Change facilitation: what styles do Pakistani secondary school head teachers possess?

PurposeThis study aimed at exploring the change facilitator styles (CFS) that secondary school head teachers in Pakistan possess.Design/methodology/approachThis is a quantitative study using Hall and George CFS questionnaire to collect data from 276 secondary school head teachers. The CFSQ used in this study consists of 30 Likert-type questions relating to six scales. The six scales, with five items each in aggregate, form three possible CFS, including initiator, manager and responder.FindingsThe results indicate that most secondary school head teachers (75.7%) in Pakistan used responder CFS to facilitate change in their schools. 16.7% of the head teachers used manger, while only 7.6% possessed initiator change facilitation styles.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has implications for research, in particular in the developing countries where head teachers' leadership practices are rooted in the past with maintaining authority and status quo.Practical implicationsThe study has implications for policymakers and schools in developing countries, like Pakistan, in terms of considering the vital role of head teachers in change implementation. In particular, in the prevailing cluster-based educational management, the study's findings remain valuable for schools in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.Originality/valueThe paper reports the results regarding secondary school head teachers' change facilitator styles in the context of power devolution in Pakistan. The authors believe that the manuscript is appropriate for publication by the international journal of educational management because it is in line with the aims and scope of the journal. The authors assure the originality of this work. It has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication in any other journal.

Head teachers’ change facilitation styles and teachers’ concerns about ICT integration

The study aimed to identify the influence of head teachers’ change facilitator styles (CFS) on teachers’ concerns about ICT integration. The three CFS (responder, manager and initiator) were studied in relation to its influence on teachers’ seven stages of concern (unconcerned, informational, personal, management, consequence, collaboration and refocusing) about ICT integration. Both styles and concerns are embodied in the concerns-based adoption model, which guided the theoretical framework of the study. This quantitative study used CFS and stages of concerns questionnaire to collect data from 276 secondary school teachers. Initially, teachers’ concerns were explored, followed by head teachers’ CFS and their influence on teachers’ concerns about ICT integration. The results showed that secondary school teachers’ concerns, regarding ICT integration, were at the initial stages as reflected by their high mean scores on personal and informational stages. Findings inform about the responder as a dominant CFS used by secondary school head teachers. The data suggest differences in terms of the influence of head teachers’ three CFS on teachers’ concerns about ICT integration.

Democratization of organizational change process through deliberation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine deliberation in the context of organizational change and introduce an organizational jury as a change facilitator. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on an empirical study of four organizational juries that were organized by a non-profit organization in Finland. The main data of the study consist of a survey that the juries’ participants filled in. The data are triangulated with observations of jury meetings and relevant documents including pre-jury information package, jury presentations and juries’ proposals. In the analysis, the paper adopts deliberative democracy criteria to assess the inclusiveness, authenticity and consequentiality of the deliberative process. Findings The research findings suggest that the juries increased the inclusiveness of decision making and the quality of deliberation about the changes among the employees. The results indicate that juries facilitated the change process by providing a means for information sharing and building a shared understanding among the stakeholders. The main weakness of the juries was their low consequentiality. Originality/value Deliberative jury method provides a participative way to build and preserve socially shared meanings in an organizational change context. However, the studies on the use of deliberative forums in the organizational context are still scarce. Thus, the study provides an important addition to the existing research literature.