Essay Example on Organizational Analysis of Student Governments

The student government befits the definition of an organization in line with the three chapters in Mumby's textbook. The textbook suggests that the four essential features of an organizational definition include interdependence, control, differentiation of tasks and functions, and goal orientation. The student government is an organization which primarily performs the purpose of promoting individual student, advocating for their rights, and serving them. I served as the deputy head boy of the organization and facilitated the organization of various events such as annual day, sports day and special events which attracted influential personalities such as the former Vice President and famous players such as Zahir Khan. The student government also enabled the students to engage in institutional affairs actively, and participate in positively bringing a change to the institution and its environs. The organization gave the students the opportunity to air out their views and opinions concerning instituted policies, development trends, and new ideas. The student government acted as an umbrella body to all other clubs in my high school through formulating and approving the various budgets for students activities, and also coordinated the community activities.

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Student government, as an organization, is a distinct form of a self-directed, proactive and responsible social activity for students with an objective of addressing the critical issues which affect the lives of students. Mumby (2012) expounds that the student government also supports the social initiatives, and helps in developing the social activities of the students. Petrova (2009) provides the requirements for setting up an effective student organization at an institution of higher learning by suggesting that it is necessary to set up unique pedagogical and organizational conditions. The educational requirements include availing the practical and teaching manuals on how to organize the activities of the student government. These include policy documents such as programs, concepts, orders, regulations, and plans, among various others.

A successful student government employs a variety of resources to communicate with the students using various resources such as the school magazines and newspapers, social media platforms, programming, and word of mouth, among numerous other channels (Genkova & Gehr, 2016). The student government also initiates face to face interactions with the students, and also set up a legislative body which incorporates the opinions of the students, and also ensures that the executive branch of the student government is informed and updated about the priorities and needs of the students. Representative legislative body and two-way communication are critical in providing the student government with the appropriate tools which make it be a deliberative organization. The body also unites various individuals together to discuss the solutions to the challenges affecting the institution, prioritize the issues, weigh the solutions, and identify the appropriate solution to the problem.

Analysis of the Student Organization

The Human Relations Approach

Mumby (2012) explains that the human relations model of managing organizations focuses on people's desire to engage in supporting teams as a way of facilitating the growth and development of organizations. In an organizational setting, employees receive specialized attention and are encouraged to participate actively in achieving organizational objectives. Such individuals perceive that their work is significant, and they are motivated to be more productive. The effect of initiating human relations is the production of quality work. Human relations approach depends on three elements. The first one is individualized recognition and attention in line with the human relations approach. Secondly, there is the belief that various scholars and theorists supported the motivational theory. Lastly, there is an assertion that studies endorsed the significance of human relations in business.

Student governments in various institutions acknowledge that human relations are essential, critical and delicate since the student leadership maintains relationships with multiple stakeholders of the learning institution, and also attempt to keep balance in conflict environments. Student governments also establish appropriate relations between all the parties within an organization and seek cooperation among all the diverse activities of the institution which include co-curricular, administrative and academic.

Smith, Miller and Nadler (2016) observed that student governments also continuously implement comprehensive institutional policies which promote peace and respect for every individual, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, language, disability, immigration status, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity among other disparities. Institutional student governments also initiate measures to monitor, understand and take appropriate actions to correct educational inequalities. The student organizations achieve this through facilitating communications among the staff, students, and parents by developing action plans and implementing them. Student organizations also develop human relations leadership among students through establishing a campus-based student government to promote equity and diversity (Rhoads, 2016).

Student governments also work hand in hand with the school administrations to integrate human relations into the campus culture and classes. The organization achieves this by providing support for in-class programming and providing students with the opportunities to build leadership, facilitate interpersonal skills, deepen their knowledge of diversity and also strengthen their commitment to human relations (Rhoads, 2016).

Mumby (2012) assert that educational leadership relies on human relations. Relations in this aspect include relations with the administrative staff, teaching staff, and the students. Lack of appropriate human relations limits the achievement of organizational objectives. Appropriate social ties are essential for the improvement of organizations, and the overall performance of the stakeholders.

Communication, Culture, and Organizing

The appropriate way to understand communication is to view it as people's process instead of a language process (Mumby, 2012). Improving communication depends on enhancing interpersonal relationships. Mumby (2012) provides approaches of facilitating communication, culture, and organizing which include evaluation and description, problem orientation and control, spontaneity and strategy, empathy and neutrality, equality and superiority, and provisionalism and certainty.

The implications of the above-mentioned elements are critical for student governments and various other organizations. They are also significant for organizational administration and management. Communication, culture and organizing approaches are essential for student governments since they provide the stakeholders within organizations to convey their ideas, understand others, and move efficiently towards coming up with solutions to the challenges present in the working environments (Genkova & Gehr, 2016).

Universities and colleges continue to expand. It means that student governments are also likely to expand, mostly with a view of connecting with students on levels that faculties and college administrations are unable to. Student governments engage students in the campus society by giving them their voice. As noted earlier, the student government befits the organizational definition. It is because of this reason that student governance has an evident presence in almost every university and college in the United States. Most of the members of the student governments in the United States are members of the American Student Government Association, founded in 2003. The association has over 200 member institutions and acts as an umbrella body for the various student governments.

References

Genkova, P., & Gehr, C. (2016). Is Communication Always Helpful?-The Influence of Organizational Communication on Feelings of Uncertainty and Commitment of Employees during Change Management Processes. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6(1), 55-66.

Mumby, D. K. (2012). Organizational communication: A critical approach. Sage.

Petrova, S. S. (2009) Formation and development of form and content of the students' selfgovernment activities at higher educational institutions in Russia during reform period (1860-1917). Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University, 12, 140-151.

Rhoads, R. A. (2016). Student activism, diversity, and the struggle for a just society. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(3), 189.

Smith, E. A., Miller, M. T., & Nadler, D. P. (2016). Does it matter? What college student governments talk about. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 16(2), 46