Educational Management

Introduction:
Education helps in developing the cognitive and aesthetic capabilities of the human beings. It takes place in a formal organizational set up for a specified period in the early life of students. During this period, a great deal of learning takes place through interactions between students and teachers and also the peer groups. This whole process is facilitated through management of resources. Hence management has a key role in this process of human development. Educational management has emerged as an important branch of applied discipline to professionalize education in order to use the resources most efficiently and to adopt innovations on large scale to improve the quality of education. During the last few decades the literature on educational management has grown enormously. It is open to the interdisciplinary knowledge gained from all disciplines that have led to improved practices in an educational organization.

Management:
Management is the integrating force or agency consisting of some basic functions for accomplishing the objectives of an organization Wherever and whenever objectives are to be achieved through organized and cooperative endeavor, management become essential for directing and unifying the group efforts towards a common purpose Management is like a pipe-line, the inputs are fed at the one end and they are processed through management functions like planning, organizing, directing and controlling ultimately we get the end results or output in the form of goods and services, productivity, satisfaction, information etc. In essence, management is a social function; it can take us from some condition we do not want- by proper planning, organizing directing and controlling the human, material r resources to achieve the desired goals A simple definition Management is creative problem solving and it is accomplished through four functions of management planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The intended result is the use of an organization's resources in a way that accomplishes its mission and objectives This standard definition is modified to align more closely with our teaching objectives and to communicate more clearly the content of the organizing function.

Organizing is divided into organizing and staffing so that the importance of staffing receives emphasis alongside organizing. In the management literature, directing and leading are used interchangeably. Planning is concerned with the future impact of today's decisions. It is the fundamental function of management from which the other four stem. The organizing, staffing, leading and controlling functions stem from the planning function The manager is ready to organize and staff only after goals and plans to reach the goals is in place. Likewise, the leading function, influencing the behavior of people in the organization, depends on the goals to be achieved. Finally, in the controlling function, the determination of whether or not goals are being accomplished and standards met is based on the planning function. The planning function provides the goals and standards that drive the controlling function.

Distinction between Educational Management and Administration:

To understand the meaning of management better it is important to understand the distinction between Educational Management and Administration. What is the difference between the two?

Concept of educational administration and management:

Educational management is a field of study concerned with the operations of educational organization. According to Hoyle (1981), Management is a continuous process, through which members of an organization seek to coordinate their activities and utilize their resources in order to fulfill the various tasks of the organization as efficiently as possible. It implies that an educational organization should coordinate its different functions and utilize the resources in fulfilling the roles of the organization such that the organization serves the purpose of achieving the educational goals in the most efficient manner. Educational administration on the other hand deals with the practices and actual functions of an organization- such as schools, colleges, administrative units at block, district and state levels. Thus educational management is concerned with the principles of an organization whereas administration is concerned with the practices of an organization. To sum up, educational management at the conceptual level describes the principles that an organization ought to carry out.

Educational administration of an organization, at the level of practices, understands the functioning of an organization i.e., rules, decision-making, policies, levels of hierarchy, etc. This difference between conceptual or theoretical and the practical level are at the heart of the difference between educational management and educational administration too.

Nature of educational management:

Management is a branch of study that essentially deals with the organization, the people manning the organization, its resources and the objectives for which organization is meant. It also studies the organization not in isolation but in the environment- social, political, and economic in which it is working. It makes the nature of educational management as a discipline quite complex. However, some salient features of Educational Management as a branch of study, as a discipline, are worth noting in order to understand the nature of educational management.

Some salient features of Educational Management:

Centrality of goals and objectives Distinct vis--vis common approach to educational management Duality of management Static or dynamic Normative or positive Art or science

Scope of educational management:

The scope of educational management will help us to understand the area and subject matter of educational management. The scope of educational management pertains to the educational system at national or state level. Relevant issues of analysis could be the system level issues: how the resource allocations for different educational areas are made or whether resources once allocated are managed efficiently. The former may be an issue of planning whereas the latter pertains to pure management issues of educational administration of managing education system effectively. At macro level or at the systems level and micro level or at the level of an organization Macro- the educational policy of a nation is an important component of educational management. Policies - the right sets of policies

A sound management of education system thus calls for a systematic policy intervention At the micro level, governance of schools and colleges as units of administration-whether it is an administrative unit or an academic unit. Administrative -Various functions of education departments; planning and coordination of activities Academic-the educational management consists of the academic management. Thus the scope of educational management consists of the management of the educational system that includes policy and planning dimension of management. At the school/college level, management has twin functions: administering a school or college as a system and academic management, which is the most important aspect of management. Academic management has to be looked from a different perspective. A perceptive learner and leader can understand how the learning and different cognitive abilities of a student need to be developed.

Aspects of Management or management functions of an educational organization:

An educational organization in the context of a developing country like India offers many challenges for an educational administrator. In most of the developing economies, education serves economic and social functions to an individual and the family. Therefore, there is a challenge to meet the increasing demand for education against the supply constraint and to manage education in the rural areas. There are also challenges to provide education to the first generation learners and to the girls. Most importantly, educational administrators have to ensure the relevance and quality of education. educational opportunity to all, and Providing quality education, there is a need to properly understand the administrative functions for effective implementation of educational policies and programmes. These are: planning, organising, supervision, and controlling etc. Let us examine these components in little more detail.

Planning:
Planning is the function that determines in advance what should be done. It consists of selecting the goals, setting objectives to reach goals, Developing policies and procedures for designing programmes to achieve goals and

Devising logical, goal directed programme structures for budget evaluation purposes. Planning is the keystone of management, and as such it should be the primary tool of the educational manager. It is the tools that enable the manager to accomplish the mission of his organization. Educational planning is an important instrument for educational administrators to carry out educational programmes in a targeted manner in order to meet the educational opportunities of all. Planning has to be at multiple levels Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan -administrative autonomy and accountability to implement the plan. Planning process sets the goals and objectives of an organization, diagnoses the problems and develops the appropriate strategies and action plans to meet the educational target in the future.

Organising:
Organising is another important function of educational administrators at the level of the implementation of programme. It involves the selection of people in different positions, Defining their roles and functions and Imparting them proper decision-making powers to carry out different activities as per the plan. Coordination involves an effective personnel management. It should ensure the capacity building of educational administrators to carry out different tasks within an organization.

Staffing:
By staffing is meant the responsibility of management to recruit personnel to fill the various positions in an organization. On the executive level, staffing involves the selection and training of future managers. Collateral to the staffing function is the requirements to establish a system of compensation, appraisal, and promotion.

Directing or Supervising:

In his function of directing, the manager serves primarily as a guide, or a teacher by a supervising his subordinates in such a way that the objectives of the enterprise are met Supervision and continuous monitoring of educational activities are important administrative functions for effective implementation and maintenance of educational standards. Supervision has an advisory role to guide the teachers rather than controlling them through inspection. It is necessary that an administrator carefully prepare supervision reports and discuss with the teachers. Further the follow-up of the supervision should also take place through correspondence, visits, and periodical meeting.

Controlling:
The final function of management is controlling. After the goals are set and plans are formulated, the structural arrangement is determined and people hired, trained and motivated, the performance must be monitored. The process of monitoring is what we mean by controlling. In essence, the controlling function is a form of constant programme evaluation and decision making concerning the need for recycling, or redirecting, of an effort ensuring that the actual activities conform to planned activities. Controlling is a more pervasive concept, one that helps managers to monitor the effectiveness of their planning, their organising and their leading and take corrective actions as needed. It is more a systematic effort to set performance standards with planning objectives, To design information feedback systems To compare actual performance with these predetermined standards, To determine whether there is any deviation and To take action required to ensure that all resources are being used in most effective and efficient way possible in achieving the objectives.