Status : Verified
| Personal Name | Armida Salvador Samaniego |
|---|---|
| Resource Title | Governance, succession and professionalization: sustainability in family-owned educational institutions |
| Date Issued | March 2012 |
| Abstract | The study came up with a model of sustainability for family-owned educational institutions by determining their governance structure, succession, and professionalization practices. Respondents were presidents and other appointed administrators in each respective institution which has existed 25 year or more. The study used the qualitative method with a semi-structured interview and documentary analysis of the ten (10) institutions. Purposive sampling was used to comply with specific characteristics prescribed by the study. It used the model of Creswell (2009) for data analysis. Findings revealed that there was a high concentration of ownership and control in family-owned educational institutions; informal family assemblies were considered an alternative to a formal family council; the original vision of the founder served as the institution’s guiding philosophy; the legal heirs are committed to the founder’s vision; families generally do not have written policies pertaining to family participation in the school; and many of their practices are verbally agreed upon and handed down by the previous generations to the next. Findings on succession showed that the founder served as the first president of the school; the traditional pattern where the key leadership started from the founder, passed on to the wife then to the offspring is dominant; deliberation among elders replaces formal succession planning; the checklist for a successor to the presidency includes education and formal training, involvement in the school, external exposure and participation, skills and abilities, good traits, and the extent of the culture assimilated by the prospective successor from the founder. The succession experiences were manifested in the turn-over or the actual hand-off of the position and the challenges met upon ascendancy. The common succession experience is a gradual but progressive turn-over and the dominant challenge encountered is that of facing a higher level of responsibility upon assumption to office as the new leader. In professionalization, findings were: there was a high professionalization among the school boards; moderate professionalization in terms of the number of non-family members serving in the management group; a high professionalization in terms of qualifications and professions of all members of the management group; basis for appointing executive managers is educational qualifications, experience outside, competence, favorable -character, experiences inside the school and job performance; in-house scholarships or subsidy of schooling in other institutions are ways to professionalize insiders and; consultants were hired were expertise is lacking. Issues about governance, succession and professionalization and the processes to address the issues were identified in order to see how these family-owned educational institutions attained sustainability. Among the issues found in governance were lack of formal family council and family constitution and the presence of paper stockholders instead of real stockholders. Processes which family-owned educational institutions adopt are: delineation of relational issues between family and school, continuous guidance of older living generations, dichotomy between school and family, and school’s interest comes before family interests. Among the issues in succession were lack of succession planning, unavailability of a legal successor and changes brought about by a new president. Processes adopted by the family-owned institutions were: deliberation by elders when issues are raised, communication of matters to concerned people, following the caretaker strategy, and coming up with a pool of groomed successors. Among the issues of professionalization were tendency to keep the ownership and board membership within the family, presidency is reserved for family members and tendency to do away with professional processes. Processes adopted by family-owned educational institutions are recruiting the right people and the best people (both family and non-family), ensuring that the chosen president who is a family member is qualified and experienced, openness to non-family in the management team and adoption of human resource policies for working family members. Filipino family values and traits such as high level of family orientation, extreme personalism, high tolerance to ambiguity, high regard for elders and patriarchal orientation is found to influence governance, succession and professionalization. External factors specifically, regulatory and accrediting agencies that prescribe high standards in management, service and operations were also found to contribute to the sustainability of the family-owned educational institutions. On the whole, the study was able to come up with an emergent framework sustainability is attained by family-owned educational institutions through the governance structure, succession and professionalization practices. Sustainability is assured if the issues relating to governance, succession and professionalization are addressed with processes implemented by the family and the school. There are also Filipino family values and traits that influence governance, succession and professionalization and external factors that push the educational institutions to strive for higher quality. These also contribute to the sustainability of family-owned schools. |
| Degree Course | Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Educational Administration) |
| Language | English |
| Keyword | Family-owned business enterprises, management, succession, family corporations, governance, education |
| Material Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
Preliminary Pages
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