Literature Review on Culture in Public and Private Preschools - Essay Example

? Literature Review on Culture in Public and Private Preschools Lecturer: Literature Review on Culture in Public andPrivate Preschools The concept of organization culture has evolved overtime and it has become commonly applied in varied organisations including learning institutions, business entities and many other organisations. Organization culture is defined as human behaviors and it is an asset of shared values, norms, beliefs, vision and symbols that contributes to better organisation performance (Senior and Swailes, 2010). This concept may affect the way community or groups of people interact; thus, culture is highly taken into consideration in any organisation to avoid creating organizational impacts. The concept of organisation culture originates from cultural background issues and it was first introduced in the late 1970s. The idea of organisation culture began during the end of the Second World War when the United States was the economic lords while Japan and Europe were struggling with impacts of war. The idea of organisation culture has become relevant in varied field and it has continued to change; thus, it has developed into organizational effectiveness. This is because of rapid changing environments since organisations are rethinking in order to accomplish their objectives in the contemporary global competitive working and learning environment. The organisation culture in both public and private preschool has become a concerning issue especially to parents who want their children to study in an institution where there is a unique school culture. Culture as an organisation metaphor in the learning institution is where there is effective communication and sharing of vision, values, beliefs and other unique school cultural aspects with an aim of accomplishing the organizational objectives effectively (Salfi and Saeed, 2007). The education of a child is significant; thus organisation culture can shape the behavior of the child and determine his or her academic future; thus organization culture should be emphasized in preschool learning environments. This is because the environment of the child can be very influential on the personality, behaviors and character traits of the child in the present and the future years. The culture of the preschool has diverse components, which shapes the behaviors and influences of the child; one of the components is social and this is linked with the family and school. Most preschools have multiple age groups of students; thus many of them intend to offer an effective learning and social environment where children are given opportunities to learn from each other through socialization. Binder (2002) argues that an effective learning environment is where there is mutual interaction between the school and the family of the child. Effective socialization between teachers and interaction among students is also vital because it contributes to better education performance of the child. The child is able to cope up in a learning environment where students and teachers are friendly or socialize well; thus contributing to successful accomplishments of organizational goals (Berns, 2004). Another component of culture is the environmental set-up and this involves the preparation for the environment in an effective manner in order to match with the desired needs of the child. Glicken (2011) argues that the environment should be comfortable such as the classroom size should have a sizeable number of children and better learning materials; thus enabling the child to study comfortably. Moreover, it should be like a home because this can enable the child to learn varied practical or real life issues. For instance, there should be a place where the child should practice proper self-help skills and the environment should have adequate security. Therefore, the preschool coaching and learning principles should be grounded into a strong theoretical framework of organisation culture with an aim of delivering high quality education services to children. Lastly, curriculum is another component and this is where there is a belief in sensory learning; children are encouraged to study through touching, tasting, seeing and also exploring things not only by smelling but also by just listening (Stein, 2004). The work of the child can be recognized in case there is a good academic program. For instance, private preschools have the flexibility to offer specialized education programs which are included in their school curriculum. On the other hand, public preschools have general programs, which are designed for the average child but this differ from one state to another. The report from the national assessment of education program reveals that private preschool students are superior because their curriculum is designed in a manner that enables children to achieve better education performance (United States, 2006). The preschool culture is classified further into varied aspects and this is where the preschool program is destined in order to ensure recognition, as well as, respect for cultural diversity. One of them is the classroom materials and this reflects the characteristics, values, beliefs and practices of varied cultural groups, and involves the variety of languages, diverse spectrum of races, lifestyles, careers and artworks aspects. There is also acknowledgement of religious and cultural practices such as religious holidays are taken into considerations, participation in cultural and other school activities. Lastly the uniqueness of family is well recognized and respected by all the school members or community such as language, dressing code, customs and structures. Connolly, James and Beales (2011) argue that organisation culture research continues to be widely employed for descriptive and explanatory purposes in academic and education contexts; the range on perceptions on its meaning which is readily apparent to educators and non-educators is directly relevant the research analysis on the organizational cultural change. Many scholars attempt to offer their views on the organizational culture by arguing that this theory has been increasingly researched through conceptualizing diverse perspectives about organizational culture (Itzin and Newman, 2000; Argyris, 2010). Alvesson (2002) argues that understanding culture is vital because this will enable an organisation to overcome cultural barriers in a multicultural learning environment; thus contributing to better organizational performance. Therefore, carrying out effective research on the organisation culture will enable the preschool learning environment to create cultural change in the learning environment. Researchers have attempted to argue on the issue of behavioral science by focusing on the way kids develop varied behavioral related issue to their surrounding environment (Greenberg, Cicchetti and Cummings, 2000). For instance, the preschool may contribute to the development of new behavioral problems and spending a lot of time with peer may create behavioral development problems of the child. The research carried out traced the social behaviors of children from the infancy to kindergarten; thus it was revealed that kids who spend most of their time with non-maternal care tend to develop behavioral problems such as defiance, poor cooperation and other aggressive behaviors (Hofman, Hofman and Guldemond (J2002). Numerous studies have also explored the behavioral changes on the impact of play on the development of the child (Hanson, Gutierrez, Morgan and Brennan, 2000). The research study reveals that play influences school achievements directly, indirectly and also through adult-mediated effects. Some studies reveals that play has direct effect of the child including enhancing thinking capability and social interaction that contributes to better academic learning (Schaefer, 2010). For instance, the frequency and complexity of block arrangement play in preschool was found to be linked with better performance of mathematics in high school (Kyratzis, 2007). The issue of organisation theory and design as a cultural mode for creating better organizational performance has evolved overtime in many learning institutions. Organisation theory refers to the way of thinking about the organisation; thereby, analyzing it more accurately to create change. The preschool environment calls for dramatic varied responses from human resource managers to design the environment in a manner that will contribute to better organizational performance (Gross, Booker and Goldhaber, 2009). Organisational theory and designing involves devising the environment in a way that can fit the needs of the environment. The organizational theory focuses on the organizational climate and organisation culture that may impact effective organization performance; thereby structuring or designing the environment in order to create significant change. Organisational culture refers to the set of shared norms, values, beliefs and vision, which controls the interactions of organisation members with each other. However, organization climate can be defined as the properties of the organisation environment, which are generated by the cultural development process (Ashkanasy, Wilderom and Peterson, 2000). Organisation culture is linked with organisation performance because culture is rich and diverse; thus much of its richness is founded on the agreement that culture is connected to performance of the organization. Much sufficient research evidence attempts to reveal that organisation culture is correlated with organizational performance (Stecher, 2010; Connolly, James and Beales, 2011). According to Ashkanasy, Wilderom and Peterson (2000), the key to successful organisation performance is based on a strong organizational culture. A positive culture can create average individual performance whereas negative will de-motivate an individual; thus contributing to underperformance; therefore, culture has an active and significant role of creating effective performance management in an organisation. Moreover, employing effective organisation strategy is also linked to culture and performance because effective organisation strategy can work well in an effective cultural environment; thereby, contributing to effective organizational performance. The quality management model is an effective tool for culture assessment in an organisation. Quality problems appear in most learning institutions; thus employing quality management tool and better organizational governance is vital (Allen and Mintrom, 2010). This is because the quality model is employed to assess the organization in order to determine if the organisation is able to meet their stated objectives or mission effectively for their long-term survival. This model is vital because in ensures that the organisation is able to cope up with internal and external forces by analyzing the impacts that might affect the effective organization practices; therefore, it is vital to measure the total quality management in both public and private preschool. However, there are some differences that may arise because private preschools offer effective education practices. This is because private preschools offer unique school culture and high quality education is often characterized by effective communication, social interaction, participation and co-operation (Avalos and Townsend, 2012). The creation of pedagogical environment requires competent teachers; thus private schools are able to achieve high quality education because many of them offer competent teachers than their counterparts. Managing culture in preschool environment is vital because culture can impact the performance of students in the learning environment. In order to manage culture, organizational leaders should communicate effectively and learn to listen effectively. This is vital because effective communication and listening skills are likely to reduce conflicts of interest that may arise in the preschool; thus contributing to effective organizational performance. Schein (2010) argues that culture management is one of the most powerful aspects of all leadership tools; it is the top and most significant key aspects for achieving successful organizational performance; therefore, to manage culture effectively, one should understand the significant of communicating effectively in a multi-cultural learning environment, recognize the preschool cultural values, understand the corporate strategy, vision and align preschool objectives; thus creating successful organisation performance. Leadership as a shaper of organizational culture in both public and private preschool should be able to create an effective learning environment where there is cultural change; a learning organisation is the one that is able to change its behaviors and mind-sets due to the result of experience (Maki, 2010). Many learning organisations fail to acknowledge certain facts about dysfunctional behaviors, however, creating a learning environment in preschool institution that tends to promote learning and effective leadership at all levels are likely to make organisations accountable for its actions (Ladd and Fiske, 2008). Both public and private preschool have adopted learning organizational approach because they found out that it contributes to better academic performance. Collard and Reynolds (2005) also argue that learning organisation contributes to effective sharing of the vision and exploring possibilities that fit into the overall strategic direction; thus creating organizational change. Moreover, successful leaders should overcome resistance to create cultural change because this will contribute to better performance. This is because learning institutions continues to change because of increased globalization; thus diagnosing and changing organizational culture based on the competing values framework is vital (Cameron and Quinn, 2000). Cultural barriers such as cultural ethnocentrism values and beliefs can create resistance to change; therefore, when looking into values for these barriers, it is significant to understand barriers that may be religious in nature, and those related to work ethic. This is because customs, values and beliefs of an individual is difficult to categorize, but being aware of these cultural aspects in which the changes are meant for, will create successful organizational performance. References Avalos, B., & Townsend, T. (2012). International handbook of school effectiveness and improvement. Dordrecht [Netherlands: Springer. Allen, A., & Mintrom, M. (January 01, 2010). Responsibility and School Governance. Educational Policy, 24, 3, 439-464. Alvesson, M. (2002). 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