Alternative Language Testing for Effective Learning

Paper published on MATE 34th Conference Newsletter , January 2014 Tangiers - Morocco

With the advent of the communicative approach to language teaching, student- centeredness and learners-autonomy have become two main touchstones around which the whole teaching-learning process revolves and upon which a language curricula including assessment are being designed. On this basis, if learners‘ autonomy is defined as the ability to take personal or self-regulated responsibility for learning, which would predict academic performance, as Bonson and Voller (1997) defined it, an efficient language assessment model, accordingly, would be the one that provides students with learner-centered feedback on their task performance, promote autonomy and encourage responsibility for learning. A good language test should also increase students‘ intrinsic motivation and engagement in their learning process. Thus, the purpose of an efficient language test is not supposed to merely discriminate between good and poor learners: who should pass or fail a given learning level. Rather, it is meant to 1) inform language facilitators about the strengths, the weaknesses as well as the needs of learners, 2) foster learners‘ learning responsibilities, 3) lower students‘ affective filter and anxiety, and more importantly, 4) enhance learning outcomes.

By incorporating these four objectives while designing a language test, testing becomes an interactive process that involves different elements, allowing learners active participations in the whole testing process, and not simply requiring them to perform the task of reproducing correct answers during an evaluation. A test, according to the dynamic approach, may take different alternative formats, including students’ portfolios, group projects, presentations, and peer and self-assessments among others. On the one hand, by engaging learners in these form of interactive assessments, instructors will not only gain insights about the learners‘ language proficiency level, but also collect data on the learners‘ meta-learning strategies of different language macro-skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening, and understanding), and together with learners, teachers will identify the weaknesses and strengthen of each and every learner both independently and within the group; and thus determine the next learning steps and outcomes. On the other hand, having the chance to participate in the design of test formats and procedures, learners will develop a long-lasting appreciation of assessment, for they no longer perceive it as a moment of anxiety, humiliation, and judgment, but rather a constructive part in their learning journey that informs them about the best ways to become responsible for their learning, and be equipped with the most effective cognitive strategies.

Because of their pivotal roles in the success or failure of any learners‘ language learning experience, teachers can play colossal parts in alternative and dynamic assessment. Poehner and Lantolf (2009) argue that teachers should cater for continuous assistance during interactive assessment for the sake of promoting autonomous learning. Put differently, teachers should encourage students to jointly carry out activities that help the latter stretch beyond their current capabilities. Teachers, in this regard, simultaneously play the role of instructors and assessors, who also encourage learners‘ peer and self-assessments. By so doing teachers contribute both in changing the traditional practice of evaluation in their classroom settings; and in altering their learners‘ perception of assessment into positive attitudes. Finally, an efficacy of a language test depends heavily on understanding the needs of learners, the purpose for which the test is designed, implementation procedures, and clarity of test guidelines and instructions. Of course teachers are not solely expected to understand these elements; they are required to inform about and explain them to students, as well. Studies have shown that learners‘ motivation and performance during evaluation phase gets higher when clear objectives and step-by-step instructions are provided.

To conclude, the field of testing is gaining wider landscapes in modern language didactics due to the complexity and importance of the process, along with the advent of contemporary schools to language teaching such student-centered and task-based approaches that locate learner-autonomy in the core of the learning process. As one of the practitioners and advocates of these models, I do believe that an efficient test in language learning is the one that is set to assist both learners and teachers alike to determine the weaknesses and strengths of the students for the sake of underlying the learners‘ needs upon which the next learning phase will be planned and designed. Accordingly, teachers need to be informed about and make their learners also aware of the multifunction and formats of modern language testing, putting so much emphasis on formative assessment. Alternative and interactive assessments should be given an integral part of teaching, intertwining with, if not replacing, traditional form of assessments. Indeed, if we define language as a means of communication by and through which human being communicatively perform both societal and survival tasks, it follows, then, that testing should help us learn how to perform those tasks successfully in an emotionally and psychologically safe environment.

Is there Room for Innovation in Moroccan Educational System?

Paper presented at MATE 34th Annual Conference in Tangiers-Morocco , Jan, 2014

While developed countries are now finalizing a holistic approach and working strategy to institutionalize and standardize the status of Youth Work and Non-Formal Education Sectors, Morocco is still striving to devise an appropriate formula to heal the ills in its rather formal educational system, which suffers from long lasting vertebral handicaps, both structurally and philosophically. Within the MENA region, Moroccan budgetary spending on education is classified second after Saudi Arabia; yet, neither the quality nor the outcomes of the system do yield half of the highlighted goals; or meet the expectations of Morocco‘s educational community. In the realm of this predicament, can we still speak of innovation in education, at large, and in language teaching in specific in Morocco?

 If developed countries, with their outstanding educational systems, are busy trying to proactively engineer innovative solutions for both existing and yet-to-come handicaps, related to their educational system, can we, in Morocco, and in the MENA region, claim that we are striving the same endeavor, and on an equal footing? If we believe we are, the answer, in my opinion, triggers two conclusions: we are either lying to ourselves; or we are confusing innovation with other exercises, such as reformation, repairing, reconstruction, or even “bricolage.” Few decades ago, innovation might have meant different things to different communities.

With the advent of the speedy and savage information and communication technology, however, those societal and cultural differences are on going shrinkage, leading the way to an internationally and intercontinentally standardize educational system that does not leave much room for any lexical or ideological ambiguities. Yes, indeed, we are living in an era where geography matters less face to time, and where time is much more exponential than ever. Geography reached its demise upon the foundation of the 21st century third most populated country: Facebook. Available in more than 70 languages, with an average of 845 million active users per a month, FB today is the third largest country, behind China and India.

We are living in an exponential time wherein more than 31 billion searches are done on Google every month; two and a half million books are published every month, and the total number of phone messages sent and received every day exceeds the total population of the planet. In English language, there are now more than 540.000 words, which is five times as many as Shakespeare‘s time. The amount of technical information is doubling every two years, which means that for students starting a 4-year technical degree, half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated when they reach the 3rd year. Thus, to claim that we are innovative means that the speed of our educational system positively correlates with the speed of the technological and communication development; and to say this implies that our educational system already incorporates all these ICT intelligences.

 The fact, however, is that we have not managed first to make an effective use of what has already been innovated for us to improve the performances of our educational infrastructures, the productivity of our human capital, the efficacy of our managerial approaches, the teachability of our curricula, and the leadership, if any, of our students. The journey to an innovative educational system, our educational system, should first start accordingly by measuring the distance between where are standing now and where we want to go; because if we do not know where we are going we might end up somewhere else; and that place might be less pleasant than where we are now.

Second, we need to develop a working strategy based on concrete goals, guided within a determined timeframe, managed by well trained and well equipped human capital who are not only masters of theories, but also skilled at operationalizing thoughts into measurable actions. By human capital, I do not only mean educationalist and teaching communities, but more importantly experts from all walks of life. This, in itself, might be another challenging task for a society, as Morocco, which prides itself for giving birth to millions of good players, but is still sterile to deliver one, but, good team. Indeed, cross-sectoral collaborations and horizontal partnerships among the public and the private sectors, along with civil society need to synchronize their goals as well as their visions, and work for long-term synergies.

If educational system in Scandinavian countries tops international classifications, it is because these societies have embarked on two main convictions, which they have worked hard meticulously to actualize. On the one hand, their educational system includes various public, private, and civil society players who collaborate horizontally. On the other hand, their philosophy of education pursues a social constructivist approach that puts the system in service of the learner, and not the other way round. Third, and finally, we must train ourselves on accepting “CHANGE”, and start perceiving it as a normal, or indeed, as a necessary phase for the healthy life cycle of any social constituent. Because, in my opinion, innovation in education is nothing but an invitation to the collective imagination to bridging the gap from a life cycle stage to another; innovation in education, in this regard, is not a luxury but the rite of passage that ascertains the progressive transition of knowledge in such away that responses to the socio-economic, political, artistic, and aesthetic aspirations of a society.

 In conclusion, virtual education institutes such as Stanford, MIT, EPIC, among others, are pondering about ways and means for preparing students, in the near future, for jobs that are not yet existing, using technologies that have not been yet invented in order to solve problem we do not even know are problems yet. These students will not have to be physically in the USA, nor will they need to have thousands of dollars to sponsor their studies. All that they will need is a technological gadgetry and Internet access. In Europe, the EU’s research and innovation funding scheme Horizon 2020 has received €70 billion between 2014 and 2020 –Erasmus+, which supports student exchange programs between European universities. It also includes, for the first time, funding for staff, students and researchers to travel outside Europe and a pilot European Master’s Loan Guarantee Facility, which will provide loans at favorable rates for students pursuing master’s study in another European country.

Within the Erasmus+ framework, more than four million people will receive support to study, train, work or volunteer abroad, including two million higher education students. Both the American and European examples reveal that education and innovation in education are and will always remain precarious field of significant importance that cannot be solved by virtue of the Ministerial decision, but rather by virtue of a sustainable collaboration of different stakeholders, because “it takes a rock to blink a river in a pond; it takes quark to make a tsunami, and it takes a collection of educated people to make a change”

The Itinerary of Civil Society in Morocco

The presence of civil society as an active political body within Morocco’s institutional tissue dates back to more than two daces. Although it is difficult to verify the exact number of CSOs, in the country, it was estimated that there are over 100,000 registered associations (Bohdana Dimitrovova, 2009). Up to the early 1980s, the Moroccan society was characterized by a sprit of community life under an absolute political control of the State. But the political and economic model followed back then proved to be sterile. The State’s traditional strategy of equilibrium, which consisted in the creation of relays, the recuperation of powers emerging at the base, the globalization at the top and the practice of state clientage, proved to be inadequate. State clientage has led, in a context of shortage of resources, to an overcharge of demands and a crisis of lawfulness of the state. Additionally, the increasing exclusion of young people from economic and political life has constituted the grounds for a radical and violent dispute between the people and the ruling body. Furthermore, limiting the political participation to the notables and docile elites has not been able to accommodate the presence of a middle class in full expansion. (Zef Bonn, 2005).

Faced with these vertebral handicaps, the State had no options other than devising new political and economic strategies that would synchronize with the regional as well as the transitional fast rhythm of economic and social transformations, besides the opening up of the world market and the economic liberalization. In 1979, Morocco ratified the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights; freedom of association has since become a constitutional right (Kausch, 2008a). In 2002, new legislation was adopted to facilitate the use of foreign funding by Moroccan CSOs (for details see Khakee, 2008). Furthermore, international pressure coupled with financial support for CSOs has promoted an agenda focused on political and civic rights: e.g. human rights, women’s rights, freedom of the press and association. Consequently, in a process that could be termed as ‘boundary setting’, the state has had to re-regulate state–civil society relations by defining the political spheres assigned to state and civil society actors. This dynamism gave birth to the associative life in Morocco, providing a new public space, which structured itself around the promotion of citizenship with autonomous social actors behaving as political forces. Since then, hundreds of associations in defense of the rights of man, women, young people, Berbers, civil liberties, political associations, fight against corruption or fight against aids and economic development issues mushroomed, and now, they have gained national and transitional recognitions.

 This recognition came as an outcome of the fast growing number as well as quality-performance of civil society organizations, located in different geographical locations; both in the urban as well as the rural zones of the country. Moha Ennaji, for instance, talks about two categories of civil society organizations in morocco: the first type includes all the organizations that provide socio-economic and educational services and material supports and filling the gaps left by the state in social and economic development: such as education, health, building schools and health centers in rural areas and villages. The second type features mostly human rights associations that strive to foster “democratic culture advocacy”. Zef Bonn’s model (2005) talks about three different categories: 1) business association, 2) labor unions, and 3) political parties. On the one hand, Labor Union, Zef argues, that regardless of its long existence and experience in militarism, is still ineffective dues to its old dated ways and means. Syndicalism in morocco started as early as the beginning of the French protectorate (1912). It witnessed a structural reform in the mid 1950 when the Moroccan unions decided to align the Nation’s oppositional movements, giving birth to the first union (Moroccan Work Union) in 1956. Since then, their presence has gained more space, diversity, and affiliations in political parties.

However, Syndicalism in Morocco has not been able to step out of its traditional operational framework. According to Zef:

  “The Moroccan unions’ way of working is largely delayed in relation to the demands of the moment. Their attachment to syndicalism of the fifties and sixties doesn’t prepare them to hoist themselves to the level of decision-making. Their managements are not yet ready to use modern tools and methods. They act in the logic of a primary force report without reference to modern methods.” (Zef Bonn, 2005, P.11) 

 On the other hand, the associations of entrepreneurs emerged as an independent economic power in the Moroccan public sphere in the 1990s due to the linearization and privatization process the States ventured into. Later on, they have constituted an autonomous centrality within the economic life. The third type, political parties in morocco, can be localized under three blocks: 1) the “States’ parties”: the existence of these dates back to the period of the French protectorate. They have old tradition, and are equipped with organized structures, such as economic commissions, social commissions, and institutional commissions, which allow them a unique proximity to the monarchy and an active participation in the political debate.

The second type is the “occasional parties”, created by administration during electoral periods. They are known for their managerial competency since they get first hand information about the social and economic realities of the country due to their close position to the administration. Finally, there is the “unrepresented parties: These are the advocate of the social rights of the rural side population. There are also parties of the two extremes: the extreme left and the Islamic parties. Whether in business association, labor unions, and/or political parties, feminist movements in Morocco are omnipresent in all of these public spheres with various degrees of influential performance. There are more than 30 women’s rights organizations in Morocco. Some of them deal with the political and institutional emancipation of women, others with socio-economic issues such as education and poverty, others with issues related to civic rights, and the list goes on. Founded in 1985, the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women (Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc, ADFM), one of the leading and oldest feminist organizations, assigns itself the mission of protection and promotion of women’s human rights as universally recognized. Nowadays, the most persistent voices are expected to come from civil society.

At the same time, the maintaining an exclusive link between civil society and the democratization process often leads to a dichotomous, if not a violent confrontation, relationship between the state and the civil society; and it is not always easy to maintain power balance while surviving this dichotomy. With all its limitations and constraints, civil society has helped Moroccans, in general, and women, in particular, in gaining back some of its civic rights. Yet, it would be misleading to attribute the origins of this reform solely to civil society. Many believe that the democratization potential of Moroccan civil society is very limited and clearly defined within the ‘public spheres’ boundaries that are chartered by the States. In other words, unlike its theoretical usage in some Eastern European States where the concept of civil society has often been associated with the analysis of opposition to non-democratic states to foster political liberalization and lead to increased civic participation in the public sphere (Gellner, 1994; Hirsch, 2002), in Morocco, civil society and its oppositional role is tightly controlled and often guided by the omnipresence and vigilance of the State. So, oftentimes, members of civil society can only be permitted to resist the State’s totalitarianism to an extent that would save the face of the former and project a brightened image of the latter outside its geographical boundaries.

Working under such a condition renders the productivity of this institution very limited and rarely extraordinary. There are some voices that see nothing coming out of the civil society, but an extension to the State’s institutions, since they both echo the same discursive strategies. Bohdana Dimitrovova (2009), for instance, argues that large segments of Moroccan society, that do not accept the status quo imposed by the political elite, are shunned by the makhzenian structures, are excluded from the public sphere. Nevertheless, empirical evidence suggests that the possibility of dialogue within this normative public sphere where “a fair balance of interests can come about only when all concerned have equal right to participation” (Habermas, 1999, p. 72) is rather limited. These politics of exclusion and inequality are diametrically opposed to Habermasian (1999) notions of the public sphere in which the dialogue between the state and civil society is based on mutually accepted ethical principles. The oppressive character of the Moroccan public sphere has important consequences for the actual functioning of civil society.

It is agued here that civil society does not always adhere to the principles of ‘civility’ and ‘tolerance’, and that it can be subject to political patronage and competition. Another difficulty with Habermas’s somewhat idealistic notion of the public sphere is the elitist nature of Moroccan civil society and its weak social impact. Scholars such Denoueux and Gateau (1995) have pointed out that many Moroccan CSOs are linked more to the State than to the real concerns of society, which raises the question of who the civil society actually represents. The elite character of mainly urban CSOs and their distance from the reality on the ground has generated widespread skepticism of ‘active’ or responsible citizenship through community involvement All in all, both history and performance the Moroccan Civil Society has walked reveal that the organization has come a long way; and yet, “The challenge facing these organizations is to establish themselves as forces for innovation and to encourage the state to change policies that are detrimental to Moroccans and their democracy. Indeed, the state in Morocco relies on these organizations to implement policy and help meet the needs of the public. Giving them the space to operate independently would help civil society have a genuine partnership with the state.” However, the tasks of these organizations in their efforts to fosters channels of cultural diplomacy with and across nation remain challenging as long as the country does not show a bold political readiness to work hand in hand with these NGOs in an context of mutual trust and respects.

IMAN Worldwide

IMAN Worldwide

Towards a Reflective Classroom Peer-Observation

Paper presented at MATE 32nd Annual Conference, Tetouane-Morocco, 2012

Introduction

While teachers’ peer observation is receiving widespread interest, and is being implemented in numerous institutions in different fields of education around the world (more than 40% of US colleges and universities now use classroom peer observation), it is still looked upon with much wariness within the Moroccan ELT context, which is presently leading to consensual reluctance to incorporating it within the Moroccan ELT community and public schools alike. There appears to be some controversial uncertainty, if not allodoxaphobia, over the rationale and the outcomes of such an invaluable pedagogical tool. Part of this reluctance springs from a perpetual confusion in the mind of some educationalists (by this I mean both teachers and practitioners) between peer observation and regular observation at one level, and summative versus formative observation at another level. The other part of this negative attitude is traced back in time during pre-service and while-service observations teachers had with their senior teachers or advisors. In either cases and particularly with in-service teachers, observation is associated with evaluation and not with professional development per see. It is often viewed as a potentially threatening experience in which teachers are often reluctant to take part once they complete their initial training (Freeman, 1982).

In light of this, and within the MATE’s 30th conference’s objectives among which is the debate over ELT global challenges, touchstones of this paper are twofold: on the one hand, it is an attempt to dissociate the traditional notion of observation from the modern one, based on reflective aims rather than evaluative ends. On the other hand, it endeavors to promote a systematic incorporation of peer observation within the professional and pedagogical continuous training of Moroccan public schools. Will peer observation’s implementation be an easy task? Of course not; otherwise, we would not be talking about “ELT global challenges.” To reach this end, the paper comprises five main parts: 1) types and purposes of observation; 2) traditional view versus reflective view on observation; 3) phases of Observation; 4) strengths and downsides of peer observation; and 5) observation instruments. Before tackling the first subsidiary part, I would like to establish a brief definition of the concept “reflective/reflection” from an applied linguistic perspective.

. Concept definition: “Reflection”

D.A. Schon (1983) defines “reflection” as an “active persistent and careful consideration of any belief or presupposition of knowledge.” J. Dewey (1987) took Schon’s definition to a higher level, and talked about “reflection-in-action, ” which he defines as a “reflective conversation with the material of a given situation/context.” In his Experiential Learning Theory, David A. Kolb proposes four principal stages one of which is “Reflective Observation (RO) for effective learning. Shared among these three definitions is the notion of “persistent consideration” of one’s “knowledge” of classrooms’ practices. The intent of this “persistent consideration” should lead observers, accordingly, to the consideration -if not analysis- of the internal as well as external factors that govern a teaching situation, before questioning the pedagogical motives or judging the teacher’s instructional decisions. Reflective observation, in this regard, drives home the idea of multiplicities of learning-teaching styles, along with teacher’s in-action remedial decisions in the mind of the observer.

Types and Purposes of Observation

• Regular Observation: it is the event of having pre-service or a novice in-service teacher observing one of the senior’s teachers’ classes before the former has his/her class observed by an advisor or a senior teacher who is supposed to a provide an oral or written feedback on what has been observed. A discernible feature of this type of observation is the asymmetrical power-relationship that governs both the observed teacher and observer. Observation in this context tends to be more judgmental and feedback is represented in a more official manner. Because of its evaluative nature and horizontal power-sharing structure, novice teachers tend to bread a negative impression toward this form of observation.

• Peer Observation: unlike the previous type, peer observation is arranged between peer teachers, usually teaching the same instructional levels, and with relatively the same professional experience. It is not a compulsory event in the sense that a teacher may deliberately ask to observe his/her colleague’s class or have his/her colleague observe one of the classes for the sake of exchanging feedback and optimizing teaching strategies. The nature of feedback in this vein may range from a verbal “thank you for having me in your class” statement into a face-to-face verbal or/and written feedback session.

• Three-way observation: this third form of observation was first introduced at an American college and then has slowly started to spread among other colleges. Its framework is similar to the regular observation with the inclusion of a student’s perspective. The rationale behind having a student taking part in teacher’s observation is originated from a learner-centered premise, which underlines the pivotal value of students’ reflections on teachers’ practices.

Besides its educational as well as pedagogical benefits, classroom observation serves administrative purposes. For instance, while formative observation assists in improving teachers’ teaching tools and promoting cooperative teaching environment, summative observation involves the evaluation of teaching effectiveness used for merit, and/or promotion, or other purposes of the same nature. Gains from Observation, however, remains dependent on the way the nature of teaching is understood by observers and observed alike. To be remembered here is the idea that both formative and summative observations can be based on the same observation instruments, though both forms differ in procedures and aims.

Traditional view versus Reflective view on classroom observation

For quite a long period of the recent past, classroom observation typically consisted of subjective data based on personal and anecdotal accounts of effective teaching. Novice teachers’ teaching skills’ acquisition depended on the mastery of specific repertoire of observable behaviors that included but not limited to:

• How teacher starts and ends a lesson

• How teacher allots times within a lesson

• How teacher assigns tasks to students

• How teacher organizes learning groups

• How teacher monitors students’ task performance

• How teacher asks questions

• How teacher reinforces students’ answers

In short, the observer role was limited to observe, describe, and then comment on the “how” dimension of the observed. Being as such, not only did the feedback use to be reductionist and subjective, for it used to be based on a biased data collection and analysis, but also it used to threaten novice teachers’ creativity and lack of confidence toward their own teaching style.

With the advent of systematic classroom observation method, objective and reliable measures of observation started to be implemented; thus a debate on reflection on teaching, learning, and observation have become more of necessity than a choice. Classroom observation within this conceptual framework goes beyond a focus on the identification of the techniques and strategies experienced teachers employ. It has become as an opportunity for teachers to develop a critically reflective stance to their own teaching: Observers main task has become an objective data collection through the use of systematic instruments that can be used to develop deeper understanding of HOW and WHY the observed teachers teach the way they do. Accordingly, paving the way for both cooperating and observed teachers to develop reflective approaches to teaching the same lesson in various ways.

Phases of Observation

Pre-Observation Conference Guidelines

The aim behind holding the pre-observation conference is for the observed teacher to assign the observer a goal for the observation and a task to accomplish. The task would involve collecting information about the lesson goals, objectives, used strategies/methodology, and form of assessment. Both teachers may agree upon observation procedures or instruments to be used during this session and arrange a schedule for the observations. The following is a list of questions that the observer might ask the observed teacher:

• What is the main goal of your course?

• What is the main goal of the course session to be observed?

• What is your specific objective for the course session to be observed? In other words, what do you expect the learners to be able to know and do by the end of your session?

• What strategies/ methods will you use to help the learners to reach this objective?

• How will you assess whether the learners reached this objective? In other words, how will they show that they know and can do what you expected of them?

• Do you have any concerns that you would like the observer to address?

While-observing phase

The second stage of observation is a time wherein the visitation takes place. Using the agreed-upon tools and procedures, the teacher observing should complete the observation task without interfering in the performance of the teacher being, or in the teaching learning process in progress. The main criteria that are controlled through different forms of systematic checklists or grids are:

• Organization of the lesson: the opening, structuring, transitioning, and closure of the lesson.

• Time management: allotment of time of different activities during the lesson.

• Students’ performance on tasks: the strategies, procedures, and interactions patterns employed by students in completing tasks.

• Time on task: the extent to which students were actively engaged during task.

• Teacher’s questions & students’ responses: the types of questions the teacher asks during a lesson, the way students respond, and the way the responses are either reinforced or refuted.

• Teacher’s explanation: the way the teacher explains vocabulary, grammar, and/or syntactic items during the lesson.

• Teacher’s action zone: the extent to which the teacher interacts with some students more frequently than others during the lesson.

• Students’ performance during pair/group-work activities: Teacher’s arrangement of students into small groups, monitoring of students’ time-on-task during group work, the dynamics of group work activities, students’ use of L1 Vs. L2 during group work, and the kind of responses they make.

• Classroom interaction: the way the teacher monitors both teacher-student and student-student interactions.

• Use of textbook: the extent to which the teacher resorts to the textbook during the lesson and the types of departure made from it.

Annex I at the end of this paper displays the above-motioned items, along with other relevant questions. The model is adapted from Jack C. Richards’ classroom observation form.

Post Observation Conferencing Guidelines

The post observation session is the time where both teachers meet again for data presentation and Analysis; and the “how to” and “why” dimensions are questioned and justified for the sake of understanding, reinforcing and suggesting different alternatives. No judgments or evaluative are to be made: the teacher observer’s task here is on the one hand, to highlight the strongest points, activities, strategies, and techniques used by the performing teacher; on the other hand, s/he may inquire about the reasons and rationales of unclear situations then go no suggesting some alternatives.

Schedule this conference within a week of the observation. As to the timing of the post-observation conference, the sooner it is held the more effective its outcomes are going to be. In other words, teachers should not hold the meeting weeks or months after the observation took place, because in the latter’s case it would be difficult to discuss or explain what have happened during the observation. Also, it is always recommended for the observer to start his/her feedback with a positive comment while providing an honest feedback.

Strengths and downsides of peer observation

Highlighted in this last section are both the strengths and downsides of peer observation

V.1. Advantages of Peer Observation

• Gaining new ideas and perspectives about teaching from colleagues

• Both observer and observe may improve teaching ability

• Good training for teacher training and ELT management


• Teachers might take feedback better if it comes from other teachers : they might take suggestions on how their class could have been improved better if it comes from a fellow teacher

• Letting teachers pair themselves up can also help make sure they get comments from someone whose opinion they respect and they will be happy to get constructive criticism from

• Teachers can get different feedback from different people : This is obviously a good thing, and one which can be further developed by matching teachers with people who have very different teaching styles and by having each observer especially looking for different things

• Both the person being observed and the person observing learn

This is the biggest advantage of peer observations. Teachers observing not only learn how to observe, but also see different ways of doing things in other people's classrooms and can see both good things and bad things that will make them reflect on what goes on in their own classroom

• makes the teachers understand how difficult observing and feedback can be

When teachers have experienced trying to put a positive spin on criticism of someone's lesson, they should hopefully understand the difficulties the DoS has next time they are being officially observed

• It can boost a teacher's confidence

Although teachers observing other people's lessons can tend to underestimate how much hard work the teacher is putting in, they still get a much more realistic picture of how other teachers are doing than they would get from just hearing the laughter coming through the wall.

Disadvantages of Peer Observation

As mentioned in the introduction, implimenting classroom peer observation as a pedagogical tool is both a gain and a challenge, especially within the context of Moroccan public schools that are already facing a number of structural, logistic, and human capital challenges. Thoughout this paper arguments on the befefits of peer obervation have been highlighted. This, of course, does not mean that peer observation is free of any shortcomings. There is a relative consensus among pratictioners over some weak points that I have outlined below.

• Possible bias relating to the observer's own beliefs about teaching

• Without a systematic approach--including observer training, multiple visits, and use of reliable observation instruments--peer observation may not be a valid method for summative evaluation

• Teachers seeing a "worse" teacher can get lazy. The negative version of a teacher's confidence being boosted by seeing the less than perfect lessons of others is that they could think "My lessons are already better than that. What was I putting all that effort into them for?"

• Teachers need training on how to observe and be observed. At a basic level, teachers need to be introduced to a range of different observation tasks (looking at classroom interactions, use of time, language used by the teacher, staging etc) and different ways of writing that data down in a factual way.

• It can actually take teachers more time management as well as training to observe each other,

• Teachers might think they know better than the person who observed

• The feedback might not be as useful as feedback from the senior teachers

• The feedback might be insensitive


• The fact that it is extra work might give people a bad attitude

• The students might get the idea that something is wrong: especially those students might have been in EFL classes long enough that they know that if an observer appears it usually means that another student has been complaining, in which case you can imagine they might start to doubt their teacher is they have observers in every couple of weeks! Solutions include having regular observations as a selling point in the school brochure (for reasons of class quality and teacher development), and telling them that the observer is there to learn from watching their expert teacher rather than to judge them

Conclusion

To sum it up, just like all forms of observations, and/or professional development tools, an effective classroom peer observation requires an observation instrument designed to portray the classroom environment as accurately and reliably as possible; not to reflect the teacher observing view or evaluation of the observed teacher’s performance. This is why the observers are not to ask questions or participate in activities during class; such behavior can detract from and invalidate the observations. He/she can be briefly introduced to the students, with an equally brief explanation of why the observer is present; then move on. The observer should be in the observed classroom a way ahead of class starting time. Additionally, both teachers should invest some times reviewing and discussing the results from the completed Classroom Observation Instruments. Finally, it is always important for the observer to begin the conference with a positive comment and still provide honest, constructive feedback.

Classroom Observation Form

Observer: Date:
Observed teacher: Time:

Observed Period: Level:

Students Category: Room Number:

1. Organization of the lesson: the opening, structuring, transitioning, and closure of the lesson.

2. Time management: allotment of time of different activities during the lesson.

3. Students’ performance on tasks: the strategies, procedures, and interactions patterns employed by students in completing tasks.

4. Time on task: the extent to which students were actively engaged during task.

5. Teacher’s questions & students’ responses: the types of questions the teacher asks during a lesson, the way students respond, and the way the responses are either reinforced or refuted.

6. Teacher’s explanation: the way the teacher explains vocabulary, grammar, and/or syntactic items during the lesson.

7. Teacher’s action zone: the extent to which the teacher interacts with some students more frequently than others during the lesson.

8. Students’ performance during pair/group-work activities: Teacher’s arrangement of students into small groups, monitoring of students’ time-on-task during group work, the dynamics of group work activities, students’ use of L1 Vs. L2 during group work, and the kind of responses they make.

9. Classroom interaction: the way the teacher monitors both teacher-student and student-student interactions.

10. Use of textbook: the extent to which the teacher resorts to the textbook during the lesson and the types of departure made from it.


Key Readings


1. Latham G P, van den Berg P, Wiersma U J, (1995). Dutch Reactions to Behavioral Observation, Behavioral Expectation, and Trait Scales. Group & Organization Management (USA) . Vol.: 20; Issue: 3; P.: 297-310.

2. Edwards M R, (1996). Improving performance with 360-degree feedback. Career Development International (UK). Vol.: 1; Issue: 3; P. 5


Web-bliography

1. Alex Case, (2008). UsingEnglish.com

2. Jack C. Richards and Charles Lockhart. “Teacher Development Through Peer Observation.”

Leadership in Human Resources Management: The Case of IBM Company

April 2007

I – General Introduction
1. Overview

A few years ago, the goal for which Human Resources Management was created was to make it possible for any organization to meet its strategic goals by selecting, developing, maintaining, and effectively managing the human capital, being the most invaluable entity of the organization’s three assets. It has been known for the human resources department to devise an interdisciplinary examination, understanding, and planning strategies of the human capital. However, the fierce international competition resulted from globalization, the worldwide emerging markets, and the technological advancement have created an urgent need for both private as well as public organizations to work out innovative and competitive management strategies consistent with the fast-pace changing marketplace where only the most adaptable, resilient, and customer-centered organizations can survive. In such an environment, the duties of the human resource leaders are no more just aligning the employees’ performance with the organization’s strategic objectives. Further, organizations have become in need of a Human Resources leader whose charismatic personality, well-rounded knowledge, and task-oriented performance would enable him\her to grasp the dynamic environment within which today’s organizations operate: a know-how leader who can make the human capital takes part in the formulation and implementation of the Human Resource policies which stem from and influence the workplace environment.

2. Rationale
The reasons behind selecting “Leadership in Human Resources Management” as the core subject of this paper have been motivated by both the value of the topic and academic motives. Leadership is a form of control which is not restricted to business world, for it has historically maintained unity and integrity within organizations and communities. Leadership is a rationale form of authority that any type of organization is in need of, be it political, social, or economic. Its value duels in its mission, which is serving through directive vision and concrete guidelines. In marketing, a number of practitioners have sensed the importance of leadership for the success of business. However, the fast and global socio-economic changes have obliged companies to revise their management and leadership strategies in order to survive in the world economy. Hence, rethinking the concept and practices of leadership in areas of Human Resources Management or Strategic Marketing Management has become a necessarily. This is partially why the topic of Leadership in Human Resources Management is brought in this paper.

Additionally, having been exposed to various aspects, controversial concepts, issues, theories, and taking a Course of Human Resources Management, I have developed a sort of reflective maturity toward this field, and become more aware of aspects that need more academic investigation in this area of study. In addition, my participation (as Chaperon of a group of Business school students at Alfred University) in the 2007 Society for Human Resource Management’s – SHRM- Regional Conference , held at Rutgers University of New Jersey, in which a number of Human Resources well-qualified professors, international business analysts, Chief Executive Officers of international organizations, and over hundred of students from a number the States’ Universities meet to share their theoretical and professional expertise, was among the reasons that motivated the writing of this paper. One of the event’s panel discussion addressed the issue of “Professional Growth through Volunteer Leadership,” which highlighted the crucial role of leadership in the success of organizations in the era of globalization. Accordingly, it grew lucid in my mind the fruitfulness of writing a simple but up-dated framework of Human Resources leadership profile, hoping that it would be informative for any business student as well as any person has intent to learn about leadership in the area of Human Resources.

3. Objective of this Paper
The subject of this paper revolves around the notion of ‘leadership’ in the area of Human Resources Management. The aim is to sketch out an integrative framework of the prerequisite features of an efficient leader in matter of Human Resources Management. The model of “leadership,” suggested in this paper, is not an unprecedented framework; rather, it is a modified and up-to-date approach to leadership, which takes into consideration some of the major changes as well as previous theories and approaches of management, in general, and Human Resources Management, in specific. Hence, this model is not the outcome of any scientific study or field work assessment. It is a mere outcome of the accumulated knowledge, theoretical tools and approaches I have acquired from our Academic Course of Human Resource Management, along with my participation in the Human Resources Regional Conference, held at Rutgers University of New Jersey, in addition to a review of literature and the outcome of my humble life-experience.

4. Addressed Questions
On the ground of the aforementioned rationale and objectives, the present paper seeks to answer three main questions:
1 – What are the major factors governing leadership in Human Resources Management?
Answer to this question will provide a general frame of the mechanisms – internal and external – that both mould the leadership styles adopted by the Human Resources leader, and map out the directions followed in the leading process.
2 – What are the different styles of leadership, and how are they characterized?
The aim behind raising this question is to highlight current leadership styles and underlying features of each approach to leadership.

3 – Considering the fast-pace changes taking place at the global level, what are the criteria required in today’s Human Resources leader serving international organization?
The third question is meant to develop a tentative framework of an efficient would-be-leader in a global marketplace. The basis on which this updated model is going to be developed is derived from two main sources: first, previous theories and models of leadership suggested by professionals and psychologist leadership. The second source will be derived from a focus on IBM international corporate’s leadership strategy in the area of human resources. Notably, answers to these questions are not based on any scientific experiments or empirical data. Rather, they tentative answer based on analytical study, supported by an overall review of literature. That says that the paper does not claim any generalizable results or recommendations.

5. Organization
This paper is made up of four parts. Part one is a form of a general introduction, containing a general review, rationale, objectives, and the addressed questions alongside the organisation of the paper. Part two covers the review of the literature, related to the scope of topic: thus, a thorough definition of leadership, management, and followership is going to be catered for. Part three outlines a framework of Leadership in Human Resources Management; in this vain, both internal and external criteria constructing the profile of an efficient leader are to be mapped out. Besides, a review of major styles of leadership is to be discussed, followed by the four Factors governing Leadership within an organization, namely: 1) Leaders, 2) followers, 3) Communication, 4) the Context. In part four, discussed is a model of human resources leadership in today’s global organization: the case of IBM Organization will exemplify of adopting a model of a good leadership in the area of Human resources management. The paper will be concluded by a recapitalization of the main points discussed in this paper.


II – Review of the Literature
The issue of leadership, in general, has long occupied the timely and spatial contexts of a number of theorists and thinkers in all fields of science and human interactions. Its importance resides in its intrinsic value and tremendous impact on both individuals as will as organizations, for it is an intellectually all-encompassing subject. Ironically enough, this area of study remains a puzzling topic, in most of its parts, because the topic has not yet been experimentally investigated; and there is not up till now any scientific study on leadership. This is why there is hardly a consensus on an exact definition of the concept.

1- What is “leadership?”
In “The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society,” Kenneth Boulding defines “leadership” as “a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. ” In this vain, leadership in human resources management reflects an individual’s abilities to efficiently direct a group of individuals or workers toward achieving pre-set goals of a given organization or company of which they are members. These abilities can be summarized in high personal attributes, diversified intellectual background, and professional performing skills, all of which make of an individual a charismatic leader who is considered as a model to be followed. Being as such, a leader is not only expected to have a clear vision on the future of the organization but also required to communicate this vision with the employees and make them active participants in its realization, by providing them with both directions and motivation. Leadership process, in this respect, appears to be synonymous with management practices in the sense that both managers and leaders hold the same responsibility towards their organization, and have a direct authority over the latter’s employees; thus, leadership style can be also applied to management style. However, a number of strategic management theorists underline a difference between the two processes.
2 - The Difference between Leadership and Management
One of the main factors distinguishing between management and leadership is highlighted by Hersey, P. and Blanchard who consider management styles as a part of the whole leadership process. According to both theorists,
"Leadership occurs any time one attempts to influence the behavior of an individual or group, regardless of the reason. . . . Management is a kind of leadership in which the achievement of organizational goals is paramount. ”
That says that the primary role of management within an organization is to align the employees’ performance with the organization’s strategic objectives, which is just one form of leadership. Another distinction has to do with the nature of power both a manager and a leader hold within the organization. While a manager has a legal power derived from his professional status, the leader derives his power from the influence s/he might have on his followers. Hence, a manager has the authority to boss people around because of the power s/he has over them; whereas, a leader’s power is represented in his capacity to make his/her followers want to achieve given goals. Further, leadership is perceived as inspiring in its overall vision regardless the reasons or goals behind it; contrastingly, management anchors on the realization of a concrete plan in a specific time frame. Warren Bennis drew a lucid dichotomy between the duties and roles of a leader and a manager in an organization. For him, Leaders’ interests revolve around establishing clear vision, direction, goals, efficacy, purpose, and the trust-inspiration of the followers. Managers, on the other side, are concerned with short-term achievement by controlling the workers’ performance. Further, Managers administer while leaders innovate. They have their eye on the bottom line with a focus on systems and structure of the organization; whereas leaders have a wider vision of the horizon with a focus on people.
Indeed, contrasting both processes may prove to be informative in terms of the nature and roles of leadership and management. However, these distinctions tend to picture management in a traditional and inferior form of control in the sense that it is inflexible and rather bureaucratic process: it deploys the human, financial, technological, and natural resources in meeting the companies preset goals as opposed to the dynamic and strategic process of leadership, depicted as human-capital and creativity-inspiring dynamic. In this vain, John Kotter (1990) introduces a new dimension, perceiving both processes as different in function, but none is necessary favored over the other. He decrees that both are equally necessary for the effective running of an organization:
“Leadership is different from management, but not for the reason most people think. Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with having charisma or other exotic personality traits. It's not the province of a chosen few ."
Buchanan and Huczynski (2004) align with the latter trend and design a frame work of various functions in the agenda of both leaders and managers. Figure .1 summarizes Buchanan and Huczynski’s model . Other Human Resources analysts argue that a comprehensive definition of the concept of “leadership” is better achieved through understanding the intrinsic leader-follower and/or leadership-followership correlation.

Leadership functions
Management functions
Creating an agenda Establishing direction: Vision of the future, develop strategies for change to achieve goals Plans and budgets: Decide action plans and timetables, allocate resources
Developing people Aligning people: Communicate vision and strategy, influence creation of teams which accept validity of goals Organizing and staffing: Decide structure and allocate staff, develop policies, procedures and monitoring
Execution Motivating and inspiring: Energize people to overcome obstacles, satisfy human needs Controlling, problem solving: Monitor results against plan and take corrective action
Outcomes
Produces positive and sometimes dramatic change
Produces order, consistency and predictability

Figure 1: Leadership and Management (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004, p 718 - based on Kotter, 1990)
3 - Leadership and Followership
Current analysts have shift their focus toward the followers/employees, and followership. Robert Greenleaf has lately introduced the concept of followership, being a crucial factor in shaping the form and function of leadership, alongside a profile of theleader. The concept “servant-leadership,” according to Robert, refers to the leader’s commitment to serve his employees, organization, and society. True enough, employees represent keystone in the life and function of the leaders. The latter, in fact, do not choose to be so, but they are made by the group which shapes their aspirations and values. For example, part of being an effective leader is having excellent ideas, or a clear sense of direction, a sense of mission. But such ideas or vision are useless unless the leader can communicate them and get them accepted by followers. Once this reciprocal communication is blocked, leaders become lost, out of touch, and unwanted by the group. Thus, the more the leader-follower interaction studied, the better the process of leadership is understood and can be theorized for the sake of designing training programs and academic curriculum aiming at making the process of leadership a systematically transferable core of skills in the field of human resources in particular.

III - A Framework of Leadership in Human Resources Management
1 - Factors of Leadership

Like in any other form of organization, leadership in a business organization is governed by four factors: 1) led, 2) leader, 3) communication, 4) situation.

- The Led: Also known as follower, it refers to the staff members or employees under the leader’ responsibility. In order to establish mutually successful report with the led/employees, the human resources leader has to know every single employee’s experience level pertaining to the assigned job, confidence level, and how best they can perform under different working environment. On the ground of this knowledge of the led, the leader can evaluate the level of competence, motivation, and communication skills needed for his/her employees. These thee points are very essential for understanding the nature and qualification of employees, which, in return, would help adjusting the appropriate leadership style according to each individual worker’s needs. For example, an experienced worker might need less monitoring than an inexperienced one; an unmotivated employee may require different approach than a highly motivated one. In order to come to this level of understanding, the leader needs to devote much time in understanding the human capital under his/her responsibility, because it is the followers who may determine whether or not an individual is a successful leader.

- The Leader: as a leader, one has to have a comprehensive grasp of who s/he is, as a person, a professional, and a leader. Besides, the leader has to delineate the repertory of his/her general and professional knowledge as Human Resources employer. Being aware of what one knows implies that one is able to decide what s/he can do as Human resources leader. In short, leaders have to have a good understanding of their personality, knowledge, and performance.

- Communication: Part of the leader’s duties is to communicate ideas/messages on a regular basis with all the employees. The formulation of the communicated ideas can have either positive or negative outcomes on the employees’ understanding and translation of the messages into concrete actions. Therefore, the leader has to be clever in selecting the communication channel – oral, written, or physical- the context, and timing of message delivery: effective communication does not only strengthen the relationship between the leader and the employees but it also influences the organization’s performance and image.

- The Situation: this is a dynamic factor that requires the leader to be situation-oriented in his/her problem-solving skills. For so doing, the human resources leader has to perpetually consider four main variables in every situation, including: the task, the timing, the staff available for task, and the subordinate competence level. A leader may, for instance, need to decide on an employee’s inappropriate behavior in the workplace; the choice of the time, the context, and the nature of the punishment itself has to be consistent with the nature of the mistake; otherwise, the confrontation might be ineffective. Indeed, these four factors – the led, the leader, communication, and situation – are said to govern the roles of the human resources leader in the sense that help determining preferred leadership styles that would align with the culture and vision of a given organization.

2- Leadership Styles
Leadership styles in Human Resources Management is mainly defined by the culture of the company as well as the leader’s values, skills, and the given situation that might favor a certain style over others. Based on marketing theories and assumptions, various leadership styles are derived and deployed according to the above mentioned factors. Recorded literature on Leadership in Organization suggests seven leadership styles: below is a precise feature of each of the leadership styles adoptable in the Human Resources Department.
- The Autocratic Leader
This approach to leadership is characterized by the leader’s complete control of the employees’ actions and task performances in the sense that the team has little, if not no, say in decision making. Leaders, in this case, usually give directions and expect outcomes rather than negotiating or taking roles in teamwork. Autocratic leadership may prove to be useful in some situations where the organization operates under pressure. However, this style of leadership might not be appropriate especially in modern and/or international corporate.
- The Democratic Leader
In companies where the human resources department is managed by a democratic leader, employees’ participation in decision making is highlighted. Workers, for instance, have a moderate space of freedom to determine the ways certain tasks are to be accomplished; they can even select the people who might perform those tasks, while the leader keeps his/her sights over his/her team performances and intervenes whenever need be. By directing themselves, workers gain more and more motivation and self-empowerment. A democratic leader, also, encourages group discussion, and draws a pool of plausible suggestions from his/her led for the sake of improving team collaboration.

- The Charismatic Leader
Charismatic Leaders are good listeners and speakers who pay great of their consideration to their surrounding environments. Their mastery of verbal and body language makes them persuasive. Besides, they are very attentive in listening to the person they converse with making that person charmed by them. Charismatic leaders also are vigilantly aware of the environment within which they operate, and are good at uplifting the self-esteem of the workers. They do so by using a wide range of communicative interactions and motivational tactics. They are also known for incarnating a trustworthy profile through visible self-commitment and assumed-responsibilities. The Charismatic leader gathers followers through dint of personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority. Charismatic leaders usually work on building up the concept of “group” within which they try to fuse themselves along with their employees, a fact which makes the followers less individualistic in their performance and strongly committed to the service of the group at large. In short, charismatic leadership encompasses sensitivity to the environment, sensitivity to member needs, personal risk taking, and performance of unconventional behavior.

- Participative Leadership
The participative leadership is one of the most favored styles of leadership among organizations. It is also referred to as management by objectives, joint decision-making, and power-sharing. This technique is not much different from democratic leadership. The human resources department that adopts this style seeks to involve its workers in decision making process in order to foster their commitment and collaborative spirit, and it believes that there is no one way of doing business, which makes the workplace environment supportive as well as flexible.
- Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership style is an inspiring technique that injects enthusiasm and passion toward work in the souls of workers. The latter usually appreciate transformational leadership style because it uplifts their professional experience and nurtures them with passion toward their job. The transformational leader usually starts with the development of a vision, a view of the future that would excite and convert followers into potential leaders. This vision may be developed by the leader or it is already set by the organization's strategy. Next, the leader has to commit him/herself to market the vision to the employees, a task which requires a great deal of energy, perseverance, and persuasive skills. For so doing, the leader has to set clear and step-by-step directions for the actualization of the vision. Furthermore, what makes employees enjoy this leadership style is its being people-oriented and its focus on the success and development of the human capital as well as the company's productivity.
- Servant Leaders
The servant leader style is a current approach to leadership that has been wildly talked about recently by many Human Resources analysts. As its name implies, a servant leader is meant to serve the needy led by helping them to improve their professional performance and achieve remarkable outcomes. Spears, L. C. , for instance, argues that "listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and building community" are the pivotal touchstones that make of a given person a servant leader. In short, the form of leadership is characterized by the leader's complete devotion to the led.
- The Laissez-Faire Leader
Laissez-Faire leadership stands on the other side of the autocratic approach. The laissez-faire leader usually exercises little control on his/led. S/he so does because he trusts his/her team’s high proficiency and expertise. That is, this method of control is most likely operative in organizations where workers have already reached a discernible level of professional experience along with awareness of the culture of the organization. Again, there are situations where the Laissez-Faire approach can be effective. Indeed, the Laissez-Faire technique can be successful with skilled workers, known for their excellent work history.
To put it in a nutshell, there are different styles of leadership. Each style has its inherent strengths and drawback. The leader has to determine which leadership style is efficiently operational with which company and under what circumstances, because every company has its identical culture, structure and statement of mission; hence, a leader is expected to scrutinize all these variables before deciding on the leadership style to be adopted. Having said so, we now need to understand the factors, both internal and external, that shape up the profile of a good leader.

3 - Internal Criteria Affecting Leadership
Lewis H. Lapham, once said, " leadership consists not in degree of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual efforts, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint." This testimony reveals how important personality traits are in determining the profile of a good leader. However, a leader is neither born with these personality characters, nor is s/he born a leader. Leaders are made and not born: every one has the potential to be a good leader, through an ongoing process of self study, education, and professional experience. This raises the question of what are the mechanisms that shape up the profile of a good leader of Human Resources Management.

- Personality Mechanisms
The "Trait Theory" of leadership, as explained by Bass (1990), holds that some personality traits are the main predictors of a would-leader. Some of these traits are self-esteem, self-efficacy, integrative-motivation, self-commitment, integrity, trust, courage, creativity, imagination, and straightforwardness. Hence, a Human Resources Department whose leader is a trustworthy, risk taker, creative, and respect for his/her employees, the latter's respect toward this leader would most likely grow.

Understanding of the Leader's duty
Besides having consistent character traits, a good Human Resources leader has to have a bulk of valid and reliable knowledge. In this vain, to be a hankered-for leader, one has to have an axiomatic grasp of:
- Himself/herself as person and a leader: one has to know his/her strengths and weaknesses in terms of character, knowledge, skills, and professional performance.
- His/her duties as a leader, along with the needs of the led.
- The nature of the organization, including its culture, vision, mission, goals and objectives.
- The communication tactics and tools to be used in every situation.

Performance
Indeed, though personality traits along with knowledge are crucial assets a good leader should incarnate, performance is what actually matters in the professional life of the leader. From the stand point of the employees, a good leader is judged according to his/her behaviors that have direct influence on both the human capital and the organization. Therefore, to be efficient in his/her performance, the leader has to be able to translate his/her character, values, vision, and knowledge into concrete actions, and operational guidance. The leader, for instance, is required to:
- Set measurable goals, and negotiate the implementing strategies, decision-making and problem solving processes with the workers.
- Maintain high team-work spirit and motivational incentives, through rewards and appraisals for excellent workers.
- Provide moral as well as material support to less qualified or novice employees.
- Maintain a regular coordination, supervision, and evaluation of the team's productivity.

The aforementioned mechanisms (personality factors, knowledge, and performance) are basically intrinsic factors that construct the persona of a good leader. There are other external variables influencing the performance and overall philosophy of the Human Resources leader.

4- External factors Influencing Leadership
As mentioned earlier, every organization has its identical nature of doing business or services. Environment, climate, and culture are the underlying constituents that define the nature of a given organization, and influence the leadership style to be adopted.

-The Environment of Organizations
The concept of "environment" in the sphere of business is the sum up of the organization's goals, mission statement, philosophy, ethics and standards. The organization environment does not only affect the leader's performance but also every individual working for it.

- Climate of Organizations
Climate of a given organization is directly influenced by the board of managers and leaders' actions and behaviors within the workplace. Climate, in other terms, is the body of beliefs, values, and attitudes of the employers and employees towards themselves, their work, and their customers. Of course, every leader, no matter how his/her leadership style might be, contributes in and incarnates the climate of the organization to which s/he works for.

- Culture of Organization
The organization's culture displays the set of customs, vision, expectations, routines, rituals, and way of doing business that a company embraces. It is a long-term process which combines the past with present and influences the future of the firm. As a leader, one can not easily change aspects of the company's culture, but might affect its climate as long as the newly introduced practice or behavior does not conflict with the vision or goals of the organization.

Studying both internal and external mechanisms that shape the profile of a leader reveals the complexity characterizing the duty of a leader. This complexity does not stem from the nature of the duty, but emanate rather from the unpredictable dynamics surrounding the professional environment of the leader.


IV – IBM Corporation: a Leader in Human Resources Management
1 - IBM Profile
With over 350,000 employees worldwide, International Business Machines Corporation, known as IBM or "Big Blue"; is the largest multinational computer technology corporation, headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, infrastructure services, hosting services and consulting services.
2006, IBM has fallen to second behind Hewlett-Packard in total revenue. It has engineers and consultants in over 170 countries, and IBM Research has eight laboratories worldwide. IBM employees have earned five Nobel Prizes, five Turing Awards, five National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. As a chip maker, IBM is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders .

2 - IBM’s Workforce & Diversity
In the 1990s, two major pension program changes, including a conversion to cash balance plan, resulted in an employee class action lawsuit alleging age discrimination. IBM employees won the lawsuit and arrived at a partial settlement, although appeals are still underway. IBM also settled a major overtime class-action lawsuit in 2006. Although, there has been recently a number of sweeping cuts to the workplace, IBM has had a good reputation of long-term staff retention with few large scale layoffs. Its efforts to promote workforce diversity and equal opportunity date back to World War I, when the company hired disabled veterans. It provides employees' same-sex partners with benefits and provides an anti-discrimination clause. The Human Rights Campaign has consistently rated IBM at 100%, the highest score, on its index of gay-friendliness since 2003. IBM was the only technology company ranked in Working Mother magazine's Top 10 for 2004. In 2005, IBM became the first major company in the world to formally commit to not using genetic information in its employment decisions. This came just a few months after IBM announced its support of the National Geographic Society's Geographic Project.

3 - IBM Human Capital Management
As far as human capital management in IBM is concerned, the value placed on the employees was set long ago by the founder of the company Thomas J. Watson who said in1926: “They say a man is known for the company he keeps. We say in our business that a company is known by the men it keeps.” Indeed, respect of the employee’s rights and dignity has been one of IBM basic beliefs in managing its workers. This belief has been maintained by one of IBM most successful leader and Chairman, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., who always stressed on helping each employee to develop his potential and make the best use of his abilities. Hence, the human capital management has historically been of paramount importance: two-way communications between manager and employee is one of the main features characterizing the leader-led interaction, devoting more time to people than the company’s products, and respecting opportunity for a fair hearing and equitable settlement of disagreements. Over the years, IBM has implemented a number of innovative programs, policies and practices that demonstrate and sustain respect for its employees. Among them are:
• The Open Door policy
• “The Speak Up!” Program
• Comprehensive Employee Opinion Surveys
• Effective Internal Communications and Informational Media, such as Business Machines and Think magazines,

4 - IBM Recruiting
IBM is committed to a diversified workforce and actively seeks qualified candidates who know the needs of markets the company serves, including women, minorities, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians. Each year, IBM recruiters attend more than 40 diversity-focused conferences and career fairs to recruit from these constituencies. IBM.s innovative "Why work?" marketing campaign, which began in the spring of 1999, is designed to reach the best and brightest campus and professional talent through a compelling dialogue about IBM’s strengths: its people, the work, the rewards, and its global presence. The organization is also an active participant in Entry Point program, sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, IBM and NASA, dedicated to placing disabled young people in business and industry and preparing them for corporate and community leadership. For instance, the Project Able is an effort to significantly increase the representation of disabled employees at the workplace. The program’s goals include establishing a network of champions for disabled employees throughout the company.


5 - Work/Life Balance
In 1984, IBM became the first major employer in the nation to establish a dependent care network for its employees. In July 2000, the company announced the creation of a five year, $50 million global fund to develop and support work/life programs in communities where its employees live and work. Programs range from new child care centers and science/technology camps for school-age children to collaborations with other companies to expand existing child care centers. Between 1990 and 1994, IBM invested $25 million to develop new or expand existing child and elder care facilities and programs through its Funds for Dependent Care Initiatives. Between 1995 and 2000, the company has invested a total of approximately $150 million in dependent care services to help employees better manage their work and personal lives.

6 - Flexibility/Telecommuting/Leave of Absence Programs
More than 80,000 IBMers participate in the company’s telecommuting programs, which offer employees the ability to work from a customer’s location, on the road, or at home. IBM’s industry leading workplace flexibility programs offer employees the option of varying their daily arrival time and work hours, subject to local management approval. The leave of absence programs provide up to three years leave for parenting, dependent care or for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, subject to management approval.

7 - Women at IBM
IBM has a long history of commitment to the advancement of women in the workplace , hiring its first professional women in 1935 and its first woman vice president, Ruth Leach, in 1943. In 1995, the company formed its Global Women Leaders. Task Force, which later initiated employee work/life surveys in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific; a series of Global Women’s Leadership Conferences; the creation of Women of Color and Women in Technology sub-committees, each of which has conducted global conferences; and the formation of local women’s networks around the world. In the United States, the number of women in executive positions totaled approximately 21 percent at the end of 1999, growing from a total of 351 women executives in 1998 to 445 at the end of 1999. Globally, women comprise almost 18 percent of the IBM worldwide executive population. The number of women executives around the world increased from a total of 399 in 1998 to 508 at the end of 1999. In 2000, in recognition of its long-standing commitment to the advancement of women, IBM was one of three companies honored by Catalyst, the New York City-based women’s advocacy organization.

Conclusion
Thanks to its commitment to maintain the well-being of its human assets, IBM has gained a respectful reputation in human resources leadership worldwide. This success has been brought about due to company's creative and ongoing research and innovative programs which improve the social and professional experiences of the employees. With the uncompromising belief that the human capital is the most invaluable asset of any organization, IBM has smartly and perpetually managed to formulate an authentic Human Resources leadership style that answers to the corporation’s goals, values, and culture as well as the changing environment of the global market.

Bibliography
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4 - Goodworth, C. (1988). The Secrets of Successful Leadership and People Management. ( Heinman Professional Publishing, 1988).

5- Greenleaf, R. (1970) Servant as Leader. Center for Applied Studies

6 - Hersey, P., Blanchard, K.H (1977), Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources, 3rd ed, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.

7 - Kotter, John .P. (1990). A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs From Management. New York: Free Press.
8 - Musser, S.J. (1987). The determination of positive and negative charismatic leadership, Grantham: PA: Messiah College.
9 - Spears, L. C. (2002). "Tracing the Past, Present, and Future of Servant-Leadership." In Focus On Leadership: Servant-leadership for the Twenty-first Century. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.
10 - Tannenbaum, A.S. and Schmitt, W.H. (1958). How to Choose a Leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review.

Webliography
1 - www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html. Kenneth Boulding, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society.
2 - http://library.indstate.edu/servlead
3 - http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Styles/styles.html
4 - www.ibm.com/diversity
5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM