Investors And Management Study Of The Patterns Of Governance In Private Schools

In terms of administrative practices and governance within private schools, the principal-agent problem has always occupied a large area of research among serious investors. A chief concern in this field of research has been investor or family control; particularly differences of opinion between management and investors in how a school should be run. In this type of relationship, professional management autonomy is inevitably weakened. Guangzhou A middle school is a typical case in a point.Established as part of a cooperative business venture between renowned Hongkong businessman Mr D and the Nansha district in2002, the non-profit A Middle School, enrolled its first students in2004. Though commonly frowned upon in modern school management practice, nepotism within A’s upper management (as seen in the granting of key positions such as Chairman and Chairman of Management Committee to investor family member) has seriously tested the relationship between the A’s internal management and its leaders. Thus (for various reasons) between2004-2011, Guangzhou A Middle School’s management has seen frequent a turnover, during which time the school has had six principals, the shortest tenure lasting just81days. So, this frequent turnover of management has had the added consequence of delaying Guangzhou A Middle School’s long-term development strategy. It should be emphasized here again, that the chief reason for this development lag is rooted in investor and management governance.In researching this study on private country schools and their respective investors-management relations within these schools, the author discovered that China’s private schools have some very serious investor and property management issues, chief among them being boards of directors consisting of family members and differences of opinion between investor and management on the concept of management. Based on his analysis, the author of this study has put forward a workable management mechanism and has proposed that A secondary school be the first to implement it.This thesis adopts the method of literature research and case analysis method.