The differences between Bennett and Tribus

For me, the Tribus reading was when I started to get a handle on things. I was one of the (possibly many) students who found the Bennet reading really heavy going - I found it really difficult to stay focussed on what he was saying, and therefore did not comprehend some of it, and did not retain much of it at all. I just so happened to try to read it when I was stuck in a car for 24 hours - what an opportunity to get lots of reading done! And because it was such a challenge, that opportunity was wasted (I mostly read my novel instead!).

The things that did stick out for me in the Bennet reading (my interpretation of them):

- p100: Process is as important as product (this is also highlighted in the Tribus reading as principle #3), interdependence within an organisation and how this can change (in a school, we can and should rely on each other and can get support and ideas from the staff around us), interdependence between organisations (Bennett highlighted this as meaning schools are restricted with what they can do, but perhaps it can also be interpreted as meaning that schools can and should communicate with each other for positive ideas and change).

- p106: Every person has the opportunity to have some kind of influence, how they use this opportunity is an important factor in what the working environment will be like.

- pp109-110: Hegemony and discipline. Hegemony comes about with 'coercion and consent', taking account of what is wanted and compromising whilst still ultimately leading towards the original aim. Discipline (I found that this was not as clearly defined) controls how individuals think as well as how they act (p110). It is obvious who is in charge and making decisions, individuals are not made to feel that they are having an impact on the decision as they are with hegemony.

- pp114-115: Deployment of power: Overt - direct/provisional, positive/negative; Covert - positive/negative.

It was a lot of hard work to drag those concepts out of the Bennett reading. Tribus on the other hand was more reader friendly I felt. The four principles that Tribus oulined and elaborated on did not take a huge effort when it came to applying them to education - I could see the relevance to the role of the TL and so was engaged in the reading.

My interpretation of the principles:

#1 The manager works ON the system trying to improve it continuously with help from the people IN it.
#2 Put quality first - think about how to solve all problems with quality.
#3 Put your attention on the process to improve the product.
#4 Set goals for the whole system, rather than for the individual.

I like these principles and can see how they would help a school to run as an effective organisation. Anyone in a leadership position could use these to ensure their leadership is effective, whether the principal as an obvious leader, or the TL leading from the middle. Communication would be an essential given as overall goals are set for everyone to work towards.

Bennett focuses on what leadership can look like, Tribus describes what he thinks it should look like. Bennet looks at organisations in general, Tribus focuses on schools. Bennet used bigger words and more complex structure in his language and made me feel inadequate, Tribus made me feel capable...

Now to get some more reading done.