Underrepresentation Theory

Organisation Theory and Underrepresentation of Minorities in School Administration

INTRODUCTION

The economic growth of any nation or society is dependent upon its youth. They are the future leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, economists etc. and so regardless of race, ethnicity or income they all deserve to have equal educational opportunities. In most developed countries opportunities are created in public school organisations, which are managed by school administrators, who through their leadership, management and social skills create a healthy and positive environment of learning and development and all students and staff feel secure and accepted and motivated. Youth emerge from these organisations with morals, values and behaviour that

Classical organisation theory looks to explain the behaviour of these organisations in terms of the ways in which decisions are made, power and control is distributed etc. in order to solve problems, improve outcomes and productivity [encyclopedia.com]. The first scientific analysis of organisations was done by Fredrick W. Taylor in the twenties [Lunenberg and Ornstein. pg. 6. 2012]. He was the first to change the view that management and best results were based on experience and common sense alone. He proposed a “scientific management” of work which focused on the worker and finding the “one best way” to achieve a task maximising the workers productivity. His theory was then followed by administrative management theories which looked at the productivity of the organisation as a whole. Henri Fayol, Luther Gulick, and Max Weber were all major contributors to this theory and their concepts were very similar to each other’s focusing on basic management principles with a chain of command from top to bottom, allocation of authority, order, stability and efficiency. Max Webber came up with the concept of bureaucracy, where management leads form the top down and Fayol came up with his fourteen

- Referent power that comes with one’s style and charisma. It can be gained through communication skills because it is only through communication that we are able to gain others trust, and influence and persuade them to follow or to come over to our ideas and values.

Joining peer group associations like American Association of School Administrators to build social and communication skills which are important in the working environment because it is through these skills that informal work groups are made which have been shown to enforce and influence their own norms and behaviour on the management. [Lunenburg, F.C and Ornstein, A.C pg. 10] If the minority worker is excluded from these groups because he lacks these skills then his views and ideas will not have a platform from which they can be voiced. This kind of social interaction gives the worker the advantage of making contacts to gain access to “gate keepers” of the management teams and it also helps improve their understanding of the norms of the society, which is especially important for those individuals who have emigrated from other countries with different social and cultural backgrounds. Public education after all is the provision of a public service to everyone regardless