Human and Public Re l a ti ons

7/27/2019 Human and Public Re l a ti ons

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Human and Public Relations

IntroductionAs someone responsible for a large number of people you will almost certainly agree that it is important for

you to understand something about the behaviour of the people in your school organisation. The human factor

in schools may cause problems and failure, or may lead to success, depending on the behaviour of theteachers, pupils, parents and all the other members of the school community. Apart from the nature and

availability of the material and financial resources that are provided, the success of a school will also dependon: the level of training of the teachers

the relations between the teachers and the head

the relations between the teachers themselves the relations between the pupilsand the teachers the relations between the school and the surrounding community.

In this unit you will study the relations between people and how this affects their work. From this you shouldunderstand how these relations affect the nature and quality of management in our educational institutions.

Individual study time: 3 hours

Learning outcomesAfter working through this unit you should be able to:

understand the importance of good human relations and communications in providing a suitable working

environment for the teachers, pupils and non-teaching staff

improve the motivation of the teachers and the pupils so as to ensure the success of the school establish and maintain good working relations with the educational authorities

gain the support of the community in which the school is situated.

What are human relations?

We all belong to human society. In everyday life we live and work with people: they may be our familymembers or neighbours or friends or other relatives, or they may be people we work with in our places ofemployment. Whoever they are, we recognise their presence and relate to them through various means of

commmunication.

We may say that human relations is being together with other people and interacting with them.

Human relations in a working placeAs a head of a school your work will involve the following:

planning the activities of the school

organising the resources to be used, which includes getting the equipment and materials required; assigning

work to each member of staff, agreeing how it should be done and when it should be done and ensuring thatthe work is done

maintaining high standards of education in your school.

Activity 4.1(You may wish to explore the following questions by yourself, or, perhaps with some friends or colleaguesinformally in a group.)

(1) Would the work listed above be for you alone as the head, or would other people also be involved?

(2) In what ways would other people be involved in each of these aspects of your work? What has this to dowith human relations?


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(3) Why is an understanding of human relations important to the head of any institution?

20 minutes

CommentsIn every working place each person must be given his or her duties. The school head organises the

programme for the school. He or she carries out supervision necessary to ensure that the programme isfollowed. Each teacher prepares a scheme of work, lesson plans and assessment records for their class. In

addition some of the teachers may be in charge of out of class activities. At the end of each school term

progress reports are prepared for the pupils. If the head does not produce the school timetable in good time,teaching may be delayed at the beginning of the term. The syllabuses may not be covered sufficiently. If the

teachers do not prepare their schemes and lesson plans, the pupils may not be taught properly. When this

happens the head will be blamed. If the subject teacher delays in preparing assessments for his or her subject,the class teacher will be late in preparing the report cards for the end of term. Then, the pupils may not be

given their reports to take home.

In the working place therefore, we need to recognise that what others do affects our own work and our workaffects what they do. This is because all the different tasks in an organisation are inter-related, and all the

individuals in the organisation have a working relationship. Ensuring that everyone works in an agreed

fashion is essential if all the staff are to work together harmoniously and effectively.

What do we know about the techniques of forming human relations? You will know that when two people

meet and establish either friendly or working relations, three stages are involved:

Exploration phase

This involves seeking clues and information for forming opinions and impressions about each other. Inschools, this phase should be planned, detailed and extensive. Learn about yourself and the people you work

with.

Consolidation phaseFirst impressions can be deceptive due to misleading information. Repeated behaviour patterns help in

gauging levels of frankness, openness, truthfulness, reliability, credibility and integrity of a person. You mayfind it helpful to keep records on the behaviour of pupils and staff to help you understand them.

Preservation phaseThis is the stage of mutual understanding based on trust and acceptance of each other's good and bad points,

weaknesses and strengths.

Human relations and motivation

Staff motivation

Activity 4.2The list in Fig 7 includes a number of items which might be factors which effect the quality of performance

of the teachers in a school.

Read through the list, and then place the ten items in rank order, that is, rank the most important factor 1, the

second 2, and so on. The factor which you consider as least important will have a rank of 10.

20 minutes

Fig 7 Factors affecting quality of teacher performance

The performance of teachers in a school will be improved if: they are given an increase in salary


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they have a feeling of job security they are supplied with all the basic resources required to teach

the head regularly consults with them

their work is appreciated the school is a good one

there are opportunities for promotion and personal development

they are paid on time

disciplining is tactful

they receive sympathetic help with problems

CommentsThe way you have ranked these questions is likely to depend, to a large extent, upon the culture and the

context within which you live and work. Experts on management have observed that people in their place of

work like to: feel that their work is regarded as important - they do not like to be idle

be praised for what they have done, but not to be blamed - they fear to admit mistakes in public

know what their supervisors think about their work - they feel encouraged when their own knowledge of the

subject is appreciated be consulted when there are changes to be made in their organisation

have a leader who is able to listen and to welcome suggestions; sympathise with personal problems andgives advice; show justice in dealing with problems concerning relations between staff; give respect to allworkers, whether in low or high positions in the organisation; say `Thank you' when good work is done and

also to admit mistakes

feel secure in their job - nobody wants to work in a place where they feel they are not wanted, or where theyare threatened with dismissal

feel that they are appreciated by their fellow workers.

Whether these factors are the ones which motivate your teachers in your school in your country would be

very interesting to find out. What is important is that you realise the range and diversity of things which

motivate people. Even a small thing like greeting your staff and pupils in a way which is generally accepted

may make a difference.

Case StudyWhat is your comment on the following case? Consider:

(1) Should the teacher be disciplined for being absent without permission?

(2) What effect might this have on the motivation of the other staff who have children?

(3) What actions would you take in this situation to maitain the motivation of your teachers?

20 minutes

The Absentee TeacherMrs Masiga, a teacher, has come to Mr Lawal, the school head to ask for permission to be away for three

days. Her maid has left suddenly and she has nobody at home to look after her three month old baby. Shewants to go to look for another maid. The school is already short of teachers. Mr Lawal tells Mrs Masiga that

looking for a maid does not concern the school. She should make other arrangements to get one without

affecting her work. He reminds her that the District Education Officer may visit the school any time during

that week. He does not want any class to be found without a teacher. He refuses to give her permission. Butthe following morning Mrs Masiga does not come to work.

CommentsA difficult case, and there is unlikely to be a right answer, but you will probably have noted that this example

is an illustration of poor human relations and you may have suggested the need for improved communications


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and focused on the importance of working together and shared responsibilities.

Pupil motivationLike their teachers, the pupils in a school also need to be motivated. Pause for a moment and think what stepsmight be taken to help motivate pupils.

Pupils are unlikely to be motivated unless:

they are assured of care and protection in the school

their problems are treated with understanding and justice the teachers show patience and are sincere in guiding them

their efforts in class and in other school activities are appreciated by the teachers and the head

their parents have a chance to see what they are doing in school.

We could add other items to this list, but the important point to recognise is that it includes a wide range of

factors. An understanding of the nature of motivation suggests that for learning to take place, pupils' basic

needs - physiological, safety, love and belonging - must be met, as well as their needs for self-esteem andself-fulfilment. School heads and teachers can try to ensure that external and situational factors both in and

outside the classroom will stimulate their pupils to learn.

Human relations and communicationsWe will now examine the relationship between communication and human relations. Communication in an

organisation is like the nervous system in the human body. If anything interferes with a nerve line it is nolonger possible to co-ordinate the work of the affected part with the rest of the body. Similarly, if anything

interferes with the communication links between individuals in an organisation their work will be badly

affected. Decisions will not be taken at the right time. Work will not be done as required. It may not even be

done at all if the instructions are not communicated. Or, it may be done incorrectly, if the instructions arepoorly communicated or received. Good communication is both about sending and receiving information.

Good relations between sender and receiver will help ensure effective communication. Let us explore this

relationship further.

Activity 4.3(1) Prepare a list of the different ways in which you, as a school head, communicate with your teachers andpupils.

(2) What affects the way you communicate with individual teachers and groups of teachers? How might this

be improved?(3) Have you noticed that at times certain members of your staff do not seem to be talking to one another?

How does this affect your work as a head? What can you do to help in solving this problem?

20 minutes

CommentsYou are likely to have listed a wide range of patterns and methods of communication from meetings andloudspeaker systems through to personal one-to-one discussions. It may well be that some of these could be

improved. You may need to check whether communications are actually getting through and consider

changing your communication strategy if problems exist with current practice. We will be looking atcommunication and the communication process in further depth in Unit 6. In this context, it is worth noting

that many things can interfere with communication between individuals in a working place. One of these is

the attitude that some people may hold against other work mates. If people we are working with know that wehold negative attitudes towards them, they will not communicate freely with us. They may even withhold

certain information that is very important for carrying out a task ; perhaps, for some reason, they want us to

fail. It is important therefore that heads never hold a negative attitude towards their staff; or if they do, that

they do not reveal it! Instead he or she should create a working environment in which all the staff are free to


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consult one another. Good communications and good human relations go hand-in-hand. This is also the casewith regard to the relationship between the school and the external environment.

The head as a public relations officerA public relations officer is the spokesperson for an organisation. He or she provides information to the

public on what the organisation is doing and also listens to comments by members of the public about the

organisation. If these comments suggest that some improvements are needed, then action should be taken tobring about the required changes.

A school is part of the community in which it is situated. The members of the community in general, and the

parents in particular, have an interest in the school because it provides education for their children. It is clear

that the school head has an important role to play as a public relations officer to ensure that good relations are

established between the school and the community, and with the education authorities. There are severalways of doing this.

1 The head should be ready to meet parents and other members of the public who come to the school toobtain information about education.

2 The head and his or her staff should be able to organise functions and ceremonies to which parents are

invited. Such functions might include, for example:

Parent-Teacher Association meetings Open Days in the school

Speech and Prize Giving Days

Sports Days.3 The head and staff should be encouraged to participate in some community development activities within

the neighbourhood of the school.

4 Good working relations with the authorities in the Ministry will help ensure that any problems the schoolhead encounters may be listened to with greater sympathy and that any assistance requested will be readily

forthcoming. This in turn will help with community relations.

Activity 4.4

(1) Can you suggest other ways in which the school head can help improve relations with the community?(2) Taking your school as an example, list down any community activities in which pupils could usefully

participate, noting potential benefits for pupils, the school and the community at large.(3) What factors tend to give a school a bad image in its local community?

20 minutes

CommentsYou will probably have been able to suggest a number of other methods for improving relations with the

community. Better communications are a popular option, and schools in some countries even produce

newsletters for wider dissemination of school ideas and information. Contributions by pupils can add a

further level of interest. A point perhaps worth noting is that although the head is responsible for external

relations, there is of course much that can be undertaken by delegating specific tasks to members of staff.

SummaryThis unit has looked at human relations in schools, drawing attention to motivational aspects and the

significance of good communications. Attention has also been focused on the role of the head, staff and

pupils in fostering good community relations. We will touch on these various processes in subsequent unitsand modules, but we now consider the process of delegation, which is an important means by which staff can

be motivated and, if used correctly, human relations improved.

Human and Public Re l a ti ons

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