Mountain City School District Case Analysis
Mountain City is an over populated city with schools that are in need of a transformation.
The city caters to five high schools, ten middle schools, forty elementary schools and a
vocational program for post high school education. Problems have evolved in the school districts
due to the decreasing funding from the government and students’ low performances on
standardized test. These problems have created a lot of media attention and the administrators
have showed concern as a result. While trying to find solutions to the current problems in the
school district, they discover there are unresolved internal problems between them and their
employee. The administrators are determined to find a solution to better their relationship with
employees.
Problem Statement
Mountain city school district has an internal conflict between employees and
administrators, which has resulted in employees distrust for mangers. The main factors of the
problem between mountain city administrators and employees are due to the organizational
system, management style, employee dissatisfaction and poor communication. The problem will
be analyzed through the functional approach, classical approach and Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs theory.
Problem Analysis
The employees expressed their love for what they do and express that they have a good
relationship with their immediate supervisor. This shows that their goals are aligned with the
overall goal of the organization. As a result, they are willing to have a say in decision making
and are quite enthusiastic about voicing their opinions to help transform the school. According to
Maslow hierarchy of needs theory, low order needs have been met but the higher order needs
have not. These employees are provided with wages, have no reported safety issues and have
good relationships with their immediate supervisor and co-workers. This accounts for their
physiological, safety and affiliation needs stated by Maslow.
However, the esteem needs are not met this is evident when the employees stated in the
survey that they have no recognition for their effort. They also stated that they never know how
well they are doing their job. This only shows that there is no reward system for employees and
they feel their effort is going unrecognized. Which makes it hard to fulfill their self-actualization
needs because their esteem is some worth lowered. Employees also state that their input does not
matter and they have no useful feedback for potential advancement. This further explains the
self-actualization needs because they want to take more responsibility and help in the decision
making process but they are not given the chance.
The communication between the administrators and the employees is really poor, it takes
the form of the classical approach. One of the employees stated that there is no upward
communication, which only shows that the communication is only downward. Another
employees stated that the “the hill wants it their way you’ better live with that”. This shows a
style of management called the benevolent authoritative’ according to Likert systems IV. All the
decisions happened at the top with no employee input. The communication director Leslie
Tingey stated that the employees did not receive the new programs and policies well. This shows
that the employees disapprove of it because they had no input. That also proves that the
communication direction is downward and style of communication is formal.
Clearly, there is no communication when employees say that they see the administrators
very few times. It is evident that the administrators are not listening to the employees when they
make the few visits that they do. This is because the administrators are surprised about the
outcome of the employee surveys as it relates to them. If the communication was good they
would have picked it up way before the survey. In other words, communication only happens
when the administrators give orders to the employee. This survey was done ten years prior with
the same outcome. This means that in between the ten years no one knew how the employees felt
about the administrators.
The school district operates under a closed system as described by the functional
approach. They do not take in new information or feedback from the employees and as a result
the students are negatively affected academically. The change messages are not being utilized
even after ten years the school district remains unchanged. They have not implemented any
employee suggestions instead they implement new programs and policies. The communication
channel is through the employee survey and is mostly in written form.
It is fair to acknowledge that the cut back in employees and financial support from the
government has also affected the administrators. The situation has caused them to be over
worked, and has influenced low visits. The communication input is therefore influenced by these
factors and communication throughout did not take place. That is why the communication
output is still the same. In other words, since the school district operates under a closed system,
they did not implement the change messages implied by the employee survey and that is the
reason for the lack of progress after ten years.
Possible Solutions
The first suggestion would be to provide staff meetings on a regular basis to allow feedback,
open discussion sessions, also recognition of performances to show appreciation of employees .
Another suggestion is to host a social event (Award parties) to honor employees for their hard
work. This way they also get to meet with the administrators and they get a chance to socialize
outside work and network. One of the employees stated he has only seen three visits in his three
years, administrators should visit schools monthly. They can also use technology communication
mediums such as video chats. The administrators should also conduct a survey yearly to measure
employee satisfaction more effectively and measure progress.
Best Solutions
The best solutions would be monthly visits by the administrators and staff meetings
within each school. The staff meeting within each school is one of the best solution because
employees will be recognized for their efforts or achievement. They will also be allowed to voice
their opinions which will be implemented in decision making. It would cost little to no money,
this solution only requires time from their employees and immediate supervisors. The immediate
supervisors and the employees have a good relationship therefore it will be easy to setup a
meeting. A monthly visit by the administrators is also one of the best solutions because this will
decrease employee distrust. The employees see them more and the administrators can make
better decisions because they are more familiar with the school needs.
Implementation of best solutions
The staff meetings will happen bi-weekly among employees and immediate
supervisors in each school. The immediate supervisor will acknowledge employees good work,
efforts and achievements. He or she might decide to give little incentives such as gift cards or
just as simple as some good words and applauding. The supervisor will also give them
generalized feedback on performance and give them room to suggest problems to solutions that’s
they face as a whole. These meetings will be permanent and should become part of the culture.
The immediate supervisor will relay these messages to the administrator on the next visit.
The monthly visits should be conducted by an administrator; each site will be assigned an
administrator. This administrator would talk to the supervisors on the visit and walk around the
facility. They would check on employees engage in small talk or possible something they
observe. They will also give employees opportunity to contact them directly via email as a
follow up to a discussion they have had. The administrator may also choose to meet the
employees all at once and in fact recognized their achievements.
Mountain city school district has not resolved the internal conflict between the
administrators and employees after ten years. The conflict is a result of the organizational
system, management style, employee dissatisfaction and poor communication. The best
solutions to this problem will be to have bi-weekly staff meetings and monthly visits from
administrators. This will be most effective because it is cost effective, increase employee morale
and encourage a team oriented style of leadership.
References
Miller, K. (2009). Organizational communication: Approaches and processes. Boston, MA:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.