HEADON CONSULTING LIMITED

TYPES OF POWER

Education Management in Kenya BY

Ibra Haumara

3/4/2013

ii

Contents

TYPES OF POWER .................................................................................................................................................. 1

Reward power ................................................................................................................................................................................1

Coercive power ..............................................................................................................................................................................1

Legitimate power ..........................................................................................................................................................................1

Referent power ..............................................................................................................................................................................2

Expert power ..................................................................................................................................................................................2

CHALLENGES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA....................... 3

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................3

Curriculum .......................................................................................................................................................................................4

Mismatch of training and outcome ......................................................................................................................................4

Regional and gender disparity ...............................................................................................................................................4

Human resource management...............................................................................................................................................5

Political interference...................................................................................................................................................................5

High student teacher ratio .......................................................................................................................................................6

Finances .............................................................................................................................................................................................6

Emerging issues.............................................................................................................................................................................6

Cultural issues ................................................................................................................................................................................7

Poor performance ........................................................................................................................................................................7

Information Communication Technology ........................................................................................................................8

Poor infrastructure/amenities ..............................................................................................................................................8

Bureaucracy.....................................................................................................................................................................................8

Poverty ...............................................................................................................................................................................................9

BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................................................................10

1

TYPES OF POWER

There are several classifications of power according to psychologists Raven and French

(Basis of Social Power)

Reward power

Reward power is based on the perceived ability to give positive consequences or remove

negative ones. A person holding a given position, which has control of certain rewards, has

influence over other individuals in a subservient positions who want and value the

rewards. This person has the right or ability to give or take away some of the organization’s

resources or form alliances. The said rewards could be in form of pay hikes, promotions,

bonuses, increased responsibilities, feedback, and new equipment among others. They

may also be exemption from certain duties, privileged access to some information club or

society or even special off days. However, it is important for educational managers to note

that some of these rewards may not actually appeal to their junior staff/students or

subordinate staff if the rewards bear no significant advantage or value to their staff.

Research has shown that employees seem to perform better in institutions where they

view the reward power as valuable. Educational institutions rarely have attractive reward

power but a good manager should be able to motivate his staff through non-monetary

means such as recognition, praise more responsibility and so forth (Okumbe 1998). This

kind of power when used well, as opposed to coercive power, increases attraction and

decreases the levels of resistance to the minimum (French and Raven 1959)

Coercive power

Coercive is based on the perceived ability to punish those who would not comply with

ideas from a given authority. Power may be exercised through sheer physical strength

verbal facility or the ability to withdraw or grant emotional support. Coercive power is

meant to force people to adhere to laid down rules and policies of an institution. For

instance in educational institutions coercive power is exercised by teachers over students

in discipline and by the school head on his/her teaching staff by ensuring that lessons are

taught well and teachers do not abscond from duty. This power, according to French and

Raven decreases attraction and causes high resistance among the employees.

Legitimate power

This is based on the notion that someone has the right to prescribe behavior and influence

opinion due to election or appointment to a certain position of authority. For French and

Raven (1959), the more legitimate the coercion, the less it will produce resistance and

decreased attraction.

In educational institutions for instance, the person with authority holds legitimate power

such he/she may have his way without resistance because of the official position they hold

and the legitimacy attached to such office. A head teacher may therefore direct his teaching

staff as so wishes to perform certain tasks with no resistance regardless of how the

teachers may feel because they understand the validity of the legitimate rights held by the

head teacher.

Legitimate power can be derived from culture, social structure and legal/institutional

groups or associations. Culturally you have legitimate power if you are mature (older)

better educated, in a respectable career and associated with success. A social class perhaps

is the oldest source of legitimate power in history with ruling class or family being the most

common. Organizational hierarchy has recently seen CEOs of successful companies enjoy

legitimate power across social circles and indeed educational establishments (such as the

collaboration of KU with Equity Bank based on the high profile of Equity Bank CEO,

J.Mwangi).

Finally, chairpersons and heads of legal groups such as KNUT, KUPPET, University councils

and school boards all enjoy legitimate powers derived from those groupings, which they in

turn use to direct the affairs of the institutions they head as well as influence those that

they work in collaboration with (i.e. the government)

Referent power

This is powered acquired, held and exercised through a close association with other

individuals who posses such real power

Power wielded by people of reputable character, remarkable personal qualities and

behavior worth emulating can be immense and with no specific boundaries. A person in

close association with such kind of people could also be considered powerful by virtue of

this association and many times is assumed to more or less of equal character. For instance,

Oprah Winfrey a long time successful media personality and author is considered one of

the most influential people in the world. Dr. Phil McGraw a Psychologist who a few years

ago was virtually unknown to many Americans is now a household name because of his

close association with Oprah that was the beginning of his personal success.

The same way-marketing firms that interact with celebrities have referent power of selling

their companies products through the celebrities that they in the first place market. For

French and Raven (1959), for any type of power, the size of the range may vary greatly, but

in general, referent power will have the broadest range.

Expert power

This is based on having distinctive power knowledge or ability to work a certain job or skill

Teachers and professors have expert knowledge in class when it comes to mastery and

delivery of curriculum and in some cases even influence the content of what is to be taught

in schools. This is however limited to those who perform non-staff functions such as deans

of schools, deputy vice chancellors, educational officers and so forth.

Part 2

CHALLENGES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA

Introduction

Since independence, the government and people of Kenya have been committed to

improving our system of education to allow a greater participation in response to the rising

population and the need for alleviation of ignorance, poverty, disease, acquisition and

production of diverse human resource and relevant competitive skills to help in nation

building. This has been done in the light of the belief that education is a human right and

Kenya being a signatory to the Universal Declaration of human rights charter, which came

into force in 1948, has attempted through various policy documents and plans to capture

the above goals. Hence policies like EFA education foe All and UPE universal primary

education have formed part of the MDGs millennium development goals for many African

Countries south of Sahara. While experimenting with different systems from different

proposals made by different commissions over the years, the most visible result is the

expansion of many learning institutions in Kenya and the consequent sprouting of many

others within the broad policy framework since 1963. Kenya has succeeded in establishing

a comprehensive network of schools in the past four decades and led the region in an

impressive increase in adult literacy by increasing access to education for groups

previously unable to access the system: the poor, the old, pastoralist community’s e.t.c.

(Sifuna D. N (2005)

Since the turn of the 20th century, market forces have rapidly changed the educational

industry. Due to globalization, increased government regulation and increased

consolidation and competition many educational institutions have had to re-evaluate their

models in order to stay competitive. Good managers should be able to turn their

institutions into a flexible, efficient and extremely capable tool, which meets the needs of

an ever-evolving society (Stukalina 2006).

However, over the years serious challenges have bedeviled the development of these

educational institutions and hampered the ability to realize the set objectives of access,

retention equity quality and relevance in educational institutions.

The managers of educational institutions have experienced many challenges because of

accumulation of unsolved problems from various policies since the start of educational

institutions reforms in Kenya. Among these challenges, include:

Curriculum

Workshops such as the 2005 heads of primary schools workshop held in Nairobi provided

an induction exercise for the head teachers on the basics of Infusion and integration and

how to guide their teaching staff on the implementation of the curriculum. Managers of

educational institutions have been unable to have an agreed approach in teaching of

emerging issues such as HIV, teen pregnancies or drug abuse and have often resorted to

expulsion of pregnant teens from school.

However, despite effort taken to identify and solve the problems of subject content in the

curriculum the evaluation reports 82 and 84 of KIE on the implementation of the revised

primary education curriculum still sited unnecessary and overlapping content in Social

studies, Religious education and Kiswahili, the time allocated in covering the subject

content and extent. Physical education, a co-curricular subject that used to be taught in

schools over the past decade s has now been scrapped off the teaching timetable and

replaced by examinable subjects. This is often due to pressure from parents the school

board and administration to improve performance at the expense of emotional and

physical well being. As a result, it is common to see young obese children especially in the

city suburbs where affluent schools are located.

Mismatch of training and outcome

There is no existing systematic and agreeable method of on the job staff training in

educational institutions in Kenya. While other civil servants enjoy a proper and specialized

training in management at the Kenya Institute of management, Mangers of educational

institutions only rely on advanced higher education from Universities and colleges and

even then, until recently, there were no specific courses designed for educational

management. Hence, the purpose of training and acquisition of more skills for many in

educational institutions has been to earn promotions and improve their financial positions

but not to tackle the challenges faced in the running of their institutions. In other instances

those who have undergone certain trainings such as how to integrate emerging issues in

their institutions have failed to produce the desired outcome because the candidates are

taught in perfect environments but have to practice in institutions where all types of

impediments that they have not been prepared for or are used are present.

Regional and gender disparity

Kenya is geographically diverse as its peoples and cultures. Since independence, the

expansion of educational institutions has favored the agriculturally rich and densely

populated areas. The ASAL areas in Kenya that are predominantly dry with harsh

conditions have suffered when it comes to allocation of resources for education. The areas

are not attractive to entrepreneurs, settlement or education institution because of the

difficulty in accessing some of the most basic amenities and infrastructure such as water,

electricity and roads. Other regions in Central Kenya, Western and Nyanza and some parts

of Coast of Kenya have enjoyed an immense growth in educational institutions because of

the weather and availability of auxiliary services. These regions have also to have the

highest number of literacy of both genders hence implementation of educational

programs and policies is much easier compared to places such as Northern Kenya where

illiterate parents see little value in education especially of girls. Managers of educational

institutions in these areas often have difficulties in implementing policies as communities,

here value boys more than girls and hence only educate their boys.

Human resource management

Formal training

Most managers of educational institutions in Kenya have no formal training in human

resource management. The allocation of duties and tasks done merely as an administrative

function does not improve the managerial skills of the person or position. Managing and

coordination of staff at an institution is a different function all together. Behind an

institution’s success, lies the ability of the manager to create a comfortable working

environment with shared goals and a shared vision where each one has a unique as well a

collective role in the process.

Handling of rebellious teachers:

The management’s ability to handle rebellious teachers will make the institution either a

success or a failure. In schools, the rebellious teachers if not fairly dealt with and given an

opportunity to voice their grievances, the management risks being labeled dictatorial. On

the other hand, teachers and staff may gang up against the school management and

frustrate efforts to implement policies or projects important to the school by going on cold

strikes or boycotting or abstaining from voting in crucial staff meetings

Political interference

Interference by politicians is a very common phenomenon in many educational

institutions in Kenya. Stakeholders such as school boards, university councils, local

authorities such as chiefs and the clergy (in schools ran by religious denominations) may

interfere with the appointment of heads and principals or influence how certain subjects

are taught.

In all public higher learning institutions in Kenya, the president still appoints the

chancellors of universities and to some extent may influence who becomes the vice

chancellors. The appointees therefore serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority.

Members of parliament also have significant influence on the running of educational

institutions in their constituencies. It is a common thing for a member of parliament who

often claims to be acting on behalf of the local mwananchi, accompanied by a group of

angry, banner carrying residents to march into an educational institution and forcefully

uproot a principal or head or director from his/her office. Other may use less crude means

by launching a massive campaign against the institution management especially on

national media or sponsor lobby groups to influence transfers of certain preferred or non-

preferred managers.

High student teacher ratio

The introduction of free primary education in 2003 and subsidized secondary education

saw the increase in enrolment of students in many educational institutions double, putting

a strain on learning facilities, space and human resource. Heads of institutions continue to

grapple with shortage of teaching staff because of the difficulty of allocating duties to staff

where students completely overrun the number of teachers. Maintaining order and

discipline in such institutions especially secondary and primary schools with boarding

facilities need close supervision is hard.

Finances

Financial management

This is a skill that many educational managers do not posses. Since many of them lack

proper training in financial management hence cannot fully account for huge sums of

money in their budget leaving the work to the school bursar or institution’s accountant

who often use this loophole to embezzle funds.

Inadequate funding

This is experienced by small schools and an institution inhibits planning by the

management and makes it difficult for them to seek alternative sources of funding to satisfy

basic needs. Since banks and financial institutions have confidence only in big successful

educational institutions, it is difficult for small struggling schools to secure private loans for

development of school infrastructure.

Irregular school grants

The little government funding educational managers rely on is not guaranteed, fluctuates

and arrives late most of the time, making planning and execution of programs difficult.

Most schools operate on debts and experience student strikes due to inability to replace

worn out facilities or satisfy student/staff daily needs.

Emerging issues

HIV and teenage parents

Student-parents are an issue that impedes the smooth running of schools. Student

absenteeism caused by HIV orphaned teenagers who are thrust into the position f heading

their families and have therefore to provide for the necessities can no longer attend school

regularly thereby making it hard for the management of schools to achieve set curriculum

objectives.

HIV and Teaching Staff

HIV also affects the performance of teaching staff and to some extent reduces the number

of teaching staff when they are forced to take months off school for bed rest, absent for

teaching duties a number off days during the week or eventually succumb to AIDS.

HIV and hungry students

Some heads of educational institutions have to deal with an extra budget of providing food

for HIV positive students or HIV affected students who cannot get food at home and are on

medication. Some students have been forced to quit in order to work and get the much-

needed nourishment when taking ARVs.

Cultural issues

There are some areas in Kenya where traditional culture still plays a very big role in

people’s lives despite the obvious superseding role education has in society. For instance in

places like Maasai land Samburu, Turkana or North Eastern Province, communities have

been known to violently resist any attempt to appoint a woman, however qualified, to head

an educational institution because of the gender biased culture of favoring boys over girls.

A female manager heading an educational institution in such areas may not get full

cooperation from parents or community and this greatly affects the running of the

institution. Other difficulties could be in the area of religion where certain may only accept

a manager who is of the same religious conviction.

Even men heading educational institutions in these areas experience difficulties when

trying to reach out to empower girls and may incur the wrath of men in those

communities who may perceive the actions of the manager as immoral or inappropriate for

instance championing for HIV AIDS education, reproductive health education( sex

education) or distribution of sanitary towels

Poor performance

Poor performance may arguably be the most cited reason for transfers of managers of

educational institutions in Kenya. There is a lot of pressure on managers whose institutions

have a record of poor performance and ironically low cooperation from stakeholders such

as parents and teachers in uplifting the performance. This pressure of past poor

performance makes it hard for managers to turn the record around overnight as most

stakeholders would want and leaves the long-term plans of a good manager at the mercy of

angry parents or board who want quick results especially in national exams.

Information Communication Technology

According to Stukalina (2006), the educational environment is an important ingredient in determining the quality of education. He argues that there is a demand for analysis of the educational environment components, and the factors that influence its formation and perfection in addition to as the ability to adapt and keep up with the rapid technological and social changes. A key element of development of a country’s educational system is the formation of a suitable educational environment based on the current information technology. This gives a powerful educational tool for teachers and students as well as makes efficient, the work of the manager of any educational institution. (Stukalina, 2006) According to a report by Ministry of Higher education Science and Technology and the National Council of Science and Technology (2010), many institutions of education in Kenya are still far behind in ICT and rely on traditional methods of education, which are slowly becoming second rate. The report further reveals that while most secondary schools have some computer equipment, “only a fraction is equipped with basic ICT infrastructure necessary for teaching and learning. ICT in public primary school is described as almost negligible”. Managers of these institutions are torn on where to get the money to buy computers, provide specialized ICT training to their teachers and pay for technical assistance and internet

Poor infrastructure/amenities

An institution with poor infrastructure cannot bring out quality students. While a school

building and classrooms are basic, other things such as co-curricular and extra curricula

facilities are equally important in the

Bureaucracy

Expelling of students is a process

Processes that follow a long tiresome chain of command can be frustrating for both the

student and institution manager. The decision is made only after it follows a long chain of

school board, D.E.O, P.D.E and sometimes the Ministry of Education before a final decision

is made. This can be time wasting.

Release of funds from the ministry

This also takes time especially with bursaries and school development allocations, which

may run into the following financial year. Some day-to-day needs of the school may be

grounded if money form the ministry has to wait for signatures and scrutiny of busy

officials

Coordination

As a process coordination of activities need not be long and cumbersome. Requests to

launch private programs to be run by public schools can take very long to be cleared by the

ministry with the long chain of officials involved. Even getting official letters from the

ministry allowing public schools to participate in any private educational programs such as

sex education, reproductive health, inclusive special education or HIV education can take

ages.

Poverty

One of the main goals of past reviews of the goals of education in Kenya has been to have

an educational system that can help alleviate poverty. Poverty can prevent the

development of educational institutions since many resources are required in the running

and maintenance of these institutions. Having students that cannot pay for their education

means that the management cannot pay its staff and teachers nor provide the necessary

equipment and teaching aids required. Running a school in a poor community can be a

challenge because parents will be less supportive, students less attentive because they have

to grapple with other duties of working to help parents in getting food.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. John R.P French. Jr. and Bertram Raven (1959) The Basis of Social Power /Principles

of Management Articles

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_french_raven_bases_social_powe

r.html

http://www2.eou.edu/~blarison/321afren.html

2. Daniel N. Sifuna: Wajibu: A journal of Social and Religious Concern. Vol 20 No. 5.

2005

http://africa.peacelink.org/wajibu/articles/art_6901.html

3. J.A Okumbe (1998). Educational Management - Theory and Practice. Nairobi

University Press.

4. Yu Stukalina : (2006) New Challenges in the management of educational

institutions Computer Modeling and New Technologies, , Vol.10, No.2, 26-29

http://www.tsi.lv/RSR/v102/art03.pdf

5. Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and National Council for Science and Technology Sept/2010 ICT Capacities and Capabilities in Secondary Schools in Kenya 2009/2010 NCST No: 046

6. K.I.E research reports series. (August 2007, no 82). Report on the monitoring of phase III of the implementation of the revised primary education curriculum. Kenya institute of education. Nairobi

7. K.I.E research reports series. (April 2007, no 84). Report on the monitoring of phase

IV of the implementation of the revised primary education curriculum. Kenya institute of education. Nairobi