Managing and Motivating

Objectives
By the end of this section, you should be
able to:
1. Identify the functions and skills of a
manager.
2. Define what is performance
management.
3. Describe ways to motivate people to
perform well

Introduction
Leaders in educational organisations are expected to
lead and to manage the organisation. In many
instances, they are seen as practitioners who lead and
manage the organisations and their performance is
evaluated against the various objectives that have been
set.
They have to be the ones who know what they really
want and how to make that happen; to be responsible
for managing the resources; to promote effectiveness;
to be held accountable for the performance; and to
create a conducive working environment so that people
can give the best in their performance (Everard, Morris
and Wilson 2004). This section will discuss these points.

A manager, according to Everard, Morris and Wilson

(2004, 10) is someone who has the following
characteristics:
1. Knows what he or she wants to happen and causes it
to happen.
2. Is responsible for controlling resources and ensuring
that they are put to good use.
3. Promotes effectiveness in work done, and a search for
continual improvement.
4. Is accountable for the performance of the unit he or
she is managing, of which he or she is a part.
5. Sets a climate or tone conducive to enabling people to
give their best.

 In line with the development on management and

leadership, a manager needs to blend management
with leadership. Everard, Morris & Wilson (2004)
divided the aims of leadership and management into
four and it can be shown as follows.
1. To provide direction for the organisation
2. To gain commitment from the people
3. To facilitate change
4. To achieve the desired results
These four aims require careful and efficient use of
resources. Managers also need to be creative and
above all, they are held responsible for the
deployment of people and other resources.

 Despite being a leader, the manager in managing

people has to play different significant functions and
roles. Everard, Morris & Wilsons classification of
managers roles (2004) are:

To
To
To
To
To

motivate the people

manage conflict
manage meetings
manage own self
manage the people

Activity 2.5
Which of the five roles do you think is most
crucial? Why?
_______________________________________________
_______
Please refer to the book by Bush and Middlewood
(2005) on Leading and Managing People in Education
(Chapter 2, pages 23 26).

Performance
management
Performance management refers to the process of
monitoring the performance of the employees in doing
their job in relation to what is supposed to be done
according to job specifications (Bush and Middlewood
2005).
In England and Wales, it is regarded as a means of
objectively monitoring and controlling the
performance of schools head teachers. Indeed,
leaders performance will be evaluated against the set
objectives. Bush and Middlewood suggested a fourpart model in relation to performance management.

Four-part model of personnel management (Bush and Middlewood

2005, 23 26)
Non-performance management
Laissez faire

Accountable
Clear goals but capability not
developed

Development
Performance development despite
lack of goals

Performance management
Purposeful in performance
development and goals setting

 According to Bush and Middlewood (2005), it is

viewed that performance management is not
supposed to be regarded as a threat, but as a
mechanism to link an individuals performance to the
set objectives. However, it was perceived as being
too bureaucratic and involved a lot paperwork. It also
did not necessarily improve performance.
The conceptions on leadership especially on school
leadership and management have changed (Davies,
Ellison and Bowring-Carr 2005). Leadership in relation
to performance management is now focusing on the
importance of teamwork as opposed to earlier focus
which looks at the individuals performance.

 Most organisations are now striving for customer

satisfaction, trying to be responsive organisations, and
are targeting to become high performance organisations.
These ambitions demand good and strong teamwork.
Therefore, to strengthen teamwork and to become a high
performance organisation, leaders have to take several
key steps that can transform their organisations.
Davies, Ellison and Bowring-Carr (2005) suggested four
steps as mentioned below as a guide:
Leaders in schools have to reorganise their schools by
aligning the power relationships, information flow, and
resource management to develop a system consisting of
self-managing teams in the core service of teaching and
learning.

2. Leaders are expected to form teams

consistent with organisational goals and to
focus on shared responsibility involving
teachers to achieve the organisational goals.
3. Leaders have to build high performance
teamwork by increasing interpersonal skills
among teachers and getting them to
participate in decision-making.
4. Leaders have to align rewards and incentives
to reflect the benefits of teamwork.

Managing is different from leading (Everard, Morris and Wilson 2004). The
following table shows the differences.
Leading
Managing

Leading is concerned with:

Vision

Strategic issues

Transformation

Ends
People

Doing the right things

Managing is concerned with:

Implementation

Operational issues

Transaction

Means

Systems

Doing things right

Previously, we have touched on things that a

manager does, and in performing his or her
functions, a manager needs to:
1. Set the direction, aims, and objectives of the
organisation.
2. Plan on how the progress will be monitored.
3. Organise the resources according to the plan.
4. Control the process.
5. Set and improve organisational standards.
(Everard, Morris and Wilson 2004)

 In motivating people, a leader as a manager has to

get the best from them so that the people will commit
themselves and perform their jobs as expected and
strive to get the best results. Who does he or she
need to motivate?
There are at least three important parties that a
manager needs to consider: the group; the
individuals; and the clients (Everard et. al., 2004).
It is a mistake if we disregard them because it is
assumed that people will work better if they are
motivated.

Activity 2.6
How would you motivate the various
groups in school?
_______________________________________
_______________