Serenity

It’s a chilly fall day, and I’m all cozy at Starbucks, curled up in an armchair with Schein and a hazlenut steamer…

I just finished reading chapter 14 in the Schein text, and I found myself drawing stars beside a few points that reminded me of my organization. I actually chuckled aloud when I read about information technology as a powerful subculture. This is definitely a truth that has created a stir in the gossip mill lately. I mentioned in one of my recent posts that our ITRT, (the computer lady) doesn’t quite fit into the culture of our organization. Schein’s points in chapter 14 further clarify why this is so. This woman, who we will refer to here as “Ann”, fits the characteristics of the subculture of people in the realm of IT. She is very much a technology-oriented person who does not have the same people skills that teachers have. Teachers often complain that Ann does not work well with children, and she really does not work well with other adults in our building either. Now that I have read Schein’s points here, I think that Ann would probably interact just fine with other adults in her own subculture, because those people would relate to her. In our organization, however, Ann does not fit into the culture, and therefore is a major source of discontent. In fact, many teachers have tried to talk to the principal about Ann, and they would really like to see her replaced by someone else. This is a prime example of functional/occupational differentiation leading to the formation of very different subgroups.

Another point I made note of is on page 277, when Schein notes that the best leaders have a good deal of experiences in different aspects of the organization. He says that organizations complain when the leader seems to come from just one function and they don’t really understand ‘the requirements of other functions.’ This definitely comes into play in the teaching field whenever someone from a different position tells us we have to do things a certain way. For example, there’s the lady in the county who is somehow an authority on how we should teach reading- I have no idea what her actual title is. She criticizes how things are done and tries to tell us that we have to do things a certain way, which when you think about the nature of a classroom are actually really difficult things to try to do. Teachers often say, “has she ever been a regular classroom teacher? Does she have any idea what it’s like?” I’ve been in a few schools where the same thing has been said about the principals there. When certain principals demand unreasonable requirements from teachers, it is typically assumed that the principal has not spent much time as a classroom teacher. The best principals or administrators are those who have spent many years teaching, because they truly know what we go through and how much we have to deal with, so they make more reasonable demands. My current principal is great in that way. I’m not sure what experience he has teaching, but I know that his wife is an elementary school teacher. Whenever he has an idea for what he wants the teachers to do, he runs it by his wife, and she tells him whether or not it’s a good idea before he even suggests it to us. It definitely helps!

So in the past few months, I’ve spent a lot more time with my co-workers than I did in the past. I’ve made some close friends, and we’ve hung out quite a bit. I’ve made some observations in being around them and in my interactions with teachers during lunch, social functions, recess, etc. Teachers in my school really seem to thrive on gossip and complaining. Whenever there are teachers having a conversation, someone is always complaining about something a student did, something a parent said, something the county is requiring- whatever it is. There is always complaining about something. And the gossip is also a constant thing. Teachers are always getting into conversations about what Cindy was wearing or who did or didn’t get invited to the party or what Sally said to Mary… it’s always something! Overall, I would say that my school is a very positive, happy place, but I have really noticed that the gossip and ‘bitching’ are a major part of teacher interactions. Is this, then, a characteristic of my organization’s culture? Is this something I should incorporate into my cultural analysis? I’d love some feedback on this!