Strengthening management skills to improve the organizational climate of teachers at the Liceo Naval School in Guayaquil

El Fortalecimiento de las habilidades gerenciales para mejorar el Clima Organizacional de los docentes del colegio Liceo Naval de Guayaquil

Tatiana Lorena Vera Povea¹ lorena.vera@educacion.gob.ec

Unidad Educativa de Fuerzas Armadas Liceo Naval de Guayaquil, Ecuador

María Fernanda Suárez García² fernanda.suarez@colegioamericano.edu.ec

Colegio Americano de Guayaquil, Ecuador

Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.

At the initiative of the National Navy and its representatives, the idea of immortalizing the name of great figures of the National Navy through the creation of a school was thought of in 1970, thus was born the Educational Unit "CMDTE. Rafael Andrade Lalama" Educational Unit, also known as Liceo Naval de Guayaquil, was born. The institution is located within the North Naval Base and currently has a staff of 146 teachers and 3260 cadets. It is currently managed by the National Navy and the Ministry of Education and its main purpose is to support and contribute to the education of Ecuadorian youth, promoting naval vocation and maritime awareness.

This work is based on several references that prove the relevance of the topic of managerial skills and organizational climate. Therefore, authors such as Bressan (2013) explained that "Managing the quality of education is one of the challenges that today's society demands from the main actors who are involved in the accreditation process, continuous improvement and excellence of educational institutions" p.30

He also clarified that we must include new concepts and criteria in the curricula and programs we develop, Puga & Martínez, (2008) clarified that we must include new concepts and criteria in the curricula and programs we develop, ensuring, through the application of Quality Management models, that we comply with the programs, develop them, propose improvements and achieve the proposed objectives. These authors recognize the importance of improving and updating the skills that an educational manager must exercise at all times.

The problem that the institution presents is the fact that every two years the Armada del Ecuador changes the rector, leaving an administrative vacuum between the rector who leaves and the one who arrives. Each one of them prepares in different ways before entering the school; however, the managerial and academic process that the teachers carried out with the previous rector, most of the time is not taken up by the new authority. When the educational manager changes, the processes, internal agreements and lines of work between the rector's office, the academic vice rector's office and other academic departments are also changed. In this regard, it is convenient to know that:

In educational organizations, it is expected to have a manager capable of achieving efficiency in the management process; therefore, in his role as leader, he is responsible for encouraging, supporting, directing and coordinating management processes to strengthen institutional and community ties in order to achieve educational goals. (D’Aguillo, 2012, p.72)

Ideally, an educational manager should have developed all these skills and abilities and in the transition of managerial changes should continue with the work done by the previous rector. The most fragile part of this process is the way each new authority brings to the school and how he/she will strengthen the path already taken by the previous rector. Therefore, the most delicate part is to know if the new head will strengthen the organizational climate or, on the contrary, create an educational chaos.

The importance of the paper is to point out various ways to improve the organizational climate among teachers by applying the managerial skills of the rector, to strengthen both the school in question, as well as, if possible, any institution in the country. It has been observed the gap that exists between the managerial changes of the school and how this affects its organizational climate, so it is considered important to carry out this work that will help strengthen the skills in educational management.

For this reason, it is considered that the main beneficiaries are the teachers, who deal directly with the rector; the students and parents, who observe the development of the institution's authorities; and the rector himself, since he is enriched by everything that his surroundings generate when it comes to improving the quality and educational processes.

Understood as "The set of what exists on the object or field, from which it is necessary to extract and systematize its conceptual foundations and theories", for the research of this paper we investigated from Fayol's Classical Theory to Bennis' Theory of Organizational Development. (Dolores et al., 2015) for the research of this paper, it was investigated from Fayol's Classical Theory to Bennis' Theory of Organizational Development and William Ouchi's Theory Z was chosen to be presented, since it is considered to be the one that best fits the document.

Pompeyo & Ramírez, (2015) The basic ingredients of Theory "Z" are clearly defined organizational goals and objectives, which are formulated and worked on in an atmosphere of cooperation or participation. This theory revolves around teachers wanting to establish contact with their managers and colleagues; longing to make pleasant and lasting connections. This requires that authorities provide a high level of support in the form of a safe working environment and adequate facilities.

Development and training opportunities are also important for the work environment in which they operate. Thus, employees expect benefits and mutual support from their institution and believe that balance among colleagues is important and fundamental for a good working environment.

According to Román-Calderón et al., (2016) Theory Z indicates that: it is an open system in which the group or company element, as a total unit, would have the maximum value. Therefore, the most relevant according to this theory is that people feel motivated to be led by an authority that has strengthened managerial skills and consequently will be more productive and effective.

The word ability indicates the capacity and skill that a person has to perform a proposed activity or exercise. From this point of view, it is thought that all people develop skills throughout our lives, we cultivate them and the human being uses them at the moment he/she believes is right. When we combine these skills with the academic competencies we obtain in our university life, they become managerial skills that will help to lead a group or a project.

"The educational manager must be a proactive leader, that is, one who says and does, to push the people under his responsibility to understand their work and the significance and identify with the objectives planned for each school year." (Osorio, 2010, p. 76) It is considered that this manager must gain the trust of his staff through work demonstrations executed by the same. That is, he not only manages or orders but also fulfills his responsibilities. He performs a teamwork in which he is an active part of the gear that we call education and this is recognized by his work team. The manager will create an appropriate work environment, based on coexistence where the staff feels free to participate in the conformation of work teams to communicate feelings without fear. In this sense, the educational manager must know his teaching staff, support them, establish a thread of trust with them and create security in his staff. He has to be aware of the objectives, achievements, desires and hopes that the staff under his charge feels, for only in this way will he gain the respect and consideration necessary for his staff to collaborate on their own initiative.

With respect to the development of managerial skills, Zapata et al. (2010) considers that it is determinant for the success of the organization and warns that managerial skills are like a vehicle through which the strategy and the practice of administrative tools achieve the expected result. They also Naranjo-Valencia & Calderón-Hernández, (2015) explained that managerial skills are "the set of observable knowledge, skills and attitudes that a manager in higher education institutions should possess.

In these lines, two authors have expressed managerial skills as the main tools required to steer a good helm in education. In short, management skills are a learning, relearning and unlearning day by day, according to the educational moment that our country is going through and the changes that occur in the Districts based on educational models.

The educational manager, in order to strengthen managerial skills, must have as a main characteristic a well-defined leadership as he/she stated Naranjo-Valencia & Calderón-Hernández, (2015).

Leadership is one of the fundamental skills required of managers in their varied multifunctionality, for which they must play the role of strategist in the development of strategic planning, design of organizational models, diagnosis of organizational environments and cultures that can lead to homeostasis or organizational change and avoid organizational entropies. p.226

Araque Jaimes et al., (2017) exposes:

Leadership is the set of management skills and abilities that an individual has to influence the way people or a given group act, causing them to perform with enthusiasm, around the effective fulfillment of the objectives and goals proposed. p. 99

This leadership encompasses many areas that are strengthened with years of experience and that help to develop a good work profile, and they are also essential steps in the achievement of a whole called management skills. Leadership requires a certain compatibility of goals between leader and followers, while power does not require such compatibility but only dependence. A leader is one who psychologically helps to free his teaching staff and makes each of them spontaneously and effectively work to achieve common goals for the benefit of the community.

It is interesting to know that an issue as relevant as the organizational climate of an institution and its immediate correspondence with the work performance of its teachers depends on subjective aspects of the direct relationship between the rector-teacher in the case of educational institutions. Sometimes it is not visible to the community or to the authorities, but for the teacher, the attitude of his superior can say a lot, either positively or negatively.

Sinisterra, 2009 explained the following:

The factors of Labor Motivation and the elements and characteristics of Organizational Culture constitute raw material for the development of labor relations carried out in the fulfillment of university functions; therefore, these institutions must create mechanisms that develop motivational factors to try to solve the perceived discomforts of teachers. p.109.

According to Añez, it is impossible to separate meanings such as climate, performance and job satisfaction, since, if there is a good climate, there will be well-being and development at work. On the contrary, if there is no, or even worse, a bad organizational climate, the work environment will inevitably be poor and the personnel will feel demotivated. According to Carvajal & Arango, (2011) Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) are particular organizations with their own characteristics, culture and objectives that differentiate them from other institutions. The dimensions of organizational climate that have been most related to job satisfaction are supervisory support, rewards, responsibility (individual autonomy at work), interpersonal relationships (warmth) and employee competencies. The authors assume that when talking about job satisfaction, it goes far beyond financial reward. On the contrary, it is really more intrinsic, that satisfaction is feeling good about yourself and what you produce within your workplace. They explain that feeling supported in their actions is so important that it generates an organizational culture of peace, tranquility and well-being. On the other hand, the educational reality of many institutions is not like this. We found many situations such as:

In the practical reality of higher education institutions, there seems to be a gap between what is offered by these institutions and what is expected by teachers, since on university campuses there is a deterioration in the development of teaching activities, as well as a lack of initiative and creativity in the development of academic processes. (Martínez, 2013, p. 90)

Strengthening social organizations implies learning and collaborative management between the public and private sectors, precisely because of the capacities installed in each sector, such as technical and socio-political. In short, it is expected that, if the activity that a person performs is that of an educational manager, he/she detaches himself/herself from all the negative things that the country is experiencing day by day and accepts the educational and managerial changes that are taking place in order to create a good organizational climate.

The research method used was inductive, this method uses reasoning to obtain conclusions based on particular facts accepted as valid, to reach conclusions whose application is of a general nature. To strengthen this method, three types of research were used, which were descriptive, correlational and transversal; the first, because situations are presented that seek to strengthen the managerial skills and the organizational climate of the teachers of the institution under study; the second, seeks to explain the relationship that exists between the teachers with the entry of a school rector; in other words, the relationship that exists between the independent variable with the dependent variable defined below and the last, because information is only collected from the object of study in a single opportunity.

The approach of this research was qualitative, since it was desired to strengthen the labor and interpersonal relationships applied to the teachers of the Liceo Naval, also the importance of this work is to try to find various ways to improve the organizational climate by applying managerial skills to strengthen the school in question. This study was carried out under three measures: to identify the necessary parameters to strengthen the managerial skills that a rector must have, to describe the type of organizational climate in which teachers work through an interview and survey; as well as to elaborate a project of activities and workshops with strategies to strengthen the organizational climate among the staff of the Liceo Naval.

The sample is a subgroup of the population from which data are collected and should be representative of the population. Therefore, the unit of analysis of this work is made up of a finite population of 146 teachers belonging to both days of the Liceo Naval de Guayaquil, of which 100 men and women were the sample for the virtual survey. In order to collect the data, a 12-question questionnaire using the Likert scale was used as a quantitative tool to conduct the survey. This was verified through Cronbach's alpha analysis to reach the reliability of the instrument used. In addition, 5 questions were used as a qualitative tool to conduct the interview.

This questionnaire has been very helpful to obtain conclusions and to deduce whether or not there is a good working environment within the Liceo Naval school. There are a great variety of questionnaires that have been applied in the process of measuring the work environment, all these proposals have the purpose of developing the most effective research, making pertinent recommendations in each case, that the analyzed dimensions can serve as referential elements and that each institution can choose the research variables and the dimensions that it considers pertinent to the problems detected or to be prevented.

The reliability and validity of the instrument were found through the judgment of experts, whose instruments were previously submitted.

Table 1
Operationalization matrix of the instrument

Source: Google form survey (prepared by the authors. 2020).

The results presented here were obtained from the survey of the selected sample of 100 teachers of the school. It consists of twelve closed questions, where variables that allow measuring the work climate are exposed: management skills, type of leadership, good communication, management, workshops to strengthen the organizational climate, healthy social coexistence and participatory climate. The tabulated results are presented below.

The survey projected data that were tabulated and it is considered that this analysis will guide us in a better way for future research, the results obtained were the following:

Communication skills are of vital importance in the institutions; it was determined based on the sample collected that the rector should further develop these skills to facilitate and meet the work needs of all teachers and thus maintain good communication, constantly; 33% totally agree that there is good communication, 48% agree; likewise 19% disagree. In general, teachers are very satisfied with the type of communication that takes place throughout the workday.

It is perceived that the type of leadership applied by the authority in the institution, is carried out in a positive and assertive way between him and his teaching staff; therefore, the management developed by the authority is very good, this is determined with a result of 70% agreeing and 30% disagreeing. However, the survey also showed that the rector should continue to develop more managerial skills and maintain a better work environment, because, although the teachers are satisfied with the democratic leader they have, they consider that the managerial part should not be neglected at any time.

There is a fairly acceptable sense of belonging among the teachers, which helps to a healthy social coexistence between them and the authorities of the Liceo Naval, all are respectful to each other; in addition, according to the sample, more than half of the respondents consider that the rector does listen to the opinions and ideas of his staff, developing in a climate of respect, which favors further work on strengthening the managerial skills of the director towards his collaborators.

Based on the results, the teachers stated that 48% totally agreed, 38% agreed and 14% disagreed in participating in organizational strengthening workshops in order to have a better performance in their workplace as well as to strengthen a good working environment, which is the most important point analyzed in this sample. It can also be observed the need of the personnel to attend trainings. It was also found that the rector works positively with his staff as a team, since 85% corroborated this, while 15% disagreed.

Finally, it is important to continue fostering a participatory climate within the institution; this can be achieved by taking part in new projects aimed at continuing to strengthen the organizational climate that already exists among teachers and the school principal. Most agree that this helps the progress of the institution, while a minority is indifferent to participate or not. It is recommended that the staff should be surveyed from time to time with questions aimed at developing a better organizational climate, because according to the sample 86% think that in this way they will be listened to.

The data collection technique used was a Google Form survey. This allowed us to know the reality of the teachers of the Liceo Naval. It was developed through a number of questions and using the Likert scale, in which each teacher chose an answer according to the experience and knowledge he/she had regarding what was stated in each question.

Data collection is an essential stage in the development of a research project; for this stage to be carried out successfully, a strategically designed plan is required to gather pertinent data on the attributes, concepts and/or variables involved in the object or situation under study.

The selection and design of the observation instrument within the framework of the aforementioned project is based on the recognized performance that scale-type questionnaires have shown from different research experiences. Clearly defined organizational goals and objectives, if worked on in an adequate environment, help the organizational climate, as we discovered in the surveys, provided that the leadership applied is favorable and assertive. Therefore, it was determined that by improving management skills at the Liceo Naval School, the organizational climate among the teachers of the institution also improves.

It was also found that when a new rector enters the school and follows the guidelines generated by the previous director, trying to improve or change his or her actions but not eliminating them in their entirety, then the teachers are more stable in terms of the educational processes to be followed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the various ways in which an authority can improve its managerial skills, by investigating the parameters that help to strengthen them. In addition, it was established that through workshops and communication strategies, a school principal can positively influence the organizational climate of an institution. Therefore, it is considered that the objective of the paper was achieved.

The methodology used was very effective in determining the degree of reliability of the rector's managerial skills in relation to managing his staff, as well as the existence of a good organizational climate in the institution. Although the results were encouraging, they also revealed the lack of workshops and training required by the school's teaching staff; however, it is expected that once the activities and workshops proposed in this paper are implemented, these results will improve favorably.

Among the limitations that have been presented in the realization of this article, one of them is the lack of time to talk both with the authorities of the school where the survey was conducted, as well as with the teachers of the same. It is undeniable that the arrival of the pandemic in our country hindered all the processes that had been developing normally until the end of 2019. This limitation also extends to the University classes that went from being face-to-face to virtual, which shortened the process of inquiry in the paper's information.

It is hoped that this scientific article can serve as a reference to create future lines of research, such as: Management, evaluation and educational supervision in research works oriented to universities in the country that wish to strengthen managerial skills and improve the work climate. It is also aimed at companies whose main objective is to improve their institutional performance.