Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Analysis of Organizational Culture in Understanding Disengagement of
School Extracurricular Activities within Poverty and Minority Students
Guadalupe Valdivia
California State University, San Bernardino
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Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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Abstract
The purpose of this scholarly paper was to describe how the implementation Gareth
Morgan (2006) metaphor of Organizations as a Culture could be applied in helping solve the
problem of school having poverty and minority students disengaged in extracurricular activates.
The current paper will be centers in analyzing the school problem from a perspective being
around the idea of the culture.
Keywords: students, disengaged, extracurricular activity, organizational culture,
minorities, poverty
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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Analysis of Organizational Culture in Understanding Disengagement of
School Extracurricular Activities within Poverty and Minority Students
The purpose of the current paper is to discuss how Gareth Morgan (2006) metaphor of
organizations as a culture can be applied in helping solve the problem of school having poverty
and minority students disengaged in extracurricular activates. The current paper will be centers
in analyzing the school problem from a perspective being around the idea of the culture.
Metaphor Organization as a Culture
Organizations as culture propose that organizations can be better understood by
examining them in the context of culture. It is important that in this perspective people sit back
and try to remove their own “natural view” of organizations. Most importantly, be able to learn
to see the organization as a unique and formed entity.
Morgan (2006) described the idea of organizational life being the reality, which exist
among the ideas, values, norms, rituals, beliefs and patterns of practices that support the
organization. These important factors come from social values, which are results of the “socially
constructed realities”. According to Morgan (2006) this perspective sees culture as
organizational life that exists in a complex and multilayered way. Although, this perspective is
strong in many organizations it also has limits of managerial control and the predictability of
counter-cultures and subcultures in any organization.
Culture of the Engagement in High School Extracurricular Activities
Cultures in school extracurricular activities usually emerge by peers. These peer clicks
often develop an activity based “culture”, providing students with the opportunity to identify a
ground having a share sense of “style” (Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003). Some behaviors
and values will differ based on what peer group or activity group associate with. For example,
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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girls who are cheerleaders are more likely to spend larger amounts of time together, leading them
to develop new friendships, sharing experiences, discussing values, goals, and aspirations. These
relationships with peers lead them to construct activity based subcultures and identities. These
relationships lead them to associate specific characteristics that identify their social world such
as “the popular girls who date the jocks” (Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003). Additionally,
these peer groups develop their own language and symbols that represent their identity, which
creates their own vision of the future based on their current priorities (Perry & Calhoun-Butts,
2012). Also, majority of the time popular media influences peer group culture. For example,
when the Colombiana musician “Shakira” Isabel Mebarak Ripol bleached her long brown hair,
many young girls bleached their hair too. The cultures that are developed in these groups can
either have positive or negative consequences in their own development. For example, some of
these group values promote bullying behavior of students who are identified as “nerds”. This
negative behavior has long-term negative consequences of being unfair to different people who
may not relate to them.
Disengagement of School Extracurricular Activities in Poverty and Minority Students
Researchers have shown the link between segregation by poverty, race, and academic
performance (Orfield & Lee, 2005). Balfanz and Legters (2004) study found that students
attending low performing schools are overpopulated with poor and minority students. In 2001,
almost half of all Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans low-income students graduated on time
(Orfield, Losen, Wald, & Swanson, 2004). Similarly, Rumberger and Lim (2008) study showed
that Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans than Asians and Whites dropout rates were much
higher in males than females. Robert Balfanz, a researcher from John Hopkins described how the
minority student high dropout rates are specifically concentrated in cities where low performing
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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schools are located within poor communities (Balfanz & Legters, 2004: Ream & Rumberger,
2008). In some cases, these students had no choice but to attend to these low performing schools.
Balfanz mentioned that many of these students never finish school because their schools function
more as “dropout factories (Balfanz & Legters, 2004: Ream & Rumberger, 2008).
Student engagement in their school is highly related with active involvement of social
aspects such as participation in sports, clubs or other extracurricular activities (Rumberger &
Lim, 2008). Research has shown that student’s engagement in their schools extracurricular
activities depend on the personal background of student (Marks, 2000). Elementary, middle, and
high school students who are higher social economical status are more likely to engage in
extracurricular activities (Finn & Cox, 1992). In the other hand, Marks (2000) study showed that
students who are low-income and minorities tend to be more disengaged from their schools
extracurricular activities. With low performing schools rarely provided sponsorship to
extracurricular activities to needy students, it leaves them to disconnect from their schools
leading them to be at a higher risk to dropout of school.
Organizational Culture in Solving Disengagement in School Extracurricular Activities
We can better understand value components of the critical problem of poor and minority
student’s disengagement from their schools extracurricular activities, from a cultural
organizational analysis. We can’t understand how engagements in school extracurricular activity
operate, without also understanding how minority and poverty students operate. This perspective
places the best view to better understand unique behaviors from a specific organization. Past
researchers have presented a continuous problem in the internal organization and culture
comprehensive in high schools (Sedlak, Wheeler, Pullin, & Cusic, 1986). As school
extracurricular activities act as an organization as a culture, their values, beliefs, and traditions
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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constantly continue to change. Members from this organization have to learn to adapt to the everchanging culture of this organization.
In the Lee (1999) study it talked about the importance of “creating support services to
meet social, cultural, and academic needs” to foster a school culture that empowers students. Lee
(1999) specifically talked about students’ “peer cultures”. Students and their peers have
important perspectives such as “experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and cultural knowledge that shape
the social organization of schools.” Understanding how student view the world, can better helps
professional solves problems that disengage student from learning in schools extracurricular
activities.
Organizational Culture Being Engineered and Managed to Serve the Goals of Schools
The school climate plays an important role in school bonding and connectedness. When
organizational members collaborate and share a vision and mission, students are more likely to
engagement in school extracurricular activities. When theirs a collaborative interaction between
school administration and families, students feel valued and supported for their participation in
school activities by a whole team rather than an individual person. Regardless in student’s
participation of activity type (clubs, sports, students government, youth groups, school band, or
church youth groups), students report feeling that they have a voice to choose what activity best
fits their personality and interest (Libbey, 2009).
When members of the organizational culture make students feel part of a group or
special, this helps them develop trusting relationships with adults and peers. By creating this
positive culture in schools students are encourage to engage in extracurricular activities while
they still follow rules and standards that are hold in that specific organization. Additionally,
when members manage such activities by involving parents and peers in various ritual or daily
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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routines, it makes it more fun and attractive for students to continue their participation in school
extracurricular activities.
Culture and its Interpretation Relevant to the Study and Management of Organizations
As mentioned earlier each organization is unique, every organization contains its own
reality, its own language, its own symbols, rituals and practices (Morgan, 2006). New members
of the organization are requiring learning new cultures forms and practices. Additionally, new
members need to understand the links between organizations, managers and culture.
Morgan (2006) attempted to provide academic leaders with a way to learn how to read
what is going on in their organization. School leaders learn to manage and to design
organizations through values, beliefs and other behavior patterns from the shared meaning values
of organizational memberships, which are important indicators for organizational members,
which are important indicators of organizational life.
Leaders Creating and Re-shaping Organizational Culture
Leaders must acknowledge their existing habits, mindset and personal believes in order
create an organizational culture they support. They also have to be able to communicate and take
accountably to create change. Leaders can also create and support organizational culture goals by
them being warm, supportive and accepting of the organizations uniqueness.
Re-shaping is a slow and long process of altering thinking and behavior of members of the
origination. It requires consistency over time have a clear articulated mission and strategy plan to
help transformed and lead the organization.
However, one of the most important factors in creating and re-shaping an organizational
culture is by building trust with members of the organization. Building such important trusting
relationships can be created by implementing Tschannen-Moran’s 5 facets of trust (benevolence,
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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honesty, competence, reliability, and openness). These 5 facets of trust have been found to be
successful in gaining and maintaining trust from people (Tschannen-Moran, 2004). Leaders help
define what is normal and appropriate behavior. When leaders model these behaviors it helps
other members in the organization participate in building trusting relationships with other
members of the organization. By having trust from the majority of the members of the
organization it is easier to get a collaborative approach of all members to support improve the
student’s academic achievement.
Members Negotiating and Adapt
Members from an organizational culture must feel motivated to make the crucial change
to help improve student’s achievement. As leaders, other members they also have to evaluate
their actions and reflect on ways to improve the school problem. Once members share the vision
and mission of leaders change will occur. For example, if leaders see the importance of
participating in extracurricular events such as sports, other members will see the importance of
their participation to help motivate student’s engagement in extracurricular activities. Their
presence in such events sends a non-verbal message that has say that students are being
acknowledge for their participation in engaging in school activities. This non-verbal message
impacts students, teachers, parents, and peers in learning to adapt to support a culture that
motivates student’s engagement in school activities.
Many Latino students who enter to a different institutional experience going thru
“transfer shock,” meaning that student have to re-learn a whole new institutional culture (Ruiz,
2010). For some of these students it takes them a while to adapt to their new academic
environment. These new environment contain their own unique spaces, language, rules believes,
and values. An important strength for Latinos is the “community cultural wealth”, which consists
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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of “aspirational, familial, social, navigational, and resistance capital to help them create a better
life for themselves and their children” (Ruiz, 2010). Latino culture has units where members of it
have a strong support system, which helps them cope with struggles in other areas of their life.
As many minority students, Latino students have to learn to negotiate what values and believes
they want to apply in their own functioning cultural organization. By they doing this, it helps
them to better perform in their related school culture and subcultures.
Examples of Codified Ideologies in Schools
Majority of poor and minority student have the ideology that they need monetary
resources to participate in extracurricular activates. Although playing sports require having
specific equipment such as shoes and uniforms, there are many other activities that don’t require
them to have monetary resources. A second ideology is that in order to participate in an
extracurricular activity you must have a specific skill to be part of the group. In many cases
having a skill will get you in an activity, but it is not necessary to have this skill fully developed.
For example, joining the guitar club. Many students joining such activities because they enjoy
being part of it, to socialize with peers, or they want to improve in that specific skill. Last
common ideology, is that students must have good grades or parental permission to join such
activities. Although in many cases this may be true, joining an art club or volunteering doesn’t
requires many things to have in order to participate in such activities.
Many of these students may feel that due to their income or ethnic background can stop
them from participating in school extracurricular activities. However, many of these students
who seek activities outside the school context to meet their needs. This behavior leads other
member’s to see how poor and minority students believe and value the importance of
participation in extracurricular activities. Members of the organizational culture that have the
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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ideology that school extracurricular activities have a greater and positive long-term benefit, may
provide understanding to local members of the benefit from helping youth in engaging them in
school activities. These members in the organizational culture who see the important of students
involvement in activates, many find ways to find resources, donate equipment, or fundraise
monetary assets for all students to have equal opportunities to participate in enriching
extracurricular activities that help their development.
Actors Engagement in the Presentation of Rituals that Generate an Organizational Culture
Common ritual in activities held in school extracurricular events are the Pledge
allegiance, wearing a specific dress code or uniforms, and having welcoming and leaving parties.
For school extracurricular activities, common members participate in social activities like doing
bond fires, sitting together during lunch or go to winter formal or prom together. These
presentations of rituals that coexist in organizational cultures of extracurricular activity groups
not only help generate and reinforce and organizational culture but it also helps students develop
their self-identify that related to their subculture believes and values. Such rituals that are being
practice within a school context or extracurricular activities can help create school bonding,
which leads students to connect with their schools and administration that have a diverse
background than them (Brown, & Evans, 2002).
Individuals Relating to an Organizational Culture
Individuals’ that relate to an organizational culture must be a member of the organization.
Most members of the organization know they are active agents that play an important role in the
development of the culture of the organization. These members also know that they play an
important role on how the culture continues to change. For individuals who are connected thru a
extended family member or exposed to a member of the organizational culture may relate to the
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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organization as they see that some of the history, qualities, understanding, traditions, rituals,
ideology, laws, beliefs, values, or shared vision and mission may be similar to their own
organization.
As quoted in Garcia, Agbemakplido, Abdella, Lopez, and Register (2006) article,
“schools and classrooms are microcosms of the larger society, spaces that bring multiracial,
multilingual, and multicultural values, identities, and experiences to bear on daily routines and
dynamics”; they touched on important factors that create this organizational cultures and
subculture that exist in schools. Most importantly they talked about how teacher can create a
positive “classroom culture” by them learning about their students perceptions. Their analysis of
the letters written by the low performing students reflected that teachers who estimate safe,
respectful, culturally sensitivity, and responsive learning community helped create relationships
between students, teachers, and families. A good example of how others can benefit from
students perspectives is by looking at student’s personal stories. For instance, Garcia’s article
wrote about a students contributed to a class discussion who was not Muslim. Her background
knowledge of having a friend who was Muslim helped her relate to experiences of being
misunderstood and stereotyped due to their culture and gender. The fact that this student had
Muslim culture awareness and knowledge help her connect and build relationships with people
who were not similar as her. When teacher see the students perspective and their characteristics
such as race, ethnicity, language, ethnic/racial culture, gender, sexual orientation, and class it
helps them build relationships that teachers them about their students world views/immediate
cultures or subcultures. For example, academic administration and after school program staff can
have similar learning experiences like the student who had a Muslim friend, which she gained
“cultural competency skills, awareness, and knowledge.
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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Organizational Culture Speaking to School Reform Effort and Improving Student
Achievement
Participation in extracurricular activity is associated with low rates of early school
dropout (Mahoney & Cairns, 1997). More specifically, academically successful students who
reported greater engagement in extracurricular activities also engaged more in class work.
Participation of school extracurricular activities has improved student achievement by improving
student grade (Marsh, 1992), standardized test scores (Gerber, 1996), attend school more
regularly (Mahoney & Cairs, 1997; Mahoney, Cairns, & Farmer, 2003), and have higher self
concepts (Marsh, 1992).
Flores-Gonzalez (2000) study found a strong link between high school retention and
extracurricular activities in Latino students who attended to high schools that had limited funds.
Students who reported higher participation in extracurricular activities were more likely to stay
in school and graduate. Interest, their finding also found that students who ended up dropping out
was due to lack of interest from participating from unorganized and unstructured extracurricular
activities provided by their limited funded high schools. Similarly, Shernoff and Vandell (2007)
found that continues engagement in after school activities was mostly related to the activity
quality and intrinsic motivation of the participant. It is possible that poverty and minority
students who do participate in school extracurricular activities may not be as well-organized and
as fun as activities that are provided are higher social economical status schools.
Conclusion
It is important to understand that these subcultures in an organizational culture (lowincome/high attendance of minorities and higher income/low attendance of minorities) have
different missions, ideologies, and set of ritual practices for their schools. We can better
Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
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understand how engagements in school extracurricular activity operate, with also understanding
how students operate, when we are aware of the uniqueness of other subsystem that exist within
the organizational culture. Having in mind the uniqueness of these subsystem, members of these
organizations can better address school reformed problems and improve student’s achievement
and resiliency (Brooks, 2006).
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