Political Case Study

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Liberty University *

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Political Science

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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1 POLITICAL ANALYSIS Case Study: Political Analysis Frank D’Errico School of Education, Liberty University Author Note Frank D’Errico I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this assignment should be addressed to Frank D’Errico Email: faderrico@liberty.edu

2 POLITICAL ANALYSIS The distribution of power which has an influence over the culture, decisions, and curriculum, among other organizational areas, can occur through multiple pathways within the high school setting. For leaders to be effective, they must be able to influence their staff and community stakeholders (Elias 2008). Although social power exists within all organizations, the appearance that it takes within the high school structure can vary; in fact, defining social power is not a very easy task in this sense, at times, can seem to call for its own sense of definition depending on the organization itself (Elias, 2008). The logistics of the leadership within Knight High School hinges at times on the politics not just within the state of New Jersey, but within the community itself; there are times that there are self-driven agendas, and unfortunately, agendas driven from the top down. It is through the distribution of power and organizational politics that the political lens offers a perspective of how these pathways influence the structure of Knights High School. Organizational Power Organizational power can be clearly seen through observability within Knights High School, which starts at the Board of Education and works its way down to the Superintendent, Business Administrator, Principal, Vice Principal/Director/Supervisors, Lead Teachers, and Teachers (Van Vliet, 2010. However, the power that each of those layers holds within it is not of equal authority in various ways. A study in 1959 by social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven broke power down into five different forms: Coercive power, Reward power, Legitimate power, Referent power, and Expert power, all of which can affect a person's leadership and ability to be overall successful (Van Vliet, 2010). Within the Knights High School, the Board of Education, the Chief Administration, and the Building Administration have the ability to use coercive power. There are times when this use of power falls out of the hands of the administration but is still coercive as policies flow in from the Department

3 POLITICAL ANALYSIS of Education, as there is occasionally tension from federal and state policy flowing in with new laws about hot topics such as gender identification, policy updates, and curriculums. There are many cases where this power comes into action within Knights School because it goes against the personal beliefs of many people. In many administrations, there is still the need to put the policy in place and abide by it, and if anyone fails to follow the policy, then the consequences that can lay ahead of them are very high and intense. It is challenging to have these conversations and not portray them as a threat but to articulate them with the seriousness that comes along with them, and many times; there is dissatisfaction that comes along with these policies, among many others that the Federal and State governments are consistently imposing upon schools. In collaboration with the Board of Education, the Superintendent can move as far as recommending tenure charges against an employee if their actions rise to that level of action, to withhold a pay increment, to non-renew a non-tenure staff in addition to less formal consequences such as a meeting, an email, or a letter in their personnel file. Reward power is offering compensation to a target in exchange for compliance (Elias, 2008). This form of power offers, at times, great incentives; however, it also comes with some downfalls. The administration and teachers' union both possess this power. However, it only comes around every three years when these terms and stipends have been set in place, as this is currently a problem in areas such as homebound instruction, covering classes, and attending IEP meetings. The once fair rate incentive no longer fits the term of a reward and has left the organization looking for outside sources to fit many of the needs left open. Since both parties have this power, contracts become held up, and the district becomes reliant on organizations outside the teaching staff to provide services for the students that many staff once did. Organizational politics has played a significant role in this part of the distribution of power; while the mission and vision are about the students, behind the scenes, they become contradictory to that in many ways. At each meeting, the negotiation team on both sides returns the

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