Road to Success or Destruction of a Charter School
Road To Success or Destruction for A Charter School
Jean M. Smith
MGT 330: Management for Organizations
Instructor Sheila Fry
November 19, 2012
Working in education is very interesting and also rewarding. Education is the backbone to society, yet is often taken for granted and underappreciated. School districts are just like a big organization or conglomerate, and are run like a business. Charter schools are slightly different than independent school districts, in that they are usually much smaller. However, one can really see the five functions of management at work in a charter school; planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Of the five functions of management, planning is the single most important function of management that affects the outcome of any organization. Charter schools are required to have their goals and how they plan to achieve those goals, written out and presented to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in order to be granted a charter to start the school. Therefore, planning is the key.
Koinonia Community Learning Academy (KCLA), is a fairly new charter school in the heart of Third ward in Houston, Texas. This is its third school year and I just came aboard in July. Immediately I could tell that the planning function was not well thought out or executed; as a matter of fact, it appeared non-existent. When starting a school you must consider the demographics of the chosen location, what’s to be accomplished and how to accomplish the goal. The church that started the charter school didn’t map out exactly how to achieve the particular goal (Cliffnotes.com, 2012). They did not go through the steps of planning such as examining the internal and external environment to discover the strengths and weaknesses; determining which goals to pursue; choose strategies to achieve the goals; allocating organizational resources to pursue the goals (Reilly, Minnick, Baack, 2011). The church did not take those necessary
Jean M. Smith
MGT 330: Management for Organizations
Instructor Sheila Fry
November 19, 2012
Working in education is very interesting and also rewarding. Education is the backbone to society, yet is often taken for granted and underappreciated. School districts are just like a big organization or conglomerate, and are run like a business. Charter schools are slightly different than independent school districts, in that they are usually much smaller. However, one can really see the five functions of management at work in a charter school; planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Of the five functions of management, planning is the single most important function of management that affects the outcome of any organization. Charter schools are required to have their goals and how they plan to achieve those goals, written out and presented to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in order to be granted a charter to start the school. Therefore, planning is the key.
Koinonia Community Learning Academy (KCLA), is a fairly new charter school in the heart of Third ward in Houston, Texas. This is its third school year and I just came aboard in July. Immediately I could tell that the planning function was not well thought out or executed; as a matter of fact, it appeared non-existent. When starting a school you must consider the demographics of the chosen location, what’s to be accomplished and how to accomplish the goal. The church that started the charter school didn’t map out exactly how to achieve the particular goal (Cliffnotes.com, 2012). They did not go through the steps of planning such as examining the internal and external environment to discover the strengths and weaknesses; determining which goals to pursue; choose strategies to achieve the goals; allocating organizational resources to pursue the goals (Reilly, Minnick, Baack, 2011). The church did not take those necessary
References: Brown, S. P. (2008). Business Processes and Business Functions: A New Way of Looking at Employment. Monthly Labor Review, 131(12), 51-70. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=12&sid=a379a510-bd1c-4c88-8c73-314334b93264%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=eoh&AN=1086866 on Nov 19, 2012. Huang, T. (2000). Are the human resource practices of effective firms distinctly different from those of poorly performing ones? Evidence from Taiwanese enterprises. International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 11(2), 436-451. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=12&sid=1caac514-f9d6-43d7-a615-007ed60a7382%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4ODU2ODk3JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bsh&AN=4219936 on Nov. 19, 2012 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Functions-of-Managers.topicArticleId-8944,articleId-8848.html https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUMGT330.11.1/sections/sec1.3