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not guided by the official organizational patterns of relationship. Such interactions however, do
change the experience, knowledge, attitudes and emotions of people. He also asserted that
individual satisfaction greatly affects organizational achievement.
Several other scholars made significant contribution towards behavioural science movement,
the most notable being Douglas Macgregor, with his theory X and Y, Fredrick Herzberg and
Abraham Maslow. The work of these theorists is presented in detailed form in the lesson on
motivation theories.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS
INTRODUCTION
In our last sub topic, we studied the educational administration theories. We shall now explore
the functions of an administrator? This concern was addressed by Fayol in early 20 lh century.
As early as 1916, Fayol dealt with what he called the elements of management - Planning,
Organizing, Commanding, Coordinating and Controlling. The administrative process is a
conceptualization intended as a useful guide to the administrator that suggests how the
educational administrator would behave if they want their activity to result to the best
attainment of objectives.
3.3. Components of the Administrative Process (POSDCoRB)
attached special meaning to each element. Since then, numerous other variations of the list have
been suggested. The better known of these variations is that of Gullick and Ucwick (1935).
Gullick's taxonomy, better known or memorized in educational administration as POSDCoRB,
was for long seen to be the ultimate in administrative thought. POSDCoRB is an abbreviation
coined from the first letter of each word in the list.
P-Planning
O-Organizing
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S-Staffing
D-Directing
C-Coordinating
R-Reporting
B-Budgeting
Fayol's treatment of the administrative functions shown above had a major impact on
subsequent formulations of the administrative process (such as Gullick's).When discussing the
process of administration; it is convenient to describe each function of the process separately.
This however, does not mean that administrative processes are a series of discrete functions;
they may be performed simultaneously. Gullick's POSDCoRB stands for activities necessary to
the proper functioning of the administrative process and he acknowledged it as an adaptation of
Fayol's functional analysis.
Planning
According to Gullick, it is the working-out in broad outline the things that need to be done and
the methods for doing them to accomplish organization's objectives. It is one of the most
important administrative functions because it sets the pattern for other activities to follow. It
encompasses four elements,
i. Evaluating environmental forces and organizational resources- this enables us to know
where we stand know the problems we need to solve, understand dangers of the
situation and the expected results.
ii. Establishing goals (both for enterprise and individuals)
iii. Developing strategies and plans
iv. Formulating decision-making processes
Planning is generally accorded primacy since logically it is the first function that is performed.
The results of planning are plans that serve as guide for the actions of members of staff. Some
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plans are developed to serve a given project, for example, building a new plant, or school hall
.Some become relatively permanent in nature and are called standing plans, for example,
schemes of work, policies, procedure and methods.
In its simplest form, planning is an activity that can be executed by any member of the
organization. A teacher may plan their individual dairy for his or her work schedule. Planning
involves setting missions and objectives and the actions from alternatives. It involves decision-
making and choosing future courses of action from alternatives. Planning bridges the gap
between where we are and where we want to be in future. It thus involves introduction of new
things and workable implementation strategy. Although the future cannot always be accurately
predicted, unless there is planning, actions will be aimless and left to chance. Plans enable
people to know their purposes and objectives, their tasks and the guidelines to follow.
Organizing
People working together have roles to play .Role implies that people have definite purpose or
objectives. Staff in organization will work effectively if they know the part they are to play in
any team operation and how their roles relate to one another. To design and maintain these
systems of role is the basic managerial function of organizing. Organizing involves:
i. Identifying and classifying the activities
ii. Grouping the activities (departmentation)
iii. Assigning each group to a manager (supervisor)
Organizing therefore, involves establishing an internal structure of roles for people to fill in an
organization. It ensures that all tasks are assigned
Gullick defines organizing as the establishment of the formal structure of authority through
which work subdivisions are arranged, defined and coordinated for the defined, objective. It is
assigned and coordinated .Organizing involves laying out the program of the ' enterprise and
assigning responsibilities and functions to members of staff. Organizing in may be seen as
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establishing order, function and design. That is, after plans have been developed, the emphasis
moves to designing and developing an organization that can implement the plans.
Staffing
This refers to hiring and training members of staff and maintaining favorable working,
conditions. It is the whole personnel function of bringing and training staff after which,
ensuring that the conditions of work in which they operate are favorable.
Staffing may also be defined as the filing and keeping filed the positions in the organizations
structure. It involves identifying work force requirements, inventorying the people available,
recruiting, selecting, placing, promoting, planning their career, compensating and training (staff
Directing
It is sometimes referred to as commanding or simulating. It is the continued supervision of
workers and their work, making decisions and leading the enterprise. This function is
performed at all levels of authority and in all departments of the enterprise. After policies have
been formulated and issues of staffing resolved, the next logical step becomes directing the
employees toward attaining the stated goals. The essential function of directing is to get
employees to perform towards achieving the goals. It involves motivating and influencing
employees.
Coordinating
In any organization efforts are made in different ways. Employees working for similar interest
may interpret them differently. It becomes important to reconcile differences in approach, effort
or interest and to harmonize individual goals to contribute to organizational goals. Coordinating
therefore is inter-relating the, parts of the total enterprise into a harmonious whole and avoiding
conflict and duplications, which interfere with the entire enterprise.
Teachers at the different levels of the school coordinate to ensure smooth transition from one
class to the next. This could be for the purpose of content sequencing .Also, teachers teaching
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different streams need to coordinate to ensure their activities are in sync. Teachers in different
departments may need to coordinate to avoid duplication.
Coordination is necessary for integrating specialized and diverse functions into one whole. It
assists individual staff members to work together in a team relationship. An often used way of
coordination is having one person responsible for knowing what ill others in the group are
doing, so that he/she relates activities of each person to that of others. The person charged with
coordination must:
i. Know the relations among people
ii. Understand allocation of tasks
iii. Know the division of labour necessary to achievement
Reporting
This entails keeping all members of staff informed of what goes on so that they may be able to
perform their part or role in a harmonious and coordinated way. This involves keeping the
subordinates and their superiors informed through records, research, inspection and memo. The
head teacher is responsible to educational authorities and society for whatever is done at the
institution. It is important therefore that records are kept and reports sent to concerned parties.
Budgeting
Budgeting refers to fiscal planning, accounting control and maintaining the financial stability of
the enterprise. Budgeting involves preparing formal statements of future expenditure, revenues
and expected profits to control the use of the organization's financial resources. Budgeting is a
detailed administrative practice used to ensure goals, plans and policies are met. They set a
standard for output (production). By specifying resources to be used, budgeting helps
successful implementation of strategies. Budgeting leads to efficient use of resources, preserves
resources, and establishes a mechanism for analysis. It is concerned with all that goes on in the
enterprise in the form of fiscal planning, accounting and control.
Activity
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