Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Principals, Teachers, and Google Management

The Times has a piece on Google's efforts to deduce principles of good management.  Interesting.  One bit:
The traps can show up in areas like hiring. Managers often want to hire people who seem just like them. So Google compiles elaborate dossiers on candidates from the interview process, and hiring decisions are made by a group. “We do everything to minimize the authority and power of the manager in making a hiring decision,” Mr. Bock explains.
 One of the problems in establishing a fair system for evaluating teachers is ensuring the principals who are in charge of evaluations are good managers, and fair.  Which raises the question of who hires teachers in today's schools?  I assume the principals.  Maybe they shouldn't in the light of the above?

(And maybe government managers, like me, shouldn't have been deciding on whom to hire.)

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