"Islands of Excellence in a Sea of Mediocrity"

Organizational communication has become of growing interest to me throughout the course of studying organizational development. In my group’s organizational observation I was able to see how communication in a business environment is both similar and dissimilar to the communication in my workplace. Misunderstandings can occur anywhere, but the repercussions can be largely different depending on where they take place. For example, miscommunication in a fitness center could potentially lead to a health risk, which seems quite serious. In education, miscommunication occurs frequently, and while such instances may not hold life or death consequences, the repercussions can lead to misguided students, injured relationships, ineffective organizational operation and a host of other issues.

At the Educating for Careers Conference in Sacramento last week, I met with a representative from the California Department of Education (C.D.E.) and he mentioned the phenomenon of “nestled hierarchies”. This notion led me to ponder more about systems thinking and how it impacts the functioning of both my organization and the organization I observed. I wonder how people gain an understanding of the hierarchy within their organization and whether or not it exists beyond their personal interpretation, or if perhaps interpretation trumps any organization chart provided by a human resources department? In my group’s observation, the manager of the business expressed that he quickly progressed from a front-desk part-time employee to a supervisory and management position. Was it his take-charge attitude that put him there or was it a need for some leadership during reorganization? This causes me to connect to my own department to think about how responsibilities were identified and distributed when my program was developed. Do the founders of organizations believe the hierarchies they put into place are sustainable?

When I think back to K-12 teaching, I remember how within the school culture (at every school in which I subbed or taught in three separate counties), everyone knew that the administrative assistants ran the school. Now, in a org chart, the administrators would be seen as the “highest” ranking employee, but when it came to power, that person had it merely in name and not in effect. At the conference I attended, there were presenters touted as experts who communicated very little of value on their topic and I walked away, scratching my head, wondering who really does their job? It seems that the high-in-title folks get the perks of professional development while the powerful forces of the organization are left behind to actually keep the business running. In the organization my group observed, it is the lowest-ranked employees who are in charge of opening the business every day – that is a huge responsibility, right?!

Mental models and common perceptions, as misguided as they may be, seem to be a trend that prevents organizations from growing. In my blog for my other course, I quoted the same C.D.E representative for the phrase “islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity.” In context, this is to suggest that small-scale efforts get lost in the larger picture of public education. I agreed with the quote and would dare to assert that a large reason for this mediocrity is the inability to see beyond perceived lines of power. I think there are people who actually got into this business for power and money – clearly, they didn’t do their research as there is little of both in education… ooh… could that be why unions are so desperate to maintain power – could it be a futile attempt to grasp at straws of mediocrity for fear of trying something new that might actually lead to excellence and equity in education? Alas, I am always left with more questions that answers…