DOLLARS AND SENSE:

AN EXPLORATION OF
DISCOURSAL AND CLIMATE
ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL ELT
MANAGEMENT

by

Greg Keaney

A thesis submitted in fulfilment

of the requirements for the
degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

University of Sydney

2002
 DOLLARS AND SENSE:
AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSAL AND
CLIMATE ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL ELT
MANAGEMENT

By Greg Keaney

ABSTRACT

The worldviews of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator are

underpinned by differing values that have many points of
conflict. These points of conflict may negatively impact on
organizational performance and effectiveness. Despite the
range of conflicting notions, however, it may also be possible
to find areas of shared values between the two discourses.
These commonalities are likely to provide a basis for
reconciliation strategies between entrepreneurial and
educational imperatives that can assist the ELT manager.

The need for, and the development of, such strategies are
examined in this study. Literature review, analysis of ELT
educator and entrepreneur discourses and examination of
several international ELT colleges demonstrate the nature and
range of these value clashes. Action research at one
international ELT college suggests that management
approaches based on an awareness of all the dimensions of
an organization’s climate, emphasising integration,
collaboration and a focus on client service, may offer a
management model that assists in the functional resolution of
some of these value clashes.

The study uses ethnographic methods to gain a fuller insight

into management at a small number of international ELT
colleges and examines some of the managerial factors that
enhance or interfere with their educational and organizational
goals. It suggests that integration of all organizational
activities from finance to marketing to education should be a
core value that has appeal to both entrepreneurs and ELT
educators. Collaboration is another factor that is capable of
appealing to, and sharing meanings across, the two
discourses. A third commonality may be a strong focus on
client service, as notions of student centred learning have
been important in ELT for many years, while entrepreneurial
thinking has long valued a focus on client and customer care
as a primary business advantage.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract...................................................................................i
Table of Contents.....................................................................i
List of Figures..........................................................................v
Acknowledgments..................................................................vi
Glossary................................................................................vii
Chapter 1................................................................................1
Introduction............................................................................1
1.1. Aims of the Study.............................................................1
1.2. Rationale..........................................................................3
1.3. Background to the study..................................................5
1.4. Professional and Academic Background of the Researcher
.............................................................................................10
1.5. A Note on Usage............................................................12
Chapter 2..............................................................................15
Methodology.........................................................................15
2.1. Introduction....................................................................15
2.2. Approach........................................................................16
2.3. Data Collection...............................................................19
2.4. Analysis..........................................................................40
2.5. Report of Findings..........................................................48
2.6. Conclusion......................................................................49
Chapter 3..............................................................................51
Management and Organizations...........................................51
3.1. Introduction....................................................................51
3.2. Defining Organizations...................................................52
3.3. Perspectives of Organizations........................................57
3.4. Management and Organizational Effectiveness..............67
3.5. The Description of International ELT Organizations........69
3.6. Conclusion......................................................................77
Chapter 4..............................................................................78
The International ELT College Environment...........................78
4.1. Introduction....................................................................78
4.2. English as an International Language.............................80
4.3.The Growth of the International ELT Industry in Australia 82
4.4. The Regulation of the International ELT Industry in
Australia................................................................................87
4.5. The Products and Services of International ELT Colleges 95
4.6. Conclusion....................................................................100
Chapter 5............................................................................101
Discourses and Discourse Analysis......................................101
5.1. Introduction..................................................................101
5.2. Discourse.....................................................................102
5.3. Discourse Analysis and Description..............................108
5.4. Ideological-Discursive Formations................................113
5.5. Conclusion....................................................................114
Chapter 6............................................................................116
The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur:
Descriptions .......................................................................116
6.1. Introduction..................................................................116
6.2. The Discourse of the Entrepreneur...............................116
6.3 The Discourse of the ELT Educator................................131
6.4. Conclusion....................................................................141
Chapter 7............................................................................142
The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur:
Contestations .....................................................................142
7.1. Introduction .................................................................142
7.2. View of Organizations...................................................143
7.3. Commodification of Education......................................153
7.4. Transaction Costs.........................................................155
7.5. Process vs People.........................................................156
7.6. Commonalities.............................................................158
7.7. Conclusion....................................................................162
Chapter 8............................................................................163
The Discourses of the Educator and the Entrepreneur:
Institutionalisation...............................................................163
8.1. Introduction..................................................................163
8.2. Institutions and IDFs.....................................................164
8.3. Course Selection and Development..............................166
8.4. The Management of Staff and the Allocation of Resources
...........................................................................................171
8.5. The Recruitment, Placement and Certification of Students
...........................................................................................178
8.6. Conclusion....................................................................183
Chapter 9............................................................................185
The Structure of Work Organizations...................................185
9.1. Introduction..................................................................185
9.2. Organizational Structure..............................................186

ii
9.3. Power distribution........................................................190
9.4. Describing Organizational Structures...........................197
9.5. The Relationship between Structure and Organizational
Climate...............................................................................200
9.6. Conclusion....................................................................203
Chapter 10 .........................................................................205
The Structure of International ELT Colleges.........................205
10.1. Introduction................................................................205
10.2. The Bureaucratic Structure in ELT Colleges................206
10.3. The Managerialist Structure in ELT Colleges...............209
10.4. The Management of Structure in ELT Colleges...........213
10.5. Action Research at College E: Structure.....................217
10.6. Conclusion..................................................................223
Chapter 11..........................................................................225
The Milieu of International ELT Colleges..............................225
11.1. Introduction................................................................225
11.2. The Relationship between Milieu and Organizational
Climate...............................................................................225
11.3. The ELT Teacher Milieu..............................................227
11.4. The ELT Administration, Marketing and Counselling Staff
Milieu..................................................................................236
11.5. The ELT Agent Milieu..................................................238
11.6. The ELT Student Milieu...............................................245
11.7. Action Research at College E: Milieu..........................250
11.8. Conclusion..................................................................262
Chapter 12..........................................................................264
The Ecology of International ELT Colleges...........................264
12.1. Introduction................................................................264
12.2. The Relationship between Ecology and Organizational
Climate...............................................................................265
12.3. Ecology and International ELT Colleges......................267
12.4. Ecology and Communication......................................272
12.5. Ecological Change......................................................281
12.6. Action Research at College E: Ecology.......................285
12.7. Conclusion..................................................................290
Chapter 13..........................................................................292
The Culture of Work Organizations......................................292
13.1. Introduction................................................................292
13.2. The Concept of Culture...............................................292
13.3. Organizational Culture...............................................296
13.4. Describing Organizational Cultures............................301

iii
13.5. Organizational Culture and Organizational Effectiveness
...........................................................................................304
13.6. The Relationship between Organizational Culture and
Climate...............................................................................308
13.7. Conclusion..................................................................312
Chapter 14..........................................................................313
The Culture of International ELT Colleges............................313
14.1. Introduction................................................................313
14.2. Integration.................................................................314
14.3. Collaboration..............................................................321
14.4. The Development of a Client Service Culture.............327
14.5. Action Research at College E: Culture........................337
14.6. Conclusion..................................................................345
Chapter 15..........................................................................348
The ELT Manager................................................................348
15.1. Introduction................................................................348
15.2. ELT Managers.............................................................348
15.3. Teacher Perceptions of ELT Managers........................357
15.4. Vision and Values.......................................................359
15.5. Climate and the ELT Manager....................................365
15.6. Conclusion..................................................................369
Chapter 16..........................................................................370
Conclusion..........................................................................370
16.1. Introduction................................................................370
16.2. Environment...............................................................372
16.3. Discourse Resolution..................................................373
16.4. Climate.......................................................................375
16.5. Action Research.........................................................379
16.6. Simply the Best..........................................................380
Bibliography........................................................................384
Appendix A............................................................................64
Interview and Observation Guide..........................................64
Appendix B............................................................................68
Sample Interview Sheet and Analysis....................................68
Appendix C............................................................................73
Profile of Informants..............................................................73

iv
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure/Table Page
Figure 2.1
Data Collection......................................................................21
Figure 2.2
Action Research Process (adapted from Kemmis, 1988, p.11)
.............................................................................................33
Table 2.2
Action Research Initiatives at College E................................47
Figure 3.1.
Organizational Climate..........................................................76
Figure 5.1.
Transactions between Writers and Readers.......................110
Figure 7.1
ELT educator values and entrepreneurial values.................161
Figure 9.1. The Power Configuration...................................192
Figure 9.2. The Role Configuration......................................193
Figure 9.3. The Task Configuration......................................194
Figure 9.4. The Person Configuration..................................195
Figure 9.5
The ELT Structure Matrix.....................................................198
Figure 15.1
The relationship between quality and profit........................364

Table 15.1
Summary of Action Research Initiatives at College E..........366
Figure 16.1
Reconciliation of ELT educator and entrepreneurial values. 378

v
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my Supervisor, Phillip Jones, and the staff

of the University of Sydney for their assistance with this
project.

I would also like to thank my wonderful family and many

friends and colleagues in Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia,
Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom,
Ireland and a few other of the ‘round earth’s imagined
corners’ for a host of insights and many years of enjoyment
on the road and in ELT.

vi
 GLOSSARY

AARE Australian Association for Research in Education

ACPET The Australian Council for Private Education and

Training

AEI Australian Education International

AIEF Australian International Education Foundation

Cert TEFLA Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign

Language to Adults

CRICOS Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses

for Overseas Students

DEET Department of Employment, Education and Training

DEETYA Department of Employment, Education, Training and

Youth Affairs

DEST Department of Education, Science and Training

DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

DILGEA Department of Immigration, Local government and

Ethnic Affairs

DIMA Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

DOS Director of Studies

EA English Australia (formerly the ELICOS Association)

ELICOS English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas

Students

ELT English Language Teaching

vii
ESOS Act Education Services for Overseas Students
(Registration of Providers and Financial Regulations Act 1991)

IATEFL International Association of Teaching English as a

Foreign Language

IELTS International English Language Testing Service

IDF ideological-discursive formation

NEAS National ELICOS Accreditation Scheme

OSHC Overseas Student Health Cover

RSA Royal Society of the Arts (See UCLES)

TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language

TESL Teaching English as a Second Language

TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

UCLES University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate

VET Vocational Education and Training

VETAB Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board

viii
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Aims of the Study

The worldview of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator, their
Weltanschauung, seem to have a degree of tension, if not
opposition, in many international ELT colleges. The respective
worldviews are underpinned by differing values that have
many points of conflict. These points of conflict may
negatively impact on organizational performance and
effectiveness. Despite this range of conflicting notions,
however, it may be possible to find areas of shared values
between the two discourses. These commonalities are likely to
provide a basis for reconciliation strategies between
entrepreneurial and educational imperatives that can assist in
international ELT college management.

The Australian education sector, like its counterparts in other

English-speaking countries, is internationalising at a rapid
pace. Traditional institutions have expanded their operations
to meet this growing need, while more than 200 new
institutions commenced operations to service the area in 1999
(DETYA, 2000). Growth in research, however, has not yet
parallelled this rapid expansion. ELT colleges and their
managers have yet to be subject to much detailed research,

1
even though the industry has become an important segment
of growth in the educational sector in Australia. The
fundamental aim of this research project, therefore, is to
contribute to understanding of management practices in
international ELT colleges in Australia, especially in those that
are privately owned and operated.

In order to achieve this primary aim, the study examines some

of the underlying constructs and competing values in
discoursal areas that affect ELT management. It looks at texts
that are indicative of the discourses of the entrepreneur and
the educator, and compares and contrasts the value systems
they represent. It explores areas of shared values between the
two discourses suggesting that these are fruitful avenues
towards reconciliation and functional resolution of discoursal
tensions. The study also examines the organizational climate
of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney, Australia with data
gained by ethnographic means and discusses some of their
effective and ineffective ELT management practices.

As a result of the discourse analysis and the examination of

organizational climate, an action research project at one
international ELT college suggests that management
approaches based on an awareness of all the dimensions of an
organization’s climate, emphasising integration, collaboration
and a focus on client service, may offer a management model
that assists in the functional resolution of some of these
discoursal tensions. It suggests that integration of all
organizational activities from finance to marketing to

2
education should be a core value that has appeal to both
entrepreneurs and ELT educators. Collaboration is proposed
as another factor that is capable of appealing to, and sharing
meanings across, the two discourses. A third commonality
may be a strong focus on client service, as notions of student
centred learning have been important in ELT for many years,
while entrepreneurial thinking has long valued a focus on
client and customer care as a primary business advantage.

1.2. Rationale
Considering the rapid growth in the ELT industry worldwide
and in Australia outlined in Chapter 4 The International ELT
College Environment, there has been little research work in
the area of management in ELT and virtually none in the
context of the Australian industry. The internationalisation of
the Australian education sector, and the rapid change in the
commercial and legislative environment for ELT colleges over
the last decade, have made research into ELT management
and its capacity to improve educational and organizational
outcomes for all stakeholders, a significant area of concern.

Jack Richards, one of the most influential applied linguists in

the area of ELT over the last two decades recently noted that:

Language teaching has often been discussed from a relatively

narrow perspective, with a focus on teaching methods and
techniques. Improvement in language teaching has been linked
to the use of better methods of teaching, hence the extensive
literature on teaching methods and the preoccupation with the
search for the best teaching methods that has characterized the
history of language teaching for much of the last 100 years. …In

3
 recent years it has been acknowledged that since language
teaching normally takes place within an institution of some sort,
some of the principles of effective institutional management
identified in other settings can also be applied to language
teaching…
Richards, 2001, p.410

Perhaps because of a lean towards the educational aspects of

ELT in academic research, the linkages between ELT in the
classroom and the entrepreneurial and organizational
concerns of ELT institutions have been less carefully
examined. It should be an important concern of those working
to improve ELT, however, to obtain data on how the
institutions where language teaching and learning occurs are
managed, as well as on the beliefs and performance of those
who manage such institutions.

The need for ELT managers to understand and develop

strategies to reconcile value clashes between the
entrepreneurial and educational facets of their organizations
is a challenge that most who work in ELT management accept
as a workaday fact. Detailed analysis of the clashes and
possible strategies for their functional resolution are currently
lacking in the research literature.

This study expands on the author’s previous research

(Keaney, 1994) which suggested that ELT managers at various
levels favoured notions developed from their teaching
backgrounds and, in general, preferred the culture and
discourse norms of teachers rather than those of managers or

4
entrepreneurs. It also found that there were role confusions
and value conflicts in many aspects of their work.

As the first study to focus specifically on managers in the

Australian ELT industry the previous research report
suggested some possible areas for further investigation into
management in the ELT sector. It indicated a demand for
research that goes beyond the analysis of classroom
interaction and sought a better understanding of the ‘profane’
details of the way international ELT Colleges are managed,
operated and supervised.

The current study, therefore, attempts to expand on the

earlier work, and to examine some of the underlying
constructs and competing values in discoursal areas that
affect ELT management, as well as to explore areas of shared
values between them as possible pathways towards
reconciliation of discoursal tensions. It also aims to further
explore the ELT environment and aspects of organizational
climate such as structure and culture and then use this
understanding to examine a number of ELT colleges in
Sydney, Australia and explore possible solutions through an
action research project.

1.3. Background to the study

1n 1993-1994 this researcher undertook a quantitative
research study into ELT managers focusing on people in
managerial positions at ELT colleges in Australia. This study

5
investigated the relationship between ELT managers'
perceptions of the organizational effectiveness of their ELT
colleges and their perceptions of their own work performance.
After a review of management models, organizational theory,
educational administration, previous work in ELT management
and an outline of the Australian ELT industry, the research
presented the results of a survey that was sent to ELT
managers at 53 ELT colleges. The study examined whether
there was a statistically significant correlation between ELT
managers’ ratings of the organizational effectiveness of their
colleges and their ratings of their own work performance. It is
almost axiomatic in management literature that managerial
work performance and organizational effectiveness should
strongly and positively correlate. There should, therefore,
have been a strong relationship between the two variables, as
leadership and good management have been shown to be
important ingredients of effective industrial and educational
organizations.

The study gave a basic descriptive profile of ELT managers by

job title, gender, age, qualifications, teaching experience, ELT
management experience, period in current position, decision-
making beliefs and decision-making practices. The study
combined exploratory interviews with a survey instrument.
The survey instrument consisted of 20 Likert style items that
sought data on ELT manager perceptions of the organizational
effectiveness of their colleges and their own work
performance as managers. The study was designed to test the

6
proposition that there should be a strong positive correlation
between beliefs about organizational effectiveness and
manager work performance. The central question of the study
was: Is there a statistically significant relationship between
ELT manager perception of their work performance and of
their perception of the overall organizational effectiveness of
their ELT college?

Factor analysis on the survey data revealed that there were

five areas of survey data, two clearly related to organizational
effectiveness and one clearly related to the work performance
of ELT managers. When correlations between these factors
were presented it seemed obvious that there was only a weak
and statistically insignificant correlation between the ELT
manager work performance indicator and the two
organizational effectiveness factors, despite an expectation
based on traditional management literature of a very strong
positive correlation. The study concluded that ELT managers
see indicators of the effectiveness of their organizations as
less than relevant to the way they judge their work
performance. It was clear that the issue required further
examination and research.

The study suggested possible factors that may account for the
lack of correlation between perceptions of ELT manager work
performance and organizational effectiveness. The most
plausible explanation seemed to be a combination of the
following four factors. These were:

7
Firstly, Environment. Many ELT managers may feel that
they have little control over the environments they
operate in. Change in the Australian and international
economy has been extremely rapid in the last two
decades and change in the legislative environment for
ELT colleges has reflected this. The upheavals in the ELT
industry after visa laws were changed in the early 1990s
without serious industry consultation forced several
major colleges to close.

Secondly, Structure. It is possible that old-fashioned

management models and metaphors still dominate the
profession and only those at the top with actual equity
or financial control have any power to influence events.
In follow up interviews with ELT managers it was clear
that a number still felt that position in a hierarchy is
vital. If colleges only allow those at the top to have
power then ELT managers 'lower down' may feel
powerless. Several surveys indicated a deep-seated
antagonism between owners 'squeezing an ELT college
dry' and ELT managers struggling to provide high
standards of service. It is possible that a large number
of ELT managers simply felt that the health of their
college more closely related to the whims of owners and
equity holders rather than to the ELT managers' work
performance.

Thirdly, Culture. It is possible that the organizational

cultures at most ELT colleges do not emphasise client

8
 service but are focused on assigned tasks and roles. ELT
managers may be predominantly judging themselves by
how well they are doing what their job description says
rather than ensuring that an integrated college with a
collaborative work culture places client satisfaction at
the core of all the college’s work activities.

Fourthly, Unresolved Competing Discourses. It may be that

because most ELT managers come into the position
from teaching backgrounds and many play both
teaching and managerial roles concurrently, they are
judging themselves more by the criteria of 'good
teacher' than by that of 'good manager'.

The limited nature of the study did not allow a considered

examination of these factors and the reasons for the lack of
correlation between manager work performance and
organizational effectiveness. As noted in Section 1.2.
Rationale the current study expands on the earlier work and
investigates some underlying constructs and competing
values in the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT
educator. It proposes some areas of shared values that can
assist in the functional resolution of discoursal tensions. It also
looks at the organizational climate of a small number of
international ELT colleges, including their structure, milieu,
ecology and culture, and then proposes some possible
solutions to management dilemmas tested by means of an
action research project.

9
1.4. Professional and Academic Background of the
Researcher
The role of the researcher’s cultural background and
assumptions can be too easily ignored in ethnographic
research. The self-awareness necessary to negate this
influence is probably impossible to attain so the final research
reporting needs to outline the researcher’s cultural
background and beliefs so that readers may see how these
may have influenced the data gathering and interpreting
process. This section outlines my own professional and
academic background, therefore, to assist in the explication of
some of the values and beliefs that come through in relevant
sections of the work.

I have been involved with international ELT education for most

of my professional life. In 1984 I worked as an English
instructor in Bandung Indonesia preparing Indonesian
students who were about to go to Australia or the US to study.
From 1985 to 1987 I worked at one of Japan's largest English
language colleges and was responsible for designing course
programs for use by more than 6000 students. From 1990 -
1992 I was the Assistant Director of the English Department at
a US University branch campus in Japan. The university
experienced dramatic growth during this period and drew my
interest to issues in the management of international
education projects that develop from entrepreneurial
imperatives.

10
From 1995 – 1996 I worked for an Australian higher education
project in Malaysia as the Head of the Academic English
Department. This was a Malaysian funded - Australian
university accredited and supervised program in association
with 11 Australian universities. Again the experience of
working there at a senior administrative level revealed a
range of managerial and logistical issues that arise in the
management of an effective international ELT program.

It is my positions in management and administration at

privately owned English language colleges in Australia that
cater to international students, however, that bear most
relevance to the study. In 1988 I was the Director of Studies at
a small ELT College in Cairns. From 1989 – 1990 I held the
position of Senior Teacher at a large ELT college in Sydney.
From late 1992 to mid 1994 I worked as an ELT teacher at a
different ELT college in Sydney before becoming the Director
of Studies at a new ELT college. After returning from Malaysia
I did consulting work for a number of ELT colleges that were
gaining provisional and full accreditations for their operations.

For most of the period of the doctoral research I was the

Principal of a new and rapidly expanding ELT college that has
formed the basis for the action research data in this study. I
have recently departed Australia once again and now work for
the Centre for British Teachers in Brunei Darussalam in ELT
and information technology.

11
Prior to commencing this doctoral research project I
completed a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics with
courses in ELT management, curriculum development and
other issues related to the theory and practice of language
teaching and learning. I presented a dissertation for the
Masters degree titled Organizational Effectiveness and
Manager Work Performance at ELT Institutions in Australia.
This is referenced throughout the current work as Keaney,
1994.

1.5. A Note on Usage

The writing style in this report is based on the language norms
for an educated Australian user. Having been involved in ELT
for many years, and with a range of publications in the
popular press, I have tried to satisfy the twin aims of academic
accuracy and readability. This is a much more difficult task
than I had imagined at the commencement of my doctoral
studies!

There are a small number of lexico-grammatical points that

may require clarification:

In order to avoid the ‘he/she, s/he, he or she’

awkwardness, throughout the study they and related
pronouns are used for the neutral third person. Where
possible this has been combined with a plural verb but in
certain statements where it is important to retain the

12
singular, they has been combined with a singular third
person verb.

In this paper data is used in its conventional singular non-

count noun usage rather than in its Latinate plural form.
Most respected commentators agree that it is now a non-
count noun in English analogous in syntax to words such
as information.

No contortions have been made to avoid split infinitives.

This grammatical injunction is based on a false analogy
with traditional Latin grammar. As Fowler notes in his
famous Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926)

The English speaking world may be divided into (1) those

who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2)
those who do not know but care very much; (3) those who
know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and
(5) those who know and distinguish…. Those who neither
know nor care are the vast majority, and are a happy folk,
to be envied by most of the minority classes.

The words organize and organization have for the sake of

consistency been spelled with a z throughout the
report. Many of the management texts in the literature
review are originally published in the United States and it
was felt that avoiding multiple spellings of the same word
would aid readability. By analogy other words that can be
spelled with either an –ise or –ize have been standardized
to the –ize usage.

13
 Program has been spelled in this form rather than its –
mme variant.

The words sector and industry are used interchangeably

in this report based on their common usage. The technical
definition of a sector, though, is a grouping of transactors
by institutional type of transactor and that of an industry
as a grouping of establishments according to the type of
economic activity engaged in by the establishment
(Jackson, 1989; p.205).

In the end, all works of writing are flawed. Any writer of a long
document feels as did Gustave Flaubert that:

language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears
to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.

14
 Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

2.1. Introduction
This chapter outlines the methodology of this study. It
discusses some methodological dilemmas and the way that
they have been resolved. It looks at the general approach to
the research, then discusses the methods of data collection,
the means of data analysis and the techniques used in the
report of findings.

The chapter justifies the use in this study of a combination of

four common techniques in education and management
research - a critical literature review leading to a text and
discourse analysis, followed by on-site interviews and
ethnographic observation at a number of related organizations
and, finally, a detailed action research project in one target
organization. This combination of techniques provides a multi-
dimensional way of understanding the relevant aspects of
management at international ELT colleges in Australia.

Within the social sciences there are several major schools of

thought regarding social organizations. As discussed in the
following chapter, each school has its own view of
organizations, as well as a set of concepts and assumptions
that define the preferred approaches to researching them.

15
This variety of perspectives means that each particular
research method or technique has its own strengths and
weaknesses, and it is impossible to find a single research
methodology that is universally accepted as beyond reproach.

As indicated in Section 1.1 Aims of the Study, the aim of this

research project is to inform the work of myself and other
managers in international ELT colleges especially those that
are privately owned and operated. The research methodology
for the study therefore must be capable of achieving this aim.
Decisions about methodology, perspective and interpretation
of findings, therefore, have been filtered through the following
two questions:

1. Will this methodology/perspective/interpretation be able to deliver

findings that may be useful and significant for myself and for other
international ELT college managers in a similar situation?

2. Will this methodology/perspective/interpretation be able to deliver

findings that may be valuable, unusual or significant enough to be
of interest to the broader field of educational research?

2.2. Approach
It is possible to identify two broad types of enquiry that can
illuminate problems in areas of interest to social and
organizational researchers. These two broad types of research
can be labelled as the variance approach and the process
approach. The variance approach typically requires the
surveying of a representative sample of a population using
quantitative data in order to draw conclusions using statistical
inferencing. In organizational research this means
investigating a large number of organizations in, say, a

16
particular industry category and then attempting to draw
generalised conclusions about the relationship between a
number of variables or factors. The process approach, on the
other hand, usually means investigating a small section of a
population close at hand, extracting qualitative data to try to
get ‘underneath’ the issues of interest. In organizational
research it might mean studying one or a few similar
organizations in detail in order to understand exactly how
people do things and how things get done.

While it is possible to have large-scale qualitative research

that attempts to examine variance or small-scale case study
research that focuses solely on quantitative measures,
commonly quantitative data is employed in the variance
approach while qualitative data is associated with the process
approach. Until the mid-1970s, studies of organizations were
dominated by researchers who followed the paradigms of the
traditional methods of laboratory science based on logical
positivism (Owens, 1995, pp. 297 - 299). The variance
approach, using quantitative data measurement and
experimental methods, was seen as the more prestigious
research technique. Variance type survey research into
organizational management and change in industry focused
on the content of changes in a large number of organizations
and the implications of these changes for the structural
configurations and profitability of organizations.

Since that time, however, the process approach using

qualitative methods has come to be more readily accepted

17
and valued. The realisation has grown that qualitative
research can shed light on important aspects of organizational
life that may not be revealed by laboratory style experimental
research. Many commentators would now agree that the full
complexity of human behaviour cannot be confined simply to
statistical categories, and that ethnographic accounts of the
details of organizational life are immensely important in
understanding organizations as complex social systems.

The process approach to research attempts to represent

reality as a flow of events - a narrative. It is essentially
description with interpretive ‘attitude’. Process-theoretic
approaches suit situations where the variables of particular
contexts tend to outweigh the variables under study. In such
situations it is difficult to unambiguously isolate and identify
pieces worthy of investigation separate from their whole.
Research into educational institutions has in recent years
come to look more favourably on process-theoretic
approaches. As Mohr (1982, p.215) wrote nearly two decades
ago:

...the kind of description that would seem to have the greatest potential in social
science is description of processes - how things are done by people and groups. To
the extent that the pursuit of description increases in prevalence as a research goal,
social science will take on an increasingly process-theoretic flavour at the expense
of variance theory.

The variance approach is underscored by a belief in an

objective reality that can be identified and described through
well-constructed research. The process approach, on the other
hand, adopts what may be termed a qualitative

18
phenomenological view, seeing reality as constructed with no
real objective ‘existence’ independent of the subjective
perceptions of researchers and their subjects.

The four phases of the research in this study follow a process-

theoretic approach. It has seemed that ethnographic research
techniques are well suited to this type of research. Some
discussion of the applicability of the findings has been made
primarily through the development of tentative management
models that may, with appropriate modification, be of use in
similar contexts and situations.

2.3. Data Collection

Research, like politics, is the art of the possible. The difficulties
that face researchers in educational management are varied.
The most important issues in data collection for this study
follow on from the basic approach. Thus it was necessary to
decide whether to adopt ethnographic or experimental
techniques or a mixture of the two, and to judge to what
extent the data would accurately represent the 'real views' of
informants. Other issues included problems of access, status
of the researcher and comparability across cases.

In order to avoid the dangers of single sources of data and

improve the external validity of the data it was decided to
break the research up into four phases and use different
methods of data collection for each phase. Phase I involved
exploratory interviews with peers involved in the management

19
of similar international ELT colleges and a log of my own
experiences as a teacher and manager in ten different
international education organizations. It also drew on findings
of a previous research report by the author into the
management of ELT colleges in Australia (Keaney, 1994).
Phase II involved a critical review and discourse analysis of the
relevant management and education literature. Phase III
consisted of multiple case studies involving semi-structured
and open interviews, text and document analysis and
observations in a range of international colleges in Sydney,
Australia. Phase IV involved an action research program in a
new college that opened during the study. This college was
similar in scope to the colleges investigated in Phase III and
involved the writer in a central participatory role as the
Principal of the college.

Data collection proceeded as shown in Figure 2.1:

20
Phase Research Activity

Survey of ELT Managers, Initial reading and

recollections and exploratory interviews with
peers involved in the management of similar
I international education institutions as well as a
recollections log of author’s experiences as a
teacher and manager in ten different international
education organizations

Background research, literature review and

discourse analysis - a critical review and discourse
II
analysis of the relevant management and
education literature

Multiple case studies involving semi-structured

and open interviews, text and document analysis
III
and observations in a range of international ELT
colleges

Action research project in a new college that

opened during the study. This college was similar
IV in scope to the colleges investigated in Phase III
and involved the writer in a central participatory
role as the Principal of the college

Figure 2.1
Data Collection

Phase I: Survey, Recollections and Exploratory

Interviews
The first phase of the research was to undertake a number of
exploratory open-ended interviews and to systematically note

21
down my own work recollections. The interviews were with
five present or former ELT managers. In this phase I
interviewed two Owner/Directors of ELT colleges, a Director of
Studies, a former Director of Studies, a Principal and a
Financial Controller. I also discussed the directions of the
research with several teachers and education academics and
a number of current and former ELT students. These
exploratory interviews were used to help understand the ways
that discourse and climate issues manifested themselves in
different colleges, and the ways that these were related to ELT
management.

In this phase of the research I also wrote in a journal all of my

own memories of working in ten different international
educational institutions in Australia and other countries. I tried
to systematically recall issues that had most affected me
especially those regarding the ‘feeling’ or climate of each
particular organization. I tried to structure these recollections
as a kind of self-interview. I also reviewed data originally
gathered for a Masters Degree dissertation in Applied
Linguistics on the links between manager work performance
and organizational effectiveness at ELT colleges in Australia.

Phase II Review and analyse the relevant literature.

The literature review, which is incorporated into this report,
was a significant component of this research. ELT
management has not yet had much research attention but the
related fields of educational administration and organizational
and management research in industry provided a deep

22
background to the issues of interest that were likely to arise in
the latter phases of the study. The literature review also
enabled the development of an interview and observation
guide and the creation of frameworks to organize the data and
categorise it in ways that enabled useful comment and
comparison.

The literature review quickly made it apparent that the

supposition of competing discoursal pressures was valid. The
management of ELT organizations relies on knowledge, skills
and understanding that derive from two distinct, and at times
opposing, discourses. The cultures of ELT colleges, their
management and the process of growth and change within
them, all reflect at some levels these discoursal tensions. It
came to be clear that an improved understanding of
international ELT organizations and their management
required a deeper awareness of the basis for these tensions
and conflicts. This has led to a brief analysis of the two
discourses as suggested by indicative texts in the published
literature.

The discourse and text analysis in Chapters 5 – 8 broadly

follows a question framework developed by Kemmis (1988,
pp.57 - 85) that divides such an analysis into the three areas
of language use, contestation and institutionalisation. Usage
involves a description of the history and contemporary usage
of the key ideas in the discourse. Contestation involves points
where there is contestation over language within and between
discourses. Institutionalisation indicates how the relevant

23
discourses have been institutionalised in particular work
situations.

The discourse analysis is intended to be illustrative and

suggestive, as a comprehensive analysis is far beyond the
scope of this study. The purpose of the analysis is not to
provide a thorough and complete overview of the discourses
and all of the areas of contestation or resultant
institutionalisation, but simply to indicate a ‘feeling’ for the
language use, contestation and institutionalisation as an aid to
discussing the data in other areas of the study. It also enables
the development of three key cultural notions that may
provide a basis for some reconciliation between the two
discourses.

Phase III Multiple Case Studies

(Interviews, Observation and Text Analysis)
Phase III was a multiple case study which examined four
colleges that have been founded since 1990. All these
colleges have come into existence as a result of the growth in
international education in Australia since that time. The
colleges have reasonably similar student profiles and
educational goals with a range of ownership profiles. They all
consisted mainly of international students and were run on
profit-making lines. The annual turnover at each college was
less than $5 million as organizations with turnover in excess of
that amount probably have very different systemic and
managerial concerns (DETYA, 2001).

24
Phases III and IV of the research adopted ethnographic
techniques. According to David Nunan, one of the most
significant researches into ELT teaching methods and
classroom practice over the past two decades:

Ethnography involves the study of the culture/characteristics of a group in real-

world rather than laboratory settings. The researcher makes no attempt to isolate
or manipulate the phenomena under investigation, and insights and generalisations
emerge from close contact with the data rather than from a theory....
(Nunan, 1992, p.55)

Nunan sees ethnographic research as having the following

characteristics:

1. It is contextual being carried out in the context where the inhabitants normally
live and work.
2. It is unobtrusive in that the researcher avoids manipulating the phenomenon
under investigation.
3. It is longitudinal in that the research is relatively long term.
4. It is collaborative in that the researcher involves the participation of other
stakeholders.
5. It is interpretive in that the researcher carries out interpretive analysis of the
data
6. It is organic in the sense that there is interaction between questions/hypotheses
and data collection/interpretation.

Phase III utilised interviews, observation, informants’ reports

of unobtrusive measures such as number of enrolments and
staff turnover and text analysis techniques. Interviews and
observation proceeded by a series of 'guides' and
standardised formatted observation sheets.

Data was collected using an open-ended interview instrument

that consisted of questions in the four areas of climate. Each
area was divided into sub-topics and the interview proceeded

25
using these sub-topics to ‘guide’ the interview. Frequently the
answers would not proceed in a linear fashion, as an informant
would cover several points in one answer or take several
questions to provide data for one sub-topic. For each item I
asked as many probes as were thought necessary to elicit full
responses, where a sub-topic appeared irrelevant for that
particular informant the question was still asked but with a
phrasing such as: "I don't suppose you know anything
about...” The interview instrument is included in Appendix A.
Analysis generally proceeded by using a key concept
approach discussed more fully in Section 2.4 Analysis.

In most instances it proved much more difficult getting

interviewees to stop talking than to start, itself a useful insight
into the fact that many who work in education and
management have too little time to reflect upon what it is
they actually do, and how it is that they create value for their
organization and the community. Many interviewees explicitly
commented that they enjoyed being interviewed and
discussing their work, suggesting perhaps that an avenue for
reflection on work is an important, if frequently overlooked,
organizational activity.

The colleges used in the Multiple Case Study phase of the

research were:

1. College A
This Sydney-based college is owned and operated by an
Australian management team. The college was originally a
business college that has expanded from this base into the

26
 teaching of English language courses. I have been involved
with this college as a Director of Studies, as an educational
consultant and as an IT instructor.

2. College B
This Sydney based college was part-owned by a large
private Japanese educational organization but has since
become fully Australian owned. The college was required to
raise the prestige of the organization in Japan and give it an
international profile as well as its profit making function. I
have been involved with this college as a part-time ELT
instructor and as an educational consultant.

3. College C
This college also offers vocational courses in business and
information technology in addition to its English language
courses. This college has had several changes of ownership,
premises and leading educational managers during the
course of the study. I have been involved with this college
as an educational and marketing consultant.

4. College D
This institute was initially designed to assist students to
prepare for studies in Christian ministry. The institute
started to accept international students after detecting an
interest in ELT courses as preparation for its other courses
from overseas students. It subsequently changed premises
and ownership structure and in late 1999 was subject to an
ownership dispute that led to the closure of the college and
the transfer of its students. I was an educational consultant
to the institute in the initial process of accrediting its ELT
program.

Interviews
Interviews were conducted with a range of people in each
college. At each college the Principal or person responsible for
the overall strategies of the college was interviewed, as well
as the Director of Studies (DOS) of ELT and any senior
teachers. Principals or Directors of Studies in each college

27
were asked to nominate teachers who would be willing to be
interviewed with the nominated teachers being broadly
representative of the staff as a whole. Students were
interviewed on both a nominated and ad hoc basis (i.e. some
were nominated by the college others just happened to be
around when I was around). A total of four Principals, five
Directors of Studies (one college had a change of DOS during
this phase), 25 teachers, 19 administrative workers and 27
students were interviewed for this study.

The times of the interviews varied widely, although the

average figure for the Principal and DOS interviews was 90
minutes and for the teacher interviews 20 - 40 minutes. The
student and admin workers generally took from 10 - 30 mins.

The multiple case study data was gathered in two series. The
first series was from August 1996 to January 1997, the second
was from August 1999 to January 2000. In both series of data
collection I followed the same procedure of asking informants
for and/or observing recollections, actual (current) information
and projections of the future. The purpose of having two series
of data collection was partly based on an original plan to
include a large component on organizational change into this
report that has subsequently been withdrawn for space
reasons. The multiple series of data collection did assist in
stabilising data, however, and provided opportunity to
examine changes in environment, ecology, milieu, structure
and culture as well as changes in perceptions, projections and
recollections among organizational members.

28
In attempting to elicit data I tried to maintain an ‘active
listening’ stance and phrase questions in a non-directive,
‘open’ way as opposed to the directive, closed questions of a
formal interview.

Observation
The observation involved both an inspection of premises,
facilities and equipment as well as observations of office and
staff room interactions, some classroom interactions and
occasional recreational interactions at activities such as
parties and holiday celebrations. As noted in Chapters 13 and
14 on Organizational Culture and the Culture of ELT
organizations, the selection of which holidays and occasions to
celebrate is in itself one indication of rituals, which can be an
important indication of an organization's culture.

Textual analysis
Ethnomethodological techniques can also make use of other
resources besides the oral and written information provided
by participants. When investigating organizations, documents
can be important as resources not only as a basis for
gathering statistics but for information they reveal about an
organization. Brochures and enrolment forms, for example,
can indicate what is regarded as useful and not useful to the
organization. Public information, such as marketing material,
student handbooks, accreditation and curriculum documents,
workplace notices and signs, have also proven to be
informative pieces of data.

29
At each college I acquired all of the public documents that
were available. I also obtained copies of accreditation
documents, which outlined in a fairly detailed way most
aspects of the organization’s activities and aims. Other
documents that were gathered included orientation
handbooks and a few other miscellaneous pieces of
information. I also noted down various signs and notices
affixed to walls at each college as these 'public broadcast'
texts make important statements about the day to day reality
of an institution and its concepts of boundaries,
insiders/outsiders and other relevant factors.

Much research in the social sciences depends upon eliciting

talk in some form such as interviews, surveys, attitude scales
or participant observation. While this talk is a data resource it
is important to remember that the gathering of the data or the
interview sessions are sociological ‘events’ and assumptions
of the stability of attitudes, personality and beliefs based on
survey and interview data collection methods may not be as
real as sociological researchers have come to believe (for a
full discussion in this area see Benson & Hughes, 1983).

I felt this 'staging' of the sociological event keenly throughout

this phase of the research project. Formal interview sessions
had a declared starting and ending. Often I would be chatting
with the interviewee in a public area of the college then say,
“Well how about we do the interview, now?”. Always people
indicated that they preferred to do it in a private place where
other staff members of the college could not overhear them.

30
A discourse analysis of the twin aspects of colleges – their
educational and entrepreneurial selves was investigated by
means of an overall discourse analysis of the ideological
discursive formations of these two areas. There is a fuller
discussion of the discourse analysis in Chapter 5 Discourses
and Discourse Analysis.

Phase IV: Action Research

Research in areas involving human behaviour undoubtedly
affects its subjects. Stanford (1965, 1956), for example,
showed that research into college students at Vassar made a
deep impression on the subjects who later saw taking part in
the research as one of the most significant events of their
college years. Stanford’s findings also had an important effect
on the culture of the college. In this research study, too, it
seemed important to include a phase that, as Emery (1976,
p.25) suggests, would itself be the action rather than merely
testing or observing other action.

According to Clark (1976, p.1) action research sets out to

combine theoretical discoveries with the solution of practical
problems. While the proportion of discovery and practical
solution may vary with the project, Clark suggests that action
research should strive to find an optimum combination of the
two. In action research the manipulation or action is not
introduced by the experimenter ‘in secret’ but in collaboration
with the subjects. It therefore provides the opportunity to
study a system as it reacts to certain ‘in consciousness’
manipulations.

31
Action research links the ideas of traditional research, which
tends to envisage a passive approach, to the ‘action’ of trying
out ideas as a means of improvement and of increasing
knowledge. As Kemmis (1988, p. 6) suggests:

Action research provides a way of working which links

theory and practice into the one whole: ideas in action.”

Action research had its origins in the work of Lewin (1946) in a

series of community experiments such as housing projects,
equal opportunity of employment, children’s prejudice, youth
leadership and street gangs. According to Lewin the central
tenets of the approach were group decision and commitment
to improvement. In Australia, action research has played a
significant role in educational research and in school
improvement since the late 1970s. It has been used in school-
based curriculum reviews and in the growing area of
professional awareness among teachers seeking ways of
informing and understanding their work (Kemmis, 1988: p.7).
Action research can be seen as proceeding in an ongoing
series of spirals or stages as indicated in Figure 2.2.

PLAN

ETC ACT / OBSERVE

32
REVISED PLAN REFLECT

REFLECT REVISED PLAN

ACT / OBSERVE

Figure 2.2
Action Research Process (adapted from Kemmis, 1988, p.11)

Action research recognises that all social action is somewhat

unpredictable and therefore involves an element of risk. The
initial research plan has to be flexible in order to adapt to
unforeseen events and circumstances and deal with
unforeseen obstacles and constraints. It should help
practitioners realise a new potential for action. It is vital in
action research that the action that occurs is observed and
reflected upon. This reflected-upon-action then becomes the
basis for the development of further action.

This study utilised ongoing action research in one international

ELT college in order to assist in assessing the practical value
of the research in the day-to-day management of the college.
Observations were recorded in a log by the researcher and
through a series of meetings and interviews with other
representative members of the college including the owners,

33
the other ELT managers, teachers/instructors, administrative
workers and students.

The college involved in the action research phase was:

College E
This college opened to students in April 1997. The owners had
previously owned similar colleges in Sydney and had some
recruitment contacts for students. I was originally involved
with this college as an educational consultant and from its
opening until the end of 2000 was the Principal of the college.

There were six action research phases. Each action research

cycle lasted approximately six months. The cycles were:

Cycle 1: July – December 1997

Cycle 2: January – June 1998

Cycle 3: July – December 1998

Cycle 4: January – June 1999

Cycle 5: July – December 1999

Cycle 6: January – June 2000

As well as feedback generated within the normal operating of

the college such as student evaluations of the college and
teacher evaluations of courses, there was oral feedback every
four-week term. More specific feedback was obtained close to
the end of each action research cycle and following the
conclusion of the action research project. I left the college in
December 2000 to work in Brunei Darussalam. Some follow up

34
comments relating to the action research and the college
since my departure have also been included in the study.

Action research in existing institutions is usually connected

with the notion of change in aspects of individual and group
behaviour, such as changes in the way people use language,
changes in activities and practices or changes in social
relationships and organizational configurations. In the current
study, because the action research was conducted in a new
organization, the focus was on creating an organizational
climate and culture that was ‘in consciousness’ as opposed to
allowing one to develop by 'default'. There was also a strong
effort to reduce the tensions between the entrepreneur and
educator worldviews and to try to ensure that all members of
the organization understood the possibilities of such tensions.

The action research in this study was partly collaborative. In

this it differs from the position put forward by Kemmis and
McTaggart (1988) or Cohen and Manion (1994) who argue that
the research must be fully collaborative. As the project does
not have matching outcomes for all stakeholders it was
difficult to find full partners for the action research, although
most staff members enjoyed participating in the project and
happily provided feedback.

The action research was also supplemented by other research

projects into the college. One research project related to an
MBA program was an analysis of the marketing strategies of
the college. Another was a case study of the institution and an

35
analysis of the internationalisation of its operations. These
comprehensive reports also provided written feedback on the
operation of the institution from an
entrepreneurial/managerialist perspective.

Access
One of the core problems of any social research is the
problem of access and the notion of what can and can’t be
observed - the ‘profane’ versus the ‘sacred/taboo’ (Barbera-
Stein: 1979: 15 cited in Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983: p.54).
It is possible to view these problems as a research resource
and outline some of the issues that arise in gaining research.
This can help to reveal the bordering of the organization
indicating those parts that are relatively ‘public’ and those
that are ‘private’.

Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p.54) go on to suggest that

one of the most effective ways to gain access is through the
mobilisation of existing social networks, based on
acquaintanceship, kinship or occupational membership.
Hoffman (1980) showed how her interviews with hospital
board members were difficult to obtain and very guarded until
she activated her family member’s friendship with one
prominent hospital director. Once she activated this
connection the type of data she received changed
dramatically.

Access was also a crucial factor in the selection of research

sites in this study. Before commencing this research project I

36
had already had a relationship with each of the colleges as a
consultant, adviser, administrator or teacher. While it would
have been possible to broaden the number of cases it was felt
that there was little of value in doing so, especially as an
‘outsider’ might not receive sufficiently honest accounts to
make the expansion of cases worthwhile.

Status of researcher
Manning (1979) suggests that there is a range of relationships
that the researcher can adopt with the organization being
observed. It is possible to be a complete participant operating
in the organization, subject to the same conditions as other
members of the organization. It is also possible to be a
participant yet remain in the role of an observer. Manning
suggests that these two roles both provide for comparative
involvement, some subjectivity and empathy for the subjects.
On the other hand it is possible to be clearly an observer but
have some minor involvement as a participant or even to be a
completely detached observer. These two roles provide for
comparative detachment, objectivity and sympathy with the
subjects. The complete observer avoids the danger of ‘going
native’ but can also misunderstand the perspective of the
participants. Manning suggests that there is real value in
obtaining multiple perspectives where possible.

In the third phase of this research project the perspectives of

the observer as participant was adopted. As I have had some
professional involvement with all of the colleges that were
researched it was possible to be treated as an ‘insider’ with

37
regard to commentary on many issues although the extent of
'insiderdom' varied with each organization. The different role
and status of a ‘researcher’ investigating a phenomenon
combined with the face validity of formal interviews and other
research techniques tended to also provide a more detached
observer as participant role. In the fourth action research
stage of this project I was a complete participant.

Credibility
Owens (1995, pp. 267-268) notes six procedures to enhance
the credibility of naturalistic research into the organizational
behaviour of educational institutions. These are to leave an
audit trail, to allow sufficient time to gather data, to use
triangulation (using multiple sources to gather information
and data), to cross-check important information with other
members of an organization, to maintain a comprehensive
materials file, to regularly consult with peers on the progress
of the work and to use thick description in the final research
report.

In this study an audit trail was left by filing notes and edited
summaries of interviews, raw notes and summaries of
observations, all documents used as data sources (edited
copies of confidential documents), interview and observation
guidelines, an action research journal and drafted copies of
the research proposal and report. Material used in the
research report has been assembled electronically on a
database.

38
Nearly four years has been allowed to gather data and this
data gathering built on data that had been previously acquired
for a research project in a related area. Multiple sources were
used both by investigating multiple colleges and by
interviewing and surveying various members within each
college. Important information that was revealed in interviews
was, as far as possible, cross-checked with other members of
the college in later interviews. All materials gathered for the
research including notices, photos and marketing materials
from each college were kept in a designated materials file.

The research report has been written in a traditional

commentary style. Throughout the writing there has been
regular consultation with a doctoral supervisor and with peers
involved in other research in the fields of education, applied
linguistics and management.

Ethics
Ethical considerations in this research are based on those
outlined in AARE (1993). Each organization being researched
was informed about the aims of the project and the types of
issues being researched before I obtained the cooperation of
the senior educational manager at each organization (either
the Principal or the Director of Studies). The writing style of
the dissertation is intended to allow participating
organizations and informants to remain anonymous. The use
of commercially sensitive information has been avoided unless
completely relevant. Pseudonyms have been used for
informants and colleges. All undertakings, both formal and

39
informal, made to informant organizations and individuals
were met before the research project was submitted.
Language competence and cultural background played a
significant role in various parts of this research. Interviews
with students, for example, were obviously moderated by their
developing English abilities, where interpretation of answers
has seemed important I tried to confirm responses as
explicitly as possible.

2.4. Analysis
Phase I
The data collected in the first phase of the study was reviewed
in order to consider the primary issues that arose and their
possible significance in the research. In this exploratory phase
there was a need to identify avenues of exploration. The
structure of the research project and its emphasis on the
contestations between entrepreneur and educator discourses
were developed in this phase.

Phase II
In Phase II much more detailed investigation of the issues in
the 1st phase allowed a refinement of constructs and led to a
clarification of methods and structure of the research project.
The importance of including some form of discourse analysis
was also an outcome of this phase of the research.

40
Phase III
In order to arrange the data and record it in a coherent and
systematic way frameworks were used. Initially one
framework was developed from the literature to correspond to
each dimension of the research. The development and
modifications of these frameworks are discussed in detail in
the relevant chapters. The framework used to organize and
assemble data related to organizational climate is discussed in
Chapter 3, Management and Organizations while additional
information in the dimension of organizational culture is
discussed in Chapter 13, The Culture of Work Organizations.

Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p.2) note that

the ethnographer participates, overtly or covertly in people’s daily lives for an

extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking
questions, in fact collecting whatever data are available to throw light on issues
with which he or she is concerned.

In many ways ethnography is the most basic form of social

research, as it is the research technique that most closely
resembles the way in which humans make sense of the world
in everyday life. But this means that one of the most
important aspects of the ethnographic method is the analysis
of what is said. Ethnography involves many judgements about
who to talk to, where to talk to them, when to talk to them,
when to observe, what to observe, what to record and how to
record it. The ethnographic process involves making
judgements about relevance and, while applied linguistic
research has shown many problems with this judgement

41
process and the possibility of researcher bias distorting data,
some selections must be made.

It would seem that the main defence against such distortion is

to make as explicit and systematic as possible the criteria
used for determining relevance and irrelevance. Data has to
be collected in some forms, and the best defence against the
misinterpretation of data is a system of data collection from
multiple informants and a variety of sources, as well as
clarification on the part of the researcher of the linguistic
issues that are raised in the analysis and interpretation of the
data.

The analysis of data in the third phase of the study proceeded

along several lines. Interviews were noted down on
standardised sheets. Responses that were felt at the time to
be important were paraphrased and rechecked with
informants. A key issue that came out early in this method
was that some interviewees have a better way with words
than others and it is difficult not to give their point of view
higher weight.

The interviews were gathered together by institution and were

then analysed using a key concept and theme approach. Key
concepts tended to follow groupings within the questions
themselves. A sample interview notes sheet and its analysis is
included in Appendix B.

42
Analysis of texts proceeded in tandem with the analysis of the
interviews and observations operated as a confirmation of the
interview data. Those items in the texts that illuminated or
underscored points made in the interviews were regarded as
significant. Usually the textual data was illustrative of a
particular college, policy or facet of organizational life and was
used for this purpose.

Phase IV
The action research phase attempted to implement most of
the significant notions that emerge from the body of data in
Phases I, II and III. It was around these notions that the
initiatives in the action research phase were developed. The
action research phase made a realistic effort at implementing
the findings of the first three phases and attempted to
observe their outcomes. The main themes of the action
research were to implement strategies that encouraged
integration of all college work tasks, activities and functions,
helped develop a collaborative work culture and that had a
strong client service focus. Some of the areas of improvement
and issues that organizational members tried to implement
through the action research are listed below. The theoretical
underpinnings of each notion within this study are listed in
brackets:

1. That ELT staff be aware of the tension between

entrepreneur and educator worldviews. (Chapters
5 – 8 on Discourse)

43
2. That as far as possible ELT educators at the
college understand the financial and
administrative aspects of college life and owners
and administrators be aware of its educational
aspects. (Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters
13- 14 on Organizational Culture)

3. That all staff be strongly aware of their marketing

role and the private and profit driven nature of the
college as well as the importance of client service.
(Chapters 5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters 13-14 on
Organizational Culture)

4. That the college organizational structure be

perceived as a fronted organigram with those in
client contact including administration and
teaching staff being seen as the most crucial in
the organization with those ‘behind’ playing
support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those
‘in front’. (Chapters 9 - 10 on Organizational
Structure, Chapters 13-14 on Organizational
Culture)

5. That the mixture of exogenous and endogenous

factors that ELT educators used to determine
educational and institutional quality for the
international ELT college would reflect rather than
conflict with organizational goals avoiding the
perception common among ELT educators, (and
other professional groups in education, medicine,

44
 law, architecture) based primarily on endogenous
factors determined by providers/suppliers rather
than exogenous factors determined by the
consumers favoured by an entrepreneurial view.
(Chapters 9 and 10 on Structure)

6. That all college staff try to ‘walk in the students’

shoes’ and perceive interactions from the client
point of view. (Chapter 11 on Organizational
Milieu, Chapters 13 – 14 on Organizational
Culture)

7. That the college encourage awareness among all

staff of the cultural and linguistic factors that
affect the provision of ELT to international
students in Australia. (Chapter 11 on Milieu)

8. That the ecology of the college works with its

limitations to support the development of the
organization’s structure, culture and milieu.
(Chapter 12 on Ecology)

9. That its members see the ecology of the college

as a positive feature of the organization and a
reflection of its structure, culture and milieu.
(Chapter 12 on Ecology)

10. That the culture of the college encourages

diversity of views but unity of operation. (Chapters
5 – 8 on Discourse, Chapters 13 and 14 on
Culture)

45
 11. That ELT staff feel enabled to satisfy clients and
not feel constrained by any notion that ‘pleasing
the boss’ and pleasing the client’ would ever
conflict. (Chapters 13 - 14 on Culture)

12. That the college encourage an in awareness

development of the organizational culture
especially on factors that are typically ‘out of
awareness. (Chapters 13 and 14 on Culture)

The actual action research initiatives are listed in the

following table:

46
 Table 2.2
Action Research Initiatives at College E
Initiative Cycle(s)
Structure Initiative 1 (S1):
That the college organizational structure be a fronted organigram with those in client contact
including administration and teaching staff being seen as the most crucial in the organization
with those ‘behind’ playing support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in front’. As well 1-3
that the mixture of exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators used to determine
educational and institutional quality for the international ELT college reflect with organizational
goals focusing primarily on client satisfaction
Structure Initiative 2 (S2):
The organization will try to have as few barriers as possible between staff. Teachers were to
be encouraged to teach across both vocational and English subjects. Teachers were to be 3-4
encouraged to do marketing and/or administration work. Administration and marketing staff
were to be assisted in upgrading their qualifications both internally and externally.
Structure Initiative 3 (S3):
Management decisions on structure were to be explicit and communicated to all employees.
3-4
As far as possible staff should also have the opportunity to witness managers in action and to
be able to question them about their activities and decisions.
Milieu Initiative 1 (M1):
An enforced program to ensure student diversity, particularly of national groups over the whole
college and in individual classes. Such a program to include the development of positive
incentives such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support for the development of
1-2
new markets. The program also to include the ‘negative’ reinforcement of the imposition of a
quota system over such that no one nationality could exceed 25% of the student body. Aim to
build a milieu that supports the development and maintenance of a student culture at College E
that was upbeat, active and enhancing from the student perspective
Milieu Initiative 2 (M2):
At point of hiring ensure that selection of staff includes those likely to positively affect the staff
milieu. Ensure that future development has an equal weight with past qualifications and
1-6
experience in selection of staff and make newly hired staff feel that their special qualities
ensured selection. Over time, work with teaching staff individually to ensure that professional
development is targeted to each teacher’s personal and professional interests.
Ecology Initiative 1 (E1):
1-2
Management not be physically separated from staff
Ecology Initiative 2 (E2):
1-2
Workspaces were to be mixed and an ‘open classroom’ policy was to be implemented
Culture Initiative 1 (C1):
That the culture of the college encourage integration and unity of operation while recognising
1-6
the diversity of views and work tasks and that the college encourage an in-awareness
development of organizational culture.
Culture Initiative 2 (C2):
That the college develop a collaborative work culture both within areas such as teaching and 1-6
administration and between functional areas.
Culture Initiative 3 (C3):
That the organization have a core commitment to clients and client service. This commitment
1-6
had to apply both to front-line staff who are in constant contact with students, as well as to
management in their dealings with both students and staff.

47
2.5. Report of Findings
Hammersley and Atkinson (1983, p14) note that “there is no
way we can escape the social world in order to study it”
despite the research tradition that the social world is an
independently perceivable phenomenon that observers
“delineate, describe and make coherent” (Manning, 1979:
p.660). It is important for the researcher, however, not to
confuse language systems used to explain the world with the
objects of study. Simply reconstructing the language of the
data into modes of scientific or analytic discourse and then
mistaking this reconstruction for ‘real’ relationships among
objects inhabiting a posited semantic domain can be a flawed
process. Reification for its own sake is not the same as theory
although it is difficult to completely avoid this trap.

A continual tension in the writing of this report is that between

being true to life or true to testability, finding a position
between structuralism and post-structuralism; from the
structuralist notion that the truth is 'within' the text to the
post-structuralist notion that the interaction of writer and
reader is an ongoing production making reading performance
rather than consumption. Ultimately an ethnographer is
engaged in telling a story, writing a product that has its roots
in the narrative tradition and that uses a ‘pattern model of
understanding’. Part of the reflexive awareness of
ethnographic writing must, of course, take into account the
potential audience of the product. The primary audience of
this research report are readers who are conversant with the

48
discoursal conventions of academic and educational writing
and as such these are followed. The truth-value of what is
written can be judged by its resonation with those who have
had similar experiences to the ones outlined herein.

The role of the researcher’s cultural background and

assumptions need to be taken into account in ethnographic
research. The self-awareness necessary to negate this
influence is probably impossible to attain, so the final research
reporting has to explicate ways that the researcher’s cultural
background and beliefs may have influenced the data
gathering and interpreting process. I have outlined my own
work experience in ELT in Section 1.4 Professional and
Academic Background of the Researcher.

2.6. Conclusion
The present research builds on a previous study by the
author. The intention has been to investigate the underlying
discoursal tensions in ELT management and then examine
features of organizational climate at some international ELT
colleges in Australia and provide some comment on their
management practices. There is a particular interest in the
influences of competing discoursal values on ELT managers
and, in turn, the ELT manager influence on the structure,
milieu, ecology and culture of the colleges.

Hypotheses are fluid and have been developed and refined

from the data over the course of the research. In this sense

49
the research has favoured exploration over hypothesis testing.
This process tends to parallel decision making practices in ELT
management, where decisions usually have to be made
without possession of complete information and then have to
be constantly retested and reworked in order to be made
more suitable to an unfolding reality.

The methodological issues in this chapter were grouped into

four areas: general approach to research, data collection, data
analysis and report of findings. The chapter argued that the
use in this study of a combination of common techniques in
education and management research - interviews and
ethnographic observation, discourse analysis and critical
literature review, and action research in different phases of
the research was an effective multi-dimensional way of
understanding the aspects of organizational climate and its
management in the institutional settings under investigation.

50
 Chapter 3

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS

3.1. Introduction
Research into organizations and their management has
become a significant area of late 20th century interest due to
the increasing dominance of formal organizations in
industrialised countries. How organizations come into
existence, how they grow and change, and how they succeed
or fail have, therefore, become vital questions in
contemporary social science research. As a result, there is
now a vast range of literature on organizations and it is
impossible to entirely reconcile all the differing approaches
and perspectives it contains. The underlying tension or
dynamic in most organizational research, however, revolves
around the interactions of the organization’s members, its
culture, its organizational structure and its surrounding
environment and the relative importance of each in
determining the organization’s behaviour and distinctive
characteristics.

This chapter briefly defines organizations for the purposes of

this study and outlines four of the broad perspectives on
organizations and their management that have been
developed in the literature. It argues that each perspective

51
tends to illuminate different facets of an organization and that
a useful descriptive framework needs to attend to all four
perspectives to provide a useful understanding of an
organization.

3.2. Defining Organizations

Despite the importance of organizations and the high level of
research interest in them, a precise definition of organizations,
as opposed to other social entities, remains problematic.
Weber (1947, p.151) suggests that an organization can be
seen as a social entity that is "a system of continuous
purposive activity of a specified kind". In effect, a social entity
that is designed to do something. Weber distinguishes
corporate groups from other forms of social organization,
defining a corporate group as a social relationship that is
either closed or limits the admission of outsiders by rules. In
Weber's view, organizations involve social relationships that
proscribe individuals' interactions with the organization in a
non-random way. Because organizations include some parts of
the population and exclude others on the basis of non-random
criteria, they have boundaries that can be defined and
investigated. Weber's notion that organizations are social
entities with boundary conditions that have been designed to
do something has been a dominant idea in traditional
organizational analysis.

While organizations are undoubtedly social systems, they are

composed of individual members. Even though organizations

52
can transcend the life of their members, they are shaped and
influenced by their participants. Barnard (1937, p.73) in
contrast to Weber, stresses the role of the individual,
especially the executive, in organizations. While Weber’s view
concentrates on the system, Barnard’s focuses on the
individual. In Barnard’s view an organization is a system of
consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more
persons with an emphasis on the role of those in executive or
commanding roles.

The combination of Weber’s and Barnard’s views form the

basis of the classic body of theory and thinking about
organizations which has defined an organization as "a social
device for efficiently accomplishing through group means
some stated purpose" (Katz and Kahn, 1978: p.19).
Investigations of organizations must illuminate the ways in
which the characteristics of an organizational entity affect its
population, as well as the ways the individual members of the
organization shape its identity and outcomes along with their
own.

Katz and Kahn (1978) have pointed out that one difficulty with
the classical definition is that organizations characteristically
include both more and less than is indicated by the purposes
of their leaders or founders. They suggest that organizations
are better seen as entities in which repeated, relatively
enduring, patterned activities occur that are bounded in space
and time, and where the energy for the initiation of a renewed
cycle of activities arises from the output or outcomes of the

53
previous cycle. In Katz and Kahn's view, a defining feature of
organizations is their ability to temporarily reverse the
entropic process, resisting the natural law in which all forms of
organization tend to move toward disorganization or
randomness.

Katz and Kahn also suggest that organizations can be

classified according to their primary or first order functions.
Under this classification, productive or economic organizations
are distinct from social maintenance organizations such as
schools and churches. Other distinct functional types are
those that are adaptive, such as research bodies, and those
that play a political or managerial role such as pressure
groups or unions. Katz and Kahn suggest that organizations
that attempt more than one first order function have special
problems integrating their tasks. They use the example of
universities to highlight the functional tension between their
social maintenance (teaching) and their adaptive (research)
roles (Katz & Kahn, 1978, p.147). The functional tension
between the educational and entrepreneurial roles of profit-
based international ELT colleges, in effect its multifunction
integration, is a feature of international ELT providers in
Australia. The data in this research suggests an ongoing
tension between the productive, profit-making function and
the social maintenance educational function in privately
owned and operated colleges in Australia. It is likely that, at
least from the ELT manager’s perspective, the ultimate

54
management task is the effective resolution of the
maintenance and productive functions of the college.

Due to the explosion in research into management and

organization theory it is no longer possible to use purely
quantitative means to investigate organizations. While
contingency theory analyses remain largely positivistic and
techno-economic, much of the literature in the field has
moved to deconstruct the classical model of organizations and
replace it with a much more complex and fragmented view.
There has been a notable shift in writings for managers from
those that regarded organizations as 'organized' to ones that
regard them as somewhat anarchic and less integrated, goal
focused and ordered than was once imagined. Many theorists
now describe organizations as systems of mutually reinforcing
contracts of structured games, or as contexts of action where
different strategies meet and are adjusted through negotiation
and power. Friedberg (1993) sees many of these rules of
action as being similar to the rules of a game. In order to
achieve power you have to increase your own unpredictability
in your behaviours that are important to others while
increasing the predictability of their behaviours that are
important to you – a sort of macro version of game theory and
the prisoner’s dilemma.

For the purposes of this research project though, the

traditional view of organizations based upon Weber's
definition of organizations, supplemented by Barnard’s notion
of the importance of the key individual as well as the system,

55
is used. Katz and Kahn's notion, of recurring cycles of
patterned activities and the importance of adequate outcomes
to ensure sufficient input for renewal, influences the
descriptions of tasks and processes within the organizations
under review. It is recognised that the stated, 'official' purpose
of an organization may represent only one of its many
purposes. It is also acknowledged that the boundary
conditions for these organizations may be fluid and difficult to
precisely define with shifting 'edges' and increasing
organizational 'fuzziness'. This organizational fuzziness and its
relationship to the postmodernist perspectives in general can
only be briefly explored in this work, although it does provide
a useful insight for ELT managers. Indeed, this boundary
fluidity may be one of the distinguishing features of many
international ELT colleges compared to more traditional
educational organizations.

While this research project adopts a largely 'management

perspective' on organizational issues, the criticisms by the
organizational existentialists about the limitations of the
paradigms used to investigate and think about organizational
matters need to be noted. Pauchant (1995) for example,
argues the need for the further development of the field of
organizational existentialism, leading to a better
understanding of people in organizations. Organizations must
find ways of addressing the loss of personal meaning and
other afflictions of the human condition in modern life, and
research needs to look more closely at people's lives, deaths,

56
responsibilities, ambitions, loves, lonelinesses, anxieties and
spirituality in organizations, as such items are rarely discussed
in workplace organizations or in the research on them.
Pauchant (1995: p. 2) notes that while talk of career planning
and marketable innovations, success and financial incentives,
status and power are all readily apparent in the world of work
the "...quest to embrace life fully seems to have vanished
from many organizations". I hope that some of the feedback
presented in the action research phase of this study will reveal
some small efforts to make “the quest to embrace life fully” a
more than peripheral concern.

3.3. Perspectives of Organizations

Organizational theorists can be broadly divided into those that
have focused on the rational elements of organizations as
systems and those that have focused on the non-rational
elements. Four varying organizational perspectives are
referred to in this research. Three of these perspectives view
organizational behaviour as primarily rational, at least
according to the interests and desires of the members of the
organization. The first perspective, which could be labelled
structuralist or configurationist, focuses on organizational
structure and the formal shape of the organization. The
second perspective views human resources as the central
feature of organizational life and looks to the nature of human
resource usage for explanations of organizational success and
failure. The third perspective, which may be labelled the
political perspective, advocates the use of political theories as

57
the primary tool in understanding organizations. The pre-
dominant non-rational perspective of organizations examines
organizations from a symbolic view and sees symbolism and
the manipulation of symbols as the most significant aspects of
organizational analysis.

Examining organizations from a structural perspective

emphasises and highlights their goals, roles and technology.
Structural analysis of organizations focuses most closely on
the structure and the ecology of the organization and the
ways that these can be manipulated and managed to improve
organizational outcomes. It investigates the structural
variables of an organization, and seeks to make
improvements in organizational configuration so that it best
fits the purposes of the organization and the demands of its
environment. A structural perspective emphasises the
importance of formal roles and relationships between
members of an organization such as those usually depicted on
organizational charts or organigrams.

The structural perspective developed from early work in the

field that is often referred to as classical management. It
combines Taylor's (1911) work on the scientific management
of individual jobs, with the 'universal' management principles
of Fayol (1949), and Mooney and Urwick's (1931) work on the
design of organizations. Scientific management focused on the
techniques and mechanics of production and included the now
notorious concept of the time and motion study (Barnes,
1949). Fayol, Mooney, Urwick and others focused more closely

58
on management and came to see managerial and
administrative behaviour as consisting of planning, organizing,
commanding, coordinating and controlling.

The underlying metaphorical conception of classical

management is mechanistic. By concentrating on
organizational structure and placing all jobs within a hierarchy,
classical management theorists have helped create and
describe the formal structure of many of our organizations.
However the classical management emphasis on
organizations as rational, technical entities can mean that
aspects of the milieu and cultural dimensions of organizations
are overlooked.

In practice an overly mechanistic approach to the description

of job responsibilities may encourage the "it's not my job to
worry about that," attitude in organizations. It has been
suggested that defining work responsibilities in a clear-cut
manner may thwart initiative and flexibility; as everyone
knows what is expected of them but also what is not expected
of them (Morgan, 1986). Another limitation of viewing
organizations solely from this perspective is that managers
who are used to viewing organizations solely from a structural
perspective, with responsibility at the top, a superordinate-
subordinate chain of command and an under-utilisation of
people in the lower levels of the hierarchy, may find their
organizations particularly vulnerable to organizational inertia
when their environment changes.

59
Nevertheless, many of the classical management concepts
have become so firmly embedded in our culture that they are
now a part of our conventional wisdom. The notions of the
manager as a professional, of the manager as a separate
entity from the 'doer', of the exception principle where the
manager deals with the problems and the unusual
circumstances and the notions of standardization and
specialization of work owe much to this area of management
study. Even the fact that managers are a distinct entity
originates in the work of the classical management tradition.
The structural perspective can illuminate many important
aspects of an organization and it is still the most 'popular'
perspective on organizations. It can help reveal problems with
contemporary organizations such as the tendency to organize
'upwards' to please the boss rather than 'downwards' (or as
this study suggests with its notion of the fronted organigram
‘outwards’) to please the client.

The Human Relations perspective on organizations derives

from the writings of Mary Parker Follett (1941) and the famous
series of studies done at the Hawthorne plant of the Western
Electric Company in Chicago by Mayo and Roethlisberger
(1947). This approach emphasises employee motivation and
satisfaction and group morale as important issues in
management study and organizational theory. The Human
Relations approach focuses attention on psychological factors
and has had a powerful influence over many areas of 'people'
management (see, for example, Kaplan & Tausky, 1977). The

60
concept of the manager as staff motivator and communicator
of organizational goals or the recent exhortations for
managers to act as 'coaches', for example, are drawn from the
human resource perspective. Human resource theorists
emphasise the relationship between people and their
organization. They focus on ways that people within an
organization can be better able to be fitted to the formal roles
and relationships required of them in their organization. This
perspective sees organizational problems as arising chiefly
from the lack of fulfilment of the human needs of individual
members of the organization.

The human resource perspective attends most closely to

matters of organizational milieu and organizational culture
and the ways that motivation, job satisfaction and morale can
be managed. This perspective draws on similar research
paradigms to those that have influenced thought on education
in industrialised countries in the latter half of the twentieth
century. This may be responsible for a view among educators
that the human resource perspective is the 'sensible' view of
organizations, because their paradigms of organizational and
educational issues may be very similar. While this human
resource perspective can illuminate certain aspects of an
organization it can also disguise others, and due to economic
and other constraints can frequently lead to high motivation,
job satisfaction and morale for the privileged few 'insider'
stakeholders with exploitation and demoralization for the
many 'outsider' ones.

61
The third broad perspective adopted in management and
organizational analysis is the political perspective. It
acknowledges the social-relational and formal-structure
perspectives of the first two approaches, but focuses more
closely on the distribution and use of power in the
organization. Political theorists see power, conflict and the
allotment of scarce resources as the dominant issues in
organizational analysis. The role of management, in this view,
is its ability to manage power and conflict and reconcile
differing coalitions to organizational purposes. This political
framing of organizational problems sees difficulties arising
because power is unevenly distributed, or is too widely
dispersed, to achieve positive outcomes. Managerial solutions,
according to political theorists, need to focus on political skill
and the ability to organize and reconcile opposing coalitions.

Proponents of this approach have outlined a comprehensive

theory of cooperative behaviour in formal organizations and
have argued that organizations need to be seen as dynamic
as well as structural entities. From the political perspective it
is possible to perceive two ends of the organizational
continuum from conflict to cooperation. The aim of an
effective manager would be to move the organization from a
conflict system into a cooperative system. A key feature of
this perspective is that it illuminates the tremendously high
failure rate of organizations. This high failure rate is not
intuitively apparent, as failures disappear while successful

62
organizations continue to exist, thus exaggerating the
apparent proportion of the successes (Levitt & March, 1990).

The political perspective has helped reveal problems with the

classical assumption that superordinate-subordinate linkages
are uniform on all matters and that all decisions or 'orders' are
treated consistently. This assumption does not allow for the
fact that initiatory power in many professional contexts varies
by topic and that in educational organizations, for example,
there is frequently a lack of uniformity of control with
managers being susceptible to peer and subordinate social
influence. This susceptibility to peer and subordinate influence
and the blurring of a 'line system' of authority was noted by
Lortie, who observed in elementary schools that matters of
compliance with record-keeping fell into the principal's zone of
influence, while in-class affairs fell within the teacher's
territory. Conflicts arose in the many areas where hegemony
was unclear (Lortie, 1969). This study finds this type of
organizational 'fuzziness' in the colleges examined, with
similar findings recorded elsewhere (Parrot, 1990: p.7). Pfeffer
and Salancik's (1980) demonstrations, that supervisory
behaviour is often a characteristic of the social situation,
rather than of the supervisor in professional and semi-
professional contexts, also show the important insights that
can be gleaned from a political perspective.

The essential question for managers from this political

perspective becomes just how much organizing and control is
needed for the most desirable outcomes. At the theoretical

63
level arguments in this area have swung from those who see
efficiency as springing from coordination and control to those
who see such coordination and control as self-defeating,
creating barriers to efficiency and harming an organization's
long term performance. The suggestion within this study of
the suitability of a collaborative work culture in ELT colleges
grows from a political perspective.

The fourth broad perspective on organizations is the symbolic

perspective. It is primarily non-rational and sees organizations
as being held together more by shared values and inculcated
beliefs than by goals and policies. From this perspective
problems arise when symbols are inappropriate or ceremonies
and rituals have lost their potency. Symbolic theorists argue
that managers need to rely on imagery, values and beliefs in
order to create common purposes in organizations.

Bolman and Deal (1987) throughout their work argue that the
symbolic perspective is not based on a rational worldview, and
that therefore this perspective is most illuminating and
applicable in organizations with unclear goals and uncertain
technologies. In such organizations, ambiguity is everywhere
and it is uncertain where power lies, how success is defined,
whether or not a decision has been made and even what the
goals are. A symbolic perspective sees organizational
movements as fluid rather than linear and centres on the
concepts of meaning, belief and faith. Bolman and Deal argue
that the symbolic frame forms a conceptual umbrella for ideas
from disciplines such as: organizational theory and sociology;

64
(e.g. Weick, 1976), political science (e.g. Dittmer, 1977);
Freudian and Jungian psychology, where paradigms rely on
symbolic concepts to understand human behaviour; semiotics
and linguistics with the notion of the arbitrary signifier and the
socially constructed signified; and, of course, anthropology,
where symbols and their place in the culture and the lives of
people are a central concern. For many who have tried to
manage or survive in organizations, especially in the service
sectors, the symbolic perspective closely mirrors the reality
they have experienced.

The symbolic perspective can be a powerful "lens for viewing

life in collective settings" and it allows for rich description of
organizational experience on the part of organizational
members. It can help reveal aspects of organizations that the
more rational perspectives can ignore. Bolman and Deal
(1987: pp.149-150) note that from a symbolic perspective
several research and information gathering assumptions need
to be foregrounded. These are:

"1. What is most important about any event in an organization is

not what happened but the meaning of what happened.
2. The meaning of an event is determined not simply by what
happened but by the ways that humans interpret what
happened.
3. Many of the most significant events and processes in
organizations are substantially ambiguous or uncertain - it is
often difficult or impossible to know what happened, why it
happened, or what will happen next.
4. Ambiguity and uncertainty undermine rational approaches to
analysis problem solving and decision-making.
5. When faced with uncertainty and ambiguity humans create
symbols to reduce the ambiguity, resolve confusion, increase
predictability and provide direction. Events themselves may

65
 remain illogical, random, fluid and meaningless, but human
symbols make them seem otherwise."

The description and analysis of organizational culture in this

study is framed from a symbolic perspective seeing
organizational practices as being derived from symbols,
heroes, rituals and values the organization comes to project
over time.

All the various models and approaches to organizational

theory emphasise different aspects of management activity.
No model can possibly map all the relevant phenomena and
each of the various conceptualizations can illuminate different
aspects of an organization. There are thus a wide variety of
views on managerial style flowing from differing conceptions
of what organizations are and what they do.

Purely rational assumptions can fit well in some organizations.

Building electronic devices, for example, can be reduced to a
somewhat linear process with a well-understood sequence of
steps, clear goals and defined technologies with visible end
products. There are a variety of concrete indicators such as
sales and profitability that can be evaluated in order to
provide clear measures of success or failure. Rational
assumptions can also be important in some parts of
organizations even though they have limited use in describing
the overall organization. Thus in educational organizations it is
much more difficult to prove that students are being well
taught, or that complex behavioural outcomes are being
successfully achieved than it is to show that a college

66
cafeteria is cost effective or that the college's accounting and
billing systems are precise and clear-cut.

The different research perspectives can be used to illuminate

different facets of an organization and a full picture of an
organization depends, like a cubist work of art, on a
combination of perspectives. Descriptions of organizations in
this research project, therefore, attempt to combine aspects
of each perspective to arrived at a more complex and multi-
dimensional view of international ELT colleges than would be
possible using only one perspective. The rational perspectives
pre-dominate in the descriptions of organizational structure
and ecology. The human resource perspective and the
political perspective are emphasised in the chapters on milieu
and in discussions of collaborative work cultures. The symbolic
perspective emerges in the chapters on organizational culture
and in the descriptions of facets of organizational life in
international ELT colleges. This helps to provide a fuller flavour
of these organizations and their management.

3.4. Management and Organizational Effectiveness

Interest in the activities and the behaviour of the class of
people who organize and administer organizations has led to
the notion or construct of a distinct organizational sub-group,
referred to as 'managers', that can be easily distinguished
from the 'doers'. Like the definition of an organization though,
precisely defining what a manager is, or even exactly what a
manager does, is problematic, despite a large array of

67
research and interest in the topic. The exact function and role
of managers is somewhat arbitrary and relates closely to the
perspective on organizations that is adopted.

This study argues that the primary role of managers is to

improve the effectiveness of their organization and it is this
core task that charges the manager with the responsibility to
view the organization from a holistic perspective. Comment on
organizational effectiveness, however, is itself problematic
because it is both the most important and the least delineated
of organizational constructs.

There is a large body of research into the organizational

effectiveness of schools and educational institutions but this
vast array of studies has failed to produce an unambiguous
definition of organizational effectiveness. Organizational
effectiveness is a central theme of analysis used in 'practical
life' and all the various stakeholders in international ELT
colleges use effectiveness indicators in practice. On the basis
of real or imagined information students choose particular
institutions, change from one to another and decide to drop
out or to continue studying. Teachers and managers transfer
'horizontally' between institutions believing that certain ones
are 'better' than others. International ELT colleges in Australia
that wish to be able to provide eligibility for overseas students
to obtain visas to study in Australia have to meet the
accreditation requirements of bodies such as the National
English Accreditation Scheme to be eligible for the
Commonwealth Register of Intensive Courses for Overseas

68
Students (CRICOS) which are, in effect, minimum
effectiveness indicators.

How organizational effectiveness is defined, who determines

the criteria, how short or long term a view should be adopted
and what criteria are used, can lead to the generalisation that
effectiveness cannot be defined or measured and there is no
doubt that from a theoretical perspective notions of
organizational effectiveness can be controversial.

In this study comments on effectiveness are linked to those

outlined in previous research into ELT management in
Australia (see Keaney, 1994: pp.22 – 26). This sees
organizational effectiveness as linked to attainment of
organizational goals and to acquisition of system resources.
Attainment of goals is fundamentally linked to the educational
values of the college while acquisition of system resources is a
more clearly entrepreneurial aim. A successful ELT college, it
is argued, is one that has constantly improving educational
quality as well as increasing financial success and profitability.

3.5. The Description of International ELT Organizations

The ELT organizations discussed in this report are viewed as
entities that are an interrelationship of systems, individual
members and cycles of recurring, purposive activities (even if
the purpose of the activities differs from those of the leaders
or founders). When a new member enters the organization
they are confronted with a social structure that embraces

69
interaction patterns and organizational expectations. These
patterns and expectations are systematic and the new
member must respond to them in some fashion.
Organizational considerations influence the behaviour of the
members of the organization and account for part of the
behaviour of these individual members, whose behaviour in
turn shapes and influences the nature of the organization.

Interested observers can always detect a ‘feel’ to a particular

organization. When one walks into an educational institution
for the first time, an array of impressions combine to give the
observer a notion of the ‘atmosphere’ of the place. These
impressions consist of a combination of physical aspects such
as the location, furnishings, style of classrooms, type of
equipment and teaching resources, human aspects and
environmental aspects.

In order to describe international ELT colleges, and give a

sense of the differences and similarities between them, a
standard framework is needed. The various perspectives on
organizations outlined above indicate the need to have a
framework that examines as wide a range of organizational
features as possible. This range of features needs to include a
number of dimensions. The physical dimension which includes
such features as buildings and teaching resources, the human
dimension incorporating such factors as staff and their beliefs
and the ways they work (or don’t work!) together, the types of
students being educated and the external environment such

70
as the regulatory controls and the state of the economy, all
obviously affect the character of an international ELT college.

International ELT colleges tend to have higher staff turnover

than traditional education institutions for a number of reasons
(Griffiths, 1992; p14; Waites, 1999 pp.392 - 459). This
obviously means that staff involved in the delivery of ELT tend
to work in a number of different institutions over the course of
their careers. It is likely that such staff have a stronger
awareness of this institutional ‘feel’ than those who remain
with one or two work organizations throughout their working
lives. Comparisons between particular colleges, between
types of institutions and between different countries are a
common topic of discussion among staff in ELT colleges.
Students in ELT colleges in Australia are also more likely to
compare and discuss colleges than is the case for students in
most educational institutions. A major reason is that domestic
students tend to mix with peers at the same college or
institution, whereas international ELT students are more likely
to mix with students from their own ethnic or language
groups, who attend a range of institutions in Australia.

These informal discussions and comparisons, however, do not

provide a systematic basis for description and comparison. In
order to provide an ordered basis for the gathering and
reporting of data a model of organizational climate has been
used in this study. The framework is based on Tagiuri's (1968)
framework modified by Owens (1995, p.79) that is used to
describe the distinctive characteristics of organizations.

71
Tagiuri defines organizational climate as the characteristics of
the total organization manifested in the four dynamically
related dimensions of ecology, milieu, social system
[relabelled as organizational structure by Owens (1995, p.79)
which is the terminology used here] and culture.

The ecology of an organization is all of its physical and

material aspects such as its location, the size and condition of
its buildings, the nature of the technology used by its people
and all of the items that are necessary to carry out the
activities of the organization. More particularly, it refers to all
of the equipment and technology used by the members of the
organization such as the desks and chairs, the tables in the
staff room, the whiteboards and overhead projectors (OHPs),
the computers, the tea and coffee facilities, indeed everything
‘physical’ that is used to carry out organizational activities.
Ecology is the most tangible dimension of organizational
climate and frequently plays a symbolic role in
representations of organizational culture and structure.

The layout and arrangement of premises, furnishings and

equipment is a significant ecological variable between
international ELT colleges. Most educators are familiar with
the importance of matching classroom layout to learning
activity and yet ELT managers frequently pay insufficient
attention to the significance of staff room layout, location of
senior management and arrangement of resources that can
have profound effects on organizational climate.

72
The milieu of an organization, on the other hand, is its social
dimension. Milieu reflects the characteristics of the staff and
clients of the organization describing such features as age,
gender, ethnicity, salary levels, socio-economic backgrounds,
level of job satisfaction, morale and motivation, behaviour
towards other organizational members and a range of other
personal attributes and characteristics. Many of the issues
raised by human resource theorists arise in discussions of
organizational milieu. Theorists who view organizations and
their members from a political perspective also offer insights
that are important in discussions of organizational milieu.

Matching of client to college can be an area of comparative

advantage. Niche creation is a well-known concept in business
areas but is less emphasised in educational circles. Targeting
particular types of students and those with particular needs as
well as focusing on staff selection to assist in cultural
outcomes can be a contributor to the growth and success of a
college. Other significant areas in the milieu dimension are
somewhat nebulous characteristics such as ‘enthusiasm’ and
‘cultural awareness’. While these types of characteristics
present problems of definition and measurement, they are
frequently used as a basis of comparison of international ELT
colleges by revenue contributing stakeholders such as
students and educational agents.

The third dimension in Tagiuri's framework is the social

system of an organization, its organizational and
administrative structure. This dimension relates to the method

73
of organization, the decision making process, the formal
communication patterns and the nature of the component
work groups. This aspect accords with the type of information
typically sought from a structural research perspective. Many
of the notions raised by classical management theorists arise
in discussions of organizational structure.

A significant area in this dimension is the speed and process

with which decisions are made. Frequently decisions over hard
costs such as equipment purchases, which are relatively
insignificant from an overall budget perspective, are made by
senior organizational members whereas decisions on soft
costs such as staff time and meetings are relatively unplanned
and ad hoc. Certain structural features can assume unrealistic
importance while other equally volatile or significant ones can
be ignored.

The fourth and least tangible dimension of this model is the

culture of an organization. This is the dimension of the
organization that refers to its values, belief systems, norms
and ways of thinking, which come to characterise the people
in the organization. The cultural dimension includes the forces
that comprise the symbols, rituals, heroes and values that
reflect and shape the practices of the organization and help to
shape and reinforce human behaviour. While organizational
culture is the least tangible dimension of organizational
climate it has a powerful effect on the other dimensions, and
thus on the overall climate, of an international ELT college.
This study suggests that an emphasis on the three themes of

74
integration, collaboration and client service can have
repercussions throughout the organization. This emphasis is
likely to help to resolve tensions in vision and values drawn
from differing discourses, to assist in configuration of
organizational structure to match core service activities, to
provide a basis for decisions on organizational milieu and to
give guidance on issues affecting organizational ecology.

A modified version of Tagiuri's model is outlined in Figure 3.1

75
 Organizational
Culture
psycho-social
ENVIRONMENT è characteristics
ç ENVIRONMENT
ê • norms ê
• belief systems
• key values

values

Organizational ORGANIZATION Organizational

Milieu Ecology
characteristics of AL physical/material factors
individuals • layout of premises
• staff attributes • design of premises
• student CLIMATE • technology
attributes
• motivation /
morale

Organizational
é Structure é
configuration
ENVIRONMENT è • distribution of ç ENVIRONMENT
authority
• communication
patterns
• decision-making
practises

Figure 3.1.
Organizational Climate
This is adapted from Tagiuri's original model and the suggested revisions by Owens
(1995: p.79). For the purposes of this research the model is framed by the external
environment to enable discussion of external regulatory and market conditions.

76
3.6. Conclusion
Comment on the international ELT colleges in this study uses
both rational and non-rational theoretical perspectives to
highlight differing views of educational organizations, their
effective operation and accurate description. The bias is
towards the management of the organization, not out of a
sympathy with 'managerialism' (Thompson & McHugh, 1995:
p.12), but because it is those in the role of manager who are
most likely to be confronted with the uncertainties and flux
that is highlighted in this data and to be charged with ‘doing
something about it’.

Ultimately, in a study such as this, the perspective of the

researcher colours the theoretical approaches used, as the
discussion on the methodology of the study in Chapter 2
indicates. Research into issues such as the way organizational
culture can shape performance and life chances of
organizations and how the structure, ecology and milieu of the
organization can shape its culture and ability to learn must be
situated in a view of organizations and organizational life that
is based on deep philosophical notions about the construction
of our social and political realities. As with many areas of
social science research the process of asking the questions,
and the ongoing search for the answers, can prove as valuable
and enduring as the sometimes ephemeral answers ultimately
obtained.

77
 Chapter 4

THE INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT

4.1. Introduction
This chapter looks at some of the external environmental
influences on international ELT colleges in Australia. It first
looks at the notion of English as the premier international
language to explain the environmental creation of demand for
international ELT colleges. It then outlines the growth of the
international ELT industry in Australia and gives an overview
of legislation and other limiting factors that provide the
primary environmental constraints and regulations for ELT
colleges. It briefly summarizes the typical products and
services of international ELT colleges before concluding with a
brief summary of the chapter.

The organizational climate model in Figure 3.1 indicates that

all facets of an organization are shaped by, and inextricably
linked with, the external environment. Environmental
constraints play an important role in the formation of
organizational cultures and differing environments no doubt
tend to favour particular types of such cultures. Deal &
Kennedy (1982) note throughout their work that there is likely
to be a vast organizational cultural difference between
companies that must sell an undifferentiated product,

78
compared to those that are chiefly focused on innovation,
research and development.

In the early 1950s Homans established that the external

physical and technological environment generates activities
and interactions, which in turn generate sentiments and
norms. When these sentiments and norms have formed they
become the internal system of the organization, which can
then in turn affect the external system by influencing
activities and interactions. Thus the link between environment
and culture is circular. While the environment determines
constraints and options for the development of a particular
culture, once the culture is formed the shared assumptions
will in turn influence what will be perceived and defined as the
environment (Schein, 1985, p.51). In effect the environment is
not completely objective, tangible, and measurable but comes
to be constructed by the people in the organization and
reproduced by the networks of symbols and meanings that
unite them and make shared action possible. The shifting
nature of the boundary between the 'inside' and the 'outside'
of organizations also means that the whole notion of
environment has become a very rich and detailed area of
organizational data.

The environment of international ELT colleges, like other

educational organizations in Australia, is directly affected by
the great shift in social and organisational phenomena and the
evolution of social constructs from the modern to the
postmodern. As Baldwin (1997, p.14) writes:

79
 It is tempting to draw analogies between what is occurring now
in the delivery of education and training and the transformation
of the financial sector a decade ago. As with the financial sector,
innovation by providers, technological change and
internationalisation are undermining traditional regulatory
approaches. In education, as with the financial sector, traditional
restrictions constraining who provides what sort of 'product' are
breaking down and the boundaries between traditionally
separate sectors are breaking down.

4.2. English as an International Language

It is frequently stated that English is the international
language and there is a vast array of statistical support for
this proposition. Over 300 million people use English as a
mother tongue language and a further 300 million use it as a
second language with a further 100 million using it fluently as
a foreign language. This has increased more than 40% since
the 1950s. If speakers with a lower level of fluency are
included the total figure is well over one billion users. English
is used as an official or semi-official language in over 60
countries with a prominent place in another 20. It is the main
language of the print media, of air traffic, of information
technology, international business, diplomacy, sport,
advertising, pop music and academic and scientific
conferences. More than 80% of information stored on the
world’s electronic retrieval systems is in English (Crystal,
1994, p.358). While some have suggested much of the data in
this area is relatively soft (Joseph, 2001: pp212 – 240) and
that the spread of English may be less rapid than is commonly

80
thought, there is no doubt that English is the language of the
globalisation of the world economy.

While there is ideological opposition to the manifestation of

this linguistic force, the provision of English language teaching
services is no doubt demand, rather than supply, driven.
Whatever ideological problems the provision of English
instruction may have, [and many writers such as Gregson
(2001) and Pennycook, (1994) have assiduously pointed these
out], it is certain that the denial of the right to learn English
would be a far more repressive measure.

On the level of English language teaching, therefore, it is safe

to say that whatever the outcome of the ideological debates
of post-colonialism there is little chance in the next few
decades that any other language will come close to English's
place in the world. The huge need for English language
teaching services has led to an increasing commodification of
ELT and a subsequent explosion in the number of providers
around the world. This increasing commodification has also
meant a significant fall in the real cost of ELT courses to the
student with consequent stresses on course quality.
Commodification is frequently a sign of the maturation of an
industry, so while it does present problems for ELT educators
and course quality, it is also a signal that the teaching of
English has ‘come of age’ as a commercial activity and now
holds a significant global economic presence.

81
4.3.The Growth of the International ELT Industry in
Australia
The delivery of ELT is a highly intangible service. The output is
not a physical product or construction and its added value to
the client exists in forms such as added convenience,
amusement, comfort, opportunities or satisfaction. The core
activity of international ELT colleges in Australia is the delivery
of English language courses to overseas students. Because
they rely almost exclusively on full-fee paying overseas
students for their viability (Cervi, 1991; p.4) there is both a far
greater element of risk in the ELT sector and an undeniably
entrepreneurial aspect that can be lacking in those sectors of
the Australian education system with more captive markets
(Bundesen, 1992).

The ELT industry in Australia is a significant part of its

education services 'export' sector. As well as having important
links with the rapidly expanding tourism industry, it occupies a
crucial role as the first contact point for many overseas
students who will later move into institutions in other sectors
of the Australian education system, such as universities,
schools and VET institutions.

The international ELT industry in Australia, especially its

delivery by private providers, is very young. It was not
identified as a separate item in the export of education
services until 1986 and before 1981 there were few available
pathways for non-immigrant ELT students. From 1981 to 1986
the industry grew in a fashion similar to many 'new’ industries

82
with little regulation and steady increase in profitability and
visibility of organizations offering the services. While some
private ELT colleges began operations in the mid-sixties, rapid
and sometimes controversial growth in the area began in
1986, as subsidised places for overseas students in Australia
began to be phased out and Government funding to education
was reduced. Foreign students began to be seen as an
important source of revenue rather than as recipients of aid
(Cervi, 1991; p.4).

The growing demand within Asia that accompanied its rapid

industrialisation and growth of its middle classes, in
combination with the increasing importance of English as an
international language, meant the industry began to grow
dramatically in 1987 with a particularly drastic increase in the
number of students from The People’s Republic of China. By
1989 there were more than 38000 students in ELT courses in
Australia, more than 10 times as many as in 1986 (EA, 1991,
p. 6). Indeed, in June 1989, there were 20000 students from
China studying in Australia and up to 37000 waiting in a
'queue' in Beijing to commence study in Australia.

Very quickly the laissez-faire approach was drastically

changed to a highly regulated and controlled market, most
particularly one that would restrict the 'visa overstay’
problem. In order to distinguish between those countries
where the overstay rate was particularly acute, the notion of
low-risk and high-risk countries came into being. This was

83
later formalised in relevant legislation as Gazetted and Non-
gazetted countries.

In the initial phase of this move, almost all of the major

nations in Asia were deemed to be high-risk countries, and the
effect of the new restrictions was immediate and financially
crippling to many colleges. The two legislative 'shocks' of the
New Global Entry Criteria of August 1989 and the Regulations
under the New Migration Act of December 1989 had
immediate impacts in the major markets of China, Indonesia,
Thailand, Hong Kong and Korea. This downturn continued
throughout 1990 and was also felt even in the low risk
countries that were turned off by the more complex entry
arrangements to Australia compared to competitor countries.
By 1991 there had been a 49% drop in ELT enrolments
compared to 1989, with China declining by 60% and other
markets declining by more than 30% (EA, 1991: p.8).

The ELICOS Association, as it was originally called, was

founded in 1981 as an industry body to represent ELT
colleges. It put forward a submission to the Industry
Commission Inquiry in 1991 identifying the dilemma that still
remains at the core of the international education debate in
Australia. The EA report (1991, p.i) states

"Australia currently has a choice between a conservative or an

entrepreneurial approach to the export of education services.
The conservative approach preserves our separation from an
ascendant Asia. The entrepreneurial approach puts Australia in a
better position to share more fully in the dynamism of the region
over the next two decades and beyond."

84
The EA report notes that export of ELT education services is
capital efficient with a high positive balance of foreign
exchange earnings for invested capital (EA, 1991: p.3). It also
emphasises that the formal sector of education has strong
limitations in the extent to which it can be differentiated,
whereas English language courses can be readily
differentiated to suit changing student demand. Such aspects
as course length, starting and restarting dates, focus, media
of instruction, purpose, student selection and grouping, level,
intensity and student teacher ratios can be mixed in an infinite
number of ways to suit a myriad of changing market
opportunities.

In 2000 there were more than 188,000 students from

overseas studying in Australia. They contributed more than
$3.6 billion to the Australian economy including more than
$1.8 billion on fees that were paid directly to institutions and
roughly $1.8 billion on goods and services, including
accommodation, food and transportation. More than 80% of
these overseas students studying in Australian institutions
come from Asia with Indonesia Singapore, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, South Korea and Japan the leading source countries.

The proportion of students in the ELT sector fluctuates much

more than in other sectors of international education in
Australia. In 2000, 19.5% of overseas students on student
visas in Australia were enrolled in ELT courses up from 19.1%
in 1999. Over the course of this project student numbers in

85
ELT fluctuated dramatically. The steady growth in the sector in
the early and mid 1990’s was severely interrupted by the
Asian economic crisis of 1997 - 98. From 1994 to 1995 ELT
students on full-time student visas increased by 30.7% from
26,173 to 34,209. From 1995 to 1996 there was a 26.6%
increase to 43,307. From 1996 to 1997 however there was a
13.8% fall in student numbers and in 1998 a dramatic decline
of 26.8%. Only 27,356 students were issued student visas to
study ELT in 1998, which was almost a return to the 1994
levels. From 1998 to 1999 there was a small increase of 6.8%
and from 1999 to 2000 the large growth of the early 1990s
return with an increase of 25.8% so that there were over
36000 students studying English in Australia on student visas.
(DETYA: 2001, Table 5, DEST, 2002b).

The raw numbers above understate the true size of the sector
however, because they only indicate students who have
applied to Australia to study ELT on a student visa. Many in
the other sectors (Higher Education, Vocational Education and
Schools) would have initially completed an ELT course
included in their subsequent visa. Also many students
studying ELT do so while holding either tourist visas or
working holiday visas, meaning there is a large extra number
of enrolments to consider. The DEST estimates for 2000 are
that approximately 27000 students were enrolled in short-
term ELT courses in Australia while visiting on a tourist or
working holiday visa. This means that more than 63000
students undertook ELT study in Australia during 2000.

86
A developing issue in the branding of international education
in Australia is that students coming to Australia perceive
freedom as a significant factor differentiating Australia from
the United States. Australian Education International after an
exhaustive market research study concluded that while the
factors of challenge and status appeared to be the heartland
of international education Australia had a strong existing
position with a sense of freedom and that this will provide a
significant marketing focus in the years ahead (DEST 2002c).

4.4. The Regulation of the International ELT Industry in

Australia
In 1990 the National Consultative Committee on the Export of
Education and Training Services (NACCEETS) was set up to
strengthen industry consultation between various groups of
providers. The committee's title was changed in 1991 to the
National Consultative Committee on International Education
and Training Services (NACCIETS). NACCIETS includes the
various industry umbrella groups such as ACPET, the EA, the
AVCC, students represented though the NLCISA, relevant
unions, State governments and Commonwealth Departments

From 1 January 1990 responsibility for the approval and

accreditation of courses offered to international students, and
the registration of the institution that enrols them, has rested
with State and Territory governments based on a range of
minimum standards, which were endorsed by the Australian
Education Council in June 1990. Assurance of educational

87
standards, therefore, rests at the state level and depends on
the accreditation process. In effect, monitoring of the financial
status of institutions, with regard to the use of overseas
students fees and the compliance with immigration and visa
conditions, is a Commonwealth concern, while the assurance
of educational standards and the monitoring of course quality
are state/territory functions.

International education in Australia and related training is

spread across the Commonwealth Departments of Education,
Science and Training (DEST) and Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs (DIMA) and more than a dozen state and territory
portfolios. This can have the great pitfall, as Graham (1997,
p.3) notes, of leading to policies either overlapping or else
being deficient.

Some of the most important regulatory bodies and legislation

are outlined below:

The ESOS ACT: DEST (FORMERLY DETYA)

DEST is the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science
and Training. It has been restructured several times in the last
two decades and has formerly been DETYA (Department of
Education, Training and Youth Affairs), DEETYA (Department
of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs) and
DEET (Department of Employment, Education and Training).

The Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration of

Providers and Financial Regulation) Act 2000, or ESOS Act,

88
replaced similar legislation first enacted in 1991. It
commenced operation on 4 June 2001 and is currently the
most important Commonwealth Act affecting international
education in Australia along with the relevant sections of the
Migration Acts that cover student visas. In the late 1980's and
early 1990s Australia's reputation as a provider of education
to international students came under a number of stresses
that were identified at Commonwealth level as having the
potential to seriously damage its reputation. Some of these
pressures were identified by the Senate Standing Committee
on Employment Education and Training inquiry (1992, p.5) as:

 the emergence of some unscrupulous providers in

the private education sector

 some evidence of unevenness in the quality of

both services provided and the support structures
for students

 breaches by students of visa conditions

 the financial collapse of several private

institutions and the consequent adverse publicity
in overseas countries about the problems of
students who lost money as a result.

As a result of these pressures, and the real or imagined

problems that they led to, the ESOS Act was designed to
address many of these concerns, especially the way that some
institutions were dealing with overseas students. The intention

89
of the Act according to the Senate Standing Committee
inquiry (1992, p.5) was:

to protect provider and course quality through registration of

institutions and to protect student funds held by providers.

The Act also signalled to education providers and potential

overseas students that the Government was serious about
remedying problems arising from the failure of institutions and
the loss of funds by students and preventing any recurrence
of such problems in the future.

The most important features of the ESOS Act were that

1. Education providers had to be registered with DEST in

order to offer courses to overseas students. This
registration requires listing on the Commonwealth
Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas
Students (CRICOS) that is based on State or Territory
approval of the provider.

2. If an institution is suspended by its relevant state or

territory body then its registration with DEST and on the
CRICOS is suspended or cancelled automatically. Failure
to comply with aspects of the ESOS Act can lead to such
cancellation with defined procedures and appeal
mechanisms for the affected providers.

3. Institutions that receive Commonwealth recurrent

funding (such as public universities, TAFEs government

90
 schools and most private schools) are exempt from the
financial regulation aspects of the ESOS Act.

4. Institutions that are not exempt from the financial

provisions of the Act had to establish special accounts
for pre-paid overseas student fees and keep transaction
records on such accounts.

(From mid-2001 the Trust Account provisions have been

supplemented by an industry wide insurance scheme known
as the ESOS Assurance Fund).

The ESOS Act came into force on 27 June 1991 with

regulations made under the Act being proclaimed in
November 1991 and June 1992. The setting up of the CRICOS
(Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Course for
Overseas Students) by DEET (now DEST) was the central
implementation measure of the Act.

There were many initial difficulties with the implementation of

the Act. The Senate Standing Committee inquiry noted that
more than two thirds of the relevant institutions were not at
that time complying with various sections of the Act for
reasons such as not submitting audited returns, auditors
offering only qualified reports, auditors not clearly stating in
their reports whether the institution had fully complied with
the Act, or enrolment details being at odds with information
extracted from Acceptance Advice form lodgements. With
ongoing improvement in the efficiency of the Act and its

91
administration, and electronic confirmation of enrolment
details, many of these problems were reduced.

Some of the backwash effects of legislation and its power to

alter perception can be seen in the following example. When
the ESOS Act was originally drawn up Schedule 2 of the
regulations included a list of exempt providers. This schedule
came to be known in the industry as the 'safe list' as it
seemed to indicate that the institutions mentioned on the list
were safe, and had an implied government guarantee,
whereas the private institutions not on the list were somehow
riskier. This schedule has since been amended to exempt
classes of providers, rather than individually named
institutions, and now exempts all institutions under direct
state or territory financial control.

It is important to note that the ESOS Act was drawn up to

provide financial security for international students studying in
Australian educational institutions. As its primary aim was
financial, it did not in itself provide any guarantees of
standards of courses or of educational quality. Quality of
courses and course provision is done through the industry
accreditation body, NEAS, the National ELT Accreditation
Scheme, which has some delegated powers from State
Government Education Authorities.

Australia's Overseas Student Program: DIMA

The other significant Commonwealth body for international
ELT colleges is the DIMA. DIMA supervises the migration and

92
visa areas of the overseas student program, which enables
non-Australians to study in Australia on a full fee basis. DIMA
sees itself in a supporting role to the DEST in the program,
through supervision of the immigration requirements
connected with the entry and stay of overseas students in
Australia.

DIMA sees the Overseas Student Program (OSP) as trying to

achieve three broad objectives. These are to increase
Australia's export revenue through the promotion of
Australia's education and training sector, to develop bilateral
relations through contributions to the social and economic
development of the Asia Pacific region and to promote
goodwill and an international understanding of Australia to
assist in strengthening Australia's future trade and security
(DIMA 1997, p.3).

For many students obtaining their student visa becomes a

significant concern in their initial explorations of study abroad.
For students from high-risk countries the obtaining of a visa
can be almost an end in itself. Even for those from low risk
countries the process is more arduous than most expect. For
many students already in Australia in ELT colleges, a major
concern is attaining a sufficient level of English to advance to
the next stage of study, either at university or a vocational
college. Increasingly strict English language requirements on
entry to such courses have given powerful extrinsic motivation
for ELT achievement to students who want to continue to
study in Australia, but they have also allowed an element of

93
corrupt or coercive activities to grow at a few unscrupulous
colleges.

ELT Institutional and Course Accreditation: NEAS

NEAS (The National ELT Accreditation Scheme) is a national
scheme that accredits ELT colleges in Australia – including
private colleges, university language centres, VET ELT centres
and private secondary schools. It has developed a series of
standards and guidelines that proscribe such areas as class
sizes, curriculum, teaching methods and materials,
orientation, social and cultural activities, professional
qualifications of English teachers and welfare counselling

It is an industry based, self-funding, autonomous system and

has been the accrediting body for ELT institutions since 1990.
NEAS has established a set of quality standards and criteria
for the provision of English language programs. New ELT
colleges that wish to be accredited by the NEAS have to meet
all of these standards before being approved to commence
operations. NEAS also inspects each college annually to
ensure that these standards are being maintained.

In general institutional approval is a two-step process.

Applicants for NEAS accreditation undergo a twelve-month
provisional period before applying for full accreditation. Once
institutions have met NEAS requirements they then apply to
their State or Territory authority for registration on the
CRICOS. After twelve months as a provisional candidate,
institutions are assessed for accreditation. If they are able to

94
demonstrate full compliance with NEAS standards they
become NEAS accredited institutions. NEAS assesses
institutions for compliance with accreditation standards in the
following areas: management, finance and administration,
specialist staff, premises, student services, curriculum,
student assessment, materials and equipment and
recruitment and promotion (NEAS; 2001).

Multiple Regulatory Authorities

The break-up of regulatory supervision between DEST, DIMA
and the NEAS is an institutional symbol of the divided world of
the ELT manager. In effect one Commonwealth department
controls financial matters, another regulates student visa
matters while a third independent industry body, with
delegated powers from state government departments,
controls institutional and course accreditation matters. It is by
no means an unworkable regulatory model but it does lead to
many cracks and overlaps. It also reinforces the division
between the entrepreneurial/institutional activities of an ELT
college and its educational ones.

4.5. The Products and Services of International ELT

Colleges
ELT, in common with other service industries, has a
pronounced difference from activities and practices in
organizations that produce goods. ELT colleges offer an
intangible benefit that cannot be inventoried or patented. The
ELT service cannot be easily displayed or communicated and

95
determination of pricing levels is complex. It is virtually
impossible to standardize ELT delivery, and the quality
depends on many uncontrollable factors, including the actions
of the clients themselves. There is no sure way for ELT
managers to know that the service delivery matches what was
planned or expected. The ELT service is simultaneously
produced as it is consumed, unlike manufacturing where
production and consumption are separate. The clients
participate in, and affect, the transaction and also affect each
other. Finally employees, particularly ELT teachers, have an
enormous bearing on the outcome of the service with few
rigid quality control techniques available.

International ELT Colleges provide a range of educational

services to international students that have as their core
outcome the improvement of English language skills. Courses
typically cover the whole spectrum of English language
learning from beginning students with little or no English skills
through to courses to prepare students for high-level
academic studies or vocational activities in English.

The ELT Colleges in this study offer most or all of the following
courses although the actual names of courses vary slightly:

1. General English Courses

General English courses typically offer from 4 to 52 weeks of
English learning. The courses help students develop their
general skills in English and help them to practice
communicating accurately and fluently with English speakers.

96
The courses usually focus more on spoken communication,
especially at the beginner and intermediate levels but also
include components on English writing skills. These courses
are usually offered at all levels.

2. English for Business Courses

English for Business courses introduce students to the
specialised language of business and reinforce the
communication skills required in business situations through
classwork, field trips, lectures and familiarisation with
computers and office technology. The courses are usually only
available to students with intermediate level English
proficiency or above.

3. Exam Preparation and English for Academic Purposes

Courses
Many students at international ELT colleges have a desire to
do further study in Australia or occasionally overseas. The
most common entry exams required for this kind of study are
the IELTS and TOEFL tests and many colleges offer
preparation courses for these exams. The courses typically
help students develop the skills and knowledge required for
these English examinations by working on academic reading
and writing skills, formal and informal speaking skills and
essay/report writing skills. The courses usually have restricted
entry although some colleges do not enforce this. The EAP
courses (English for Academic Purposes) usually offer more
detailed preparation for academic study and may even
specialise in particular disciplines.

97
4. English for High School Courses
Many students come to Australia to enter high school but do
not have sufficient command of English to be placed in a
suitable school. The English for High School courses typically
prepare students for entry to Australian high schools by
combining regular general English language activities with
school content and subject specific reading and vocabulary
skills. It is a growing area in many ELT colleges due to
increasing affluence and interest in the area from PRC and
Korea.

5. Holiday, Novelty and ESP Courses

There are also many courses that are offered to students on a
short-term basis, either for groups of students who come to
Australia for short periods of time or for students who have a
particular interest in a certain activity and wish to combine
their English studies with that activity. Course in English for
golf, for surfing, for diving and other recreational activities
have been a small but important part of the course offerings
of many colleges.

ESP courses (English for Special/Specific Purposes) are usually

targeted at particular students groups. Typical ESP courses
may include a group of workers from the same company who
have particular specialised needs in English (say
understanding instructions on the safe use and transport of
chemicals or English for International Currency Trading). Like
the holiday and novelty courses they are usually peripheral to

98
main revenue activities of the ELT college but are of growing
importance.

As well as offering the courses above international ELT

colleges usually have to provide the following services:

 Student counselling: to assist students with

application, study concerns and in adjusting to life
in Australia.

 Accommodation assistance: to arrange

temporary hotel or other accommodation
especially homestay families for overseas
students. There is frequently a need for assistance
with issues relating to rental housing for longer-
term students.

 Airport pick ups

 Assistance with job seeking: to assist students

in job seeking skills and interview skills and
provide assistance in resume preparation and job
seeking.

 Mail facilities: So that students can have a

central pick up point for their mail and messages

 Student social programs: International

students depend on the ELT college much more
than their domestic peers for their social life.
Because many students focus their life in Australia
around their college, the student social program

99
 can be a very important part of the college’s
activities.

4.6. Conclusion
The ELT industry in Australia is an important part of the
education 'export' sector. As well as having important links
with the expanding tourism sector, it occupies a crucial role as
the first contact point for many overseas students, who will
later move into institutions in other parts of the Australian
education sector, such as TAFEs, universities or private
vocational colleges.

This chapter has looked at some of the external

environmental influences on international ELT colleges in
Australia. It discussed the notion of English as the premier
international language to explain the environmental creation
of demand for international ELT colleges. It outlined the
growth of the international ELT industry in Australia and gave
a brief overview of legislation and other limiting factors that
provide the primary legislative requirements and regulations
for ELT colleges. It also summarized the typical products and
services of international ELT colleges.

The environmental factors mentioned in this chapter are all

discussed further in their impact on the structure, culture,
milieu and ecology of each of the ELT colleges in the study.

100
 Chapter 5

DISCOURSES AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

5.1. Introduction
The imperatives that drive entrepreneurs often seem to move
in a different direction to those that appeal to many
educators. This tension seems to be so common and so
pervasive throughout educational enterprises that it is likely
that there are some fundamental value clashes arising from
competing worldviews. The increasing importance of
entrepreneurial values in educational contexts, especially
those that are privately owned and operated or are run on
profit-making lines, mean that there are many areas of
antagonism between such an 'entrepreneurial' and an
'educational' view of the world. These are likely to manifest
themselves as tensions within international ELT colleges, and
the resolution of such tensions is, this study argues, likely to
be a critical ability for successful ELT management.

The discourse analysis in this and the following chapters

broadly follows a question framework developed by Kemmis
(1988, pp.57 - 85) that divides such an analysis into the three
areas of language use, contestation and institutionalisation.
This chapter provides an overview of discourse and discourse
analysis. The following chapter gives a brief description of the

101
history and contemporary usage of the key ideas in the two
discourses. Chapter 7 outlines some of the contestations
between the two discourses. Chapter 8 then indicates how the
relevant discourses have been institutionalised in some
international ELT colleges, as well as how adequately rhetoric
and practice are matched.

The discourse analysis is intended to be illustrative and

suggestive, as a comprehensive analysis is beyond the scope
of this study. The purpose of the analysis is not to provide a
thorough and complete overview of the discourses and all of
the areas of contestation or resultant institutionalisation, but
simply to indicate a ‘feeling’ for the language use,
contestation and institutionalisation as an aid to discussing
the effects of the contestation on ELT managers. A
management model that contains a partial resolution of these
values clashes is also suggested.

5.2. Discourse
The conceptual meaning of discourse varies within the social
sciences with different meanings being located in different
theoretical areas of interest (Williams, 1988; p.254). Discourse
and its analysis in this report is a combination of that used by
Gumperz (1982) to discuss the dynamics and analysis of
communication situations with those of Fairclough (1985,
1992) and Gee (1990) who also use discourse to indicate the
ideological nature of language and language settings.

102
Only a very small part of an individual's knowledge of the
world originates within their own personal experience, with
much the greater part socially derived from peers, parents,
institutions and the media. Schutz (1953, p.18) and many
other analysts have pointed out the "typifying medium par
excellence by which socially derived knowledge is transmitted
is the vocabulary and syntax of everyday language.” The
language of everyday life includes the naming of things and
events that necessitates a typification and generalization of
socially derived constructs. Rational action and rational
conversation take place within a frame of largely
unquestioned and undetermined constructs.

No text or stretch of utterances, therefore, can be

ideologically neutral, as everyone has to have a system of
beliefs in order to make sense of the world, and
communication itself would be impossible in the absence of
such systems. In a management text, for instance, crafting
the relationship between various people used in examples in
the text requires an ideology of how social interaction is
conducted. The choice of a sympathetic character as the
subject or object of an anecdote requires an ideology of what
qualities are likable or admirable and so on through the vast
array of choices that a writer of a text (or a speaker) has to
make. While some choices may appear to particular readers or
listeners as more appropriate than others, it is impossible to
communicate in an ‘ideology-free’ zone.

103
Ideology plays a role in the creation, the consumption and the
prestige of texts and an awareness of the ideological nature of
language is an important critical and analytical tool. An
analysis of a discourse to reveal its underlying ideology
requires an understanding of the ways that the spoken and
written texts within it relate to their broader contexts. A range
of social and rhetorical practices forms the foundations of any
text, and these social and rhetorical practices are not freely
available to all. It is at this level of analysis though, that
ideology of the discourse becomes a significant contributor to
meaning. A joke that depends for its humour on knowing a
particular topical event is likely to exclude those who don't
keep up with the news, a person who does not understand or
refuses to use the conventions of a particular scientific journal
would be seriously handicapped in their quest for publication.

All linguistically constituted modes of discourse, therefore, are

informed by, surrounded by and encased within non-linguistic
values, assumptions and beliefs that are an integral part of
them. Quite apart from the 'information' in the text, an
attitude of mind, an historical occasion, a belief system and a
social context are portrayed. Gee (1990 pp.175-176) argues
that people learn to speak, read and write in certain ways by
serving apprenticeships in social settings, where people
characteristically read, write and speak in these ways. Each
discourse is attached to a particular social identity and a
particular social group that is embedded in particular social
settings and institutions. In this sense a discourse represents a

104
way of being in a family, a classroom, an educational
institution, a peer group, a business organization, a gender or
a profession, with the membership of the discourse enabling
the individual to take up particular roles and be recognised by
other discourse members as playing that role.

Involvement in a discourse by an individual is not an

automated following of rules stored in the data banks of the
mind. A useful analogy may be that of dancing. The
individual’s participation in the discourse is like a dancer
dancing with body, mind and soul carrying out a complicated
and sophisticated set of routines and actions that can be
combined with an individual's own creative style, as long as
this creativity does not make the dance unrecognizable as
dance or as a particular kind of dance. If the ‘dance’ does not
look fluid because an individual is having to 'think' and 'follow
the rules' the dance fails and other ‘members’ reject the
individual as a ‘dancer’ (Gee, 1990; p.171).

Much of the modern work in the analysis of discourses has

grown from the writings of Foucault (1972). Foucault
wondered how it was that we knew that a particular statement
or text ‘belonged’ in a particular academic discipline. He
demonstrated that it was not simply because all the texts
referred to the same object by showing the great changes in

the discourse of psychopathology from the 18th Century to the

20th. Foucault argued from the premise of the right to speak,

showing that, for example, the medical discourse expressed

105
by a surgeon is legitimised to a far greater extent than that
expressed by a folk medicine practitioner.

He also rejected the notion that such statements and texts

can be simply linked by style, ‘a certain constant manner of
statement’ (Foucault, 1972, p.33) by showing the drastic
changes in style that have occurred over time within
discourses. He rejected the idea that it can be simply based
on themes for similar reasons. Ultimately he suggested that it
is systems of dispersion and formation that allow discourses to
be identified. For Foucault the essence of a discourse lies in its
power to 'produce' reality and cause new objects of
knowledge to appear within its domains or prevent other new
objects from forming. He saw discourses as perspectives that
can not only observe truths but create or disallow truths as
well. Work since Foucault has often focused on this notion of
the power of particular discourses and their ability to
determine what is relevant, what is true and what counts as
important.

Gee (1990, pp.176-178) makes the distinction between

primary discourses that belong to the initial socialising group
such as family, class or ethnic group (i.e. social and cultural in
the broader class, ethnic or national sense) and secondary
discourse produced within such groups and institutions as
churches, schools, gangs and offices. Such secondary
discourses are a tradition handed down through time that
constrains what happens in the present, since only what is

106
recognisably similar to what happened in the past can be
recognised as a meaningful performance within the discourse.

Discourse is used in this report in Gee’s notion of a secondary

discourse - an area or discipline that is a more or less unified
system revolving around identifiable themes, objects and
styles, but, most importantly, around a system of the
dispersion and formation of what is seen as true. A discourse
comes to take an area of knowledge unto itself and in the
process develops systematic language for doing so. Discourse
insiders have a sense that the truths of their particular
discourse are ‘self evident’. Secondary discourses are
something like a tradition handed down through time that
constrains what can happen in the present. Each new
performance in the discourse must be similar enough to
earlier ones to be recognised, but can be just new enough to
change slightly what can be recognised as within the
discourse in the future.

Gee (1990, p.179) notes that people can be members of two

conflicting discourses living out “internally and in the world
the opposition between our discourses”. It is the contention of
this report that many ELT managers are in exactly such a role;
trying to resolve the discourse of the entrepreneur with that of
the educator. Living with this cognitive dissonance can have
the advantage of opening up possibilities for resistance to
domination and hegemony although it produces intellectual
and emotional tension through the attempted resolution of
competing moral systems.

107
5.3. Discourse Analysis and Description
Bloom (1979, p.6) has noted that the innocence of reading is a
pretty myth. Even realistic texts are ruled by a set of
conventions that readers have to construct as being realistic.
This makes the transactions between authors and individual
readers (or in oral communication between speakers and
listeners) a kind of contract. The real world writer uses
language that makes reference, and the real world reader
accepts the obligation to cooperate with it. The text or story is
then constructed and mediated by discourse practices which
are embedded in socio-cultural practices as described by
Fairclough (1993). In a written text, the events and
information are mediated by the discourse practices of the
narrator, who is the speaker 'inside' the text, and the narratee
who is the listener 'inside' the text. This speaking and listening
inside the text is, in turn, filtered by the socio-cultural
practices of the implied author - the persona of the real world
author as revealed in the language and notions in the text -
and the implied reader who is an idealised version or mode of
attention of a reader, as suggested by the language and
assumptions made in the text (Palmer, 1992, p.108).

An analysis of a text therefore requires not only an analysis of

the events and information described, but also of these
various levels or stages in the transaction between real world
author and real world reader. The analysis of entrepreneurial
and educational texts in the following chapters uses the
terminology from the frame of written communication

108
transactions shown in figure 5.1 below. This frame is adapted
from one devised by Stephens (1992, p.21).

109
 AUTHOR
(real world)

IMPLIED AUTHOR
(socio-cultural
practices)

NARRATOR
(discoursal
practices)

EVENTS OF ‘STORY’
(text)

NARRATEE
(discoursal
practices)
IMPLIED READER
(socio cultural
practices)

READER
(real world)

Figure 5.1.
Transactions between Writers and Readers

Thus in any written transaction the writings or sayings of a

real world author are filtered by the implied author, who is
identified by the socio-cultural practices - the attitudes, values
and underlying ideologies - in the work, and realised through a
narrator persona who relates the events of the story from
particular viewpoints using particular discoursal practices.

110
Real world authors and readers successfully conduct this
transaction by cooperating in ways similar to those outlined by
Grice (1975, pp.45-48). The narratee (the listener 'inside the
text') has to actively work with the narrator to note the
implications of each incident that is being related, and assist
in forming a narrative of these incidents that 'makes sense' in
order for the work to be successfully interpreted. The implied
reader has to share in the values of the implied author, not
only regarding the central themes of the work, but also in the
large number of underlying assumptions and beliefs that are
required to keep the narrative and the text moving.

The creation of meaning in a text depends on a range of

levels. At the heart of a text analysis is the actual events of
the story or information being conveyed which are easily
retrievable and relatively unambiguous. One of the great
difficulties in comment on discourse, however, is that the most
easily retrievable and unambiguous data is the least useful in
determining the underlying shape of the ideology. The role of
implied author and implied reader, for example, can be
extremely difficult to tease out and isolate, although it is at
precisely these positions in the transaction of meaning that
much of the work in the construction and revelation of the
discourse and its underlying ideology takes place.

Not only is the most crucial data the hardest and most
controversial to unambiguously select and discuss, but also
what is not said is frequently more critical than what is.
Pennycook (1994, p.39) has illustrated this with regard to

111
advertisements for the growing world coverage of the media,
listing a whole range of questions that are typically ignored.
As well as the problem of ‘silences’, there is the problem of
noticeability. The more powerfully something ‘works’ in a text,
the less likely an analyst will see it as worthy of comment, for
it is precisely the most naturalised ideological representations
which come to be seen as non-ideological 'common-sense'
(Fairclough, 1985; p.739).

A recurring weakness in discourse analysis has been the

hidden motivations and collusions of the analysers. Many
analyses are implicitly attempting to create new secondary
discourses based on new ideologies that would usually put the
analysers themselves in positions of increased power. As most
discourse analysis has so far been carried out by liberal
intellectuals there has also been a tendency to label aspects
of discourses being analysed in particular ways as signals of
'good' and 'bad' ideology. As Myers (1997) has pointed out,
the jargon of such analyses, and of much post-structuralist
writing itself, bears interesting discoursal echoes of the
language used in the propaganda works of former Marxist
regimes. Under such regimes once something was labelled
feudal or reactionary or bourgeois or capitalist it was
conveniently dismissed as evil. Likewise in many discourse
analyses once something is labelled as 'neo-fascist', 'neo-
imperialist', 'neo-colonialist', 'patriarchal', ‘sexist’, 'racist',
‘managerialist’ or ‘economic rationalist’ it is readily dismissed

112
as evil without any intellectual consideration of the actual
points raised.

It is clear that there is a need to examine what is around,

above and beneath texts in order to draw out the assumptions
that form the basis for the beliefs and values that are
expressed, and the ways that they are expected to be
understood. The ideological nature of all writing, including
‘objective’ scholarly writing, is sometimes disputed but, as
Owens (1995, pp.5-6) points out in the area of educational
management:

Academics, who appear to be engaged in dispassionate research

or at least an even-handed search for understanding, are often
in fact guided by the pursuit of more or less well-hidden social
and political agendas. On the other hand reformers and
entrepreneurs with political instincts often find it helpful to
disguise their polemic as coolly detached analysis. Thus the
roles of scholar, researcher and entrepreneur frequently have
become badly entangled with the result that they often use
similar language and style in their appeal to the heart and
mind....

5.4. Ideological-Discursive Formations

In discussing the discourse of the ELT educator and that of the
entrepreneur the values and representations that are drawn
on create what Fairclough (1985, p.739 ff) calls an ideological-
discursive formation (IDF). Fairclough argues that typically one
group holds dominant power in an organization and the way
that it represents reality, its IDF, becomes dominant. This IDF
if unchallenged then becomes naturalised. The premises and

113
practices of the dominant IDF are taken to be commonsensical
and natural ways of acting, talking and thinking. New
members of an institution become inculcated into a
community of practice and into the IDF of their situation.
Fairclough suggests they almost unwittingly act to both reflect
and reproduce that IDF by their discourse and by their
practices. Such naturalized ideologies and IDFs come to be
seen as 'essential' background knowledge, schemata or
frames of reference. The naturalisation of the dominant
group’s IDF acts then to alienate the IDFs of other groups
within the institution.

5.5. Conclusion
This chapter has discussed discourse and discourse analysis. It
has provided a definition of discourse as used in this study
and indicated the terminology and the framework that is used
to discuss the discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT
educator in the following chapters.

The chapter has shown that all writing and communication

exists within an ideological framework. It has noted that, while
there are inherent difficulties with both the acquisition and
interpretation of data in discourse analysis, the examples used
in the following chapters aim to be illustrative of serious
discoursal tension and conflict between the ideological-
discursive formations, the values and representations of
reality, of the entrepreneur and the educator in international
ELT college settings.

114
115
 Chapter 6

THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE

ENTREPRENEUR: DESCRIPTIONS

6.1. Introduction
This chapter gives a brief description of the notion of the
entrepreneur and the educator and then uses examples from
a small number of texts to hint at their respective discourses
and to get a flavour of the discoursal values concerned. The
examples are illustrative and the distinction between these
two secondary discourses is necessarily focused more on their
contestations than on their agreements.

This chapter examines and describe some of the values and

the attitudes that form parts of the worldviews of the
entrepreneur and then of the educator. These broad areas
reflect a range of opinions underpinned by a range of
assumptions, but the contrast between the normative
assumptions in the two is sufficient to explain many of the
recurring tensions for ELT managers in international colleges.
The chapter concludes with a brief summary.

6.2. The Discourse of the Entrepreneur

To some, the idea of the entrepreneur is that of the
courageous adventurer rushing in where those less bold fear

116
to go, sacrificing and struggling to build in an alien
environment –the notion of the Rhodes-ian figure who creates
value in the far flung outposts, developing and exploiting
them ruthlessly but efficiently. The opposite pole has the view
of the entrepreneur as a sleazy, white shoe-wearing individual
manoeuvring around the edges of the law to extract merciless
profit from the toil of honest labourers through a variety of
murky schemes. While the dichotomy can be exaggerated, it
is nevertheless a very real problem in trying to obtain an
objective outline of the notion of an entrepreneur.

Casson (1982, p.9) has noted that even within the discipline of
economics there is no established economic theory of the
entrepreneur. The Australian Industry Task Force on
Leadership and Management Skills (1995, p.107) uses the
following definition of entrepreneurship based on that of Kao
(1983):

Entrepreneurship is the attempt to create value by an individual

or individuals:

through the recognition of significant (generally innovative) business

•

opportunity

through the drive to manage risk-taking appropriate to that project

•

and

through the exercise of communicative and management skills

•

necessary to mobilise rapidly the human, material and financial

resources that will bring the project to fruition

The Task Force sees entrepreneurship as a set of values that

should infuse and underpin the motivation and practices of all

117
business enterprises. It regards entrepreneurship as a
critically defining characteristic of good and effective
management. For the purpose of this paper an entrepreneur is
seen as a person who willingly takes on the responsibility
(either through equity or representation) to make commercial
decisions with far-reaching consequences. When their
judgement is proven correct and with the benefit of historical
hindsight other analysts can see that the entrepreneur was
right at a time when others were wrong. Acting differently,
and achieving success (or failure) because of these actions,
causes others to change their minds as well. According to this
view the entrepreneur is atypical and, despite holding a
minority viewpoint, has to be able to persevere in the face of
opposition who are wrong. The entrepreneur needs to be a
value judge of untested operations. In smaller organizations
such as the ELT colleges in this report the entrepreneur is
required to decide the potential success or failure of each new
major revenue-generating project that the college takes on.

The notion of the entrepreneur is usually bound up with the

idea of individuals who perceive the profitability of a good or
service and therefore arrange its production and/or
distribution. The notion of the entrepreneur is also closely
bound up with the idea of profit which is the residual after all
other factors of production have been met. The concept of a
single entrepreneur owning and running a business is a
theoretical abstraction and the ownership and management of
many large enterprises are often distinct. In all of the ELT

118
colleges referred to in this study the founding of the college
and its continuing operation arose from entrepreneurial,
rather than social or political considerations. Managers have
to acquire entrepreneurial habits if they are to enhance
organizational effectiveness especially in financial areas. The
development of new projects and commercial initiatives as
well as new or different ways to control the cost of inputs are
significant management responsibilities.

The entrepreneurial world view has been pejoratively labelled

fast capitalism by critical theorists such as Gee, Hull and
Lankshear (1996, p.24) who see its value system as
represented most clearly in the popular management texts of
the last two decades such as Senge’s The Fifth Discipline,
Peters’ Liberation Management, Handy’s The Age of Unreason
and Waterman’s Frontiers of Excellence.

Other writers have also noted the development of a

specialised discourse that has evolved in this area. McGregor
(1997), for example, has argued that fluency in the discourse
is now absolutely necessary for success and even survival in
the business world. Micklethwait and Wooldridge (1996) see
much of the publishing in the area as being based on greed
and fear, preying on the paranoid anxieties of managers. They
also note that the range of texts that is included in the area is
very broad from serious academic tomes such as the
Competitive Advantage of Nations to the fantastic Leadership
Lessons from Star Trek The Next Generation, to the folk
traditional Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary

119
Leadership to the faintly ridiculous Burst into Flames: Drive
Your Company Like a Huge Dirigible.

The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge is one of the most widely

admired of this entrepreneurial ‘fast capitalist’ group of texts.
The Australian Industry Task Force on Leadership and
Management (1995, p.167) argued that the learning
organization outlined by Senge will be the standard
philosophy for many Australian enterprises and a major way
they cope with change and turbulence. His work has also
influenced thinking on educational organizations, perhaps
because of its appeal to aspects of learning and education. In
the book, Senge describes the art and practice of a
prototypical organization that he calls the Learning
Organization. Senge's ideas about the learning organization
are based on five principal areas or disciplines. These are
Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared
Vision and Team Learning.

Senge sees Systems Thinking as the ability to understand non-

linear causes and effects and to see events holistically as part
of a complex and interrelated system. The unit of the whole,
though, is the organization rather than the individual, the
society or the world. Personal Mastery, while including
competence and skills, emphasises aptitude for personal
growth and learning. Senge (1990, p.141) writes that
"[p]eople with high levels of personal mastery are continually
expanding their ability to create results in a life they truly
seek", involving individuals continually clarifying what is

120
important to them and continually learning to see current
reality more clearly.

Mental models are the cognitive patterning devices or internal

images that people have to explain at a fundamental level
how the world works. The book argues that whatever these
are, they limit people to familiar ways of thinking and acting.
These mental models are similar to Argyris' (1978) notion of
theories-in-use. Indeed Senge (1990, p.175) cites Argyris:
"Although people do not [always] behave congruently with
their espoused theories [what they say] they do behave
congruently with their theories-in-use [their mental models]".
This notion of mental models is also loosely based on the
ideas from cognitive science of selectively attending to
sensory input. Two people can observe exactly the same
situation and yet describe it totally differently because of their
differing mental models. Senge argues that these models
need to be in-awareness rather than out-of-awareness.

Shared Vision is described by Senge as a force that is carried

by people throughout an organization, an empowering force
that creates "a sense of commonality that permeates the
organization and gives a coherence to diverse activities"
(Senge, 1990: p.206). Team learning is seen as the process of
aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the
results its members truly desire. The team is a group who
need one another to act with Senge using the analogy of a
great sports team or jazz ensemble as his image of an ideal
team.

121
All five disciplines outline the sort of universal positives that
are virtually motherhood statements - it is impossible not to
agree with their desirability. However the central issues of
power, control and determination of insider/outsider
boundaries are powerful silences in the book. How does one
become a member of a learning organization? How is that
membership terminated? What is the purpose of a learning
organization? Who decides on that purpose? What are the
relative positions of stakeholders and why? What happens
when things go wrong? How can shared visions be created
when some organizational members need to suffer so that
others may prosper? Like texts in many areas of human
behaviour, including education, the 'hard yards', the dirty
specifics and the common but tricky win-lose situations are
ignored in favour of the simple win-win pieces of the
organizational puzzle.

The implied reader of most texts that favour an

entrepreneurial worldview is a believer, an owner or manager
and the books only make sense when this mode of attention is
adopted. There are other important assumptions and
adjustments that the implied reader must adopt. As noted
above, the unit of analysis used throughout the work is the
organization and its profitability, and the possible conflict
between organizational success and societal failure is avoided.
An implied reader must see growth and size as measures of
success, measures that even many economists and financial
analysts would now dispute. The implied reader must also

122
ignore real world knowledge of the corporations cited that
does not appear to conform to Senge's analysis. The Shell
Corporation, for example, is referred to throughout the work
as one the best examples of a learning organization with an
ethical vision, yet its activities in Nigeria and North Sea oil rig
scuttling would seem to contradict an organization-wide
shared ethical vision.

By using the organization as a unit of analysis, the

entrepreneurial world view adopts the implicit position that
what matters is what is inside the organization, and that 'what
is not the organization' is to be treated differently from 'what
is the organization'. The wider implications of global
economics are left out of the calculations. Gee, Hull and
Lankshear (1996) use the example of small cooperative
organizations in Nicaragua to show that it is not possible to
take such texts and apply their formulas to many small third
world organizations. The Fifth Discipline and other
entrepreneurial texts may be describing a formula for
organizational winners, but the total situation they describe
will still require winners and losers in a regular capitalist
fashion.

The narrator and narratee throughout the work switch from

management consultants to CEOs of large corporations to
direct dialogues between the implied author and implied
reader. The assumption is that narrator, narratee and reader
are all important people who have real control in their
organizations and can direct others to change. It also assumes

123
that readers, like narrator and narratee, work in areas with
strategic responsibilities rather than operational ones. It would
seem to exclude the work activities of many members of
many organizations who have little or no control over the
strategies of their organizations and are engaged in the
satisfaction of operational needs, dealing with the 'here and
now' rather than the future 'there and then'.

From the opening sentence The Fifth Discipline includes the

reader inside its world:

From a very early age we are taught to break apart problems, to

fragment the world.
(Senge, 1990: p.3)

The use of we indicates that writer and reader share a

common purpose. This common purpose is to build learning
organizations:

...where people continually expand their capacity to create the

results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of
thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and
where people are continually learning how to learn together.
(Senge, 1990: p.3)

The commercial motive for this wonderful new plan is

revealed in the third paragraph of the work with the
imprimatur of Arie De Geus, then Head of Planning at Royal
Dutch Shell, and the most prominent commercial advocate of
Senge's techniques:

The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only
sustainable competitive advantage.
(Senge, 1990: p.4)

124
The linking of competitive advantage to collective aspiration
and the expansion of thinking and creativity is a tension within
the discourse of the entrepreneur. Is the learning organization
(or any other management tool) a vital technique because it is
expanding people's capacity to create results they truly
desire, or is it to sustain competitive advantage? What about
those whose desires conflict with their organization? What of
those who wish to learn destructively? What of those whose
true desires lie outside their organization?

Senge makes a firm distinction throughout his work between

learning organizations, which are new, uncertain, adaptable
and fast-changing, and controlling organizations, which are
old, bureaucratic, rigid and inflexible. The way that power has
traditionally been exercised in controlling organizations has
limited the ability of organizational members to fulfil their
aspirations. In learning organizations, according to Senge,
members are set free to achieve far greater outcomes.

This tension between the old bureaucratic 'modernist'

controlling organizations and the new, uncertain, fast-
changing 'postmodernist' learning organizations is presented
to readers of this book, and many similar texts, using one of
the recurring techniques in western literature - that of the
quest to the unknown land. Said (1978, p.54) in an analysis of
how Asia was constructed in western fiction found the most
frequently occurring theme to be the contrast and tension
between a place or state of order and safety on the one hand

125
(the West, home, the settled colony, the garrison, the club
and the company of 'one's own kind') and a troubled
hinterland on the other (the East, far from home, the frontier,
the native world, 'out there'.) Crossing from one to the other
often rewards protagonists with conquest, praise, wealth and
sexual gratification but doing so is also dangerous, confusing
and sometimes disillusioning. There is a strong assumption at
the implied author/implied reader level in the entrepreneurial
literature that those bold explorers and adventurers who lead
the charge to the brave new organizational world will be
similarly well rewarded. The quest plots of western literature
and mythology and the how to’s of entrepreneurial success
run a surprisingly parallel course.

There are occasional indications in the work that power is

ownable and transferable in organizations and thus only some
organizational members are able to empower others:

Empowering the individual when there is a relatively low level of

alignment worsens the chaos and makes managing the team
even more difficult.
(Senge, 1990: p.235).

Of course, this assumes that certain people (who are different

to the 'individuals' in an organization!) can choose to
empower others, that these certain people can determine
when there is alignment and that team management is really
a covert line management responsibility, rather than
something that is generated within the team.

126
All five disciplines in Senge's learning organization seem
reasonable and desirable and yet certain aspects of his
prototype may cause the counter-intuitive results that Senge
notes in his discussion of Systems Thinking. Indeed the notion
underlying Systems Thinking itself, that things are so complex
that no-one can really do anything effective unless they
understand a whole chain of sophisticated cause and effect
loops, can be a very disempowering view, ultimately stripping
people of power and a sense of personal control.

Discussions of Personal Mastery within the text rarely refer to

what is, perhaps, the central issue in such mastery, at least
from a materialist perspective, and that is access to, and
control over, actual material resources. Ownership and control
of such resources usually determine a person's control and fit
with their environment. Yet an equitable redistribution of
material wealth within organizations is another ‘loud’ silence
within the Fifth Discipline.

Senge's notion of Shared Vision has similarities with the

sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in early Christian writings.
Indeed it is one example among many of a broad salvationist
and millennial flavour throughout much of the entrepreneurial
discourse. The Fifth Discipline, like many such texts, proceeds
by a series of anecdotes, tales and parables which are often
uncritical accounts of all the benefits that accrued to
particular organizations that followed the path to salvation
offered by the author. The prescriptions are rarely based on
sustained quantitative research but rather on accounts of

127
particular organizations that have entered a state of 'grace',
had their workers empowered and consequently been
transformed (Gee, Hull and Lankshear, 1996: p.73).

Team learning and induction into learning communities has

become a powerful theme in the entrepreneurial discourse
largely due to Japanese corporate success in the 1970s and
1980s that truly shocked most western managers. However
the fatal flaws of groupthink and the abilities of groups to
magnify mistaken perceptions, rather than correct them, have
been well documented by anthropologists, a finding again
notoriously absent from the work. The tribulations in East
Asian economies in the late 1990s and Japan’s continuing
inability to enliven its moribund economy would also seem to
indicate that notions of team and community are not enough
of themselves to guarantee success.

Critics have argued that the whole desire for these new
learning organizations is suspicious. Gee, Hull and Lankshear
(1996, p.27) for example, maintain that old capitalism was
based on a working class that did not have to think, having
only to do what it was told, whereas now it demands workers
who can operate at all levels. The old capitalism was about
standardisation and democratising desire, while today’s
capitalism is about specialisation and customising desire. As a
result of technological and social changes the competition is
now global and the winners are those who can design and
produce customised products and services faster than their
global competitors. Factors such as 'hypercompetition',

128
massive technological changes and the demands and desires
of increasingly sophisticated consumers have meant that
organizations have to respond accordingly. The
entrepreneurial discourse is simply a new coat of paint on
good old-fashioned exploitative ideas.

The Fifth Discipline, and other texts within the entrepreneurial

discourse, work by grabbing their readers, building on words
and metaphors that have positive connotations and with
which readers are already familiar, and then twisting them to
give them entirely different meanings. The discourse extends
from the typical domains of business and management into
domains of human behaviour and motivation that have, until
now, been considered 'soft'. This extension, though, has not
been without a continuation of the primary motivations of
entrepreneurial theories - bottom line performance, profit,
growth and cost/benefits that remain the underlying
motivators of the discourse. The organization and its
performance are seen as more significant than individual
fulfilment or national or international social equality.

There are many silences and absences of questions in the

entrepreneurial worldview. The dysfunctional side of science
and technology, its uneven effects on the distribution of power
and knowledge, the free market for goods but not for labour to
name a few. As the real world readers of these texts are
mainly white-collar workers in the developed world, it is not
surprising that very real issues that face the majority of the

129
world's population in developing countries do not rate a
mention.

The entrepreneurial discourse is usually seen as particularly

male. Burrell and Hearn (1989) throughout their work have
shown that most organizational theory has largely excluded
non-hetero, non-male forms, with the whole discourse of
organizations and organization theory exuding an acritical
'malestream' point of view. The entrepreneurial discourse also
shows a preference for humanist, universalist ideologies
rather than cultural relativist ones, assuming that there is a
pan-global business culture that outweighs the influence of
local and national cultures. This universalist - relativist debate
is a fundamental tension between the entrepreneurial
worldview and its critics. Gee, Hull and Lankshear's (1996)
core complaint against fast capitalism, for example, is its
universalist notions and the resultant parallels with
universalist notions of literacy that are taken as discredited by
those who believe in the notion of critical literacy and
language learning.

Discourses are built around mutually shared beliefs that

ultimately form coherent worldviews. The values discussed in
the section above were grouped into a discourse that has
been labelled that of the entrepreneur. Some central values of
this discourse are the reward of considered risk-taking
behaviour with an admiration for such qualities as boldness,
courage, strength in adversity, going against the tide,
individualism and field independence. The discourse has a

130
male orientation (in the psychological sense of the word) and
is little concerned with those of limited power or means. It
sees organizational success in financial terms and focuses on
strategic and dynamic complexity, rather than day-to-day
operations. It favours individuals rather than processes, and
opportunity is seen as fortune favouring the brave. It has an
emphasis on effectiveness or doing the right thing and
ultimately sees profit as the core purpose of organizational
activities.

6.3 The Discourse of the ELT Educator

Most ELT colleges in Australia that cater to international
students exist because of the worldwide demand for English
language skills needed for commercial and academic
activities. Even though many such colleges owe their
existence to entrepreneurial imperatives, many ELT
practitioners identify with a discourse that has underlying
values somewhat opposed to those of entrepreneur.

The discourse of the international ELT educator, like that of

the entrepreneur presents difficulties of precise definition.
Core educational activities are becoming increasingly
differentiated and activities that have perhaps little relevance
to what would have been considered ‘education’ in previous
decades have assumed greater importance.

Teachers in accredited ELT institutions in Australia must have

university qualifications in education and either an ELT

131
certificate or at least 800 hours of classroom teaching
experience. This suggests that many of the general principles
that underlie constructs in education also apply to ELT
educators. One difference between ELT educators and those
in other fields of education may be in their more global
orientation. Because English teaching is in demand around the
world many in ELT have worked in several countries during
their careers.

In the last three decades much educational writing has been

conducted within a liberal-democratic framework that has
been influenced by broader philosophical notions of liberalism
and liberal values (White, 1995: p.216) In recent times the
foundation notions of the educational worldview have involved
the attempts to demonstrate the value of education in a
modern liberal society. The central focus has become the
notion that everyone

should be equipped to determine his or her own major goals in

life and not have these paternalistically imposed whether by
custom, parents, teachers, or religious and political leaders.
(White, 1995; p.217)

The discourse of ELT has developed from related discourses in

other fields of education. It has tended to develop practical
and theoretical strands that focus on different areas and
influence practitioners in different ways. The connection
between the teaching of English and the study of applied
linguistics has meant that ELT has been a more reflective
discourse than that of the entrepreneur, with writers and

132
practitioners in the field occasionally questioning why English
is in such tremendous demand around the globe, and whether
or not this is a 'good thing'. In general however the discourse
is dominated by texts that address the logistical issues raised
by the rapid spread of ELT and the seemingly insatiable
demand for English learning around the globe. As Candlin
notes:

…the twin pressures of commercialisation and the often short-

term imperatives of research have conspired to make difficult a
general reflection on the purposes and objectives of language
teaching and learning as part of the personal and cultural
experience of teachers and learners…
(Candlin 1991 p.ix)

While there is more understanding of entrepreneurial

imperatives in ELT than in some other areas of education, the
discourse overwhelmingly favours its educational roots. In
Japan for example there is tremendous demand for a non-
traditional form of ELT known as eikaiwa or 'meeting-speaking'
English. Even the famed shinkansen bullet trains offers such
English learning activities after polling found that this was the
most popular activity that commuters would pay to do on their
journeys to work (Japan Times, 1989). ELT experts however
often denounce eikaiwa because it does not follow any
existing language teaching methodology. A common criticism
of such activities is that "ultimately the western teacher of
English is paid to be a westerner rather that to teach
anything" (Evans, 1990, p.28). Eikaiwa is also held in low
repute because of the lack of conventional educational

133
qualifications and experience of those who do it. Syed (1992)
notes that native speaker was the principal prerequisite of
employment; 82% of the language school teachers he
surveyed were native speakers but only 11% had ELT
qualifications and experience and 75% listed Japan as the first
and only place that they had ever taught English.

Michael Lewis and Jimmie Hill's (1992) Practical Techniques

for Language Teaching is an introductory text for new
language teachers that has a strong emphasis on the practical
classroom side of ELT while Alistair Pennycook's (1994) The
Cultural Politics of English as an International Language is a
socio-cultural analysis of the impact of the spread of English
and ELT written for more experienced members of the
profession. Both texts assume that the implied readers are
teachers or ELT professionals that have a close working
relationship with non-native speaker students. Both works
reflect the idea that English is largely taught by Anglo native
speakers to non-Anglo learners.

Practical Techniques is described as "a basic teacher training

handbook for all less experienced teachers. It covers the
syllabus for the RSA UCLES CTEFLA, which is one of the usual
entry-level ELT qualifications to the profession in Australia.
The narrator in Practical Techniques is like that of an
experienced teacher to a novice. As the review on the back
cover says, "conveying an upbeat, can-do attitude.” All the
techniques are in classroom and there is no mention of what
will occur outside the classroom, how to relate to students or

134
any mention of managerial, entrepreneurial or logistical
functions. At the 'chalkface' level of ELT, there is a strong
emphasis on what 'works' in the classroom, with ideas judged
by their immediate utilitarian value. Learning English, like all
foreign language learning, is a long, hard slog and, for
speakers of non-European languages, many hundreds or even
thousands of hours can be spent in ELT classrooms. Thus texts
such as Practical Techniques stress their utilitarian value from
the opening pages:

This book is not theoretical. It is a collection of practical ideas

and techniques which you can use to make your own teaching
more effective, and more enjoyable for you and your students.
(Lewis and Hill, 1992; p.3)

The guiding principles of this book are that:

...language teaching is only an aid to language learning, and

that it is those things which help the students to improve which
are of particular importance; and secondly that language is first
and foremost communication. Those activities which mean that
students can use the language, and communicate better, are to
be encouraged at the expense of activities which will only mean
that students ‘know’ the language.
(Lewis and Hill, 1992; p.3)

The values that underpin the ELT discourse are revealed in the
ways that classroom activities are to be conducted. These
stress that ELT should be:

1. Learner centred (teach the students not the book,

learning is more important than teaching)

2. Active (involve students in the learning process,

don't tell students what they can tell you, vary

135
 what you do and how you do it, activities and
relationships in the classroom change)

3. Comfortable and non-threatening (we all learn

best when we are relaxed, don't emphasise
difficulties, useful and fun is better than either
alone, students can be silent but still involved)

4. Self aware (students need to learn how to learn)

These notions value a ‘caring and sharing’ emphasis in human

relations – one where there should be little loss of face or fear
of failure. Thus the texts written for classroom practitioners
emphasise the notions that English language learning and
teaching should be enjoyable, practical and of immediate use,
with ideas based on practical experience.

The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language,

(Pennycook, 1994), on the other hand, is far more general and
questioning of the rationales behind the teaching of English.
Pennycook examines the teaching of English around the
world, the development of the discourse of ELT and the neo-
colonial effects of the growth of English as an international
language, before arguing the need for refinement and change
in the ways that ELT is conducted around the world.

English language teaching is usually understood by its

practitioners to be a 'good thing' although the view of why it is
good have shifted from the need of English for development to
the need for English for growth in a global market. Pennycook

136
(1994) argues that a particular view of English as an
international language has come into being through
colonialism and the neo-colonial agendas of linguistics and
applied linguistics and the global spread of teaching practices.
He points out that English can never be removed from its
social, political, economic and cultural contexts and would
prefer English teachers to develop alternative methods of
dealing with international English.

Whether or not languages can be successfully removed from

the social and political contexts of the speech community
within which they developed is complex. Whether English can
only reflect the 'mindset' of its Anglo native speakers, or
whether it can be used to reflect the mindsets of any of its
individual users is, as yet, unresolved. It would be common
among ELT practitioners to hold that the power any member
of the world community attains by becoming fluent in English
far outweighs the possible disadvantages to themselves as
individuals, although on a societal level the expansion of
English is sure to wipe out many languages, in a similar
fashion to the disappearance of the many distinct regional
dialects with the growth of literacy and standard national
languages.

Language may well be more elastic than socio-cultural theorist

realise however. To demonstrate one example among many:
Chinua Achebe the Nigerian novelist, poet, broadcaster and
diplomat for Biafra has written about Ibo society and the
impact of colonialism in English in novels such as Things Fall

137
Apart (1958) and A Man of the People (1966). Achebe (cited in
Kachru, 1987) has discussed the possibilities and limitations of
international English and used two passages on the writing of
Arrow of God as examples, one 'Africanized' and the other
'Englishized'. The passages are:

I want one of my sons to join these people and be my eyes

there. If there is nothing in it you will come back. But if there is
something then you will bring back my share. The world is like a
mask, dancing. If you want to see it well you do not stand in one
place. My spirit tells me that those who do not befriend the
white man today will be saying, 'had we known' tomorrow.

Compared to:

I am sending you as my representative among those people -

just to be on the safe side in case the new religion develops.
One has to move with the times or else one is left behind. I have
a hunch that those who fail to come to terms with the white man
may well regret their lack of foresight.

In certain areas Pennycook's critical analysis shows that the

western model of education has led to a deskilling of
populations in many non-Western countries in terms of
indigenous systems of belief, folklore, language, symbols, art,
music and knowledge (Pennycook, 1994; p.49), echoing the
argument that school and schooling, far from being an
opponent of the new world order, may well be its leading
missionary edge.

If there are many examples in entrepreneurial writings that

have echoes of the quest theme that has pervaded Western
Literature since Homer, education texts have echoes of
notions of the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’. Educational matters

138
are held to be ‘purer’ than matters of administration,
coordination and operations. This sacred/profane distinction is
at the heart of much thinking on education. The teacher
training textbook above or teacher training courses
themselves, for example, rarely impart understanding of
issues such as timetabling, funding, resource allocation,
logistics or even such matters as classroom discipline. These
details of a teacher’s existence are lumped into the profane.
The symbolism of medieval clerical robes that are de rigueur
dress ups for university and college graduations are perhaps a
visual symbol of this link.

The notion of equal distribution of power is firmly placed

within ELT educator discourse. EA Journal, the journal of the
international ELT industry in Australia, shows a recurring
tendency for writers to disassociate themselves from being
managers or holding power and to be uncomfortable with a
perception that such is the case. Heap, for example, writes
that he was shocked when students identified him as holding
incredible power due to his position as the Director of Studies
at an ELT centre connected with a university. He writes:

" I don't think I had ever considered myself powerful although

I've had various positions of more or less responsibility over the
years. I was rather taken with the idea but also felt somewhat
uncomfortable with it, subscribing as I do to notions such as
'Strength is made perfect in weakness', 'Blessed are the meek',
'The only power is no power', 'To lead is to serve' and not to
sentiments found in books with such titles as Power! How to Get
it, How to Use it.
(Heap and Cole, 1996 p.18)

139
That the holding of such values, and the actual interpretation
of actions, can be very different is again highlighted by Heap
(1996, p.19), who uses an example of the DOS and Assistant
DOSes at his ELT college who changed the time of an in-
service session after a different time had been agreed at a
staff meeting. The memo that informed staff of this change
read "we have decided to ..." these words were anonymously
circled by one of the English instructors with the comment
WHO??? - an indication that the instructors found such actions
'disempowering' despite the intentions of the manager. He
also notes in ELT contexts that there can be euphemisms used
to disguise the raw notions of power in such colleges and that
therefore words such as leadership, management and
responsibilities can all indicate control and power (Heap 1996,
p.19).

The discourse of the ELT educator is a reification of a set of

concepts that plays a role in the transmission and
development of educational culture. Its description and
analysis is meant to be illustrative in order to compare and
contrast it with that of the entrepreneur discussed above.
Nevertheless the set of values, beliefs and prejudices that
educators draw upon to pejoratively deride aspects of
financial, commercial or industrial thinking mean that there is,
at root, a discursive formation that has developed and is
transmitted within the education sector in Australia and
elsewhere and that this discourse can be identified and
described.

140
The discourse of the ELT educator as represented in this paper
is not, of course, a monolithic entity. The fast capitalist notions
that underpin an entrepreneurial market driven worldview,
however, grow from very different origins and create
divergent values to many of those that underpin the
worldview of the ELT educator. The ELT educator is likely to
value the detail complexity of daily operations in the college
and the mechanisms by which English is taught and learned.
They are likely to have a greater trust in processes and have
an event orientation to work, seeing each class as somewhat
different. They are likely to value efficiency and doing their
assigned tasks well with a belief in accountability. Most
importantly they are likely to value educational quality of a
college over profitability or financial considerations.

6.4. Conclusion
This chapter has briefly examined and described some of the
values and the attitudes that form the worldviews of the
entrepreneur and then the ELT educator. A small range of
examples were taken from published texts. The examples
were illustrative and it was noted that the distinction between
these two secondary discourses is necessarily focused more
on their contestations than on their agreements. It is to these
contestations and possible commonalities that this study now
turns.

141
 Chapter 7

THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE

ENTREPRENEUR: CONTESTATIONS

7.1. Introduction
The political and ideological nuances of the words
entrepreneur and management make them awkward concepts
for many involved in education. The words seem to somehow
belong to business, industry and commerce with education
somehow apart from, or perhaps above, such profane
activities. Yet of course upon reflection most educators would
agree that the tasks of principals, directors of studies, college
owners, deans and department heads all involve the same
skills as those required by managers and entrepreneurs in the
commercial world.

The contrast between the values of the entrepreneur and the

values and outlooks of ELT educators is, like any structuralist
dichotomy, a less than accurate depiction of a complex
situation. Nevertheless, anyone who has worked in
international ELT colleges in any capacity would be aware that
a clash of values frequently occurs and there are few
educational institutions that are free of problems relating to
resource allocation for educational activities.

142
There are, therefore, a number of areas of important
contestations between the discourses of the entrepreneur and
the educator. This chapter examines some of these
contestations at the general level before discussing some
possible commonalities that may be of assistance in finding a
functional resolution of the clashing values. The following
chapter then examines some specific institutional difficulties
resulting from the discoursal conflict, and looks at examples of
these contestations in international ELT colleges.

The main contestations examined in this chapter are the

respective views of organizations and the competing notions
of modern and postmodern organizational units, varying
perspectives on the commodification of education,
understanding of transaction costs, orientation towards the
future (optimistic or pessimistic), views on injustice and elitism
and finally acceptance of universalism compared to relativism.

7.2. View of Organizations

Johnston has reflected on the ways ELT management might
differ from management in other areas and speculated that, in
ELT, management is:

amorphous, largely unsupervised, often ill at ease with itself; but

also thanks to its closeness to ELT perhaps uniquely open to
influence from some of the healthiest trends in interpersonal
dealings, such as humanistic approaches.
Johnston (1989, p.5)

143
Almost all ELT managers, and indeed ELT practitioners, would
agree, that it makes business sense to satisfy clients rather
than dissatisfy them, to win them rather than lose them, to
strengthen 'revenue earning' teaching operations rather than
degrade them and to cultivate markets rather than to sell
them short. Charles (1993, p.15) argues that the more the ELT
profession mixes with the 'outside' business and professional
world the more it learns to engage with the management
content of that world, and match its performance standards.
Yet suspicion and hostility remain. Hammond (2001, p15)
notes that even in academic ELT journals there are laments of
‘losing colleagues to business’ meaning teachers moving
across to management and that there is a strong perceived
polarity of the ‘camps’ in ELT colleges.

While the entrepreneurial world view draws on beliefs that

come from notions of supply and demand and monetary
motivations, notions that derive from the discipline of
economics, the world view of the ELT educator derives from
notions of personal growth, fulfilment and social harmony;
ideas that are broadly situated in sociology and psychology.
The idea that the college exists to make money is an
entrepreneurial one. The notion that the idea of the college is
to offer courses that will provide outstanding educational
services to students, and be a motivating and inspirational
work environment, is an educational one. While the two views
are not totally incompatible, resolution of the two aims has
many difficulties.

144
Many of the values that are important in the communicative
classrooms of ELT educators give rise to predominant view
among such educators that the human resource perspective is
the 'sensible' view of organizations and that this view of
organizations is the one held as the ‘common sense’ view of
organizations by many educators, whose paradigms of
organizational and educational issues may be very similar.
The entrepreneurial discourse, on the other hand, tends to
favour explanations from the views of traditional management
or its more recent symbolic / cultural iterations that put the
needs of some organizational members above others, largely
based on their power and influence.

Part of the discoursal clash between the educator and the

entrepreneur may be due to a much broader historical
process. Hargraeves (1995; p. 15) sees the forces of
entrepreneurial and educational worldviews as part of a larger
conflict between modernity and postmodernity. He describes
the trends thus:

The fate of teachers work, its structure and culture, is caught in

a powerful and dynamic struggle between two immense social
forces: those of modernity and postmodernity. On the one hand,
is an increasingly post-industrial, post-modern world,
characterised by accelerating change, intense compression of
time and space, cultural diversity, technological complexity,
national insecurity and scientific uncertainty. Against this stands
a modernistic, monolithic school system that continues to
pursue deeply anachronistic purposes within obstructive and
inflexible structures.

It is in the struggles between and within modernity and

postmodernity that the challenge of change for teachers' work,
educational leadership and schools as workplaces is to be found.

145
The postmodern organization is often used as a label for a
collection of characteristics that are becoming more prevalent
in certain organizations in the latter half of the 20th century
and the initial years of the 21st. This broad movement from
modern to postmodern is impacting on many organizations. It
has made the ability to adapt and change ever more
important to an organization's perceived success and meant
that the ability to change effectively is ever more essential to
an organizations continuing life chances.

Aspects of postmodern organizations have been linked to

some of the diffuse intellectual notions that underlie the
postmodernist tradition and its relationship to the broad
assumptions of the modern era. Like many terms that are
used to describe broad movements in social, economic,
political and cultural life though, postmodernism is rather
vague and ill-defined. The collection of ideas that has come to
be labelled as postmodernism can be more correctly seen as a
partial description of the breakdowns and transformations in
the central structures and organizing principles of the modern
era.

In organizational theory archetypical 'modern' organizations

are those large bureaucratic organizations that adopt a
rationalist view of their operations. Such organizations are
usually configured with a hierarchical structure and emphasise
the job and the tasks rather than the people who fill them. In
this type of organization the job description is more important

146
than the individual who fills it and there is an assumption that
the organization has 'positions' to fill rather that a range of
members whose talents must be combined and maximised.

The rationalist paradigm of modernism has begun to be seen

as only partially suitable to the solution of many of the
deepest human problems. Disenchantment with the rationalist
paradigm has led to the postmodernist reaction where almost
everything is pre-paradigmatic (Bergquist, 1993. p.16). In the
organizational literature this is becoming ever more apparent.
Peters & Waterman's book in the early 1980s suggested that
something was known about the ways that organizations
achieve excellence; by the late 1980s it was admitted that
they had been too hasty in forming conclusions; many of their
‘excellent’ organizations of the early 1980s had become
troubled institutions by the end of the decade (see Peters,
1988).

Most organizational theorists conceive of organizations as

social systems which possess two essential attributes: a
reason for being such as a mission or purpose and a range of
constraints such as boundaries or limits. Bergquist (1993:
pp.65-66) notes that an important distinction between
traditional work organizations and postmodern organizational
identities lies with the differing emphasis on mission and
boundaries. In order to succeed traditional organizations have
tended to emphasise their boundary conditions while paying
less attention to their purposes or missions. Postmodern
organizations, on the other hand, need to have much clearer

147
missions because their boundaries and limits are fast
changing and can become extremely blurred.

This fundamental difference in purpose and boundary

conditions means that archetypical postmodern organizations
are more likely to be of small to moderate size and complexity
and have flexible structures and modes of inter-institutional
cooperation to meet their more turbulent organizational and
environmental conditions. They have to emphasise clarity of
mission partly to compensate for their increasingly diffuse
boundaries. It is a significant dilemma faced by these kinds of
organizations and the successful management of the state of
flux of their rapidly changing boundaries is a central
organizational concern. Jameson’s (1991) core argument is
that because postmodern organizations by definition possess
such boundary fluidity, organizational purpose is the essential
element in their continued existence.

Traditional organizations orchestrate a clear demarcation

between the inside and the outside of their institutions,
making the organization and its location virtually identical. In
the postmodernist view of organization, however, the location
of the organization and its boundaries is far less fixed in
physical and even in psychological terms. Such organizations
can change premises easily and frequently enabling them to
take advantage of differentials in ecological variables such as
asset values and changes in their market niches.

148
The activities and clients of postmodern organizations may
also be expected to change rapidly - in the educational sphere
this might involve rapid shifts in the age of students (moving
from teaching adults to school children for example) or their
first language backgrounds (eg changing from teaching
Vietnamese-speaking migrants to Australia with severe
learning difficulties to Japanese short term tourists who wish
to combine language learning with holiday activities).

It has been suggested that working in the these kinds of

organizations is like living on the edge, a kind of threshold or
flow experience that may present more exciting opportunities
and challenges for those who have learned to thrive on
change and can live with instability. For those whose
expectations, coping abilities and learning behaviours were
shaped through experiences in modernist organizations,
however, life in these organizations may be more likely to be
troubling and unsettling. Indeed, underlying many of the
tensions in international ELT colleges, and the anxieties of
their educational managers, are some of these differing
conceptions of how an organization is configured. Some
characteristics of the postmodern organization, such as their
uncertainty of operations and fast-changing work patterns, are
probably less alienating to those with an entrepreneurial
orientation.

The similarity between the research paradigms for education

and those of the human resource perspective on organizations
can mean that many educators hold one particular view of

149
organizations. It may be that the fact that most large
traditional educational organizations are still chiefly
configured on bureaucratic modernist assumptions, while
international ELT organizations are more likely to be
configured on postmodernist patterns, makes tensions and
'culture clashes' more likely.

At the institutional level these clashes can also be important in

areas such as career structures and pay scales. One of the key
aspects of the entrepreneurial world view is that jobs only
exist as part of the process of adding value to activities, and
once such activities do not add value the workers who
perform them should be dispensable. The tension between
this view and the ‘jobs for life’ of the modernist era has been
one of the key changes of the last two decades, and the rise
of temporary and part-time work is a key feature of it. At a
meeting of the Directors of Studies from ELT colleges around
Sydney the inability of structures developed for modern era
organizations to keep up with the changes was well
demonstrated. The teachers’ union representative who was
speaking insisted that ELT teachers should conform more to
the way that school teachers were employed. The notions of
casual, part-time, sessional and full-time built in to the union
negotiated award used schools and school teachers as a
model. It does not have, and probably never did have, much
relevance to the real employment situations of most ELT
educators in Sydney, but the fact that the business activities
of the ELT colleges had many points of difference to traditional

150
schools was seemingly unimportant. The union negotiator
said, “I’ve never understood why [ELT Colleges] you employ
so many casuals.” Explanations of the swings in student
enrolments and the difference in structures between small
entrepreneurial colleges and schools with annual government
funded budgets did not register. The differences were viewed
as deficiencies, not only by the union negotiator but also by
many of the ELT managers present.

Much of the international ELT industry thrives on temporary or

casual work. Gee, Hull and Lankshear (1996) comment on this
feature of capitalism in recent years:

In recent years temporary work has become more and more prevalent -
in fact such jobs are the fastest growing category of job in the new
capitalism. Temporary jobs provide workers with no job security and
few benefits like health insurance, but enable corporations to adjust
their labor overheads to the ebb and flow of the market (Parker 1994).
Indeed the largest employer in the United States is Manpower Inc. a
temporary-employment agency.

This notion that certain things in the world of work are good
and others bad though can be a limiting feature of educator
thought, at least from an entrepreneurial perspective. A closer
look at the above statement reveals an array of value
judgements that, at the very least, call for examination:

1. The rise of temporary work has been consciously created

by disembodied entities called 'corporations' rather than
in response to conventional supply and demand notions.

151
 2. The lack of job security is the overriding issue for
workers [compared to pay, time flexibility, quick start
(interview today/start tomorrow) and other aspects of
temporary and part-time work which for many workers
can be far more important than security.]

3. Adjusting labour overheads is a 'bad thing' that

corporations do (rather than a good thing in reducing
transaction costs and hence creating extra work in the
future).

4. On costs such as job security, health insurance and other

benefits are entitlements that are not contributing
factors to the rise of temporary work. (It is this lack of
understanding of transaction costs that has been partly
responsible for the demise of many traditional jobs with
increasing global competition and the removal of public
subsidies for private operations.)

ELT colleges that are privately owned have many points of

difference with traditional educational institutions and share
many features with those types of organizations that are
coming to be labelled as postmodern. Entrepreneurs are likely
to view the organization as one that offers temporary financial
opportunity whereas ELT educators with organizational
models based on those in other areas of education may view
this uncertainty as threatening. This is a prime contestation
between the two discourses.

152
7.3. Commodification of Education
Reid (1996) throughout his work argues that a discourse of
commodity production has pervaded the administrative
practices of educational institutions in Australia in recent
times. His analysis of the language that constitutes what he
sees as a value shift in the provision of higher education in
Australia includes a strong focus on the terms commodity and
production. The terms ‘commodity’ and ‘production’ can
appear in many contexts with positive or neutral connotations.
In Reid’s analysis, however, there are clearly shared values in
the use of such terminology, indicating that they are
extremely negative when applied to education. Commodities
are things and so are dehumanising when applied to human
interactions, and production is chiefly to do with material
goods and factories and has a linkage with ‘mass production’
that seems to counter notions of individualism that underpin
the service at the heart of education.

Reid uses this shared discoursal value system to develop

ideas put forward by Fairclough (1992: pp.6-7). He argues that
there has been a process of re-wording that changes learners
into consumers, courses into packages and an 'invasion' of
teaching and research by the vocabulary of advertising and
management. These new ways of talking about what
educational institutions do, and what educational
administrators need to strive for, leads to the
acceptance/inculcation of new attitudes. Reid lists a range of
terminological contrasts that are indicative of educator as

153
opposed to entrepreneurial values. The first word in each
partnership is the preferred terminology from an educational
perspective the second pejoratively assigned to the outside.
Thus ‘values’ versus ‘prices’, ‘leaders’ versus ‘managers’,
‘collegiality’ versus ‘corporatism’ and ‘education’ versus
‘training’ (Reid, 1996, p.iv).

Despite the criticism of managerial trends in higher education,

Reid does suggest that many familiar notions about what
educators feel education should be are nostalgic 'beat ups’ -
commentators constructing as normative what they think they
remember from the past. The very awareness that the
language of management and that of education are distinct,
however, confirms the reality of an educator discourse. At
bottom, Reid's analysis reveals a preference for public, rather
than private, funding of educational activities. This, when
viewed from an entrepreneurial perspective, can lead to the
domination of educational activities by producer interests
such as teachers, education academics and bureaucrats over
the more diffuse consumer interests.

As Harrison (1996, p.5) notes:

The exercise of public authority in an industry affects the

distribution of wealth between producers and consumers. In the
political battle for the use of public authority, producer groups
are favoured. Concentrated producer interests, often already
organized, will tend to dominate diffuse consumer interests….In
practice educational decisions are dominated by public
education producer interests, and consumer desires are
neglected. Change takes place only if producer interests do not
object too much and changes that benefit producer interests are
favoured.

154
Educators can acquire an admiration for a system that tends
to focus on political action rather than improved services as a
way to enhance producer benefits (Lieberman, 1993: p.273). It
retains appeal to many educators because it seemingly
enhances their own prestige. By reducing the emphasis on
client service, however, it may have long-term disadvantages
for organizational development and renewal.

7.4. Transaction Costs

One feature of postmodern organizations is the more global
and internationally inter-reliant nature of their business
transactions. Casson (1993, p.38) indicates that a good deal of
entrepreneurial effort in market economies is involved in
improving trading arrangements. This often involves reducing
transaction costs such as advertising, specifying
requirements, negotiating terms, transferring title, physical
exchange of goods or services, checking compliance and
sanctioning defaulters.

The issue of transaction costs is, however, another area of

contestation between the two discourses. From an
entrepreneurial perspective the reduction of transaction costs
is almost the prime area of managerial effectiveness.
Frequently though, from an educator perspective, such
reductions are seen as a serious threat to prestige or status.
For example, a staff meeting may be held to be an important
means of communication for little apparent cost. The real cost

155
of the meeting though, when one totals the salary of all
members of the meeting can be vast. A one-hour meeting of
twenty teachers who earn an average of $50 per hour gives a
cost of $1000 or around the price of a new computer. The
college could outfit two new computer labs every year if
weekly staff meetings were not held!

This results in a contestation over the nature of efficiency.

While ELT educators value efficiency, they see it in terms of
delivering sound educational experiences. Entrepreneurs on
the other hand view efficiency as maximising financial
benefits while minimising costs. For educators this can come
to be seen as a negative single-minded drive to cut costs at all
costs (Harrison, 1996: p.2). Educators, though, have a
tendency to allow hidden costs to develop, especially in the
soft areas of staff time allocated to non-revenue earning
activities. From an entrepreneurial perspective it is vital for
the financial success of private ELT colleges to be effective in
reducing these costs so as to minimise overall transaction
costs. The balance of reducing transactions costs while
maintaining educational quality is one of the most difficult for
the ELT manager to resolve.

7.5. Process vs People

Ironically Foucault’s fears of the productivity and efficiency of
instrumental-rational forms of organization, which Weber also
suggested were to be found in modern bureaucratic
organizations, now underpins much institutional educational

156
thought. Many educators place a high value on processes
rather than favoured individuals, and would agree with the
proposition that power and its distribution in modern societies
should not depend on the personal prestige or prowess of
individuals but rather should be exercised through an
impersonal administrative system that operates in accordance
with abstract rules. The mechanisms by which these abstract
rules are determined, though, is not brought up and their
possible unfairness is little examined (Sarup, 1988: p.77).

Determination of salary levels for teachers by qualifications

and years of experience, for example, does not stand up to
performance management best practice. The highly intangible
nature of teaching has led to a certain level of assumption
among teachers that the difficulties involved in assessing
performance means that no performance measurement can
take place. From the entrepreneurial perspective however,
some teachers are clearly of greater value to the organization
than others for an array of personal and professional reasons.

At present such clashes tend to be resolved at the minimalist

legal level. Few international ELT colleges in Australia have
successful strategies to reward staff financially for their
success or to implement pay regimes that differ from the
usual award scales and those that do typically simply pay less
than the required minimum award wage – hardly a strategy to
endear the entrepreneur to the educator! Over time however
it is possible that some ELT organizations in Australia may
look to develop different incentive strategies to attract and

157
keep certain kinds of ELT educators. There is little doubt that
many young dynamic teachers would be attracted to an
organization that had other financial incentives besides years
of service and qualifications acquired.

7.6. Commonalities
While there are a range of conflicting notions between the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator, it may
also be possible to find commonalities or areas of shared
values between the two. These commonalities are likely to be
fruitful avenues in the process of reconciliation of discoursal
tensions.

For different reasons both ELT educators and entrepreneurs

are familiar with, and tend to support the idea of, integration
and the notion that the whole is more than the sum of the
parts. ELT educators are used to ideas of humanism in
education, educating the whole person and not separating
affective and cognitive activities. ELT has a strong research
tradition of valuing authenticity in the language classroom and
valuing the contextualization of learning content.
Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are also likely to regard
holistic thinking as important, as a focus on the organization
as a dynamic whole is an important notion in entrepreneurial
thinking.

An emphasis on integration of all organizational activities,

from finance to marketing to education, therefore, should be a

158
core value that has appeal to entrepreneurs and educators.
Effective outcomes are more likely for ELT colleges that have
a culture of responsibility for overall success rather than of
being commissioned for one specific task. The sense of
belonging and participation that springs from a focus on
integration should assist both profitability and educational
quality, satisfying both entrepreneurial and educational
prerogatives.

Collaboration may be another factor that is capable of

appealing to, and sharing meanings across, the two
discourses. From an entrepreneurial point of view greater
collaboration has obvious appeal in the savings to costs of
duplicated effort and the greater likelihood of successful
financial outcomes if all staff are cooperating. Hargreaves
(1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures of collaboration in
education seeing collaboration as one of the most promising
devices for assisting in principles of action, planning, culture,
development, organization and research. Collaborative work
cultures provide moral support, strengthen the resolve of
organizational members and contribute to improvements in
efficiency through a reduction or elimination of duplication
and redundancy. Again ELT has a tradition of classroom
collaboration and group dynamics, reflected in such texts as
Classroom Dynamics (Hadfield, 1992). Hadfield notes that a
successful group dynamic is a vital element in the
learning/teaching process. She reflects upon her own
experience, shared by many in ELT, of two contrasting

159
classes. One, a group of affluent, well-educated Europeans in
a well-resourced and well-equipped ELT department in the UK
using an enjoyable and lively textbook; the other a group of
Tibetans in an unheated room without electricity in the middle
of a -20oC Tibetan winter using dog-eared, badly stencilled
copies of dry TOEFL preparation materials. The experience
with the European group was awful while that with the
Tibetans was one of the most successful and rewarding of her
ELT career. The contrast was due to the group dynamics and
greater sense among the group of collaboration (Hadfield,
1992, pp.9-10).

A third commonality may be a focus on the client. Notions of

student-centred learning in ELT have been important since
work on the development of communicative ELT course
programs began in the 1970s. In entrepreneurial thinking
focusing on client and customer care as a primary business
advantage has always been a fundamental idea in marketing
and general management.

Each of these three areas is discussed more fully in Chapter

13 The Culture of Work Organizations and Chapter 14 The
Culture of International ELT Colleges. For now the simple
model of these commonalities and clashes in Figure 7.1 may
aid the discussion of discoursal contestation and possible
resolution in the following chapter.

160
 Other
Stakehold
ers

Staff
Managem
ent

Focus on Focus on Focus on Ideal

Integration Collaboration Client Service Direction
Managem
ent
Staff Other
Stakehold
ers

Figure 7.1
ELT educator values and entrepreneurial values

161
7.7. Conclusion
This chapter examined some of the contestations between the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator. The
main contestations examined were the respective view of
organizations including the competing notions of modern and
postmodern organizational structure, the differing
perspectives on the commodification of education, the
divergent understanding of transaction costs, the varying
orientation towards people and processes within
organizations. As well as indicating some of the general
contestations between the two discourses this chapter has
briefly foreshadowed discussion of some areas of commonality
between the discourses that may provide some means of
functional resolution for an ELT manager.

The following chapter discusses some of the contestation of

the two discourses in particular institutions and some of the
practical implications of these contestations.

162
 Chapter 8

THE DISCOURSES OF THE EDUCATOR AND THE

ENTREPRENEUR: INSTITUTIONALISATION

8.1. Introduction
This chapter briefly describes the institutionalisation of the
discourses of the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in
international ELT colleges, and discusses their manifestations
as ideological-discursive formations. It furthers the discussion
of the previous three chapters through an examination of
some of the actual conflicts of the discourses and their values
at particular institutions.

This chapter argues that the IDFs of both the entrepreneur

and the ELT educator are institutionalised in international ELT
colleges. Each IDF is clearly dominant in particular zones of
activity so that areas of college life, such as curriculum and
timetabling, tend to favour the ELT educator view of
operations, those of finance and marketing those of the
entrepreneur. There are also a number of clearly contested
zones. Three specific areas of contestations at the institutional
level are discussed in the following sections. Each of these
institutional contestations is linked to one of the three areas of
integration, collaboration and client service discussed in the
management model in Chapter 7 above. The contestations
reviewed here are:

163
 1. Course selection and development (integration)

2. The management of staff and the allocation of

resources (collaboration)

3. The recruitment and placement of students and

the certification of student achievement (client
service)

The value of the model in assisting in the resolution of

discoursal tensions is then briefly examined. This chapter is
illustrative and further discussion of institutional contestations
occurs in the examination of the four climate dimensions of
ELT organizations in subsequent chapters of the study.

8.2. Institutions and IDFs

Reconciliation between entrepreneurial and educational
imperatives needs to be found by managers at international
ELT colleges if they are to thrive. Yet despite this need, the
many areas of antagonism between an entrepreneurial and an
educational view of the world manifest themselves as
contestations at the institutional level. Before discussing these
contestations in detail, however, a brief overview of the nature
and construction of ideological-discursive formations is
required.

International ELT colleges, like all such social institutions,

involve significant groups of subjects who differ in their
ideologies. It was noted in Chapter 5 Discourse and Discourse
Analysis that typically one group holds dominant power in an

164
organization and that the way that it represents reality, its
ideological-discursive formation (IDF), becomes dominant.
This IDF then becomes naturalised, and the premises and
practices of the dominant IDF are taken to be the natural ways
of acting, talking and thinking. New members become
inculcated into the IDF of their situation and act to reflect and
reproduce that IDF through their discourse and their practices.

At the institutional level of international ELT colleges the

notion of a single dominant IDF is not completely accurate.
Neither the discourse of the entrepreneur nor of the ELT
educator completely prevails. ELT managers interviewed in
this study regard the situation within their own institutions
more in terms of zones. In certain areas and activities of the
college, entrepreneurial values hold sway. In other areas, the
values of the ELT educator are to the fore. To the extent that
owners and financial controllers lean more to the values of the
discourse of the entrepreneur, the corresponding IDF had
more influence and power over the institution than those of
the ELT educator in contested areas. However to the extent
that the core revenue earning service of the college is ELT, its
corresponding IDF retains influence.

When conflict occurs between competing discourses,

language can be used by a dominant group to suppress
articulations of conflict that are against their interests and to
frame ideological struggle. Where struggle is framed in the
‘talk’ of the dominators, it is difficult for the weak to regain the
momentum. ELT managers with a sense of powerlessness

165
come to believe in the ‘right’ of an ‘employer’ to overrule an
‘employee’. Thus:

Ultimately if owners don’t like you they can always find a reason
to get rid of you. They don’t even have to say it…you’re always
aware that your job depends on them.
Angela, Director of Studies, College B, 1996
And

You have to adopt their point of view to a large extent because

that is what you’re paid to do. Sometimes I’ve got to persuade
them that what they want might ultimately damage the college
but there are a lot of grey areas.
Peter, Director of Studies, College C, 1996

In response, the expression of ELT discoursal values falls back

on the power of the regulator. Thus:

They’ll [the owners] only listen to things we have to do for the

inspectors.
Elliot, Senior Teacher, College C, 1996

All ELT managers interviewed accepted the profit rationale of

their colleges and that ultimately it is the bottom line that
counts. Their vacillation as to the extent of their responsibility
for creating and maintaining this profit though, suggests that
the resolution of entrepreneurial and educator values is
elusive.

8.3. Course Selection and Development

The selection and development of particular courses is an
important area of overlap between IDF zones. Owners,
marketing staff, and others in contact with educational agents

166
and frontline trends affecting the organization, may often
discover opportunities for the college. The ELT management
however, may also see the potential difficulties and pitfalls of
branching into new course areas that require additional
resources and expertise beyond the capacity of the institution.

For example at College B, after several marketing trips to

South Korea the Managing Director was firmly of the belief
that an English for High Schools course would attract students
and quickly realise a substantial profit for the college. The
Director of Studies of English was aware of this enthusiasm,
but tried to dissuade the Managing Director because of the
difficulties of hiring high school trained teachers, having to
acquire large numbers of suitable texts, and the problems of
attracting older students to a corporate look college that
would have ‘youngsters’ bouncing basketballs in the corridors.
The Managing Director looked ahead and saw the possible
benefits, the ELT manager the costs. Ultimately the course did
take place and realise a small profit although the difficulties
foreseen by the ELT manager did all occur.

An understanding of what occurs in the classroom, and the

exact nature of student satisfaction while learning English,
frequently mystify marketing managers, entrepreneurs,
owners and other non-ELT managers working in colleges that
do not place any emphasis on integration. In only one of the
colleges examined here had the financial owners of the
college any background in English language teaching. For
most, actual operations of their core service were a slightly

167
mysterious activity about which they understood very little. As
a consequence, ELT managers usually experience little
interference in areas such as curriculum, choice of materials,
professional qualifications of staff and other ‘educational’
features of life at the college.

This ignorance of the nature of the activity however, has

advantages and disadvantages. Often the limited
understanding leads to inappropriate decisions on the part of
owners. At College C, for example, students who had the same
native language as the owner of the college had their
complaints heard more readily than other language groups.
Because they tended to be younger and more likely to be
progressing to further study in Australia, the owner did not
realise that some of the complaints, when acted upon, would
alienate students from other countries at the college. The
owner recommended getting rid of excursions from the
college timetable, but the effect of this was to lead to a
transfer of older (and higher yielding) working holiday
students from the college. This led to a greater concentration
of students of one nationality there, and ultimately an
increase in the problem of attracting students, because the
college had come to be seen as dominated by a single student
nationality group.

Course selection and development is closely concerned with

price and return on investment. From an entrepreneurial
perspective courses have to be evaluated with regard to their
profit making potential. ELT managers, on the other hand,

168
may look to the ‘prestige’ benefits of certain courses, without
true regard to their costs, and ignore less prestigious ones.
The Director of Studies at College D, for example, argued
against offering courses to beginner and elementary level
students, as these were not ‘academic’ courses. Without such
courses though, it became very difficult to achieve sufficient
numbers of students to run a profitable language centre.

There is a tendency among more academically inclined ELT

managers to view students’ primary reason for studying
English as being in order to do other courses, rather than as a
stand-alone life skill or interest. For many of the students in
international ELT colleges in Australia however, English and
social activities are their primary motivation to be in Australia.
Even much of the vocational education sector in private
colleges is, in effect, running English language content
courses for students whose main interest is to improve their
linguistic, rather than their vocational or academic, skills.
Similarly, popular courses, such as holiday courses that
combine English language learning with sports or social
activities, are frequently derided by ELT professionals, despite
their obvious attraction to students and their profitability to
the college.

Integration was identified in the previous chapter as being a

significant managerial tool for resolving clashes of values that
are likely to impact upon organizational performance in ELT. A
management emphasis on linking teaching, administration
and marketing so that they reinforce each other should lessen

169
the possibilities of poor decisions being made with regard to
course selection and development. Such integration needs to
be kept in-awareness and continuously reinforced at all levels
to prevent a drift to balkanisation. Integration is an ongoing
process, not a one-off event. Effective integration is time
consuming and involves a lot of reflection as well as a great
deal of listening and communication.

Integration of aims and activities should be an important goal

in international ELT colleges. The attempt to retain control
over familiar areas of the organizational landscape and to pay
insufficient attention to areas that are unknown is a trap for
unwary managers. An emphasis on integration by ELT
managers can allow decisions on course selection and
development to be taken with consideration of effects for all
areas of the college. Considerations of opportunity cost, or
what the college loses by not offering the course, as well as
the impact of new course offerings on existing courses, should
be taken into account. Some recognition needs to be made
that values inculcated within the discourse of the
entrepreneur look towards the possible opportunities and
minimise the potential pitfalls, while those within the
discourse of the educator may more accurately perceive the
drawbacks in new offerings.

Responsible ELT managers also have to examine courses

impartially. Premium courses that carry prestige have to be
carefully considered from a financial as well as an educational
view. Less prestigious courses and opportunities have to be

170
considered in order for the college to maximise its financial
viability. Effective communication of the benefits and costs,
the advantages and disadvantages of courses and course
structure must be transmitted across marketing,
administration and education areas. Decisions need to be
made with a sound regard to all three zones.

8.4. The Management of Staff and the Allocation of

Resources
Integration is focused primarily on work activities and tasks
across the organization. An important cultural concept that
may assist in the development of integration is an emphasis
on collaboration. The creation of the sense that all in the
organization are collaborators pulling together for a common
purpose is linked to, and grows from, an integrated approach
to organizational activities. Collaboration focuses on the
people within the organization and their spirit of cooperation
and common purpose.

The recruitment of teachers is frequently an area of

contestation within international ELT colleges, and
management difficulties occur because of competition for
‘scarce’ positions arising from poor recruitment strategies.
Because of the structure of payment awards, it is vital for cost
control to have as many teachers as possible on the lowest
salary ‘steps’ from an entrepreneurial perspective. This means
that young, inexperienced teachers are desirable from a profit
maximisation point of view. Because salaries rise quite rapidly

171
with years of service, there is also an entrepreneurial
imperative to increase staff turnover. In order to facilitate staff
turnover, it is important to have as many teachers as possible
on casual or temporary contracts rather than in permanent
full-time positions.

Each of these points is difficult to support for an ELT educator.

The presuppositions of most educators would be that:
experience is a vital factor in good teaching, that rapid
turnover is bad for an educational institution and for students,
and that job security increases the work performance of
teachers, both in the classroom and in the creation of
educational resources for the college. Once again resolution of
the entrepreneurial and the educational is needed.

Lynn (1996; p 86) points out this potential contradiction of ELT

management. ELT managers often have to confront situations
which sit uneasily with the warm relaxed atmosphere of the
ELT classroom, one of which is the conflict between caring for
staff needs and desires while also facing business realities.
This conflict is shown in some ELT manager responses to the
Asian crisis of 1997 and 1998:

Suddenly I was asked to choose to fire about a quarter of the

staff. Even though legally they were on casual pay there’s still a
kind of expectation that work is going to continue. The owners
just seemed to be completely ruthless about it.
Anna, Director of Studies, College D, 1999

The hardest part of the job is when you have to get rid of good
teachers because student numbers are down. Even though

172
 teachers are on casual contracts there is still a kind of feeling
that you are responsible to keep them employed. I hate it!
Sam, Director of Studies, College A, 1999

Ongoing professional development of staff is also difficult in a

high turnover environment where little trust is usually
developed between organization and teachers. Financial
realities can also cause bad publicity for a college especially
when hard-working or particularly loyal staff lose their
positions. Danni, for example, returned to College B after an
overseas trip but found that there was no position available
for her, despite several years of committed work for the
college, and a ‘word of mouth’ promise that a position would
be available. The Managing Director was going to Spain on a
student recruitment mission at about the same time and
bringing his wife along as a ‘consultant’; whatever the real
merits of the situation were, Danni became a persistent critic
of the college in her subsequent position at another college.

Obviously staff recruitment and management issues pose

special problems in the development of a collaborative work
culture. ELT managers who can maximise collaboration are
likely to be among the most successful. Perhaps the most
critical skill in this area is to be able to hire appropriately.
Colleges need to carefully analyse each teacher and staff
member’s individual situation before employment is offered
and be wary of making commitments that may not be able to
be honoured.

173
ELT managers need to have a range of teachers with varying
time frames of employment expectation. ELT managers at
each of the four colleges stressed that at interviews they were
most interested in professional skills of the applicant and
rarely probed expectations of employment. This is likely to
lead to a greater number of staff wanting full-time
employment than can be reasonably offered. Alternatives
such as hiring teachers from the UK or Ireland on working
holiday visas, for example, who are only allowed to work for
three months with one employer, are often not considered.
Several ELT managers interviewed saw this time restriction as
a serious disadvantage and would not offer positions to such
candidates. The experience at College E, however, was that
they were often extremely energising for longer term staff,
thankful for the opportunity for a short-term professional
position abroad and were grateful for a ‘short-term’ security
that was as valuable for them as full-time employment would
be in other cases. From the entrepreneurial point of view such
teachers provided a buffer in case student numbers declined.

Offering development opportunities to teaching staff with an

expectation that employment with the college is a phase,
rather than an ongoing certainty can also improve a sense of
collaboration without a continuing obligation of employment.
A recognition by ELT managers that ‘none of us is here
forever’ and a focus on making staff more employable for their
‘next’ position can also assist in developing a collaborative
culture and prevent a climate of fear and uncertainty

174
developing. Nevertheless, staffing issues are a particularly
difficult area of ELT management and a range of contesting
values in personnel management have to be resolved if the
college is to succeed.

Resource allocation is another common area of dispute in

many international ELT colleges. At College A, for example,
the Director of Studies strongly argued for the acquisition of
new learning materials such as graded readers for the college
library. The college owners, however, decided to use available
funds to convert one room at the college into a gym.
Feedback from students and agents about the new gym
facility was extremely encouraging. For the DoS however, it
seemed a symbol of the dominance of the entrepreneurial as
compared to the educational value system at her college. In
her view, despite positive feedback from important
stakeholders, it was a decision that disempowered teaching
staff and their commitment to educational quality. The large
numbers of students who came to use the gym and informed
the DOS about the enjoyment that they found there and how
much it added to the college did present some challenge to
the DOS. Interestingly one of the chief reasons that the
English students expressed enjoyment at the gym was that it
was a place in the college where they could ‘hang around’ and
meet other students and talk, whereas the more educational
facilities such as the computer rooms and library were ‘silent
places’ where speaking and practising oral English were not
really encouraged.

175
ELT managers see the allocation of resources within their
colleges as a significant and frequent point of contention with
other managers and owners. In general marketing activities
seem to attract a large share of discretionary expenditure. At
College D, for example, funds for coursebooks and other
teaching materials were difficult to obtain beyond those
mandated for the initial inspection and accreditation of the
college.

Spreading awareness of financial constraints and encouraging

collaborative solutions to them, however, can actually lead to
better outcomes. For example, in most international ELT
colleges students undertake social activities as part of their
studies. One popular activity in the Sydney area is class
picnics or BBQs. It would seem that if the college pays for all
the food and provides all the catering then the students will be
grateful and the event will be a success. Often however, in
these circumstances a customer/provider relationship is set
up, so that if the food is not suitable, is too hot or too cold,
then there is cause for complaint despite its ‘free’ provision.
At College B, for example, a group of students was taken
horse riding to the Blue Mountains area near Sydney and
lunch was included. The lunch, a typical Australian country
fare of sausages, salad and bread was not suited for many of
the East Asian students who felt 'cheated’ even though it had
been provided as an extra.

On the other hand where the college pays little or no amount

for the picnic students can tend to take ownership of the

176
event. As a result of ELT manager reports of these and similar
experiences, at College E the students were responsible for
financing and menu selection at some of the college’s events.
These activities were always very successful and international
lunches, for example, where students all brought food from
their country and shared the food in picnic settings were
features of college life. Because the students had ownership of
the events and because they were forced to contribute they
got far more out of their participation and the events
themselves were more rewarding for all concerned.

This type of financial constraint can often bring valuable

pedagogic outcomes as well. Thus in the above example,
because the students have all prepared and brought food
from home there is a 'real' communication gap that allows
students of different nationalities to try each others foods and
explain how various items are made and when they are
typically eaten. Unlike the simulated language gaps of English
classes this allows authentic communication in a real
environment. As a teacher it is easy to see that far more is
learned on occasions such as these than in passive classroom
environments.

Chapter 14 The Culture of International ELT Colleges notes

that collaboration involves risk on the part of the ELT
manager. Open communication in times of uncertainty such
as downturns in student numbers leaves ELT managers
emotionally exposed. The more that ELT managers work to
have staff collaborating, though, the more likely it is that staff

177
will understand the reasons behind hard decisions and will
assist in their implementation. Like integration strategies,
collaboration is a very time-consuming area of management.
Learning how to get staff to work together, to share lessons
and ideas, to respect difference and enjoy their diversity are
significant management skills. Fortunately they are ones that
ELT managers who have been successful teachers should
already have some aptitude for.

8.5. The Recruitment, Placement and Certification of

Students
Collaboration is an important goal for inter-staff relations.
Collaborative work cultures in ELT colleges are likely to
encourage the third area of advantage for ELT colleges from
the model in Chapter 7 - the development and promotion of a
client service ethic – ensuring the college is highly responsive
to and caring of its clients.

Contestations about the exact nature of client service are a

feature of ELT colleges and strategies of student recruitment
and placement reflect this. It is in the interests of the ELT
professionals in a college to have students who have the
greatest chance of learning success, who are keen and
committed learners, who are financially secure, who have no
intention of breaking any laws or violating visa conditions and
who plan to come to all classes. From an entrepreneurial point
of view however, all course fees are equal and in many cases
‘bad’ students can actually be a much higher yielding financial

178
‘resource’ because of their need to repeat courses, to stay a
longer time in the college before attaining required
certification and, in the case of students who are frequently
absent, make minimal use of services to which they are
entitled.

At College D, for example, the DOS was under significant

pressure to enrol students to attain a sufficient number of
students to make the college financially viable. Clashes arose
over students who were too weak for particular courses such
as IELTS preparation classes and Academic English classes.
With the enrolment of such ‘undesirable’ students
entrepreneurial imperatives were temporarily satisfied but
longer-term problems were created.

Such clashes can lead ELT managers to feel that they have
little control over the acquisition of students.

You kind of drift along with the ocean currents. You know… DIMA
changed the laws for China today – let’s get more Chinese. Oh
the Japanese economy’s in recession less Japanese next month.
Riots in Jakarta mean a heap more Indonesians coming even
though none of them really want to study. You simply can’t
control or plan anything. I just leave it to the Director to worry
about that kind of stuff. I just deal with the students once they
arrive…
Angela, Director of Studies, College B, 1999
and

I used to think there was a science behind it but its all just
gossip and hearsay. Max (a Thai agent) speaks to the owners for
10 minutes and suddenly next week 30 Thais turn up at the
college. You can’t make any real decisions.
Peter, Director of Studies, College C, 1999

179
A feeling of powerlessness in the above comments and others
like them suggests entrepreneurial values frequently override
educator ones in international ELT colleges. In such cases ELT
managers become reactive, become implementers of
decisions rather than partners in them. It remains unclear to
what extent this is self imposed – a kind of avoidance strategy
of being responsible for the consequences of the hard
decisions, by simply blaming them on those ‘above’.

Class size is another frequent area of contestation. At its

crudest level there would appear to be a tension between a
small number of large classes which increases profitability and
decreases student satisfaction and a large number of small
classes which has the reverse effect. The relationship is not
exactly linear though:

One of the most surprising things was how little we were

affected by the Asian crisis. At the time we reduced the number
of teachers but we kept on getting enrolments. This meant that
most of our classes were full to overflowing. Far from making the
students discontinue most of them re-enrolled – it was almost as
if they liked the crowding.
Brian, Senior Teacher, College C, 1999

This was also the case at College E where, despite frequent

overcrowding, enrolments were barely affected during this
time. At College E, which would have had one of the largest
class sizes in Sydney, the re-enrolment rate was superior to all
other colleges investigated. Both College A and College B
which had limited class sizes and promoted this as a feature of
their colleges subsequently had to introduce price incentives

180
for re-enrolment; indicating that small class sizes are by no
means a critical factor in student choice of international ELT
college.

Perhaps the social motivations for students learning English in

Australia – the need to meet friends and have a wide range of
social contacts – are at least as important to many students as
their gains in English language proficiency. Students may
judge their short-term gains in friends and social life as more
significant than the long-term outcome of their improving
English. Also because students are living in an English
speaking country, their English proficiency is increasing ‘by
default’ however effective or ineffective their formal tuition. It
is up to ELT management to understand their clients’ needs
and wants well enough to make appropriate decisions in this
area.

The tension in all international ELT colleges about appropriate

class size also relates to the physical size of students in
classrooms:

It didn’t matter when we had 18 or 20 young East Asian students

in one class but I’ve got a class now that has 12 guys from East
Europe in it as well as six Japanese and Koreans. The great big
sweaty boys from Slovakia and Poland fill the room and then
some – it really makes the class seem overcrowded.
Kate, Teacher, College E, 1998

Certification of student achievement is another area of

contestation. Clashes in this area go to the heart of the
differing values of the entrepreneur and the educator. What to
the entrepreneur can be only a grade on a piece of paper can

181
to the educator appear to be fraud bordering on criminal
behaviour. A growing trend for internal certification at
international ELT colleges that allow progression to further
education in vocational and university courses has increased
contestation in this area. Visa requirements for full-time
students mean that those whose attendance falls below 80%
have to be reported to the DIMA. In such cases it is usual to
cancel the student’s visa. Colleges with high absentee rates
may also become somewhat suspect in official eyes. Skilful
resolution in this area is a primary concern of effective ELT
managers.

All ELT managers in this study indicated that pressure from

students, agents and other managers in the college with
regard to the issuance of student documentation about
attendance and achievement were a significant area of
pressure in their jobs. Client service should never extend to
manipulation of exit documents, but industry gossip would
suggest that such practices occur at a number of colleges.
Advance warning and effective counselling systems would
seem to be the solution in this area. Many students with the
cheerful abandon of the teenager do not realise the
consequences of skipping class until it is too late. Appropriate
warnings before the damage is done are frequently sufficient
to prevent problems occurring.

182
8.6. Conclusion
This chapter has shown that the IDFs of the entrepreneur and
the ELT educator are both institutionalised in international ELT
colleges. Commonly each IDF dominates in particular zones.
This chapter argues, however, that there are a number of
contested zones within the institutions. Some of these are
course selection and development, the management of staff
and the allocation of resources, the recruitment and
placement of students and the certification of student
achievement.

Tensions between the IDFs are apparent in these aspects of

ELT college life. Managers in ELT organizations have to find
resolutions to these value clashes in order for their ELT
organizations to satisfy both their entrepreneurial and their
educational responsibilities. This means that the discourses of
the ELT educator and of the entrepreneur coexist in
international ELT colleges. There is a tendency for those in
administrative and managerial functions of the college to
identify more with the discourse of the entrepreneur and for
those involved on the teaching side of operations to identify
more with the values of the discourse of the ELT educator.
This leads to activities becoming compartmentalised. The
crucial dilemma for ELT managers lies in finding optimal
resolutions to these value clashes. The model of integration,
collaboration and client service has been tentatively
suggested as one possible approach to a resolution of such
discoursal value clashes.

183
This chapter has only initiated the discussion of the
contestations that occur in the institutionalisation of
entrepreneurial and ELT educator discourses. The
contestations are spread over the range of organizational
dimensions. These contestations are played out in the
evolution of each organization’s structure, milieu, ecology and
culture. The following chapters provide brief theoretical
backgrounds to each of these climatic dimensions before
demonstrating the range of management dilemmas faced by
ELT managers in designing solutions. It is to the organizational
climate dimension of structure of international ELT colleges
that this discussion now turns.

184
 Chapter 9

THE STRUCTURE OF WORK ORGANIZATIONS

9.1. Introduction
The previous four chapters have analysed the discourses of
the entrepreneur and the ELT educator and discussed some of
the contestations that exist within international ELT colleges.
This chapter examines the structure of work organizations and
its relationship to international ELT colleges from a theoretical
perspective, before comment in the next chapter on
organizational structure issues at international ELT colleges in
Australia.

This chapter defines the concept of organizational structure

and power distribution for the purposes of this analysis. It then
provides some theoretical background to the types of
structures that appear in educational organizations and in
international ELT colleges. It analyses these structures and
their suitability for promoting integration of management
activities, a strongly collaborative work culture and a clear
focus on client service. It explores the relationship between
organizational structure and other elements of the
organization’s climate and argues that informal structures
influenced by an organization’s culture, ecology and milieu
can be as significant as formal structures in the understanding

185
of organizational behaviour and in the analysis of educational
and entrepreneurial outcomes.

9.2. Organizational Structure

The study of organizational structure and configuration is a
broad field. The interest in the field stems primarily from the
belief that particular organizational structures are more
suitable than others for improving organizational outcomes.
Frequently formal roles within organizational structures are
depicted on organizational charts or organigrams. Formal
structures such as departments, teams and divisions and their
hierarchical arrangement are obviously of concern to
managers, but informal structures, such as friendship groups,
people working in close proximity, project teams and even
smokers outside the door of the building also contribute in
important ways to the overall system. Both informal and
formal groupings are powerful in shaping organizational
behaviour. An examination of an organization’s structure,
therefore, has to investigate the formal and informal roles and
relationships between members of an organization and how
these affect task allocation, coordination of activities,
supervision and performance.

After an analysis of the literature in the field, Mintzberg (1981,

p.104 and 1983) found that, despite the vast array of research
into organizational structure, there is a convergence in the
descriptions leading to five clear and distinct organizational
configurations. These five configurations are based on varying

186
assemblies of the component parts of all organizations. These
parts are the strategic apex, the operating core, the middle
line of managers, the technostructure and the support staff.

The strategic apex is the top management of an organization

– owners and executive managers. In international ELT
colleges the strategic apex usually involves the owners, the
Financial Controller and the Principal. The operating core
consists of the people who do the basic work of the
organization. In international ELT colleges the operating core
are generally the teachers and the reception and marketing
staff. The middle line is made up of managers, who are
intermediate between the strategic apex and the operating
core. These would include the Assistant Directors of Studies
and Senior Teachers as well as the Marketing Manager, the
Chief Bursar and the Registrar.

The technostructure and the support staff provide services to

the staff of the organization. The technostructure consists of
personnel who design systems concerned with the planning
and controlling of work. In many international ELT colleges the
primary role of the ELT Director of Studies lies in this area, a
further indication of the ambivalent nature of ELT
management at this level. The support staff, on the other
hand, provide services to the rest of the organization such as
copy assistants, computer network engineers, cleaners,
cafeteria employees and similar staff.

187
Using these categories Mintzberg derives five different kinds
of fundamental organizational configurations. These are: the
simple structure found in very small organizations such as
corner shops, the machine bureaucracy that would be
commonly found in manufacturing organizations, the
professional bureaucracy found in organizations that need
highly trained professionals in their operating cores, the
divisionalized form which tends to exist in organizations with a
number of parallel operating units with autonomy for the
middle line managers of each and, finally, the adhocracy
configuration, in which staff have to combine their efforts and
be coordinated primarily by mutual adjustment and where line
authority and similar distinctions tend to break down
(Mintzberg, 1981; p104).

International ELT colleges, because of their need for the

services of ELT professionals, tend to conform most closely to
Mintzberg’s professional bureaucracy configuration or to the
divisionalized form. The distinction largely depends on the
degree of autonomy of the ELT manager and whether their
primary responsibility is for overall performance, such as
revenue and profitability, or solely on execution of operational
tasks largely within the sphere of the educational activities of
the college.

While the adhocratic structure is difficult for management to

implement and maintain at the formal level, it may be the
most suitable to reinforce goals of integration, collaboration
and client focus for international ELT colleges. The following

188
chapter shows, however, that it also requires a degree of
commitment that makes it quite vulnerable to changes in
management.

There are a number of elements of structure in Mintzberg’s

(1981, p.104) descriptive framework that are relevant in the
description and differentiation of international ELT college
structures. One of the most significant is the degree of
formalization of procedures such as written job descriptions
and procedure manuals and the extent of compliance with
them. Procedures that are codified and standardized are often
referred to as bureaucratic while those that do not fit this
description are organic.

Another element is the nature and extent of control systems

in the organization combined with the sorts of communication
and liaison devices used to facilitate adjustments between
and within organizational units. The more centralized the
decision making the greater the likelihood that decisions are
made by managers in the traditional line management model.
In general, centralised structures tend to reinforce past
behaviours and favour bureaucratic procedures. More
decentralised structures may facilitate the assimilation of new
patterns and associations by encouraging experiments on the
edges of the organization (Nicolini & Meznar, 1995, p.731) but
may also experience problems with accountability and record
keeping.

189
The third significant element is the ability of the structure to
focus on, and respond to, the external environment most
especially changing market conditions and the organization’s
clients.

9.3. Power distribution

The control system reflects the delegation and dispersal of
power in and around the organization and is a significant
indicator of an organization’s structure. Handy has identified
four main configurations of power distributions within
organizations based on the way tasks and work roles are
assigned. These four configurations are: power, role, task and
person (see Handy, 1993 for a complete discussion of these
configurations).

Power, however, is not a unitary concept. Four principal ways

that power may be obtained and observed are resource
power, position power, expert power and personal power.
Resource power is the power obtained by control of resources
such as money, guns, information, or brute physical strength.
Position power is the power that comes from occupying a
position or a formal role in an institution or society. Expert
power is the power obtained and exercised by possessing
knowledge, expertise or wisdom while personal power is the
power that can be obtained and exercised through charisma
or strength of personality (for a more complete discussion in
this area see Aitken & Handy, 1986).

190
In most organizations resource power and position power are
given from above or outside. The response to the exercise of
these kinds of power is compliance - those in power may need
to check that their ‘orders’ have been ‘carried out’. Expert
power and personal power, on the other hand, are given from
underneath, from the people over whom that power may be
exercised. The response to this type of power is identification,
which obviates the need for checking or the exercise of formal
authority.

The power configuration can be visualised as a web with rays

of power and influence spreading out from a central powerful
source. It is the kind of power distribution system that would
be expected to be found in entrepreneurial organizations that
depend on a central power source such as an owner or a
strong charismatic leader with strongly centralised decision-
making. Bureaucratic procedures become important in such a
configuration because most decisions rest with one, or a small
number of, powerful individuals. It largely depends on the
resource power of the source. A diagrammatic description of a
power structure is given in Figure 9.1.

191
 Figure 9.1. The Power Configuration

The power configuration is favoured by many with an

entrepreneurial outlook. At its best it is a benevolent
dictatorship with an efficient allocation of resources, providing
the central powerful clique has a sound understanding of the
organization’s operations. At its worst a power configuration
can be an egotistical dictatorship with resources allocated
inefficiently because the central core has a poor
understanding or organizational requirements.

Handy’s second type of power distribution, the role

configuration, is synonymous with bureaucracy. It can be
depicted as a Greek temple with the pillars representing the
various functions or specialties of the organization that are
coordinated by a top band of senior management. In this
structure the role or job description is seen as more important
than the individual who fills it. It is the dominant paradigm in
many people's thinking about organizations and Waterman,
(1994) describes our society’s thinking on organizational
issues as still being "entombed in the pyramid". In many
larger organizations the pyramid defines who you are and

192
determines how much you get paid. There is frequently a
direct correlation between how many bodies sit 'below' you on
the pyramid and the amount of your pay cheque. This
configuration largely depends upon position power although
positions in the hierarchy can be determined by expert and
person power. The role configuration is illustrated in Figure
9.2.

Figure 9.2. The Role Configuration

The role configuration at its best provides predictability,

fairness, sound long term decision-making and high levels of
accountability and legal compliance. Because of the time lags
and distractions of bureaucracy however, organizational
purposes can be distracted by procedural issues and few
individuals feel responsibility for the overall health of the
organization.

The task configuration is more oriented towards the job or

project at hand than towards a formal hierarchy. It is usually
symbolised as a net or matrix. The whole emphasis in such a
structure is on getting the job done by bringing together the

193
appropriate people and resources and basing influence on
expert and personal power rather than on position or resource
power. The growing use of consultants and contract workers in
many Australian organizations reflects an increasing
preference for this type of organizational structure. The task
configuration is illustrated in Figure 9.3.

Figure 9.3. The Task Configuration

The task configuration is most likely to encourage and

strengthen a collaborative work culture in an organization.
When teams work cooperatively and communication between
task groups is good resource allocation is appropriate,
talented people are encouraged to develop, teams can learn
from mistakes and organizational members are more
motivated because there is little perceived coercion. However
if task groups conflict, resources can be allocated inefficiently
because of poor communication. The lack of dissent in task
groups can easily lead to groupthink and talented individuals
who lack appropriate teamwork abilities can be frustrated.
There can also be a lack of ultimate management
responsibility and accountability.

194
The person configuration is not found in many organizations
as it essentially subverts the organization’s needs to those of
the individual members. Control and management in person
structures is difficult, except by mutual consent, and the
organization is therefore subordinate to the individual. It is a
frequently expressed desire of many professionals to work in
organizations with person-oriented power distribution systems
and it has been argued that barristers' chambers and some
universities can be identified by this type of configuration. A
person structure can be represented iconically as a cluster or
galaxy of individual stars.

Figure 9.4. The Person Configuration

In an effective person configuration each member of the

organization would be likely to be highly motivated because
there was no coercion. Pride would be easy to create as
members would be doing exactly what they wanted with
resources provided by the organization and the organization
would be very innovative because members would be free to
experiment. On the other hand it is likely that such
organizations would quickly become balkanised with everyone

195
doing their own thing. There would be an overlap of activities
and functions due to a lack of coordination and the lack of a
common purpose would over time harm pride in the
organization. Without sufficient group encouragement the
organization would also tend to become inward looking and
conservative.

Handy contends that each of these configurations may be

appropriate and effective in particular circumstances, and it is
the suitability of the fit of the power distribution system to its
purposes, environment and stakeholder needs that is
significant rather than the classification of particular kinds of
power distribution as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

The combination of Mintzberg’s and Handy’s models have a

number of implications for the following sections on the
structure of educational organizations. These are that the
structure of the organization influences the patterns of work
within it, that the structure of the organization is closely
related to the control system and formal procedures within it,
that both the formal and informal structure of the organization
are significant and that there is an interplay between the
organization’s structure and its ability to focus on clients and
the market. In general, organizations that lean towards power
and role configurations favour centralised or hierarchical
decision-making processes, whereas those that exhibit task
and person configurations tend to favour more collaborative
decision-making. It is likely that power and task configurations
would have more rapid response times to clients and markets

196
due to their more effective liaison and communication
mechanisms while the role configuration is likely to provide
greater stability and accountability.

9.4. Describing Organizational Structures

Educational organizations vary across a number of structural
variables. These are the formalization of procedures, the
nature and extent of control systems including the delegation
and dispersal of power in the organization, their
communication and liaison devices and their ability to respond
to changing markets and client needs. Strong control systems
lead to formalization of procedures in all but the smallest
organizations. Both strongly controlled, centralised
organizations and collaborative decentralised ones however
can have a strong or weak external focus on the markets and
clients they serve. This leads to a simple matrix that can assist
in the description of organizational structures in education
generally and in international ELT colleges. The horizontal axis
indicates the extent of centralized management control and
the amount of formal procedures, while the vertical axis
indicates the level of external focus. Each quadrant is labelled
according to the most significant feature of power dispersal
that the organization’s structure would display with that
matrix combination.

197
 Management Control and Formal
Procedures 

Client Low High

Focus (Organic) (Bureaucratic)
 - +

Low INSULATED BUREAUCRATIC

- [PERSON] [ROLE]

High ADHOCRATIC MANAGERIALIST

+ [TASK] [POWER]

Figure 9.5
The ELT Structure Matrix

While this study suggests that it is important to disperse

power and control and encourage collaborative work cultures,
it would seem likely that educational institutions that have
insulated structures would experience difficulties. By having
low internal control but also responding slowly to
environmental and consumer imperatives the institution
would quickly become directionless and ultimately be less
relevant to clients and the market.

Educational institutions have traditionally had quite

bureaucratic structures with high internal control mechanisms
that can optimise quality and provide stability. Those with only
a low level of response to clients and the external
environment may not exploit new opportunities and markets
with sufficient speed. In the 1980s the university, TAFE and

198
migrant education systems in Australia, for example, despite
possessing the necessary infrastructure and expertise, did not
use their advantages rapidly enough to dominate the
operation of the international ELT sector in Australia, in part
because of their bureaucratic structures. This allowed
privately owned colleges to move into the sector and attract
large numbers of fee-paying international students. Most of
these larger educational organizations in Australia have made
and are making significant changes in their focus on client
needs, but still see the need to maintain significant
management control and formal procedures. This has led
many such organizations to be more managerialist in
structure.

Like other educational organizations, most privately owned

international ELT colleges in Australia have either
bureaucratic or managerialist structures with a high
centralisation of power. A high level of internal control gives
the advantage of longer-term stability and perhaps higher
educational outcomes but increases bureaucracy and
response time. A managerialist structure provides a greater
focus on the client and better entrepreneurial outcomes.
Neither structure satisfactorily resolves the tensions of loose
coupling and the ongoing value clashes of educators and
entrepreneurs.

It may be possible for educational organizations to focus

closely on clients and external market factors without high
levels of manager control and excessive formal procedures

199
however. This quadrant of the matrix is closely aligned with
Mintzberg’s notion of the adhocracy and displays a task
configuration. An adhocratic structure uses mutual adjustment
as the key means of coordination and there is little
formalization of procedures and a high degree of trust.
Relationships among organizational members are multiplex
and an essentially organic system is in place. There is limited
planning but an acceptance that the organization has to
respond to change quickly. There are many liaison devices
and a selective decentralization of decision-making. Power is
distributed both by expert control and by mutual agreement.

9.5. The Relationship between Structure and

Organizational Climate
Different structures obviously influence the type of
interactions in organizations and the ability to understand and
design organizational configurations is an important
diagnostic tool for managers (Mintzberg, 1981 p.113).
International ELT colleges offer a highly intangible service,
part of the trend to an increasing proportion of economic
activities in advanced economies being services rather than
goods. Many of the elements of traditional organizational
structure, such as command and control or standardization,
are less suitable for ELT colleges because of the intangible
nature of their service and the fact that the quality depends
on many uncontrollable factors, an especially critical one
being the motivation and performance of the ELT teachers
and the make-up of and relationships between the students

200
themselves. As with most service industries, employees in ELT
colleges have a strong bearing on the outcome of the service
and so have to play an important role in management
systems and organizational structure.

The contested institutionalisation of the discourses of the

entrepreneur and the educator, discussed in Chapter 8, can be
partially explained through structural analysis. Myer and
Rowan (1978, p.79) suggested two decades ago that, in
educational organizations, instruction tends to be removed
from the control of the organizational structure both
bureaucratically and collegially. This leads to the idea of
educational organizations as "loosely coupled systems" with
the structure being disconnected from the work activity, and
the work activity disconnected from its effects. Educational
administrators often have little direct authority over
instructional work but generally make decisions about support
aspects such as scheduling, allocation of classes and hiring.
They describe the elaborate sets of formal rules that were
used to classify teachers and students, which may be 'self-
evident' to insiders but be almost nonsensical to outsiders.
They suggest that there were significant contradictions in
performance and control systems in many educational
organizations. Thus:

documents of what teachers do are either non-existent or

vacuous while documents that define persons as teachers are
elaborately controlled
(Myer and Rowan, 1978: p.85)

201
On the same page they cite a study in the San Francisco Bay
area by Cohen and others that found that 77% of elementary
teachers agreed that personality characteristics were more
important for success in teaching than any particular
knowledge or professional skills. Yet the regulation of paper
qualifications remains standard procedure in almost all
educational organizations. ELT teachers with years of
overseas teaching experience, abundant enthusiasm, cross-
cultural skills and glowing references from former employers,
for example, would find it difficult to obtain employment
without the possession of a one month teaching certificate
that has, at best, only partial relevance to the daily tasks of
many in ELT.

In the large school, university and vocational systems there

may be important reasons for a continuation of this loose
coupling; there may be political imperatives to maintain public
confidence in the system or financial imperatives to acquire
sufficient resources. In the more entrepreneurial world of
international ELT colleges, however, this loose coupling tends
to lead to a range of conflicts unless strategies are developed
to overcome them.

The ecological features of a college can assist in the

development of a particular organizational structure especially
in the facilitation of informal communication. The
management of milieu can be important so that staff are hired
who value the type of structure the college wants to develop.
The organization’s culture is perhaps a prime determinant of

202
the success or failure of its structure. The following chapter
demonstrates that even where two colleges have similar
formal structures and operations the underlying organizational
culture and the informal structures it creates can have a
significant bearing on overall outcomes.

An emphasis on the three themes of integration, collaboration

and client service can provide a significant basis for
improvement of the organizational structure of an
international ELT college. An effective organizational structure
can also serve to reinforce these goals and help resolve the
competing values of the discourses of the entrepreneur and
the educator.

9.6. Conclusion
The basic function of an organization’s structure should be to
establish patterns of human interaction that accomplish
organizational tasks. It is difficult to select a single
configuration that is best suited to optimal organizational
outcomes across the whole range of work organizations and it
is likely that different configurations are best, depending on
other variables such as size and nature of work tasks.

This chapter has given a brief overview of some models of

organizational structure. It has examined Mintzberg’s
hypothesis of the five principle organizational configurations,
combined with Handy’s notion of power distribution across
organizations. It has looked at the notion of educational

203
organizations as being loosely coupled systems and examined
the combination of an organization’s internal control with its
external focus.

In the following chapter some linkages between these

configurations and educational and entrepreneurial discourses
is made. The discussion of the structures of international ELT
colleges examines the nature of the configurations of the
organizations under review and diagnoses some of the
conflicts and difficulties that beset them due partly to
structural dilemmas. It is then proposed that the use of an
adhocracy structure may be considered as an effective
organizational configuration for these colleges.

204
 Chapter 10

THE STRUCTURE OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

10.1. Introduction
Educational organizations are often "loosely coupled systems"
with the structure being disconnected from the work activity,
and the work activity disconnected from its effects. Creating
greater links between administrative and teaching activities
and developing awareness of entrepreneurial and educational
goals can be assisted by managerial efforts to help minimise
the negative effects of this loose coupling. Bureaucratic and
managerialist structures are the default configurations in ELT
colleges but an adhocratic configuration that reinforces
collaboration between staff may be a more suitable structural
goal.

This chapter examines the structure of a number of

international ELT colleges and compares their configurations
to the theory discussed in the previous chapter. It also
describes some structural initiatives that took place at College
E and their effect on the climate of that college. The chapter
suggests that the adhocracy configuration may help to
reinforce goals of integration, collaboration and client focus for
colleges, although it requires a degree of commitment that
makes it vulnerable to changes in management.

205
10.2. The Bureaucratic Structure in ELT Colleges
The bureaucratic structure was described in the previous
chapter as having relatively high levels of formal procedures
and internal control and relatively low focus on external
matters. Its advantages are the perpetuation of a stable
organization and strong accountability and legal compliance.
Because of the lower degree of external focus however such
organizations can be vulnerable to changes in market
conditions.

College B and College D both displayed many of the structural

features of bureaucratic organizations. College B was
originally part-owned by a large private Japanese educational
organization but in 1998 became fully Australian owned. The
college was initially required to raise the prestige of the
organization in Japan and give it an international profile as
well as to make a profit. Given this history of external
accountability there has been an emphasis on written
procedures at College B. There was also a deep sense in the
early development of the College that teachers were separate
from the management core of the organization.

At College B procedures were formalized and there were

written job descriptions and procedure manuals that staff
were expected to adhere to. All staff were expected to have
the minimum amount of formal training and knowledge
stipulated for their job and, in general, substantially exceeded
it. Hiring would generally proceed on formal assumptions of
qualifications and experience. Consequently College B had the

206
most qualified and experienced staff of the ELT organizations
reviewed in this study. The emphasis upon quality of
educational work also meant that the standard of classwork at
College B was very high. There was also a scrupulous
adherence to record keeping of student attendance and
performance.

Decision-making and control were centralized with the

General Manager of the organization ultimately responsible for
all significant managerial decisions and the ELT managers
primarily responsible for operational rather than strategic
matters. ELT managers played a more subordinate role as
gatherer of information and implementer of decisions. There
was little delegation of power downwards or outwards from
the General Manager except in areas of content expertise
such as curriculum or testing matters.

Like College B, College D had a bureaucratic structure.

Employees were expected to fulfil the duties outlined by their
role with little input into the organization either horizontally or
vertically away from this role. College D had an emphasis on
written procedures. The written job descriptions and
procedure manuals formed the basis of the management of
staff. Staff were expected to understand the procedures and
to adhere to items such as dress codes and rules of
fraternisation with students. In general procedures were
formalized and all staff had the minimum amount of formal
training and knowledge stipulated for their job although there
was a pressure to hire less experienced staff in order to

207
minimise costs. As part of a larger institute the ELT college
was initially designed to assist international students to
prepare for studies in its other courses.

It was expected that the ELT managers would be familiar with

all necessary components of running and administering an
ELT college, such as marketing, administration and reporting
requirements as well as those that fell into the realm of
educational matters. Because the institute had little
experience with international education there was a lack of
understanding of how to implement appropriate structure and
budgets for international ELT. Many procedures were
formalized with written job descriptions and procedure
manuals but development staff such as marketing staff were
not catered for.

The institute commenced operations on the assumption that

“if you build it they will come” but many of the subsequent
difficulties of the ELT operations stemmed from the
inappropriate structure with poor centralised decision making.

Decision-making and control were centralized as far as ELT

operations and business college operations were concerned.
The failure of senior institute managers to fully understand the
potential for legal and financial difficulties in international
education ultimately led to organizational failure. Indeed,
subsequent to this study, College D changed premises and
ownership structure and after numerous disputes between the
top managers of the institute and the new owner of the ELT

208
college the college was closed and the remaining students
were transferred.

10.3. The Managerialist Structure in ELT Colleges

College C and College A both had more managerialist
configurations. At College C the college’s founders sold it to
the current owners in 1993. The current owners were a
syndicate of active and inactive partners. The inactive
partners had equity stakes but did not have any operational
control over the college. Because of this structure it was
imperative that College C be able to produce dividends each
year for its inactive partners/investors. This ownership pattern
also meant that College C had an emphasis on written
procedures.

The owners of College C were all from one particular ethnic

group. There could be a subversion of the typical ‘line
management’ pattern at College C by students from that
same ethnic group who had extra access to the top
management of the college. Jacques, in a series of studies in
the 1950s, found that in bureaucratic organizations where
there was a confusion of role boundaries or when the same
person fulfilled multiple roles, high levels of insecurity and
frustration resulted (see Jaques, 1951, 1956). The ELT
managers at College C indicated that while there was a clear
formal structure at College C, there were various escape
routes and diversions to this structure that led to

209
unwillingness by management employees to exercise
authority.

This matter was particularly significant in areas that were

typically under direct ELT manager control such as issues of
course content, student attendance records and student
performance certificates.

The marketing staff at College C were not salaried employees

but rather ‘consultants’ on small retainers and large
commissions. This had certain advantages for the organization
but led to problems of control and competition among staff.
Marketing staff, who were reluctant to ‘lose’ commissions, did
not always adequately advise potential students or implied
commitments to potential students that ELT managers found
impossible to fulfil. A common problem in this regard was
assuring students with weak English that they would be able
to commence an IELTS exam preparation class although
subsequent testing by ELT staff revealed unsuitably low levels
of English for such a class.

Decision-making and control on financial matters were

centralized with the two active partners retaining authority in
these matters. ELT managers were seen as gatherers of
information and implementers of decisions. There was little
delegation of power except in day-to-day operational matters.

College A was also managerialist. It was originally a small

vocational college unit of a much larger English college. In

210
1992 the large English college began to accumulate debts
resulting from the changes to entry requirements for students
from the People’s Republic of China. This debt problem led to
the owner of the English college wishing to file for bankruptcy.
The three current owners of College A discussed the pending
closure of their organization with the former owner. An
agreement was made that they would continue to operate the
business college taking over all debts owed by that division of
the college and creating a new business entity. This entity
would lease premises and equipment from the English college
and share particular administration facilities. Initially the three
owners fulfilled all the roles at the small college providing
teaching, student administration, marketing and financial
administration of the college. Due to fears of incurring debt,
extra teaching staff were only hired on casual weekly or
monthly contracts.

The managerialist structure of the college grew out of these

early experiences. The three owners saw themselves as
survivors and builders of the organization that followed. As
soon as the college moved they commenced preparations for
an English language college. The senior ELT manager, who
would be a Director of Studies, was ultimately to become an
employee even though the owners would have preferred an
‘entrepreneurial’ risk-taking ELT manager to take an equity
role in the college as a fourth partner it proved extremely
difficult to find such a person. Because each of the owners had
of necessity made the crossover from teaching to an

211
entrepreneurial view of management they also expected that
their ELT manager would share their views.

All significant decisions were made by the owners but there

was also an informal expectation that people would not limit
themselves to their job description. For example, the ELT
Director of Studies was expected to take on the duties of the
Business Director of Studies, while the Business DOS was on
vacation. The formal written job descriptions and procedure
manuals that existed were largely the products of external
monitoring requirements and an array of more informal
expectations assisted in the maintenance of a strong client
focus. Such documents were occasionally referred to but it
was much more important for staff to be satisfying the
immediate requirements identified orally by the owner
managers than to be laboriously following the job description.
There was a limited performance appraisal system although
once again this was largely oral and informal.

The formal training and knowledge required for ELT positions

at College A were largely those set by external monitoring
authorities. There was a desire on the part of the ELT
managers to ensure personality fit for the organization too. In
general there was a perception among the managers that
those who had previously been comfortable working for large
bureaucratic organizations would not find the patterns of work
and organizational life at College A suitable.

212
Decision-making on minor matters was de-centralized and
staff were given to understand that they were expected to
take relevant decisions and solve disturbances without
constant recourse to senior management in such cases. There
were various communication and liaison devices although in
general these operated at the management level with
meetings between Directors of Studies and Owners and then
at the staff level with contacts between staff of different
divisions of the college. Such meetings and contacts were
primarily informal and oral and indeed there was a suspicion
of the procedures of formal minuted meetings.

10.4. The Management of Structure in ELT Colleges

Pickering (1999, p.5) has indicated some of the metaphors
commonly used to describe organizations in the management
literature such as machines, organisms, brains, culture,
political systems, psychic prisons, transformational flux and
domination instruments. A brief survey of ELT teachers
however, added a range of new metaphors to the list.
Teachers saw their respective colleges as: brothels,
Rottweilers, headless chickens, ivory towers, dinosaurs, The
Spanish Inquisition, warm baths, families, private armies, jazz
bands, tightropes, circuses and headless dinosaurs.

It would seem therefore that in ELT, in common with most

industries, the design and improvement of an organization’s
structure is an important management task. Organizational
structure however, is a contingent variable, which means that

213
a similar configuration may be successful in one college and
not in another. College D and College B, for example, both
leaned towards the bureaucratic configuration. It would seem
that despite the similar structures, however, there were
elements that made this configuration work more effectively
at College B than at College D. On the other hand College A
and College C were both configured similarly on managerialist
lines. Again though, there were other organizational factors
that suggest that this structure was more effective at College
A than at College C.

Charles (1993, p.11) suggests that international ELT colleges

require new structural metaphors by changing the traditional
hierarchical structure of such colleges to ‘fronted’
organigrams. In essence the organizational chart should be
turned on its side with teachers, administration and marketing
staff at the 'front' of the operation being 'producers' in a prime
position to gain market intelligence and senior managers and
the technostructure being seen to be in support roles ‘behind’.
This parallels an emphasis on client service as the focus of the
organization’s activities

A significant drawback of the bureaucratic or managerialist

configuration for international ELT colleges is that managers
may see their organizations as consisting of jobs and roles
rather than an integration of activities matched with people
and skill sets. Favouring a clear assignment of responsibility
but limiting the capacity of people in organizations can render
ineffective many of an individual's greatest strengths and

214
exacerbate their weaknesses. An emphasis by managers on
an integrated organization, on the other hand, would favour
the development of an adhocratic configuration

The analysis of the above four colleges and research into

organizational structure suggested that the adhocracy
configuration may well be desirable structure for an
international ELT college. An adhocracy would allow the
organization to innovate in complex ways and to adapt well to
the fast-changing ELT environment. An adhocracy could draw
on the strengths of the bureaucracy in that it relies on experts
and professionals to get the bulk of its work done. It should
emphasise, however, the working together to improve the
current situation rather than the working apart to perfect
established skills. Rather than remain in the operating core as
in a professional bureaucracy, the experts need to be
dispersed throughout the organization.

Managers in the adhocracy have to see themselves as linkage

experts rather than controllers. They need to see coordination
and an encouragement of collaboration as their primary
functions and allow their control function to be subsidiary.
Research on school effectiveness shows that teachers prefer
task configurations that demonstrate cooperative, collegial
and collaborative structures with staff working as a team with
shared goals (McGaw, Piper, Banks and Evans, 1993; p.1).
Because teachers are the critical element in the service
delivered by ELT colleges it makes sense to encourage such

215
collaborative cultures and reinforce them through the
organization’s structure.

A clear focus on integration and collaboration, and the

development of an adhocratic structure, would stress that the
organization is a field of activity that encompasses a variety of
tasks, projects and services. It views the workplace as a
network of collaborative relationships rather than as a site
with people and systems located together (Field & Ford, 1995,
pp 74-75, 81). An international ELT college based in Australia
therefore, needs to see its sphere of operations as including
the various cooperating institutions, the agents and marketing
teams, the homestay families and, up to a point, the
government regulators such as the Federal Department of
Immigration and the State Department of Education as well as
the relevant accrediting bodies such as NEAS and industry
bodies such as the EA, ACPET and Trust Fund providers.

There are also limitations to the adhocratic structure however.

There is a constant need for hands on management to retain
an adhocratic configuration and there is a serious time cost in
raising awareness among organizational members. As the
organization ages there seems to be a desire among many
organizational members to pursue bureaucratic rather than
adhocratic organizational goals. Finally it can be difficult for
senior management to agree to subdue their control functions
to linkage ones.

216
10.5. Action Research at College E: Structure
As a result of research into organizational structure and the
observations of structure at other ELT colleges, at College E
four structural initiatives formed part of the action research.
At the commencement of the action research discussions on
structure with staff showed that there was an enthusiasm for
working towards a different type of organizational
configuration from that most teachers and administration staff
had previously experienced.

Each of the action research initiatives in the area of structure

was designed to reinforce the values of integration,
collaboration and client service. The action research cycles in
1997 and 1998 emphasised the intent to move towards an
adhocratic structure encouraging the best features of person
and task configurations. Action research cycles three and four
in late 1998 and early 1999 attempted to build on and
reinforce the structural achievements of cycles one and two.

The three structural initiatives were:

Action Research Initiative S1: Action Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) to 3 (July -
December 1998): That the college organizational
structure be perceived as a fronted organigram with those
in client contact including administration and teaching staff
being seen as the most crucial in the organization with
those ‘behind’ playing support roles to ensure the
effectiveness of those ‘in front’. As well that the mixture of

217
exogenous and endogenous factors that ELT educators
used to determine educational and institutional quality for
the international ELT college reflect organizational goals
focusing primarily on client satisfaction.

Action Research Initiative S2: Action Research

Cycles 3 (July – December 1998) and 4 (January –
June 1999): The organization would try to have as few
barriers as possible between staff. Teachers were to be
encouraged to teach across both vocational and English
subjects. Teachers were to be encouraged to do marketing
and/or administration work. Administration and marketing
staff were to be assisted in upgrading their educational
qualifications.

Action Research Initiative S3: Action Research

Cycles 3 (July – December 1998) and 4 (January –
June 1999): Management decisions on structure were to
be explicit and communicated to all employees and be
reached as far as possible through consultation. All staff
should also have the opportunity to witness managers in
action and be able to question them about their activities
and decisions.

218
In order to implement Structure Initiative 1 the Principal and
other managers made constant efforts to inculcate the value
of client service as the primary operational task in the
organization. Open door management policies were
implemented from the start of operations and there was no
shielding of senior managers from students or agents. This
was a very effective initiative during the early phases of the
college. As student numbers grew it did impose a time and
efficiency burden on managers that was never entirely
resolved.

All ELT educators at the college were advised during interview

and induction phases that evaluations of their work would be
based primarily on student satisfaction. Staff room discussions
were held on the importance of understanding students’ real
needs and motivations. A lot of thought and planning went
into the college excursion program so that students were
taken to places that were ‘off the beaten track’. Socialising
with students was strongly encouraged and the college used
to provide funds for teachers to drink on Fridays after lessons
in the same location as the students. Nathan a teacher at
College E at the time recalls:

The emphasis on excursions and staff-student bonding that

existed at that time was fantastic. The situation in 98/99 was so
good partly because we were encouraged to share our
experiences of Sydney and its environs with the students, and
helping them find their way around here other than to and from
Darling Harbour.

219
In order to implement Structure Initiative 2 a corresponding
ecological initiative (see Section 12.6) was introduced that set
out a plan for open classrooms and mixed staff rooms. A
concerted effort was also made to ensure a diversity of duties.
For example, many English teachers also hold qualifications
that permit them to teach courses in business and computing.
As the clientele for ELT and vocational courses at College E
was very similar, and there were mainly non-native English
speakers in the vocational courses, this had many
advantages. Many of the English teachers found the
opportunity to work in content subjects refreshing after years
of working solely with language and the initiative was seen as
a very positive feature of College E. As vocational subjects
were taught both morning and afternoon while English was
only taught in the morning it also offered an extra income
stream for a number of teachers. As ELT is, in general, a less
well-paid profession than many, this was also welcome for
those who loved teaching but may have otherwise had to
change careers due to financial pressures. This initiative also
led to a preference for hiring teachers who had the ability to
teach across disciplines, which itself led to an ongoing
commitment to preventing a break into a divisionalized form.

As well as the teaching across disciplines, teachers were

involved in college marketing activities and in records
administration. The vocational college taught a Diploma
course in Records Management and several members of the
ELT staff took this course and assisted in the building and

220
maintenance of the college database. Two teachers moved
from teaching into marketing with one becoming the college
Marketing Manager.

Structure Initiative 3 was also supported by an ecological

initiative that had managerial staff share workspaces with
other teaching and administration staff. This initiative is not
concrete and fell more into the level of consciousness-raising.
Many people, even those trained in critical awareness, do not
reflect in a structured way on their work organizations and
their possibilities for improvement. It is therefore difficult to
assess the effectiveness of this initiative although a range of
comments from teachers at College E during interviews for
this project and afterwards reveals an awareness of structure
and culture variables. For example;

1. (The) management style is heartfelt and appreciated.

(Pamela, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 2, College E, 1998)

2. (The) open support of teachers and all the other staff is

hugely encouraging and genuine.
(Yumiko, Marketing employee, Action Research Cycle 3, College
E, 1998)

3. It demonstrates the type of mutually respectful relationships

that exists at College E
(James, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 4, College E, 1998)

4. I worked at the language schools within the University of F

and Institute G and H College as a casual/relief teacher for spells
of six - eight weeks. The staff atmosphere at College E was
outstanding in comparison – particularly friendly, supportive,
fun, transparent and workable. By comparison, I found the other
colleges isolating, scary, daunting and at times distinctly
unfriendly.

221
 (Penny, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 5, College E, 1999)

5. The idea of the front not the bottom is a great one. Seeing the
college from front to back rather than from top to bottom makes
a lot more sense. I also like the idea that a lot of teachers teach
other subjects besides English. The computer teaching has been
a real benefit for me.
(Marie, Teacher, Action Research Cycle 4,College E, 1998)

6. I like the emphasis on seeing the whole place as one. I don’t

feel like a cog in the machine as I used to in other places I’ve
worked. I get a lot of chances to do other things besides teach…
as you can see I’m now the Marketing Manager!
(Ivan, Marketing Manager, Action Research Cycle 6,College E,
1999)

Along with the success of these measures were many areas of

contestation. Division of tasks is a familiar construct to many
people. Several teachers at College E objected to open
classrooms especially for ‘trial’ students, which they saw as an
exploitation of their professionalism. Partly this is explained by
the fact that for marketing reasons certain teachers would be
more likely to have trial students placed in their classes than
others and so bore the burden of this arrangement. This
difficulty was partially solved by allocating one session of the
teaching day, the third session from 12:00 – 1:00 each day, as
the only session that trial students could observe classes. As
part-time students attended class until 12:00 only this avoided
any problem of overcrowding and limited disruptions. On the
other hand, despite some initial teacher opposition, many
teachers took an interest in this area of college operations and
were quite proprietorial about ‘their’ trial students.

222
The owners of the college took to the management initiatives
from a bottom line perspective. There were cost savings to
open plan offices and logistical advantages to open
classrooms that made them accept the initiatives. On the
other hand, they found it hard to relinquish a certain manner
of control, which they had been used to exercising in previous
colleges that they had owned. As time went on though, the
proof was ‘in the pudding’. The growth and success of the
college, far beyond their initial expectations meant that they
came to value the different structure of the college and to an
extent accept it.

Since the end of active commitment to an adhocracy however

there has been a drift back to the bureaucratic configuration.
This may suggest that this form is felt to be a more ‘natural’
configuration for an international ELT college, in spite of less
effective organizational outcomes. In common perhaps with
some other action research in educational organizations,
many of the initiatives were not successfully embedded into
the college. Once the commitment to action research was
removed, and management personnel had changed, College E
drifted away from an adhocratic configuration.

10.6. Conclusion
Organizational structure is a significant area of organizational
climate. Manipulating the structure of an organization can
impact upon culture and organizational outcomes. While
improvements to structure are not the only method of

223
enhancing organizational culture they can prove to be the
most effective (Anthony 1994 p.3). There is a value in using
organizational structure models as management tools.
Analysing the configurations of similar organizations can be of
benefit to international ELT managers who can attempt to find
patterns and systems that work best. There is also a value to
inculcating staff in the understanding of such models in order
to bring about a greater empathy with organizational goals
and their own ability to work towards a configuration that is
most likely to lead to successful outcomes.

It would seem likely that ELT managers should strive to

manage structure proactively rather than let the traditional
configurations of ELT develop by default. In the growth and
development of College E the adhocratic structure worked
effectively for the time of the action research project. With the
increasing age of the organization, changes to the ELT
management and a lessening of commitment to the
adhocratic structure however, a drift back to a bureaucratic
configuration occurred.

The people who are stakeholders in an organization, its milieu,

are also strongly linked to the production and maintenance of
the organization’s structure. It is to the milieu of international
ELT colleges that this discussion now moves.

224
 Chapter 11

THE MILIEU OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

11.1. Introduction
This chapter examines the milieu of a number of international
ELT colleges and provides some examples of the need for
reconciliation between educational and entrepreneurial
concerns in this organizational dimension. It first looks at
milieu and its relationship to organizational climate. It outlines
some features of milieu relevant to ELT colleges and the
nature and range of management difficulties in this
dimension. It then examines the milieu at College E and some
action research initiatives that took place there. It analyses
some of the impact of these initiatives in relation to the
organization’s climate and then concludes with a brief
summary.

11.2. The Relationship between Milieu and

Organizational Climate
ELT is a very person dependent industry. Many of the students
studying English in Sydney are doing so for a complex array of
educational, social and economic reasons. For many, the
interaction with college members and fellow students is far
more important in judging and recommending colleges than
course content or teachers’ linguistic expertise. Subtle

225
differences in the milieu of international ELT colleges
therefore, can influence their organizational outcomes.

Impey and Underhill (1994, p.vii) in the introduction to their

ELT Manager’s Handbook note that

People are the key to successful management: the provision of

high quality ELT is a meeting of people and minds. Even among
traditionally labour intensive service industries, teaching is
unusually intangible and dependent upon the motivation and
good will of all staff; successful interaction is all...

The milieu dimension relates to this ‘people’ aspect of the

organization. It includes the characteristics of the staff, clients
and other stakeholders of the organization; their ages,
genders, ethnicities, expectations and levels of satisfaction,
socio-economic backgrounds, morale and motivation,
behaviour towards other organizational members and a range
of other personal attributes and characteristics.

Milieu and organizational culture are closely linked. In this

study, milieu refers to the organizational members as
individuals and their relatively enduring physical and social
characteristics and attributes, while organizational culture is
the collective interaction patterns and assumptions that
influence organizational members. The discussion of
organizational culture in chapters 13 and 14 focuses on the
interactions between people and the symbols and values that
give meaning to their work within the organization.

The chief groups of stakeholders in international ELT colleges

are the teachers, the administration, marketing and

226
counselling staff, the agents (who are usually external to the
college) and, of course, the students. For ELT managers with
responsibility for the hiring and replacement of ELT teachers
and support staff, awareness of the contribution of the milieu
dimension to organizational climate can provide significant
leverage towards the achievement of successful
organizational outcomes. The possibilities for actively
managing student intakes also allows some management of
the overall student milieu, especially in the ratio of learner
nationalities. Many international ELT colleges have a relatively
rapid turnover of teaching staff, administrative staff, and
students compared to other types of educational institutions.
This means that opportunities to implement management
strategies in the area of milieu are available not only through
choices in the start up phase, but on an ongoing basis.

Organizational culture can have a powerful effect on decisions

that affect the milieu of an international ELT college. An
emphasis on the three cultural themes of integration,
collaboration and client service can provide a significant basis
for steering the course of the milieu of an international ELT
college. This can, in turn, both reinforce these cultural values
and work to resolve the competing values of the discourses of
the entrepreneur and the educator.

11.3. The ELT Teacher Milieu

The types of teachers employed in a college, their ages,
genders, life experiences, career aspirations and approaches

227
to teaching can provide significant variance in the atmosphere
of different ELT institutions. All of the colleges in this study
hired a range of teachers from those who had just completed
their ELT qualifications to those with 10 or more years of
experience. Most of the teachers had only the minimum
required ELT qualifications and there were a number of
teachers who had not completed full teacher qualifications but
had taught ELT overseas for a number of years. Most of the
teachers felt that, while the knowledge and skills obtained in
their ELT certificate courses was not perfectly matched with
their work activities, it was an appropriate entry qualification
and many had recommended such certificate courses to
friends. Only three teachers at the five colleges in the study
were over 50 years of age and more than two-thirds of the
teachers were under 40 years of age. This tends to confirm
the view of ELT as a ‘young person’s game’.

Waites (1999, pp244-305), in a research study conducted in

Geneva and Sydney to examine the career cycles of ELT
teachers, found they had far more variations during their
career cycles than school teachers, who were in a more stable
and predictable situation. According to the teachers
interviewed despite the ELT becoming increasingly more
professional, its unpredictable nature made it stimulating and
rewarding. In spite of the instability of the ELT career many
appeared to have more positive career experiences overall,
than school teachers with more stable career paths. Waites
also concluded that the perception of professional

228
development issues between ELT teachers and ELT managers
were divergent.

ELT teachers are largely responsible for the generation of the

functional quality within their ELT college and can create
considerable competitive advantage for it. Agents regularly
inform their clients of ‘star’ teachers at particular colleges.
The main IELTS teacher at College A, for example, had a
reputation for achieving very good results with her classes.
Three different agents interviewed indicated that they
recommended potential IELTS students to College A because
of the feedback they had had about the teacher. Likewise at
College E, one teacher had a background in the theatre and
was an extraordinarily outgoing and personable teacher.
College E would frequently receive requests from agents to
inform them of which class or level the teacher was currently
teaching.

Most of the teachers at the five colleges examined were

between 25 and 39, single or in a de facto relationship with no
children, interested in travel and other cultures and not
strongly career focused. Most had moved into ELT because
they wanted to travel or had been living in a country where
work as an ELT teacher was easily available. Staff room
conversations had a high frequency of discussion of overseas
destinations for holidays and work, and Lonely Planet
Guidebooks seemed to be a common ‘reference’ book in staff
rooms.

229
A number of teachers who were about to get married or have
children spoke of the necessity of finding either managerial
positions within ELT or changing careers to gain greater
employment stability for the raising of a family. The
connection of life changes with moves into ELT management
is taken up in Chapter 15.

Teachers, not surprisingly see themselves as a critical factor

in successful ELT colleges.

The college is only as good as the teachers…

Brian, Teacher, College C, 1996

If the teachers are good, then the college will be successful.

When the teachers are unhappy it’s really hard to satisfy the
students or put on a ‘happy face’.
Maria, Teacher, College D, 1997

English language teaching can be seen as one of the more

‘postmodern’ occupations. Forth (1998, p.22) notes that few
people enter the ELT profession with a burning desire for
lifelong membership as teachers. Rather, for most
newcomers, ELT is an attractive stop-gap. The temporary and
casual nature of the work, the contact with exotic groups of
students of similar age, and the practical and realistic entry
requirements seem to suit the desire of many in their mid to
late twenties to postpone hard career decisions and enjoy
freedom and interesting experiences for as long as possible.

For those who remain in ELT however, a certain cynicism and

frustration can creep in:

230
 The short-term contracts, the lack of development opportunities,
the repetitiveness of certain kinds of teaching, far from being
liberating, at a later stage in the life cycle become oppressive.
This can lead to a scepticism and pessimism about the whole
ethos of ELT. In particular, one can find expressions of
scepticism about the management of language schools, a
scepticism that sometimes borders on hostility.
(Forth, 1998; p.22)

This scepticism towards management is discussed in Chapter

15 but it needs to be noted in passing that antipathy to ELT
managers is a relatively enduring characteristic of many
teachers, and a severe disadvantage for ELT managers to
overcome.

All of the international ELT colleges discussed in this study

have a high ratio of casual employees and contract
consultants to permanent full-time employees. This has
consequences for the relative power of the different groups of
stakeholders. College C, for example, has two owners, six full-
time employees (two permanent full-time educational
administrators, a full-time Registrar, a full-time Marketing
Manager and two full-time office administrators),
approximately 30 teaching staff engaged as casual/contract
employees and three to five marketing staff who are paid a
small retainer and then a five percent commission on each
student enrolment they bring to the college from an agency
and a nine percent commission on each direct student
enrolment. The college also uses a range of consultants for
course development and staff training, generally paid on a fee
for service basis.

231
In the last decade in Australia there has been significant
pressure by regulatory authorities to ‘professionalise’ the
industry and teachers in accredited ELT colleges must now
have a suite of qualifications. In order to be employed,
teachers must have a recognised pre-service teaching
qualification plus an appropriate ELT qualification, or a
recognised degree or diploma plus at least 800 hours (about 1
year) classroom teaching experience, plus an appropriate ELT
qualification. English for High School courses must have 50%
of such courses taught by teachers whose pre-service
qualification is for high school teaching or who have at least
800 hours classroom teaching experience in Australian high
schools.

Colleges can still employ some teaching staff who do not

completely fulfil these requirements, but they must be able to
supply written evidence that such teachers have proof of
outstanding competence in ELT. Such proof may include a
high grade in their ELT qualification, documents from previous
employers or references from ELT course directors. Colleges
however, are not allowed to have more than 20% of their
teaching staff employed under this provision.

Staff selection policies based primarily on qualifications and

experience, a common practice in many educational
institutions, may not be entirely suitable in international ELT
colleges. Characteristics such as ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘cultural
awareness’ play a significant role because of the personal
nature of the activity. Many students who come to Australia to

232
improve their English desire a different type of learning. In
their home countries they have usually been taught by non-
native teachers and looked at the lexicogrammatical,
semantic and phonological aspects of English, the areas of
traditional language teaching focus. For their English classes
in Australia, on the other hand, they usually expect native
speaker teachers of English who focus less on grammatical or
semantic instruction than on communication skills.

ELT classes in international colleges usually involve interaction

solely in English between the teacher and an array of students
of various nationalities. Mostly the classes are small, as the
NEAS accreditation requirement is an average of fifteen
students per class. Lessons vary depending on the age, ability
and interests of the students, but the teacher usually suggests
the topic of conversation, perhaps provides some reading
material for stimulation, asks questions that will rekindle the
conversation when it lags, and provides correction and
feedback as needed. Considerable judgement and skill are
necessary in the selection and encouragement of
conversational topics. The object is to maintain fluency and
enjoyment rather than to directly challenge or threaten
student beliefs. Differences in personality need to be handled,
turn-taking occasionally needs to be made obvious and timid
learners need to be encouraged to speak.

Students are frequently asked to explain their comments, to

increase the amount of communication they offer in answer to
questions, to realise when more than a literal response is

233
required to questions, to take a more active role in
conversations, to ask more questions, to be more voluble and
to use gesture and eye contact in more effective ways. Even
Academic English courses and exam preparation classes for
IELTS and TOEFL involve far more interaction and
communication between teachers and students than is usual
in many other learning situations.

Teachers can feel that they are as much hosts trying to keep a
dull conversation going as they are educators. There is a
slightly unsettling effect of this type of teaching, especially in
colleges that focus on short-term client feedback, such as exit
questionnaires and satisfaction surveys. Teachers have to
juggle the satisfaction of short-term and long-term client
goals.

Is the ‘customer’ always right? Giving the ‘customer’ what they

want puts teachers under a lot of pressure. What the
‘customers’ want and what the teachers think are their
educational needs varies considerably.
Mike, Teacher, College B, 1996

How we judge our lessons may be different to how the students

judge [them]. It’s hard to make sure they’re enjoying
themselves and learning at the same time.
Diana, Teacher, College B, 1996

Teachers are also under some pressure to involve themselves

to a certain extent in relationships with the students that go
beyond the classroom.

234
 Our role goes way beyond the classroom and students become
very attached to us and bring us their problems
Henry, Teacher, College A, 1997

We often socialise with students and see a lot of them at the pub
on Friday nights. We look after them even after they have left
the college. They are always asking us about visas and their
financial problems, and finding work and stuff like that.
Paula, Teacher, College B

Indeed Underhill (1995, p.2), in perhaps a moment of quiet

cynicism, felt that the professional aspects of ELT are
somewhat suspect:

The profession that seems to me most comparable to [ELT] is

prostitution, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is ubiquitous;
secondly it needs at the most basic level only two participants,
but no resources or equipment, and can be conducted anywhere
at any time, in varying degrees of comfort; thirdly, the majority
of the activity is unregulated and delivered by unqualified
practitioners, as far as one can gather to the satisfaction of the
clients; fourthly there is a continuous scale from highly
formalised, organised, managed, fully-charged at one end to the
completely informal, spontaneous, spur of the moment
exchange, barter or gift. In other words our central activity is
virtually indistinguishable from ordinary everyday human
intercourse. Our problem is to justify asking a lot of money for
what many give for free. This clearly distinguishes us from the
traditional so-called professions. I cannot readily imagine
wanting to engage in a little casual dentistry on a Friday night,
on an informal basis, as a gesture of friendship.

Whatever the validity of Underhill’s analogy, it does

emphasise that ELT only exists because of the people who
engage in the exchange of learning and teaching. A keen feel
for teacher personality and motivation levels needs to be
developed by effective ELT managers. Recognising the

235
qualities that students want in their ELT teachers, and then
implementing this through recruitment of appropriate
teaching staff, is essential for the overall quality of the
college.

11.4. The ELT Administration, Marketing and

Counselling Staff Milieu
Reception staff in ELT colleges play an important role in
forming impressions of the college. For many students the
receptionist is their primary point of informal contact with the
college. Effective ELT managers need to recognise the
importance of building a strong reception team.

Likewise marketing and counselling staff, especially those

from the same language group as the students, play a critical
role. Frequently such staff are bi-cultural, knowing their own
culture and that of Australia well. For many students these
staff are the interpreters of the confusing events that are
surrounding them. Such staff have the potential to influence
student opinions of the college especially with those students
whose English proficiency is poor. They are also a valuable
source of information for ELT managers who need to absorb
important cultural details about a diverse range of ethnic and
national groups in order to treat students politely and
appropriately.

Such bi-cultural staff make promotion of the college much

easier. In early 2000 College E had a marketing exhibition in

236
Thailand. I travelled to the exhibition with the College
Registrar, who was born in Thailand and had lived there until
she came to Australia in 1992. She had arranged for two of
our ex-Thai students to meet us at the promotional fair. At the
exhibition the response to our display was overwhelming,
despite the presence of many more established institutions
with lower priced courses. One of the main selling points was
that potential students saw the ex-students and the Thai
Registrar obviously laughing and joking in English with the
Principal of the college. The ‘intangible’ service of an English
course was made tangible. They could see that they could
acquire these abilities, the ex-students were able to give them
the ‘student low-down’ that young people want to hear. It was
so different to most of the other displays with a senior ELT
manager forlornly sitting with an ‘official’ interpreter, who
knew little about the college or its courses, trying to ‘sell’ the
institution.

In many colleges these marketing and administration staff are

poorly compensated for their work relative to the teaching
staff. Frequently the opportunity to acquire work rights in
Australia is the motivation for such employees to stay with the
college. In three of the colleges in this study some or all of
such staff had taken employment with the colleges because it
would allow them to remain in Australia and change their
student visas to temporary resident visas. A number of such
staff appreciated the chance to socialise with the ELT teaching
staff and saw it as a real benefit of their position.

237
11.5. The ELT Agent Milieu
Few international ELT colleges have the resources to market
directly overseas to their potential students in all countries
and so they depend on a network of agents and
representatives to attract students for them. These agents act
as college representatives in the recruitment of students.
They operate in a similar fashion to travel agents acting for
airlines. Such agents are, in effect, outsourced marketing
representatives and are a concrete manifestation of the
blurring of the traditional boundaries in postmodern work
organizations. Educational agents can be key figures in the
success of ELT colleges even though they are external
stakeholders in the organizations. The management of agents
and the information they deliver to prospective and current
students, therefore, is a key management task at educational
institutions that recruit overseas students.

The success of a college and its intermediation strategies with

domestic and off-shore agencies is of immense importance in
getting a sufficient flow of students to maintain operations.
Many ELT managers, though, regard agents with some
suspicion, even where they recognise the organizational need
for developing and maintaining relationships with them.
Seeing the agents as outsourced departments of the college
rather than as rivals, drains or enemies of the institution is a
most significant step in bridging entrepreneurial and
educational values and thus in effective ELT management.

238
The relationship between colleges and agencies is complex.
For the colleges in this study, owners, ELT managers and the
agents themselves all agreed that payment was the primary
factor in developing and maintaining relationships between
agencies and colleges. The relations with agents are subtle
however, and have to be much more than a ‘provider –
distributor’ relationship to be of maximum value to both
parties. Agents frequently provide valuable endorsement of
the quality of the educational service offered by the ELT
college to students and in return are an extremely important
source of primary market information. Reader (1996, p.8)
notes that agents in many markets are becomingly
increasingly choosey over the colleges they represent. In
listing the factors that make agents accept or reject to
represent colleges, he concludes that commission amounts
and percentages top the list. He suggests that ELT colleges

…expecting to be overwhelmed by responses to tuition only

commissions of 10 per cent or even 15 percent are still living in
the early 1980s. Many agents now work as full-blown tour
operators and themselves have to pay hefty considerations to
regional travel agents.

Reader (1996, p.8) also notes that the global ELT market is
increasingly cost sensitive and there is immense difficulty for
agents in selling high-priced top range courses – however
frustrating that is for colleges who wish to prioritise quality
over economy.

239
Local and national location is another important factor for
agencies. Some agents reject or drop colleges over location
frequently because of client concern about issues such as
safety and convenience. Australia as a whole benefits from
perceptions about danger in large cities in the USA and the
UK, which the terrorism scares following the September 11
tragedy in New York, have exacerbated. Regional Australia
however, suffers from a perception in many Asian countries
that it is ‘boring’ and ‘racist’.

One area of great to concern to agents is other agents.

Disputes over national or regional exclusivity are a frequent
cause of dispute and can result in termination of cooperation
between colleges and agents. On the other hand, a degree of
inertia in established relationships frequently means that once
agents have an ongoing relationship with one college they do
not quickly change, even when they are convinced that a new
organization is better. There is “a liability of newness”
(Haveman, 1992, p.48) to overcome.

Agents cover a wide range of legal ownership types. Some

agencies may be wholly owned subsidiaries of the college in
which case it might be more correct to label them
representative offices. Such representative offices direct all
students who enquire in their offices to the college that owns
them and are usually a regional centre for enrolments and
client support. There is a range of incentives to setting up
such offices. Most obviously is the fact that all students will be
encouraged to come to the target college and advice will be

240
up to date. Such offices can also attract government funding
from programs aimed to boost exports such as the Export
Market Development Grants making them even more
attractive. Applicants may qualify for up to 50%
reimbursement of eligible export marketing expenses above
$15,000 pa to a maximum of eight grants. Up to $200,000 pa
may be reimbursed (DETYA 2001; p.7). In large markets or for
large institutions such representative offices can be more
economical than the standard industry commission only
agencies.

Most agencies however, are established as separate

businesses and may range from sole traders acting without
any bona fides to partnerships and properly registered
companies with migration advice licences. The fiduciary
relationship between colleges and agents has been uncertain
for many years and is a clear area of concern within the
industry and for its regulators. Percentage commissions paid
to educational agents is perhaps the most closely guarded
“commercial in confidence’ secret in the industry. Federal
Government guidelines under the ESOS Act during the late
1990s allowed an initial 20% draw down of student tuition
from the trust account before tuition commenced. This is a
rough indicator of the expected market rate of commission
although the real situation is much more complex.

Agents tend to think in terms of amounts of money received

rather than percentage commissions. A ten per cent
commission on an A$10000 annual university tuition fee is

241
$1000. To make the same amount of money from a 3-month
ELT course enrolment the agent would need to charge 33%
(assuming the base ELT fee of $1000 per month). In general if
the course fees are large (more than $8000 per year) the
commission is usually (though not always) below the 20%
mark. Universities, expensive vocational college courses and
longer ELT programs therefore fall in to this category.

On the other hand, cheaper courses such as classroom-based

vocational courses and short-term ELT courses are far less
valuable to agents to promote and so colleges usually offer far
higher rates of commission. Commission rates of 30% are not
uncommon at ELT colleges in Sydney and rates as high as
50% and even 60% have been recorded. Often the only viable
method of competition for small new colleges is on the
amount of commission that they offer agents. While these
figures may seem astoundingly high to those unfamiliar with
international education practice they are not dissimilar to
discounting and commission approaches in the international
tourist industry – an industry that ELT has many links with,
and one that increasingly shapes its thinking.

It is not usual for the agent to keep all this commission.

Frequently part of the commission is passed on as a discount
to the prospective students and one of the main ways that
agents, especially those within Australia, promote themselves
to students is as ‘bucket shops’ that are able to give students
a ‘discount’ price over a direct enrolment at the college.

242
Dealing with agents is an especially complex part of the ELT
manager’s work. The communication network of a college and
its agents throughout the world can be very intricate and
there are many features of such networks in educational
enterprises that require a large measure of trust. The time
spans for materials to reach each agent and the complexities
of the visa processes make this a particularly difficult barrier
to entry in the industry and are reasons why many private
colleges tend to be skewed towards a couple of national
markets.

Problems with agents can occur and must be remedied. The

Seoul office of the AIEF, for example, made the settling of
disagreements between various agents and organizations that
send students abroad its top priority in 1995. Once such
issues were resolved the number of students rose 60% (AIEF.
1996b).

The value of a strong network of agents is clearly seen in

market downturns. In the Asian currency crisis of 1997 and
1998 numbers at College E steadily rose. A key factor was that
College E had a policy of giving agents commission on re-
enrolments. All payments that students made, not just the
first ones, earned the agents commission. In ‘good times’ this
had meant a smaller profit for the college as student fees had
to be paid out to overseas and local agents – in lean times
however it became even more important for agents to worry
about their ongoing remuneration and in such an environment

243
agents were more likely to steer students towards colleges
that were perceived as being ‘on the agents side’.

Over the life of this project educational agencies in Sydney

came in for a sustained campaign of attack in Federal
parliament by Senator Carr, a Labor Senator from Victoria.
Senator Carr’s research listed the many ruses that agents
used to assist students in obtaining or renewing their student
visas. In a tribute to the overhaul of the ELICOS / ELT sector in
the early 1990s however not a single abuse was noted in the
ELT sector with almost all of the alleged misconduct occurring
in the Vocational Education and Training sector.

This campaign continues and considerable pressure exists for

ELT colleges to ensure that they comply with all of the
provisions of relevant DIMA regulations. Senior DIMA officials
were questioned by the Federal Parliament’s Employment,
Workplace Relations and Education Committee hearing in mid-
2002 over links between the international education industry
and ‘people smuggling’ with DIMA indicating that more than
6000 overseas students had been expelled from Australia in
the previous 12 months for visa irregularities (Contractor and
Noonan, 2002). In fact most of these students were attending
vocational and pre-university courses. Unfortunately for the
ELT industry, considerable confusion exists in Senator Carr’s
press releases and in subsequent reporting in the media over
the distinction between ELT colleges and those offering
vocational education.

244
11.6. The ELT Student Milieu
Students and their families provide the revenue base for
international ELT colleges. Students represent very different
constructs to the entrepreneur and the ELT educator in part
because of the divergent aims each has for them. Much of the
ELT entrepreneur’s work revolves around attracting students
to the college, so that issues such as product placement and
price point are uppermost. “Sell ‘em cheap and pile ‘em high”
is how one ELT entrepreneur explains his marketing approach.

ELT educators, on the other hand, deal with the students after
the buying decision has been made and more keenly feel the
quality squeeze. It is up to the ELT manager to juggle these
two imperatives and negotiate the means by which attracting
students and keeping them satisfied do not become separate
and antagonistic aims.

AEI conducted a survey of international students studying in

Australia who finished a course of study in 1999. The
questionnaire covered a wide range of issues including
satisfaction with course, institution, life in Australia, visa
regulations and related matters. The survey found that around
90% of international students were satisfied or very satisfied
with the quality of education in Australia and with the quality
of the course they were enrolled in, and that more than 90%
of them would either ‘strongly recommend’ or ‘recommend’
studying in Australia to other students in their home country.
These satisfaction levels appear to have increased on results

245
from similar surveys conducted in 1992 and 1997 (DEST
2002a).

While international students were very satisfied with the

quality of the education delivery and support facilities, the
lowest levels of satisfaction in the survey were for the
opportunity to interact with Australian students (62% were
‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’) and with the quality of this
interaction (72% ‘very satisfied’/’satisfied’). This may in part
explain why many international students see the people
aspect of ELT colleges as critical, in the main valuing colleges
with a friendly, welcoming and supportive feel.

I’m happy with my college because all the staff are nice [and]
the receptionist is friendly and knows my name.
Kim, Student, College A, 1997

A good college should look after students more than mine does
Lee, Student, College D, 1999

This is my third college and is the best one because everyone is

friendly
Masao, Student, College E, 1999

It is important for ELT managers to successfully communicate

to owners, managers and college staff the customer lifetime
value of students across various stages in the buying cycle.
Students have to be regarded as providing value to the
college at all stages of the buying cycle rather than solely at
point of initial tuition payment. The cycle starts with the

246
student recognising a need for education abroad. The first
value to the college, in terms of revenue, starts with the
student's decision to enrol at the ELT college and the payment
of initial tuition fees. Students however then enter the second
step of implementation, where they add value to the college,
as they actively participate in college social life, sharing their
diverse personal experiences, cultures and skills, thus creating
a multicultural and international atmosphere which helps
attract further students. There are opportunities for the
college in this phase. A student who is happy in Sydney and
satisfied with the course may decide to either add on to their
existing course by extending the enrolment period, or take up
another course with the college upon completion of their initial
course. After students leave the college, their lifetime value
goes on in terms of their role in Australia or their home
country, recommending the college to friends and family. In
some cases the value of the departing student to the college
is further increased when students return to their home
country and become agents.

English teaching to overseas students in Australia follows a

wide range of paths and it is very difficult to completely define
all of the goals and purposes of the students especially those
that do not follow traditional academic paths. Many students
have a two or three step progression. They first complete a
General language course to provide them with a sufficient
linguistic attainment in English to commence an Exam
Preparation class. The Exam Preparation classes in Australia

247
typically prepare students for the UK/Australian IELTS test of
English proficiency (International English Langauge Testing
Service) or less commonly for the US based TOEFL test (Test
of English as a Foreign Language). Following successful
completion of the required language entry level (an IELTS
band score of 6.0 – 6.5 or a TOEFL score from 550 – 600)
students may then enrol in an EAP (English for Academic
Purposes) course to further prepare them for tertiary study.

Students following these steps are considered ‘normal’ by

many outside the English teaching industry and in
organizations that are of importance to overseas students
coming to Australia such as the Department of Immigration. At
most private colleges however these types of students are
becoming a minority. Even of the students who intend to
follow this path many, for English language or financial
reasons, do not end up pursuing it in exactly this way. This
has led to growth in many other pathways into tertiary
education; a popular one pursued by universities is the
Foundation Studies program that attempts to cover the High
School syllabus with modifications for overseas students.
Foundation Courses are typically one year in duration and are
frequently offered either by or in conjunction with the
university language schools. Another important pathway that
has emerged in recent years for both Australian and overseas
students is that of vocational study leading into related
university programs.

248
Unlike many overseas students struggling with university
courses, ELT college students have enough time to begin to
establish a network of Australian friends and employers and to
learn more deeply about the work system and the nature of
Australian society. Non-academic aspects of the educational
experience, however, cause many administrative headaches
for managers in international ELT colleges. A student who is
having problems with their teacher is usually less unhappy
than one who does not like their homestay family. Those who
have trouble with Australian food are likely to be far more
miserable than those who do poorly in a particular course. Tax
forms, illegal employment, sexual harassment and all the
issues of the workplace can intrude on a student’s English
study.

Effective managers should know and understand their student

clients as well as possible. For ELT managers a keen
awareness of individual students and strong relationships with
them spreads to all other staff within the institution. An
attitude of I’m too busy to spend time with the clients can be
poisonous.

This could almost be a "compare and contrast" exercise. To wit:

[Senior ELT managers during the period of the action research]
would use first names with the students and know a fair few of
them socially. I doubt the New Guard here would be able to put
names to more than a half dozen faces, and if seen at the bar on
a Friday, keep themselves to themselves. [This] serves to
highlight some of the things that really made College E work
back then. The students are just as pleasant a bunch as they
generally tend to be, but for the first time in my experience they
have been directing complaints about management to teachers,
and I find myself agreeing with their concerns.

249
 Nathan, College E, 2001

11.7. Action Research at College E: Milieu

As a result of research into organizational milieu and the
observations of milieu at other ELT colleges, at College E
aspects of milieu were part of the action research. From the
commencement of the action research discussions on milieu
issues with owners, teaching and administrative staff
formalised two issues that would benefit both the educational
and the entrepreneurial aims of the college. As with initiatives
in other organizational dimensions the milieu initiatives aimed
to have positive outcomes in both educational and financial
domains.

The milieu dimension in an ELT college divides into two broad

areas of emphasis. These are issues affecting the student
milieu at the college and those affecting the staff milieu. The
first area was to support the attraction of a broad cross
section of students by nationality to the college and build a
student milieu that assisted in the development of a student
culture that was upbeat, active and enhancing. The second
area was the recognised management task of attracting and
keeping staff who would benefit the organization.

Two initiatives, one in each area, were implemented within

the milieu dimension. Because of the nature of milieu
implementation and the time frames involved in hiring staff

250
and building a student body, the milieu initiatives lasted
throughout the action research.

The initiatives were:

Action Research Initiative M1: Action Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997), to 6 (January – June
2000): An enforced program to ensure student diversity,
particularly of national groups over the whole college and
in individual classes. Such a program to include the
development of positive incentives such as scholarships,
differential pricing and budget support for the development
of new markets. The program also to include the ‘negative’
reinforcement of the imposition of a quota system such
that no one nationality could exceed 25% of the student
body. The overriding aim being to work towards the
development and maintenance of a student milieu at
College E that was likely to produce an upbeat, active and
enhancing culture from the student perspective.

Action Research Initiative M2: Action Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) to 4 (January – June
1998): Develop a staff milieu likely to support a college
culture that was student centred and focused on student
learning experiences. Hiring to ensure that selection of
staff includes those likely to positively affect the staff
milieu, judging potential development equally with
qualifications and experience. Professional development to
be targeted to each teacher’s personal and professional

251
 interests but also to include a strong emphasis on teacher
awareness of college management issues in all climate
dimensions.

The notion behind the first milieu initiative was that language
learning success and student satisfaction were likely to be
linked to group dynamics among a broad cross section of
students. Many ELT colleges in Sydney, such as College C,
created significant institutional problem by neglecting the
importance of this factor and attracting too many students
from particular countries. In order to implement the first
milieu initiative, therefore, and ensure student diversity, a
range of positive incentives such as scholarships, differential
pricing and budget support for the development of new
markets were part of the management system at the college.

Such policies led to a range of significant management issues

in this area. In order to broaden the student clientele, markets
had to be developed in a wide range of countries and regions,
not only those that College E had strong links with due to pre-
existing relationships. The second, and more controversial
area, was the institution of differential pricing structures that
would serve to attract students from different regions to build
diverse classes, while avoiding charges of discrimination that
students from country X had to pay more for their study.

The approach was modelled on that of airline seats. Markets

such as Vietnam that required heavy discounting on tuition

252
fees had many more conditions attached to their enrolments.
Courses were also packaged with Vocational College courses
at College E to disguise the amount of tuition for each
separate part of the package. Students from markets such as
Korea, which had to be limited, paid higher fees but had much
greater flexibility in the conditions of their enrolments and in
other services such as homestays offered by the college. The
differential pricing continued to be a feature of College E’s
marketing even after the end of the action research period
demonstrating its success in assisting organizational
outcomes.

A quota system was imposed over the whole college and in

each class at the college such that no one nationality could
exceed 25% of the student body. While this quota system had
significant effects on revenue in the early months of the
college it was ultimately one of the most important reasons
for the continued growth and success of the college. Like
many of the most difficult managerial decisions there was a
short-term sacrifice of revenue for longer-term organizational
gains.

The only exceptions to the quota were at the extremes of the

student learning range so that beginner classes and Academic
English classes at times exceeded the quota. The most
significant difficulty in this area was not offending agents who
frequently requested just one more student be squeezed in.

253
While certain actions changed and evolved, the underlying
emphasis of the initiative remained throughout the action
research period. Staff and management systems at the
college also had to ensure that the milieu supported the
development and maintenance of a student culture at College
E that was upbeat, active and enhancing from the student
perspective. Another tool to support this initiative was the use
of scholarships and tuition reduction aimed at retaining
students who by their personality or skills contributed
significantly to the ‘atmosphere’ of classes. This initiative
required management to raise awareness among teachers
and administration staff of the importance of getting to know
the students who made classes work, and seeing classes as
groups that could be made to be functional and successful,
not only by the actions of the teachers, but also those of key
students.

In 1997 and 1998 a number of discretionary scholarships were

awarded to students of limited financial means who had
proven to be ‘energisers’ of their classes. For example, Yoko, a
20-year-old Japanese female student, enrolled at College E, for
a single four-week cycle. Yoko was a wonderfully supportive
student interested in everyone and everything and saw her
experiences in Australia as the realisation of a long held
dream. She had the rare ability to motivate a group of
students from within. Her disarming manner and obvious
interest in all the details of other students lives and cultures
ensured that classes of which she was a member flourished –

254
out of the eight students in her class who had the option to
extend their tuition at College E at the end of that cycle every
single one did.

Yoko was offered tuition at 25% of the regular fees because of

the contribution she had made to the college. She was well
versed in traditional Japanese culture and was asked to give
various culture displays as ‘payment in lieu’. These displays
were so popular that students from other nationalities
arranged similar demonstrations and these informal activities
led to the development of a Culture Day at College E that
became a very successful annual event. With imitation being
the sincerest form of flattery, the format of College E’s culture
day has since been copied by a number of other ELT colleges
in Sydney.

Student satisfaction is a slippery and awkward construct to

measure. The main indicators used at College E were
marketing staff and agent feedback based on the students
they represented and student extension of courses. While
agent feedback was based primarily on hearsay, rumour and a
limited understanding of educational issues, it still made a
critical difference to the success of the college. Because
students told their friends and their agents that their
experience at College E had been significantly better than at
competitor colleges, enrolments increased rapidly over the
course of the project from 0 in April 1997 to nearly 300 full-
time ELT students by the end of the project.

255
In order to implement the second initiative in the Milieu
dimension a number of management activities had to occur.
The hiring process at College E was streamlined to ensure that
potential new teachers were informed of hiring decisions
within a day of coming for interviews. All potential teachers
who came for interviews were treated with great courtesy as
their impressions of the college would also be communicated
to outsiders should they not obtain a position at College E.

Similarly short-term staff, such as relief teachers, were always

to be treated with great respect. Teachers who do relief work
at a number of colleges are very important sources of
information about comparative advantages of different
colleges and can be roving ambassadors for a successful
international ELT college.

Great effort was made at point of hiring to ensure that

selection of staff included those likely to positively affect the
staff milieu. Future growth was seen as more important than
past qualifications and experience in selection of staff, and
newly hired staff were made to feel that their special qualities
ensured selection. Induction was personal and intimate.

The flexibility in the NEAS guidelines for teachers who do not

possess the full range of required qualifications was an
effective motivational tool in some cases. Peta, at College E
for example, was completing a Masters degree and had a
strong intellectual background. She had been a teacher of
deaf students and had various training and life experiences

256
such as running a large rural property that made her a very
appealing teacher. She was offered a position before she
completed her degree and was always most grateful for being
given a chance.

The importance of constant informal reinforcement of

contributions to the college was also stressed. Recognition
involves praise, being offered additional rights and
responsibilities, challenges, projects and learning
opportunities and getting rid of mechanisms that
communicate mistrust and lack of respect (Field, and Ford,
1995; p.58).

Teaching staff had to be encouraged to see that the student

experience at College E would be as significant for them in
terms of social and affective domains as educational ones.
This initiative was largely implemented through constant ELT
manager support for staff who ‘went beyond the classroom’.
Functions, excursions and out of class activities were
supported financially and a strong emphasis was placed on
developing social activities for students. Students were invited
to socialise with staff most especially after excursions and on
Fridays after class.

From the very beginning of the college it was stressed that the
college wanted teacher involvement in a whole range of
activities. Teacher attendance at functions, parties,
graduations and so on are extremely important to students.
College E had graduation ceremonies in class time every four

257
weeks with all teachers present. Structured opportunities for
photo sessions and exchange of addresses were built into
these ceremonies and student performances were encouraged
at them. These graduations became significant cultural events
for the college and became an important marketing tool.

Students were able to hire black academic gowns for the

graduations. The ceremonies were informal but were an
overwhelmingly popular initiative. Many students, especially
those from East Asia, attach tremendous importance to such
ceremonies for the closure they offer. The chance to have a
formalised time to take photos of, and exchange addresses
with, other students and teachers was of tremendous value.
The ceremony took one hour out of every hundred teaching
hours so for the 1% loss in teaching time an effective closure
was made. It also made for a great marketing opportunity to
invite guests to the college and had minimal ‘bottom line’
costs and a large number of benefits. Especially appreciated
by the students was the attendance of their class teachers at
such functions. For teachers it was a relief from the constant
pressure to be developing lessons and it became quite a ‘hot’
monthly social occasion.

This initiative was successfully embedded in College life and

became an important ritual in the cultural sense. The
ceremonies are still held:

…at every graduation, I mention every positive comment from

students about every teacher I can (and there are still so many)
and every mention of the fun and friendly vibe of College E…

258
 James, Teacher, College E, 2001

One valid criticism of educational administrators that is

levelled by opponents is that attempts to be inclusive and
build participatory styles of management are frequently a
disguise for manipulation. The sense of participation is a
veneer to maintain power (such as it is) while followers are
fooled into believing that the old style hierarchical system has
been broken down. To a certain extent this charge is as true
for College E as in other educational institutions. For example,
in 1997 and 1998 the college paid many teachers on an hourly
rate for four hours teaching per day. The teachers who
performed self-access supervision or other duties in the
afternoon were paid on a daily rate that equalled five hours
pay. This division came to be interpreted by staff as an
equitable arrangement so that those who required higher pay
could work longer hours.

Later investigations by the teachers union however,

suggested to staff that all teachers who were working on
monthly or longer contracts should be paid on the daily rate
whether they had afternoon duties or not. Only written
requests from staff to be paid for shorter hours would be
legally effective. By the time this matter had been
investigated many staff, especially those who had other
outside work commitments, specifically did not want the extra
time commitment imposed. To a certain extent staff had been
manipulated to suit organizational ends. On the other hand,

259
simple award style conditions frequently do not match the
working situations for all teachers. Certainly since the
implementation of this system there has been a trend at
College E to hire younger and less experienced teachers to
compensate for the increase in the salaries component of the
organization’s budget.

The difficulty of management attempts at manipulating milieu

factors is that it is almost impossible to synthesise genuine
human emotions and relationships. Those with certain types
of dispositions cannot easily be turned from grumpies to
happies. Many staff however are strongly affected by the first
experiences in an organization and regulate much of their
behaviour based on these early experiences.

Staff initiatives focused on hiring practices and the importance

of team building. Once again affective reasons were given due
place in decisions of hiring. Because the first three teachers
hired each had some reason to be grateful for the chance to
work at the college this key notion became one of the factors
in hiring. Owners, marketing staff and senior ELT staff agreed
that where other factors were equal positions should be
offered not necessarily on the basis of qualifications and
experience but also on factors related to lifestyle and ability to
contribute to the total feel of the college.

In all but one case of the hirings made under these conditions
the initiative proved a great success. For example one teacher
hired had previously owned an outdoor landscaping and

260
gardening business. Because of the long hours and hard
physical work involved in such a business Ken brought a fresh
perspective to the work of an ELT instructor, rarely seeing any
imposition when compared to his previous work. He also was
able to get on very well with the large number of students
who were working in labouring jobs in their spare time and
was able to assist in both securing jobs and ensuring that the
students were treated fairly by their employers.

Danny, a former storyteller who lived in a small town a

number of hours away from the city, had previously had
trouble attracting the right kind of work because of restrictions
caused by his raising a child by himself and his out of city
location. By working with Danny to ensure that he could
secure employment at College E but retain his lifestyle the
services of a very talented and committed teacher were
obtained.

It is not always possible though, to secure such commitment.

In the case of Ben, a divorced father of four in very dire
economic circumstances an array of personal reasons and an
approach to work relations based on hostility in the past did
not lead to an outpouring of commitment but rather an
attempt to see a more embracing form as management as a
sophisticated capitalist trick. Attempts by staff to change this
point of view had only temporary effects and ultimately Ben
left the organization to work for a lower salary and with many
more restrictions in a more bureaucratised workplace. There is
no doubt that particular types of people become comfortable

261
even with dysfunction and cannot be easily motivated to
interpret management requests with anything but suspicion.

Professional development of staff was also important. Rather

than focusing solely on the attainment of extra academic
qualifications the college tried to entice ELT teachers to
undertake courses in computing, marketing and management
offered by the college. ELT teachers who were looking for
branches in their careers could avail themselves of these
opportunities. Mike, for example, was recruited as an English
teacher but was assisted in developing database skills and
ultimately moved from teaching English to teaching
computing. This gave him the opportunity to develop on-line
ICT materials that ultimately enabled him to obtain a highly
paid position with another organization as a professional
technical writer.

11.8. Conclusion
There are many features of milieu that can be manipulated by
an ELT manager to improve organizational outcomes. Action
research at College E suggests that strategies in the area of
milieu can have positive effects in other organizational
dimensions at international ELT colleges.

The milieu dimension is a reflection of the people who make

up the organization. Organizations however while made up of
people tend to be linked to a place with technology and
artefacts that can also be managed in many ways to bring out

262
the best in the people and that can demonstrate many
concrete symbols of the culture and structure of the
organization. The technology, artefacts and premises of an
organization relate to the climatic dimension of ecology and it
is to the ecology of international ELT colleges that this
discussion now turns.

263
 Chapter 12

THE ECOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

12.1. Introduction
Despite the increasing disintegration of the bounded spaces of
the modernist organization, place remains an essential
element in work organizations. The dimension of
organizational ecology discussed in this chapter includes all of
an organization’s physical and material aspects, including
location, premises, equipment and technology and other
‘physical’ items used to carry out organizational activities.

This chapter discusses the ecology of international ELT

colleges and the implications for ELT managers. It first looks at
the notion of ecology and its relationship to organizational
climate. It then outlines some ecological features of a number
of ELT colleges in Sydney and gives a brief overview of some
of their more significant contrasts. It provides some examples
of the links between ecology and communication flows. It then
briefly discusses ecological change at some ELT colleges
before noting in more detail ecological initiatives at College E
and the relationship of these to structural and cultural
variables at the college. It then concludes with a brief
summary of the chapter.

264
12.2. The Relationship between Ecology and
Organizational Climate
Ecology is the most tangible dimension of organizational
climate and can be a symbolically significant statement of
organizational structure and culture. Ecological variables are
often taken to be indicators of the less tangible features of
organizational hierarchy and cultural imperatives. The extent
to which ecological variables can be manipulated to affect
organizational structures and cultures is hard to quantify but
there is no doubt that ecology can be a concrete expression of
a commitment to particular structural forms and cultural
values.

Organizational culture can have a powerful effect on decisions

that affect the ecology of an international ELT college. An
emphasis on the three cultural themes of integration,
collaboration and client service can provide a significant basis
for ensuring that the ecology of an international ELT college
will reinforce these themes and assist in the resolution of the
competing values of the discourses of the entrepreneur and
the educator.

As noted in Chapter 9 The Structure of Work Organizations,

the basic function of an organization’s structure is to establish
patterns of human interaction that accomplish organizational
tasks. Formal structures such as departments, teams and
divisions, and informal structures such as friendship groups
and people working in close proximity all contribute to the
system. These formal and informal groupings are powerful in

265
shaping organizational behaviour. Aligning ecological
variables to maximise formation of appropriate structure and
culture is a tool that can easily be ignored by ELT managers
but it can be extremely effective if used appropriately.
Interaction processes include communication, motivation,
leadership, goal-setting, coordination, control and evaluation
(Owens, 1995; pp. 92-93). All of these interaction and
communication processes can be assisted or hindered by
organizational ecology and management approaches to it.

It is likely that communal workspaces in an ELT college would

assist in the development of a different culture from that
where each teacher or staff member had a separate office.
The development of strongly collaborative task-based cultures
in organizations that are widely dispersed and segmented is
obviously more difficult than in those where members are in
constant contact.

An organization's culture can be shaped and strongly

influenced by ecological factors, and cultural values and
beliefs are often indicated in ecological ways. Indeed a
frequent recommendation of management consultants to
organizations attempting cultural transformation is to move to
more appropriate premises. For example an internal 'culture
assessment study' by Corporate Impacts Consulting to South
Sydney Council strongly argued that the Council's buildings
were responsible for preventing attempts to change from a
traditional protected environment to a more contemporary
work culture "characterised by flexibility, empowerment and

266
collaboration." The report blamed the poor building design
and location for producing a lack of trust between
management, employees and the public and recommended
that the Council shift its entire operations because of the poor
design of its building (Wainwright, 1996, p.3).

12.3. Ecology and International ELT Colleges

ELT college management have to make many ecological
choices at various phases of the college’s development. In the
start up phase crucial ecological decisions determine the look
and feel of the institution. The choice can be made, for
instance, to exude an established look by renting premises
that have a historical look, such as a 19 th century bank
building for example, or alternatively make a strength of the
newness of the college and adopt a modern corporate look.

There is no doubt that college premises play an important role

in creating impressions of an institution. One of the most
significant areas of NEAS accreditation inspections for new
colleges is of their premises to determine their suitability for
the teaching of English. Indeed, the Industry Commission
report (1991, p.5) spoke of the emphasis on ecological factors
in the accreditation of ELT colleges but also noted its
limitations:

Accreditation is essentially intended to indicate that an

institution has met or will endeavour to meet, certain quality
standards. However there is reason to doubt that quality can be,
or indeed, should be, regulated in this way. Regulating inputs
such as floor space and library size can never guarantee the

267
 quality of the course ultimately provided, and it is a costly
process. It may also constrain innovative course design and act
as a barrier to competition

Many agents, especially those without backgrounds in

education, form their strongest impressions of a college from
its ecological factors. For new ELT colleges the common gossip
among agents and other third parties about the size and look
of premises can be ‘make or break’ in encouraging or
discouraging recommendations. Indeed in the intangible
domains of service organizations such as ELT, potential
customers tend to rely on the few available tangibles to
provide some indication of the quality of service. Walker
(1999; p.18) notes that an English language student or agent
therefore, may place considerable emphasis on quality of
marketing materials, the physical make-up of the institution,
décor, facilities, furnishing and equipment, facilities such as
the self-access centre, library and student common room, the
physical appearance and dress of the teachers and
administration staff and possibly the look and feel of teaching
materials and certificates and awards. Prentice (1996, p.10)
discusses the importance of design and other ecological
factors in ELT and their relatively under-utilised nature. She
writes that

In ELT we have to create our own definition in order to focus on

our customer’s particular needs. We are highly visual – our
students are surrounded by noticeboards, displays, handouts,
brochures, pamphlets, etc…

268
It is obvious that colleges need to be located in places where
students want to come (McGowan, 1996; p.5) and that the
premises are properly outfitted for the clientele. Most of the
ELT colleges discussed here are located in rented or leased
premises that are not purpose built educational buildings. For
many, such ecology is desirable and can lead to important
competitive advantages, such as low infrastructure
maintenance costs, easy organizational renewal and the
marketing advantages of an up-to date 'corporate' look. In
Sydney, in the central business district property recession of
the early 1990s for example, some ELT institutions moved
from unfavourable suburban locations into the ‘business’ end
of the city to take advantage of falling rents. As CBD rents
escalate this trend is reversing.

Many teachers and students have commented how important

it is for their college to be centrally located. The overall
demand for this in the Australian ELT market is evidenced by
the fact that almost all private English colleges in Australia are
concentrated in Sydney and in the Gold Coast/Brisbane area.
Despite attractive price differentials very few colleges are able
to operate successfully in rural settings and the few that do
are attached to regional universities. Within the capital cities
such as Sydney, various suburbs and the CBD tend to attract
all the ‘action’. In Sydney most colleges are in the CBD, or at
Bondi Junction, a major rail terminus near Bondi Beach.
Colleges that operate in suburbs further afield have tended to

269
have problems attracting and holding students and this was
one of the reasons for the difficulties College D experienced in
attracting students to a suburban location.

The nature of ELT institutions has meant that many can move
premises without their institutional character being lost. Many
prominent ELT colleges have moved premises or relocated
during the past decade and it is not seen as essential to stay
in the one place. The fact that accrediting authorities include
provision for adding or moving premises as a ‘standard’
feature on accreditation documents is another indicator that
the fixed boundaries of the ‘modernist’ organization are less
and less influential over international ELT colleges.

College A, for example, has a very affluent look. It is located in

an office building on top of a fashionable shopping arcade in
the centre of the city. The college has expanded twice since
moving to its current location and moved premises twice
before this. The moves and expansions seem to provide a
tangible feel of success to staff and students rather than
hindrance or inconvenience. From the students point of view
College A’s current location is excellent. It is in the city centre
in the ‘shopping’ part of town. It is close to all the major urban
transport terminals and is surrounded by an array of famous
tourist landmarks.

There are however a number of internal shortcomings with the

building itself. Colleges cannot usually afford to rent premium
office space and so tend to be in older buildings. The elevators

270
are very slow and there are no internal stairs, which tends to
make a division between the bulk of the students and the
college administrators. By having students on a different floor
to administration an alienation process can occur with
students removed from the focus of the college. In many ways
though these shortcomings are only noticed after a student is
already well settled at the college.

The leasing of colleges premises in the CBD is not without

difficulties. Service organizations such as colleges can find
opposition from landlords because building owners want more
‘upmarket tenants’. Colleges can cause difficulties with
owners and other tenants for a number of reasons. Cameron
Algie, Director of Tim Green Commercial Real Estate (SMH,
2001; p.17), lists some of these as: students tend to
congregate at the entrance to premises, they smoke close to
the entrance, they leave rubbish and make noise. For these
reasons Algie suggests colleges will find it increasingly difficult
to find landlords willing to accommodate them. More serious
obstacles for college owners are the increasingly stringent
council requirements over health concerns, ventilation, zoning
and access. The numbers of students who frequent a college
on a daily basis is far in excess of most traditional users of
corporate buildings, which in turn increases wear and tear on
all services in the building such as foyers, elevators and
common areas thus escalating outgoings for landlords. Algie
suggests that landlords who lease to private colleges tend to

271
ask for colleges to commit to long-term leases at above
market rentals.

12.4. Ecology and Communication

The ecology of an international ELT college has a significant
impact on management communication functions and
contributes to the overall creation of the climate of the
college. Hammond (2001, p.15) notes the importance of
communication between departments at ELT colleges, as well
as the fact that too often senior management intrude in the
communication flow to the detriment of the organization.
Bowers (1999, pp.3-4), in summarising a discussion on
management issues at the 1998 IATEFL conference, suggests
that organizational communication from a management
perspective can be arranged into the areas of sociating (social
functions such as greetings, wishing happy birthday, etc.),
organising (such as staff meetings, non-confrontational
seating arrangements) directing (official notices, performance
targets, codes of practice) presenting (annual reports and
accounts, prospectus, promotional video, briefing material,
technical proposals) eliciting (suggestion box, open day,
bulleting board) responding (FAQs, open staff meetings) and
evaluating (appraisal systems, course reviews, feedback
questionnaires).

The sociating function of management is frequently

undervalued in the world of work. Phatic communication, the
term used to describe communication with little or no

272
significant content that greases the social wheels (such as
How are you? Nice weather we’re having, etc) is an essential
feature of human relationships. Ecological layouts that
prevent the regular run of sociating can create tension and
hostility. Social contact begins with these types of greetings
and they are often a stress-free way to steer conversations to
areas of significance that would otherwise be awkward to
broach.

The organization of staff is generally the communication

pattern that receives the greatest in-awareness planning
attention because it is the way that many managers see their
activities. All colleges in this project had effective systems of
staff meetings and distribution of information although the
colleges with more clearly hierarchical structures had less oral
contact between senior college managers and others. In the
area of directing the layout of noticeboards, most managers
gave little thought to where staff spend their time. At College
E the simple initiative of putting teaching noticeboards above
the photocopier where every ELT teacher would spend 10 – 20
minutes a day created a significantly greater awareness of
notices than at other similar colleges.

Information such as evacuation procedures is often posted

willy-nilly on the day before an inspection and then left to fall
off the walls until next year’s inspection. One innovative idea
at College C was to have students undergoing ICT training to
produce the fire evacuation notices and diagrams. Because
they were individuated and were produced by students from

273
similar countries to the ELT students more attention was paid
to them and they became a part of the classroom rather than
an ugly appendage.

Each of the colleges made some effort to have presentation

material available in the foyer of the college. College B,
perhaps because of its affinity with Japan made very effective
use of these presentation materials. Due to space restrictions
the large photocopier was moved to the foyer – this had the
effect of removing the formality of the area and having
potential clients and students entering and leaving the college
being able to interact with teachers. While some teachers did
not enjoy the added burden of attention after class hours, in
general it contributed to the intimacy of College B and was an
ecological initiative worth copying. At College E common
photocopy facilities for teachers and students had a similar
result.

Eliciting information in traditional ways did not seem to work

effectively in any of the ELT colleges, a combination of
language and cultural difficulties made the eliciting of all but
practical information quite difficult. Student noticeboards
generate items of interest to students, such as share
accommodation and cheap mobile phone or Internet deals,
but little in the way of information that is of use to the ELT
manager.

Copies of inspection reports were placed on staff noticeboards

at College A and the idea was implemented at College E.

274
There is an advantage to making staff aware of the inspection
system and being able to see the results especially when
there are words of praise for the overall quality of the
institution. For many in ELT, especially younger teaching staff,
there is little basis for comparison and a team of inspectors
who comment that the college was successful in achieving its
mission can be of considerable importance.

One of the features of many workplaces is the rigidly held

views of territoriality and the desire of many to have office
space as an indicator of their status. While this may satisfy the
ego demands of managers, and help get them contributing, it
is likely that the enclosed office prevents the informal,
spontaneous communication that is so essential for an
organization’s success. The more that ELT managers can be in
places where ‘spontaneous’ communication happens the less
likely it is that serious management problems will develop.
Informal conversations with teachers, students and
administration staff are like smoke detectors – they are
effective warning tools should problems be developing.

The area near the photocopiers is a busy place in most

colleges. In one sense the copier is simply a resource that is
used by administration staff, teachers and managers to make
duplicated copies of material for marketing, student records,
or teaching notes. Because there are frequently delays using
the machines – paper jams, toner replacement and lack of
user knowledge however waits and queues develop. The
copier becomes an important socialising place, perhaps a

275
focus for office gossip, an area where work information is
exchanged. There is often a conversational stimulus to discuss
the material to be copied so that the ELT manager may say
“Oh I’ve just finished this submission on our new English for
High Schools course” while looking at a teacher’s lesson
materials for that day with the intermediate class.

Small tinkering with the relatively minor matter of

photocopying arrangements may have much larger
organizational effects changing the way organizational
members see themselves. There are notable variations in
social distance and hierarchy between ELT colleges where
teachers do their own copying compared to those with copy
assistants who frequently come to be held in lower status.
Likewise colleges that allow staff to make as many copies as
they want compared to those that place restriction; those that
allow students to make copies freely compared to those that
charge a fee; those that allow students to use the same
machines as staff compared to those who don’t. In general
terms the more this potentially rich zone of organizational
interaction is proscribed and controlled the less valuable it
becomes as a means of meaningful communication exchange.

Two years after opening College E implemented a change

from allowing students free copying bound only by Australian
copyright laws to one where the students had to pay using a
student only machine that was located in a different room.
This had a noticeable effect on increasing the social distance
between staff and students. The efficiency advantages were

276
considerable but they came at the expense of greater
connection with the clients.

The placing of pictures on the wall after social functions is

another effective ecological tool for the college. For example,
at College A on the day after Halloween, all of the students
were milling round the noticeboard outside the staff room to
see the photos of the previous day’s social event. The
tradition of putting the photos on the board creates a kind of
bonding as the teachers and the students share ‘memories’ of
events that have been important in creating the culture. The
spontaneity of having to look at something increases the
chances of communication – the business of the ELT college.

As in many other areas of teaching, displays on walls and

noticeboards around the college can also be effective. English
language students frequently produce work for display in their
classes and for social activities. Some ELT managers prefer to
keep the displays to ‘liven the place up’. This has advantages
but work with a clear calendar focus needs to be monitored.
At College C, for example, seeing the evidence of the
Valentine’s Day festivities in October simply gave more an
impression of negligence rather than a fun-filled, activity
crammed social calendar.

Each year College E holds a Culture Day where student

national groups are given a budget to plan a display and food
and drink from their own culture. The day produces a great
buzz of activity, as there are over thirty nationalities and

277
cultures represented. Consulates and Embassies supported
the event and students themselves were quite competitive as
to who had the best display and tastiest food. For a small
outlay the college had an astonishing multicultural look and
the displays were kept for three weeks afterward. Each year in
the weeks after Culture Day at College E, there were
noticeable increases in local enrolments from students who
visited the college and saw the displays and photos on the
walls. Many agents commented how striking the alteration to
the usual look of the college was, and the impact that it made
on themselves and their clients.

As noted above, the layout of a college has particular effects

on the type of informal communication that can be central to
the creation of organizational culture. The creation of zones of
communication between the different dimensions of a college
– administration, management, teaching and students can
have a significant impact.

At College A for example behind the reception area is an array

of copy machines that all staff and students at the college
have access to. On the wall behind the machines is a display
board for photos of student events. This area allows for a
heavy flow of informal communication and allows frequent
contact between all members of the organization. On the
other hand the offices of Principal, Registrar and Directors of
Studies are all separate and across the corridors from the
teaching staff rooms which creates a strong feel of having to
‘make an appointment’ to discuss issues with ‘the boss’.

278
At College B though, the staff room in 1996 led into the
Principal’s office. In order for the Principal to access copy
machines, coffee facilities, go to the washroom and so on he
had to walk through the staff room, providing a greater
chance that problems can be raised informally, in turn leading
to minimisation of conflict. By 1999, due to expansion, this
layout at College B was changed and the Principal’s office was
moved to a different floor. This has had the noted effect of
increasing management distance and increasing the
difficulties of management – staff communication.

At College C the layout erected enormous barriers to

management-staff communication. All senior ELT and
Administrative management offices were at the back of the
college with their own kitchen, washrooms and copiers. This
meant that there was virtually no way to ‘run into’ the
managers for anyone on staff and is perhaps one explanation
for the greater staff communication difficulties at College C
and the sorts of discontent that led to a disgruntled former
employee going to a Sydney current affairs program about
irregularities at the college.

At College E, with the benefit of closely examining these three

different patterns of layout for ELT management, it was
decided in the initial premises to combine some of the
features of College A and College B. The Principals office was
sited in the teachers’ staffroom with a meeting room that
could be used for private discussions (or as a small conference
room) next door. The Financial Controller and Registrar shared

279
an office next to reception with an open entry arrangement so
that it would be possible to greet those inside from reception.

Both offices were located between the elevators and the

students’ computer rooms where all students could go to and
so would be able to see senior staff in informal ways. Staff,
agents and students themselves frequently commented on
how appealing this layout was. It certainly assisted in the early
success of College E.

The ecology of an organization can also impact on its ability to

be an organization that learns. While there is no particular
physical layout that of necessity produces a learning
organization, some thought has to go into workplace design to
ensure that the chances of the workplace becoming a learning
one occur. Perhaps the most significant aspect of ecology for
assisting learning organization is the chances of interaction
especially among those who may have different divisional
responsibilities for similar clients. In small colleges and
educational institutions this may be the amount of contact
between those who work in the administrative and teaching
areas of the college. Frequently the workplace is designed so
that educators are effectively screened off from administrative
areas of the college; consequently teachers do not understand
the administrative aspects of their workplace, while
administrators rarely venture into teaching areas of the
college.

280
Student to student communication is also vital for ELT
managers to think of in the ecological audits of their college.
Free access to computers, printers, fax machines and
photocopiers such as existed at College A and College E
encourages students to see the organization as their home or
drop in centre and helps end the dilemma of ‘nowhere to go’.
Computer labs, as well as providing traditional educational
support and communication facilities over the Internet, also
fulfil a social role for students. A glance at any of the non-
teaching computer labs at College E would usually reveal a lab
nearly full of people either sending e-mail to their friends,
reading their country’s newspaper in their own language or
downloading pages of movie stars or similar. Activity logs of
Internet use showed that less than one in 20 sites visited in
1998 was a business or education related site.

Nevertheless the computer labs offered a semi-educational

activity within the college for international students who were
often lonely and alienated. They saw and see the college as a
refuge while they find their feet. It is perhaps taking over from
the libraries of a previous age and indeed students from South
Korea often commented that the computer labs at College E
fulfilled a similar function to libraries in their country where
students would go as much to socialise as to learn.

12.5. Ecological Change

Changes in other climatic dimensions lead to ecological
change. Colleges expand and contract, leases expire, different

281
courses are offered, staff numbers grow and many other
factors lead to need for ecological change. New ELT colleges
that need to project a strongly client focused image can, after
periods of strong growth, look more inward at their internal
procedures and see how ecological changes that have costs
as well as benefits can be rationally implemented. Ecology is a
contingent variable and getting the balance right is an
important management skill.

Further choices in premises occur when opportunities through

growth or contraction of student numbers present
opportunities to move or expand premises. Often in successful
colleges there is a need to acquire space as similar as possible
to the original to maintain the same look and feel to the
institution. For smaller ELT colleges other factors such as
distance become important because it is expensive to
duplicate many facilities and to have twin management or
administration systems across multi-campuses. Even the
largest ELT colleges can move with impunity and apart from
the notification that is needed not too many problems arise -
indeed as colleges often move because they are becoming
financially better off, and because the move is to a better
premises, then all involved are actually welcoming of the
move.

The systems of ecological change are often implemented top

down so that people in the college are only aware of the
ecological change as it is being implemented. Discussions of
ecological change can often involve the most senior managers

282
first, who have to be aware of the costs and dimensions of the
project and then the next layer of management who may have
to be involved in decisions on layout, and then finally
operational staff who may decide such matters as the location
of furniture within rooms.

After eight months of operations at College E there was

already discussion of the need for new or expanded premises.
Despite the difficulties of being ‘full’ staff in the organization
had the very strong impression of organizational success.
There was a sense that future expansion of place meant
expansion and growth. So while at College E in the few
months after opening the primary ecological imperative had
been to ‘fill the space’ within a few months the problem had
changed to one ecological pressure:

Numbers are growing steadily - we now have about 50 English

students and 200 business students. New problems now arise as
the pressure on classroom space becomes apparent. It is
interesting that we have now moved into a new phase where
rather than being too 'empty' being the problem it is now that it
is too full. Various small technical problems like air-conditioning
not working in a classroom also become more of a problem now
that there are no spare classrooms.
Action Research Notes Nov 1997

Expansion, which is the next ecological phase of a successful

college though, creates its own set of management dilemmas.
This is evidenced in the action research notes in mid-1998

Stresses and strains are again beginning to appear at the

ecological level. The current premises is full to capacity and so
we again have to find some extra space - it will be hard to
manage the new annexe however we arrange it - it is not clear

283
 how students can have breaks, how staff can be inducted and
assisted etc…
Action Research Notes June 1998

In the case of College E the promise of expanded premises

proved somewhat better than the reality. A host of logistical
issues are involved in the fitout of a new work premises. A
move or an expansion of a successful college involves the
attempt to replicate features of one location that may
themselves have been imposed by constraints.

Frequently external environmental factors can provide the

impetus for ecological change. Management frequently view
these types of pressures as threats to the established order of
the organization and yet they can be strong opportunities as
well. College A, for instance, was initially affiliated with
another college and shared premises and facilities with it. The
affiliate college was a victim of the 1990 upheavals in the then
ELICOS industry and was finally taken over by a much larger
ELT organization. As soon as the takeover was complete
College A was instructed to ‘pack their bags’ and find
alternative accommodation.

At that time the owners and managers of College A thought it

was a devastating blow. With little experience in commercial
real estate and no expertise in premises selection they had a
very tight 2-month deadline to finalise leasing details on a
new college. Close to despair they finally decided to fitout a
new floor above one of downtown Sydney’s premier shopping

284
arcades. At the time the arcade was looking to refurbish its
entire seven floors and was anxious to attract the first few
tenants who would fitout their floors to enable other
prospective tenants to see what could be done with the space.
The fitout period took three months. During this time College
A had to operate from another floor in the building that had a
very cheap-looking 1960’s office partitioning fitout.

The owners thought that their predominantly Asian students

would be horrified by the temporary premises, but had no real
alternatives other than to complete the move and hope that
the promise of better facilities in the near future would
appease the students. Far from being dissatisfied with the
temporary accommodation though, the students loved it.
Many referred to its comfortable lived in feel and the fact that
there were small study rooms where they could chat in small
groups rather than the usual large cafeteria/common room
configuration of most colleges. Many of the students from the
People’s Republic of China commented that the décor
reminded them of corporate facilities back in PRC. Indeed
when the time came to move to the brand new beautifully
fitted-out premises two floors above, many of the students
were sorry to be leaving their ‘home’. Getting ecology right is
complex management skill!

12.6. Action Research at College E: Ecology

As a result of research into organizational ecology and the
observations of ecology at other ELT colleges, at College E

285
ecological initiatives were incorporated into the action
research. At the commencement of the action research,
discussions on ecology with teaching staff showed little
awareness of ecology except within the classroom where
types of furniture and classroom layout were an area of strong
interest.

Chairs/desks in the classroom should be easy to move and

preferably the teacher should have a chair on wheels to "spin"
between groups.
Katherine, Action Research Cycle 1, College E, 1997

Teaching and non-teaching staff were happy though to

experiment with changes to more usual ecological settings.

The Action Research cycles in 1997 and 1998 emphasised, in

tandem with the other climate initiatives, the attempt to
reduce barriers across the organization to encourage
integration of activities, collaboration among staff and a
greater focus on clients. This meant reducing the physical
boundaries between teaching and administration staff,
between teaching staff and students, between management
and staff and between management and students.

These areas of emphasis led to two concrete initiatives. These

were:

Action Research Initiative E1: Action Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) and 2 (January –
June 1998): Management not be physically separated

286
 from staff except for meetings that had to be private for
reasons of confidentiality.

Action Research Initiative E2: Action Research

Cycles 1 (July – December 1997) and 2 (January –
June 1998): Workspaces to be mixed and an ‘open
classroom’ policy to be implemented.

An open classroom policy was suggested where outsiders

were welcome to classrooms and could be authorized by the
teacher concerned without any need for permission from
management. Owners of the college were particularly
supportive of this measure because many potential English
college students like to have a first hand experience of the
college and class by having a ‘trial lesson’. In many colleges
this can cause friction with teaching staff who do not welcome
the regular intrusion of unknown students into their class. The
explication of the measure within a framework of open
classrooms and combined with the ability of teachers to also
feel welcome in each other’s classrooms was a win-win result.
Teachers in training for ELT such as those doing TEFLA
certificate courses were also welcome to observe and assist in
lessons.

In order to implement Ecology Initiative 1 a meeting room was

created with conference table and chairs. This room was
located between teaching staff rooms, administration,
reception and marketing offices so that any who needed a
confidential meeting could use the facility but at other times

287
work would be in communal spaces. The Executive Manager of
the college also reserved a private office as he conducted
other businesses as well as College E. While the request was
reasonable it did limit the absolute commitment to this
principle.

Many routine management tasks such as preparing

documents, assembling material for accreditation authorities,
developing courses and dealing with student requests for
consideration in areas such as poor attendance or academic
performance did not suffer from this open approach and many
teaching staff were able to acquire management and
counselling skills by an osmosis process. The extra advantage
of this was that the day-to-day accumulation of operational
details was easily disseminated among staff.

In order to implement Ecology Initiative 2, teachers of English,

Business and Computing courses all mixed in different
staffrooms and marketing, administration and reception staff
easily mixed over two offices and the reception area. At first
teaching staff and administration staff were able to share
workspaces but after the first phase of the action research
finished the division of teaching staff and administration staff
recommenced. One initiative that spontaneously grew out of
this experience though, was that a ‘women’s group’ of one
Business teacher, one English teacher, the deputy Principal,
the Registrar, the Bursar and the Chief Receptionist who all
met once a week for a few hours to discuss issues affecting
their work at the college as well as chat about personal issues.

288
The official meeting was then followed by a long lunch. While
the intended means of avoiding separation of line and support
staff did not last much beyond its experimentation period, in
many ways this group helped achieve its intended effect of
avoiding horizontal miscommunications at the college.

Debate about separate offices for managers was a fairly

constant feature of discussion throughout the action research
period. A concrete symbol of the end of management
experimentation was the building of separate offices for the
new ELT managers in the middle of 2001.

…a wall has literally been erected in the staffroom and (the new
Principal, the ELT DoS and the Business DoS) all have their own
little offices. It is so good that they are not in our space any
longer. Their personalities are not conducive to an open-plan
staffroom…. They are pure and simple, fish with big chips on
their shoulders.
(James, Teacher, College E, 2001)
and

...newer staff cannot believe how strongly we supported the idea

of all staff in together in ‘the old days’, just goes to show that
even the soundest of management principles can f… up if
people are assholes.
(David, Teacher, College E, 2001)

The underlying aim of an ELT college’s ecology should be that,

within its limitations and constraints, it works to support the
development of the college’s structure, culture and milieu. Its
members should see it as a positive feature of the
organization and a reflection of the other dimensions of the
organization.

289
12.7. Conclusion
The label ecology can be used to cover the place and the
physical attributes of a work organization. This includes the
premises, its location, the fitout, the furniture, the resources
and the layout of the workplace. Issues that arise as to where
people spend their time and why certain places are attractive
or unattractive are important managerial concerns in
understanding ELT colleges and their dynamics.

This chapter has discussed the ecology of international ELT

colleges and some ELT management implications. It looked at
the notion of ecology and its relationship to organizational
structure and culture. It then outlined the premises and
locations of a number of ELT colleges in Sydney and gave a
brief overview of some of their more significant ecological
contrasts. It gave some examples of the links between
ecology and communication flows. It then briefly reviewed
ecological change at some ELT colleges before noting in more
detail ecological changes at College E.

There are many ecological features that can be manipulated

by an ELT manager to improve organizational outcomes.
Action research at College E suggests some strategies that
can be used in the area of ecology and some of the effects
these had on other structural and cultural variables at the
college. The success of these strategies may offer direction to
ELT managers in similar situations.

290
It is to the cultural variables of ELT colleges and their
management that this study now turns.

291
 Chapter 13

THE CULTURE OF WORK ORGANIZATIONS

13.1. Introduction
This chapter defines organizational culture for the purposes of
this discussion, then outlines some of the observable features
and behaviours of organizational cultures and the connections
between an organization's culture and its structure, milieu and
environment. A framework of analysis that can be used as a
classificatory and descriptive tool in ethnographic research
into ELT colleges is then suggested. The chapter explores
some of the implications of research into organizational
culture for international ELT colleges and argues that an
understanding of an organization's culture is an important
factor in the analysis of its educational and entrepreneurial
outcomes.

13.2. The Concept of Culture

In the social scientific literature the study of symbols and
symbolic forms has generally embraced the concept of
culture. Despite the enormous difficulties of ascertaining a
precise definition of culture and the manipulation or
management of symbolic forms, few analysts would disagree
that the concept is crucial in the understanding of social
scientific phenomenon. The concept of culture as a focus of

292
study has a long background and this has led to divergent
investigations into 'culture' based on varying interpretations of
the notion. Before discussing the cultures of a number of
international ELT colleges in Australia the construct of culture
must be examined and defined.

Thompson (1992, pp.123 - 162) distinguishes four basic

senses of culture. Firstly the classical conception of culture as
a process of spiritual or intellectual development which
figured in the discussions of culture among German
philosophers and historians during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries; secondly the anthropological notion of
culture which Thompson terms the descriptive conception
which refers to the array of values, conventions, customs,
beliefs and habits of particular cultural grouping and the later
symbolic conception which focuses on the use of symbolism
as a cultural phenomena to transmit understanding and to
maintain cultural patterns. The fourth sense that Thompson
identifies builds on the symbolic conception but takes more
account of the structured social relations within which symbols
and symbolic action are embedded. Thompson refers to this
as the structural conception of culture. The structural
conception of culture means that cultural phenomena:

may be understood as symbolic forms in structured contexts;

and cultural analysis may be construed as the study of the
meaningful constitution and social contextualization of symbolic
forms.
(Thompson, 1992; p. 123).

293
The classical conception of culture is of little relevance for this
study except in as much as it serves as a reminder of the
debate between prescription and description, relativism and
universalism, that underlies all social scientific research.
Identifying particular cultural activities as more or less
desirable, as higher or lower is an activity that assumes the
possibility of objective universal criteria of comparison. The
early universalist prescriptions of organizational cultural
theorists have been jolted by the failure to identify ready
made cultures that can be universally applied and notions of
'fit' or suitability to local conditions have prove awkward when
generalised across sectors.

The descriptive conception of culture has grown from the

works of the anthropologists and cultural historians who were
concerned with the ethnography of non-European societies.
This descriptive conception can include all variation between
human groups except perhaps for physiological ones. This
conception of culture has been criticised, therefore, as being
too broad and too vague becoming more extensive than
anthropology itself.

These problems with the descriptive conception of culture

within anthropological circles led to the development of the
symbolic conception of culture. The symbolic conception
argues that culture refers to symbolling - the peculiarly human
mental ability that allows events and phenomena to be seen
as a web of significance that has been spun by humans
themselves. Analysis based on this conception seeks to:

294
 make sense of actions and expressions, to specify the meaning
they have for the actors whose actions they are, and, in so
doing, to venture some suggestions, some contestable
considerations about the [group] of which these actions and
expressions are part
(Thomspon, 1992: p.132).

According to Schein (1985, p.50) for example, culture is a

group’s solutions to its basic problems of survival and
adaptation to the external environment and the integration of
its internal processes to ensure the group's continuity of
survival and adaptation. This broad view of culture can be
used to describe the behaviours and beliefs of any group from
a club or gang through to an ethnic or national group.

The chief difficulty with this approach to culture is that it gives

insufficient attention to the role of power and social conflict
within which cultural phenomena are embedded. If cultural
phenomena are expressions of power relations that either
sustain existing social orders or disrupt them to form new
social patterns, then there is difficulty with laying undue
emphasis on a neutral 'meaning', rather than on a more
individuated interpretation of conflicting meanings according
to the divergent meanings that cultural phenomena may have
for different individuals according to their different
circumstances, resources and opportunities.

In order to analyse and discuss the organizational cultures

that are the focus of this area of the study then, there is a
need for a more contextually embracing method of culture
that can include the contextualisation of social phenomena

295
and the structured social contexts within which cultural
phenomena are produced transmitted and received. This
study adopts Thompson’s (1992, p.123) notion of the
structural conception of culture, which emphasises the
symbolic character of cultural phenomena and the embedding
of such phenomena in structured social contexts.

13.3. Organizational Culture

Whenever a person comes into contact with an organization
from a football club to a school to a work organization it is
apparent that they also come into contact with a variety of
rules and norms, stories about what goes on, various policies
and procedures, jargon, formal documents, insider jokes,
unusual rituals and varied tasks. It is because members of
each organization are able to interpret the meanings of such
phenomena in a fuller way than non-members that has led to
the idea that organizations have 'cultures'.

Alvesson (1993, p.1) however, notes that organizational

culture is studied by researchers from a wide variety of
disciplines including management, communication, sociology,
anthropology, psychology and folklore with research
orientations ranging from the positivistic to the interpretive
and post-modernist.

This variety leads to a wide range of research purposes,

interests, points of focus and philosophical foundations of
inquiry in the field and makes it extremely difficult to view

296
organizational culture as a single, well defined, coherent area
of study. The differing research purposes and philosophical
foundations also make the precise definition of culture an area
of intense dispute. There can be a real difficulty in
disentangling the ‘organizational culture’ of management and
organization theory from the concept of culture used by
anthropologists because organizational studies, as studies of
groups or cultures, are based either explicitly or implicitly on
anthropological paradigms (Gamst, 1989, pp. 12 - 19).
Traditional organizational research has been criticised as
being based on outmoded anthropological perspectives, such
as structural-functional or configurationist views that fail to
explore “multiple native views” (Gregory, 1983), and even in
anthropology culture has no fixed or broadly agreed meaning.
In fact the whole notion of culture and the 'culture paradigm'
is a central feature of debate in recent anthropology.

Organizational cultures are neither monolithic not entirely

cohesive and each member's beliefs, values, memories and
experiences of cultural phenomena will vary. Nevertheless
regular interpretive patterns and configurations can be
discerned in each organization and allow organizational
culture to be discussed.

According to Tagiuri's model of organizational climate, the

culture of an organization is the dimension of the organization
that refers to its values, belief systems, norms and ways of
thinking, which come to characterise the people in the
organization. The cultural dimension includes the often

297
unseen, almost unconscious, forces that comprise the
symbolic side of organizations and help to shape and reinforce
human behaviour in them. This dimension is frequently
described as “…the way we do things around here”. The link
between climate and culture is strong and in many ways
difficult to clearly demarcate. In particular there are strong
and recurring links with the structures.

When describing and comparing the cultures of different

organizations it is important for the ethnographic researcher
to try to indicate how items of ecology, milieu and
organizational structure interact with the particular
organizational culture. Indeed it is this dynamic relationship of
the different facets of the organization that ethnography is
most usefully able to illuminate in comparison with traditional
experimental or survey research.

The term ‘organizational culture’ became an area of

specialised interest in academic literature following
Pettigrew’s (1979) article On studying organizational cultures
and the work of Charles Handy. Pettigrew's article paved the
way for later research on cultural phenomena in organizations
by legitimising it as a concept worthy of investigation. He
defined organizational culture as the system of generally and
collectively accepted meanings, which operate for a certain
group on a certain occasion (Pettigrew, 1979, p.579).
Pettigrew emphasised the concept of the symbol and
introduced notions such as the role of language, ideology,

298
belief, ritual and myth in organizational life (Hofstede, Neuijen,
Ohayv, & Sanders, 1990; Alvesson & Berg (1992).

There has been an increasing research interest in

organizational cultures since the early 1980’s (Alvesson, 1993;
p.3). There is now a huge body of literature on the culture of
organizations and how their customs and traditions influence
the behaviour of their members. The various models and
approaches to organizational theory emphasise different
aspects of organizational and management structure,
however, and no model of organizational culture can possibly
map all the relevant phenomena.

While research into organizational culture pre-dates the

corporate culture boom of recent years, since 1980 a broader
and more consistent interest in it has emerged. It is probable
that when the impact of Japanese economic success began to
be noticed in other OECD countries, many western managers
felt that Japanese success may have been linked to their
corporate cultures. This suggested to many researchers that
the concept of organizational culture required further
investigation (Alvesson, 1993, pp.3-4). Thus, research interest
in organizational culture accelerated and in the early 1980s
Ouchi's (1981) book titled Theory Z and Peters & Waterman's
(1982) volume In Search of Excellence were both best-selling
works that explored the effects of culture and values on
corporate performance. Peters & Waterman, Ouchi and Deal &
Kennedy all define organizational culture functionally seeing it
as a system of shared values and beliefs that interact with the

299
people, structures and control mechanisms in an organization
to produce the norms of behaviour in that particular
organization. All these writers view shared values as "what is
important", beliefs as "what is thought to be true" and norms
of behaviour as "how things are done around here" (Owens,
1995; p.81).

While organizational culture was a concept ‘waiting to be

discovered’ it may also be that changes in the economies of
OECD countries and the growth of a more systemic analysis of
work interactions have made organizational cultures more
visible. The trend away from mass production industries to
those, such as ELT, that are based on service and information
also mean there are now many more organizations where
cooperation is more important than compliance.

Organizational culture, therefore, is now accepted as a very

real and observable feature of organizational life. It can be
best understood as a collection of solutions to the problems
that are typically faced by an organization, solutions that have
worked consistently and are therefore taught to new members
of the organization as a correct way to frame, understand and
perceive the problems that the organization typically faces. As
the organizational culture develops over time it shapes
assumptions about such deep culture notions as truth,
humanity and normality. In some senses it is a cognitive
patterning device - a way of structuring thought in order to
increase certainty and predictability so that meaning can be
created and enhanced.

300
The shifting emphasis in writings on management and
administration away from the traditional focus on 'hard' issues
such as management systems, schemes, devices and
structures towards 'soft' issues such as culture reflects the
notion that hard issues can distract organizational leaders
from their real goals. Two basic elements of managerial
success are creating pride in the organization and enthusiasm
for its works, both of which are ultimately cultural phenomena.
At bottom effective management for superior performance
requires an organization to take exceptional care of its clients
or customers and to constantly innovate.

This emphasis touches on three areas of concern in

organizational culture for international ELT colleges. These are
integration of activities and organizational goals, collaboration
among organizational members and a focus on service and
care of clients as the core mission of the college.

13.4. Describing Organizational Cultures

While organizational culture is an awkward and controversial
area of research it is a vital difference between organizations
and an important ‘real world’ indicator of what makes a
particular organization an identifiable entity. Hofstede,
Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders (1990) developed an analytical
framework of organizational cultures for their study of
organizational cultures in Denmark and Holland. Their
framework sees organizational cultures as consisting of
specific symbols, heroes, rituals and values that only ‘insiders’

301
in a particular organization can readily identify and respond
to. They see each of these levels of an organization’s culture
as being identifiable through practices that are observable by,
although less than fully meaningful to, outsiders. Their model
is reproduced in Figure 12.1.

Symbols

Heroes

Rituals

Values
Practices

Figure 12.1: Analytical Framework of Organizational Culture

(based on Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders, 1990)

In order to try to identify, describe and compare the

organizational cultures of the ELT institutions examined in this
research project the above framework was used to gather and
organize data. While there are obvious theoretical problems
associated with overly simplistic models of organizational
cultures it would appear that in comparing organizations that
are involved in similar fields of activity an analytical
framework such as that described above is a useful
comparative and descriptive tool. It can help to focus the
researcher on relevant phenomena and enable comparison
between different ELT colleges to occur. It also works as an
organizing principle in recording and writing up research data.

302
For the purposes of this framework symbols are seen as the
most easily retrievable pieces of data about an organization.
They are the words, gestures, pictures or objects that carry a
particular meaning within a culture and are often not readily
comprehensible to outsiders. Heroes are persons alive or
dead, real or imaginary who possess characteristics highly
prized in the culture and who thus serve as models for
behaviour. These people personify the culture's values and
provide tangible role models for others.

Rituals are collective activities that are technically superfluous

but are socially essential within a culture - activities that are
largely carried out for their own sake. It is possible to further
distinguish between the systematic and programmed routines
of day-to-day organizational life and the orchestrated or
extravagant aspects, which are sometimes, termed
'ceremonies'.

The practices relating to these symbols, heroes and rituals can

be observed by outsiders but the meaning of such practices
lies in the way they are perceived by the insiders. Penetrating
this network effectively can aid a researcher in understanding
what is really going on. Learning about the cultural network
and the practices relating to the organization's symbols,
heroes and rituals assists in identifying the values which are
the core of any organizational culture. These deep values
inform all other organizational activities and may be seen
through the outward manifestations and practices of the
members of a particular cultural grouping.

303
Organizational culture can be inferred by observing behaviour,
but it is not the study of the behaviour but rather of the
system of knowledge, values and beliefs that gives rise to the
behaviour. The following chapter examines how college
practices in the culture areas of integration of work tasks and
organizational goals, collaboration among organizational
members and a focus on service and client care are enhanced
or inhibited by various symbols, rituals, heroes and values of
the organizations concerned.

13.5. Organizational Culture and Organizational

Effectiveness
Organizational effectiveness, while a common real world basis
of comparison between organizations, presents tremendous
theoretical problems. In this research project when comment
is made about organizational effectiveness it is considered
from a managerial perspective and is a combination of
organizational goal attainment and system resource
acquisition. Organizational effectiveness can obviously be
viewed very differently by other stakeholders in an
educational organization such as teachers (who may focus
more on 'needs satisfaction' of staff) or students (who may
focus on the appropriateness of instruction for their individual
goals). One of the advantages of the ethnographic approach is
that these perspectives can also be illuminated and allowed
some 'voice' in the data.

304
Nevertheless much of the research interest in organizational
cultures stems from the hypothesis that culture is an
important variable in organizational effectiveness and that
certain types of organizational cultures are more likely to lead
to effective organizational outcomes than others. It is possible
to take either a positive or a negative view of the link between
organizational culture and effectiveness. The positive or tool
view of culture sees it as offensive, something to be used by
management to improve effectiveness. The negative or trap
view of culture sees it as defensive - a possible impediment to
the attainment of organizational goals such as financial profit
and stakeholder satisfaction.

Many writers have argued that there are close links between
organizational culture and organizational change. Indeed
managing culture is frequently equated with changing culture
and the improvement of organizational performance is
frequently seen as a matter of achieving planned cultural
change. One possible reason why organizational culture has
such an impact on performance and life chances of
organizations is because when choices must be made,
organizational values become, at least for most members of
an organization, an indispensable guide in making them.

Kanter (1983) in her analysis of culture and climate in a

number of US corporations found that pride in the
organization and a focus on successful organizational
outcomes seemed to correlate with the level of integration of
the organization. Holistic thinking combined with a

305
questioning of traditional practice seemed in Kanter’s wide-
ranging study to be significant cultural factors. Segmentation
on the other hand, where organizational members are isolated
and mandated to focus solely on their particular corner of
operations may make it difficult for members to feel a sense
of belonging or pride in their organization.

An emphasis on integration, belonging and participation can

assist in achieving both increased profitability and increased
educational quality satisfying both entrepreneurial and
educational prerogatives. Effective outcomes for ELT colleges
are more likely for colleges that have a culture of belonging to
the whole organization and one where members feel a sense
of responsibility for overall success rather than simply being
commissioned for one specific task.

Senge (in O’Neil, 1995: p.21) has noted that educational

institutions can suffer the twin cultural disadvantages of being
stratified but with people at most levels seeing themselves as
holding very little power. He argues that one characteristic of
an organization that has a low ability to learn is that people at
all levels feel ‘disempowered’ – the general mood being that
one does not have any leverage with which to make any
difference. This problem of fragmentation and
disempowerment is a sign of a weak organizational culture
and one that proactive ELT managers need to inhibit.

The second cultural construct that would seem of importance

in international ELT colleges is that of collaboration.

306
Hargreaves (1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures of
collaboration in education. He sees collaboration becoming a
kind of metaparadigm of educational and organisational
change. He sees collaboration as one of the most promising
metapardigms of the postmodern age as a device for
articulating and integrating principles of action, planning
culture, development, organization and research. He argues
that some of the reasons supporting the positive effects of
collaborative work cultures are that they provide moral
support, strengthening the resolve of organizational members
and allowing vulnerabilities to be shared. Collaboration also
contributes to improvements in efficiency through a reduction
or elimination of duplication and redundancy.

Collaboration is likely to improve prospects of the college

remaining effective by encouraging a degree of risk taking
and a greater diversity in educational strategies. Managers in
a collaborative organization are likely to avoid overload
because of some sharing of the burden of decision-making. A
further advantage is likely to accrue to the college as a whole
because of a narrowing of the difference of time perspectives
between administrators and teachers. A greater unity of time
perspective also assists in reconciling the event orientation of
teachers with the process orientation of managers. (For
further discussion of event orientation and process orientation
see Chapter 15).

Hargreaves (1994a, p247 ff) also notes some of the problems

of collaboration including that it can be comfortable and

307
complacent, confined to the least controversial areas of
teachers’ work consolidating rather than challenging
traditional practice. It can also be terribly conformist leading
to groupthink and suppressing individuality and can be a
contrived administrative device that can be used to suppress
effective change. It seems important that collaboration is not
seen as being located within a division of an organization
where all members are responsible for a similar task but
rather across organizational divisions so that the collaboration
is for the organization.

The third cultural area that may impact positively on

organizational outcomes for ELT colleges is that of a focus on
service. Walker (2000, pp.23-33) has argued that ELT
practitioners have largely located their activities within
education and linguistics but that the underlying commercial
nature of many ELT operations also makes their activities
similar to those of other front-line service providers. They
share a range of communicative, interpersonal and
reflective/analytical skills with others in front line service
provision. ELT teachers are largely responsible for the quality
of the core operation of their colleges and under the right
conditions can create considerable competitive advantage.

13.6. The Relationship between Organizational Culture

and Climate
While all four dimensions in Tagiuri's model obviously play an
important role in determining the performance of an

308
organization, organizational culture has come to be seen by
many researchers as the most significant of the four
dimensions in defining the character and quality of the climate
of an organization (Owens, 1995: p.80). In the 1980s business
and management writers such as Deal and Kennedy (1982)
strenuously argued the urgent need for organizational leaders
to understand the power of organizational culture. They
suggested that the creation and cultivation of effective
organizational cultures was the chief variable in determining
organizational outcomes.

Organizational culture is often intuitively felt to be a critical

aspect of organizational climate. The ‘feel’ of a college may
well be related to ecological or milieu features but the
organizational culture is often responsible for emphasising or
bringing about such features. As Owens (1995, p.82) points
out, when studying organizational culture:

...one looks at the artefacts and technology that people use and
one listens to what they say and observes what they do in an
effort to discover the patterns of thoughts, beliefs and values
that they use in making sense of the everyday events that they
experience. Thus organizational culture is the study of the
wellsprings from which the values and characteristics of an
organization arise.

One of the reasons that organizational culture is of interest in

management research is that it seems to be an area that
offers leverage to the manager to bring about more effective
outcomes for an organization.

309
Organizational culture is the patterning of the social structure,
the patterning of communication/interaction and the group
expectations that come to distinguish and define particular
organizations. Such 'culture' is not a completely static or
unitary entity and it can be realised through multiple identities
and levels, both formal and informal, reflecting the fact that
organizations are frequently worlds "locked in a war of
meanings" (Hamada, 1994, p.10).

The transition from modernist to postmodernist organizations

brought about by rapid social and economic change has
demanded and will demand deep changes and adjustments in
attitudes. Owens (1995, p.207) points out that such changes
that touch on the central core of assumptions and structures
of an organization are far more difficult to achieve than simple
behavioural changes. Reworking this central core of
assumptions and structures involves significant adjustments in
the organization's culture. For this reason organizational
culture is frequently identified as a significant area of leverage
in organizational change.

For those who wish to change and improve their

organizations, however, the question is to what extent the
organization's culture can be consciously altered and
manipulated to produce desired outcomes. In the narrow
managerial view of culture, culture is something an
organization 'has' which can be easily tampered with to
improve performance. The broader anthropological view of
culture, though, which sees culture as something an

310
organization 'is', suggests that deep changes to organizational
cultures may be far more difficult than is usually thought
(Anthony, 1994, p.28).

The two differing views of organizational culture lead to

distinct and often conflicting commentaries in research data.
Occasionally the two become confused so that the
'inspirational view' of an organization's culture, how managers
of the organization wish the organization's members and the
public viewed them, is taken to be the real culture of the
organization even when there are big differences between this
espoused corporate culture and the 'real' one. Analyses of the
influence of organizational culture on organizational change
have usually focused on changes in this idealized
management version of culture. Ethnographic studies of
organizations need to get 'underneath' the management view
of the organization's culture to reveal the tensions between
the idealised and the actual culture of the organization.

Nevertheless the drive to manage culture springs from the

possibility of using its evident strength and its ability to
influence behaviour and relationships so as to harness an as
yet minimally tapped organizational resource. From a
management perspective the aim should be to bring the
meaning given to the organization by its members ever closer
to the view that the organization or its leaders takes of itself.
The, perhaps unreachable, goal is that the organizational
culture ultimately does become synonymous with the
idealised 'corporate' one (Anthony, 1994 p.48).

311
13.7. Conclusion
This chapter has examined the construct of organizational
culture and some of the difficulties involved in investigations
of the cultures of work organizations. It has outlined the
frameworks used in both investigations into work cultures of
ELT colleges and of the relationship between culture and other
aspects of an ELT college’s climate.

The framework of Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv & Sanders was

used to guide data collection in the area of ELT college
cultures in the following chapter. Three cultural themes, those
of integration, collaboration and service have been identified
in this study as being of significance in the enhancement of
organizational effectiveness in an international ELT college.
While recognising the theoretical difficulties involved in the
use of cultural constructs, organizational culture at
international ELT colleges is likely to be a significant variable
influencing organizational effectiveness.

312
 Chapter 14

THE CULTURE OF INTERNATIONAL ELT COLLEGES

14.1. Introduction
Organizational culture is the least tangible dimension of
organizational climate and yet it is likely to have a powerful
effect on the other dimensions and on the overall climate of
an international ELT college. It is argued throughout this work
that an emphasis on the three cultural themes of integration,
collaboration and client service can have positive
repercussions throughout an international ELT college and
influence its vision and values drawn from differing discourses,
its organizational structure, its milieu and its ecology.

Richards (2001, pp.374 – 377) has identified organizational

culture as a primary institutional factor affecting quality
language teaching in ELT colleges. The discussion in the
previous chapter highlighted, however, some of the difficulties
that arise in the discussion and analysis of organizational
culture. Nevertheless it is a concept with significant real world
consequences, and one that instinct and intuition, along with
research, indicate as a vital area of concern for ELT managers.

This chapter examines the organizational cultures at

international ELT colleges and considers them in relation to
the theory discussed in the previous chapter. It describes

313
some cultural initiatives that took place at College E and their
effect on the organizational culture of that college. The
argument is made that a strong in-awareness focus on the
creation and maintenance of an integrated and service
oriented organizational culture with a collaborative approach
to work tasks is an essential and achievable ELT management
aim.

14.2. Integration
Organizational cultures obviously vary in intensity and
strength. White, Martin, Stimson & Hodge (1991, p.17) in one
of the central practical books on ELT management argue that
ELT colleges with a strong sense of mission, effective
leadership, committed staff and students and a strong base of
social support will be more likely to succeed.

Integration was identified in the previous chapter as being a

significant aspect of organizational culture that is likely to
impact upon organizational performance in ELT. Where
management strategies, teaching styles and underlying
organizational culture are in harmony they can reinforce each
other, whereas when management strategies and teaching
styles clash, teachers and managers are likely to experience
conflict and difficulties, negatively influencing their work and
their relationships with each other and with their clients. ELT
managers, in their bridging role between the operational and
the administrative arms of their colleges, can work to

314
integrate consistent values from the classroom to the
reception desk to the managing director’s office.

Such integration needs to be kept in-awareness and

continuously reinforced at all levels or else a drift to
balkanisation can occur. This need for a constant hands-on
implementation of integration values and strategies was noted
by Learning Organization theorist Peter Senge in an interview
about educational institutions as learning organizations.
Senge (in O’Neil, 1995, p.22) noted that in many cases even
organizations that have worked to produce and implement a
vision have it undermined by making the vision an ‘event’
rather than a ‘process’. Going off to write a vision statement
and then going back to work is pointless. The production of
shared visions, the creation of a field of shared meaning that
is likely to produce a deep sense of trust and mutual
understanding, and its integration across an organization
takes a long time and involves a lot of reflection and a great
deal of listening and communication. In Senge’s opinion 20 –
40% of management time ‘forever’ needs to be spent on
working to get people to reflect on and articulate what it is
they’re really trying to create and keeping a focus on the
whole organization working together.

Senge’s work on learning organizations is one meta-strategy

that bridges the discourses of the entrepreneur and the
educator. It is, at heart, a strategy of organizational
integration, staff collaboration and a clear focus on clients.
Many of the principles outlined in learning organization

315
descriptions are focused on integration and the cultural
dimension. One definition of a learning organization is a

…group of people pursuing common purposes (individual

purposes as well) with a collective commitment to regularly
weighing the value of those purposes, modifying them when
that makes sense, and continuously developing more effective
and efficient ways of accomplishing those purposes
(Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1995; p.231)

A work culture of integration allows a greater degree of

organizational learning. Argyris and Schön (1978, p.353),
argue that organizational learning is a process of the sharing
and modification of assumptions shaped by cultural means.
They suggest that organizational learning is related to all
other aspects of an enterprise but that if no conscious effort is
made to direct and integrate learning across the organization
the learning will be haphazard and ultimately directionless. As
well as haphazard learning Argyris and Schön identify the
concepts of single loop or goal-based learning and double loop
learning in organizational contexts. This notion has become a
central idea in later writings on the learning organization.
Argyris and Schön (1978, pp.2-3) define single loop, goal-
based learning as learning content; that is the acquisition of a
greater amount of knowledge relating to the solution of a
familiar problem. It is thermostatic, detecting when it is too
hot or too cold and then responding by turning the heat on or
off. If an error is detected and then corrected allowing the
organization to carry on its present policies or achieve present
objectives, then that error detection and correction process is
single loop learning. Double loop learning, on the other hand,

316
involves learning about processes, and thus questions and
challenges the fundamental assumptions under which
organizational transactions are occurring. Double loop
learning involves reflections upon an organization's underlying
values and norms and leads to the modification of those that
are unsuitable. Double loop learning occurs when error is
detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification
of an organization's underlying norms, policies and objectives.

Handy (1991, p.56) also makes a distinction between the

learning required to solve a particular problem and the habit
of learning to examine the processes that lead to such
problems occurring so that they can be avoided. While
learning, especially for educators, has very positive and
powerful connotations Argyris and Schön (1978, p.353) are
careful to note that organizational learning can also be
dysfunctional. Learning is an 'amoral' process and certain
kinds of learning and change such as deterioration or learning
how to deceive and manipulate are negative.

The notion of the learning organization has become a popular

organizational and management concept over the last decade.
Field and Ford describe the concept thus:

The learning organization … sees knowledge as the primary

resource and learning as the key tool to obtain it. In this sense
knowledge is not theories and technical abstractions but a living
mixture of information and concepts combined with the
understanding necessary to apply them to the analysis and
solution of problems, planning and prediction. In order to obtain
maximum benefit from this the organization and the employees
need to be effective at learning. Part of this learning is the

317
 recognition of the need for integrated approaches and the
understanding that no strategy is sufficient by itself. … what is
important is getting the right combination of strategies
(Field & Ford, 1995: pp.4-5)

Most educational organizations have reasonable levels of

support for individual learning but not enough for
organizational learning. In many cases the knowledge that the
organization really needs to improve is too fragmented and
piecemeal to be utilised effectively (O’Neill, 1995: pp20-22).
Analyses of entrepreneurial businesses suggest that they
require less up-front planning and more implementation
analysis and double loop learning than is typically practised in
larger or public sector organizations. Survival often depends
on a combination of creativity and a "superior capacity for
execution". This ability to execute creative ideas quickly and
successfully requires integrating action and analysis in a
process that resembles constant action research (Rist & Joyce,
1995; pp.127-131). The combination of typical ‘educator’
learning with that of typical ‘entrepreneur’ learning is,
therefore likely to be more beneficial to an organization than
either one alone.

Improvements in integration of financial and educational

matters can improve organizational outcomes. At none of the
colleges in this study except College E did teaching staff have
even remote ideas of the pricing of the courses they were
teaching. While most ELT teachers perceive that this is
something for ‘administration’ a simple understanding of
course fees and advantages and disadvantages in such

318
factors as long and short term enrolment can assist
tremendously in attracting students to the college, advising
them once they are there and in understanding the overall
operation of the college.

In non-financial areas too, integration can easily produce

improved outcomes. College D for example had Australian
students studying in the same institution as the international
ELT students. Little thought or effort was given to procedures
that could improve the learning experiences of both groups
even though contact with young Australians is, according to
data on international students collected by AEI (DEST, 2002a),
the area of least satisfaction for international students in
Australia. College B, on the other hand, made use of the
limited opportunities for mixing the international students with
the Australians learning Japanese in the evenings at the
college. The promotion and support of events that encouraged
such mixing was an important feature of college life for many
of the international students at the college.

Integration of activities also extends to documentation and

external inspections of the college. In some colleges the
requirements of the NEAS and its annual inspections are seen
as a kind of flaming hoop that needs to be leaped through
once a year and then forgotten. Systems do not get put in
place that can satisfy regulatory requirements and practices
are allowed to develop that have to be covered up or
disguised at inspection time. At College C for example the
accreditation requirements were perceived as having a lack of

319
relevance to day-to-day operations, so much so that a
consultant had to be brought in to assist the Director of
Studies in completing annual accreditation returns. Most of
the elements required, though, were sound commercial and
educational items and would have required little management
effort to integrate into routine college practice. A reluctance
on the part of owners of the college to work more
collaboratively with the ELT management and staff, and a
tendency to make abrupt policy decisions without sufficient
consultation, suggest that a lack of commitment to integration
was responsible for these difficulties.

Integration strategies can also be useful across educational

arms of a college. College A and College C each had
vocational and English colleges on the same premises. There
was some management level awareness of the need for
greater integration to increase collaboration between the two
areas. Teaching staff, however, saw a strong difference
between the two divisions and without active programs to
ensure integration both colleges ended up with divided staff
rooms and areas of conflict between their ELT and vocational
operations. Part of the difficulty was that many ELT
practitioners had a view of vocational courses as more
‘serious’ and academic, while in return vocational college staff
saw the ELT teachers with, often, better teaching skills and a
more creative and innovative approach to classroom practice.
Differences in hours and expectations also caused
resentment.

320
At College A, for example, two teachers of business
communication had less qualifications and experience than
the English teachers but were employed full-time with a very
light workload. The English teachers resented the distinction:

It would have been more bearable if either of them were really

qualified and then you could think, “Well one day I'll be able to
bludge like that,” but the fact that they were barely qualified to
teach made things really irritating.
Gloria, Teacher, College A, 1997

College A may have been able to avoid this point of contention

if it had offered the teaching of courses in Business
Communication to English teachers who had a background in
the area or perhaps by restructuring the Business
Communication modules of the vocational courses to increase
their teaching workload.

It is not only integration among organizational members that

is a key feature of a sound organizational culture; ELT
managers themselves have to think holistically. An emphasis
on a culture of integration allows solutions to organizational
problems to be taken in wholes, not parts, by college
management.

14.3. Collaboration
There is a palpable feel to a thriving work organization. The
slings and arrows are just as present, the tensions and
discoursal contradictions never completely disappear, but
there is a sense that we shall overcome, that no problem is

321
insurmountable, that one works to solve difficulties not to be
ground down by them. In such an atmosphere people can
grow and experiment rather than shrink within themselves. In
person dependent service industries such as ELT the creation
of this feeling may be vital.

One concept in the area of organizational culture that may

assist in the development of such a feel is that of
collaboration. As the etymology of the word suggests,
collaboration is simply working together with others for a
common purpose. It is the sense that all in the organization
are collaborators, pulling together that it likely to contribute to
a strong positive work culture with consequent impact on
organizational outcomes. It is linked to and grows from an
integrated approach to organizational activities but it focuses
on the people within the organization and their spirit of
cooperation and common purpose with each other.

The management of culture springs from an understanding of

the symbols, heroes, rituals and values of the organization all
of which underpin the ongoing practices of organizational
members. Managers have to be initiators and creators of
some of the symbols, rituals and values but also need to
encourage other organizational members to be ‘heroes’ to
allow the culture to flourish. In fact a successful manager
should be able to eventually remain in the background with
the development and increasing confidence of organizational
members who take on the role of heroes. Over time, as staff
are inculcated into the organization, they take on the ethos of

322
the college and many are keen to further its values. Such
organizational members have to be encouraged. In such cases
the ELT manager may still need to fine tune proposals, ensure
that they align with other organizational goals, perhaps
contribute on budgetary matters and an understanding of
implementation of more complex initiatives, but allow
experimentation and a chance for organizational members to
grow the college and contribute to its value.

Collaboration contributes to improvements in efficiency

through a reduction or elimination of duplication and
redundancy. International ELT colleges become repositories of
enormous amounts of data and records. In many colleges by
default these records become dispersed and do not feed back
into decision-making. Even with the advent of computerised
record keeping few colleges are able to systematically use
their records to assist college development. Keeping
academic, financial and feedback records in one physical
location and on one linked database is a simple but effective
collaborative strategy. Data mining for links, such as that
between student progress and re-enrolment, can provide
valuable information for college marketing. Simple monitoring
of student feedback can suggest which teachers need extra
attention or support.

Ecological factors can be used to assist in the development of

collaborative cultures. Communal workspaces and open plan
offices allow more collaborative cultures to develop than those
where each small group of teachers and administrators have

323
separate offices. Among teaching staff the sharing of lessons
and resources, timetables that share classes between
teachers, work tasks that involve teachers in collaboration to
produce common exams or to team-teach for particular
projects, all serve to reinforce collaboration and break down
the isolation of the classroom.

Collaboration influences the way decisions get made. At

College A, for example, a style of informal discussion-based
decision-making in place of formal minuted meetings and
decisions by committee led to an enormous advantage in the
speed of decision-making. The possibilities of mistakes, where
a single owner makes the decisions, are avoided as well as the
time delays of formal committee decision-making.

Trivial items can become symbols laden with cultural meaning

for good and ill. Two particular symbols that seem to vary
across different international ELT colleges in Australia are
those relating to dress standards of teaching staff and the
management of and access to resources within the college.
Restricted access to photocopiers, for example, can cause
staff resentment out of all proportion to the cost savings. Hal
had taught at another college in Sydney before commencing
work at College E. He frequently denigrated his former
college. Thus:

I did some work at College H. Absolutely awful. All men had to

wear ties, which was silly enough, but there was a photocopier
that required a code before copying could be done. I spent a
week there before [an ELT manager] finally got a code sorted
out for me. For that week I couldn’t even make a single copy at

324
 the college and none of the other teachers would tell me theirs
or let me use theirs as the number of copies they could make
was so restricted they had none to spare. As I said, awful!
Hal, Teacher College E, 1998

The lease of a photocopier is a fixed resource. Most leasing

arrangements work out to approximately 5c per copy.
Reducing the number of copies in a college by 100000 per
year (nearly 2000 per week) still only works out to a ‘saving’
of $3000 - $5000 or the average cost of one twelve month
student enrolment. For the extra stress on teaching staff, the
reduced service to students and the possible damage to the
college’s long-term reputation by ex-teachers criticising the
college the savings in this area are highly suspect. It is difficult
to see this strategy being implemented in ELT colleges with
collaborative approaches to decision-making and thought
given to the organization wide consequences of such
decisions.

Humour is increasingly discussed as a sign of heath for both

managers and organizations generally. Rodger (2002, p.8)
lists a sense of humour as one of the most significant features
of a good ELT manager and the ability to promote humour and
share in it as a significant management task. It is important to
teachers, too. John, a teacher at College E in discussing some
changes at the institution in 2001 commented that because of
an increasing formality at the workplace:

325
 …the staff grew sadder and more restless, teaching began to
decline, and nobody sang songs in the office, not even me! It
was so sad, and the 'older' staff began to reminisce…
John, Teacher, College E, 2001

Humour can be exclusive as well as inclusive, though, and the

use of humour as a bonding agent can be problematic.
Managers have to be careful because those who don’t
appreciate the humour often do not feel they have the power
to voice their feelings and in many organizations it becomes
obvious that if you want to ‘get ahead’ you need to accept the
prevailing sense of humour.

The relationship of management to staff is significant in

producing a collaborative culture. Written communication as a
record of communication is an essential feature of modern
organizations but in order for collaborative cultures to work
management has to spend a great deal of time
communicating orally. People simply do not respond to printed
exhortations as they do to information imparted by oral
increments and a ‘talking’ route to understanding. The
bureaucratic board structure of College D, for example, slowed
the flow of information both ways and delayed an effective
response to many organizational issues affecting the college.

An appreciation of staff and generosity of treatment also

assist in developing collaborative work cultures and also as an
effective way of ensuring compliance. At College A, for
example, one morning a teacher rang to say that she had just
missed her bus and would be considerably late. The Principal,

326
who took the call, responded that it was no problem, just jump
in a taxi and the company would reimburse her on arrival. The
teacher started to argue that she had no money on her,
“Don’t worry,” responded the Principal, “Just keep the meter
running downstairs and come up to the college to get the
money. Tell the taxi driver to ring the college if there is any
difficulty.” It was probable that the teacher’s ‘excuse’ was not
entirely honest. Whatever its veracity it would be difficult to
be aggressive or feel slighted by an offer of generosity. The
teacher was at the college shortly after the phone call.

Ultimately the most important advantage of collaboration may

be that described by Hargreaves (1994, p.245) as situated
certainty. Ignorance and certainty are both problems for
educational management. Collaboration can assist all
organizational members in using professional and experiential
judgements, not as irrefutable scientific truths, but as situated
certainties, a type of professional wisdom or collective best
guess to help guide the college forward.

14.4. The Development of a Client Service Culture

Collaboration is used above to refer to the relationship
between staff members. However the notion of collaboration
needs to flow through to the students as clients of an
international ELT college. Highly collaborative work cultures in
ELT colleges are likely to encourage the third area of cultural
advantage for ELT colleges - the development and promotion

327
of a client service culture – ensuring the college is highly
responsive to and caring of its clients.

ELT colleges have to focus on the development and

maintenance of a service culture. Client service is the service
provided in support of the organization’s core activities and
includes such features as reducing anxiety, increasing
awareness, understanding and responding to individual
difference, answering questions, dealing promptly with
payment and other issues, handling and resolving complaints,
responding swiftly to feedback, attending to students’
problems outside the college, giving specific advice and
providing recommendations. Although education is a service
industry, in traditional educational institutions clients have
frequently been relatively powerless stakeholders. Students at
schools and universities may have little say over curriculum,
timetabling or patterns of interaction within institutions
because more powerful stakeholders such as government,
educator bodies and community groups have greater
influence.

Most international ELT colleges, on the other hand, do not rely

for their income on government funding or community grants.
In order to continue operations individual clients have to be
sufficiently satisfied with the ELT college to continue to pay
tuition and other fees. The fact that it makes sounds financial
sense is evidenced by the high rate of word of mouth
recommendations to study at particular colleges. Data
gathered by the EA a decade ago indicated that more than

328
40% of students got their information to study in Australia by
word of mouth (EA, 1991, p.47) and a further 8% received
information from a teacher who presumably had also had
personal contact with Australia. This importance of the word of
mouth value of an educational experience is one little utilised
bridge between the entrepreneurial and educational worlds. It
makes sound financial and organizational sense to satisfy
clients because they are the primary marketing channels in a
service industry such as ELT. A focus on client service as an
in-awareness part of an organization’s culture is essential to
build relationships with clients. An attention to client service
across an international ELT college can significantly improve
word of mouth recommendations to study at the college and
consequently lead to an increase in student enrolments.
Attention to client service should be an integral feature of
their management.

The appropriate level of client service is not always easy to

determine. Clients hold differing expectations about level of
service and have a range of tolerance for the service they
ultimately receive. They have a hoped for or desired service,
which is the ‘wished for’ level of performance. At the other
end of the range they have a notion of adequate service, the
minimum standard of service they will accept. In between
these two levels is a zone of tolerance within which the
service of the organization does not make much impact either
positively or negatively.

329
Most ELT colleges provide service within this zone of
tolerance. Their student clients are receiving more or less
what they expected for the price they are paying. For
advantage to accrue to the college through a focus on client
service, however, the goal has to be to exceed the client’s
desired level of service. Searching for ways to please clients
without significant costs to the organization can be an
enormously productive activity. At College E client feedback
consistently indicated that simple, relatively inexpensive
aspects of college life were considered most valuable by
students. Access to teaching staff outside class time, a
willingness by teachers to socialise with students, college
assistance with work and tax matters and an atmosphere of
friendliness were highly important. Likewise there was an
ongoing appreciation of being recognised by the Principal and
other ELT managers by name. Making the effort to learn the
names of as many students in the college as possible and
greeting and chatting to them at every opportunity can
improve enrolment rates as efficiently as a high profile
marketing campaign.

The notion of client service, therefore, needs to be inculcated

within the college. Traditional thinking sees managers on top
and the responsibility of subordinates to obey the commands
from ‘above’. The organizational structure suggested in
Chapter 10 of the fronted organigram sees managers as
involved in the provision of service to their staff who are, in
turn, engaged in serving the organization’s clients.

330
Traditionally ELT practitioners have seen their work activities
as primarily educational and linguistic but the underlying
commercial nature of many ELT operations also makes their
activities essentially that of front-line service providers.

The flow of this idea of service spreads from staff to students

and on to potential students. The provision of responsible
advice is an important aspect of service delivery. If the college
does not currently offer a course in business English it makes
no sense to misinform a potential student and then ‘trap’
them, an unfortunately all too common practice at the ‘bottom
of the food chain’ of ELT. One of the ironies of ensuring that
marketing and counselling staff adopt an ‘honesty is the best
policy’ approach is that many students who ask for advice and
are told that the college absolutely can not meet their stated
educational needs either subsequently enrol or recommend
the college to friends because they have been so impressed
with the honesty of the information.

At College A virtually no active external recruitment was done

and no advertising or mass-market strategies were adopted.
Few new agents were allowed to represent the college and
commission payments to current agents were below industry
averages. Marketing material was simply photocopied and had
none of the high gloss brochures and expensive videos
common in the industry. Virtually the entire student body had
been recruited by word of mouth. An overriding ethos had
developed that the needs of the students were an absolute
priority and that marketing in its traditional sense of

331
advertising and overseas promotion was an expensive waste
of resources. Savings could then be utilised to give a strong
sense of generosity to students.

Walker (2000, pp.30 – 32) argues that key services

management themes should characterise the management of
ELT colleges and that the professional development of
teachers should not be confined to pedagogical issues but
should also include elements of services theory and practice.
One of the cultural initiatives that took place at College E and
discussed in the following section was to try to implement
such a program of improved services practice.

A client service culture extends to decisions on staffing and

hiring. From the student point of view many other factors
besides the qualifications and experience indicated in
teaching awards affect their perception of teacher
performance.

Significant opportunities to provide outstanding client service

also exist for educational organizations when clients join the
organization to commence study, when they change status
within the college and upon departure. First impressions are
vital and frequently commence well before the student begins
a course. How the college deals with enrolment and provision
of advice can provide opportunities to demonstrate the
centrality or otherwise of client service to the organization.
The formality or informality of a reception desk can also be an
important cultural tool. In general most people are pleasantly

332
surprised to be greeted warmly and spontaneously and
extroverted, friendly receptionists are very valuable
employees in an international ELT college.

College parties mark the growth and success of an

international ELT college. Few ELT colleges see the marketing
potential in such occasions and frequently do not even
encourage staff to attend seeing them as a ‘student’ occasion.
At College A the annual party was fully paid for by the college
and has always been a large affair. Anyone who was
connected with the college could come and students were
allowed to bring their friends. Many such friends subsequently
joined the college or kept it in mind to recommend to their
friends.

Even the dress code of a college needs to be seen through the

lens of client service. What are the clients looking for? What is
their hope or expectation of the ELT teachers? The point is not
that one particular dress style or another is superior, only that
it is a recognised point of difference and should be decided
from the client perspective. Clothes have an important
symbolic role in all cultures and organizations. Many teachers
interviewed saw management as ‘suits’ and the wearing of
business clothes, suits or ties as a badge of dishonour or
selling out.

Whatever the view of staff though, it should be the students’

view that matters. At College E client and agent feedback
suggested that ‘smart casual’ dress was the most desirable.

333
There was an expectation that the Principal, however, would
wear a suit or formal business clothes and this was shared by
all the other Principals interviewed. Directors of Studies on the
other differed in their approach. At College A the two English
DOS’s had very different dress styles and yet both easily
blended in. The first DOS, a women, dressed very elaborately
and formally and on days such as inspection visits was
dressed far more glamorously than would be expected in
Australian business situations. The second DOS had a
background in the theatre and communications industry and
had a far more casual style of dress. He initially made an
attempt to conform to business attire and wear a suit and tie
but within a month he dressed very casually.

Interviews revealed a predilection for those in supervisory

positions to dress one level ‘above’ their staff. Thus if the
teachers wear casual clothes, the DOS should wear smart
casual ones, the teachers smart casual the DOS a tie or
business clothes, the teaches business clothes the DOS a suit
and so on. The DOS at College B however saw the wearing of
different clothes from teaching staff as a distancing device
and had worked hard to convince the Director that it was not
necessary for an ELT college to project an overly corporate
image despite the director’s experience dealing with
corporate classes in Japan.

Only the clients can determine whether teachers should dress

informally to match the expectations of students who want
their teachers to break the authoritarian teacher stereotype,

334
or project a more serious and formal image through the
wearing of business clothes.

Access to equipment such as computers and copiers also

needs to be seen through a client service lens. Are students
part of a college family, in which case everything in the
college is theirs to access? Are they guests who have to be
provided with special privileges? Are they valued clients who
should be given access to resources that they might
commonly need but will be restricted from private parts of the
college or those reserved for staff? Or are they cattle to be
herded appropriately and denied access to any but the most
basic of college resources? The last seems to be the default
position in many international ELT colleges.

A similar issue occurs with the level of bureaucracy and form

filling. If every appointment and every request has to be
accompanied by a bureaucratic process clients can become
restive and unhappy. All paperwork makes sense in isolation
but a focus on integration and a client service perspective can
keep controls on the overall level of paperwork with which a
student needs to contend.

As noted in Chapter 8, excursions and college activities are

also a transmitter of cultural signals about the college. The
deletion of excursion activities from College C had a negative
impact on their business, especially with a loss of working
holiday students from the college and ultimately a greater
concentration of students of one nationality. This in turn led to

335
an increase in the problem of attracting students because of
the increasing dominance of one nationality group.

Excursions and co-curricular activities are also an important

way to bond teachers and students in more natural settings
than classrooms, which by the very nature inhibit the
development of such relationships. Nathan, a teacher at
College E contrasted two management views of excursions:

The emphasis on excursions and staff-student bonding that

existed at that time was fantastic and takes on even more
significance now, given its unfortunate absence from today's
College E. The management now seems to be directing its
energies away from social events, and indeed, away from
student welfare on the whole. Excursions seem to be regarded
as teachers having a "bludge", and recently it was proposed that
they been done away with. They are still part of College E life,
but are given extremely low priority. The situation in 98/99 was
so good partly because we were encouraged to share our
experiences of Sydney and its environs with the students….
Nathan, Teacher, College E, 2001

Final impressions are also powerful and maintaining this

dimension ‘in – awareness’ provides leverage for ELT
managers. Much that hasn’t worked in a client’s experience
can be wiped away by highly positive final impressions and
nostalgia. Care and effort for graduation ceremonies for
students and staff farewells that honour departing staff, fully
noting contributions and the many friends made should be
concerns of all good ELT managers. Former staff and students
often unknowingly market the college and when satisfied with
their work and study experiences can provide valuable first-
hand endorsement of its operations.

336
14.5. Action Research at College E: Culture
As a result of research into organizational culture and the
observations of culture at other ELT colleges, at College E
several cultural initiatives were implemented through action
research. Discussions on organizational culture, and a sharing
in its creation and development with teaching and other staff,
were a prominent feature of organizational life at College E.

The underlying culture was intended to resolve the tensions

that exist in ELT based on the recognition that people in the
organization differed in terms of some of their fundamental
value systems. The underlying premise was that a functional
and inclusive resolution of these differences needed to be
worked at and that a common ground for ongoing action could
be found that would be perceived as being in the interests of
most organizational members. The key cultural themes of
integration, collaboration and client service provided a basis
for these cultural initiatives.

The primary cultural goal was to develop an integrated

organization with a culture of collaboration that had a strong
focus on service to clients. The initiatives on integration were
linked with those in structure and ecology in the attempt to
reduce barriers across the organization. Milieu initiatives also
assisted in reinforcing collaboration goals. The three initiatives
in the cultural dimension were:

Action Research Initiative C1: Action Research Cycles

#1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000):

337
That the culture of the college encourage integration and
unity of operation while recognising the diversity of views and
work tasks and that the college encourage an in-awareness
development of organizational culture.

Action Research Initiative C2: Action Research Cycles

#1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000):
That the college develop a collaborative work culture both
within areas such as teaching and administration and between
functional areas.

Action Research Initiative C3: Action Research Cycles

#1 (July – December 1997) to #6 (January – June 2000):
That the organization have a core commitment to clients and
client service. This commitment had to apply both to front-line
staff who are in constant contact with students, as well as to
management in their dealings with both students and staff.

In order to implement the first organizational culture initiative

several related measures were undertaken. Initially the
planning for the college envisaged strong linkages between
the English College and the Vocational College with hiring of
senior staff to emphasise candidates with skills and
understanding of both areas. The Principal, Executive Director
and Financial Controller shared a commitment to integration
and the need for collaborative decision-making.

An in-awareness focus on organizational culture involved

consciousness-raising achieved through ongoing discussions

338
both inside and outside the organization. Staff room
discussions, formal meetings, regular chats at the pub, input
into college activities and assistance with formal study
assessments for organizational members undertaking Master
Degree studies into education, marketing and management
and Certificate studies in workplace training all encouraged
this development of an in-awareness focus on organizational
culture. Issues such as the sharing of classes were justified by
explication of improvements in collaboration among teachers;
relations between management and staff about the
importance of integration and collaboration and treatment of
students, agents and visitors to the college that of the
importance of clients

In order to implement the second organizational culture

initiative several steps were undertaken. The first was to try to
meet and interview as many applicants for teaching positions
at the college as possible. Right from the interview stage staff
were made to feel that it was a people-focused college. The
marketing materials for the college had the recurring themes
of warm, friendly, exciting and multicultural and these were
emphasised as significant values. It was emphasised that the
college viewed ability to perform, produce quality outputs and
deliver client satisfaction as more significant than controls on
entry such as levels of professional qualifications.

Timetabling was used to assist in the development of a

collaborative approach to work. At College E the courses were
structured over a five-day week. One teacher would be

339
responsible for a class for three days and another teacher
would be responsible for the same class for two days. This
meant that each full-time teacher shared a class with two
other teachers and some thought was given by ELT
management to pairing and grouping teachers to further
encourage collaboration. Simple professional development
activities such as a lesson of the week noticeboard and brief
sessions where every teacher had two minutes to show and
tell their best lesson also assisted in the encouragement of a
collaborative culture.

An appreciation of staff and generosity of treatment also

assist in developing collaborative work cultures. One of the
first teachers at College E who left because of immigration
difficulties for her husband was given a substantial cash gift
on departure. Her contribution to the college and unfailing
positive approach despite a range of personal and financial
difficulties had been tangibly appreciated. The flow on of
goodwill to college owners in such circumstances cannot be
ignored. In my own case receiving a substantial sum in gift
vouchers on the birth of my second child inculcated an extra
loyalty and bond to the organization – not because of the
extra remuneration but simply because it indicated a
generosity of spirit and an appreciation of one’s contribution
to the organization. The fact that such acts transcend the
awards and contracts and daily whirl of business and are
absolutely voluntary makes them doubly appealing on a
human level.

340
Teachers value the sharing of lessons and resources and this
was instituted in various ways. Timetabling meant that
teachers had to share classes and levels and that schemes of
work and lesson materials had to be prepared collaboratively.
Testing procedures for end of cycle promotion of students also
had to be done across classes and levels so that teams of
teachers had to develop tests and discuss results together.
Grading of tests and standardisation of results also
encouraged collaboration among teaching staff.

In order to implement the third organizational culture initiative

a number of steps were taken. Walker (2000, pp.30 – 32)
argues that key services management themes should
characterise the management of ELT colleges and that the
professional development of teachers should not be confined
to pedagogical issues but should also include elements of
services theory and practice. Professional development
sessions were held that included feedback from students and
agents on teacher performance. The balance between
delivering long-term educational outcomes for students as
well as short-term enjoyment of classes was discussed and
debated. The issue was never entirely resolved but the
process of reflection on this important area was in itself
significant.

Management approaches to students were made more visible

than is usual in ELT. Senior ELT managers at most colleges
spend much of their day dealing with students and their
difficulties. By working in shared spaces and demonstrating to

341
teachers the level of responsiveness to students that was
expected at College E, teachers could be helped to acquire a
service ethic. Staff room discussion regularly focused on the
importance of students and their positive impressions to the
ongoing health of the college. Staff meetings emphasised that
satisfying clients was most important and that ‘pleasing the
boss’ and ‘pleasing the client’ should never conflict.

At College E, for example, in early 1998 some students from

the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan came for a visit.
These students were accompanied by their English instructor
from Japan who was interested in seeing the operations of
several ELT colleges in Australia at first hand. The Ministry is a
conservative body with deep pockets and the students had
typically undertaken their studies at Sydney’s most
established and expensive colleges. The Ministry wanted first
class service whatever the cost.

At two of these ‘high quality’ colleges the group had been

lectured by the most senior ELT manager on the reputation of
the particular college, the outstanding nature of the course
programs, the qualifications and experience of the ELT staff
and many other virtues. The Ministry instructor later informed
me that at both of these colleges the senior ELT manager had
issued him stern warnings about even visiting College E as it
was at that time a very new college operating under
provisional NEAS accreditation and had not developed a
strong brand name or reputation.

342
When the group came to College E I knew that it was unlikely
they would want to study at such a new college. A few
teachers at the college talked to the students and their
instructor about their studies, about their hope for their life in
Sydney and similar topics handling the occasion in the manner
of effective ELT teachers – a minimum of teacher talk time
and a maximum amount of student led discussion. These high
profile trainee diplomats commented at the time that it was so
nice to be listened to and have the chance to discuss their
feelings. Each of the students subsequently enrolled for
expensive private courses at College E.

A key point was that these students were about to commence

masters degree courses and the assumption made by the
other colleges was that they would automatically require
academic English courses. In fact the students had very high
levels of academic reading and writing skills and were most
concerned about conversational and oral skills development
practice. The incident underscores the importance of early
impressions and a focus on the client rather than the
organization.

Many aspects of life at College E sprung from a client focus.

The graduation ceremonies mentioned in the action research
initiatives at College E in Chapter 11 Milieu sprang from
student desires for a more formal recognition of course
completion. Ceremonies and rituals such as Culture Day and
international picnics likewise grew from student and teacher
initiatives.

343
The above initiatives did for much of the action research
period produce a successful and tangibly vibrant
organizational culture. Many visitors to the college from both
within and outside the profession commented upon this from
the Minister of Education for Slovakia, to instructors from the
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Principals and Directors
of Studies at other colleges who had heard things ‘on the
grapevine’, to the steady stream of agents and prospective
students.

As with the action research initiatives in other organizational

dimensions a lack of fixing these cultural initiatives to the
organization led to a reduction in emphasis after the
conclusion of the action research. Even though the culture had
helped the college to grow and succeed in quite difficult years,
once the action research was complete and changes in key
management occurred, many of the cultural features of life at
College E were eroded. The practices became more identified
with particular ‘heroes’ of an earlier era and did not institute
themselves effectively.

Culture can also deliver relief from other organizational and

logistical shortcomings. For much of 1998 and 1999 College E
was crowded to capacity. For much of that time ELT
management saw this as a negative feature of the college and
were concerned that maximum class sizes would deter
enrolments. In retrospect it would seem that a type of
organization culture ‘buzz’ was at work. The fact that the
college was crowded had a similar effect to that in the

344
nightclub or restaurant industries – everyone wants to be at
the one that is ‘happening’ and there was little apparent
fallout from what could have been a very negative aspect of
study at the college.

14.6. Conclusion
The core task of the ELT managers is to take responsibility for
the ongoing health and success of the college. It falls to ELT
managers to work hard to develop a culture that assists the
college in traversing the pressures of competing discourses,
the turbulent environment and a wide range of organizational
climate factors. This chapter has discussed the organizational
cultures of international ELT colleges and described some
cultural initiatives that took place at College E. The chapter
has argued that an in-awareness focus on the creation and
maintenance of an integrated, collaborative and service
oriented organizational culture is an essential and achievable
ELT management task but that difficulties can arise in the
fixing of such cultural efforts into long-term organizational
procedures.

Organizational culture does matter in ELT and there are many

cultural features that can be developed and manipulated by
ELT managers to improve organizational outcomes.
Balkanised cultures that reflect traditional structures can
hinder ELT organizations and prevent them attaining their
goals. The development of cultures that can satisfy both
entrepreneurial and educational aims, without compulsion for

345
either to shed their core values or worldviews, is an important
management and leadership task. Action research at College
E suggests some strategies in the area of culture that assisted
in the development of a successful college. Such strategies
may offer direction to ELT managers in similar situations. On
the other hand their ephemeral nature, and links to a
particular management team at a particular stage in the
College’s development, indicate the difficulty of overly-
generalised solutions in the dimension of organizational
culture.

Despite many shared environmental constraints international

ELT colleges can have important differences in cultures
among the different institutions. Ongoing managerial effort in
the development of a strong, integrated organizational culture
with a sense of collaboration and an emphasis on the service
components of the organization affects all other organizational
dimensions and activities. Nathan, a teacher from College E
recalls:

Firstly, a few words about my experience at College E in [1998

and 1999]. The Principal-staff-student relationship was what
made it for me. College E at that time was the most fulfilling
place I have ever worked at, mainly in terms of the friendliness
engendered by [senior ELT managers], and which was also
evident in just about everyone else who worked there. I felt
welcome from Day One, and also felt the freedom to plan
lessons with the aim of encompassing not only language, but
culture and current affairs as well. If I have not yet thanked
[senior ELT managers] in so many words for having provided us
with that atmosphere, then this is an opportunity for me to do
so. It was good. Really good.

346
 College E as it was provided an object lesson in working in a co-
operative, friendly environment. Teachers were able to
concentrate on their students and feel secure in their
occupational environment.
Nathan, Teacher, College E, 2001

ELT managers, it would seem, have much to do. The following

chapter discusses some of the character and practices of ELT
managers and develops a model of ELT management that
may provide a useful managerial framework based on the
analysis presented thus far.

347
 Chapter 15

THE ELT MANAGER

15.1. Introduction
This chapter profiles ELT managers in international colleges
and examines the choices with which they are typically
confronted. It first looks at the personal attributes of ELT
managers. It then examines teacher perceptions of ELT
managers. It outlines a simple model that shows the
possibilities for ELT managers when gearing the organization
to respond to the pressures on organizational values and
vision brought about by the competing discourses of the
industry. It discusses ELT manager strategies in dimensions of
organizational climate that were implemented through action
research at College E before concluding with a brief summary.

15.2. ELT Managers

Like other forms of management (see Willis 1985, p.139), ELT
management is susceptible to interruption, superficiality of
treatment and shifts of location – all of which contribute to a
general discontinuity of work. It is a people-centred job
demanding interpersonal competence. Much of it may be
‘invisible’ to other people in the organization and lacking in
personal feedback. It involves a holistic perspective that tends
to be at a variance with the more parochial frame of reference

348
held by other organizational members. It requires ‘boundary-
spanning’ and links with the relative uncertainty of the
organization’s environment. It has as its core communication,
which is both interpersonal and informational, depends on
human relationships and the fast and effective flow of
information. Finally it calls for an involvement in the work
organization that makes for difficulties in preparing people for
the job and imposes stressful conditions upon the manager

After a discussion forum on management issues at the IATEFL

conference in 1998, a range of international ELT managers
concluded that the best ELT managers, like the best teachers,
have a certain indefinable factor about them, which is a
mixture of intellectual calibre and of personal persuasiveness.
Management skill is frequently realised in a strong ability to
communicate, but it is in fact a much deeper and more
fundamental skill set (Bowers, 1999, p.4).

It is near impossible to provide perfect solutions to the wide

variety of roles and functions that the ELT manager has to
address. The international ELT manager in Australia, such as
the Principal Administrator or the Director of Studies is
responsible to NEAS for the content and quality of the ELT
courses as well as to DIMA for the overall compliance of
students with their visa conditions. The ELT manager is
primarily responsible for maintaining the motivation of
teachers and marketing staff and for much of the
maintenance of the network of agents and industry contacts
who provide valuable services to the college. Other

349
relationships, such as those with the photocopier repair and
air-conditioning service personnel also play an important role!
ELT managers have to remain abreast of industry information
in order to ensure the organization remains aligned with the
outside environment. They also have to communicate relevant
parts of this information to staff. Effective ELT managers also
need to be entrepreneurial, searching for future opportunities
for the college. They must respond to disturbances and
allocate resources appropriately. They frequently have to
represent the organization externally as well as be responsible
for internal negotiations of staff conditions.

Many of these roles and functions correspond to those

outlined for general managerial work. Unlike those involved in
general management, however, ELT managers usually remain
more closely aligned to the ELT world through which they’ve
grown and it is uncommon for ELT managers to transfer from
educational management to management in non-education
areas or industries.

Most ELT managers move into management from teaching

and have usually been promoted to their positions due to their
success as classroom practitioners (Fowle, 2000, p.16; Gore,
2002; p.3). One important motivator for the ‘jump’ into ELT
management can be life changes brought about by marriage
or children. A number of teachers interviewed in this study
who were about to get married or have children, spoke of the
necessity of finding either managerial positions within ELT or
changing careers to gain greater employment stability for the

350
raising of a family. There is perhaps a sense that the career
outcomes of an ELT manager are more stable than those of
the ELT teacher.

Because most ELT managers come into the position from

teaching backgrounds, and many play both teaching and
managerial roles concurrently, they can continue to judge
themselves more by the criteria of 'good teacher' than by that
of 'good manager'. Good teachers may attempt to minimize
conflict, even if good managers may find it a necessary tool to
improve performance. Good teachers may try to 'keep
everyone happy' whereas good managers may need to treat
people justly and come down hard on those who are
damaging the effectiveness of the institution.

A survey form in the October 1991 issue of the ELT

Management newsletter was distributed to members of the
SIG and readers of the newsletter. The survey was broad and
exploratory trying to "tap into issues and feelings" which were
important to ELT managers (Griffiths, 1991). A range of ELT
managers such as principals, directors of studies, course
directors, heads of department, senior teachers and teacher
trainers completed the survey. The survey found that,
although there was no clear 'route' to becoming a manager or
senior manager in ELT, all managers came from a teaching
background. The survey also found that most ELT managers
agreed on the need for financial management training and
that senior ELT managers' main functions - personnel
management and financial management - were two quite

351
different areas requiring completely different sets of skills.
Most ELT managers saw their strong qualities as a natural
aptitude for organizing and dedication to work and their weak
qualities as being a lack of delegation and over-compromising
(Greenland and Griffiths, 1992: p.13; Griffiths, 1993: p.6).

'Over-compromising' and a 'lack of delegation' may well be

one of the consequences of teachers becoming managers. The
zones that arise in educational institutions can lock ELT
managers into a system of "soft" and "hard" rules similar to
those outlined by Lortie (1969). The ELT manager may see
issues of finance and accounts as "hard" and therefore subject
to the ‘entrepreneurial logic of costs and efficiency whereas
such items as curriculum and instruction, which are difficult to
visualise in such a way, are "soft". Wajnryb (1993; pp.56-62)
has shown the effects of mitigation in supervisory discourse in
ELT contexts; mitigation that may initially save 'face' for
teachers but may ultimately lead to future management
problems if the mitigated criticism has not been clearly
communicated. The rights of teachers, can readily become
overemphasised in such situations, while the rights of less
powerful but vital stakeholders may be conveniently
overlooked, leading to an overall decline in the organizational
effectiveness of the institution.

The two most common texts for ELT managers (White, Martin,
Stimson and Hodge, 1991; Impey and Underhill, 1994) both
stress the need for ELT managers to create focus and work
toward common causes in order to produce that warm and

352
friendly atmosphere that is widely admired in educational
writing. Lynn (1996) however, based on work by Stacey (1992,
1993) and Pascale (1990), points out that this can also result
in the lack of contention and individuality that breed
creativity. Lynn (1996, p.86) notes:

As teachers we are often deeply committed to the establishment

of a non-threatening, warm, environment in our classrooms in
order to nurture the emerging confidence and skills of our
learners. Whilst I am not in any way contesting this philosophy
for teaching, a considerable body of research and opinion in
management argues that a similarly relaxed environment will
not produce the tension or contention vital to a vibrant and
innovative organization - and in today's competitive ELT
environment, innovative attitudes are essential.

Clarkson and Lodge (1999, p.23) argue that most ELT

managers have moved into the position from teaching
because of success as teachers. The first steps in to
management often commence with the taking on of academic
management tasks such as placement testing, exam
coordination and resource management. From there, ELT
managers take increasing responsibility for areas such as
staffing, budgeting and marketing of the college. Gore (2002,
p.3) notes that most ELT managers come from a teaching
background and have no management training and then
develop through a combination of experience, trial and error
and possibly some short management courses – a very
precise outline of the professional experiences of this ELT
manager! Often, experienced teachers who are promoted to
become inexperienced managers learn the vital skills of
personnel management, budgeting, marketing and

353
forecasting by default (Underhill, 1989; p.2). They end up
isolated in management roles with little or no specific
preparation or training (Johnston, 1989: p.3; Leather, 1989:
p.3).

Charles (1993, p.11) has questioned whether it is a valid

expectation that teachers should 'rise above' the classroom
and take their place in the management structure of ELT
organizations. He argues that by seeing management as
'promotion' ELT may be accepting a career structure that is
conceptually flawed. While there is obviously some transfer of
skills between the two functions, especially in the area of
communication skills, being a skilled classroom teacher does
not provide the full range of skills required to become a
successful educational manager (Fowle, 2000; p.18). The
acquisition of good management skills in areas such as
finance, administration, marketing and office skills is
haphazard especially when compared to management training
and development in other fields (Gore, 2002, p.3).

One significant change in outlook that occurs with the

transition to ELT management is much closer alignment with
the organization. ELT teachers work in an occupation that
offers an unusual level of mobility. Changes from one
workplace to another, even across countries, is far less
difficult than in most other professions and is indeed a prime
motivator for new entrants to the industry. For ELT managers
on the other hand, their fortunes become more entwined with
their organization. It is a more stable appointment. Unlike

354
teachers who are frequently hired on contracts, ELT managers
in Australia are almost always full-time employees with
negotiated salary packages. Salary awards in ELT in Australia
provide allowances for lower level ELT managers, such as
coordinators and senior teachers, but Directors of Studies and
Principals have no proscribed conditions. As such their
compensation and work conditions are strongly related to the
health and success of their institutions.

There is little published biodata on ELT managers in Australia.

A previous study by the author (Keaney 1994, pp.43 - 48)
found the mean age of the 44 ELT managers surveyed was 38
years and ranged range from 24 to 58 years. They had an
average of slightly less than 10 years ELT teaching experience
and about four years of ELT management experience. They
had been in their current position for an average of two and a
half years and only 5% had been in their current position for
more than seven years. ELT managers had a wide range of
qualifications but all came from teaching or educational
backgrounds. Only one respondent had traditional
management or financial qualifications (an MBA) but 34% of
the managers surveyed had a Masters degree or higher in a
language or education field and a further 30% had
postgraduate ELT qualifications or RSA diplomas in TEFLA. ELT
managers interviewed in the current study were also primarily
in their 30s and 40s with similar levels of teaching and
management experience noted above. None had traditional

355
financial or management qualifications even though all were
involved in making budgeting and financial decisions.

ELT management can be a tough job. The ELT manager at

College A spoke of often having a sick feeling in the stomach
on a Sunday evening starting to think about the return to work
on Monday. Even at a college that was financially successful
and where staff and students relations seemed most amicable
there were many hidden stresses to the job. The ELT manager
at College C spoke of the awful personal strain on trying to
find resolutions for so many small but intractable problems.
Paying customers demand a high level of service and the
human nature of ELT teaching staff can make getting high
performing teachers in front of every class every day a
difficult task. ELT colleges have few if any reserve teachers or
activities and so sudden illness or departure of staff can
create tremendous short-term difficulties. Good
communication requires time, and repeated interruptions to
work because of small but urgent problems is an ongoing
feature of ELT management.

It is precisely because there are pressures and difficulties

though that the role of the ELT manager exists. Ultimately the
ELT manager has to accept the responsibilities of the leader.
Owens (1995, p.130) notes that:

… leadership involves mobilizing resources, including human

and intellectual resources … so as to arouse, engage and satisfy
the motives of others. Therefore vision building is not always a
placid process but often requires engagement with different
world views of people in the group, different temperaments

356
 different personal agendas, different levels of understanding,
different hopes and aspirations, different pedagogical
approaches to the future…(the educational manager) must have
developed a clearly thought out position from which to
unhesitatingly and convincingly contribute to the discussion.

Leadership can be a difficult step to take and many who want

to become leaders are unsuited for the role. College staff
however put a high value on ELT managers who can lead
rather than merely manage. Effective leadership is
appreciated and is a very human reward of management.
James at College E looks back nostalgically to the time of the
action research at College E:

Sometimes I don't know if I idealise my first 2 years here, but so

many others do too…or maybe it's just a fierce loyalty we have
as educators and people to an institute that for a long time put
our interests and skills first…not sure… but we miss you.
James, Teacher, College E, 2001

15.3. Teacher Perceptions of ELT Managers

Research into English language teaching has concerned itself
largely with teaching removed from its context. This
professional distancing has certain advantages but it creates
ambiguity for the ELT manager in assessing their role and
responsibilities. There is scepticism towards management
throughout the ELT profession. Such antipathy to ELT
managers is a relatively enduring characteristic of many
teachers, and can be a severe disadvantage for ELT managers
to overcome. Teachers usually hold ELT managers in low
regard:

357
 I have realised that I have spent many years at many colleges
and one constant with the odd exception is definitely
incompetent management
Derek, Teacher, College E, 2000

Meanwhile Forth (1998, pp.22-23) notes that:

It is not uncommon to find perceptions of management among

teachers who have worked in the industry for a while which
seem to indicate the belief that management is self-serving, that
it operates in a kind of closed world with its own mission and has
nothing to do with human relationships or the messy business of
teaching.

Many language teachers often appear to have a folkloric model

of management in their minds that management is invariably
calculating and rational. Teachers often view managers as
systematic, ‘hard-nosed’, ‘win-win’, ‘big brain’ sort of people
instead of a more real picture of managers who are engaged in a
mess of fragmented activities with constant interruptions and
unanticipated meetings and demands…

A tongue in cheek website for ELT teachers provides a guide

for the various types of ELT managers. According to the site
such managers are either lazy, and hands off spending all
their time sitting in front of the computer emailing friends and
playing computer games, snide, hyperactive power-crazed
martinets, a Mommy Dearest-type whose executive spouses
simply want them out of the house, sex-craved maniacs
whose sole motivation for working in ELT is to make out with
students, Afflicted Ones who carry a general air of misery and
feel abused by the job, the staff and the students, Menopausal
Nutcases (of both genders) who scream, rant and rave to
demonstrate power, Jolly Hockey Sticks who overvalue

358
excursions and sports days while ignoring the educational
focus of the college and finally a dream ELT manager who:

…is helpful, friendly and kind. When it (ELT managers have been
neutered according to the site) must have faculty meetings, it
keeps them short and serves food. It listens to your problems
and genuinely seems to care. Sometimes, it even solves them.

Personally it has a good sense of humour, a sense of proportion

and an ability to bend the rules when it is the only sensible
option.

It defends the teachers against students and management. It

makes sure school equipment actually functions and that you
can find materials. The only problem with this DOS is that, like
Santa and the Tooth Fairy, it does not exist….
Henry (2002, p.5)

15.4. Vision and Values

Somekh (1996, pp.5-6), after listing some of the tensions
within ELT organizations, concludes that the primary tension
relates to the main aim of the college, and whether it is to
succeed as an educational institution or as a business. This
study argues that these two aims need not be regarded as
mutually exclusive. They need to be seen as forces that must
both be successfully harnessed for the college to succeed. The
ELT manager has to allow values developed from the
discourse of the educator to be modified by insights from the
value system of the entrepreneur. In turn it is also the
responsibility of the ELT manager to persuade owners and top
financial managers that it is in their interests to
accommodate, if not embrace, the values that educators hold

359
in regard that are likely to lead to the long-term financial and
educational success of the institution.

The turbulence of the international ELT environment, the

complexity and globalisation of international ELT operations,
the postmodern employment and organizational structures of
many ELT colleges and a range of other climatic factors come
to overwhelm many ELT managers. In such situations the
vision guiding the activities of the college and the values that
support this vision become essential.

Turner and Crawford (1992, p.2) note that organizations

…create and sustain value for their stakeholders in two ways.

The first is through the effectiveness with which they manage
current operations. The second is the way they change over
time, dealing with new circumstances in ways that are value
creating.

The ability to manage these two aims is complex, as

frequently the strategies that maximise stakeholder value now
are different from, and even antagonistic to, those needed to
develop future options for growth. Some of the disconnection
that ELT managers can bring to their work may be caused by
maintaining an ‘event’ orientation towards the college’s
activities. This focuses on efficiency or doing things right
without questioning their underlying need or worth. It is a
focus on managing current operations. Entrepreneurial
thinking, on the other hand, shifts the orientation to one that
focuses on the cycles and patterns of events rather than only

360
on a particular event in the cycle. It looks to effectiveness or
doing the right things and the creation of future value. A
retreat by an ELT manager into efficiency – aiming only to ‘do’
allocated tasks right and run things smoothly – while ignoring
effectiveness or ensuring that the right ‘things’ are being
done, is likely to cause difficulties for the manager and the
college.

ELT managers must focus on the dynamic complexity of their

organizations as well as on the detail complexity. Dynamic
complexity and the linkage to revenue creating stakeholders
of the organization have been the traditional area of focus of
the entrepreneur. ELT managers who move into the area from
teaching may find that the detail complexity, which has
traditionally been the area of concern of the educator, is the
more ‘natural’ and appealing set of work tasks to embrace
and may build a Chinese wall around such tasks.

It is apparent that ELT management in general is not yet

highly respected by staff in the industry. Hargreaves (1994,
p.248) notes that education is facing demands by the
previously unheard to be given a voice. There is an extensive
and increasing demand to reconstruct intimacy, warmth and
localisation of aims so that work patterns are more meaningful
and self-determining. ELT managers have to find a new path
that combines a trust in people with a trust in processes.

Bureaucratic approaches to organizations and those that

emphasize the human dimensions of organization exist side

361
by side. The creation of impersonal processes to address most
issues of concern can be a successful management strategy in
larger organizations but can also lead to resentment and
isolation. It is a strategy that has in the past corresponded to
some of the values of the educator perhaps because it is
aligned with the management of the large state school and
university systems. In recent times thought many educators
are becoming increasingly alienated from it.

Human approaches based on a trust in people can be very

effective in small to medium enterprises but they have to be
accompanied by a strong commitment on both sides to
complying with undertakings and large amounts of time have
to be spent on induction and ongoing communication. It is a
strategy that corresponds to many of the values of the
entrepreneur. Its great disadvantage has always been that
people can allow personal bias, favouritism and flawed
hunches to play a dominant role in their decisions and when
completely unchecked can lead organizations into immense
difficulties.

Skilled judgement by ELT managers is needed to reconcile the

two types of approach. Many colleges are over-regulated,
producing unnecessary alienation of both students and staff.
More routine matters and those that are likely to reoccur
frequently need to be handled through ‘process’ and less
frequent disturbances and exceptions can be handled through
personal relationships. Managers who use the ‘rules’ to defend

362
inefficient or unfair practices are likely to be held in low regard
by staff and clients.

A simple model of the competing pressures of educational and

entrepreneurial values can be a broad guide to ELT manager
behaviour. In many ways the values of the entrepreneur are a
guide to the development of the college over time, its change
strategies and the linkages between activities and tasks. The
educational values, on the other hand, need to be uppermost
in the awareness of the clients of the college and the
outcomes it delivers for them. The overall experience students
have at the college, the trust that regulatory authorities and
agents can have in the college to deliver its ELT product well,
and the overall focus of college life need to be underwritten by
these values.

The way forward is to allow the competing pressures of

educational and entrepreneurial values to balance. Colleges
that focus too much on the educational and product quality
aspects take serious medium term risks that changes to
market conditions or actions of aggressive competitors will
threaten their existence. On the other hand colleges that skew
their activities too far in the entrepreneurial direction take the
severe short term risk that they will not satisfy regulators as
to their educational quality and the medium and long term
risk that they ‘screw’ students, staff and other stakeholders.

The relationship may be demonstrated graphically as follows:

363
 Entrepreneurial Values
Dynamic Complexity
Effectiveness
Ideal
Pattern Orientation Direction
Trust in people
Opportunity
Doing the right thing
Profit

Quality Integration
Collaboration
Client Service

Educational Values
Detail Complexity
Efficiency
Event Orientation
Trust in processes
Accountability
Doing things right
Quality
Profitability

Figure 15.1
The relationship between quality and profit.

Entrepreneurial values push towards increasing college

profitability while educational values push towards increasing
educational quality. The ELT managers in a college have to
ensure that the balance between the two is maintained.
Increases in quality without corresponding increases in profit
will lead to a loss of financial capacity while increases in profit
without corresponding increases in quality of product and
service will harm the life chances of the organization.

364
15.5. Climate and the ELT Manager
There is a need for an ELT manager to understand the various
dimensions of the organization’s climate and to ensure that
proactive management strategies exist in each dimension.
Such strategies have to reinforce rather than undermine each
other. At College E 11 simple initiatives linked across the four
climate dimensions had many positive educational and
financial outcomes for the college. The initiatives are
summarised in the table below:

365
 Structure Ecology Milieu Culture

S2. E1. C1.

Limited barriers No physical Emphasis on
separation of integration and
Integration management in-awareness
development of
organizational
culture

S3. E2. C2.

In awareness Mixed Development of
Collaboratio understanding workspaces. a culture of
n for staff of Open collaboration
management classrooms
tasks

S1. M1. C3.

Fronted Student Culture of client
organigram and diversity service
Client
client focus
Service
M2.
Attraction of
client
focused staff

Table 15.1
Summary of Action Research Initiatives at College E

At College E effort was made to have those in client contact

including administration and teaching staff seen as the most
crucial in the organization with those ‘behind’ in management
playing support roles to ensure the effectiveness of those ‘in
front’. Quality was seen primarily from the point of view of
client satisfaction. Barriers between staff were discouraged to
prevent ‘balkanisation’. Management decisions on structure
were explicit and communicated to all employees. Staff had

366
the opportunity to witness managers in action, so that they
could question them about their activities and decisions and
ultimately learn management skills on the job.

There was an enforced program to ensure student diversity,

particularly of national groups over the whole college and in
individual classes. The program included positive incentives
such as scholarships, differential pricing and budget support
for new markets as well as negative reinforcement in the form
of a quota system with no nationality allowed to exceed 25%
of the total. Hiring and staff development aimed to obtain and
retain staff most likely to support a college culture that was
student centred and focused on student learning experiences.
Management was not physically separated from staff.
Workspaces were mixed and an open classroom policy was
maintained

Effort was made to develop a work culture that encouraged

diversity of views but with an overall unity of operation. Staff
were made to feel certain that satisfying clients was their
prime task. Finally the college encouraged an in-awareness
development of organizational culture trying to have a sense
of intimacy and spontaneity that is frequently lacking in work
organizations.

Of course there are many other possible management

initiatives that could be added to this list. The action research
at College E did not involve intensive curriculum reform or

367
renewal, for example, even though in more established
colleges this would obviously be a favoured area of activity.

ELT managers who do not hold equity in an international ELT

college must convince owners that they are committed to the
ultimate financial success of the college. Developing a history
of commitment to decisions that maximise the equity returns
to owners without compromising staff loyalty or student
educational experiences is a powerful means for ELT
managers to gain the trust of all stakeholders. In this area a
personal reconciliation of the values of the educator and the
entrepreneur needs to be made. ELT managers who can
communicate owner paradigms through their own resolution
of the competing discourses can frame other staff members’
understanding of the organizational realities and constraints.
In many cases the stress that owners are put under is poorly
communicated to organizational members who don’t see the
immense financial and legal responsibilities taken on by
company directors. Bankruptcy and loss of personal assets is
not a risk of the employee and many poor or seemingly
haphazard decisions taken by college owners are the result of
financial stresses.

A sound understanding of financial matters can also assist.

Educators and other employees, for example, often poorly
understand cash flow. The need for resources to be allocated
on a cash flow basis so that the spread of outgoings is even
throughout the year can lead to significant improvements in
college life. Understanding the real costs of equipment and

368
staffing is another area that ELT managers need to grasp.
Paying a librarian $40000 per year to ensure that a few
thousand dollars of books do not go missing is not a sound
commercial decision. Employing staff without any thought
given to their relative pay scales or on-costs is another area
where conflict can arise through limited financial
understanding by the ELT manager. A focus on the core goals
of the college and the constant communication of them
throughout the college are essential. It is ultimately the ELT
manager’s role to ensure that this focus is maintained.

15.6. Conclusion
ELT managers are often held in low regard by their staff.
Improvements in management performance and in the
esteem in which managers are held probably lie in developing
a clearer sense of personal and professional values, followed
by the ability to then implement these values across
organizational dimensions. ELT managers need to understand
and reconcile the entrepreneurial and educational imperatives
that buffet the direction of their colleges. They need to
develop strategies that demonstrate a commitment to the
future of their college, and ensure that the implementation of
such strategies satisfies financial goals without seriously
compromising educational ones.

369
 Chapter 16

CONCLUSION

16.1. Introduction
Management is a very human activity. Decisions affect people,
and their costs and benefits are of concern to all stakeholders
in an organization. Finding managerial solutions that offer the
greatest good to the greatest number without compromising
the core values of the organization is as much art as science.
Impey and Underhill (1994, p. viii) stress that successful
management is not an academic discipline. Ultimately
management activities and tasks take place in real time in the
real world and offer a lack of time for reflection and the
attainment of complete information upon which to base
decisions.

Over the life of this research project the notion that the
management world ‘outside’ the classroom is a significant
arbiter of ELT practice has become increasingly recognised by
educators and researchers. Savage (1996, pp.24 – 27) has
argued that while there is a vast array of information on
general management and educational administration there is
a lack of research and application of this theory to
management practices in ELT centres. Walker (1998, pp.30 –
39) has noted the lack of research into ELT management in

370
general and its services management in particular. In a later
article Walker (2000, pp.23 – 33) argues that ELT managers
must ensure that their ELT instructors focus as much on the
services elements of ELT provision as on pedagogical issues.
Clark (1999: p.31) writes:

If we continue to focus exclusively on the classroom as the locus

for change, our efforts will surely fail, and teachers will
increasingly become the scapegoats for what are, in fact,
systemic problems.

Even Jack Richards (2001, p.410) one of the most influential

applied linguists in the area of ELT principles and pedagogical
practice over the last two decades has recently argued that
the narrow focus of research into ELT, which has focused on
teaching methods and techniques, has to be broadened to
include an understanding of the context of ELT and the
institutions within which it is conducted. Richards notes that
principles of effective institutional management identified in
other settings need to be applied to ELT.

The introduction to this study noted that ELT managers in

Australia saw little correlation between their perceptions of
their work performance and of their organization’s
effectiveness; in other words ELT managers did not judge their
own work performance by its effect on organizational
outcomes. A mix of environmental, climate and discoursal
factors was proposed as the likely explanation for this. The
current study has suggested that strategies may be available

371
to ameliorate each of these inhibitors to efficient and effective
ELT management.

This study has explored three primary areas of concern for

effective ELT management. These were: i) environmental
factors, ii) problems of values and vision arising from a clash
of discourses and iii) climate factors including organizational
structure, milieu, ecology and culture. Some management
initiatives in the area of organizational climate were put in
place through an action research project at one international
ELT college and the outcomes of these initiatives were
discussed.

16.2. Environment
The turbulent environment of international ELT can lead
managers to feel that they can have little control over it. The
international ELT environment exhibits the paradoxical trends
of Postmodernity. As the reach of even small work
organizations becomes progressively more global,
organizations are pressured to increasingly segment,
differentiate and personalise themselves. ELT colleges on the
one hand are drawing their educational clients from a vast
range of countries, yet on the other, are becoming increasing
specialised in order to cater to various market 'niches'.

In such circumstances absolute managerial control over the

intensely unpredictable environment of ELT is an elusive goal.
Managers are unable to build walls against the surging

372
currents of the external environment. The skilful manager has
to be more a surfer using the currents and tides to best
advantage than a King Canute attempting to hold the tide at
bay. The surfer retains control and direction despite the
unpredictable forces. The aim is not to go against the surging
waves, but to understand the environment so that
organizational direction and purpose can be attained.

16.3. Discourse Resolution

From an anthropological perspective each organization is “a
world locked in a war of meanings” (Hamada, 1994: p.10) and
in international ELT colleges this ‘war of meanings’ has largely
been realised as a conflict between entrepreneurial and
educational values. This study has argued that international
ELT colleges are likely to be organizations in which key players
differ in terms of the fundamental value systems that bring
meaning to their work. The argument has been made that
managers in international ELT colleges need to search for
solutions that use the values and insights of both the educator
and the entrepreneur and, as far as possible, allow this
resolution to permeate through the organization.

Because most ELT managers come into the position from

teaching backgrounds, and many play both teaching and
managerial roles concurrently, they must avoid judging
themselves simply by the values of the educator. The view
that managerial responsibility stops at the division between

373
teaching and marketing, or educational and financial matters,
is unlikely to lead to organizational success.

ELT managers in international colleges need to find working

resolutions between the values and insights of the educator
and the entrepreneur. The limiting feature of any discourse is
that its interpretive power creates blind spots in perception. A
particular discourse simultaneously enables and inhibits
perception. A discourse provides a framework to make sense
of input but it is this very framework that limits what is
perceived. The beliefs and perceptions that underlie the
discourse of the educator and of the entrepreneur form
paradigms and it is these internally held paradigms that drive
behaviour.

An ability to develop a mental set that embraces both value

systems and can use points of difference as analytical or
interpretive tools would seem an important one for ELT
managers to acquire. Managers require a holistic view of
operations if they are to attain organizational success. Impey
and Underhill (1994, pp.vii – viii) in their ELT management text
emphasise that the different aspects of management such as
personnel, finance and promotion are merely different facets
of an overall whole and not fundamental divisions. They note:

Successful management is not only indivisible, it positively looks

for the interconnections, between education and finance for
example, or between personnel and marketing, and it looks for
ways to exploit them.
Impey and Underhill (1994, p.viii)

374
It would seem that a key task for ELT managers, therefore, is
to develop a pragmatic basis for functionality for all
organizational members. Organizational members have to be
enabled to function on a common ground, not through
managerial coercion, but through the development of
consensus on key organizational matters. The difficulties in
developing such a functional solution across various
organizational dimensions is a complex task and likely to be
fraught with many disappointments. The personal and
professional price of failure however is high, leading to a view
that the owners are the enemy:

The problem in most private sector centres is that the top

management (owners) are motivated by exclusively commercial
(profit-centred) considerations. Staff (especially senior
managerial staff – who have no financial interest in the centre)
are overworked, underpaid and under-resourced. Educational
quality is irrelevant. Staff training, development and happiness
are irrelevant. Profit is everything. It is a business, not an
educational institution. We sell language education, but it could
as easily be cars, cakes or paper cups. ELT centre owners are
industrial relations and human relations dinosaurs. Their creed is
greed. Staff exist to be exploited. Students have only a dollar
value. As Principal and DoS I do not have the time nor (this is
important) the support from the Directors (owners) to perform
any one aspect of my job well. Consequently everything is very
poor quality. ….
ELT College Principal/DoS (1993)

16.4. Climate
The external environment and the competing discourses are
pressures outside, around and beneath the daily operations of
the international ELT college. The organizational climate,
consisting of its milieu, ecology, structure and culture are the

375
variables that ELT managers can manage and manipulate and
combine to help create a thriving college.

Colleges where only those at the top with actual equity or

financial control have any power to influence events may
develop problems with staff that negatively affect the quality
of students’ experience. Organizational cultures that focus on
limits and punishments probably act to reduce the value of an
ELT college. Ecological symbols that emphasis stratification
and strictly marked territories can allow problems to fester
and innovation to wither. Mismanagement of staff and student
milieu or reactively accepting ‘whatever comes along’, leaves
to luck an area of organizational life that can and should be
managed.

Of course most management difficulties are contingent on a

range of variables that make fixed, off-the-shelf solutions for
organizational difficulties very rare. Satisfactory resolutions of
management dilemmas are contingent upon the total
situation and are also contingent upon all the relevant
variables applying at that particular time and place. Each
difficulty or challenge can only be regarded as one instance of
a class or type of problem and principles and guidelines can
only be established for the general class of problems, not for
each specific instance.

In each individual case though, there are right and wrong

approaches. A blend of judgement, experience,
communication skills and luck is needed to make a sufficient

376
number of correct decisions and implement a critical mass of
suitable policies to make the ELT college’s climate one most
likely to lead to success.

377
Entrepreneur Values Educator Values

Dynamic Complexity Detail Complexity

INTEGRATION
OF
Profit Quality
OPERATIONS
AND
Effectiveness STRATEGIES Efficiency

Pattern Orientation Event Orientation

Trust in people COLLABORATION Trust in processes

AMONG
STAFF
Opportunity Accountability

Client as resource FOCUS Client as beneficiary

ON
CLIENT SERVICE

Improved Improved
financial educational
outcomes outcomes

Figure 16.1
Reconciliation of ELT educator and entrepreneurial values

378
16.5. Action Research
The aim of action research, as noted in Chapter 2, is to solve
specific problems within the organization by developing
specific actions. The action and the research are linked and
are repeated in cycles until the particular problem is resolved.

The action research project reported here had a tremendous

value for the participants and this researcher. The possibility
to shape organizational outcomes is intriguing for many in ELT
who have rarely been allowed a voice in the direction of their
organizations. The close linkage between particular problems
and solutions during this project though, limited the effects of
many of the initiatives after the project was complete. Many of
the features of the action research became too closely linked
with the character and style of the management team at the
time of the project. With changes to this team, significant
features were altered, and while particular aspects remain,
most of the initiatives came to be seen as belonging to an
‘era’ rather than as fundamental characteristics of the college.

Some of the action research in this study may seem limited to

those who view such research from a different perspective.
Gore and Zeichner (1995, p.206) note that

Action research, as a methodology for social scientific research

and social change has historically been linked to a language of
‘democracy’ and ‘transformation’. …the power of emancipatory
action research can be seen to lie in its connection to critical
social science…it is precisely these connections which contribute
to its ‘dangers’ (as)… perhaps in the name of optimism and
simplicity tends towards rather universalised notions of
oppression and emancipation.

379
Class, gender and race formations, which are frequently the
issues in larger research contexts, are muted in this study. On
the other hand, the action research project was meaningful to
participants and genuinely proceeded from the particular
concerns of those who were involved. The individuals who
owned, worked or studied at College E during the course of
the action research could feel the difference that such a
project makes. The fact that most participants in the action
research now look back on those times rather nostalgically is,
perhaps, a very human indicator of the significance of the
project. The growth and success of the college in the years
that the research took place would also seem to confirm its
value.

16.6. Simply the Best

The aim of this study has been to use ethnographic methods
to gain a fuller insight into international ELT colleges and
examine some of the factors that enhance or interfere with
the management and attainment of their educational and
organizational goals.

Black (2001, p.11) notes that over the course of his career in
ELT management various owner-managed operations have
had a variety of organizational outcomes – one is currently in
receivership, one has grown steadily but with great staffing
unrest and constant compromise and one seems to have
stagnated by resting on its former reputation. None of these

380
long-term outcomes seems particularly desirable. A similar
range of outcomes exists for the colleges analysed here. By
mid 2002 one had closed down, one was suffering serious
reductions in student numbers and was on the verge of
receivership, one had been taken over by a large ELT college
‘chain’ and two were still operating successfully and
independently.

The expertise of the effective ELT manager should enable the

ELT college to experience steady growth to an optimum size
with a motivated group of staff and a constantly improving
educational and service reputation. Pre-packaged answers to
enable such an outcome are as difficult to develop as they
would be for other types of organizations. The search for such
solutions though, is important. The insights gained, and the
attainment of even partial answers, are themselves likely to
improve organizational outcomes.

More than a quarter of a century ago, Mintzberg (1975, p.58)

noted that manager effectiveness is significantly influenced by
their insight into their own work, and that performance
depends on how well a manager understands and responds to
the pressures and dilemmas of the job. Those of us involved in
ELT management must remember that it is precisely because
there are pressures and dilemmas that the role of the
manager exists.

In the conclusion to my previous study in ELT management I

wrote:

381
 One of the barriers to research in ELT management is the multi-
disciplinary nature of the field. This makes choice of discourse
style and nature of assumptions more problematic than other
areas of applied linguistics and educational administration
research. My recommendation to those who feel that research in
the ELT management field is too vulnerable to criticism for
incorrect assumptions, inaccurate constructs or careless analysis
procedures however, is to push on …. I have the strong
suspicion, after more than a decade of English language
teaching and management experience in five countries and ten
institutions, that aspects of ELT management will ultimately be
shown to have far more impact on, and relevance to, the
effective teaching and learning of second and foreign languages
in the classrooms of real world institutions than the mountains of
second language acquisition research, teaching methodology
research and learning behaviour research that have so far
dominated the ELT research agenda.
(Keaney 1994: p. 73)

After another eight years, two more countries and five more
institutions the words are still appropriate. Few ELT
professionals or students discuss or even remember the
college that had the finest ELT methodology, the college that
had the best tea-making facilities, the one with the most
colourful brochures or websites, the one that had the best
pension plan or the one that had the biggest library. All
however, talk about and remember the best Principal or
Director of Studies they ever had.

And while many of the solutions to ELT management

dilemmas remain uncertain, perhaps this is a not
unreasonable guide through the myriad confusions of
environmental turbulence, discoursal value clashes and
organizational climate factors to which every ELT manager
can aspire… to be, and to be remembered as, simply the best

382
ELT manager that your college owners, your staff and your
students will ever have.

383
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACPET [Australian Council for Private Education and Training]

(1997) West Review of Higher Education endorses ACPET calls
for fair competition. ACPET Newsletter December pp.1 - 2
Aitken, R. and Handy, C. (1986) Understanding Schools as
Organizations. London: Penguin
Alvesson, M. (1993) Cultural Perspectives on Organizations.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Alvesson, M. and Berg, P. (1992) Corporate Culture and
Organizational Symbolism. New York: De Gruyter
Amburgey, T., Kelly, D. and Barnett, W. (1993) Resetting the
clock: the dynamics of organizational change and failure.
Administrative Science Quarterly 38: 51 - 73
Angus, L. (1986) The risks of school effectiveness: A comment
on recent education reports. The Australian Administrator 7
(3): 1-4
Anthony, P. (1994) Managing Culture. Buckingham: Open UP
Argyris, C. (1990) Overcoming Organizational Defenses. New
York: Prentice Hall
Argyris, C. (1992) On Organizational Learning. Cambridge:
Blackwell
Argyris, C and Schön, D. (1978) Organizational Learning: A
Theory of Action Perspective. In D. Pugh (Ed) Organization
Theory: Selected Readings (pp. 352 - 370) Harmondsworth;
Penguin
Astin, A. (1997) School of thought that’s not so clever. The
Chronicle of Higher Education reprinted in The Australian HES
10 December p.35
The Australian (1997) Your Say The Australian 24/09/97
Higher Education Supplement p.2
Australian Association for Research in Education (1993) New
code of ethics for research in education: Draft for Annual
General Meeting. Lilydale: Commodore Press

384
Australian International Education Foundation (1996)
Strategic Plan 1996 – 2001. Canberra: AGPS
Australian International Education Foundation (1996b) Annual
Report 1995 –96. Canberra: AGPS
Bagozzi, R., Youjae, Y. and Phillips, L. (1991) Assessing
construct validity in organizational research. Administrative
Science Quarterly 36: 421 - 458
Baldwin, P. (1997) The Lighthouse: Towards a Labor Vision for
the Learning Society Downloaded from
www.education.labor.net.au/ Downloaded on 18/08/02
Barnard, C. (1938) The Functions of the Executive.
Cambridge: Harvard UP
Barnes, R. (1949) Motion and Time Study. New York: Wiley
Bates, R. (1982) Towards a critical practice of educational
administration. Studies in Educational Administration 27: 1-12
Beer, M. and Walton, A.E. (1987) Organizational change and
development. Annual Review of Psychology, 38: 339 - 367
Benson, D. and Hughes, J. (1983) The Perspective of
Ethnomethodology. New York: Longman
Bergquist, W. (1993) The Postmodern Organization. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass
Black, T. (2001) Playing with the big boys: the growth of
companies. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 30: pp.11-15
Blackie, D. (1989) Management issues - out of chaos, order?
ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 1: p.3
Bloom, H. (1979) The breaking of form. In Deconstruction and
Criticism (pp 1- 38) London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Boden, D. (1994) The Business of Talk. Cambridge: Polity
Press
Bolman, L and Deal, T. (1984) Modern Approaches to
Understanding and Managing Organizations. San Francisco:
Jossey Bass
Bowers, R. (1999) Communicative Management. ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter 27: pp.3-4

385
Bredeson, P. (1988) Perspectives on schools: Metaphors and
management in education. Journal of Educational
Administration 26,3: 293-310
Buckman, P. (1973) Introduction. In Education without
Schools. P.Buckman (Ed) (pp. 1 - 8) London, Souvenir
Bundesen, C. (1992) TESOL in Australia - the export sector. In
Language in the Clever Country, (selected papers from the
Australian Council of TESOL Associations/ Victorian Association
of TESOL and Multicultural Education National Conference,
January, 1992) pp. 82-97
Burns, T. and Stalker, G. (1961) The Management of
Innovation. London: Tavistock
Burns, R. (1993) Managing People in Changing Times. Sydney:
Allen & Unwin
Burrell, G. and Hearn, J. (1989) The Sexuality of Organization.
In J.Hearn, D. Sheppard, P. Tancred-Sheriff and G. Burrell
(Eds.) The Sexuality of Organization. Sage: Newbury Park
Burrell, G. and Morgan, G. (1979) Sociological paradigms and
Organizational Analysis. Heinemann: London
Caldwell, B. And Spinks, J. (1988) The Self-managing School.
London: Falmer
Cameron, K. and Whetten, D. (1983) Organizational
Effectiveness: A Comparison of Multiple Models. In K. Cameron
and D. Whetten (Eds) Organizational Effectiveness: A
Comparison of Multiple Models pp.1-24 New York: Academic
Cameron K. (1978) Measuring organizational effectiveness in
institutions of higher education. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 23: 604-632
Campbell, R. (1977) A history of administrative thought.
Administrator's Notebook 26: 4
Candlin, C. (1984) Applying a systems approach to curriculum
innovation in the public sector. In J. Read (Ed) Syllabus
Design: Report of the 1983 RELC Seminar Singapore:
Singapore University Press

386
Candlin, C. (1991) Foreword. In Process and Experience in the
Language Classroom M.Legutke and H.Thomas London:
Longman
Casson, M (1982) The Entrepreneur. Martin Robertson: Oxford
Casson, M. (1993) Entrepreneurship and Business Culture. In
Entrepreneurship, Networks and Modern Business J.Brown and
M. Rose (Eds) Manchester UP Manchester pp.30-54
Cervi, D. (1991) ELICOS unravelled. ELT Management IATEFL
Newsletter 7: pp.4-7
Charles, D. (1993) The fronted organigram: putting
management in its rightful place. ELT Management IATEFL
Newsletter 12: pp.11-15
Checkland, P. (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice.
Chichester: Wiley
Clark, A.W., (1976) Introduction. In A.W. Clark (Ed)
Experimenting with Organizational Life: The Action Research
Approach. Tavistock, Plenum Press: New York pp.1-10.
Clark, D., Lotto, L. and Astuto, T. (1989) Effective school and
school improvement: A comparative analysis of two lines of
inquiry. In J. Burdin (Ed) School Leadership (pp. 159-186)
Newbury Park: Sage
Clark, M. (1999) Improving Practice: Problems, perspectives
and partnerships. IATEFL 1999 Edinburgh Conference
Selections pp.31-40
Clarkson, L. and Lodge, P. (1999) Transforming the wheel:
from teaching skills to management skills. ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 28: pp.23-25
Cohen, Land Manion L (1994) Research Methods in Education.
London; New York: Routhledge,
Conference Coordinators (1996) The Learning Organization
Sydney Morning Herald July 6 p. 11
Contractor, A and Noonan, G. (2002) Students in illegal visa
scam. Sydney Morning Herald Downloaded from
www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/30/ 1023864685680.html
Downloaded on 01/07/2002

387
Crystal, D (1994) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975) Beyond Boredom and Anxiety:
the Experience of Play in Work and Games. San Francisco
Jossey Bass
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience. New York: Harper Collins
Cummins, C. (2001) Changing face of the city – language
colleges try to find a home. Sydney Morning Herald 17 March
2001 p.70
Dallas, S. (1990) NCELTR Bibliographic Series No. 2: ELT and
Management
De Geus, A. (1988) Planning as Learning. Harvard Business
Review March-April 70-74
De Waal, A. (1990) What is management? ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 2: pp.4-5
Deal, T. and Kennedy, A. (1982) Corporate Cultures. Penguin:
London
Denison, D. (1990) Corporate Culture and Organizational
Effectiveness. New York: Wiley
Denison, D. and Mishra, A. (1995) Toward a theory of
organizational culture and effectiveness. Organizational
Science 6 (2) 204 - 223
DEETYA Department of Employment, Education, Training and
Youth Affairs (1996) Overseas Student Statistics 1995.:
Canberra: AGPS
DETYA Department of, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
(2000) Overseas Student Statistics 1999 Downloaded from
http:// aei.detya.gov.au/general/
publications/oss99/oss99_sum.htm Downloaded on 5/7/02
DETYA Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs
(2001) Time Series of Overseas Student Numbers by Major
Sector, 1994 – 2000. Downloaded from: http://
aei.detya.gov.au/stats/2000final/table5 Downloaded on
10/08/02

388
DETYA Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs
(2001) Getting Started Internationally - Tips for Schools
Entering the International Market Downloaded
from:http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/publications/tips/pages/ti
ps_page04a.htm. Downloaded on: 10/08/02
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training (2002a)
How International Students View their Australian Experience:
A Survey of International Students Who Finished a Course of
Study in 1999 [Electronic version; downloaded from:
http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/publications/SISFCS/sisfcs.htm
Downloaded on: 10/08/02
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training (2002b)
Overseas Student Statistics 2000 - Summary of Key Points.
[Electronic version; downloaded from
http://aei.detya.gov.au/general/publications/Oss00/Oss00_sum
.htm Downloaded on: 10/08/02
DEST Department of Education, Science and Training (2002c)
Positioning Australian Education and Training for the Future
(Branding Project). [Electronic version; downloaded from
http://aei.detya.gov.au/general /activities/branding/ branding.
htm Downoaded on: 10/08/02
DIMA Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
(1997) Review of the Student Visa Program Discussion Paper.
Canberra: AGPS
Dittmer, L. (1977) Political Symbolism: toward a theoretical
synthesis. World Politics 29: 552-583
Duncan, R. (1979) What is the right organization structure?
Decision tree analysis provides the answer Organizational
Dynamics Winter 59 - 80
Dunphy, D, and Stace, D (1991) The strategic management of
corporate change. Centre for Corporate Change Working
Paper #4 AGSM
Dunphy, D. and Stace, D. (1988) Transformational and
coercive strategies for planned organizational change: Beyond
the OD model. Organizational Studies, 9 (3): 339 - 355
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (1991)
Management Research. London: Sage

389
Eldon, M (1987) Sociotechnical systems in Norway:
Empowering participation through worker managed change.
Journal of Applied Behavioural Science 23 (3): 339 - 355
ELICOS Association (1991) A Study of the ELICOS Industry in
Australia Asia Pacific Access: Canberra
Emery, F. and Trist, E. (1981) The causal texture of
organizational environments. In Systems Thinking Penguin,
Harmondsworth
Etzioni, A. (1960) Two approaches to organizational analysis:
A critique and suggestion. Administrative Science Quarterly 5:
pp. 257 - 278
Evans, H. (1990) Orientalising the Japanese Student. The
Language Teacher 14 (7): 27-29
Fairclough, N. (1985) Critical and descriptive goals in
discourse analysis. Journal of Pragmatics 9 pp.739-763
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Polity
Press: Cambridge
Fairclough, N. (1993) Critical discourse analysis and
organizational change. Conference Presentation
Communication in the Workplace Conference Sydney
Fayol, H. (1949) General and Industrial Management. London:
Pitman
Field, L. (1995) Managing Organizational Learning. Melbourne:
Longman
Field, L. and Ford, B. (1995) Managing Organizational
Learning: From Rhetoric to Reality. Longman: Melbourne
Fiol, C and Lyles, M. (1985) Organizational learning. Academy
of Management Review 10: 803 - 813
Follet, M.P. (1941) Dynamic Administration: The Collected
Papers of Mary Parker Follet. H. Metcalf and L. Urwick (Eds)
London: Pitman
Forrester, J. (1971) The Counter-Intuitive Behaviour of Social
Systems. Technology Review January 52-68
Forth, I. (1998) Managing Teacher Development. ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter 26 pp 21-24

390
Foucault, M. (1972) The archaeology of knowledge and the
discourse on language. (Trans. A. Sheridan Smith) Pantheon
New York
Fowle, C. (2000) The skills transfer process from EFL teacher
to educational manager. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter
29: pp16-18
Friedberg, E. (1993) From organizations to concrete systems
of action. In S. Lindenberg and H. Schreuder (Eds)
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Organization Studies (pp.
153-170) Oxford: Pergamon Press
Fullan, M. (1982) The Meaning of Educational Change.
Teachers College Press: New York
Fullan, M. (1991) The meaning of educational change. In The
New Meaning of Educational Change London: Cassell pp30 -
46
Fullop, L. (1989) Managerial Competence and Overseas
Management Practices: What are the Lessons? Sydney: UWS
Gamst, F. (1989) The concept of organizational and corporate
culture: an ethnological view. Anthropology of Work Review
10(3): 12 - 19
Garvin, D. (1993) Building a Learning Organization. Harvard
Business Review July- August 1993 78 - 92
Gee, J. (1990) Social Linguistics and Literacies : ideology in
discourses. London, New York: Falmer Press,
Gee, J., Hull, G. and Lankshear, C. (1996) The new work order:
behind the language of the new capitalism. Sydney: Allen and
Unwin
Glaser, B. (1978) Theoretical Sensitivity. San Francisco: The
Sociology Press
Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded
Theory. Chicago: Aldine
Goodman, P. and Pennings, J. (1977) Toward a workable
framework. In P. Goodman and J. Pennings (Eds) New
Perspectives on Organizational Effectiveness (pp. 147 - 184)
San Francisco: Jossey Bass

391
Gore, J. and Zeichner, K (1995) Connecting Action Research to
Genuine Teacher Development. In Critical Discourses on
Teacher Development J.Smyth (ED) London, Cassell
Gore, J. (2002) Viewing the Whole Manager ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 31: 3 - 5
Graham, C. (1997) ACPET Calls for Competition Reforms and
Vouchers. ACPET Newsletter Special Conference Edition June
20
Green, C. (1996) The Hoare Report. SUPRA Express 1996, (1):
14 - 17
Greenland, S. and Griffiths, E. (1993) ELT management survey
report - part 1. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 10: p.13
Gregory, K. (1983) Native-view paradigms: multiple cultures
and culture conflicts in organizations. Administrative Science
Quarterly 28: 359 - 376
Gregson, M. (2001) Spreading English evenly in the new
millennium. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 31: pp.24-25
Grice, H. (1975) Logic and Conversation In P.Cole and
J.Morgan (Eds) Syntax and Semantics: Speech Acts New York
Academic Press
Griffiths, E. (1989) What do Directors of Studies do? ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter 1: 6-7
Griffiths, E. (1991) ELT Management Survey. ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 7: centre pages
Griffiths, E. (1992) ELT Management Survey: A progress
report. ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 8: p.14
Griffiths, E. (1993) Surveying the survey. ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 11: pp.14-15
Gumperz, J. (1982) Discourse Strategies Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Hall, R. (1974) Organizations. London: Prentice Hall
Hamada, T. (1994) Anthropology and organizational culture. In
T. Hamada and W. Sibley (Eds) Anthropological Perspectives
on Organizational Culture New York: Lanham pp. 9 - 55

392
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1983) Ethnography:
Principles in Practice. London: Tavistock
Hammond, N. (2001) Breaking Down the Camps. In ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter Issue #30 March
Handy, C. (1978) Gods of Management. London: Souvenir
Handy, C. (1984) Taken for Granted? Looking at Schools as
Organizations. London: Longman
Handy, C. (1993) Understanding Organizations. London:
Penguin
Handy, C. (1991) The Age of Unreason. Boston: Harvard
Business School Press
Hannan, M. and Carroll, G. (1995) Focus on industry: the
organizational lens. In G. Carroll and M. Hannan (Eds)
Organizations in Industry (pp 3 - 16) OUP: Oxford
Hannan, M. and Freeman, J. (1977) The population ecology of
organizations. American Journal of Sociology 91: 481 - 510
Hannan, M. and Freeman, J. (1984) Structural inertia and
organizational change. American Sociological Review 49: 149
- 164
Hargreaves, A. (1994a) Changing Teachers, Changing Times
Cassell London
Hargreaves, A. (1994b) The changing work cultures of
teaching. In The Workplace in Education ACEA 1994 Yearbook
pp. 27-39.
Hargreaves, A. (1995) Renewal in the Age of Paradox
Educational Leadership April 1995 pp. 14 - 19
Harris, P. (1985) Management in Transition. San Francisco:
Jossey Bass
Harrison, M. (1996) A Private Education for All. Centre for
Independent Studies Occasional Papers 56
Harrison, M. (1997) The Funding of Teaching Services in
Higher Education (Submission to the West Review of Higher
Education) Dowloaded from http://
www.dest.gov.au/archive/highered/ hereview /submissions
/harrison. htm Downloaded on 18/08/02

393
Harrison, R. (1972) How to describe your organization.
Harvard Business Review Sept.-Oct.
Hatch, E. and Lazaraton, A. (1991) The Research Manual. New
York: Newbury House:
Haveman, H. (1992) Between a rock and a hard place:
organizational change and performance under conditions of
fundamental environmental transformation. Administrative
Science Quarterly 37: 48 - 75
Heap and Cole (1996) Empowering and Disempowering the
DOS in a rapidly changing workplace. EA Journal Vol. 14, No.2
pp18 - 26)
Heckscher, C and Applegate, L. (1994) Introduction In C.
Heckscher and A. Donellan (Eds) The Post-Bureaucratic
Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change
(pp. 1-13) London: Sage
Heckscher, C., Eisenstat, R. and Rice, T. (1994)
Transformational Processes In C. Heckscher and A. Donellan
(Eds) The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives
on Organizational Change (pp. 129 - 177) London: Sage
Henry, A. (2002) Know Your DoS - I Hate Teaching English
Downloaded from
http://www.simonbarne.com/tefl/know_your_dos.html
Downloaded on 8/08/02
Hoare, D. (1995) Higher Education Management Review;
Report of the Committee of Inquiry Canberra: AGPS
Hoffman, J. (1980) Problems of access in the study of social
elites and boards of directors. In W Shaffir, R. Stebbins, and A.
Turowetz (Eds) Fieldwork Experience: Qualitative Approaches
to Social Research St Martins: New York
Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B. Ohayv, D. and Sanders, G. (1990)
Measuring organizational cultures: a qualitative and
quantitative study across twenty cases. Administrative
Science Quarterly 35: 286 - 315
Homans, G. (1950) The Human Group. New York: Harcourt
Brace
Hopkins, D. (1994) Yellow Brick Road. Managing Schools
Today 3 (6) pp.14 - 17

394
Hoy, W. (1990) Recent developments in theory and research
in educational administration. Educational Administration
Quarterly 18, 3: 1-11
Hoy, W. and Ferguson, J. (1985) A theoretical framework and
exploration of organizational effectiveness in schools.
Educational Administration Quarterly 21: 117-134
Hoy, W. and Miskel, C. (1987) Educational Administration:
Theory, Research and Practice. Random House: New York
Huber, G. (1991) Organizational learning: The contributing
processes and the literature. Organization Science 1991 2 (1),
88 - 115
Illich, I. (1973) The Dechooled Society. In Education without
Schools P.Buckman (ed) (pp. 9 - 19) London, Souvenir
Illing, D. (1997) Fraud claims put ELICOS in the firing line. The
Australian HES 3/12/97 p.4
Industry Commission (1991) Exports of Education Services
Canberra: AGPS
Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills
(1995) Enterprising Nation Canberra: AGPS:
Jackson, D. (1989) The Australian Economy London: Macmillan
Jameson, F. (1991) Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of
Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke UP
Janou, J. (1994) The Inventive Organization: Hope and Daring
at Work. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Jacques, D. (1997) Myths that must go The Australian HES
22/10/97 pp.41 - 42
Jaques, E. (1951) The Changing Culture of a Factory. London:
Tavistock
Jaques, E. (1953) On the dynamics of social structure. Human
Relations 6: pp. 3 - 24
Jaques, E. (1955) Social systems as a defence against
persecutory and depressive anxiety. In M. Klein (Ed) New
Directions in Psychoanalysis London: Tavistock
Jaques, E. (1956) The Measurement of Responsibility London:
Tavistock

395
Jasper, I. (1991) 10 pitfalls of line management in EFL. ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter 6: pp.2-3
Johnson, N. (1989) Criteria for assessing the effectiveness of
schools and principals. Education Canada, Summer 14-19
Johnston, W. (1989) A question of management. ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter 1: p.3
Jones, P. (1994) Research perspectives on the World Bank. In
G. Walford (Ed) Researching the Powerful in Education London
UCL Press pp 174 - 185
Joseph, J (2001) Globalization and the Spread of English: The
Long Perspective Journal of Southeast Asian Education 2:2
pp.212 - 240
Kachru, B. (1987) The bilingual's creativity: discoursal and
stylistic strategies in contact literatures. In L. Smith (Ed.)
Discourse Across Cultures (pp.125-140) Hemel Hempstead:
Prentice Hall
Kanter, R. (1983) The Change Masters: Innovation and
Entrepreneurship in the American Corporation. New York,
Simon and Schuster
Kaplan, H.R. and Tausky, C. (1977) Humanism in
organizations: A critical appraisal. Public Administration
Review, March/April: 171-179
Kaplan, R. and Grabe, W. (1992) Introduction to Applied
Linguistics. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley
Katz, D. and Kahn, R. (1966, 1978) The Social Psychology of
Organizations. New York: John Wiley
Keller, R. (1980) Dimensions of management system and
performance in continuous access organizations In Katz, R.
Kahn and J. Adams (Eds) The Study of Organizations (pp. 113-
125) San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Kelly, D. and Amburgey, T. (1991) Organizational inertia and
momentum: a dynamic model of strategic change. Academy
of Management Journal 34: 591 - 612
Kemmis S, (1988) The Action research planner Kemmis and R
McTaggart (Eds). 3rd Ed Waurn Ponds: Deakin University
Press

396
Kennedy, C. (1987) Innovating for a change. ELT Journal 41 p3
Keys, K.J. (2001) Babel fish and silicon chips: reflections on the
future of ELT ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter Issue # 30
March pp.25 - 27
Kiely, R. (1999) Evaluation: the ELT manager’s toolkit. ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter Issue #28 November pp.10-
13
Kimberley, J. and Quin, R. (1984) Managing Organizational
Transitions New York: Irwin
Kirkpatrick, D. (1985) How to Manage Change Effectively. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass
Kofman, F. and Senge, P. (1993) Communities of
Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations. In
Organizational Dynamics Autumn pp.5 - 23
Kotter, J. (1992) Corporate Culture and Performance. New
York: Macmillan
Lakomski, G. and Haynes, F. (1995) Educational Organizations
as Systems. In C. Evers and J. Chapman (Eds) Educational
Administration: An Australian Perspective Sydney: Allen and
Unwin pp. 18 - 33
Lane, T. (1983) How critical is critical theory? Studies in
Educational Administration 32: 1-8
Lawrie, J. (1989) Your performance: appraise it yourself.
Personnel, Jan: 21-23
Leather, S. (1989) The ELT Management Special Interest
Group. ELT Management 1: 3
Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D. and Steinbach, R. (1995) An
Organisational Learning Perspective on School Responses to
Central Policy Initiatives School Organization 15, 3: 229 – 252
Levitt, B. and March, J. (1990) Chester I. Barnard and the
intelligence of learning. In O. Williamson (Ed) Organization
Theory (pp. 11-37) Oxford: OUP
Lewis, M. and Hill, J. (1992) Practical Techniques for Language
Teaching London: LTP
Lieberman, M. (1993) Pubic Education: An Autopsy
Cambridge; Harvard University Press

397
Light, I. and Bonacich, E. (1988) Immigrant Entrepreneurs:
Koreans in Los Angeles 1965 - 1982 Berkeley: UCP
Likert, R. (1961) New Patterns of Management. New York
:McGraw Hill
Lister, I. (1973) Getting there from here. In Education without
Schools P.Buckman (ed) (pp. 20 - 28) London, Souvenir
Locke, R. (1993) Education and Entrepreneurship: an
historian's view. In Entrepreneurship, Networks and Modern
Business J.Brown and M. Rose (Eds) Manchester UP
Manchester pp55-75
Lord, R. (1991) Leadership and Information Processing.
Boston: Unwin
Lortie, D. (1969) Control and autonomy in elementary
teaching. In A. Etzioni (Ed) The Semi-Professions and their
Organization (pp.1 - 53) New York: Macmillan
Lynn, R. (1996) Review of the ELT Manager's Handbook ELT
Journal 50, 1: 85-87
MacLean, R. (1991) Career behaviour and perceptions of
promoted teachers. In Australian Teachers' Careers R.
MacLean and P. McKenzie (Eds) pp. 241 - 264 Hawthorn;
ACER.
Manning, P. (1979) Metaphors of the Field: Varieties of
Organizational Discourse. Administrative Science Quarterly
24: 660 - 671
Marginson, S. (1997) Markets in Education Sydney, Allen and
Unwin
Marzano, R., Zaffron, S. Zraik, L. Robbins, S. and Yoon, L.
(1996) A New Paradigm for Educational Change. Education
116, 2: pp162 - 173
Mason, R and Mitroff, R. (1981) Challenging Strategic Planning
Assumptions. New York: Wiley
Mawer, G and Field, L. (1995) One Size Fits Some:
Competency Based Training and NESB People NESB MCVET
Canberra: AGPS

398
Mayo, E. (1949, 1975) Hawthorne and the Western Electric
Company. In The Social Problems of an Industrial Organization
London: Routledge pp. 60 - 76
McGaw, B., Piper, K., Banks, D and Evans, B. (1993) Improving
Australia's Schools. (Executive summary of Making Schools
More Effective: Report of the Australian Effective Schools
Project) Hawthorn: ACER
McGowan, A. (1996) Marketing in ELT ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 20: pp.3-8
McGregor, A. (1997) Witchdoctors cash in on the power of
babble Sydney Morning Herald Jan 1
McGregor D. (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise. New York:
McGraw Hill
Menzies, I. (1960) A case study in the functioning of social
systems as a defence against anxiety. Human Relations 13
(2): pp. 95 – 121
Meyer, J and Rowan, B. (1978) The Structure of Educational
Organizations. In M. Meyer, J.Freeman, M. Hannan, J. Meyer,
W. Ouchi, J. Pfeffer and W. Scott (Eds) Environments and
Organizations pp78 - 109
Micklethwait, J. and Wooldridge, A.. (1996) The witch doctors :
making sense of the management gurus New York : Times
Books
Miller, D. (1982) Evolution and revolution: a quantum view of
structural change in organizations. Journal of Management
Studies 19 (2): 131 - 151
Miller, D. and Friesen, P. (1984) Organizations. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall
Mink, O. (1993) Change at Work. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Mintzberg, H. (1975) The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact.
Harvard Business Review July-August 1975 pp.49-61
Mintzberg, H. (1980) The Nature of Managerial Work
Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall
Mintzberg, H. (1981) Organization design: Fashion or fit?
Harvard Business Review 59:1, 103-116

399
Mintzberg, H. (1983) Structure in Fives: Designing Effective
Organizations Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall
Mitroff, I. (1987) Business not as Usual. San Francisco: Jossey
Bass
Mohr, L. (1982) Explaining Organizational Behaviour: The
limits and possibilities of theories and research. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass
Mooney, J. and Reiley, A. (1931) Onward Industry. New York:
Harper and Row
Morgan, G. (1986) Images of Organization. Beverly Hills: Sage
Mott, P. (1972) The Characteristics of Effective Organizations.
New York: Harper and Row
Muczuk, J. and Reimann, B. (1987) The case for directive
leadership. Academy of Management Executive 1 (3): 301 -
311
Myers, D. (1997) Neo-geographic ideology in black and white.
The Australian 5-Mar p.33
NEAS (2001) About NEAS Downloaded from http://www.neas-
accred.com/1.htm Downloaded on 18/08/02
Nicolini, D. and Meznar, M. (1995) The social construction of
organizational learning: conceptual and practical issues in the
field. Human Relations 48, 7: 727 - 746
Nolan, T. (1992) Shaping Your Organization's Future. San
Diego: Pfeiffer
Norris, C. (1985) Contest of Faculties. London: Methuen
Nunan, D. (1992) Introduction in Collaborative Language
Learning and Teaching. D.Nunan (Ed.) Cambridge; Cambridge
University Press
OECD (1995) Learning Beyond Schooling. OECD Paris
O'Neil, J. (1995) On schools as learning organizations: A
conversation with Peter Senge Educational Leadership April
1995 pp.20 - 23
Osborn, R. (1976) The search for environmental complexity.
Human Relations 29: 179-191

400
Ouchi, W. (1981) Theory Z: How American business can meet
the Japanese challenge. Reading: Addison Wesley
Owens, R. (1995) Organizational Behaviour in Education.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon
Owens, R and Steinhoff, C. (1976) Administering Change in
Schools. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall
Palmer, F. (1992) Literature and Moral Understanding Oxford:
Clarendon Press
Parker, R. (1994) Flesh peddlers and warm bodies: The
temporary help industry and its workers. Rutgers University
Press New Brunswick
Parrot, M. (1990) The Unloved DOS. ELT Management IATEFL
Newsletter 2: p.7
Pauchant, T. (1995) Toward a field of organizational
existentialism. In W. Bennis, R. Mason and I. Mitroff (Eds) In
Search of Meaning San Francisco; Jossey Bass
Pennycook, A. (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an
International Language. London: Longman
Perrow, C. (1973) The short and glorious history of
organizational theory. Organizational Dynamics, Summer: 2-
15
Peters, T. (1992) Liberation Management: Necessary
Disorganization for the Nanosecond Nineties. London:
Macmillan
Peters, T and Austin, N. (1985) A Passion for Excellence.
Glasgow: Fontana
Peters, T. and Waterman, R. (1982) In Search of Excellence.
Glasgow: Fontana
Peters, T. (1988) Thriving on Chaos. New York: Knoff
Pettigrew, A. (1979) On studying organizational cultures.
Administrative Science Quarterly 24 (4)
Pfeffer, J. and Salancik, G. (1980) Determinants of supervisory
behaviour: A role set analysis. In D. Katz, R. Kahn and J.
Adams (Eds) The Study of Organizations (pp. 126-135) San
Francisco: Jossey Bass:

401
Phillips, T. (2000) The major challenges facing ELT institutions
in the future ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 29: pp.3-5
Pickering, G. (1999) The Learning Organization: An idea whose
time has come? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 27: pp.5-
7
Pickering, G. (2001a) Does size matter and are all MOOs cash
cows? ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 30: p.2
Pickering, G. (2001b) Living in Chains ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 30: pp.3 - 10
Prentice, R (1996) Influencing design in ELT ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter 20: pp10-13
Pucik, V., Tichy, N. and Barnett, C. (Eds) Globalizing
Management. New York: Wiley
Putnam, L. (1983) The interpretive perspective. In L. Putnam
and M. Pacanowsky (Eds), Communication and Organization
Sage: Beverly Hills
Quinn, J. (1980) Strategies for Change: Logical
Incrementalism. New York: Irwin
Reader, C. (1996) A Happy Medium. ELT Management IATEFL
Newsletter 20: pp.3-8
Reid, I. (1996) Higher Education or Education for Hire:
Language and Values in Australian Universities. CQU Press:
Rockhampton
Richards, J. (2001) Program Factors in Effective Foreign and
Second Language Teaching. Journal of Southeast Asian
Education 2:2 December: pp.373 - 412
Richardson, G. (1990) Feedback Thought in Social Science
and Systems Theory. UPP: Philadelphia:
Riches, C. and Morgan, C. (1989) Human Resource
Management in Education. Open University Press
Rist, R. and Joyce, K. (1995) Qualitative research and
implementation evaluation: a path to organizational learning.
International Journal of Educational Research 23 (2) pp.127 -
135; pp.127-131
Rodger, S. (2001) A day in the life of… ELT Management
IATEFL Newsletter. Issue # 30 March pp.18-19

402
Roethlisberger, F. and Dickson, W. (1947) Management and
the Worker. Harvard University: Press Cambridge, Mass:
Rowe, C. (1992) The Management Matrix. Alfred Waller:
Oxfordshire
Rudge, P. (1990) Order and Disorder in Organizations.
Kambah: Corat
Ruane, M. (2000) Seeking and shaping change in language
learning environments. IATEFL 2000 Dublin Conference
Selections IATEFL: Whitstable, Kent pp. 37 - 44
Said, E. (1978) Orientalism London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Salancik, B. and Pfeffer, J. (1978) The External Control of
Organizations. New York: Harper and Row
Sanford, N (1956) Personality development during the college
years. Journal of Social Issues 12 : 1-75
Sanford, N. (1965) Social science and social reform. Journal of
Social Issues 21: 54-70
Sarup, M. (1988) Post-structuralism and Post-modernism.
Harvester Wheatsheaf: Hertfordshire
Savage, S. (1996) Management ELICOS style: unique and
coming of age. TESOL in Context 6 (1) pp.24 - 27
Schein, E. (1985) Organizational Culture and Leadership. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass
Schutz, A. (1953) The Frame of Unquestioned Constructs. In
M.Douglas (Ed) Rules and Meanings pp.18 - 20 Penguin,
London
Scott, W. (1987) Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open
Systems. (2nd Ed) Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and
Training (1992) Inquiry into the operation of the Education for
Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial
Regulation) Act 1991 (ESOS ACT) Senate Printing Unit,
Canberra
Senge, P. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of
the Learning Organization. Doubleday: New York

403
Senge. P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R. and Smith, B.
(1991) The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. London: Breale
Senge, P. and Sterman, J. (1992) Systems thinking and
organizational learning: Acting locally and thinking globally in
the organization of the future. In Transforming Organizations
T. Kochan and M. Useem (Eds) Oxford: Oxford University Press
pp. 353 – 370
Shaskin, M. (1984) Participative management is an ethical
imperative. Organizational Dynamics 1: 62-75
Shroder, H. (1989) Managerial Competence: The Key to
Excellence. Iowa: Kendell Hunt
Simpson, R. and Simpson, I. (1969) Women and bureaucracy
in the semi-professions. In The Semi-Professions and their
Organization A. Etzioni (Ed) pp. 196 - 265 New York:
Macmillan
Sinclair, A. (1990) Sponsoring Self-Management of Change.
Working Paper no. 16 University of Melbourne
Singh, J., House, R. and Tucker, D. (1986) Organizational
change and organizational mortality. Administrative Science
Quarterly 31: 587 - 611
Smircich, L. (1983a) Concepts of culture and organizational
analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly 28: pp. 339-58
Smircich, L. (1983b) Studying organizations as cultures. In G.
Morgan (ed) Beyond Method Sage: Beverly Hills
Smircich (1985) Is organizational culture a paradigm for
understanding organizations and ourselves? . In P.J. Frost (Ed)
Organizational Culture. Sage: Beverly Hills
Somekh, B. (1996) Beyond common sense: action research
and the learning organization. ELT Management IATEFL
Newsletter 22: pp. 3-7
Stacey, R. (1992) Managing the Unknowable: Strategic
Boundaries Between Order and Chaos in Organizations. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass
Stephens, J. (1992) Language and Ideology in Children’s
Fiction London: Longman

404
Stewart, L. (1989) Bridging the language gap. In Overseas
students: educational opportunity and challenge R. Browne
and E. Dale (Eds) Curtin, Australian College of Education
Swan, H. and Holmes, A. (1992) Must the DoS exist? ELT
Management IATEFL Newsletter 9: pp.1-3
Swieringa, J. (1992) Becoming a Learning Organization
Reading: Addison Wesley
Strain, J.P. (1971) Modern Philosophies of Education New York:
Random House
Sydney Morning Herald (21 June 1997) Better unis up to
students , says Vanstone p.9
Tagiuri, R. (1968) The concept of organizational climate. In R.
Tagiuri and G. Litwin (Eds) Organizational Climate: Exploration
of a Concept Cambridge: Harvard UP
Taylor, F.W. (1911) The principles of scientific management.
In Scientific Management (1972) Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Thomas, T. (1996) Export culture gathers strength Business
Review Weekly 18 (3) 29 January pp. 36 - 61
Thompson, J. (1967) Organizations in Action. New York:
McGraw Hill
Thompson, J. (1992) Ideology and modern culture : critical
social theory in the era of Mass Communication. Cambridge:
Polity Press
Toffler, A. (1990) Powershift. New York: Bantam
Turner, V. (1969) The Ritual Process. New York: Aldine
Turner, D. and Crawford, M. (1992) Competencies for the
achievement of value creating change. AGSM Working Paper
#13
Underhill, N. (1989) Setting the agenda. ELT Management
1:p.2
Underhill, N. (1995) Professionalism and quality: a tour
d’horizon. ELT Management 18:pp.2-3
Van Dijk, T., (1987) Communicating Racism London Sage

405
Wajnryb, R. (1993) Meaning what you say and saying what
you mean: Research into supervisory mitigation. EA Journal
11:1 pp56 - 63
Wainwright, R. (1996) Outdated Council is told to move.
Sydney Morning Herald 7-Jun-96 p.3
Waites, C. (1999) The professional life-cycles and professional
development of adult teachers of English to speakers of other
languages (TESOL) Doctoral Thesis University of New South
Wales, Sydney
Waldersee, R and Blackstock, L. (1993) Organizational Change
in Australia: What’s Really Happening. AGSM Centre for
Corporate Change Working Paper #37
Walker, J. (1998) TESOL as a service. EA Journal 16 (2) pp.30 -
39
Walker, J. (1999) Perspectives on service in ELT operations.
ELT Management IATEFL Newsletter 27: pp.16-20
Walker, J. (2000) ESOL teachers as service providers Prospect
15 (1) pp.23 - 33
Wallace, J. (1995) Organizational and professional
commitment in professional and non-professional
organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly pp 228 - 255
Waterman, R. (1994) Frontiers of Excellence. Sydney: Allen
and Unwin
Watson T. (1994) In Search of Management: Culture, Chaos
and Control in Managerial Work. New York: Routhledge
Webb, E. and Weick, K. (1979) Unobtrusive measures in
Organization Theory: A Reminder. Administrative Science
Quarterly: 24: 651 - 659
Weber, M. (1947) The Theory of Social and Economic
Organizations. (trans: A. Henderson and T. Parsons) New York:
Free Press
Weick, K. (1976) Cognitive Processes in Organizations. In B.
Staw (ed) Research in Organizational Behaviour Greenwich,
JAI
White (1995) Education. in Oxford Companion to Philosophy
(pp.216 - 219)

406
White, R.V. (1987) Managing Innovation. ELT Journal, 41, 3:
211-218
White, R.V. (1988) The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation
and Management. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
White, R.V., Martin, M., Stimson, M. and Hodge R. (1991)
Management in English Language Teaching. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Williams, G. (1988) Discourse on Language and Ethnicity. In
N.Coupland (Ed) Styles of Discourse. Croom Helm: London,
New York
Willis, Q.F. (1985) Studying Managers at Work. In W.
Ainsworth and Q.F. Willis (Eds) Australian Organizational
Behaviour: Readings 2nd Ed Melbourne, Macmillan
Wiltshire Committee (1971) Report of the Committee on Small
Business. Canberra: AGPS
Woods, A., Fletcher, P. and Hughes, A. (1986) Statistics in
Language Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Woodward, J. (1965) Industrial Organization: Theory and
Practice. London: OUP
Yankelovich, D. (1981) New Rules: Searching for Self-
Fulfilment in a World Turned Upside Down. New York: Random
House
Yuchtman, E. and Seashore. S. (1967) A system resource
approach to organizational effectiveness. American
Sociological Review 32: 891-903
Zilbergeld, B. (1983) The Shrinking of America. Boston: Little,
Brown &Co.
Zikmund, W. (1991) Business Research Methods. Orlando:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Zuckerman, M. and Hutala, L. (1992) Incredibly American:
Releasing the Heart of Quality. Milwaukee ASQC Press

407
 APPENDIX A

Interview and Observation Guide

Structure
1. Organigram
2. Which jobs/roles/tasks have the most power?
3. Which have the least power?
4. Who gives permission for what?
5. Who controls financial aspects of organization?
6. Extent of agreement with their decisions?
7. Who talks to whom on a typical day? Socially? Work related?
8. Content of conversations?
9. Organization of hiring and firing?
10.Feelings towards owners/managers/ELT managers of organization?
11. Which areas are they particularly reasonable?
12. Which areas are they particularly unreasonable?
13. Changes in the last month? Six months? Year? Five years?
14.If you were running this organization what changes would you make to
the organization's structure?
15. Other?

Ecology
1. Locations, rooms and facilities?
2. Suitability/adequacy/etc for purposes of organization?
3. Shortcomings?
4. Best features?
5. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners particularly
like?
6. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners feel proud of?
7. Aspects/areas that students/teachers/managers/owners particularly
dislike?
8. Technology of organization?
9. Which technological features are particularly important to which
stakeholders?
10.Which technological features are irrelevant to which stakeholders?
11. Which technological features could be used more effectively?

64
12. Which ones are unnecessary?
13. Changes in the last month? Six months? Year? Five years?
14. Other?

65
Milieu
1. People?
2. Backgrounds?
3. Satisfaction levels?
4. Motivating and demotivating elements of organization/tasks?
5. Is it the job itself you like/dislike or is there elements of the organization
that you like/dislike?
6. Pay and conditions comparison to other institutions and to other
industries?
7. Overall morale?
8. Sorts of people this organization deals with on a professional basis
(agents, inspectors, etc.)?
9. Would you recommend/Have you recommended this organization to
friends/relatives to work in? To study at? Why? Why not?
10. Other?

Culture
1. Norms?
2. Belief systems?
3. Values?
4. Significant historical events in the organization and their implications?
5. The impact of organizational heroes on contemporary thinking?
6. The influence of traditions and organizational myths?
7. Special terms or workplace slang that only insiders would understand?
8. Type of people most likely to make a fast career or do well?
9. Kind of people who would enjoy working here?
10. Meaningful persons for this organization?
11. Periodic meetings?
12. Events celebrated in this organization?
13. Types of things people like to see happening here?
14. Biggest mistakes a person can make here?
15. Type of work problems that might keep you awake at night?
16. Any special ways of treating each other?
17. Organizational culture? How has it evolved?
18. How appropriate for the institution’s goals?
19. Responds how effectively to changes in the organizational
environment?
20. Visible beliefs? If so, what are they?
21. Do people in the organization know these beliefs? If so, who? How
many?
22. How do these beliefs affect day-to-day business?

66
23. How are the beliefs communicated to the organization?
24. Are the beliefs reinforced? How?
25. How would you characterise the performance of the college?
26. Other

67
 APPENDIX B

Sample Interview Sheet and Analysis

Organization Situation Participant Date

College A Interview #1 Francis, DOS 10/10/96

THEME KEY

D = DISCOURSE
Mn = MANAGEMENT
S = STRUCTURE
M = MILIEU
E = ECOLOGY
C = CULTURE
O = OTHER

Theme Key Concept Comment / Quote

Mn Tension 1. Has learned a lot and likes the direct culture but still
frustrated and “unempowered” by it in many ways"
D/C Opposition 2. 2 different cultures - teacher culture and the business
culture - why are they so anathematic to each other?
M Time in org 3. Started working for College A in Feb 1995

M Time in org 4. Been there almost two years

C/E Boundaries 5. Knows that College A was a breakaway from another org -
"there was a lot of politics involved and some "ill-will" about
resources such as the database but wouldn't know which
orgs and personally doesn’t bear any resentments
S/C Type 6. Imagines College A was small and cosy 5 years ago

C Techniques 7. Everyone acted on their instincts

68
C/S Structure 8. Had a family atmosphere that has passed now - directors
talk nostalgically about the days when there were very few
students
D/C Opposition 9. Healthy disrespect of what is labelled "academia" this is
used derogatorily to refer to a range of matters including
structures, formality and the hypocrisy of 'edubabble'
S Type 10. College A has completely resisted a formalisation of
structures or staff - eg how staff given contracts because
the model was the family companies and everything was
trust based on people's good will and understanding
C Heroes 11. This culture is overall a positive - helps develop a unique
feel - this comes from financial controller who derides things
that are taken seriously by the teachers - always taking the
piss " make money and have a good time" completely
without respect for many values that others take seriously
S/C Problems 12. For some teachers this work culture is a problem - people
who want to know about their rights and conditions
M/C Problems 13. Especially a problem for people who have worked in other
places and had their expectations built there and define
things in terms of an employer/employee relationship
S/M Problems 14. Some of these people have questioned things and when
that happens they feel threatened
D/C Tension 15. Came to College A from the opposite kind of work culture
which was bureaucracy gone mad - uni set up where
person in charge of program was totally "form-driven" –
C/M Contrast 16. Sister has since left and is working for a uni program where
most of the teachers are 'degreed' but not qualified in the
area - her sister has even been asked to teach on the
teacher training program
S/C Contrast 17. When she came to College A contrast was great -
autonomy was wonderful up to a point but she felt insecure
about what to do? - looking for a little bit of guidance
Mn Motivation to 18. Came from a teaching job, done ELT teaching for 10 years
change to ELT husband looking after baby and studying so need better
management position- script for employment was completely different
Mn Style 19. If she owned her own college she would do things in a very
similar way but encourage a little more regularity and
dependence
C Power 20. College A is somewhat "feudal" - not comfortable with
negotiation comfortable as part of a system
C Planning 21. Everything at College A is ad hoc

69
M Heroes 22. At College A definition of good employee is one who is like
minded
M/C Heroes 23. Heroes are those who are "light, fresh, humorous,
understanding accepting and are happy"
M Heroes (anti) 24. Moaners or whingers are come down on heavily

Mn 25. Attitude of management is that "we have been good to

them so they should be good back"
M 26. The teachers are given casual salary but with benefits of
full-time position
C Divisions 27. At times has been resentment - problem of two colleges
see computer teachers supervising lab sessions or
business teachers with flexible curriculum offered
occasionally no students - but English teachers need to
always be teaching - but principal and financial controller
strongly indicated that vocational college was integral to
success of English college
M Salaries and 28. Tension that everyone gets the same money with no
recognition recognition for different levels (eg someone with no
qualifications earns the same as one woman who had five
degrees) just have to explain to teachers that that’s the way
it is
S Structure 29. Advantages are that there is no strong hierarchy and
everyone feels equal and so no one sees anyone as on top
–
S Structure 30. Also realises that as dos she is not on top of teachers

S/C Power 31. Definitely sees herself as part of the system but the owners
have the real control and the final say
Mn Business vs 32. Used to want owners to toe certain lines eg teacher
education contract as demanded by NEAS including no food in
classrooms, no smoking, dress code - she copied a
contract that she had had at a university college - but
Principal and owners didn't want a bar of it so she decided
to go with the flow and adopt a laissez faire attitude
O 33. No core text for teaching purposes

C Vision 34. Owners don’t want their college to become like other
colleges

70
M/C Client focus 35. Very focused on student welfare and the need for them to
have a good time in Sydney and feel comfortable in the
college - all their efforts are focussed on the students that
they have "love the one you’re with" –“ don't spend money
on some unknown potential student in a far away country
printing up glossy brochures for them to read”, “put all your
efforts into the students you have and ensure that they
build the colleges reputation”
Mn Techniques 36. New DOS will change the culture of the English college -
he's got good ideas - but he's going to have a moment of
reckoning like she did
Mn Vision 37. College A has no strong planning or vision for the future
which can be seen in the building’s evolution - everything
happens ad hoc and is unplanned
D Clash of values 38. There is healthy cynicism about what education is - they
see it from a business point of view which helps the
business but makes some education decisions hard
Mn Future 39. Doubts whether it can go on forever this way

Mn Feelings 40. Feeling of living on tenterhooks

Mn Techniques 41. She's seen problems with records and document handling

M Client focus 42. The college gives students a good structure and doesn't try
to rip them off
E Client focus 43. The facilities include putting the students first - it sounds
cliché but most other places don't
M 44. Would not like the school to get too big

M 45. College was best when it was 70 - 80 students - now 160

students - it could get to 300 students
E Problems 46. Admin problems such as database that couldn't print out
classlists – principal didn't see the need to upgrade
E Problems 47. Problems getting enough materials and resources
compared to social things
E Value clash 48. Gym easy to get - educational facilities not (eg had to buy
books in self access at auction)
M/C Communication 49. Unique the way people get involved with networks of gossip

Mn Techniques 50. Principal as an administrator has a most unusual manner

71
S/C Values 51. Owners have the most influence leading to fights about
traditional things - they support anything that's fun
Mn Feelings 52. Sometimes very stressful – have sick feeling on Sunday
night thinking about work – sounds crazy when everything
here is pretty good but there’s always a million small
problems
D Value clash 53. Business and educational culture clash

D Value clash 54. Business vs tourism vs education

E Value clash 55. Strongly argued for the acquisition of new learning
materials (eg readers) for library, owners converted room
into a gym students and agents liked it but showed
domination of owners view – although it was used and
enjoyed by a lot of students
M Heroes 56. Star teacher is IELTS teacher – could work anywhere but
likes happy-go-lucky style at College A, agents often put
students here especially for her IELTS classes
E Premises look 57. College has very affluent look – even NEAS inspectors
and location commented on that and location is perfect right in heart of
city
E Communication 58. Always tries to inform staff about what’s going on eg copies
of inspection approvals on noticeboard, conferences etc
Mn Marketing 59. Virtually no external marketing but still heaps of students

C Rituals 60. Annual party and Christmas party are very important
started doing pantomimes as well and these are becoming
big all these events are free to students and friends

72
 APPENDIX C

Profile of Informants
Phase III

# Position Colleg Nationality M/ Ag ELT

e F e
Exp
1 Principal A UK/Aust M 48 0
2 Principal B Aust M 45 9
3 Principal C Korean/Aust M 44 0
4 Principal D Aust M 51 0
5 Director of Studies A Sri Lanka/Aust F 38 12
6 Director of Studies A Aust M 54 15
7 Director of Studies B Aust F 40 13
8 Director of Studies D Aust F 46 12
9 Director of Studies C Aust M 45 11
1 Senior Teacher C Portugese/Aus M 34 7
0 t
1 Senior Teacher C UK/Aust M 36 8
1
1 Senior Teacher A Aust F 52 15
2
1 Senior Teacher B Aust M 27 3
3
1 Senior Teacher D Aust F 37 9
4
1 Teacher A Aust F 26 2
5
1 Teacher B Aust M 29 4
6
1 Teacher B Aust F 50 8
7
1 Teacher A UK/Aust F 33 6
8
1 Teacher B Aust F 41 8
9
2 Teacher A Aust M 49 7
0
2 Teacher B UK F 28 3
1
2 Teacher C Aust M 30 4
2
2 Teacher A Aust F 32 6
3

73
2 Teacher A UK/Aust M 40 5
4
2 Teacher A Aust M 41 8
5
2 Teacher A Aust F 29 1
6
2 Teacher C Aust F 49 8
7
2 Teacher C Aust F 36 3
8
2 Teacher A Aust M 29 4
9
3 Teacher A Aust M 30 2
0
3 Teacher C UK/Aust M 29 4
1
3 Teacher D US/Aust M 56 2
2
3 Teacher D Aut/Aust F 69 5
3
3 Teacher A UK/Aust F 46 3
4
3 Teacher B Aust M 27 4
5
3 Administrative C Aust F 32 n/a
6 Worker
3 Administrative B Aust M 26 n/a
7 Worker
3 Administrative B Aust F 38 n/a
8 Worker
3 Administrative B Aust M 39 n/a
9 Worker
4 Administrative A Chinese F 34 n/a
0 Worker
4 Administrative A Aust F 39 n/a
1 Worker
4 Administrative B Aust F 19 n/a
2 Worker
4 Administrative A UK/Aust F 32 n/a
3 Worker
4 Administrative B Japanese F 30 n/a
4 Worker
4 Administrative C Indonesian F 38 n/a
5 Worker
4 Administrative C Indonesian F 23 n/a
6 Worker
4 Administrative D Aust F 24 n/a
7 Worker

74
4 Administrative B Japanese F 19 n/a
8 Worker
4 Administrative C Indonesian F 27 n/a
9 Worker
5 Administrative B NZ M 48 n/a
0 Worker
5 Administrative C Korean F 23 n/a
1 Worker
5 Administrative D Aust F 21 n/a
2 Worker
5 Administrative B Aust F 26 n/a
3 Worker
5 Administrative C Taiwanese F 28 n/a
4 Worker
5 Student A Taiwanese F 23 n/a
5
5 Student C Thai F 22 n/a
6
5 Student D Korean M 26 n/a
7
5 Student D Korean F 21 n/a
8
5 Student A Japanese F 21 n/a
9
6 Student C Brazilian M 47 n/a
0
6 Student A Chinese M 29 n/a
1
6 Student D Slovak M 31 n/a
2
6 Student C Indonesian M 24 n/a
3
6 Student C Indonesian F 23 n/a
4
6 Student C Korean M 26 n/a
5
6 Student C Slovak M 24 n/a
6
6 Student B Korean F 20 n/a
7
6 Student B Japanese M 21 n/a
8
6 Student B Taiwanese M 22 n/a
9
7 Student B Japanese F 21 n/a
0
7 Student B Japanese F 23 n/a
1

75
7 Student B Japanese F 21 n/a
2
7 Student C Thai F 20 n/a
3
7 Student A Thai F 24 n/a
4
7 Student D Korean F 26 n/a
5
7 Student C German F 34 n/a
6
7 Student A Czech F 31 n/a
7
7 Student A Czech M 29 n/a
8
7 Student B Slovak M 26 n/a
9
8 Student B Malaysian M 22 n/a
0
8 Student B Indonesian F 21 n/a
1

76
Phase IV Action Research

# Position Colleg Nationality M/ Ag ELT

e F e
Exp
1 Owner E Korean/Aust M 42 0
2 Owner E Indonesian/Aus F 37 0
t
3 Principal E Aust M 39 13
4 Director of Student E Aust F 33 8
Affairs
5 Director of Studies E Aust M 29 5
6 Assistant DOS E Greek/Aust M 54 15
7 Teacher E Aust M 40 8
8 Teacher E US M 51 3
9 Teacher E UK/Aust M 28 5
1 Teacher E Aust M 30 2
0
1 Teacher E UK/Aust M 27 4
1
1 Teacher E UK F 26 3
2
1 Teacher E Aust M 29 4
3
1 Teacher E Aust F 50 2
4
1 Teacher E Aust F 33 7
5
1 Teacher E UK F 41 5
6
1 Teacher E UK M 30 8
7
1 Teacher E Aust F 26 2
8
1 Teacher E Irish F 27 4
9
2 Teacher E Aust F 27 2
0
2 Teacher E Irish F 26 3
1
2 Teacher E UK F 29 5
2
2 Teacher E UK F 50 4
3
2 Teacher E UK F 33 9
4
2 Teacher E Aust M 26 2

77
5
2 Teacher E Aust M 41 5
6
2 Teacher E Aust F 38 6
7
2 Teacher E NZ M 36 5
8
2 Teacher E Aust M 41 11
9
3 Teacher E Aust M 30 2
0
3 Teacher E Aust M 48 9
1
3 Teacher E UK F 3
2
3 Administrative Worker E Japanese F 32 n/a
3
3 Administrative Worker E Slovak M 26 n/a
4
3 Administrative Worker E Thai F 38 n/a
5
3 Administrative Worker E Aust M 39 n/a
6
3 Administrative Worker E Aust F 19 n/a
7
3 Administrative Worker E Aust F 27 n/a
8
3 Administrative Worker E NZ F 23 n/a
9
4 Administrative Worker E Indonesian F 26 n/a
0
4 Student E Chinese F 23 n/a
1
4 Student E Korean F 22 n/a
2
4 Student E Japanese F 21 n/a
3
4 Student E Slovak M 47 n/a
4
4 Student E Czech M 29 n/a
5
4 Student E Japanese F 20 n/a
6
4 Student E Korean M 21 n/a
7
4 Student E Indonesian M 22 n/a
8
4 Student E Thai F 20 n/a

78
9
5 Student E Thai F 24 n/a
0
5 Student E Columbian F 23 n/a
1
5 Student E Thai M 25 n/a
2
5 Student E Taiwanese F 23 n/a
3
5 Student E Indonesian F 22 n/a
4
5 Student E Indonesian M 24 n/a
5
5 Student E Columbian F 22 n/a
6
5 Student E Brazilian M 19 n/a
7
5 Student E Russian M 27 n/a
8
5 Student E Slovak F 26 n/a
9
6 Student E Slovak M 26 n/a
0
6 Student E Czech F 24 n/a
1
6 Student E Japanese M 29 n/a
2
6 Student E Korean M 26 n/a
3
6 Student E Japanese M 25 n/a
4
6 Student E Korean F 23 n/a
5
6 Student E Indonesian F 21 n/a
6
6 Student E Thai F 19 n/a
7
6 Student E Chinese F 22 n/a
8
6 Student E Chinese M 21 n/a
9
7 Student E Chinese F 21 n/a
0

79
80