A critical assessment of the role of conversational leadership in overcoming resistance to change in public high schools in Umlazi District

Abstract

Organisational Development (OD) and change management literature defines resistance to change as an impediment, an inevitable and natural reaction to change. South African Education System is not performing well especially public schools due to several factors including teacher resistance to curriculum reforms. Resistance to change by school educators is one of the impediments to achieving the goal of quality education in the republic. Resistance shall be apparent regardless of how reasonable or necessary, a change may be. The rationale behind this research was to critically assess the role of conversational leadership in overcoming resistance to change. It explored the contribution of conversational leadership concept in managing change in public high schools.Change is implemented for positive reasons so that schools can remain competitive by producing products, which can participate meaningfully in the global arena. The quality of teaching and learning (T&L) has to be improved, but often educators react negatively to change efforts by the Department of Education (DoE) or even National Government. They are several reasons why educators resist changes in schools. Lack of motivation, feeling insecure, loss of freedom, fear of the unknown, lack of knowledge and skills, internalised individual and organisational habits, lack of involvement and participation in decision making and policy formulation, lack of trust and poor channels of communication are some of the reasons. A lot of literature seems to view resistance as something wrong. On that note, there is a missing link. Resistance can be positive. However, there are several ways School Management Teams (SMT) can employ to overcome resistance to change. Some of the strategies are; negotiation and agreement, encouraging teacher participation and involvement in decision making, building confidence in educators, staff development programs and support, opening lines of communication, accepting positive critic creating a democratic environment to involve all educators in designing, modifying, implementing and evaluating educational changes. The research study used the Mixed Methods design namely the quantitative and qualitative methods. To collect the required data a questionnaire containing five-point Likert scale and interviews were conducted on five high school principals and twenty educators in Umlazi district. Data collected was presented in Tables and graphs. Data analysis was done to unlock information hidden in the raw data from the survey and interviews and transforming it into something useful and meaningful. A questionnaire and interview questions were administered to principals and educators in five high schools in Umlazi. District in KwaZulu Natal Province. The following findings emerged; educators resist change if they are not involved in policy formulation. They resist change due to fear of the unknown, personal habits and perceptions as well as for security reasons. Findings revealed that educators resist change as an indication of bad relationships between principals and educators, if it’s not rewarding, if they do not receive enough support, if they find it to be a threat to established power relationships and if they do not have enough resources to implement the changes. Even if educators wish to change, the organisational behaviour of the group as well as structural norms may act as constraints. Ignoring teacher autonomy often ensures that they do not implement new changes. Communication is an essential measure to prevent changes in schools. From the findings, it was discovered that conversational leadership style has the power to manage resistance to planned change in public high schools. Conversational leadership, if properly understood and implemented can help school principals and educators discover common interests, share knowledge, imagine the future and cooperate to survive and thrive. Resistance to change in schools can be reduced through educating and communicating with educators, involvement of educators in decision making, facilitation and support and delegation of duties and responsibilities to educators. The researcher recommends that a functional research section of high qualified, competent and experienced professionals should be established at circuit, district and provincial levels. School principals should engage in an honest dialogue and discussions with the educators and all stakeholders for change to occur in schools. To keep all members of stuff motivated during the change process, principals should give them support, empower and capacitate them to try new things. Parents and all stakeholders should be fully involved in the life of the school. Change committees should be established by school principals in schools. School principals should develop themselves through studying for higher qualifications in school management. Principals should build a coalition of supporters for change. Rewarding systems should be put in place by the Department of Education. Power strategies and dictatorial tendencies cannot enforce compliance but evoke resistance. A conversational approach to managing change in schools is highly recommended. The data presented and analysed in this research study had shown that educators resist change for a number of reasons. Some of the reasons given are poor leadership, fear of the unknown, fear of losing power, lack of consultation, lack of resources, poor communication, lack of participation and involvement, poor planning, psychological factors, insecurity, organisational culture, hostile school environment as well as the discomfort associated with change. For effective change to occur in schools, there should be teacher support programmes, educators should have access to information, all stakeholders should be consulted, principals should open effective and efficient lines of communication, both human and material resources should be made available, a conducive working environment must be created and there should be transparency in the way the initiative is managed. School processes must be redefined and redesigned and adapted to specific geographical and cultural settings. Educators need to be retrained to acquire new skills and knowledge needed for change. The school tone and culture need to be reshaped to support the new initiatives introduced. Parents should fully participate in school management and administration. They should help in identifying areas that need to be changed in schools; they should support school principals and educators. Parents should organise themselves and discuss issues affecting education system in the Republic and make recommendations to the Department of Education on what they feel to be done in the education system. They must take the lead in advocating for change in schools. Some barriers to change have also been identified. Amongst the barriers are organisational culture, individual beliefs, lack of expertise, organisational politics and lack of support from Department of Education. Most principals and educators managed to give their understanding of Conversational Leadership. However, they indicated that the style is not common in most of the schools.