Posted: December 28th, 2021

Case Study Essay

Case Study
The case study involves a teacher by the name Carol who is are required to fulfill various tasks to help students improve learning and performance. The teacher is a parent and a wife at home. She reports to school from Monday to Friday. Her daily tasks include being a counselor, psych-educator, disciplinarian, social worker and a friend to the students to help them learn. Carol has reported cases of being overwhelmed by work. She has reported fatigue and exhaustion as indicators of overwhelming tasks. Her supervisor insists that she must collect and analyze data, carry out administration tasks, prepare for lessons, providing extra academic help, discipline and grade the students. The performance of her students has not increased since the year started. Carol has reported that either the work is too much or her supervisor is putting too much pressure on her. Last month when students were preparing for the exams she was taken to hospital twice due to the fatigue.
Leadership Approaches
Leadership approaches for staff supervision and support are necessary since they determine the academic outcome and satisfaction of the staff. The two main approaches include democratic and bureaucratic leadership approaches. Democratic leadership style of supervision involves working together with the subordinates to achieve the desired goal (Close, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). The supervisor takes suggestions from the teachers and they discuss how to solve various problems. It is also the role of the supervisor to consult from the teachers on the best ways to solve a problem. For example, the long hours of working can be discussed by teachers together with other stakeholders of the school. The report will be handed over and changes can be made regarding how tasks should be accomplished. Democratic leadership supervision approach allows teachers in taking initiatives to improve the performance of their students (Close, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). It is regarded as one of the best approaches since it leads to satisfaction and high morale among the teachers. Despite the huge workload of the classroom staff, the approach has been deemed friendly since it leads to satisfied staff who are ready to continue serving the students.
Bureaucratic leadership approach in the supervision of classroom staff involves the strict rules and regulations that are laid down by the management. The teachers are required to follow the rules to the letter. The bureaucratic leadership approach insists that teachers must follow the rules or they will face harsh consequences (Mette & Riegel, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Supervisors ensure that teachers comply with the set standards. They insist that the whole organization or school must remain uniform. However, the approach is deemed insufficient since it will punish those who are not following the rules. Additionally, it is not a realistic approach since it does not give room for changes. It can also lead to delays in accomplishing a task since all the levels of bureaucracy have to be adhered to (Mette & Riegel, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). The approach is not friendly especially in the current environment where teachers are complaining that they are being exposed to loads of work.
Compare and Contrast
Democratic leadership approaches emphasize the need to collaborate with different stakeholders. It also insists that the free flow of ideas is necessary. The approach is helpful in the case of Carol who is an overwhelmed teacher. The reason is that the supervisor will try to get ideas from her on the best way to improve her working conditions. Therefore, the supervisor to hear the side of the story from Carol. There is a possibility the setup of the school is causing the fatigue (Mette, Range, Anderson, Hvidston & Nieuwenhuizen, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). Another reason could be the loads of responsibilities she is required to undertake. The conversation will allow the supervisor to view the issue in both ways.
Statistics indicate that when employees are engaged they become 21 percent more productive. Therefore, engaging Carol and finding out what she is suffering from is important. The democratic approach will allow Carol to give ideas on what she feels would be best for her. The ideas will be used by the supervisor to set the goals she should achieve every week (Wang, Gurr & Drysdale, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). It will also open up the eyes of the supervisor to see if she is being overworked or not. Therefore, a democratic approach is necessary for the supervision work and it will lead to better results in the class work. It will also give Carol the satisfaction she needs at her place of work.
Bureaucratic leadership, on the other hand, involves strict adherence to the set rules. It is essential to note that when the rules are important for a proper working environment, they do not give satisfaction to the staff. In this case, the bureaucratic leadership will not support Carol who is already overwhelmed by her work (Smith & Squires, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). The reason is that the bureaucratic supervisor will insist that specific reports must be handed in and all duties must be undertaken. It will also lead to punishment in case Carol is not working according to the stipulated terms and conditions (Smith & Squires, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). Therefore, Carol is likely to be oppressed by the leadership approach. It will stipulate when she should be at work, what she should fulfill daily and the kind of performance she should show every term.
Carol has no room to give suggestions on how she would like her work environment to be improved. The improvements could be necessary, but bureaucratic leadership approaches are not flexible. Even when the government insists that teachers should fulfill more tasks to enhance learning, bureaucratic leadership does not have room for adjustments (Ding & Swalwell, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Therefore, the supervisor is unlikely to add any value to the learning outcomes. The level of performance may not improve since the teacher is burdened by work and she cannot give suggestions. Additionally, the support she is receiving is minimal since the supervisors always insist that she must deliver her best results. The leadership approach does not consider that Carol is also a wife and a mother back at home. Therefore, she may be overwhelmed by the task and need extra support or free time (Ding & Swalwell, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Therefore, it is essential to avoid using the bureaucratic leadership approach since it may offer little support to the teachers and the performance of the students.
Democratic and Bureaucratic
The democratic approach can be deemed a retrogressive leadership approach in a learning environment. The reason is that it might lead to unruly teachers who are not adhering to the set standards. The teachers may give suggestions which can lower the standard of performance. For example, Carol might indicate that her work is exhausting and thus she would like to be relieved some of the duties. The suggestion can appear friendly to the teacher, but it will not contribute to the general good of the students (Mette & Riegel, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). The students require a platform where they can be taught and disciplined. The teachers thus need to prepare work plans and grade the students accordingly (Wang, Gurr & Drysdale, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). Therefore, although the tasks are overwhelming, they are all necessary. Therefore, they cannot be sidelined for the sake of a few teachers who are feeling exhausted. The approach is thus disadvantageous to the students although it is providing the necessary support to the staff.
Bureaucratic leadership can be deemed unfriendly in a schooling environment. The reason is that all teachers have to adhere to the set rules. However, it is beneficial since it will ensure that all policies are followed (Wang, Gurr & Drysdale, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). Unlike democratic approaches that can lead to a breach of the policy agreements, the bureaucratic approach will ensure that all rules are followed. When the rules are followed, the students are at a vantage point of improving their performance. It is essential to note that although teachers may feel the approach is not friendly, they will be helping the students. The only adjustment that can be done is to employ more staff members who will help the teachers in sharing duties. When the duties are shared, the bureaucratic system is still applied (Smith & Squires, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). In this case, it will help teachers to deliver the best. It is also a friendly approach since supervisors will follow a static guideline to check the performance of all teachers.
The concept of staff supervision can have its merits and demerits. The reason is that a leadership approach may not put into considerations the real challenges teachers face. It may also assume the core needs of the students when they are in school. Therefore, a school requires both a democratic and bureaucratic leadership approach (Smith & Squires, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). The reason is that it will help support the teachers to deliver the best results to the students. When an approach is favoring only the students, it means the staff members will be tired and exhausted and thus fail to deliver the best results. It is thus important for supervisors to consider the type of leadership approach they should embrace to support teachers and lead to better performance of the students. Both democratic and bureaucratic leadership approaches have their merits and demerits (Ding & Swalwell, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). It is thus essential to bridge the gap between ensuring the school policies are adhered to and supporting the teachers to ensure they are satisfied as they help the students with their learning needs.
Conclusion
Learning environment presents various challenges to teachers, students, and supervisors. While supervisors have a role in ensuring the teachers are doing their best to teach the students, it is important to consider if they are satisfied or not. The satisfaction will emanate from the right environment and application of friendly policies. When the bureaucratic leadership approach is applied, it will ensure the teachers comply strictly with the set rules. However, it will lower their morale since they have no room to give suggestions. Conversely, the democratic leadership approach may not favor the students since teachers might end up failing to comply with the policy requirements. Therefore, it is the role of the supervisor to assess the environment they are working in to determine the kind of leadership approach they will apply. The assessment is essential since it will determine how teachers who are overwhelmed such as Carol can be helped to boost the level of performance.

References
Close, P. (2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). ‘System leader ’consultancy development in English schools: a long-term agenda for a democratic future?. School Leadership & Get research paper samples and course-specific study resources under   homework for you course hero writing service – Manage ment, 36(1), 113-132.
Ding, N., & Swalwell, J. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). School Psychology and Supervision in Australia. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 35(1), 1-17.
Mette, I. M., & Riegel, L. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Supervision, systems thinking, and the impact of American school reform efforts on instructional leadership. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 21(4), 34-51.
Mette, I. M., Range, B. G., Anderson, J., Hvidston, D. J., & Nieuwenhuizen, L. (2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). Teachers’ perceptions of teacher supervision and evaluation: a reflection of school improvement practices in the age of reform. Education Leadership Review, 16(1), 16-30.
Smith, B. S., & Squires, V. (2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(1), 65-78.
Wang, L. H., Gurr, D., & Drysdale, L. (2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). Successful school leadership: case studies of four Singapore primary schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(3), 270-287.

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