Academic literature on the topic 'School management and organization – Namibia – Omusati'

Purpose – Professor Slawomir Magala is a full professor of Cross-Management at the Department of Organization and Personnel Management in Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University (RSM, 2015). His education stems from Poland, Germany and the USA, and has taught and conducted research in China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Estonia, the United Kingdom and Namibia. He is a former Chair for Cross-Cultural Management at RSM and has achieved many things, from being editor-in-chief of the Journal of Organizational Change Management (JOCM), to receiving the Erasmus Research Institute in Management (ERIM) Book Award (2010), for The Management of Meaning in Organizations (Routledge, 2009). It has received honors for being the best book in one of the domains of management research. It was selected by an academic committee, consisting of the Scientific Directors of CentER (Tilburg University), METEOR (University of Maastricht) and SOM (University of Groningen). All these research schools are accredited by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This is a review of Professor Slawomir Magala’s contributions as editor of Journal of Organizational Change Management. Findings – Slawomir (Slawek) Magala will be known for many contributions to social, organizational, managerial research, and it will be remembered that he has created a great legacy in the field of cross-cultural competence and communication on processes of sense making in professional bureaucracies. He has authored and co-authored many publications including articles, books, professional publications, book contributions and other outputs, and is an established professor of cross-cultural management at the Department of Organization and Personnel Management in RSM, Erasmus University. He will be known for his work as editor of Qualitative Sociology Review, and one of the founding members of the Association for Cross-Cultural Competence in Management, not to mention the Journal of Organizational Change Management. Many of his articles have appeared regularly in leading refereed journals, such as the European Journal of International Management, Public Policy, Critical Perspectives on International Business and Human Resources Development International. His greatest legacy is in the field of cross-cultural management, but branches out to many other management studies. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to his work in capacity of editor of Journal of Organizational Change Management. Practical implications – This review provides a guide for positive role model of an excellent editorship of a journal. Social implications – Magala’s legacy acknowledges this research and its power to create numerous papers and attract a lot of attention (Flory and Magala, 2014). Because of these conferences, these empirical findings have led to disseminating the conference findings with JOCM (Flory and Magala, 2014). According to them, narrative research has become a respectable research method, but they also feel that it is still burdened with a lot of controversies on with difficulties linked to applying it across different disciplines (Flory and Magala, 2014). Originality/value – The review covers the creative accomplishment of Professor Magala as editor.

Organizations globally are challenged with a very volatile, fast changing environment. It is only those organizations that develop the capacity to change timeously that will survive in this millennium. (Meyer & Botha, 2000, p.23) Organizational development (OD) is a planned change approach aimed at changing behaviour and enhancing organizational effectiveness. Central to such an approach is continuous business process improvement. OD rests on the foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, and it is imperative that organizations adopt systematic methodologies in introducing business improvement interventions. The study introduced an OD approach to one of the rural primary schools in the Omusati region of Namibia, with the purpose of examining if it would bring change in the school. My goal was to explore participants' experience and perception of the OD process and to investigate the possible short term outcome of such an intervention. The case study involved 16 staff members made up of a principal, one head of department and 14 teachers. Data was gathered through formal interviews with the principal, head of department and three teachers, through a focus group interview with teachers, and through observation and observation note entries. The study found that OD was a new concept approach to the participants which differs completely from the way that change processes are introduced in the schools. Participants felt that introducing change in an organization using an OD approach can bring effective change, but it can also place huge demands on participants' commitment. This is particularly so if they do not adopt it as an internal process of business improvement. The OD approach is a long-term change process and not a quick fix. Finally, the outcome of the intervention indicated enthusiasm for the school to continue addressing the prevailing challenges despite various obstacles that they do not have control over.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how instructional leadership manifests itself and can be strengthened in a Namibian rural school. As a teacher, head of department and later an education officer, I have long held the view that committed school leadership is essential for the school’s instructional and academic success. Equally, I have always been aware of the impact of the past segregation and the unequal education provided by the colonial government in South Africa and South West Africa/Namibia. The inferior education provided to Africans posed a serious challenge to the leadership and management of schools, as would be principals were not adequately trained to provide the necessary “ingredients” relevant for instructional success. Given this background, I attempted, using a case study of one secondary school, to investigate how instructional leadership is manifesting itself and could be strengthened in a rural school in the Omusati region of Namibia. Research questions that framed the study were: firstly, how does the leadership approach in the school promote teaching and learning; secondly, what is the role of external players in enhancing instructional leadership and thirdly, what are the strengthening and inhibiting factors of instructional leadership. The population of the study was composed of an Inspector of Education, a school principal, a head of department (HOD) and four teachers from a secondary school, located in the Omusati region in Namibia. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis and observation. With regard to data analysis, I first immersed myself in the data. I developed themes that formed the basis of my discussion with my research questions in mind. The analysis revealed that instructional leadership is strongly evidenced at the case study school. However, it emerged that despite the existence of strong instructional leadership at the school, as with all other organisations, there are several challenges that limit the effective implementation of the teaching and learning programme. These challenges vary from indiscipline, poor time management, to lack of teaching and learning resources. Participants also provided a number of possible solutions to the problems identified, including that the principal should be a good role model for the staff and that an enabling environment for both teaching and learning should be created. The study also strongly suggested that participative leadership and management is a cornerstone to the academic success of the school.

The evolution of traditional educational leadership theory to contemporary leadership theory came as a response to an increased demand for better services in schools by creating platforms for learner leadership such as distributed leadership where learner leadership is located. This study of learner leadership is conducted in a secondary school in Omusati region of Namibia. Drawing on distributed leadership theory, the study sought to promote the distribution of leadership opportunities amongst all educational stakeholders, including learners, as provided for by policy and projected by educational leadership theory. The motivation of this study was the need to understand the problems associated with learner leadership as identified by past research. In addition, this study hoped to address the gap in the literature by exploring learner leadership development opportunities developing agency in learners through a Change Laboratory (CL) intervention. This study was as a transformative case study, how the grade 9s in the case study school were involved in leadership, the constraining factors that hindered the involvement of grade 9 learners in leadership, the enhancement of learner leadership at school, the positive contributions of CL workshops to participants and the leadership growth brought about by an intervention. This study generated data through observation, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and Change Laboratory Workshops. The findings revealed that the grade 9 learners were marginally involved in leadership at the school. The most substantial challenge relates to traditional and outdated views of leadership on the part of teachers and educational managers. Additionally, the findings from the Change Laboratory workshops revealed that despite grade 9 learners being the youngest at school, they have the potential to be learner leaders. Hence in addition to several practical recommendations, the study recommends a change of mindset towards learner leadership so that opportunities are provided to contribute to the growth and development of learners. Finally, these research study findings will help my professional colleagues and policy makers in education to better understand the significance role of learner leadership involvements in schools.

Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
Community participation is a concept adopted to ensure participation and give opportunities to communities to determine their own destination in terms of their needs. It is a means of empowering people by developing their skills and abilities to enable them to negotiate with the development delivery system and to equip them to make their own decisions in terms of their development needs and priorities. The aim of the study is to asses community participation in the development planning and service delivery system by the Omusati Regional Council. As a government institution at the grass root level, it has a task to deliver required basic services through development programmes and projects. Interviews and participatory observation, including project visits were the methods used to collect information on the implementation of community participation in the decision making processes, and project implementation by the Omusati Regional Council. The study is structured into six chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the general introduction, background to the study, the statement of the problem, the hypothesis, objective of the study, perceptions, research methodology, significance of the study and organisation of the study. Chapter 2 discusses the theory and philosophy of community participation. It conceptualizes the key terms of community participation in development planning, such as sustainable development, integrated development planning and projects, decentralised development and the building block of development integrated rural development, basic service delivery and indigenous knowledge systems. Chapter 3 highlights the policy framework on community participation in terms of international, national and regional development planning policy documents. Chapter 4 is concerned with the local context of study (Omusati Regional Council), while Chapter 5 presents the data results, interpretation and analysis. Chapter 6 reflects the conclusion and the way forward.

Participative management, a key theme in contemporary management literature, is one of the central aims of the decentralization policy in Namibian education. Current perceptions of participative management on the part of teachers in Namibia are therefore of topical interest. This study set out to explore such perceptions among teachers in a Namibian primary school. The study is an interpretive case study focusing on six individual teachers’ understanding and experience of participative management within their place of work, a primary school in the Oshikoto region of Namibia. Semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis were used to gather data. The study revealed a strong sense of commitment among the respondents to participative management and its accompanying practices, such as shared decision making and broad stakeholder involvement. Participative management was implemented chiefly through a committee structure for school organisation and government. Respondents also highlighted challenges facing participative management, such as the persistence of autocratic leadership, conflicts of interest in decision making, laziness and unwillingness among staff members, and a lack of understanding among parents concerning their role in the schooling of their children. HIV/AIDS was also seen to pose challenges to the free and frequent participation of stakeholders. The chief recommendation arising from these findings is that school leaders and managers’ understanding of tenets of participative management, such as site-based management and democratic management approaches, requires improvement and development.

The purpose of this research was to investigate three principals’ perceptions and experience of participative management and to gain insight into and understanding of the dimensions involved in participative management from the perspective of the three principals. The research was conducted within the interpretive paradigm, since I was interested in understanding the subjective experience and individual perceptions of three principals with regard to participative management and the meaning they attach to it in their natural settings: how they describe, interpret and make sense of participative management. Data were collected by means of questionnaires, interviews and observation. The findings indicate overwhelming support for the notion that participative management (collegiality) does have a positive influence with regard to creating a sense of common goals, shared vision, a sense of ownership, commitment and improved human relations. The respondents emphasized the critical role of the leader in facilitating the implementation of collegiality as well as an increasing awareness of the potential of participative management to improve human development through delegation. The responses revealed interesting paradoxes with regard to the tensions between leadership and leaderless organizations, as well as between autonomy and interdependence. Responses also reflect the sentiment that participative management should be selective, involving only those with the necessary skills and expertise in the decision-making process. While there is an appreciation of the benefits to be derived from collegiality, critical statements about participative management include the time-consuming nature of participative management, and the notion that participative management impinges on the authority of the principals.

Post independent Namibia adopted a decentralization policy which involved the transfer of decision-making powers and administrative authority from central government to government institutions, including schools, with a view to improving quality. However, despite new educational policies, Namibian educators continue to operate in a non-participatory manner and are unprepared for their role as change agents. This has created tension between the espoused benefits of decentralizing and the reality in schools. In such a turbulent situation schools need to be helped to understand the complexity of change in order to adapt, and OD plays a crucial role in this regard. OD is a consciously thought of and systematically implemented organization-wide improvement effort which aims at increasing organizational effectiveness and health through action research. Rather than a top-down change approach, the OD practice adopts a bottom-up approach to change. This study introduced and investigated an OD intervention in a Namibian rural school in Ohanguena Education Region, with the purpose of exploring participants’ perceptions and experience of the process and of the possible short-term outcome of the intervention. Its findings could be of significance to educators, organizations and future OD esearchers. The study is an action research case study located in the interpretive and critical paradigms. Multiple data collection tools were used during this study, namely observations, structured one-to-one interviews and focus group interviews. Interpretive analysis was used as the data analysis approach. The study found that despite OD being new to participants, it was embraced as a change strategy as it made significant impact on their understanding of organizations and conception of change which is radically different from the common top-down approach to change. The intervention further empowered participants with new skills of initiating change and problem-solving strategies. Apart from that, the intervention yielded a positive short-term outcome which motivated participants to adopt and apply OD in the future without underestimating challenges associated with the process.

The Namibian education system is at the crossroads as a result of the demands of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), a programme initiated by the Government to address shortcomings in the education and training sector. ETSIP requires that school principals play a much more significant role to realize the goal of quality education, which is one of the major goals of education reform. In view of the ever-increasing responsibilities of the principals for ensuring the quality of education, the need for management development has become more apparent. Although management development for principals in the African context is a recent phenomenon, it has been a subject of extensive research over the years in many developed countries. The findings of these studies suggest that it has the potential to improve the quality of school leadership and ultimately lead to school improvement. In Namibia, literature suggests that little has been done to determine the needs of school principals with regards to their management development. This study therefore seeks to address that need. The study is situated in the interpretive research paradigm whose central purpose is to interpret and understand the phenomenon through the perceptions and experience of the participants. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings generally suggest that principals perceive management development as vehicle to empowerment and capacity building. The findings further suggest that principals would prefer management programmes that are more experienced-based and offer opportunities for reflection. The findings also brought to light the aspect of monitoring and support as a critical element in the success of management development programmes. As far as the management development needs of school principals are concerned, the findings highlighted the following needs: the need to be trained on how to manage change which include the new curriculum and policies, training in information communication and technology and training in the management of human and financial resources which include instructional leadership and budgeting.

After Independence in 1991, Namibia embarked on implementing a new and different educational system. This system was seen as a radical departure from the old apartheid system. The Namibian government approached Ibis, a Danish NGO, to support the change process by establishing and developing a new subject, life science, in Junior Secondary schools in Namibia through the Life Science Project (LSP). In a project of this nature, where a foreign (Danish) educational intervention in a relatively young and new democracy is the issue, cross-cultural aspects are likely to emerge, and these are the focus of this study. This half-thesis is an attempt to illuminate, not to evaluate, managerial as well as cross-cultural features of the project based on perceptions of selected Danish managers and Namibian advisory teachers from the former LSP expressed in the goal of the research: - To explore selected leaders’ and participants’ perception of the management of the Life Science Project. In line with this goal, I elected to conduct the research in the interpretive paradigm, using unstructured interviews as my chief source of data. The findings illuminate what would appear to be an inconsistency in the management of the project. The project seemed to be able to accommodate regional and even personal differences and to be flexible to internal changes. At the same time it appears that in its relationship to the external or task environment it did not show the same openness and flexibility to accommodate diversity. It is suggested that this could be a result of the apparent failure on the part of the project to clarify its own underlying values. The study also reveals interesting and unexpected perceptions of leadership, which may also be interpreted in terms of cultural values and beliefs. These two features of managerial issues could lead one to reflect upon the importance of recognising values in organisations which work across cultures.

Special needs education has always provided special challenges to school administrators, policy makers and teachers. The world-wide move towards inclusive education as an alternative to exclusive education or casual mainstreaming has resulted in significant developments in Namibia in the past decade. Global educational reforms have focused on education for all as well as inclusive education and Namibia is signatory to several conventions and declarations in this regard. Research in this field has largely focused on the role of the inclusive teacher, and of course the special needs of the learners. Little or no attention has been paid to possible managerial and organisational challenges which accompany the move to inclusive education. This thesis seeks to critically investigate the managerial implications of inclusive education. The focal point of this research is to gain a clear understanding of the managerial implications in an inclusive school for learners with visual impairment, chiefly through an exploration of the experiences of management members of the inclusive process. The research is located within a qualitative research paradigm, which is subsumed by a phenomenological model. The data gathered through in-depth interviews include many anecdotal accounts that provide insight into the ways respondents reacted to experiences at the inclusive school. The main findings of the research are highlighted and discussed. Recommendations arising from a critical analysis of these main findings are presented.