From Crisis to Adaptation: A Model for Educational Service Area Offices

Chorpha Supradith Na Ayudhya,

Ed.D student, Semester1,2000

The University of Melbourne.

Abstract

This paper studies the importance of strategic thinking during the Thai economic crisis period from July 1997. Self-adaptation or reform and ‘Krabuankarn Prachakhom’ or civil-society are strategic directions to survive the crisis. The paper also focuses on strategic alert regarding what will happen to the Thai Ministry of Education by 2002 through its educational reform, particularly in administration and management. What kinds of leadership, skills and values do government officials in the Ministry need to be prepared for successful change? Transformational and quality leadership, promoting double loop learning and practice in strategic thinking including appreciation of the values of good governance and a service orientated mind will be necessary. These initiatives are expected to build up Educational Service Area Offices—the new decentralized pattern of Thai educational administration to be Quality and Learning Organizations. Their accountability can be demonstrated by their efficiency/effectiveness in government budget expenses, including providing quality services to people; at the same time government officials in the Area Offices have professionalism and integrity to serve people accordingly and create an impact on society.

When I exchanged Thai bahts to Australian dollars in late June 1997

to revisit Perth, I was delighted that the currency was very strong at

about nineteen bahts a dollar, instead of more than twenty. One

week

later, when the devaluation was announced, I realized that the

country had been fighting the currency war with overseas

speculators. Initially, it seemed that Thai authorities won but, finally,

they lost the battle, with all foreign reserves exhausted. Dating back

to the colonial

*********************************************************************

*********

This paper has limited resources on Thai history. The writer can access

information from Thailand, written only in English versions through the Internet.

period about a hundred years ago, King Rama V strategically

thought of ceding power over some small areas of land to Britain

and France to protect the greater part of the Kingdom, instead of

fighting in the battlefield where traditional weapons could not

compete with the more advanced war equipment of the Europeans.

When reinforced by implementing a strategic alliance with Russia to

balance the superpowers, the country was saved and became the

only one in the region never to have experienced being colonized.

However, in the dynamic pattern of the economic battleground in

the era of Globalization when ‘information and currencies move

across the national border at lightning speed’ (Prawase Wasi, 1998),

the country was defeated. Historic Thai wisdom, containing the

ability to think strategically had been lost. With the weakness of the

macro-economic structure (the details can be read from the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) statement, released in August 22, 1997

in Washington, on the approval of stand-by credit for Thailand), the

country collapsed in July 2, 1997 and the negative results of this

collapse were felt by all Thais.

Theory: Strategic Thinking

Before further considering the concrete details of this loss of

strategic thinking, the concept of strategic thinking will be

examined.

What is Strategic Thinking?

Strategic thinking for Mintzberg (1995, pp. 79-83) is the ability to

‘see through’ building up from three pairs of components:

Seeing ahead-seeing behind (having a good vision of the future

based on an understanding of the past);

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Seeing above-seeing below (having a ‘helicopter’ perspective,

from a wide scope, then taking a walk to see reality); and

Seeing beside-seeing beyond (having lateral thinking and the

capacity to envision the future).

From the above definition, strategic thinkers are described as

‘visionaries’ (Ibid, p.79), who ‘can see differently from other people

and pick out the precious gems that others miss’ (Ibid, p.81).

The ability to see precious gems depends on the ability of

‘synthesis’ resulting from ‘intuition and creativity’ (Mintzberg, 1994,

p.108). The outcome of strategic thinking is a broad vision of

direction or an integrated perspective (Ibid).

For Garratt (1995, quoted in Caldwell, 2000, p.2), strategic thinking

is the process which results in direction-givers rising from daily

operational activities and gaining horizontal scope regarding the

internal and external environment and, therefore, providing more

effective direction to their organizations. This type of strategic

direction, similar to that of Mintzberg, needs the skills of being able

to

looking forward to the future and backwards to the past, including

an understanding of the present situation.

For Kaufman and Grise, (1995, p.90, quoted in Canole, 1999),

strategic thinking is defined as ‘knowing’-to know what to achieve,

being able to justify the direction, and then finding the best ways to

get there’.

The Difference between Strategic and Operational Thinking

3

From the definition of Kaufman and Grise, the level of thinking is not

made clear, although it appears that this definition is based in the

operational thinking level. Hanford, (1995, p.190) provides helpful

key

concepts for understanding the difference between strategic and

operational thinking in eight pairs:

Longer term versus short term;

Conceptual versus concrete;

Reflective/learning versus action/doing;

Identification of key issues/opportunities versus resolution of

existing performance problem;

Breaking new ground versus routine/on-going;

Effectiveness versus efficiency;

‘Hands-off’ approach versus ‘hands-on’ approach; and

‘Helicopter’ perspective versus ‘on-the-ground’ perspective.

Developing Strategic Thinking

Hanford (1995) suggests that the ability to think strategically

require development in terms of:

Thinking concepts which consist of (1) thinking holistically or

thinking in breadth (2) thinking in depth by thinking more and

questioning values, beliefs or assumptions;

Thinking skills which consist of (1) content thinking types:

‘either/or thinking, ‘more/less’ thinking and ‘both/and’ thinking;

(2) process thinking types: ‘stay put thinking’ (routine

adjustment), and ‘major or minor from/to thinking’ (increasing

both the breadth and depth of thinking);

Thinking styles to be able to realize new ideas, describe what is

true and judge what is right including understanding the different

styles in thinking among the synthesist (seeks synthesis), the

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idealist (seeks ideal solutions), the pragmatist (supports

whatever works), the analyst (seeks the one best way), and the

realist (seeks solutions that meet current needs) ; and

Thinking techniques using the ‘both/and thinking’ technique to

map the dilemma and determine some ways out of it; mind

mapping to identify essential elements in achieving strategic

challenges; and Priority-setting Technique to concentrate on only

the important issues.

(Hanford, 1995, pp.207-218)

The above developments require professional training, which will

provide details and ‘how to’ knowledge in depth. However, Well

(1998) suggests that thinking strategically can be conducted in

three steps, called the Strategic Thinking Cycle:

1. Perceiving what seems to be happening by acquiring insight into

what has happened and is currently happening, then developing

foresight of what could be happening;

2. Understanding what possibilities to face by identifying strategic

levers for competitive advantage and matching levers with

capabilities; and

3. Reasoning what to do about it, choosing a core strategy and

making the strategy work.

(Wells, 1998, pp.65-67)

Three Levels of Strategic Thinking

Similarly to Wells, Morgan (1998) indicates that strategic thinking is

the process of three levels of thinking which consist of:

1) Divergent thinking or gathering data. The divergent thinking

involves thinking about the environment as broadly and

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comprehensibly as possible to include a wide variety of different

and even conflicting factors that could have impact on the

organization;

2) Integrative/system thinking or creating the patterns of the data;

and

3) Convergent thinking or strategic knowledge, which is a result of

gathering, creating and validating the information as a platform

for a course of action.

(Morgan, 1998, http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview_page/9840858/4)

Morgan’ s ideas of divergent, integrative and convergent thinking

can fit with Wells’ ideas of perceiving, understanding and reasoning.

In addition, both of them refer to strategy as the consequence of

strategic thinking.

Rhodes (1995 pp. 95-96) illustrates clearly the relations between

strategic thinking as process and strategy as content which

organizations need to keep both right, otherwise things in the

organization will not function correctly. For a better understanding,

the concept of strategy will be examined.

What is Strategy?

Strategy is defined as ‘the general plan of actions that describes

resource allocation and other activities for dealing with the

environment and helping the organization attain its goals’ (Daft,

1999, p.136). From the definition five inter-related elements can be

observed, these being plan, resource, activities, environment and

goals. Among these, environment seems to be the most critical

factor in the Globalization era as it can be easily changeable,

especially in a crisis period. Morgan (1998) states that organizations

need to strive with the uncertainty of environment in order to

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produce and maintain an effective or viable strategy

(http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview_page/9840858/15). Daft (1999, p.136) suggests

that one way of developing an effective strategy requires actively

listening to people both inside and outside the organization, as well

as examining trends and discontinuities in the environment.

Another definition of strategy is as ‘the process of focusing effort

and performing the right job or taking the right path’ (Morgan, 1998,

http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview_page/9840858/15). Unlike the

former definition, the latter regards strategy as a process. It pays

attention to implementing the right strategy. This is correct, as the

wrong one can affect the growth or the survival of organizations.

From both definitions, strategy, therefore, can be the contents and

processes that connect from thinking strategically. To understand if

a particular strategy will be right or wrong, strategists need to be

alert to what is happening or will happen and adjust their strategy

appropriately so that there is a balance between the organization

and its environment.

The Role of Strategy

Daft (1999, p.135) indicates that strong missions and guiding visions

are not sufficient in building strong and powerful organizations; but

strategy plays an important role in figuring out how to translate

vision, mission, values, and purpose into actions. In Daft’s view,

strategy is like a pathway leading visions to achievements. He

indicates further that formulating and implementing appropriate

strategies will help achieve ‘a competitively superior fit between the

organization and its environment’ (Ibid, p.135). Morgan (1998)

agrees that it is this advantage that must be maintained in a rapidly

changing and complex environment. When chaos is all around,

strategy provides the focus for daily activities and keeps each

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individual, and therefore the entire organization, on the path

towards its future

(http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview_page/9840858/14).

In summary, like the Irish proverb that says one will never plough a

field by turning it over in one’s mind, therefore, thinking

strategically needs to be reinforced with strategic actions. Similarly,

strategic actions without roots in strategic thought can be in vain.

Both ingredients will result in excellent products facilitating the

survival and prosperity of the organizations.

Reflection:

When I returned to my home country in late January 1998, the

economic crisis was more serious than it had been in 1997. The Thai

people called it the worst year in business history. The currency was

weakened increasingly. One Australian dollar was 35 bahts and one

American dollar was worth about 70 bahts climbing from 25 bahts

before the crisis. I could feel the difference in the social atmosphere

between before I left and after I came back. Looking back to the

crisis period with the concept of strategic thinking in mind makes

me better understand my country.

Through Thai history, the ability of ‘seeing through’ was vital to the

country’s survival in the colonial period. King Rama IV had a good

command of English. King Rama V had royal visits to many countries

in Europe and he sent his sons to study overseas in politics,

economics, military and medical science. One of them was sent to

study in Russia and was in the care and responsibility of its

monarch. Seeing the world helped Thai monarchs ‘see through’ or

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perceive, understand and reason in selecting appropriate strategies

to prepare the country for modern changes.

However, the modern authorities in the time of the economic crisis

also had good education from overseas and had long financial

working

experiences. What complication in the system gave them

inadequate strategic thinking, lacking, what Garratt (1995, p. 2,

quoted in Caldwell, 2000) called ‘different perspective of the

internal and external dynamics’?

Considering the IMF’s statement, released in August 22, 1997 in

Washington, on the approval of stand-by credit for Thailand, the

main wreckage of the Thai financial system can be summarized as a

lack of financial discipline, adverse development and a series of

serious currency attacks.

However, it is well understood that the economic crisis was not only

a problem. It reflected the real political problem ‘in which politicians

buy their way to power and then devote their energies to recouping

their investment’ (Bangkok Post, April 14, 2000) resulting in

inefficiency and weakness of administration. Political management

based on good governance was called for as the key to restructuring

the financial sector (Desai, 1997, Far Eastern Economic Review,

December 25, 1997). Considering the above opinions, I would like to

propose, as illustrated in Figure 1, that strategic thinking in the Thai

contexts must be based on good governance. Without this value as

an essential foundation, strategic thinking for the public good

cannot be attained.

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Strategic Thinking

Public Good

Value: Good Governance

Figure 1: Strategic thinking for the public good requires the value of

good governance as its essential foundation.

The results of inadequate strategic thinking were huge. During the

crisis, thousands of companies and factories permanently closed

their businesses. Millions of people were laid off. They had no money

for living after their savings plus their three or six months of

compensation were spent. They could not pay for their children to

go to schools. There were high rates of transferring children from

private to public schools. Many people could not even send their

children to public schools. Consumer goods’ prices and taxes

increased. Some people responded to their immediate financial

problems by committing suicide. Overcoming the crisis, the

government sought financial loans from the IMF and was required to

follow the IMF’ s rigid rules and regulations. It was said among Thai

people that the country lost its independence to the IMF. In social

sectors, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) gave loans to ease

difficulties in education and employment aspects. Japan also

provided the Miyazawa Fund to assist Thailand in the crisis.

Strategic thinking in an era of crisis: the focus on

the social sector

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Among the turmoil and difficulties of the time, leadership in people

without authority also played an active role in the social sector.

There were many academics sharing their opinions with the public

on how to progress through the crisis. The common prominent ideas

were of self-adaptation or reform and ‘Krabuankarn Prachakhom’ or

civil society as a tool to achieve the goal. These strategic directions

were diffused and discussed through all kinds of media, creating a

common strong acceptance of the urgency for reform and of a new

value-civic responsibility. In Reform of Thai Society: A National

Agenda (1998), a reform advocate clearly illustrated the social

changes in Thai society:

…Thai society is confronting the most drastic social changes ever from within and from its interconnectedness with the complex and rapid changing outside world. For thousands of years, Thai society had been based on the system of relationship and codes of conduct of small village communities. Nearly overnight, it has radically changed into a complex society with a modern economic system, information technology and know-how…Combined with the currency trade, speculations and the tidal waves of modern culture and technology, they all add-up into severe attack on Thai society. Meanwhile, Thais have yet to set up and effectively regulate a system in which people can live and cope with changes in the dynamic new society. In addition, social institutions- be they political, bureaucratic, educational, religious, judicial and media systems-have failed to adapt themselves to cope with the formidable social changes. The result is organizational weakness, confusion, conflicts and sufferings…

http://www.bkkpost.samart.co.th search by words ‘prawase wasi’

It is clear that from every aspect of changes in society, the old way

of doing things could not support Thailand through the current crisis.

Thai society urgently needs a new value of civil mindedness and

reform in all sectors: finance, economy, politics, bureaucracy,

education, mass media, and legal system (ibid). However, reform of

all aspects of society cannot be accomplished by individuals or a

single organization. The success of reforms depends on a civil

society where:

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All segments in society must come together to think and take

action. Individuals and different sectors in the bureaucracy, politics,

business, academics, religion, non-governmental organizations and

the mass media must all take part in the process. This requires Thai

to change their old mentality from a non-of-my-business attitude to

civil-mindedness, that is, emphaty for others’ problems and

teaming up to solve problems together.

(Bangkok Post July 30,1998, Reform of Thai society: a national

agenda, http://www.bkkpost.samart.co.th)

The civil minded atmosphere was widespread and this strategy

helped Thai people overcome the turbulence. Instead of the

previous none-of-

my-business attitude and the expected higher rate of crime and

robbery, people were sympathetic to others and helped whatever

they could. Non-partisan groups tried to help solve national

problems and troubled people. Many free-food centers were set up

in Bangkok and the provinces. Vocational training programs for laid

off people were arranged. The emergent problem of lacking foreign

reserves was solved by the ‘Thais Help Thais Fund’, gaining

donation for 1.7 billions baht in gold and cash from people around

the country, which was given to the government to become a new

national foreign exchange reserve. Ruam Duay Chuay Kan or

‘Everybody Help’--a radio station, teamed up with all police stations

and other organizations to act as a coordinating media center for

everyone to phone for immediate help or offer help in all social

problems on a twenty-four hours basis. The civil mindedness could

also be seen in the dynamic participation and involvement of people

discussing reform matters necessary to reach a better society.

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A civil society was translated not only as one having civil

mindedness in social activities but also in the economic perspective

of grouping local people to strengthen the local economy. An

economic definition was given to civil society as:

The society which groups people into clubs, association, foundations, cooperatives and communities to develop the economy and improve the spirit, morals, culture and the environment. Groups would be strengthened as members joined together to act, work and manage.

(Prawase Wasi, 1997, http://www.bkkpost.samart.co.th search by Prawase Wasi).

An example is that villagers involved in farming, handicraft making,

agricultural processing and so forth joined to form a saving fund.

Members could seek loans and profits were arranged to create

welfare

in the form of education and medical services (Ibid). It was

necessary for the government to encourage people to form

community groups that work together to strengthen local

economies. This strategic direction is regarded as development from

the bottom up, as the country ‘even with IMF assistance would find

it hard to survive if the economic foundation remained weak’ (Ibid).

Fortunately, the strategic thinking of establishing civil society has

come into the parliament. Most of the members of the new senate

who were elected by people according to the Constitution of 1997

were reported to support this strategy. They are moving to push for

the strengthening of communities and local groups including

integrating this strategy in the Ninth National Development Plan

during 2002 -2006 (Bangkok Post, April 16, 2000).

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Regarding reform, matters on reforming were widely discussed and

broadcast by media: television, radio, newspapers and publications.

Thailand today has reform in all sectors as a main agenda,

especially political reform, which is regarded as one of the critical

success factors of recovery. Information disseminated to the general

public encouraged strong participation from the people in

exchanging opinions, apart from public polls and being scrutinized

by scholars. Public seminars and public hearings were organized on

a continuous basis. In educational reform, for example, a total of

254,318 persons participated in seminars and eight public hearings

in all regions were conducted before creation of the National

Education Act, 1999, taking one year and eleven months (ONEC,

1999a).

In short, on the road through turbulence and recovery, strategic

thinking among Thai academic people who have no authority could

mainly help people get through the most difficult period and look

forward to a better society. I would like to propose that thinking

strategically in the Thai context, does not need to happen only from

the top-down hierarchy pattern or in a vertical line but can also

happen from the bottom-up and communicate throughout in the

horizontal line by mass media, as shown by figure 2.

Strategic thinking top-down

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Strategic thinking bottom-up

Figure 2: Strategic thinking can occur from top-down, bottom up and

communicate throughout in the horizontal line by mass

media.

Strategic alert in an era of reform: the focus on education

From the economic collapse, Thais realized that developing only

economics was the wrong strategy, as education is an important

tool in human resource development. Some indicate that a weak

human resource base has been one of the underlying factors

causing the economic and financial crisis. Many have highlighted the

lack of Thai graduates capable of independent analytical thought as

one factor responsible for the country's economic downfall (ONEC,

1999b)

The criticism of Michelle Zack in the Far Eastern Economic Review,

December 4, 1997 is true. She comments that:

Educating people has never been a major focus of Thai government. Other Asian Tigers stressed education from the beginning of the boom times, but the Thais were trying to catch up in the middle of a major economic setback.

In addition, the highest-ranking official in the Office of the National

Education Commission also accepts that:

Defense and politics were given priorities during the cold war period. The nation enjoyed wealth during the economic boom in the last decade. It was not until the economic recession crisis in the past few years that Thai society came to realize that something should be done with the education system in order to speed up Thailand’s economic recovery and competitiveness. As educators, we cannot deny the responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and political ill effects since people who caused all these problems are the products of our current educational system.

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Rung Kaewdang. (1999). http://www.onec.go.th/move/news/dec_16.htm

Through the institution of the National Education Act of B.E.2542

(1999), education in Thailand is entering into a new era. The

expected goals to achieve consist of:

1. Access to basic education for twelve years (nine years compulsory) will

be ensured. (Previously six year were compulsory);

2. The curriculum and learning process will be reformed;

3. Participation and partnership in education will be encouraged;

4. The educational administrative structure will be restructured;

5. Educational standards and quality assurance will be enhanced;

6. Teachers, faculty staff and educational personnel will be developed and

promoted;

7. Resources and investment for education will be mobilized; and

8. Technologies for education will be utilized in provision of education.

(ONEC,1999c, Chapter 10: The National Education Act 1999: Towards

the New Century of Learning:

http://www.onec.go.th/html_99/onec_pub/book/yr42/ed_in_

thailand99/index.html).

The above challenging goals are in the implementation process

scheduled to be achieved by August 20, 2002, which is three years

since the Act was published in the Government Gazette on August

20, 1999.

What will happen to the Thai Ministry of Education (MOE) in

terms of educational administration?

This paper focuses only on restructuring educational administration

and particularly Educational Service Area because this will impact

on me directly, as one of educators in MOE. By August 20, 2002,

some important changes that will have taken place are:

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1. For unity in policy: three separated leading agencies in

education, Ministry of Education, Ministry of University Affairs

(MUA) and the Office of National Education Commission (ONEC--

the policy-making organization on national educational

development plan) will be merged into one educational authority,

called the Ministry of Education Religion and Culture. All

departments within the Ministry of Education, including

departments in MUA and ONEC will be dissolved. The New

Ministry will consist of only four organizations:

The National Council for Education, Religion and

Culture;

The Commission for Basic Education;

The Commission for Higher Education; and

The Commission on Religion and Culture.

These organizations will be responsible for policies and plans at a

national level, including educational quality, resource support,

monitoring and evaluating the progress of the local branches.

The merging is to solve the problem of lack of unity in policy with

many overlapping authorities and redundancies. It does not

mean it will be bigger and more highly centralized, but rather

that, its structures will be downsized, its labourpower will be

reduced and its authorities will be decentralized.

2. For decentralization: One element of decentralization is the

administration and management of basic education and

higher education at lower-than-degree level. This will be

based on the Educational Service Area, which will be newly

established throughout the country. Previously, MOE

delegated authorities in a limited way to the provincial and

district levels and had some staff to take responsibility in

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Provincial /District Educational Offices. According to the

National Education Act, the new Ministry will decentralize

powers in four aspects: (1) academic matters (2) budget (3)

personnel and (4) general administrative affairs, to

Educational Service Areas (instead of provinces and districts)

and educational institutions in the areas (Section 39, p.17). At

present Educational Service Areas are being mapped out by

considering the number of educational institutions, population

and other appropriate conditions to make each area, as the

Permanent Secretary of MOE stated the ‘optimum size’, which

is not big or small but can be managed efficiently and

effectively.

(More details can be searched from Education Law at

http://www.onec.go.th/Act/5/english/cover.htm OR Chapter 10: The

National Education Act 1999: Towards the New Century of Learning:

http://www.onec.go.th/html_99/onec_pub/book/yr42/ed_in_thailand99/

index.html)

3. For quality assurance: An Office for National Education Standards

and Quality Assessment will be established. All educational

institutes need to receive external quality evaluation at least

once every five years (National Education Act, pp.20-21).

Reflection from the coming changes:

To downsize structure also means to downsize the number of

personnel. There are civil officials at the central office of MOE in

fourteen departments, totaling 24,352 (Data as of June 22, 1998:

http://www.moe.go.th/nu/psn-98.htm) including 26,046 in provinces

(Somsak Dolprasit, 2000). Where will the large number of

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government officials be transferred to? The above four bodies in the

new Ministry, the Office for National Education Standards and

Quality Assessment, and Educational Service Areas will be the new

working places for government officials after merging. As the central

offices in the new Ministry will not be large, most of them might be

in Educational Service Areas that will have about 300 Service Areas

(Ibid). This paper will focus on working in these new challenging

environments. The questions can be raised of: what kinds of job will

government officials in the Areas be responsible for? What might

the new organizations require in terms of leadership, skills, values

and outcomes?

For what kinds of job will government officials be

responsible?

As the new system promotes participation and partnership in

education, each Educational Service Area will have a committee,

comprised of representatives of the community, private and local

administration organizations, teacher associations, religious leaders,

and scholars in education, religion, art and culture (National

Education Act, 1999, section 38, p. 17). The Director of the Office of

the Educational Service Area will be secretary and member of the

Committee. The Office on the advice of the committee will be

responsible:

To oversee educational institutions at the basic and lower-than-degree

levels;

To establish, dissolve, amalgamate or discontinue educational

institutions;

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To promote and support private educational institutions in the

educational service areas;

To promote and support local administration organizations so as to be

able to provide education in accord with the educational policies and

standards;

To promote and support education provided by individuals, families,

community organizations, private organizations, professional bodies,

religious institutions, enterprises, and other social institutions offering a

variety of training; and

To oversee the units responsible for religious, artistic, and cultural

affairs in the area.

(National Education Act, 1999, section 38, p. 16-17)

The above responsibilities suggest that government officials in the

Service Areas need to work with stakeholders in the Area

(individuals, families, schools, communities, other public/private

organizations and so forth). They still have educational authorities

but also need to work as facilitators (Tribus, 1994f) and consultants,

assisting individuals, schools, organizations in providing quality in

education. Their styles of working require flexibility, academic

knowledge and the ability to mobilize/synthesize different sources of

opinions from public participation.

What might the new organizations require in terms of

leadership, skills, values and outcomes?

An organizational model: As a staff member at MOE, who will be

working in one of the Educational Service Areas in the near future, I

look forward to the future with the knowledge from the Leadership

Class in mind. An organizational model of what the Area offices

should look like for successful change is illustrated in Figure 3.

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OUTCOMES

*Accountability

QUALITY &

--Efficiency/Effectiveness

LEARNING --professionalism/integrity

ORGANIZATION --Impact on society

Quality

Leadership STRATEGIC

LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Transformational

Leadership

Quality service orientated (quality starts at me)

VALUES

Moral values: good governance

Figure 3: A model of Educational Service Area Offices.

Explanation: The Area Offices adopt moral values of good

governance and a quality service orientated culture as the essential

foundations of

organizations providing services to the public. The transition to the

new pattern of decentralization requires transformational leadership

to accommodate changes and quality leadership to assure both the

provision of quality service to people and continuous improvement.

As

the office has an important role affecting the growth and prosperity

of the responsible areas, strategic thinking is necessary in giving

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Dou

ble

-Loop

Learn

ing

Str

ate

gic

Th

inkin

g

direction for people, policy, planning, resources, work processes and

technology for successful change. In addition, ability in double-loop

learning will foster staff in seeing and solving real barriers to

development, including the creation of real progress. All these

attributes would help the Offices to achieve expected outcomes of

being Quality and Learning Organizations. They can demonstrate

their accountability by their efficiency/effectiveness in government

budget expenses, including providing quality services to people; at

the same time, government officials in the Area Offices enhance

their professionalism and integrity to serve people accordingly and

such development will create a positive impact on society.

Reflection based on theories:

Why transformational leadership (TF)?

Decentralizing powers from the new Ministry to the Area Offices

requires leaders who have the ability to ‘bring about significant

change’ (Daft, 1999, p.427). From Table 1: Comparison of strengths

and limitations between transactional and transformational leadership

including relations between them can be observed that traditional

transactional leadership (TA), although it has the strengths of:

Excelling at keeping an organization smoothly and efficiently;

By clarifying expectations, leaders help build followers’

confidence;

Satisfying the basic needs of subordinates which may improve

productivity and morale; and

Emphasis should be given to transformational rather than transactional leadership.

Transformational Leadership (TF) Transactional Leadership (TA)

Strengths

Promote change and ability to lead and bring about

significant change in both followers and organizations’

vision, strategy and culture;

Strengths

Excel at keeping an organization smoothly and

efficiently;

By clarifying expectations, leaders help build followers’

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Focus on intangible qualities ( vision, shared values,

ideas) to build relationship;

Strive for a moral commitment and motivate followers

to transcend self-interests toward the higher collective

mission, purpose and vision of the organization;

Develop followers into leaders; motivate followers to

take initiative and to solve problem, and help people

look at things in new ways;

Paints a vision of a desired future state and

communicates it in a way that makes the pain of change

worth the effort;

Give larger meaning to diverse activities and find

common ground to engage followers in the change

process;

Promote innovation in products and technologies;

(Daft,1999)

TF behaviors are positively related to a number of

important organizational outcomes including extra

effort, organizational citizenship behaviors, causing job

satisfaction and high performance (Bryman,1992;

Abbott,1999);

Limitations

Leaders have some sort of monopoly on moral truth,

knowledge and wisdom, which they exploit to draw

followers up to their own perceived ethical standards

(Allix, 2000).

confidence;

Satisfying the basic needs of subordinates may improve

productivity and morale;

Good at traditional management functions such as

planning and budgeting;

(Daft,1999)

Limitations

Exchange relationship between leaders and followers.

Followers receive rewards for job performance while

leaders benefit from the completion of tasks (focus on

tangible qualities);

Focus on the present;

Involving a commitment to ‘follow the rules’ TA often

maintain stability within the organization rather than

promoting change;

(Daft,1999)

Relations between TF and TA: a leader can be both TA and TF (Bryman, 1992). TF builds on TA but not vice versa. Both

approaches are linked to the achievement of some goals or objectives. The models differ on the process by which the leaders

motivates subordinates and on the type of goals set (Ibid). Daft (1999) indicates that effective leaders exhibit both TF and TA

patterns, though in different amounts e.g. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a political leader, having fireside chats, inspiring speeches but

he was skilled in the give-and-take of political rewards to achieve his ends.

Table 1: Comparison of strengths and limitations between Transactional and transformational

leadership including relations between them.

Being good at traditional management functions such as

planning and budgeting;

(Daft, 1999, p.427-428)

it has notable limitations as well; those being that it:

Exchanges relationships between leaders and followers.

Followers receive rewards for job performance while leaders

benefit from the completion of tasks (focus on tangible qualities);

23

Focuses on the present; and

Involves a commitment to ‘follow the rules’, TA often maintain

stability within the organization rather than promoting change;

(Daft, 1999, p.427-428)

The limitation of TA in only promoting stability is an important

obstacle to reform. In contrast, TF will be the kind of people able to

lead the Areas through major changes. The strengths of TF consist

of:

Promoting change and having the ability to lead and bring about

significant change in both followers and organizations’ vision,

strategy and culture;

Focusing on intangible qualities ( vision, shared values, ideas) to

build relationships;

Striving for a moral commitment and motivating followers to

transcend self-interests toward the higher collective mission,

purpose and vision of the organization;

Developing followers into leaders; motivating followers to take

initiative and to solve problem, and helping people look at things

in new ways;

Painting a vision of a desired future state and communicating it

in a way that makes the pain of change worth the effort;

Giving larger meaning to diverse activities and finding common

ground to engage followers in the change process;

Promoting innovation in products and technologies;

(Daft, 1999) and

TF behaviors are positively related to a number of important

organizational outcomes including extra effort, organizational

citizenship behaviors, causing job satisfaction and high

performance (Bryman,1992, quoted in Fuller et al (1999);

Abbott,1999);

From the above strengths it can be stated that TF would be able to

help create change in the Area’ s Offices and government official

24

staff. However, TF has a limitation. Allix (2000) indicates that TF

leaders seem to have some sort of monopoly on moral truth,

knowledge and wisdom, which they exploit to draw followers up to

their own perceived ethical standards. This limitation can be

improved when integrated with quality leadership to be presented in

the next part.

Relations between TF and TA: Bryman, (1992, quoted in Fuller et al,

1999) suggests that a leader can be both TA and TF. TF builds on TA

but not vice versa. Both approaches are linked to the achievement

of some goals or objectives. The models differ on the process by

which the leaders motivates subordinates and on the type of goals

set (Ibid). Daft (1999) indicates that effective leaders exhibit both TF

and TA patterns, though in different amounts. The way of making

changes in Thai contexts should emphasize transformational rather

than transactional leadership.

Why Quality Leadership (QL)?

Quality leadership helps improve the top-down gap, identified as a

limitation of TF, by focusing on a shared common culture and

system of quality.

The concepts of quality and quality assurance:

Bogue & Saunders, (1992) stated that quality is conformance to

mission specification and goal achievement within publicly accepted

standards of accountability and integrity. According to this

25

definition, organizations including public organizations are guided by

their goal and mission, and their performance should meet social

needs. The public organizations’ accountability to society is to

provide good services to people.

Quality principles: Western Australian Department of Training

(1997) suggests that the principles of quality include six main

points:

Focus on clients;

Focus on core business;

Leadership;

Staff participation and ownership;

Decision making based on data; and

Continuous improvements.

From the above, it can be said that the quality principles are to

guarantee quality to the customers according to their needs and

expectations and to improve the service continuously. The quality

principles enhance the performance of organizations allowing them

to become more efficient and effective, by ensuring good direction

from leadership, comprehensive database and the commitment of

all staff.

Regarding quality assurance systems, D’Angelo, (1996, p.5)

summarized:

Quality assurance is most pro-active in that it seeks to prevent the occurrence of problems and errors through the implementation and maintenance of a quality management system. Here the work product is not the only focus, but also the process and people that are involved in its production.

According to the above definition, it can be concluded that a quality

management system helps to guarantee quality by caring for all

26

elements of the system (work process, people who work and work

products/service).

The aims of quality assurance are:

To identify client requirements;

To achieve those requirements;

To provide evidence of the achievement.

(D’angilo, 1996, p.6)

From the aims questions can be raised such as who are the

customers in the Educational Service Areas? What is the customers’

focus? How to achieve the requirement? How to guarantee the

quality?

Considering this in the Thai context, the external customers are

communities, parents, students, individuals, and private/other public

organizations in the Areas; and the internal customers are staff. The

external customers demand high quality services, whereas the

internal customers need good management and good leadership so

that they can work to the best of their ability. However, an internal

quality assessment will be required, as the ‘ultimate determinant of

the quality in any organization is within the organization itself’.

(Pauline, 1990) whilst the external assessment will be validation

through unbiased and professional judgement, ‘like a clear well

polished mirror’ (ibid).

Components of quality assurance: there are four components of

quality assurance:

Everyone in the organization has a responsibility for maintaining

the quality of the product/service;

27

Everyone in the organization has a responsibility for enhancing

the quality of the product/service;

Everyone in the organization understands, uses and feels

ownership of the systems, which are in place for maintaining and

enhancing quality; and

Management (and sometimes the customer or client) regularly

checks the validity and viability of the systems for checking

quality.

(Frazer, 1991, p.11)

The above components stress the importance of ownership,

participation and responsibility of all staff in maintaining and

enhancing quality. In addition, this, the importance can be seen in

the management process opening for quality reviewing internally

and externally from the customers.

The concepts of quality and quality assurance lead to quality

leadership which motivates ‘others in the organization to serve their

customers, internal and external, with devotion’ (Sallis, 1994,

p.238).

The major functions of quality leadership are:

To have a vision of total quality for the organization; To be visible and accessible to staff; To have a clear commitment to the quality improvement process; To communicate the quality message; To ensure that customer needs are at the center of the organization’s

policies and practices; To ensure that long-term strategic quality planning takes place; To ensure that there are adequate channels for the voice of customers; To lead staff development and invest in training; To be careful not to blame others when problems arise without

considering the evidence-most problems are the result of the policies of the institution and not the failings of staff;

To lead innovation within their organization; To facilitate the process of continuous improvement; To ensure that organizational structures clearly define responsibilities

and provide the maximum delegation compatible with accountability; To be committed to the removal of artificial barriers, whether they be

organization or cultural; To build effective teams and motivate employees;

28

To develop appropriate mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating success;

To develop effective quality systems and procedures.

(Sallis, 1994, p.238)

From the above, it can be said that quality leadership has three

main important roles:creating a culture of working with quality,

establishing a quality management system and strengthening staff

with professional development. In the Thai context, quality

leadership would serve to cultivate a quality culture within staff, so

that each individual feels that quality ‘starts at me’ and it would

become a way of working life. Without such cultivation, quality

cannot be sustained in the long run, as it cannot be ordered from

the top-down, it is rather the business of everyone in the

organization to construct, maintain and enhance. QL would also help

install a quality system in the Area Offices. I propose that the Area

Offices in the future not only cultivate a quality culture but also try

one of the suitable quality assurance systems to become a model

for other public organizations. Last but not least, QL would promote

staff development to be more professional and to be able to provide

quality services to people with efficiency and effectiveness.

Another concern is that the Area’ s Offices would not only focus on

‘maximum customer satisfaction’ but also need to ‘keep costs down’

(Doherty, 1994f). As the country has limited resources, improving

quality with fewer resources (Freeman, 1994, p.156f) seems to be a

paradox but is necessary.

In summary, TF are leaders who promote change. They are

proactive leaders while QL would promote providing quality service

to people and continuous improvement. These two types of

leadership can complement each other.

29

Why Double Loop Learning?

Single/Double Loop Learning:

Argyris (1980) defines single-loop learning as detecting and

correcting error without altering underlying values or policies while

the double-loop concept entails detecting/correcting error

involving the changing of underlying values and policies.

From these contrasting definitions, the Area Offices need to promote

double-loop learning, as the country has become a complex society

facing many formidable changes. Petrie & Alpert (1982) suggest

that, when there is a balance between internal and external

environment, single-loop organizational learning is sufficient but

when an organization faces difficulties, double-loop learning is

needed. Thus promoting double-loop learning is necessary in the

Thai context of reform. Overmeer (1997) indicates that building

double-loop learning will assist in developing a learning

organization.

What is a learning organization? A learning organization can be

defined as:

An organization that has woven a continuous and enhanced capacity to

learn, adapt and change into the fabric of its character. It has values,

policies, practices, programs, systems, and structures that support and

accelerate organizational learning. Its learning results in changes in the

ways in which individuals and the organization operate.

(O’Brien, 1994, p.4)

From this definition, the Area Offices need to construct total

mechanism--values, policies, practices, programs, systems and

structures, to foster continuous learning. Garvin (1993, quoted in

30

O’Brien, 1994, pp.4-5) indicates that organizations should build in

the following systems:

Systematic problem solving;

Experimentation with new approaches;

Learning from their own organization’ s experiences or

from those of others;

Transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout

the organizations.

From the systems, staff can learn by evaluating their capacity in

comparison with others; updating their knowledge and skill bases in

accordance with the current changes; finding a chance to learn new

attitude and technologies; solving problems creatively and helping

others to learn to change and grow (O’Brien, 1994).

According to the above, learning becomes dynamic because people

learn and adapt as a continuous cycle. Senge (1990, quoted in

O’Brien, 1994) suggests another higher level of learning called

generative learning which not only adapts but also creates or

produces new solutions/new products/services. The abilities of

learning, adapting and creating are necessary to organizations’

survival and growth.

From the above concept, the essences of learning, adapting and

creating, are necessary to new organizations incorporating radical

changes, such as the Area Offices, where power is decentralized and

staff have to exercise responsibility. In order to grow, the office

leaders need to promote double-loop learning among staff and

strive to be learning organizations which are flexible, adaptive,

31

creative and capable of changing (O’Brien, 1994). In addition, as the

Area Offices

have the role of listening and responding to stakeholders, they

should encourage learning among communities as well. Wilkinson &

Pedler (1996, p.241) suggest that the public service should link

policy, strategy and operations with user ‘voice’ by encouraging

stakeholders to present their opinions through local papers,

questionnaires, group discussions or public seminars/hearings. Such

participation is a way of being ‘proactive in the open, real time

information nets of the public service as a learning organization’

(Ibid, p.242). In summary, the Area Offices, their staff and people in

the Area would together learn, adapt and create a better milieu.

Why strategic thinking?

In the transition to devolution, confusion may arise due to the old

familiarities of doing things. The new Area Offices certainly need

strategic thinking to give directions of managing people, policy,

planning, resources, work processes and technologies in the Area.

With strategic thinking based on the value of good governance, as

proposed at the beginning of the paper, the Offices would be able to

exercise decentralized power effectively leading to the expected

outcomes and the public good.

Why values?

Definitions: Schwartz (1992, quoted in Gurr, 2000, p.1) defines

values as concepts or beliefs which pertain to desirable end states

or behaviors, to transcend specific situations, to guide selection or

evaluation of behavior and events, and which are ordered by

32

relative importance. Jaques (2000) indicates that values are ideas

about the worth or importance of things, concepts, and people

(http://www.leader-values.com).

There are four types of values:

(1)Basic human values, such as freedom and respect for others;

(2)General moral values, such as social justice and fairness

(3)Professional values, such as adoption of business practices and

centrality of students; and

(4)Social and political values, such as participation and commitment

(Gurr, 2000, p.3)

The role of values: Values have an important role in guiding the way

people work. The following phrase well voiced the important role of

values in people:

If the CEO can established over-arching corporative values and

philosophies, which are nested within basic societal values, and

which meet people’s own generic values, he or she can get the

whole organization working effectively in the same broad

direction. It is our values that move us, bind us together, push

us apart, and generally make the world go round

(http://www.leader-values.com)

As bribery and corruption are among the problems which have

eroded Thai society, it is important to enhance moral spirit in

government officials. Crump (1993, p.74) recommended five related

issues of being moral:

Most decisions that have consequences for others have moral

dimensions;

Moral knowledge is not a separate or distinct form of knowledge;

33

Leaders and participating individuals should be open to moral

appraisal;

Educative leaders must create and promote learning throughout

all levels of their organization; and

To be educative means to promote inquiry, value problem-

solving, welcome criticism and encourage participation.

Why good governance? Good governance simply refers to good

public administration that promotes transparency, as people have

the right to know how decisions that affect them are arrived at, by

whom and under what circumstances; how public resources are

administered, by whom and why (Frisch, 2000). In this sense,

transparency will be a guarantee of good governance and is

essential to economic and social development (Ibid). The promotion

of good governance or doing for the public good involves a

determined campaign against corruption, which is one of the most

concrete expressions of maladministration (ibid). Some keys to good

governance are: the quality of the administration of resources that

explains its good or bad development performance; administering

scarce resources in accordance with the real needs of the people;

and leadership attacking the problem of corruption (Ibid).

To reform for the public good it is necessary to have values of good

governance as the basis, otherwise, there may be deviation from

the real target from the public to individual benefits.

Why quality service orientated mind?

Traditionally, Thai authorities do not focus on customer satisfaction.

They will not treat people as their customers. Their dealings are

controlled by rigid regulations. This concept is changing. The

34

country is aware of the decaying development of the country. The

Office of the Civil Servants Commission (http://www.ocsc.go.th) has

encouraged staff to have service-orientated minds. With the

customer focus, rigid regulations and long procedures would be

improved. Authorities would be delegated so that staff would have

more power in making

decisions. This value, when integrated with a quality management

system, would help ensure that people would received services with

quality, convenience, speed and responsive to their real needs and

benefits.

Why Outcomes?

Outcomes in this paper are regarded as ends or visions or focuses.

While TF, QL, double loop learning, strategic thinking and values,

are means or processes or strategies for achieving outcomes. The

transition of devolution to organization by Areas requires the Areas

to determine the expected outcomes and set the means to achieve

them. This paper proposes the outcomes of being quality and

learning organizations with accountabilities:

Decentralized power can be exercised with responsibility;

Efficiency and effectiveness in budget/resource expense

responding to the real needs of people in the Areas, can be

assured;

People can be guaranteed obtaining high quality services; and

Government officials in the Areas’ Offices can develop the

professionalism and integrity to serve people accordingly and

create a positive impact on society.

Further Reflection:

35

According to the above model, five functions in organizations can be

observed:

Leading;

Learning;

Action;

Development; and

Values.

From the model, strategic thinking can be mapped through leading

function; double-loop learning in learning; TF in action; and QL in

development. All four functions have values: good governance and

quality service orientation rolling over at the middle as illustrated in

Figure 4.

Figure 4: A dynamic pattern at the Offices of Educational Service

Areas of leading, learning, action, and development

including having values based in every function.

Figure 4 demonstrates leading, learning, action and development

becoming integral to each other (Wilkinson & Pedler, 1996, p.243f)

36

Learning (Double –Loop Learning)

Development Action (QL) (TF)

Leading (strategic thinking)

Values

Good Governance & quality service

oriented

and being based on values. There are influence or co-relation

between

Leading and learning (leading strategically and learning from the

results/feedback to lead better);

Action and development (doing tasks with some procedures and

techniques; continually improving and doing better).

Similar to each quarter, there is also correlation between

Leading and action (leading the way to do things);

Action and learning (when working, being able to learn from it or

from the problems arising from it and coming up with solutions

or new ways to do the job);

Learning and development (as Lakomski,1999, quoted in Begley

& Leonard, p.37 states that organizational learning helps

develop effective administrative practice and organizational

structure to maximize learning and correction of error through a

feedback system); and

Development and leading (improving the way to lead).

If compared to a human being, leading and learning are like the

brain. Values, represent the heart, whilst action and development,

represent the limbs. This competent person will be able to cope with

any kinds of changes and manage progress. Similarly the Area

Offices, with the five functions working properly, can create a

positive impact on society. This is the ultimate goal of the public

service, since ‘the business of public service is not to make money

but to make a difference--social change’ (Stewart, 1989, quoted in

Willkinson & Pedler, 1996, p.244).

37

The above initiative also raises an important question: how to make

it happen? This paper will be submitted for consideration by the

relevant authorities. The minimum expectation is that it will be

downloaded onto the Ministry’s homepage as an idea from a

stakeholder for further discussion.

However, in building up skills of TF, QA, double-loop learning, and

strategic thinking for prospective staff in the Area Offices, some

public training offices can be responsible such as:

The Institute for Development of Educational Administrators

(IDEA) (more details can be searched from

http://www.moe.go.th/idea).

The Civil Service Training Institution under Office of the Civil

Service Commission (more details can be searched from

http://www.ocsc.go.th/homepage/menu_e.htm)

Conclusion:

In the Chinese language the word, ‘crisis’ is represented by two

characters, one standing for ‘danger’ and the other for ‘opportunity’.

Since the crisis period, Thai people have become well aware of the

urgency to reform every aspect of society. New opportunities for

sustainable growth and prosperity lie ahead if organizations,

especially public organizations, develop skills in leading, learning,

action and development based on specific values. New Educational

Service Area Offices, which will have an important role in creating a

better society with education, require not only strong leaders but

also government officials to commit themselves to develop the

38

above functions to achieve the desirable outcomes. In wider scope,

the people in the Areas also need to be civil-minded to support such

development. If so, reform for the public good can be actually

achievable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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