Sit back for a moment and recall the above theories. Now try to relate the theories to its application in society. According to the functionalists, everybody contributes towards the well-being of the society. Everyone, no matter what he or she is, has a role to play.
Conflict theorists on the other hand, believe that there will be conflicts within the society while the inter-actionists look at social relationship as the result of social interaction. Whatever their beliefs, it is clear that there is a social system in every society. Can you explain what is a social system?
According to Oxford Advanced Dictionary, "social" means ‘ concerning the organization of and relation between people and communities the way it is organized’ and ‘system" is ‘an organized set of ideas or theories or a particular way of doing something’ or ‘a group of things, pieces of equipment etc that are connected or work together’. In other words, a system is simply a set of objects together with relationships among objects and their attributes. With this perspective comes the realization that fully as significant as the attributes of the parts is the nature of the relationships that binds the parts together into a functioning whole.
Therefore, a social system can be explained as ‘an interconnected and organized activities which consist of parts that are inter-depend to produce common results’. Social systems are created by human beings and are strengthened by man’s attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, habits and expectations. Social system has two main goals, namely, actualization of goals and sustenance of goals. In a social system two or more people are constantly interacting and probably practise similar approaches, attitudes and social values.
Take some time to ponder over the following questions
„h Is school a social system?
„h What are the characteristics of the school as a social system?
„h What are the elements that make school a social system?
„h Can one social system stand independently?
„h Is there any social relationship within and outside a social system?
2.1 School as a Social System
According to the functionalist approach, the school system is composed of many distinct sub-systems or parts, each with their own goals. Together these parts make up a functioning whole (Ballantine 2001: p 132). Each part is dependent on the other for smooth operation. If one part does not function well, the other parts are affected too. Willard Waller stated five reasons for a school to be regarded as a social system:
„h It has personnel who contributes toward the school’s goals.
„h It has a social structure as the result of social interaction within the school.
„h It is represented and bound by strong social relationship.
„h It is bound by a feeling of belonging ( esprit de corps).
„h It possesses its own culture / ways of doing things.
Thus, we can say that a school is a social system with a clear border that separates it from the environment. Nonetheless, it is not a closed social system. It has a close relationship with the environment and they compliment each other. School prepares students with living skills, knowledge and expertise necessary for the society. The school is provided with resources, building and personnel (students and teachers) in order for it function.
As a social system, a school has a formal and informal structure. The formal structure refers to the role and function of the administration. The informal system relates to its social relationship that helps the organisation to function.
Next, as you read the below, visualize a school environment which you are familiar with.
1. As you enter the school, you are directed to the office. Here, a member of the school staff greets you and ascertains your business. Hence, the office and its staff act as buffers to protect the rest of its members from interruptions in their routine.
2. Classrooms take up most of the physical structure of the school. Within a classroom, the teacher and students are the main occupants. However, the order of the classroom ( seating arrangement, work groups, location, style of leadership, class size and the types of students) affects the relationships between position holders and the consequent roles they play. This in-turn affect the activities that take place within the classroom. Each classroom has a distinct climate and social structure.
3. Support services are necessary for classroom to function; standard services include food, health services, janitorial, counselling, and library. The school system exists in a larger societal context including the local community, the regional settings, state and federal government’s rules and regulations and funding. Therefore, a school system is where people, building, classrooms, textbooks, and equipment become what it is through interaction with the environment. (Ballantine 2001 p 133)
In the next section, we will consider the elements that form a social system in school. We need to look at Getzels-Guba’s Model to further understand the relationship between role and personality that produce social behaviour.
Try to understand what Getzels says about social interaction within an organisation to understand social behaviour.
According Getzels, social system model is best suited for studying a school organization, because of its emphasis on process in synthesizing the society with its culture, values, socioeconomics, political systems with the need of the individuals (students, teachers and parents).
A given act is conceived as deriving simultaneously from the normative and personal dimensions, and performance in a social system as a function of the interaction between role and personality. That is to say, a social act may be understood as resulting from the individual's attempts to cope with an environment composed of patterns of expectations for his behavior in ways consistent with his own patterns of needs and dispositions.
2.2 The Getzels-Guba Model
Before we go any further, try to recall or imagine the teachers whom you were in favour of, teachers whom you cheated. What were their personalities and actions that make you like or dislike them? What sort of school climate or classroom environment did they create?
Try to understand what Getzels says about social interaction within an organisation to understand social behaviour.
According Getzels, social system model is best suited for studying a school organization, because of its emphasis on process in synthesizing the society with its culture, values, socioeconomics, political systems with the need of the individuals (students, teachers and parents).
A given act is conceived as deriving simultaneously from the normative and personal dimensions, and performance in a social system as a function of the interaction between role and personality. That is to say, a social act may be understood as resulting from the individual's attempts to cope with an environment composed of patterns of expectations for his behavior in ways consistent with his own patterns of needs and dispositions.
The Getzels-Guba model shown below in figure 1., postulates interactions at parallel levels between individuals and institutions
Getzels explains that the social systems involve two classes of phenomena which are at once conceptually independent and phenomenally interactive: :
1. the institutions, with certain roles and expectations, that will fulfill the goals of the system; and
2. the individuals, with certain personalities and dispositions inhabiting the system, whose observed interactions comprise what we call social behavior.
We shall assert that this behavior may be understood as a function of these major elements:
institution, role, and expectation, .. and individual, personality and need disposition.
Getzels asserts that behavior, B, is a function of the interaction of role and personality
"Behavior is a function of Personality" is to be understood as " Specific and unique behavior-types are determined by various, i.e. not necessarily unique, personality-types."
The Getzels-Guba model also says the following --if we interpret the arrows to be function graphs --
a. Behavior is a function of Need-disposition and Expectation, which are functions of each other;
b. Expectation is a function of Role which is a function of Institution which is a function of Social System;
c. Need-Disposition is a function of Personality which is a function of Individual which is a function of Social System;
d. Personality and Role are functions of each other;
e. Individual and Institution are functions of each other.
Getzels however, characterizes "Role" as "the most important analytic unit of the institution." Institutions exist. "with certain roles and expectation" and individuals exist "with certain personalities and dispositions". Their observed interactions comprise what we call social behavior.
Getzels appears to conceive Institution and Individual, to be the variables and Social Behavior to be their resultant.
What then make up a school social system? It is the interaction of personality of individuals and the roles they play vis-à-vis their position held within the school.
Every school member: students, teachers, school heads, and support staff play their important roles towards achieving the school goals. How the teacher manages his/her classroom, he/she interacts with the students and the environment, carries himself/herself depends on his/her personality and the role or position held.
Besides, the activities related to the school are influenced by society’s culture, policies,values and are undertaken by individuals as part of a social process. So the success of the individual and the organization are based on factors like expectations, needs, satisfaction, role, behavior and goals.
As for the role of individuals within the school, the school has certain roles and expectations that are designed to fulfill the goals of the system. Each school consists of individuals with certain personalities and need- dispositions, whose interaction make up what is commonly known as social behavior.
2.3 Conflicts within school social system
With reference to the various roles you have listed above, try to relate them to the school functions and goals. We can now look into the goals and functions of the school as well as their resultant conflicts.
Goals of The School System
Formal goals serve several purposes of the school system. They provide guidelines for activities of the system and focus the activities of members. They imply social acceptance of the stated purposes and the means to achieve them. Thus it legitimizes the activities in the system.
But, there is not always a consensus on what goals to receive the highest priority and on how to achieve them. There will always be controversies over them. Take for example the school curriculum. Some adults are concerned that schools are not putting enough emphasis on the basic skills and that there are too many ‘frills’(e.g. art, music). Others argue that children need exposure to a broad curriculum.
Schools also are under pressure from the community members to take over greater roles especially in child-care programs.
Therefore goals are constantly being ‘negotiated’ and reconsidered depending on the interests of the powerful and the needs of the system.
(a) Societal and Community Goals
Each society has certain goals for its educational system that are put into practice in schools and classrooms. National education programs determine uniform curriculum and materials but heterogeneous societies have competing goals. School systems are often at the centre of political struggles for control of resources and ideas.
(b) School Goals
Schools are guided by a broad and formal goal statement, namely the National Education Philosophy. Nonetheless the stated goals are often different from the operational procedures. These procedures focus on curricular content, classroom style and organizational structure to accomplish the stated goals. It is in the school that the stated goals must be translated into action. In the process, conflicts over purpose and interpretation can arise.
(c) Individual Goals
Members of the organization holding different roles are likely to have different goals. For instance, teachers and administrators desire high-quality education but they also have personal motivation. For students, school is obligatory. They are required to attend. Their goals vary depending on individual motivations. Parent’s goals are sometimes in conflict with school policies too.
Important school functions are to socialize the young to perform needed adult roles and develop skills needed to live in society. Schools formalize socialization experiences, facilitate peer interaction, help meet family goals for successful children and prepare students for the job market.
Schools bring age peers together in classroom and for other school-related activities. This results in friendship groups or cliques to develop. Thus group sub-culture flourish which in turn influence the school. Sense of belonging of peer groups with their own special values may contradict with school academic programmes
As students develop and learn about the intersecting social systems of which they are a part, conflict is all around them. They develop understandings about interpersonal and social conflict, about procedures for handling it.
School plays an important part in helping diverse individuals to see themselves as citizens and therefore to internalize skills, norms and roles for managing personal and social conflict.
Among the conflicts that exist in schools are classroom conflicts, peer conflicts, which can be resolved through peer conflict resolution programmes, conflict management and school governance and conflict education infused directly into academic lessons where students analyze and respond to the conflicts in lessons.
2.4 Summary:
This topic has explained the school as a social system and the roles played by the school and the individuals in the school system. It also discussed the conflicts that occurred in the school system. Below are some of the key points:
• A school as a social system has its roles and functions of administration while the system has a network of social interaction and relationship for it to function.
• The Getzel-Guba model emphasizes on the process of interaction of individuals and the roles each individual play in the school system
• In the functioning of a school, conflicts arises. They are mostly classroom conflicts and peer conflicts.
• Ways of resolving conflicts are peer conflict resolution program, conflict management and conflict in education.
Basic Reading Text:
Getzels, J.W. & Guba,E.G.(1957). Social Behavior and the administrative process.
School Review,65: 423-441.
References
http://www.neiu.edu/~aserafin/421/theory2/orgtheory2/sld006.htm
http://education.uncc.edu/wkwhite/_8110_threaded/0000004a.htm
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