Students and staff have just arrived in school for yet another academic year. Our six–year–old school is set to begin its seventh academic session. Any upcoming institution improves continuously. Naturally, it is better at any given point of time compared to a previous one. This is a general principle and holds good for our school too. Apart from this natural growth, I sense that during this year our organisation might improve in its texture. If the envisaged improvement in the fabric of the school happens, our school will be on a sound path of development. It could be a sound learning centre in the times to come. I would like to share about this interesting aspect of organisational development with interested friends and teachers!

Despite my occupation with other staff members of the school to begin the new academic session, my thoughts are gravitating towards understanding this interesting aspect of organisational development. The school community or the fabric of the organisation is the threads comprising students, teachers, staff members, management, parents and suppliers of goods and services. If the adult groups work together, with a common understanding, to educate children over a reasonable period it is possible for any school to become an excellent institution and a good learning centre. It is possible for such a learning centre to enable children to learn to live beautifully. Why does this not happen often? Why is there dilution in the intent of education across many schools? Why do not people come together and work? We may not be able to find an answer to such a challenging question but asking it might energise us and enable us to work better for the cause.

The word education has a different meaning for each person depending on his or her background. The expectation from a school varies depending on this. This divergence in the perception of the meaning and significance of education is surely one of the causes for the inadequate common understanding observed amongst the adults connected with education. Is it possible to bring about a certain common understanding amongst these groups? We should be able to bring it about to an extent we are convinced of the need and to the extent that we will work for it. Bringing about better understanding about education can happen only through more education!

I would like to explore the above questions to develop a better understanding of the challenges in organisational development as experienced in our school. I would like to begin by looking at the symptoms and characteristics of our community. While doing so, I will focus upon a few factors and explore them a little more. The study and presentation is by no means comprehensive or complete. It is just the beginning of an exploration into a crucial subject.

Expectedly many of ourstudents were and are from the rural or semi urban background. The fact of inadequate, and even improper, intellectual development is easily observed when one meets some of our children. The parents are not aware of the nature of shortcoming in the exposure of their children due to their being in the schools where they are. However, they are aware that better schooling and richer exposure is possible elsewhere with the financial resources they have. They would like to provide better possibilities to their children than what they have experienced. Parents aspire for their children to achieve more than what they did! They look for schools, which could take care of their children in all respects and make them grow up better than what they can in their vicinity.

The children are simple, which is related to a rustic setting they are raised. Relative isolation from the media and non–availability of easy opportunities for indiscriminate consumption safeguards many of such children from unhealthy exposure. They are open to ideas and views of different kinds and learn quickly interesting, convincing and understandable matter.

The pre–requisite ideas and general awareness required for building composite and larger ideas are not usually in place. This capacity will emerge in any individual or in an institution only gradually. School educators need to design and provide many interesting learning contexts to the children to nurture their multiple intelligences. One has to work earnestly and wait patiently. Very few students were in a position to improve the peer culture positively due to their presence and hence the institution had to take complete responsibility. We had to correct the majority culture at great speed and until then the “bad blood” would drive away the “good blood!” We experienced this. We controlled the exodus partly in the previous year.

I am not too sure, how thinking, thoughts and knowledge are related. It is important for educators to figure out how each influences or determines the others. To improve learning, thinking and intellectual abilities in children was an immediate need so that the school moves into a developmental mode. Physical development happens at an even pace because the families are resourceful and provide the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter in ample measure. Hence, the children from families which have the financial resources and do not have the intellectual resources grow up well physically without the requisite verbal, logical, intellectual and emotional development. This causes peculiar behavioural and academic patterns amongst some of the children. The symptoms are quite tricky to tackle and deal with! The method of dealing could precipitate other behavioural challenges in the child because of the feelings of how others view him or her. No easy or direct methods seem to be available. Only long term and indirect methods seem to be available.

Making up the missing links of earlier stages of cognitive and intellectual development of children is not too easy. One of the reasons for this could be that the child feels and sees himself as physically grown up and is unaware of where he is in terms of intellectual growth. The intervention needs to provide inputs considering the physical age of the child. How can the educational processes of the school consider this factor? What kind of emphasis do we accord to this?

What seems to be important is that teachers be aware of the learning objectives and the general gaps in the different abilities of children while designing the educational program. When we implement comprehensively thought out educational processes in a school, we can achieve some of the intended cognitive and intellectual development of children. There may be natural filling of the gaps due to the amazing capacity of the brain to learn in a myriad ways. The child, the parent, or the teacher may not even notice the gaps being filled. However, when there is a deliberate attempt to fill the gaps development might happen in a timely manner so that the child does not feel inferior to others of his age.

One aspect of organizational development that becomes clear to me is that a caring, intellectually and academically stimulating school community, teachers and students throbbing with a good reading culture, having rich discussions amongst themselves, makes up for the gaps in mental development of children very naturally and easily. Working explicitly upon the subtler learning objectives like this is difficult. Learning in this domain has to happen by permeation and percolation for which the right environment is required. This is not a vicious cycle. We have to work on all aspects together in a multipronged manner and concurrently. We adopted this approach to the extent we could and it seems to have worked well for us until now.

Over the last couple of years, we have taken up many initiatives and projects to take the forward. School based expositions in senior school Mathematics, junior school Mathematics, English Literature, General Sciences, Environmental Studies, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Social Sciences helped in bringing about a quick jump in the awareness and interest of our school community. The intellectual ability, general knowledge and awareness of our students have been improving significantly since the time we triggered their imagination through the expositions. Children have begun to read more widely. The student culture has improved significantly.

The culture ofteachers was characterised by fear and insecurity, which arises not only from incompetence but also from not being aware of what one knows and what one does not know. If a person is aware of what one does not know, he or she can easily make the effort to learn and fill the gap. When the awareness and acceptance of the gaps in knowledge and competence is absent there could be peculiar emotional responses, including being defensive and offensive towards the person who senses this and intends to correct it.

For the kind of educational intent our School had set for itself, a learning culture characterised by fearlessness and intensive innovativeness was clearly a pre–requisite. We had to devise a multi–pronged strategic approach, which we had to implement tenaciously to improve the situation. The cornerstones of the approach were the following:

1. Teacher development through need based learning programs. Seven teacher learning programs (TLP) of about five to 10 days’ duration, one every half year, have been conducted in the last three years. These programs provide wide exposure to the teachers about teaching–learning processes, organisational challenges, team formation and information/insights into child development. It attempts to bring about a deeper learning culture amongst the teachers.
2. We arranged field visits, workshops in and out of campus, and visits to OIS by experts from outside, visits to premier institutes of learning. We raised the professional standards by such exposure.
3. Improving the working ambiance for teachers by bringing in systems and procedures based on trust, respect and empowerment. This naturally improved the learning quality.
4. We discontinued using a few irrelevant procedures, which had outlived their purpose. This relieved teachers of a certain kind of burden. It is important in an institution to review the systems and procedures continuously to disband the outgrown ones. The management systems and practices must address the changing and dynamic needs of the learning centre.
5. Reviewing the personnel policies and practises, rationalising and bringing about uniformity in the approach towards different categories of employees helped in reducing the disparities. The ambiance became more egalitarian and hence people became slight less comparative in nature.
6. We tried to understand individuals and provided the requisite freedom and space for contribution. The teachers could choose a part of their work based on their natural interests and competencies. Providing a non–interfering professional environment is important for an educational centre to develop.
7. Our school is a platform for errors, where children and teachers can fearlessly take initiatives, experience and learn from the errors and mistakes that are an inevitable part of anything new. Our school tries to distinguish between form and content. We observe that many of our teachers have grown laterally in their taste and contribution rather than only in expertise and depth.
8. We rationalized the workload of teachers, keeping in mind their other assignments, to make it feasible for them to prepare for the lessons better was a necessary step. Assignment of classes and other responsibilities also takes into account their demands at home. This caring approach improved the community culture.
9. Inducting and inviting specialists with rich personal and professional backgrounds in certain areas of strategic importance. This helped in setting the right example to improve the organisational culture.

The natural exit of some teachers due to their misalignment with the educational intent and professional ethos expected by the school has been all too rare. This encourages us. The teacher culture is poised to improve even quicker from now onwards so that a better learning centre comes about. Being more responsible in an environment of freedom is the challenge which all of us are learning to take.

Our staff members have always been sincere with their heart turned towards the school. However, a few of them lacked awareness of professional and systematic methods of working. The unsystematic and ad hoc approach made way for recurrence of errors and “mistakes.” During the construction and initial phase of any project, we cannot altogether avoid an ad hoc approach to solve problems. Often a team of crisis managers are required! Transition from the initial phase to the next phase with more systematic approach did not happen naturally. In an unprofessional environment, being serious or having a good intent can be misconceived to be proficiency. We need to bring about proficient performance and objective feedback to improve professional standards. This met with defence and hurt by the staff members at large. This was a major challenge for organisational development. Working with the people, hand in hand by setting models of better working methods, was the prime necessity. My experience in different functions in different institutions was very helpful in this.

Our staff members are good–natured well–wishers of the institution and loyal to the school. Loyalty is a value and can make or mar an institution. Loyalty can make only some instructions executed at lightning speed. While it prevents introduction of proper systems, which take care of repetitive functions better. Some people thrive in such an instruction dependent organisation. It is strange that even when the same problems repeat over a long period of time we do not question the matter at a deeper level.

In an upcoming institution people from diverse backgrounds come together and will have to learn to work together. Adequate facilities are not available and hence we may have to resort to “crisis management” for solving many of the usual problems. An institution has to deliberately graduate out of the initial “crisis” mode of working, applicable at the project phase, into a more systematic approach. Otherwise, the organisational culture may remain oriented towards solving the problems for the short term without being aware of the long–term implications. An institution, which remains crisis management oriented, is more likely to develop one or more of the following characteristics.

• Making an institution dependent on him and thereby, that individual becomes more prominent.
• Some existing staff feels insecure in the presence of people that are more competent.
• Some existing staff feels insecure in the presence of people who work more systematically.

We observed some of these characteristics in our school too. Self–correction could not begin because the organisation was too dependent on instructions. The awareness of long–term effects of decisions and practices was not present. The organisational need was clear. We had to introduce a systematic approach in all functions of the school. We had to conceive and design any decision or problem solving approach with the long–term impact in mind. How do we bring about the required change in the management culture so that it percolates into other levels? The crises to be resolved were many, quick action was required, change over to long–term perspective was imperative and all this was not possible to be taken before confidence of the board was won over! Where does one begin?

When the circle is vicious, it is best to enter it from all possible entry points. We solved any issue that came up quickly and decisively. At the same time steps were taken for instituting appropriate and systematic data collection, analysis and decision making process for the longer term. We had to take even the “minor,” short term decisions with a long–term perspective so that the shift in decision–making process is brought about.

This approach could impede the mindless pace of an organisation. This paradigm shift is difficult and requires clarity and conviction on the part of the person in charge of an institution. The management and the professional head need to develop mutual sympathy and respect which enables the fundamental change that is required for any movement forward in a different direction. This is what was available in our case due to the deep understanding and trust of the board.

Some general principles of management like the one “stop the bleeding by corrective action and initiate preventive action” borrowed from industry can help even schools. I reminded myself that personal biases should not preclude us from exploring possibilities objectively. Corporatisation or commercialisation of education needs to be distinguished from refinement of academic management to improve the non–core aspects of an educational centre.

The core of an educational institution comprises the teaching and learning processes. Only educators must undertake changes in that area after careful consideration of the effects from all perspectives. Efficiency, impact of society and technology must not be the main factors. The teaching–learning processes should be natural, teacher based and experiential for children. Blind imitation of the technology based teaching–learning processes must be implemented cautiously.

New institutions with infrastructure facilities are possible to be put in place quickly. However building the core educational processes is much more intricate and challenging. One may be tempted to promote a school and just manage it without consideration of the long term consequences. The confidence to manage the structural aspects of an institution and having an approximate understanding of the educational processes may make the board members confident of being able to manage even the softer side of the school comprising the teaching learning processes. This misunderstanding or over confidence on the part of the board members might be the cause for the downturn of some schools. It could be an important cause for several schools in our country not performing well.

As a good electrician knows, best how to make an electrical installation a good teacher knows best what schooling is. Unless these experts are at the base of the decision making process and fully involved in management of the institution as well, a lasting institution cannot come about. Teaching learning processes involve understanding, absorption and assimilation of ideas, knowledge and concepts by the children. These processes seem to be both processes and ends! We have to enable and facilitate them but we are not sure how to do this? The softer, gentler and “slower” the process is the better seems to be the quality of permeation and absorption! It is due to this backdrop that the misplaced confidence of some successful corporate or non–corporate managers, who head educational institutions, becomes a serious impediment to the process and the end. This prevents educational institutions from becoming learning centres and turns them into production centres instead.

The common and serious intent of the board and head is essential to establish a good school. Understanding of what a good school is could vary. This common understanding of wanting to establish a good school, without bothering about what such a “good school” would be, led to mutual, professional trust and personal sympathy. When the existing practices were improved, replaced and disbanded the management continued to provide the encouragement and support in an unstinting manner. When we took decisions to improve staff welfare and communicated the need for the same, we received post facto approval without difficulty. Only in a rare case was the cascading effect on the other parts of the organisation pointed out. Although the fountainhead of change and improvement remains the board, the head needs to explain, discuss, negotiate and educate the board about such matters. He or she will be able to do this if he has thought over the matter from the basics and is clear enough about them. If the board is sincere in its intent, it will “listen” and change its views in the interest of the institution. Fortunately, our board was sympathetic and understanding at all times towards the head.

Most of us, the adults of our society, are quite unclear about what education is, why we educate children or why we send children to a school. With an incomplete understanding of the purpose of education, we are all a part of it. It is so easy to become a biological parent but it is so challenging to parent a child! Without knowing what it is to learn, we begin to teach! Due to the inadequate understanding about education, the expectation of parents varies widely. The expectation of parents from schools is often not feasible for a school to attempt because there would be contradictions in the objectives.

• The child should be able to understand, speak and write English.
• The child should know his subjects well.
• The child should learn co–curricular and extra–curricular activities.
• Parents should be able to get in touch with their child over phone or in person whenever they want. The school should be able to provide the “telephone service” in an efficient manner.
• The parents or their relatives should be able to visit the child whenever they want to.
• They would be able to take the child away for short stay at home at their will or requirement.
• They must be able to send food or other eatables, which the child likes.
• Teacher and school are responsible for the well–being of the child in all respects despite the above factors caused by parents.
• Some parents and children have influence with the management and they would expect the teachers to be their “service providers” or even serve them. It is painful that parents scared some teachers because of the power and position they wield in the society and the school ownership.

To bring about a closer understanding about education between parents and our school, we conducted a seminar on education every year. The number of participants is improving year by year and involvement is increasing. There is a shift in the parental perspective about education. Parents provide better support presently compared to earlier times. We communicated the guidelines and practices firmly and clearly. The parents who could not see the merit of the streamlined approach and those who could not “use” (or misuse) the school had to be especially counselled and educated.

We could look afresh at our educational intent in the backdrop of our simple and earnest attempts in organisational development. We have been able to ask of ourselves essential and fundamental questions about education. We did not initiate any significant step so far to establish a proper relationship with our suppliers, which will match with our educational paradigm.

A retrospective view of the last few years confirms that teachers, educators and schools have ample scope to contribute and influence the educational paradigm. It is necessary for teachers, educators and schools to take up the larger responsibility of educating parents and boards of management so that we can contribute to the field of school education in a true manner. If we do not take up this extended and challenging responsibility, we will deprive ourselves of experiencing the true joy of being a teacher.

If we cannot create our educational space, we will have to compromise with our educational intent! Shall we do this? Creating space of the kind we want appears to call for struggle and changing the outer for bringing harmony of oneself with the external. Not struggling with the outer to create our space and compromising internally may not end our internal struggle! We may rationalise our conflicts and appear to be harmonious with the external. The choice is ours!