Brazil's Education Minister Forges a New Role for the Ministry - Essay Example

Issues and processes The major issues confronting Brazil’s new Minister of Education and Sport are related to poor performance and extreme inequalityof resources. Research indicates that literacy rate in Brazil was poor around 20 percent before the appointment of the new minister. Funding of education in economically distressed parts of the country was very poor and the teachers were also poorly remunerated. There was a wide gap in quality of education between the students who came from affluent families compared to those who came from poor backgrounds.

The other problem noted in the case study is that the role of the Ministry of education itself was in disarray. As such there different processes that need to be implemented in order to turnaround the activities of the ministry such that the education sector can be improved. First and foremost, the new minister and his executive have a task to design the functions as well as jobs in the ministry so that it can operate towards the attainment of the desired goals. Basically, job design is the process by which characteristics and qualities of jobs are determined and created (Jackson & Schuler, 151).

Technology is one major factor that affects job design and it is the duty of the Ministry of education to ensure that they harness the use of new information and communication technology in gathering information about the necessary steps that should be taken in order to improve the performance as well as quality in the education sector in Brazil.The other important function of job design is to attract, accommodate, motivate and retain a workforce that is diverse in terms of lifestyle, gender as well as capability (Jackson & Schuler, 153).

Without a proper job design, it may be quite difficult to attract the talented people to certain jobs since they would also not be aware of what would be expected of them. Having designed different job tasks in the Ministry of Education in Brazil, the other processes that ought to be taken into account is to recruit competent employees and make sure that measures designed to retain them are put in place. Robbins (165) posits to the effect that recruitment helps the company to select the best candidates out of a potential poof of employees.

This process is not an end in itself since it is supposed to be complemented by other activities that are designed to improve the overall performance of the whole sector. The Ministry also ought to put in place measures that are designed to motivate the employees so that they can put optimum performance in their activities. As shown in the case, the teachers are poorly remunerated and it is the duty of the new minister to ensure that the working conditions of the educators are improved. The ministry also has a duty to ensure that teachers are given incentives in order for them stay longer in their jobs.

The ministry should also put in place measures that are designed to attract talented teachers who can play a pivotal role in turning the fortunes of the education sector in this country. Works citedJackson Susan & Schuler Randal. Human resources: A partnership perspective. Boston: South Western college Publishing: 2000. Print.Robbins Stephen. Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and applications.6th Edition. NJ: Prentice Hall: 1993. Print.