The process of decision-making is basic for the school management system. In many ways, the success of an educational organization is directly linked with the capability of school administrative leaders to make tough calls. The role of decision-making in educational management holds an intrinsic value towards running the wheels of a school. Both leaders and educational managers are responsible to take commendable charge of decision-making power to utilize it in taking better actions for the whole school.
Some hands-on strategies for better-decision making in educational management ---
Determining the Priority
Both the quality of the decision and the due time to come up with resolutions are one of the major concerns of educational managers. They have to be rational about meeting urgent tasks and prioritize those. Though it is important to consider involving team participation in all significant decisions, a wise leader must use autocratic as well as collaborative participation only after considering the relevancy and possibility to practice decision-making power.
Many a time when decision-making process leads to more disagreement between the staffs, those situation calls for responsible leaders to assist teachers and support team to be centered around the major question and achieve consensus without much delay. An effective management process in schools can only take place when group discussion happens objectively where all members can get on board.
Clarity in Vision
Apart from the day-to-day decision-making process, school administrator's participation in clarifying the school's vision and working towards achieving those core purposes are an integral part of their job. This sort of decision-making demands constant commitment and realizing the technicality of how the school is supposed to run as well as how the teaching and learning need to be ingrained. The role of decision-making in educational management is a substantial process. When leaders have clear visions, when staffs are well- co-ordinated and communication can take place continuously, the decision-making process becomes effective.
Productive Use of Time
There can be multiple things that need attention within a school. While some decision may require collaboration, brainstorming and long discussion via meetings and other may need to be resolved immediately. An active administrator is someone who can choose to decide without much procrastination. A leader's role to take a call with or without the support of the staff members had a direct implication on the school being an effective institution. Though the complexity of a situation often makes it more difficult to locate the gray areas, however, the completion of a certain task needs to be prompted within a timeframe.
Watch this video to know few traits of an effective administrator.
Considering the Interest of the Stakeholders
Students, teachers, parents, and all other staff are the legit stakeholders of a school. The majority of the decision-making happens around the learning process of the school. Other than following the government guidelines, embracing the shared interest to reach a collective agreement within school needs to be exercised regularly. Also, in terms of administrative decisions, when support personnel interest is highly relevant for any situation, participation and coordination of other members must be brought to light.
Call for Collaboration
Though there can be leaders for each different department, nonetheless school administrators work as a team. Their quality decision-making significantly depends on collaboration. While deciding on important tasks staff support is a must to call for. Leaders of the educational institute can only curve the effective school reform when staff’s expertise is utilized in the right direction at the right time. A leader's responsibility in the process is to create objectives for each meeting, keeping the staff goal-directed and prompting the right question to help reach the conclusion.
The whole process of decision-making is heavily dependent on the administrative leaders. In many ways, this is influence by the decision-making style and the experience of individual leaders. Uncertainty will always be there. Therefore, it is intrinsic to know oneself – how & why they choose certain paths, what sort of decision-making strategies or models should be used, and whom to involve in that process.
Conclusion
The decision-making process may or may not be always black and white, a true leader must always be willing to take risks, explore different options and work alongside the team to navigate through difficult situations. Enhancing the skills of a modern administrative leader has become easier with the educational administration and management courses now. By determining the priority, utilizing time productively, involving stakeholders, and clarifying the purpose of decision making with collaboration school administrator can impact the growth significantly.
Written By : Debalina Chakraborty