Topic 2 Mgt 420 Freeman-Brown Private School Case
Refer to the “Freeman-Brown Private School Case Study” document for details pertaining to this assignment.
The board of directors at Freeman-Brown Private School (FBPS) has hired you as part of a consulting team to review the situation and present your findings and recommendations. Write a paper (1,500-1750 words) that discusses the case. Complete this assignment from the perspective of the hired consultants. Respond to the following questions:
Review how organizations interact with their external environment (as open systems and complex adaptive systems). How effective was Freeman-Brown as an open system at the time of the closure? How effective was Freeman-Brown as a complex adaptive system at the time of the closure?
Review your reading this week on the internal environment of organizations. What is your evaluation of the organizational culture and organizational climate at the time the decision to close two campuses was made?
What is your evaluation of the decision made by Dr. Murphy and Caudill? What is your evaluation of the process of going about the closure?
Was FBPS demonstrating social responsibility? Discuss the closure impact on three specific stakeholders.
Provide an explanation, using appropriate management theories, for how the administration could have handled the closure effectively with stakeholders? Include one theory from each of the following: the classical approach, the human relations approach, and the modern management approach.
You have been asked to suggest two goals: one long-term and one short-term goal for the future direction of FBPS. Justify your decision.
Present a concluding statement that integrates the 4 functions of management as a means to revamp management at FBPS and meets the recommended goals.
Use at least two academic resources as references for this assignment.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Sample Answer
Freeman-Brown Private School Case
How the situation in Free Brown Private School was handled by the school board makes the case study unique, and the case can be used to analyze various aspects of management. The management of the organization managed the school as an open and adaptive complex system at different points based on their view of what would work for the school. The discussion of the paper will focus on various aspects of management, and the point at which various courses of actions were taken as evidence in the case study including various systems adopted, the organizational culture of the school, social responsibility as evident in the case study, and the analysis of the effectiveness of the closure options adopted by the management.
Systems
Free-Brown Private School built schools through interaction with the community. The school was ineffective in its interaction as an open system. Open systems refer to a situation whereby a system has interactions with others and the external environment, but control is managed by ensuring boundaries that allow necessary interactions only to shield the organization from the external environment. In open systems, three organizing principles include a belief that intelligence in an organization resides in the whole system, and therefore no individual has specific knowledge. The second principle is that complex collective behavior is guided by simple actions and that the interaction of the participants who are independent creates order (Fidan & Balcı, 2017). The school did not have a permeable wall since there was no necessary exchange of information at the appropriate time, and the school even denied closure after the leakage of the email. The school was not adequately conscious and considerate of their external environment.
The school operated successfully as a complex adaptive system at its early stages. Complex adaptive systems are dynamic systems with the capacity to evolve and adapt to the new changes (Fidan & Balcı, 2017). The school faced competition and financial crises from the recession, which led to a low number of students enrolling in the institution. As a strategy to adapt to the new turn of events, the school closed Culpeper and Hampton campuses to sustain other campuses by reducing the running costs. The school was successful as a complex adaptive system and not as an open system.
Organizational Culture and Climate
Organizational culture is referred to as basic assumptions shared by members of an organization and is learned through problem-solving related to adaption to external factors and integration. The assumptions have to be considered valid and are taught to new members of the organization as the correct perceptions. Organizational culture makes an organization unique and is evident in the shared beliefs and values and aspects of organizational life. The organizational climate, on the other hand, consists of shared values and meanings related to procedures, policies, and practices and behaviors considered rewarding and in line with the expectations of the organization (Schermerhorn, & Uhl-Bien 2014).
The school had unfavorable organizational culture and climate as various scenarios indicate a lack of shared beliefs, assumptions, and ways of thinking. The culture and climate of the organization are evident in the communication and decision-making process. The school lack shared beliefs and values. Caudill appointed Dr. Murphy after an email was in error informing the parents that the Staunton campus would be closed. The email was withdrawn immediately, and the new principal gave assurance to parents that the campus would remain open only for the parents to receive contradicting information about the closure of the campus.
