Implications of OB for School Managers
Three Implications for Managers
1. Develop skills
- OB focuses on improving productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, and increasing employee satisfaction.
- To be effective, managers must develop their people and interpersonal skills.
2. Use systematic study, not generalisations
- We all hold generalisations about the behaviour of people.
- Some provide valid insights; many are erroneous.
- OB uses systematic study for predictions of behaviour, not intuition; people are different.
3. Embrace challenges and opportunities
- OB helps managers see the value of diversity in the workforce.
- Improves productivity by learning how to empower people and design change programmes.
- Creates an ethical climate.
OB theory translates into three implications for what a school manager should do differently, each with practical applications.
Implication 1: Develop interpersonal skills
The first implication is direct.
OB especially focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and increase employee satisfaction. As such, to be effective in their jobs, managers must develop their people and interpersonal skills.
A school head can be technically brilliant (strong on curriculum, finance, planning) and still produce a struggling school if she lacks interpersonal skills. The OB findings show that the four outcomes (productivity, absenteeism, turnover, satisfaction) depend heavily on how the manager interacts with people.
Specific interpersonal skills a school head can develop:
- Listening. Not waiting to speak, but actually hearing what the other person is saying.
- Difficult conversations. Addressing performance issues directly without damaging the relationship.
- Conflict handling. Working through disagreements to resolution rather than suppressing them.
- Recognition. Noticing good work and naming it.
- Coaching. Helping a teacher find her own solution rather than imposing yours.
- Reading the room. Sensing the mood of a meeting, a staffroom, an assembly.
A principal who works on these skills deliberately, treating them as professional development like she would a curriculum skill, becomes more effective over time. A principal who treats interpersonal skills as something she either has or does not have stops developing.
Implication 2: Use systematic study, not generalisations
The second implication is about how to think about behaviour.
We all hold generalisations about the behaviour of people. Some may provide valid insights into human behaviour. Many are erroneous. OB uses systematic study for predictions of behaviour, not intuition, as people are different.
A school head, like everyone else, carries generalisations: about young teachers, about parents from certain backgrounds, about students who behave a certain way in class. Some of these generalisations are useful. Many are not.
OB offers an alternative: systematic study. Instead of relying on what feels true, gather data. Instead of acting on intuition alone, check it against evidence.
In practice for a school head:
- Survey staff. Anonymous surveys reveal patterns that informal conversation does not.
- Track outcomes by category. Are certain teaching approaches producing better results? Are certain student groups falling behind?
- Compare across schools. Visit other schools; benchmark practices.
- Read research. Education research, even if narrowly applicable, broadens the data set.
- Test interventions. Try a change in one section; measure the effect; scale only if it works.
A school head who relies on intuition alone reproduces the same patterns year after year. A school head who tests her intuitions against evidence improves her judgement over time.
Why this is hard
Systematic study is uncomfortable. It often produces findings that contradict what the manager believed. The new teacher she dismissed as “not committed” may be the most engaged person on the staff. The senior teacher she relied on may be the least productive.
Most managers resist this discomfort. They prefer the intuitions that feel right. The result is a school that does not improve. A school head who can hold the discomfort and let the data change her mind is rare and valuable.
Implication 3: Embrace challenges and opportunities
The third implication is about the strategic value of OB.
OB helps managers to see the value of diversity in the workforce. Can improve productivity by learning how to empower people, and how to design and implement change programmes. Create ethical climate.
Three specific applications.
Diversity as an asset
A school with a diverse staff (different backgrounds, perspectives, teaching styles) produces a richer education. OB reframes diversity from a challenge to manage into an asset to leverage.
This matters in Pakistani schools where staff often come from similar backgrounds. Deliberately hiring for diversity in perspective, even within similar formal credentials, expands what the school can offer students.
Empowerment for productivity
The OB research is clear: empowered employees produce more than tightly controlled ones. A teacher who has autonomy over her classroom, voice in school decisions, and growth opportunities produces better teaching than one who is micro-managed.
A school head who internalises this empowers staff deliberately. She does not abandon accountability; she pairs autonomy with clear standards and feedback.
Change programmes
Change is hard. OB offers tools for designing change programmes that actually work (covered in detail in the Change Management chapter later). A school head with OB knowledge launches change initiatives that succeed; a school head without it launches initiatives that fail in predictable ways.
Ethical climate
A school’s ethical climate is the implicit set of norms about what is acceptable. OB connects ethical climate to staff behaviour, productivity, and the school’s long-term reputation.
A school where small ethical lapses are tolerated soon has larger ones. A school where ethical standards are held even when costly develops a reputation that attracts staff, students, and parents.
A school head builds the ethical climate primarily through her own behaviour. What she does in moments of pressure sets the tone for what everyone else does.
What OB does not do
It is worth naming what OB does not do.
- OB does not solve problems on its own. It gives tools. The manager has to use them.
- OB does not eliminate the need for judgement. Even with data and systematic study, the manager still has to decide.
- OB does not replace human relationships. The frameworks help, but the work is still relational.
A school head who treats OB as a magic toolkit is disappointed. A school head who treats it as a useful supplement to her own judgement and relationships does better work.
Develop interpersonal skills, use systematic study, embrace diversity and change.
Treat listening, difficult conversations, conflict handling, and coaching as learnable skills. Replace intuition alone with intuition tested against survey, tracking, and benchmarking data. Treat diversity as an asset, empower staff for productivity, and build an ethical climate through your own behaviour.
How was this article?