organization through proper team management and within the context of the learning entities than individuals seeking to learn on their own.
A study has shown that teamwork in school is an essential tool in achieving their goals within a Predetermined timeframe (Catharine 2009). It entails communicating, effectively- coordinating, and sharing of workload among all the team members. Teamwork among school management team members impacts positively on the quality of teaching and learning.
Teamwork helps to combine the strengths of tutors and remedy their weaknesses. The underperforming tutors are identified, assessed, and advised on how to improve their performance by other members the team in a manner not likely to make them afraid or worried but in a supportive context.
According to (Cardona and Wilkinson 2006), each team member possesses a unique personality and contributes to the specific assignment, skills, knowledge, and experience. It also helps to reduce teacher isolation, raises collegiality, and enables the sharing of resources and ideas.
Distributed leadership from an empirical perspective
Distributed leadership, a perspective or theory that emphasizes leadership practice. (Harris 2008) lists three views of distributed leadership, which are: analytical, empirical, and practical, all the three perspectives emphasize different aspects of distributed leadership. Distributed leadership as a concept, works in the opposite of focused leadership. The former believes that leadership tasks should be undertaken by multiple members of the team, while the latter refers to a group mainly determined by one person. Distributed leadership advocates that there can be various leaders in an organization, and everyone assumes different roles; the core assumption is that everyone possesses leadership abilities that are also needed by the organization at a specific time (Gronn 2008). Distributed leadership brings about an interactive influence among all members of the organization comprising of the leaders and the junior employees. An organization enjoys leadership-oriented results from the interactions between members and leaders e.g., leadership practice.
The practical perspective focuses on the specific operation of the leadership practice in the context. It focuses on how distributed leadership can play the role of leadership, that is, whether distributed leadership can bring practical results. (Heck and Hallinger 2009) defines distributed leadership from three aspects of teacher perception: (1) cooperatively making school decisions; (2) the degree of empowerment in the school; (3) involving teachers to the evaluation and goal setting of school development. Studies have shown that distributed leadership has a direct positive effect on the academic capacity of the school, and also has a significant but indirect positive impact on the improvement of students’ math performance (Heck and Hallinger 2009). Therefore, properly distributing leaders can be used as an effective way for schools to enhance academic energy and improve students’ academic performance. Research by (Leithwood and Jantzi 2002) found that distributing leadership activities among teachers in large numbers has a positive effect on teachers’ effectiveness.
From the perspective of distributed leadership, the dimension of leadership practice can be summarized into five aspects Leithwood et al. (2007):
(1) Set the direction, such as the leader clearly articulates the school’s development vision, formulates feasible goals, and creates a learning-focused atmosphere
(2) Pay attention to teacher development, such as providing support for teacher professional development, setting an example teacher, and promoting teacher reflection;
(3) Organize cultural construction, create a professional learning community atmosphere among teachers, and encourage communication, cooperation and critical dialogue between teachers around the goals of student learning;
(4) Manage/supervise teaching affairs, pay attention to teachers ‘classroom teaching, pay attention to the growth of students, and provide support and help for teachers’ education as much as possible;
(5) A shared leadership style, focusing on teachers’ participation in school decision-making, making decision-making through cooperation and dialogue with teachers, and proposing school development goals recognized by teachers.
Klar et al. (2016) believe that distributed leadership can play an active role in cultivating the ability of others to assume leadership responsibilities through principals. Besides, from the perspective of the teacher ‘s organizational learning, distributed leadership has a significant and positive role in setting the group goals of the professional learning community, creating a cooperative, sharing, and even critical dialogue atmosphere in the group (Stoll et al., 2006). Usually, the department head is the only person with a leadership role, which in some cases is a weakness in the school system. Difficulties arise when there is only one teacher taking responsibility for the subject (Ruding and Ruding, 2002). Considering the teaching commitment that middle managers must undertake, the entire team always has to do a lot of work, so that one person cannot complete it. In the best organizations, all employees should assume leadership roles in part of the team ‘s work. This not only decentralized the workload but also provided opportunities for professional development and the participation of other team members. Distributed leadership realizes the potential for faster and more effective change through collective responsibility and flexibility (Benson and Blackman 2011). However, (Torrance 2014) pointed out that distributed leadership is more complex and challenging to achieve than usually described. Therefore, China needs to make some trade-offs on the distributed leadership theory according to the actual situation before adopting it. The consequences of full reference are unpredictable.
China’s education system
China has the most significant education system globally, with close to 260 million pupils and more than 15 million instructors in around 514 000 learning institutions (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2018). Without considering graduate education institutions, China’s system of education is not only vast but diverse. The state runs the school with minimal involvement of the private sector. Currently, the Ministry of Education has moved from direct control to macro-level management of the education system. It directs education reform through regulations, policies, financial support, information services, strategy guidance, and managerial means (National Centre for Education Development Research, 2008). To manage a vast region and large population, China’s Constitution offers three levels of governance apart from the central government: provincial level, county level, and township level. The responsibility of both primary and secondary education has been left with counties while higher education is under the provincial authorities (Yan and Ka Tat Tsang 2005).
While the government put education systems in place, the day to day running of schools and overall success solely relies on educational leadership and individual school management. For the last decades, educational leadership has positively obtained global responsiveness in the academic world. A different approach has developed in the field of school management: educational leadership, that is dissimilar from educational administration. As much as educational leadership has gone viral in educational standards in the 21st century, the discussion betwixt educational leadership and educational management still occurs, as they are together philosophies that hypothetically improve schools, though in diverse methods (Bell and Middlewood 2010).
Four main leadership theories have been applied in China primary schools:
Creative Leadership concept- This concept emphasizes the roles played by the primary school principal’s management in nurturing educators’ vision to promote learners’ creativity. Creative school heads promote creativity in teachers (Stoll and Temperley 2009) through enhanced individual teacher’s innovative thinking, promoting shared inventive thinking in educators. They also provide enough time for educators for creativity.
Concept of Teachers’ Creativity-Imaginative educators not only pass information but also guide, arouse, provoke, and engage learners’ desire, dynamism, and spirits, enabling learners to realize their imaginative aptitudes and grow the skills of their original autonomous work (Robinson 2011). Creative educators find innovative and thrilling ways of training to promote learners’ creativity. Three skills associated with imaginative teaching of an educator include:
- encouraging learners’ creativity
- Pointing out learners’ creativity
- developing learners’ imagination.
These three skills are also vital in helping learners’ creative learning for an educator (Siribanpitak 2009).
Concept of Strategies- This is concept is depicted in the creative leadership approach in primary school. Through principals, creativity has been developed in teachers’ to bring out three steps for emerging plans based on theories which involved; analyzing the internal and external environment of Guangxi by leading SWOT analysis and developing strategies using SWOT Matrix. It is also analyzed using adjusting approaches suggested by experts and stakeholders(Certo and Peter 1991).
Team development stages
Forming stage –This involves positioning and getting conversant; this stage is filled with as individuals are seeking for guidance and authority. A member affirming power or is well-informed is viewed as taking control. Team members are on the lookout to see what the team offers them or what is expected of them; they are also unsure they will fit.
Storming stage
This is deemed to be the most problematic and dire stage to sail through. It is full of war and rivalry as different traits surface. Team performance is likely to decrease as energy is put into uncreative activities. Team members are expected to differ on team objectives, and small groups may develop around strong characters or areas of agreement. To successfully go through this phase, members ought to be determined to overcome hindrances by admitting individual differences. Differences should be dealt with as they arise else; conflicts may lead to long-term hitches.
Norming stage
After the storming stage, struggles are fixed, resulting in team unity. There is developed agreement on who the leader is and team members with their respective roles. Interpersonal differences are quickly resolved, arising in the sense of consistency and harmony. Team performance grows in the course of this phase as members cooperate well and start to focus on team objectives.
Performing stage –At this phase, agreement and collaboration have been adequately established, and the team is developed, ordered, and functional. The arrangement is perfect and steady, and members are dedicated to the team’s task. However, snags and struggles still arise; they are positively dealt with.
Adjourning stage –During this phase, most team’s objectives are realized. The emphasis is on finishing up last responsibilities and doing a write-up of the effort and outcomes. As the amount of work reduces, members may be reallocated to other teams, while redundant units are dispersed. Breaking down teams becomes formal and challenging recognition of the duties delivered and team achievements success is helpful.
Application of team management in primary schools in China
Schools are highly organized institutions having clear lines of grading and responsibility (Bush, 2003). This characteristic makes schools complex institutions’ due to diverse individuals, often from different cultures, but required to work towards a common goal of operational education. It follows, therefore, that for schools to work, there must clear processes, stable procedures, and flawless lines of responsibility. To realize this, functional teams must be in place.
Cohesion is broadly approved as a significant element of operative teams (Šumanski and Kolenc, 2007). Cohesion gives team members the feeling of belonging and being happy to be part of the team. China is known to be a nation whose culture applies a profound influence on attitude, virtue, custom, and cohesion; it follows that the same cohesion enables team members to come to an understanding of and identify with the work at hand. Coherence derived from cultural background works to promote primary school team management. Finally, cohesion brings about associations, thus improving the issues of attitudes and management.
Conclusion
The successful implementation of team management in primary schools in China calls for structural as well as cultural backing. The most significant modification compulsory is a change in how leadership is viewed, and management practices that include delivery of duties are more likely to thrive as compared to those who stick to old-style ‘heroic’ management methods. Nonetheless, allocating leadership and decentralizing team-based management carries challenges and strains, mainly in an era where central overhead control continues to strengthen the primary sense of responsibility.
References
Yan, M.C., and Ka Tat Tsang, A., 2005. A snapshot of the development of social work education in China: A Delphi study. Social Work Education, 24(8), pp.883-901.