Experiential Learning Opportunity:

Interviewing a manager

Nassim Lemsafer
Jassem Jazouli
Badr Eddine Bouftasse
Walid Aboulhanna
Introduction:
A manager's job is not just to supervise the work of others. A good manager is
one who respects the 4 fundamental principles of management: controller,
leading, organizer and planning. The interview we conducted focused on the
work of a manager at a private high school in Rabat. Why should she be
considered a manager? Because she fulfils all the above principles.
Ms Siham worked for several years in this school, obviously starting at the very
bottom of the ladder. Gradually, she found herself managing the school, which
gave her a lot more responsibility. The interview was based on a number of
questions, including experience, talent requirements, ethics and, of course,
direct questions about how her work is accomplished.

Planning:
Planning is indispensable in managing a high school due to its pivotal role in
shaping every aspect of the educational experience. Firstly, planning allows
school administrators to set clear academic goals and objectives aligned with
educational standards and the needs of students. By carefully mapping out the
curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessment methods, planning ensures
that students receive a well-rounded education that prepares them for future
academic pursuits and professional endeavors. Furthermore, effective planning
facilitates the allocation of resources such as faculty, facilities, and instructional
materials, optimizing their utilization to meet the diverse needs of students and
staff. Moreover, planning enables administrators to anticipate potential
challenges and develop proactive strategies to address them, whether they
pertain to student performance, staff development, or operational efficiency.
By fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, planning
empowers high schools to adapt to changing educational trends and best
practices, ensuring that they remain responsive to the evolving needs of
students and the community. In essence, planning serves as the blueprint for
success in managing a high school, guiding decision-making, resource
allocation, and organizational efforts toward the common goal of providing a
quality education and nurturing the growth and development of all students.
Planning is paramount in management as it lays the groundwork for
organizational success by providing a structured approach to goal setting,
resource allocation, risk mitigation, coordination, decision-making,
performance evaluation, and adaptation. By defining clear objectives, assessing
resource needs, anticipating risks, and coordinating efforts across departments,
planning enables managers to make informed decisions, monitor progress, and
adapt strategies as needed to navigate dynamic business environments.
Ultimately, planning serves as the compass that guides organizational
endeavors, ensuring alignment with the organization's mission and vision while
fostering agility and resilience in pursuit of strategic objectives.
Speaking about the future is speaking about planning. Focusing on how the
organization will be doing in a few years' time. What are the new goals? New
plans? The organization will have to adapt in any case, because change is rapid
and the decisions to be made must be quick, sharp and precise without leaving
any consequences in the future.
During the interview, an example of a compensation plan was mentioned,
explaining the importance of adapting to different situations. Define the
objectives, highlighting the most important and thinking about the secondary
objectives, and evaluate the different alternatives available at the time. Identify
available resources and how to exploit them. All these criteria define the
planning cycle, that consist on a systematic approach organizations use to
develop, implement, and evaluate plans and strategies. It typically involves
stages such as assessment and analysis, goal setting, planning and strategy
development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and review and
adjustment. By repeating these stages in a cyclical manner, organizations can
adapt to changing circumstances, improve performance, and achieve their
goals effectively.
And to be more efficient and effective, we can make a SMART analysis to have
an idea about each group:

Specific:
- The planning process in managing a high school should articulate specific
objectives and goals that are clearly defined and measurable. This might
include improving graduation rates, increasing standardized test scores,
enhancing student engagement in extracurricular activities, or implementing
new educational programs.

Measurable:
- The objectives set during the planning process should be measurable to
track progress and assess success. For example, increasing graduation rates by
a certain percentage, improving test scores by a specific number of points, or
measuring the participation rates in extracurricular activities over time provide
quantifiable metrics to gauge the effectiveness of the planning efforts.

Achievable:
- It's essential that the goals set in the planning process are realistic and
attainable within the resources and constraints of the high school. Planning
should take into account factors such as available budget, staffing levels,
infrastructure, and community support to ensure that goals are achievable.

Relevant:
- The objectives outlined in the planning process should be relevant to the
mission, vision, and priorities of the high school. Planning efforts should align
with educational standards, student needs, and the expectations of
stakeholders such as parents, teachers, and the broader community.

Time-bound:
- Setting specific timelines and deadlines is crucial in the planning process to
create a sense of urgency and accountability. This might involve establishing
milestones, semester goals, or annual targets to track progress and ensure that
the objectives are achieved within a reasonable timeframe.

By applying the SMART criteria to the planning process in managing a high

school, administrators can ensure that their efforts are focused, measurable,
achievable, relevant, and time-bound, thereby maximizing the likelihood of
success in meeting the educational needs of students and fostering a culture of
continuous improvement.

Organizing:
High School Headmistress, Madame Siham, is a transformational leader who
fuses keen administrative expertise with a deep insight into the pedagogical
perspectives. Her track of change from an English teacher to the apex of school
management bears testimony to very deep dedication and a visionary
leadership approach that she holds. This change speaks not only for the person
but also his commitment toward maintaining excellence in the educational
standard and his sharp acumen for managerial skills.

Her academic background in education implies a very well-balanced and

nuanced approach to understanding the complexities of the administration of a
large educational institution. The classroom experience gave her deep insight
into student psychology and learning dynamics, with which she adeptly used to
develop teaching methodologies and curriculum development. Madame Siham
vowed to integrate this educational philosophy into successful school
management when she was assigned to an administrative post.

On the issue of education, she is of the opinion that the education being
administered should be a transforming kind, not just an academic affair.
Madame Siham bases her argument on the holistic kinds of education that give
an equal opportunity to the nurturing of emotional, intellectual, and social
faculties in a single student. This philosophy guides day-to-day interactions and
strategic decisions that may help set an environment for all students to
become better and to reach their fullest potential.

In her role as CEO, Madame Siham has implemented several innovative

strategies to promote excellence and inclusivity. Style of Leadership: She is an
empathetic, transparent, and collaborative leader, and these are the key
qualities that get reflected in her approach to leadership. She always had a
deep sense of skills to connect with every member of the school community,
ranging from students to parents, teachers, and administrative staff. Thus, it
can be said that she has been able to develop a positive school culture that
reflects mutual respect and cooperative learning through giving herself to an
open and inclusive management style.

Madame Siham represents an effective, problem-solving person who can

master the most difficult and complicated administrative issues with much
grace and inventiveness. She incorporated so many modern tools and practices
of education, which really set the learning environment lively and reachable.
Her engagement in making differences between varying cultural backgrounds
has further reached reflection to be deeply committed to sensitivity and
equality of cultures that help to foster a more inclusive and supportive
community.

The impact of Madame Siham’s leadership extends beyond the immediate

academic achievements of the school. Their work in the domain of community
involvement and outreach had significantly increased the profile and impact of
the school in the locale.

Under her supervision, she has initiated programs that not only embellish the
educational experiences of students but also contribute largely to community
service and cooperation. Her commitment, further, with sustainability and
environmental consciousness brought an attitude of responsibility for the
world in front of her students.

"Sustainability of the school has seen her inspire staff and students in practices
that will lead to environmental conservation through the various projects and
initiatives cutting across the school. However described informally, but it is
through her effective management and leadership techniques that Madame
Siham has been recognized and respected in the educational community;
maybe formal accolades are not well documented. This really had a great
impact on the respect and being successful leaders; ability to instill confidence
and trust among colleagues and the students really had a great impact in
making her a reputed and successful leader.
Her legacy within the high school is punctuated not only by the administrative
improvements and academic success she was able to achieve during her tenure
but much more largely by the relationships that she has built. These
relationships underlie her commitment to develop a supportive educational
environment, where students are encouraged to become academically
prepared and personally supported in growing themselves. Still, her dominant
force of influence and inspiration in the world remains her style of leadership,
which blends empathetic interaction with strategic foresight and an
indefatigable devotion to educational excellence. In sum, Madame Siham
energetically served as the CEO of the high school, and her administration is
marked by a lot of strategic successes that have not only enhanced the
infrastructure and standard of education but also the standard of living for
school communities. The visionary leadership styles of this administration have
brought about a nurturing and inclusive learning environment that would
ensure the all-round development of each student. The legacy she leaves is the
fact that the school and all its stakeholders will feel her impact for many years
to come.
Leading :
There is a covert fallacy the majority falls victim to, which is that since we spent
a long part of our lives at schools, we are competent enough to understand
how it fully functions. Well, that is not the case, and after our interview with
Ms. Siham, we realized that there is a significant complexity that lies in the
process of managing; therefore, in this part of the report, we will depict it while
presenting its organizational-related side.
Ms. Siham manages a school that features a vertical organization toped with
the School’s Principal, followed by two Assistant Principals, one concerned with
academics and the other concerned with administrative procedures, and then
teachers at the bottom line. I want to note that Ms. Siham exercises her
management duties as the Assistant Principal of Academic Affairs, so supervises
directly the teaching process and the parties it interacts with like students,
teachers, and parents.
The structure of the organization is functional in that each post necessitates
specific skills and expertise from the holder, even more, it wouldn’t be false to
consider it as a formal organization with meritocratic standards. Yet, it is not
perfectly formal but flexible by tolerating the interference of informal relations
whenever needed. This is a normal organizational reaction since the
environment is embedded with subjectivity bias and constantly oriented to
different psychological satisfactions of different students, teachers, and
parents. That is why Ms. Siham fits her managerial job because of the bond she
establishes between emotions and management, and it was clearly shown
when she talked about love, enthusiasm, and honesty while answering the
interview questions. On the other hand, the reason we can not consider the
organization to be informal is that, in the bigger picture, the school exists
dependently on a larger educational system that sets unarguable rules for it to
follow.
The school has a narrow span of power, aka a flat structure, justified by the
simple nature of the organization where a complex hierarchy will only hinder
the effective flow of communication. Also, Ms. Siham admitted explicitly that
she manages for the sake of students, professors, parents, and even
headquarters with a team, which indicates the functional surplus in her
obligations as a manager in a small hierarchy.
Continuing to talk about power, the school does not fall into either of the two
extremes, centralized and decentralized; it is quasi-centralized in that the
degree of centralization or decentralization depends on the types of decisions.
For example, only the top principal can agree and disagree to have an event in
the school, yet, if agreed, teachers and assistants can all help decide how the
event would be. Moreover, in minute 11:49, Ms. Siham mentioned permission,
proof that there is a superior party to grant it, but also in minute 6:30, she
talked about punishment in such a confident tone that it signals she has a say
on its implementation independently from any permission.
Management deals with people, but when those to deal with are many or
sometimes more than the appropriate result of the Graicunas formula, then
the manager ought to think about building a team to help make the process of
management more effective. Interestingly, Ms. Siham as a manager went way
beyond the step of thinking about and established a conviction in the extreme
by attributing “selfishness” to anyone who takes a managerial decision alone.
One illustration is her continuous use of the word “we” instead of the word “I”
before all the active verbs in her speech which made us conclude the system
approach the school follows when taking on its management tasks.
Controlling :
Ensuring Goal Attainment:
During the interview, it was evident that the organization employs several
strategies to ensure the achievement of its goals. Effective communication and
coordination were highlighted as key factors by the interviewee. By promoting
open communication channels and fostering a collaborative environment, the
organization encourages individuals to work together towards the
organization's strategic objectives. The interviewee mentioned managing a
diverse group of stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents,
administration, and headmasters, with the support of a dedicated team.
Through effective communication and motivation, the organization can align
efforts and mobilize resources towards the attainment of common goals.
Technological Tools for Efficient Operations and Goal Tracking:
Although specific technological tools were not mentioned in the interview, it is
reasonable to assume that the organization utilizes various systems to facilitate
efficient operations and goal tracking. These tools may include student
information systems, learning management systems, and communication
platforms. Student information systems enable the organization to manage
student records, track progress, and generate reports. Learning management
systems provide a centralized platform for delivering educational resources,
facilitating online learning, and monitoring student engagement.
Communication platforms, such as email or messaging apps, enable effective
and timely communication among stakeholders. By leveraging these
technological tools, the organization can streamline administrative tasks,
enhance communication, and obtain real-time data for tracking progress
towards goals.
Reputation for Providing High-Quality Goods and Services:
Throughout the interview, it was evident that the organization places a strong
emphasis on maintaining a positive reputation for providing high-quality goods
and services. The interviewee highlighted the importance of creating a
supportive and inclusive learning environment, employing qualified teachers
with subject expertise and pedagogical skills, and implementing effective
teaching methodologies. The organization aims to prioritize student success
and satisfaction, ensuring that students receive the necessary support and
resources to excel academically and personally. By consistently delivering high-
quality goods and services, the organization can build a strong reputation and
establish itself as a trusted educational institution.
Addressing Quality Problems:
While specific quality problems were not discussed in the interview, it is
important for any organization to address and rectify issues that may arise. In
the context of education, quality problems could encompass academic
underperformance, low student engagement, inadequate resources, or other
challenges that hinder the organization's ability to provide an optimal learning
experience. To tackle these issues, the organization may implement various
measures. For instance, individualized support programs can be established to
assist struggling students, providing additional tutoring or mentoring.
Professional development initiatives can be offered to teachers to enhance
their instructional skills and keep them updated with the latest educational
practices. Adequate resource allocation based on identified needs can ensure
that students and teachers have the necessary tools and materials to facilitate
effective teaching and learning. By proactively addressing quality problems, the
organization can continuously improve its offerings and enhance the overall
educational experience.
Monitoring and Controlling Other Activities:
In addition to academic performance, organizations often monitor and control
various other activities to ensure overall effectiveness. The interviewee
emphasized the importance of managing parents as stakeholders who have a
significant influence on the learning environment. The organization may
implement strategies to foster parent engagement, such as regular
communication channels, parent-teacher meetings, and involvement in school
activities or committees. By actively involving parents in their children's
education, the organization can create a collaborative partnership that
enhances student support and academic success.
Furthermore, the organization may monitor and control factors such as
employee engagement, speed of service delivery, and financial performance.
Employee engagement can be assessed through surveys, feedback sessions,
and recognition programs aimed at fostering a positive work environment and
promoting employee satisfaction. Monitoring the speed of service delivery
ensures that the organization meets deadlines, responds promptly to inquiries,
and provides efficient support to stakeholders. Financial performance can be
evaluated through budgeting, financial reporting, and analysis to ensure that
the organization remains financially sustainable and can allocate resources
effectively.
Conclusion :
In conclusion, the project report provides valuable insights into the role of a
manager in a high school setting, specifically focusing on the experiences and
perspectives of Ms. Siham, the headmistress of a private high school in Rabat.
The report highlights the importance of the four fundamental principles of
management: controlling, leading, organizing, and planning.
The planning aspect emphasizes the crucial role of setting clear objectives,
mapping out the curriculum, and allocating resources effectively to provide a
well-rounded education for students. The use of SMART criteria ensures that
goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound,
maximizing the likelihood of success.
The organizing aspect showcases Ms. Siham's journey from an English teacher
to a transformational leader, who combines administrative expertise with a
deep understanding of pedagogical perspectives. Her inclusive and
collaborative leadership style has fostered a positive school culture and
community involvement, leading to academic achievements and impactful
initiatives.
The report also touches upon the significance of leading, emphasizing the
complexity of managing a school and dispelling the misconception that
familiarity with the education system alone is sufficient. Ms. Siham's visionary
leadership, strategic foresight, and commitment to educational excellence have
left a lasting legacy, creating a nurturing and inclusive learning environment for
students.
Overall, the project report highlights the multifaceted nature of a manager's
role in a high school, emphasizing the importance of effective planning,
organizing, and leading to achieve educational goals, adapt to changing
circumstances, and nurture the growth and development of all students. Ms.
Siham's experiences serve as a valuable example of successful management
practices in the educational context.