The Future of Teach For America

Globalization has changed the way organizations operate and manage their resources. The world is putting much emphasis on digital transformation with international firms aligning themselves in order to meet the changing demand of the future population. The changes will demand companies to be extremely flexible, and have strategies set aside to ensure they keep the pace with the expected drastic changes. The current organizations put much emphasis on centralization of power and influence (Darden, 2012). However, in the near future, such positions will be relinquished with most people working in the comfort of their homes rather than physically traveling to the place of work. The changes are expected to affect all aspects of an organization and its work related issues. For instance, the future will mostly accommodate the top talent with individuals that have skills and information relevant to a firm being given first priority to exhibit their expertise.

Summary

The future organizations of 2020 will be operating on a completely different platform from the current ones (Meister et al., 2010). For instance, organizations such the TFA will have to brace for the rapid changes in all sectors in order to ensure their existence. The expected changes in 2020 will be characterized by an intense competition, which in return will force organizations such TFA to exert downward pressure in order to lower the cost involved in offering its services, while at the same time being demanded to achieve more with the limited resources but at an increased speed. Moreover, the workplace will be made less place-specific, which will result in a shift from physical commercial buildings to new organizational forms. The management of most organizations will be demanded to incorporate new approaches and ideas in terms of management and leadership, with the introduction of new and improved tools each time. The creation of an open-sourced interconnected network of people will require firms such as TFA enhance its capacity to be involved in collaborations between different parastatals, countries, and firms. In this regard, TFA will have to align itself in such a way that it encourages inclusivity, practices effective leadership styles and approaches and get involved in decision-making methods that are healthy to the performance and survival of the organization in future.

Structure of Teach for America

The organizational structure at Teach for America (TFA) is arranged as shown below with the executive director at the top of the hierarchy of staff structure responsible for top supervision, an operation coordinator who is solely responsible for office management and other logistics, and three “officers”.

Executive Director

The organization is comprised of different educators who are both male and female from diverse countries. Various statistical data indicate that Teach for America (TFA) is one of the most diverse non-profit organizations among all large teacher providers. The firm incorporates a wide range of workforce that includes students that have graduated recently and other professionals. During the program, the organization involves the different group of workers in two years teaching programs both in rural and urban communities through the country. Moreover, the organization believes in the significance of incorporating a teacher workforce that is deeply embedded and reflects the diverse identities of America. In this regard, workforce diversity forms the basis for the progress of TFA. The company identifies itself as the only organization that fully focuses its resources on ensuring maximum diversity of its teaching corps. The corporation believes that incorporating teaching corps from different race, background, and ethnicity, will ensure that it has enlisted the country’s top talent. Thus, TFA has appreciably been recruiting corps from different backgrounds, age, ethnic, and race, which in return has enabled it to become a unique organization dedicated to serving all Americans. Moreover, the diverse workforce and coalition that is determined by providing and sharing a common purpose and shared values ensure that the organization realizes its target of achieving equity in the education sector across the U.S.

Although TFA is a non-profit organization, its mandate of providing teaching and learning services has exhibited significant levels of diversity by incorporating both rural and urban communities as the beneficiaries of the programs. Moreover, the organization does not target a particular group or members of the society as the recipient, but rather offers its services to students of different race, background, and ethnic group.

TFA has integrated and has started using information and communication technology programs in order to be in line with the ever-changing globalized demands. Introducing advanced programs for corps to convey their messages to students has drastically improved both teaching and learning process in the firm. Through the integration of communication technology as an innovation factor, TFA has experienced significant improvement in its teaching models, tools, and the level of interaction between the corps and the students.

The world is going through transitions each and every year. However, one of the menaces that most organizations face is the ability of its workplace trend to remain unaffected negatively (Petrie, 2011). Today, technology is taking a center stage while driving trends in the world that surround the society and the overall population. The cycles in business operations in organizations are moving at an accelerating pace, with the global community forming associations that bring them together into a single connected and vibrant network that changes the face of the world into a “global village” (Petrie, 2011). In this regard, TFA is bracing itself for an influx of new generation of corps who are expected to inject new methodologies, and approaches, which in return will transform work environment in almost all aspects. The workplace theory of 2020 estimates that over thirty-six percent of the workforce will be comprised of individuals born after the “baby boomer generation”. For this reason, there are significant changes expected to take place in the year 2020 with most organizations expected to be involved in a form of collision of generation of workers, but at the same time, they will act as boosters of a more diverse and inclusive workforce (Meister et al., 2010).

From a demographic perspective, in 2020, staffs are expected to stay longer period in the workplace. In this regard, there are high possibilities that five generations of workers will be presented with an opportunity to work together (Meister et al., 2010). Moreover, the future of 2020 holds that there will be more fluid shifts and flow of skills because globalization will upsurge the possibility of creating virtual workplaces which will be vital in a transformed landscape of workplace. In terms of cultural diversity, in 2020, it means that organizations will be conducting businesses using a broader set of values than today (Darden, 2012). For this reason, firms will be required to drastically reformulate their internal interactions, particularly those concerning human capital; for instance, companies will put more emphasis on how to approach, retain, develop, and deploy individuals in their firms.

The future workplace changes will shift markets and organizations will start to largely rely on advanced technology with the workplace diversity consisting of five different generations (Darden, 2012). In this regard, TFA will try to integrate all the available information and data sources in order to develop a more efficient intelligent system that will be solely responsible of ensuring the success of the organization is guaranteed. Also, TFA will be forced to increase its flexibility and ensure that the staff is working on a level that assures the firm’s services to the community at all time. Moreover, with the current approach at TFA that focuses on providing two years teaching programs to workers of diverse backgrounds to teach both in rural and urban communities, it will imply that this strategy will have to be changed. This can be attributed to the fact that most of the workers will be working longer periods than the stipulated two years at TFA. The collision of the workforce from different generation may adversely affect the organization due to the fact that the firm does not generate any profit. However, the inclusivity of staff from different generations will present the corporation with an opportunity to improvise new teaching and learning methodologies which in return will raise the overall standards and levels of education in the country.

 Also, as a result of the collision of different generations of workers, TFA will be forced to think of new approaches of deploying, retaining, approaching and developing their staff (Heineke et al., 2014). On a positive direction, the influx of millennials will inject new ideas that will be central in offering high-quality education for American community living in both urban and rural areas (Dinh et al., 2014). The inception of skills and expertise from this new generation of staff will be essential in offering exceptional service to the community.  Moreover, through the interconnection of different communities around the world, TFA will be presented with a chance to extend its influence throughout the world with more stakeholders taking part in the development of the firm.

The increased levels of collaboration in the future will remove the current hierarchical structure of TFA and incorporate leaders that have knowledge of collaborating. Also, the advanced levels of collaboration will challenge the current TFA organizational structure and create a system that is focused on self-organizing its processes rather than being dictated by high ranking members who have more authority over the other workers. In this regard, the existing channels of communication in TFA will be challenged with the introduction of routes that advocates for openness. With the emergence of new and technological organizations, TFA will be presented with a new challenge of keeping up with the pressure. In order to assert its relevance, TFA will try and find new methodologies and approaches which will be solely focused on engaging with prospective workers in order to maintain a healthy balance for low cost and maximizing its flexibility by making sure that the values and ethics of the company develop, attract, and retain talented millennials (Heineke et al., 2014).

One of the major leadership/management trends that have positively affected TFA is its ability to embrace diversity. The organization holds its managers and leaders accountable for the level of inclusivity because its overall mindset is set on a genuine global awareness. TFA ensures that all the leaders of different departments are aware of the international issues and trends. Furthermore, in order to ensure the survival of the firm, TFA increases the level of interaction of its managers and leaders by making sure that they are exposed to other leaders who have a different mindset and approaches of doing things. The fact that most companies are embracing diversity, it has forced most TFA leaders to be curious, willing to step aside when faced with certain circumstances and be ready to take risks, which in return has enabled them to manage and lead effectively.

Moreover, today, most leaders in various organizations use technology as a major tool for developing a competitive edge in their globalized firms (Meister et al., 2010). Therefore, this has made TFA management to consult technology when offering teaching services to the community. In this regard, TFA has been able to make knowledge available to the corps and the students regardless of their physical location, it has also smoothened communication process by introducing the technology of video conferencing, and teleconferencing. Also, through the adoption of modern technology in the management process, TFA has been able to share significant applications, particularly in cities that are far-flung, which in return make information more available and in a format that the different leaders can use or re-use with ease.

Furthermore, leaders are thinking of enhancing their brand and organization to include other countries. In this regard, the management of TFA has turned its mindset to incorporate global experiences. For instance, at TFA, most of the staff are not from within but rather come from different parts of the continents. The organization has been forced by the current circumstance to hire leaders that have a truly global mindset in the sense that it will enable them to lead effectively on an international level capacity. The increase in the organization’s cultural complexities demand for a flexible global mindset that is capable of handling, influencing, and organizing different intellectuals with diverse psychological, intelligence, and social capabilities (Darden, 2012). In addition, TFA leaders are required to recognize situations that are compelling from both local and global perspective, while at the same time keeping tab of the existing disparities across different cultures and organizations.

In order for TFA organization to exist in the future globalized economy, the management of the firm should create a compelling staff experiences. The new generations will be looking to achieve more than just job stability, benefits associated with the program, or hefty competitive salaries. The new generation of workers will be looking forward to being part of something bigger than them (Meister et al., 2010). Hence, by creating its entire organizational ethos around the experience of the corps, TFA will cement its position in the future world. For instance, TFA should ensure workers are subjected to flexible working and resting hours, build the staff state-of-the-art offices and other operating rooms. Thus, through the establishment of a more dynamic, versatile, and purpose-driven workplace, TFA will be a successful firm in the U.S and across the globe. Furthermore, the leadership of TFA should develop an intranet-based system of interaction that will be solely focused on engaging workers in their social channels.

The introduction of new technology is changing the perception of workers and leaders in various organizations each day. In this regard, more advanced systems will be in place in the near future. In order for TFA to survive in the future, its leaders should incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the then new look of a blended workforce. The introduction of AI systems into the workplace of various organizations will require staff to work extra hard. However, TFA can realize the same service delivery by allowing such technology to execute the task with the workforce, which in return will streamline the work being done, particularly repetitive tasks.

In future one of the most important competencies needed for the survival of TFA will be flexibility. The management of this organization will be required to be more responsive and possess the capability of adapting to the diverse needs that will create by the changing demands and landscape of workplaces (Heineke et al., 2014). Moreover, the leadership and management of TFA will be adopted in such a way that transforming contexts will be executed successfully within the stipulated timeline.

In order for TFA to get prepared for the future, the organization should learn how to manage and acknowledge the generational difference that is expected to place, particularly in the leading sector. TFA needs to learn how to mitigate the generational differences which are expected to arise once the millennials take over. Moreover, TFA will have to develop new approaches and strategies that will make it aligned with the qualities and characteristics of this generation. Also, TFA firm will have to be prepared financially since the inception of this new generations will imply that a host of new innovations will be made across the country. In addition, TFA should prepare itself for the future where adaptive challenges will be solved as a group rather than an individual, by adopting leadership styles that include the entire social network when making certain decisions regarding the company. In this regard, the collective leadership style expected in the near future will not come as a surprise to TFA, but rather, the management will be prepared for the change.  Also, TFA should be open to the technological and cultural changes that will positively affect the services being offered by TFA.

Recommendations

The current board of governance of TFA is relatively small with most of its members being non-public.  Although this move made a lot of sense during its early stages of inception, the same cannot work in the future. In the future, the board of governance should be made public in order to exhibit a sense of depth and strength of support for the organization. Moreover, the board members’ experience should be expanded in order to provide them with an opportunity to serve other purposes such changing the reputation of the company and up surge the connection to include international communities, which in return will enable it to serve the society effectively. The incorporation of other international board members will bring in different experiences and expertise with an important perspective which will be central when making better and more informed decisions regarding the corporation.

In a bid to maintain its relevance in the current technological world, TFA should prioritize on creating space that would accommodate extroverts and introverts in the workplace in order to make sure that they meet the needs of both styles. Moreover, the organization should make sure in addition to improvising flexible and mobile working environment, it has fully adopted approaches that will ensure it has retained its top talent corps. Also, TFA should focus on creating and developing the organization as a team rather than focusing on the individual development of its corps and students. Through the effective collaboration of all team members, TFA will be able to face the unpredictable dynamics of human resource. Finally, TFA should apply Agile approach, particularly, when recruiting and developing new and existing corps. In this regard, the skills of the corps will be greatly enhanced since the approach makes it easy for the workers to rate, consume, find and tag their learning in almost every aspect of their service delivery.

References

Darden, D. C. (2012). Diversity in the Workplace.

Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36-62.

Meister, J.C., Willyerd, K. and Foss, E., (2010). The 2020 workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, develop, and keep tomorrow’s employees today (p. 5). New York,    NY: Harper Business.

Petrie, N. (2011). Future trends in leadership development. Center for Creative Leadership white paper, 5, 5.

Heineke, A. J., Mazza, B. S., & Tichnor-Wagner, A. (2014). After the two-year commitment: A quantitative and qualitative inquiry of Teach For America teacher retention and attrition. Urban Education, 49(7), 750-782.