David King is facing a lot of challenges in the Robert F. Kennedy High School, because the system of organizational thinking has not been created in this school. Now in order to make this educational institution more effective, he needs to find the right solutions that first and foremost will stop the ongoing organizational crisis and secondly will improve performance of housemasters, teachers and pupils. In the TED-video “Dare to Disagree” Heffernan provides an example of constructive conflict that helped an organization that specializes in medical devices to progress (Heffernan, 2012). A similar approach could be applied to Robert F. Kennedy High School. The main idea is to find ways to engage with employees that have very different backgrounds. Secondly, David King has to create an environment in the school in which employees will not be afraid of conflicts and raising problematic issues. In the case study, in the Friday afternoon meeting King noticed “how quiet and conflict free these same people were” (Gabarro, 2016, p.6), even though he knew about a large number of tensions between employees. Helfetz writes that leaders usually face two types of problems – technical and adaptive problems. Technical problems may be resolved by managerial practices, but adaptive problems are much more challenging, because they require a change in values and therefore managers have to do “experiments, new discoveries and adjustments” (Helfetz, 2011, p.18). So the main point is that King should improve the system of organizational thinking. There should be an open and constructive discussion between employees that will eventually lead to creative solutions. Recognizing that the current structure is the outcome of hidden conflicts will make employees challenge the current status quo more actively. King should exercise both leadership and authority in order to make technical decisions and implement profound adaptive decisions so that organizational thinking could significantly improve in the Robert Kennedy High School that now seems to consist of four separate units that resist cooperating with each other.
References
Gabarro, J. (1974). Robert F. Kennedy High School. HBS Case Services. Harvard Business
Heffernan, M. (2012). Dare to Disagree. TED Talk. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree
Helfetz, R. (1998). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
