Political Case Study

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Dec 6, 2023

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1 POLITICAL ANALYSIS Case Study: Political Analysis Frank D’Errico School of Education, Liberty University Author Note Frank D’Errico I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this assignment should be addressed to Frank D’Errico Email: faderrico@liberty.edu

2 POLITICAL ANALYSIS The distribution of power which has an influence over the culture, decisions, and curriculum, among other organizational areas, can occur through multiple pathways within the high school setting. For leaders to be effective, they must be able to influence their staff and community stakeholders (Elias 2008). Although social power exists within all organizations, the appearance that it takes within the high school structure can vary; in fact, defining social power is not a very easy task in this sense, at times, can seem to call for its own sense of definition depending on the organization itself (Elias, 2008). The logistics of the leadership within Knight High School hinges at times on the politics not just within the state of New Jersey, but within the community itself; there are times that there are self-driven agendas, and unfortunately, agendas driven from the top down. It is through the distribution of power and organizational politics that the political lens offers a perspective of how these pathways influence the structure of Knights High School. Organizational Power Organizational power can be clearly seen through observability within Knights High School, which starts at the Board of Education and works its way down to the Superintendent, Business Administrator, Principal, Vice Principal/Director/Supervisors, Lead Teachers, and Teachers (Van Vliet, 2010. However, the power that each of those layers holds within it is not of equal authority in various ways. A study in 1959 by social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven broke power down into five different forms: Coercive power, Reward power, Legitimate power, Referent power, and Expert power, all of which can affect a person's leadership and ability to be overall successful (Van Vliet, 2010). Within the Knights High School, the Board of Education, the Chief Administration, and the Building Administration have the ability to use coercive power. There are times when this use of power falls out of the hands of the administration but is still coercive as policies flow in from the Department

3 POLITICAL ANALYSIS of Education, as there is occasionally tension from federal and state policy flowing in with new laws about hot topics such as gender identification, policy updates, and curriculums. There are many cases where this power comes into action within Knights School because it goes against the personal beliefs of many people. In many administrations, there is still the need to put the policy in place and abide by it, and if anyone fails to follow the policy, then the consequences that can lay ahead of them are very high and intense. It is challenging to have these conversations and not portray them as a threat but to articulate them with the seriousness that comes along with them, and many times; there is dissatisfaction that comes along with these policies, among many others that the Federal and State governments are consistently imposing upon schools. In collaboration with the Board of Education, the Superintendent can move as far as recommending tenure charges against an employee if their actions rise to that level of action, to withhold a pay increment, to non-renew a non-tenure staff in addition to less formal consequences such as a meeting, an email, or a letter in their personnel file. Reward power is offering compensation to a target in exchange for compliance (Elias, 2008). This form of power offers, at times, great incentives; however, it also comes with some downfalls. The administration and teachers' union both possess this power. However, it only comes around every three years when these terms and stipends have been set in place, as this is currently a problem in areas such as homebound instruction, covering classes, and attending IEP meetings. The once fair rate incentive no longer fits the term of a reward and has left the organization looking for outside sources to fit many of the needs left open. Since both parties have this power, contracts become held up, and the district becomes reliant on organizations outside the teaching staff to provide services for the students that many staff once did. Organizational politics has played a significant role in this part of the distribution of power; while the mission and vision are about the students, behind the scenes, they become contradictory to that in many ways. At each meeting, the negotiation team on both sides returns the

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4 POLITICAL ANALYSIS proposal. It returns to the table again with more fine-tuning and adjustments, power moves, and bundles, just trying to move the needle more in their direction. Some rewards do not involve contracts or financial obligations that allow the administration to reward teachers for their hard work. Teacher appreciation week is when the administration can serve the staff each day with various treats and lunches; there are often jeans or sneakers for staff with perfect attendance, and there are even some days when staff can leave half days with the students. Unfortunately, there are sometimes no rewards bur rather consequences, and staff see that when the building administration must use legitimate power as it is a part of the daily responsibilities of running a school. The leadership role calls for consequences at times. Specifically, as the Vice Principal and Supervisor of World Language, an incident arose where an anonymous video was sent from a student of a teacher talking about the school administrators and how bad it was working at Knights High School. It was within the Supervisor's role to investigate the incident, interview the staff, and move forward with a letter in their personnel file. A great appreciation and respect are very similar to a lead teacher who has excellent use of referent power as they are often the role model who, in a sense, is the first layer before administration. Often, these staff members are the go-to staff members and are the ones that many will look to and follow their lead. This relationship makes using expert power so critical as an administrator because establishing this relationship is where the ability to move things progressively happens. It is often said by the administration and often seems to go right out the ears of many staff; however, when the lead teachers say it or can be seen in action by others, it speaks to a high level to many others. Adjustments to the block scheduling, which allows freshman students to remain in math all year versus one block, were found through the use of expert power and collaboration of staff data review

5 POLITICAL ANALYSIS and professional findings on where the deficiency is within the current math curriculum and how the incoming freshman test scores can begin to improve. Power Coalitions and Alliances Knights High School functions together in all components to carry out the school's mission and vision. Each component, though not perspective, must collaborate, or else the system is set to derail quickly. Within the organization, three minimum collations and alliances govern each of the significant set of employees of the school, each of which holds power within their unit and, although they function together, can cause kinks within the organizational system itself, ultimately slowing down productivity. The teachers function under the Knights Education Association and the New Jersey Education Association, which are solid unions and constantly evaluate whether anything the administration asks for is within the proper guidelines. Their power is very significant in understanding the contract terms, what they do not have to do, and ensuring each member is representative in all circumstances and, if something is out of the contract, to file a grievance against the school administration. When it comes time for negations it is important to look for the win-win, but to come to an agreement on these seems to be all more difficult (Bolman and Deal, 2021). The building-level administration functions under the New Jersey Principal and Supervisor Association, which is the union that guides the building level in any decision-making or areas that would call for representation in need of legal guidance. They also closely work together to align with the SEA contract to ensure no violations occur and that all requests are within the contract language; this is a consistent review of the policies and contract language. Knights School has its attorney in addition to functioning under the Board of Education, which has the final approvals that come as a recommendation from the Superintendent. This collaboration of the Superintendent with the Board of Education is where the majority of final decisions come with the

6 POLITICAL ANALYSIS business administrators in areas from staff hiring, maternity leaves, curriculum, and field trips, among other day-to-day decisions that allow Knights High School to run operationally and academically each day. Looking beyond the unions' structures and negating, finding those working towards the common interest one is pursuing becomes essential. When a team of administration and staff come together and work towards a joint initiative, it speaks more in terms of action than it just does works; therefore, allying with members who are working towards a common goal of creating restorative practices is much more obtainable when done by members who want to be a part of it. The ability to create an alliance of staff, students, and parents with the administration makes the ability to change much more robust than by force. Upward Influence Knights High School strongly influences the staff to strive to achieve their vision and goals. It provides opportunities to present their agenda outlines and the ability to provide their schedule of activities to obtain approval for these events (Bolman & Deal, 2021). For example, Physical Education teachers last school year brought the concern of student hygiene to the supervisor as students were not getting changed for gym class. After several meetings with the department and discussing the uniform policy, the significant cause of students not changing for the physical education class was a result of students wearing black tights and white t-shirts which made it hard to determine whether students were changing or not, this led to an increase of teacher referrals to the nurse among other health concerns. After several conversations with the administration, the determination was that the staff should research outside policies, investigate what a dress code would look like, create a proposal, and be able to convene the direction the department would like to go in and be able to respond to their concerns such as financial questions as well as grading policies. The staff went back and, after several months, put together a proposal, and by August, there was a submission in the student handbook and an official gym

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7 POLITICAL ANALYSIS uniform policy; however, there were some steps in those months that took revisions, questions, review of grading policies, and need for all staff to be consistent. The gym teachers' influence on policy was a great demonstration that the staff and department team have a significant influence and the ability to affect change in Knights High School, and a supervisor is willing to bring it to the administration table. The staff at Knights High School may not go as far as changing policy. However, they can influence how we address professional development, the after-school clubs we have, how we recognize staff and students, and how we address diversity. Their influence on students and our building is endless, only sometimes possible, but open for discussion. Conclusion It was once said that leadership is not a position given but a decision made, which is true on many levels. Each member within Knights School has their own set of power, and their use of it can lead people effectively and influence them or the opposite and draw them away. The political lens of an organization draws many pathways to the various forms of power within an organization and how each one put in use can influence their staff to move upward or remain stagnant in many ways. Even in Knights School, unions begin to make their line in the sand quickly, as do administrators at times. However, in the grand scheme of things, when those alliances come together for the greater good of the vision, the real purpose and intention for which each is there begins to come together.

8 POLITICAL ANALYSIS References Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (7th ed.). Jossey-Bass. Elias, S. (2008). "Fifty years of influence in the workplace: The evolution of the French and Raven power taxonomy," Journal of Management History, 14 (3), 267– 283. https://doi.org/10.1108/17511340810880634 Van Vliet, V. (2010). Five Forms of Power (French and Raven). https://www.toolshero.com/leadership/five-forms-of-power-french-raven/

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