To Understand the “Brazilian Way” of School Management: How National Culture Influences the Organizational Culture and School Leadership

Abstract

Abstract:This study aims to identify characteristics of national culture in the culture of Brazilian school management and leadership. Considering the broad literature that deals with the peculiarities of Brazilian culture and its influence on Brazilian management, it is assumed that as an institution belonging to a particular society, the school offers internal dynamics that are organized under influences of historical and cultural determinants of this society. This work is an exploratory study that uses secondary data found in studies on the profiles of principals, leadership, climate, and organizational culture in schools and primary data from research applied in public secondary schools located in the Federal District, Brazil. The results demonstrate that the initial premise-national culture influences the organizational culture and school leadership-has been confirmed and aspects that merit further analysis are identified.Keywords: national culture; school organizational culture; leadership Brief IntroductionThe studies about the influence of national culture on the culture of organizations have achieved greater prominence in Brazil since 1980s, in particular, after the publication of the results of Hofstede's 1970s research, in which the researcher analyzed the dimension of culture associated with the management of companies in several countries, including Brazil. However, only limited studies relating to this dimension of culture exist in studies on management of educational organizations and schools. This article seeks to address this gap and answer the question: In what way could characteristics of Brazilian culture influence the organizational culture and leadership of schools? It is assumed that the school, as an organization belonging to a particular society, has its culture influenced by historical and social factors, as well as the cultural rights of this society. The literature review employed studies that show how the management of companies in Brazil is influenced by traits of the national culture, such as "the Brazilian way", relations of power and hierarchy, authoritarianism, personalism, plasticity, cordiality, and results orientation [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Many of these studies draw on theories and local studies from recognized Brazilian anthropologists, economists, and sociologists such as Gilberto Freire, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Caio Prado Junior, and Roberto Da Matta. The present exploratory study will be developed in two steps: the first step will explore the existing literature on relationships between traits of national culture and culture of Brazilian organizations, seeking concepts associated with the organizational culture and leadership of schools. The second step will analyze data on profiles of principals, structure, and procedures for the management of Brazilian public primary schools. The secondary data will be from the Census Data of Basic Education in Brazil, the Evaluation of Primary Education (Ministry of Education, Brasília, Brazil), and the Teaching

School Principals' Informal Criteria in Assessing Their Teachers: A Comparative Study

“…Are these beliefs about teachers' qualities influenced by national norms and traditions? Many scholars of school leaders agree that cultures shape organizational practices and leadership behaviors (Hofstede et al, 2010;de Albuquerque Moreira & Rocha, 2018;Dimmock & Walker, 1999;Miller, 2018;Spencer-Oatey, 2000;Shapira-Lishchinsky & Litchka, 2018). Cultures from the context in which schools run and, also, shape how school principals think and act (Dimmock & Walker, 2002, p.70).…”

“…Some research highlighted the influence of cultural background on school leadership. In a recent study about the role of Brazilian national culture on school leadership, de Albuquerque Moreira and Rocha (2018) showed that the high distance power of Brazilian culture is reflected in school organizational management and leadership as high centralization and reduced autonomy of schools. The authors emphasized that many aspects of national culture such as authoritarianism, personalism, patriarchy, paternalism, hierarchy, the mix between the public and private spheres, and cordiality, result from the historical process of colonization and constitute a consequence of the intercultural contact between three main cultures: Iberian, Amerindian, and African.…”