THE MANAGEMENT OF RISKS IN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS –
AN APPROACH TO PERFORMATIVITY FOR SCHOOL
POLICIES
OVIDIU MĂNTĂLUŢĂ
ovidiumus@gmail.com
Abstract: This paper is focusing on organisational risk analysis: risk of poor
performativity of the expressions, lack of dynamic elements of the organisational project,
risk consisting in lack of indicators to adequately measure the organisation. Performative
expressions in management plans and strategies, school assessment or micro politics, are
the basis of organisational action, and lack of such expressions is a symptom of
compliance, lack of objectives and adherence to organisationl aims. In the second part, the
paper comprises result description of an exercise realised in 17 schools, on subjective
estimation of schooling risks. The utility of the method for school management resides in
its potensial to provide help for establishing priorities, starting from situations assessed
as having a high priority number associated.
Keywords: organisational risks, performativity, school management, planning,
priorities.
An organization is not only an aggregate of job titles and tasks, but a system
and the system is made of people. That is why the clear alignment of their goals,
desires and motivations is crucial, as people who share common goals
communicate better, are more efficient and feel more at ease during work. As a
result the organizational risks amplified by the financial crises are easier to deal
with, and the employees become more involved in problem solving.
The future is created by the people within an organization that is why a
comprehensive portfolio of methods and techniques that can create an
organizational vision crucial. The clear construction of a social capital that
increase the organizational intelligence, more than to the sum of the knowledge
of the individuals its comprised off, is realized through the increase of the
confidence in the individuals’ ability.
Definition of a system: a sum of elements which are configured through the
structure and mechanism that it performs in order to fulfill a certain scope of
action. In the systemic vision indifferent of the type of system (electric, mechanic
social or biological) two principles are applied.:
1. The good performance of the system depends more on how the elements
interact in order to accomplish the targeted goal rather than on the intrinsic
Lecturer Ph.D, Department of Education - “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University,
Bucharest.

quality of the individual elements. In addition, organizations, in particular
educational and public administration ones are based on people who are
complex systems in themselves.
2. The measurement of a single type of information, as an example labor
performance, can lead to errors, thus it is necessary to build a portfolio of
variables and the appropriate methodology of measuring the results.
Any type of system has new properties relative to the ones of the individual
components. At an organizational level, a school principal, accountant or
secretary- of course together with the teachers- can obtain better results by acting
as a group than by acting in isolation. This is the economical principle of group
action used to produce material goods or provide certain services. One of the
unfortunate situations is the one in which the principle of emphasizing the
qualities of the individuals is compromised. Mistrust is one of the factors that can
represent a double edge sword: it can make for a dynamic environment but at
the same time it can inhibit collective creativity and the good group cooperation
at an organizational level.
Terminology and concepts in the economy of education- discussion on the
meanings
Methods of creating managerial documents-plans, strategies and review mechanisms
in educational institutions
The concepts of “performative expression” was introduced and developed by
J. L. Austin1. The managerial manifestations derived from the various goals of an
organization cannot be categorized as true or false but only can be described as
performing or non-performing.
The economical aspects of performance in education were analyzed by
Steven Ball, in “The Performing School: Managing, Teaching, and Learning in a
Performance Culture” (Contributors: Denis Gleeson - author, Chris Husbands author. Publisher: RoutledgeFalmer. Place of Publication: London. Publication
Year: 2001. p. 210.) (68)
The practical aspects of the performing or non-performing manifestations,
irrespective of the push towards action and thus harmful towards the creation of
educational policies and managerial documents. The performance of the
individuals and organization is the way in which these manage to present
themselves to the outside world. This shows the quality of the process or
produces information when school mechanisms are analyzed (for example
financial control, various evaluations, reporting). In the evaluation area, which
are performed by outside institutions, or the self-evaluation especially used for
internal purposes the work becomes relevant and the results and organizational
efficiency are underlined.
"Performative Utterances" in Austin, Philosophical Papers (ed. J. O. Urmson & G. J.
Warnock), Oxford, 1961, Austin, John L. 1962. How to Do Things with Words, Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
1
The manifestation of the decision factor, either in the management area
where educational policies are created or for the simple control role that acts over
an educational organization can generate paths of action by generating curricula,
labeling things but can also destroy. Steven Ball argues that the primary role of
the performing manifestation in the representative build regarding
organizations, status and professional role of professors and school principals.
What matters less is the truth of the sayings used by the ones performing the
evaluation but the organizational effieciency and the positioning in the are of
competition for resources and the positioning on a real market. That is why
documents such as class plans, micro policies in schools are artefacts meant to
support, reward, penalize, or position organizations.
The utility of decision-maker subjectivity knowlege. Behavioral economics
(C. K., Loewenstein, G. F., Blount, S., Bazerman, M. H. (1999). Preference
reversals between joint and separate evaluations of option: A review and
theoretical analysis. Psychological Bulletin 125(5): 576-90.) considers that
managerial decisions are influenced by emotional factor and these make
systematic errors due to the cognitive models and representations they use to
analyze financial data and facts. Many times the value of a prior investment,
even though this investment is not profitable anymore influences decisions. At
the same time, the lack of objective judgment plays a crucial role in strategic
management. The managerial vision is determined by the dominant values of the
subject and by the decisional models it adheres to. In order to gain a more in
depth knowledge of the this subjective approach an exercise of estimating the
risk was conducted in 17 schools.
Its short description is the following: “Exercise for estimating risks: this
paper is a starting point for discussing some standards regarding the
dysfunctions and aggregating the level of severity for each problem category.
The “risk priority number” will be summed in order to analyze the risk
associated with the identified problems. The worksheet is used for the following:
 prioritizing the risks associated with various actions/ processes
 examining and comparing decisional alternatives
 application of correctional measures
For calculating the RPN related to the potential failure we use the following
formula:
RPN = Severity X Occurrence X Detection
Severity, which rates the severity of the potential effect of the failure.
Occurrence, which rates the likelihood that the failure will occur.
Detection, which rates the likelihood that the problem will not be detected
before it reaches the student, as end-user.
Each factor that leads to RPN and that has a value attributed on a scale of 1
to 5 according to the description below:
Severity
Score
1
Effects
Very weak or inexistent
2
Weak or minor
3
Medium or significant
4
High, strong
5
Very high, catastrophic
Consequences
The activity/process/result are affected to
a small extent
The process can still take place, the
product can still be used with a
diminishing of performance
A diminishing of performance, quality
and value
The products cannot be utilized anymore,
the process cannot take place and utility is
compromised
Affects the security of the individual,
institution, system in an irreversible way
with influence on adjacent domains of
activity
Occurence
Score
1
2
3
4
5
High probability
Very small/inexistent
Small or minor
Medium or significant
High
Very high almost certain
Detection
Score
1
2
3
4
5
The probability of not detecting the frequency cases get omitted
Very small/inexistent
Small or minor
Medium or significant
High
Very high
The report contains the following categories: The problem category, the topic, the
principle that is overlooked, the legislation that is overlooked, the administrative
level the process takes place. The subjects estimated the frequency of the signals,
the severity of the law traspassingm the possibility of not detecting or the
frequency with which the cases get omitted, the level of trust of the public, the
persistency in time of the problems using scales created before. The severity of
the law trespassing, the level of public trust and the problem persistency can be
measured with certain standards. The current state if research consists in
consulting the school authority and objective manifestation.
Categories of problems
1. Concepts, planning, projections
2. Information management ; includes issuing documents
3. Information Transparency
4. Low Efficiency of the System
5. System
Inefficiency
(discrepancies
between
objectives
and
accomplishments
6. Human Resource Management- having the necessary personnel with the
adequate knowledge, training, personnel review
7. Financial Management- Budget, Social Assistance- Scholarships of various
kinds
8. Safety
9. Human Rights
10. Rules
Principles that are bent:
1. Merit Principle
2. Equality of chances
3. Equity Principle
4. Justiţia retributivă (JR)
5. Justiţia procedurală (JP)
Legislation bent- this is where the legislation will be explained, the article,
the quantified description of the act
The level of public trust- subjective manifestation – 5 steps 1-very small-to 5
very large.
The administrative level of control:
1. School- internal monitoring (NCS)
2. Local level – local monitoring (NCL)
3. County – monitoring at a county level (NCJ)
4. Region- Monitoring at regional level (NCR)
5. National – Monitoring at national level (NCN)
The persistence in time of problems: from 1 - accidental - to 5- permanent.
The utility of the instrument for the school was tested also by the
utilization of the trainees during the financial management course. The trainees’
presentation of the risks represented a topic of analysis for the school
administrative council. A calibration of the instrument at school level allows for
an evaluation of educational risks. For the use of the trainers in order to increase
school autonomy the instrument allows for systematic activities of the school
bodies. The instrument is at the same time detailed in matters of risk and enough
focused on risk issues used to determine the main problems of the school. The
school principal signal the way the rules are bent the biggest one being the
meritocratic principle followed by the principle of equality of chances.
Overview of results of the research
Graph No. 1
1. Meritocratic principle (M)
3
2
4
2. Equality of chance
principle (ES)
3.Equity principle E
28
4. Retributive justice principle
(RJ)
16
5. Procedural justice (PJ)
The statistical results of the survey conducted among the school principals
through the risk exercise (the full results can be found in the complete research
document), the principle that is most frequently bent is the meritocratic one
followed by equality of chances.
Graph Number Two:
concept, planning, design (PP)
4
Information management (MI)
4
7
Information transparency (TI)
1
Individual security (SI)
8
27
Citizen rights, human rights (D)
Regulations for schools and
education administration (NOR)
From the categories that were mentioned above, the most frequent
references are towards information management followed by transparency in
information and human rights. After applying the instrument the consultant can
opt for detailing the results through additional investigations of the fields that
appear frequently. The consultant should use the right methods in order to solve
the identified issues. The methodological approach of the instruments and
regulations that the consultant can suggest must answer a set of questions
together with the decisive factors within the school.
Verification list
o The method corresponds to the cost indicators- allows spending and
brings along financial and labor efficiency
o Will surpass organization barriers- perception and communication
o If the method chosen will surpass the legal obstacles and personnel
qualification
o Is suited to the size and purpose of the organization
o Will help the organization to improve its results
o Are cost drivers taken into account?
o Will the chosen method surpass the identified obstacles (legal,
organizational, personnel qualification and cultural)
Graph number three
Unmotivated absences
Information systems poorly designed
High drop-aut rate
Legal provisions are bent
Inspection reports unused, for administrative issues
Access in schools is difficult
RPNP
Absences at work are not marked
RPN
Youth delinquency
Uneffective systems and procedures
Legal terms bending
Weak sinthesis documents
Inspection reports unused for teacher apppraisal
Weak policy and planning documents
0
50
100
150
200
An interesting statistic of the risk factors, estimated both by the RPN and the
RPNP (RPN multiplied by Persistance in time factor) shows that the statistics
doesn’t change depending on the order of the risk factors, but the emphasis on
one or the other shows the deficiencies of the administration in making
decisions.
After the previous exercise, the subjects build a check-list of the necessary
activities in the course of their daily agenda. The purpose of it is to prevent the
major risks for both the school and its own carrier.
Agenda Content
1. Checking: the school’s material goods, situations that occur during the
night shifts, the condition of the building, the report of the maintenance and
surveillance personnel, the secretary’s report who received important and time
sensitive documents- situation similar to the report presented by the emergency
personnel in the medical system
2. The time the school principal spends in the office: kindergarden 50% of
the time spent in the institution and 30% for school and high school
3. We recommend around three cycles in which the school principal should
respect precise moments of the agenda. In order to better accustom the personnel
that in that time frame
4. It is recommended to have three time frames in which the school principal
should respect precise agenda items in order to accustom the personnel that in
that time frame there should be no interruption and that certain activities take
place regularly. In general these are activities related to risk management –
checking teacher’s timeliness, verifying important documents, safety and various
incidents that occur.
The impact of unforeseen events, cause and consequences
Fact: All school principals from the sample are delegated. This means that they can
be released from the position by the General Inspector of Education at any time without
any justification.
Consequences named by the subjects:
 Long term plans that are not needed because the principals know that
they won’t get to implement them and their successors won’t agree with the
plans
 The plan for developing the institution is not assumed by the local
authorities. It cannot be efficiently implemented because the decisional factors
are unknown. These factors lead to a superficial drafting and a lack of meaning
for the principal, and an incoherent approach in the development of the
institution
 The strategic plans, deadlines and responsibilities are not important for
the school personnel
 A school principal in this situation is uncertain of the results of its effort
therefore he/she is uncertain if it worth building something; the easiest solution
is to turn to defensive strategies in order to keep its position
 The uncertainty of the job becomes an unnecessary stress factor. The
frustrations pile up negatively impacting the next future principals as well, who
will be confronted with the same situation
 If you invested in a job it is important to be rewarded
 You have no incentive to take an initiative
 The personnel of the school won’t respond to your suggestions
 There is a big difference between the status of a principal that is appointed
and one that competes for the position
The attributes of metrics that lead to development
In any process that necessitates change the organizational phenomena and
the way the organization interact with the outside environment it is important to
choose what has to be measured in order to be able to focalize the research in
itself as well as pursuing the target, development and positive transformation.
By choosing the wrong parameters to focus on the research and intervention
in organization – and a wrong choice is to have too many parameters, or
irrelevant for the organisation – it would lead to suboptimal behavior, lack of
significance for te organisation members of the measurement process, or wrong
orientation of the organisational goals. Examples could be given in this respect –
one of them is the confusion between good schooling results equals good marks
– it leads to falsifications of the marks, pressure on teachers and headteachers
with the view of increasing the student’s marks.
„Measuring” the capacity of high school graduates to acces the universities
through the marks obtained during the school time (admission in faculties based
on files) leads to an unadmittable pressure exerted, this time, by the parents on
student’s evaluation processes; this is obtained by solidarisation of the teachers
with family objectives and teacher responsibility. On the other hand, we could
discuss abot corruption, or, at least, different pressures and influence. No matter
the attitude of the educators – moral or not, the result is the same – a flase
competition between schools, to be defined as a school which affords big marks.
Therefore, choosing right the parameters is crucial for the organisational success,
or, in pre-university education, for a system that produces positive externalities
for the society.
Joiner2 proposes three different modalities for performance measurement:
- measuring beneficiary satisfaction;
- measuring alongside a production cycle or service provision, then
estimating the trends resulting from measures alog the time, in opposition with
the pontual measurement;
- the existance of a minimal quality certificate, which requieres to comply
with its indicators for process or product validation. In order to calibrate the
metrics required by the minimal quality certificate, are estimated the total costs
produced by poor quality; if the costs are higher than the costs for product or
stage of service delivery rejection, are dropped the elements, goods or activities
not complying with quality criteria.
Indicators of a good metrics afford us to understand its signification by the
organisation members without special explanations or training. If training is still
necessary, it should be delivered, for real significance sharing. Each member of the
Joiner, B.L. Fourth Generation Management: The New Business Consciousness, New York:
McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1994.
2
school collective must understand in which way his or her poor quality activity is
influencing the organizational goals achievement.
Starting from the statements made by Rose3, we propose the next properties
of a good metric for school organisation performance:
- indicators are cenetered on customer and provide informations on value
added for them;
- are associated with the properties of the processes developed by the
organisation – adequate costs to activities (respecting the pronciples of efficiency,
effectiveness and economie), legal fairness, good coordination, innovation,
beneficiary satisfaction;
- are comparing and make judgements based on trends, and not on ponctual
results;
- produces information about direct processes, at the level they develop, and
not aggregate results from different stages or phases – avoiding fenomena of
masking individual contribution to organisational succes;
- undersanding the significance produced by measurement doesn’t need
other analyses or explanations;
- are closely related with the organsaitional mission, strategies and specific
actions;
- contribute to keeping direction and control in organisation on its own
development;
- the activities of collection, processing and using the information resulted
from metric implementation are realised through the cooperation of all members
of the organisation, who - understand the meaning and importance of correct
information provided and collected, exerting actions responsible for maintaining
the accuracy and meaning of this information.
The development of performance indicators proposed by Rose include the
following steps:
- evaluating the work of the organization from its mission and strategic
plans; are included evaluation of basic skills at all levels and functional
departments, as well as results emerging from the document about the
organization's mission; the role of this set of indicators is descriptive, but
includes most important aspects of the product or service provided;
- Starting from the goals of the organization and the desired final state,
targeted organizational development, is provided the operational framework
that describes the final or desired state; this set of indicators defines the target of
the organization; expression in terms of indicators is oriented towards action.
3
63-66.
Rose, K.H. (1995). ‘‘A Performance Measurement Model,’’ Quality Progress, February, pp.
Organizational goal may be extremely complex, so it should be explicit and the
lowered in the operational plan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Austin, John L., (1962), How to Do Things with Words, Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
2. Ball, S., in The Performing School: Managing, Teaching, and Learning in a
Performance Culture. Contributors: Denis Gleeson - author, Chris Husbands author. Publisher: RoutledgeFalmer. Place of Publication: London. Publication
Year: 2001. p. 210.
3. Joiner, B.L., (1994), Fourth Generation Management: The New Business
Consciousness, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc..
4. Rose, K.H., (1995), ‘‘A Performance Measurement Model,’’ Quality
Progress, February, pp. 63 -66.