School principals' perceptions of team management : a multiple case-study of secondary schools
- Van der Mescht, Hennie, Tyala, Zakunzima
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie , Tyala, Zakunzima
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6105 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009732
- Description: The notion of school management through teams (team management), though not a new phenomenon in South Africa, was formalized after the advent of democracy in 1994 and the subsequent reorganization of the education system. The concept was subsequently fleshed out in official documentation where the composition and roles of school management teams (SMTs) were elaborated upon. The notion of team management is rooted in theories that stress participation, notably site-based (school-based) management, teamwork, and distributed leadership. We report on a study in which the perceptions of secondary school principals, in Grahamstown, South Africa, of team management were explored. The study was interpretive in orientation, and utilized qualitative data gathering techniques in all (ten) of the state-aided secondary schools in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province. We found that, while team management was generally welcomed and even celebrated by principals, there were fundamental tensions surrounding principals' understanding of their leadership roles in a team context. We consider the implications of these findings for leadership development in the context of team management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie , Tyala, Zakunzima
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6105 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009732
- Description: The notion of school management through teams (team management), though not a new phenomenon in South Africa, was formalized after the advent of democracy in 1994 and the subsequent reorganization of the education system. The concept was subsequently fleshed out in official documentation where the composition and roles of school management teams (SMTs) were elaborated upon. The notion of team management is rooted in theories that stress participation, notably site-based (school-based) management, teamwork, and distributed leadership. We report on a study in which the perceptions of secondary school principals, in Grahamstown, South Africa, of team management were explored. The study was interpretive in orientation, and utilized qualitative data gathering techniques in all (ten) of the state-aided secondary schools in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province. We found that, while team management was generally welcomed and even celebrated by principals, there were fundamental tensions surrounding principals' understanding of their leadership roles in a team context. We consider the implications of these findings for leadership development in the context of team management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
How entrepreneurs deal with ethical challenges : an application of the Business Ethics Synergy Star Technique
- Robinson, David A, Davidsson, Per, Van der Mescht, Hennie, Court, Philip
- Authors: Robinson, David A , Davidsson, Per , Van der Mescht, Hennie , Court, Philip
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6079 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006123
- Description: Entrepreneurs typically live with the ever present threat of business failure arising from limited financial resources and aggressive competition in the marketplace. Under these circumstances, conflicting priorities arise and the entrepreneur is thus faced with certain dilemmas. In seeking to resolve these, entrepreneurs must often rely on their own judgment to determine ‘‘what is right’’. There is thus a need for a technique to assist them decide on a course of action when no precedent or obvious solution exists. This research paper examines how entrepreneurs experience and deal with these dilemmas. The research is based on interviews with seven entrepreneurs in established service-oriented ventures, which gave rise to 26 dilemmas. These dilemmas were analyzed by making use of the Synergy Star technique, which is introduced here as a tool that is useful in defining any dilemma, isolating the ethical component, and resolving the dilemma in a way that is congruent with the entrepreneur’s personal world-view.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Robinson, David A , Davidsson, Per , Van der Mescht, Hennie , Court, Philip
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6079 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006123
- Description: Entrepreneurs typically live with the ever present threat of business failure arising from limited financial resources and aggressive competition in the marketplace. Under these circumstances, conflicting priorities arise and the entrepreneur is thus faced with certain dilemmas. In seeking to resolve these, entrepreneurs must often rely on their own judgment to determine ‘‘what is right’’. There is thus a need for a technique to assist them decide on a course of action when no precedent or obvious solution exists. This research paper examines how entrepreneurs experience and deal with these dilemmas. The research is based on interviews with seven entrepreneurs in established service-oriented ventures, which gave rise to 26 dilemmas. These dilemmas were analyzed by making use of the Synergy Star technique, which is introduced here as a tool that is useful in defining any dilemma, isolating the ethical component, and resolving the dilemma in a way that is congruent with the entrepreneur’s personal world-view.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Phenomenology in education : a case study in educational leadership
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6101 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008665
- Description: [From the introduction]: Overheard during tea at an Education Faculty research design course: “Phenomenology produces interesting and surprising results, but it’s just too much work …” The speaker was a prospective Masters student who had decided against “phenomenological” research, presumably because “it’s just too much work”. Having been deeply involved in phenomenological research myself for some years, I could identify with his reservation. But his first statement is of course equally true: phenomenological research does indeed produce “interesting and surprising results”, as many of my students have found. I should at the outset describe what I mean by phenomenological research more carefully, since, as Schweitzer (2002) has recently pointed out, there is certainly more than one meaning out there. The kind of research I am referring to is not the kind frequently featured in this journal, which Schweitzer (2002) describes as “Husserlian”, but another kind, which he describes as “‘what’s it like for them’ type of studies”. In this paper I present a case for the latter, and consider its appropriateness to the field of education. I argue that this approach to phenomenological research (which Schweitzer refers to as empirical) is a potentially powerful way of making sense of education practitioners’ (and learners’) sense-making, and can lead to startling new insights into the uniquely complex processes of learning, teaching and educational managing and leading.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6101 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008665
- Description: [From the introduction]: Overheard during tea at an Education Faculty research design course: “Phenomenology produces interesting and surprising results, but it’s just too much work …” The speaker was a prospective Masters student who had decided against “phenomenological” research, presumably because “it’s just too much work”. Having been deeply involved in phenomenological research myself for some years, I could identify with his reservation. But his first statement is of course equally true: phenomenological research does indeed produce “interesting and surprising results”, as many of my students have found. I should at the outset describe what I mean by phenomenological research more carefully, since, as Schweitzer (2002) has recently pointed out, there is certainly more than one meaning out there. The kind of research I am referring to is not the kind frequently featured in this journal, which Schweitzer (2002) describes as “Husserlian”, but another kind, which he describes as “‘what’s it like for them’ type of studies”. In this paper I present a case for the latter, and consider its appropriateness to the field of education. I argue that this approach to phenomenological research (which Schweitzer refers to as empirical) is a potentially powerful way of making sense of education practitioners’ (and learners’) sense-making, and can lead to startling new insights into the uniquely complex processes of learning, teaching and educational managing and leading.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Ethics beyond the code of conduct - understanding the ethical dilemmas of entrepreneurs
- Robinson, D A, Van der Mescht, Hennie, Lancaster, Jonathan C S
- Authors: Robinson, D A , Van der Mescht, Hennie , Lancaster, Jonathan C S
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6072 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001646 , ISSN 1022-2529
- Description: Entrepreneurs choose a particular way of life with the dual aim of maximising profit and gaining a sense of self-satisfaction. In these endeavours, entrepreneurs typically live with the threat of competition and the risk of business failure, while attempting to do their best within the limitations of their resources. This qualitative study first examines existing theories of ethics and ways of applying business ethics and thereafter investigates entrepreneurs' actual experiences by means of in-depth interviews and the use of phenomenology. It finds that entrepreneurs are not guided by any specific code of conduct, and must decide for themselves what is right. It describes the entrepreneurial business ethic, some of the types of dilemmas that they experience and the methods that they have developed to deal with the dilemmas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Robinson, D A , Van der Mescht, Hennie , Lancaster, Jonathan C S
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6072 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001646 , ISSN 1022-2529
- Description: Entrepreneurs choose a particular way of life with the dual aim of maximising profit and gaining a sense of self-satisfaction. In these endeavours, entrepreneurs typically live with the threat of competition and the risk of business failure, while attempting to do their best within the limitations of their resources. This qualitative study first examines existing theories of ethics and ways of applying business ethics and thereafter investigates entrepreneurs' actual experiences by means of in-depth interviews and the use of phenomenology. It finds that entrepreneurs are not guided by any specific code of conduct, and must decide for themselves what is right. It describes the entrepreneurial business ethic, some of the types of dilemmas that they experience and the methods that they have developed to deal with the dilemmas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Mentoring and prospects for teacher development - a South African perspective
- Probyn, Margie J, Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Authors: Probyn, Margie J , Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6090 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009744
- Description: School-based mentoring has developed in response to a number of factors pertaining to the pre-service education of student teachers and the in-service professional development of experienced teachers. Traditionally teacher education has consisted of university-based theory with school-based practice, based on an understanding of professional learning as ‘theory into practice’. One of the problems with this model is that theory may come to seem too remote from practice, and that practice appears untheorised by remaining implicit and unproblematised. The one-year teachers’ diploma course offered by the Rhodes University Education Department incorporates a ten-week teaching practice slot. This protracted period has been useful in allowing frequent and consistent contact between university tutors and student teachers, and between mentor teachers and student teachers. Where the system has not been strong is in enabling meaningful collaboration among all three parties. A pilot school-based mentoring programme was thus implemented in 1999, involving English First and Second Language student teachers, the two university tutors and seven mentor teachers. Ongoing evaluative research revealed that the programme was welcomed by all, and that the student teachers in particular gained much in the way of learning to be critically reflexive in a non-threatening environment. However, the research also uncovered areas that need to be developed. Student teachers, for example, need guidance in terms of learning how to talk about teaching; mentor teachers need to develop the confidence and expertise required to open up their practice in a critically constructive context. On the strength of the programme’s success, the Education Department has extended school-based mentoring to all HDE students, and is exploring ways of setting up courses through which other educators (such as EDOs) may receive training in pre- and in-service teacher mentoring.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Probyn, Margie J , Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6090 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009744
- Description: School-based mentoring has developed in response to a number of factors pertaining to the pre-service education of student teachers and the in-service professional development of experienced teachers. Traditionally teacher education has consisted of university-based theory with school-based practice, based on an understanding of professional learning as ‘theory into practice’. One of the problems with this model is that theory may come to seem too remote from practice, and that practice appears untheorised by remaining implicit and unproblematised. The one-year teachers’ diploma course offered by the Rhodes University Education Department incorporates a ten-week teaching practice slot. This protracted period has been useful in allowing frequent and consistent contact between university tutors and student teachers, and between mentor teachers and student teachers. Where the system has not been strong is in enabling meaningful collaboration among all three parties. A pilot school-based mentoring programme was thus implemented in 1999, involving English First and Second Language student teachers, the two university tutors and seven mentor teachers. Ongoing evaluative research revealed that the programme was welcomed by all, and that the student teachers in particular gained much in the way of learning to be critically reflexive in a non-threatening environment. However, the research also uncovered areas that need to be developed. Student teachers, for example, need guidance in terms of learning how to talk about teaching; mentor teachers need to develop the confidence and expertise required to open up their practice in a critically constructive context. On the strength of the programme’s success, the Education Department has extended school-based mentoring to all HDE students, and is exploring ways of setting up courses through which other educators (such as EDOs) may receive training in pre- and in-service teacher mentoring.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
A phenomenological investigation into educational leaders' perceptions of themselves, their followers, and their organisational contexts
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1697 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003580
- Description: Leadership is a richly researched ana widely covered topic, attracting the attention of virtually every discipline within the human sciences. Research which focuses on leadership within an educational context is, however, a relatively recent development. Most of the leadership research conducted in this century has been driven by the needs of industry. Consequently, leadership theories have tended to emphasise the instrumentality, measurability and effectiveness of leadership. Leadership models, intent on being prescriptive and 'learnable', have been inclined to oversimplify the complexity of the leadership phenomenon. Another factor which accounts for these features is the research approach adopted by researchers, which has largely been positivistic. This study is an attempt to investigate the underlying dynamics of educational leadership. It is an in-depth study of five educational leaders' perceptions of themselves as leaders, of the people with whom they interact, and of the organisations within which they work. The study is conducted along the lines suggested by phenomenology, a highly qualitative, anti-positivistic research approach, which encourages the researcher to set aside pre-conceived notions of the phenomenon, and to describe what is found exactly as it presents itself. My findings have highlighted a wide and richly varied range of psychological, emotional and cultural factors which seem to play significant roles in how leaders perceive themselves, others and their environments. Most of these factors have been either entirely ignored or very scantily covered in mainstream leadership literature. Educational leadership emerges as a complex, virtually undefinable phenomenon; new and challenging research approaches and methods have the potential for increasing our understanding of how leaders lead, which in turn will have implications for leadership education and selection.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1697 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003580
- Description: Leadership is a richly researched ana widely covered topic, attracting the attention of virtually every discipline within the human sciences. Research which focuses on leadership within an educational context is, however, a relatively recent development. Most of the leadership research conducted in this century has been driven by the needs of industry. Consequently, leadership theories have tended to emphasise the instrumentality, measurability and effectiveness of leadership. Leadership models, intent on being prescriptive and 'learnable', have been inclined to oversimplify the complexity of the leadership phenomenon. Another factor which accounts for these features is the research approach adopted by researchers, which has largely been positivistic. This study is an attempt to investigate the underlying dynamics of educational leadership. It is an in-depth study of five educational leaders' perceptions of themselves as leaders, of the people with whom they interact, and of the organisations within which they work. The study is conducted along the lines suggested by phenomenology, a highly qualitative, anti-positivistic research approach, which encourages the researcher to set aside pre-conceived notions of the phenomenon, and to describe what is found exactly as it presents itself. My findings have highlighted a wide and richly varied range of psychological, emotional and cultural factors which seem to play significant roles in how leaders perceive themselves, others and their environments. Most of these factors have been either entirely ignored or very scantily covered in mainstream leadership literature. Educational leadership emerges as a complex, virtually undefinable phenomenon; new and challenging research approaches and methods have the potential for increasing our understanding of how leaders lead, which in turn will have implications for leadership education and selection.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
The poetry of Guy Butler
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 1981
- Subjects: Butler, Guy, 1918-2001 -- Criticism and interpretation , South African poetry (English)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2256 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004387 , Butler, Guy, 1918-2001 -- Criticism and interpretation , South African poetry (English)
- Description: This study of ButIer's poetry proceeds chronologically in accordance with the dates of composition of his poems. The first task has, therefore, been the compilation of a chronology of his poems. Butler rarely dates his poems; nor does he keep a diary. Yet there are several criteria which make sensible dating of his poems possible. The first is the date of publication of individual poems. Many of the poems which appear in one or more of the five collections were published earlier in army magazines, student newspapers, and the like. A work which can be traced back to one of these early sources may be assumed to have been written fairly soon before its date of publication. Another criterion is subject. It is possible to discern periods in the poet's career in relation to the subjects of his poems. The most obvious example is the War Period. Allied to subject is the criterion of theme. To use the War Period again, poems written during or immediately after the war years all treat the theme of man's dehumanisation. Both subject and theme are linked with biography. It is often possible to ascertain Butler's location from details in the poem; knowledge of his movements thus enables one to date such a poem. Butler's style is the most significant criteion. This study is based on the observation that his style develops as time passes. The Butler of the Sixties is different from the Butler of the Fifties as far as style of writing is concerned. A poem which defies dating on all other grounds cannot escape this ultimate test. Each of these criteria - date of publication, subject matter and theme linked to biography, and style - has limited reliability as a guide to dating the poems. But combined they are a meaningful instrument to assist in the structuring of a chronology whose most valuable source was the poet himself who was kind enough to search his memory for dates. The fact that Butler rewrote or revised a number of his poems several times does of course raise the question: Is the first version merely a stage in the development of the poem, or a poem in its own right? This study is based on the opinion that a poem is a poem, regardless of the number of versions which precede or follow it, provided it is a complete statement. Each version should, in fact, be regarded as representative of the poet's thoughts, feelings, and skills at the time he wrote it, and is lndependent of subsequent versions. For the purposes of this chronology, poems have been placed at the time of the experience from which they grew. This thesis does, however , take cognizance of the ehanges in style or theme later versions may reveal.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1981
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 1981
- Subjects: Butler, Guy, 1918-2001 -- Criticism and interpretation , South African poetry (English)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2256 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004387 , Butler, Guy, 1918-2001 -- Criticism and interpretation , South African poetry (English)
- Description: This study of ButIer's poetry proceeds chronologically in accordance with the dates of composition of his poems. The first task has, therefore, been the compilation of a chronology of his poems. Butler rarely dates his poems; nor does he keep a diary. Yet there are several criteria which make sensible dating of his poems possible. The first is the date of publication of individual poems. Many of the poems which appear in one or more of the five collections were published earlier in army magazines, student newspapers, and the like. A work which can be traced back to one of these early sources may be assumed to have been written fairly soon before its date of publication. Another criterion is subject. It is possible to discern periods in the poet's career in relation to the subjects of his poems. The most obvious example is the War Period. Allied to subject is the criterion of theme. To use the War Period again, poems written during or immediately after the war years all treat the theme of man's dehumanisation. Both subject and theme are linked with biography. It is often possible to ascertain Butler's location from details in the poem; knowledge of his movements thus enables one to date such a poem. Butler's style is the most significant criteion. This study is based on the observation that his style develops as time passes. The Butler of the Sixties is different from the Butler of the Fifties as far as style of writing is concerned. A poem which defies dating on all other grounds cannot escape this ultimate test. Each of these criteria - date of publication, subject matter and theme linked to biography, and style - has limited reliability as a guide to dating the poems. But combined they are a meaningful instrument to assist in the structuring of a chronology whose most valuable source was the poet himself who was kind enough to search his memory for dates. The fact that Butler rewrote or revised a number of his poems several times does of course raise the question: Is the first version merely a stage in the development of the poem, or a poem in its own right? This study is based on the opinion that a poem is a poem, regardless of the number of versions which precede or follow it, provided it is a complete statement. Each version should, in fact, be regarded as representative of the poet's thoughts, feelings, and skills at the time he wrote it, and is lndependent of subsequent versions. For the purposes of this chronology, poems have been placed at the time of the experience from which they grew. This thesis does, however , take cognizance of the ehanges in style or theme later versions may reveal.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1981
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