Advantages Of Schools Open System

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The management of schools should be an open system as proposed by this argument. Schools, especially government funded ones, are considered public organizations, which are put in place with the intention of helping the society at large. This paper aims to defend the argument that schools are open systems, where, the decision making structures are bound to factors that affect the school both internally and external. It will defend its argument by reviewing the systems theory and vividly defining the socio-technical theory.
The subject of an open system being applied in the management of schools is a sensitive issue that needs more clarification. Issues directly affecting the school internally and externally should involve both the students and …show more content…

The school is considered an open system since it is directly linked with the community. The school interacts with the community through various activities, and decision making structures should be well organized in an open context. All these systems are mutually dependent on each other and are highly interactive. An open system of school functioning opens it up to the entire society. Contributions of the school to the society and what the latter contributes to the former are widely considered in an open system, and this affects the general decision making process (McKenna, …show more content…

The design of structures in this scenario should be able to accommodate all, including the physically impaired (Hanson, 2003). To ensure smooth running, all systems have to be assigned qualified personnel to manage them. However, the arrangement of the four internal variables that affect schools is largely dependent on two external variables (Owens & Valesky, 2011). In the open system, one of the external variables is the professional values shown by the institutions training teachers, and also the interaction between the education and industrial sectors. These are just a few among the other external factors that help shape the internal arrangement of the school. Another category of external forces is the influence of both the social and cultural practices of the community (Harris, Bennett, & Preedy, 1997). These social behaviors from the society affect how things are run at the school (Owens & Valesky, 2011). A good example is the traditions of the community that end up deciding on how the school will be run.
The paper achieved its objective of defending why the schools are an open system using the socio-technical systems theory. The general systems theory has been highlighted in the text explaining how the school is made up of various working systems that are interdependent on each other. The four variables of the socio-technical systems theory have been highlighted, indicating how the