Abstract:

The main purpose of the present study was to compare the current management practices of boys and girls degree colleges of AJ&K. The study was descriptive in nature, and the cross-sectional survey was used for the collection of data. Seventy principals and 140 teachers of the Mirpur Division were the populations of this study, out of which 50 principals (23 male and 27 female) and 100 teachers (46 male and 54 female) were selected as a sample of the study using proportionate stratified random sample technique. A questionnaire on the five-point Likert Scale was developed to collect data from principals and teachers. The researcher visited the sample colleges and collected the data. The data was analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, and independent-sample t-test. It was found that that male principals and coordinators are better at the planning of different programs than females. Furthermore, female principals and coordinators are performing better in directing the staff as compared to male principals and coordinators.

Key Words:

Management Practices, College Principals, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir

Introduction

Management practices are the key consideration in the day-to-day operations of any organization. Presently is an immense deal of prose based on the studies of different scholars and researchers on this topic stating their experience and observation about different management practices, their definition, scope, impact, and differences between different management practices, institutional autonomy, monitoring mechanism, incentives for teachers, instructional time, etc. (Lewis, 2006). Researchers have found a wide heterogeneity in the management practices in different educational institutions within and across countries. The major causes of variations are different, including the size of the institution, ownership (private or government-owned), and other characteristics, including management's experience and influence in institutional management and academic preferences. In this context, the management practices are directly associated with institutional performance and positively related to students' performance. Researchers in this regard is also concerned about the ideal and best management practices; however, contrary to this, some studies even argue whether there is any existence of best practices or not and question whether the best practices are contingent or not (Bloom & Reenen  2016).

The learning process and student achievement is a comprehensive process that is linked with different factors. The management practices and instructional strategies being employed by the educational institutions are positively linked to the institutional performance and academic quality of education. In this regard, they are the key determinant of students' achievement, being closely related to their learning process, process, and ultimately the achievement at the end of this academic process and its outcomes (Almani, Abro, & Mugheri, 2012).

A creative and learning-oriented environment always facilitate students' learning and achievement level. The students find more interest and motivation in a learning process that facilitates them in exploring their personal abilities, experimenting with their queries and suppositions, and concluding their findings, observations and experiences in a positive manner. The social interaction of students in a learning-oriented environment and their action-oriented communication are the features of an ideal learning environment. These are the features of a learning environment backed by best management practices. Additionally, the favorable institutional management practices act as a plus point to further the student's learning and achievement (Ajiboye & Ajitoni, 2018). 

The student's achievement towards the learning goals is the determinant of the quality of education and efficiency of management practices and the learning environment. The rise in the student's achievement indicates betterment in the education system, while the decline in achievements of students is the indicator of decline in the educational system (Michaelowa, 2011).

The learning process is greatly being affected by the situation under which it takes place. The management practices in this regard are the key factor in providing the right kind of environment to facilitate students' learning goals while paving the path for their achievement accordingly. In this context, the traditional pedagogical practice "telling, reading, and memorizing" has failed to facilitate the learning process in the present age of scientific knowledge (Köhle, 2012).

The Objective of the Study

1. To compare the management practices of male and female principals at colleges of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Delimitations of the Study 

The study was delimited to;

1. Mirpur Division

2. All government colleges 




Review of Related Literature

Management is basically defined as the process of controlling things or people. Management includes all the activities to achieve the strategic goals of the management. The available resources are utilized to attain the set objectives. According to Webster's dictionary, the conducting or supervising of something is known as management. The basic functions of the management include;

• Planning 

• Organizing 

• Staffing

• Directing  

• Coordinating 

• Reporting

• Budgeting 

Effective management is possible only with the integration of all the above-mentioned functions. Every sort of organization requires management. For an organization to function effectively and achieve strategic goals, having stable management is important. This is the reason that the management is not a system that is developed in a matter of days or months. It takes time to nourish and grow with experience and patience. Management is not for the employees but also for the customer. It deals with both the ends. A good organization has the management that offers reassurance to the customer of the service if they chose the company and employee of the well-deserved compensation if the level of work is achieved by the employee. Budgeting is also one of the key steps of management. Management lives through this process. It is an organized approach that helps in achieving long-term goals. Education is a long-term process. On average, it takes at least 10 to 12 years of the child's life. Depending upon preferences, these years may exceed the mentioned time frame. This is a long-term goal and thus requires an organized approach that helps in attaining the best possible results (Raver, 2002).

Educational Management at School Level

The doctrine of school management is entirely different from the management of the business organization. In-School, the learning process takes place, so the classroom is the major element. The principle of management will be formulated in relation to the classroom and learning environment. The learning process has the major elements, including teachers, so the school management principles can be formulated with the help of teachers by sharing their experiences. The experts of the educational field have formulated these principles by keeping classroom perceptions in mind. It is largely to the bigger fundamental principles. The educational process cannot run smoothly without the participation of the society, so for the smooth running of that principle, there is a dire need to take the input from the society as well for the management of educational institutions (Shah, 2004).

Above discussion clearly enlightens us that the educational management is the comprehensive effort to achieve the educational objectives. Educational philosophy helps in setting the goals and educational psychology helps in understanding the principles. Educational Management for school holds great importance for the student achievement as the regulation, organization, and performance is all attained greatly through a good system of management. Looking at top schools in the country show that, the major exemplary role has been played by the management of the school in understanding the issues and handling them tactfully (Ergin, 2012).

Functions of Management

As the management includes taking care of the issues inside an organization to arrive at the ideal goals, the emphasis is on understanding the capacities that make up the procedure. With the passage of time, the experts started to examine the speculation and quintessence of the management, too many functions of the management were discovered. In spite of the fact that the speculations about the elements of the management lead to rather comparable outcomes, it very well may be useful to examine the distinctions just as the historical way to our present comprehension of the capacities. Here are a couple of the most persuasive hypotheses and scholars who've plot their thoughts regarding the elements of the management. Management has the following functions (Feldman & Eidelman 2008).

Planning

Planning is the primary management function. If the organization wants to achieve the goal, it must have to plan. With the planning, the management makes sure that what they are going to do and who will do it. The activities that are going to be performed are enlisted, and the resources in terms of man, money, and material are arranged. The planning focuses on the major goals of the organization, and when the planning is done, the vision of the organization is considered. Planning ensures the long-term objectives of the organization and achieves them through accomplishing the short-term objectives (Cepni & Sahin, 2012).

Organizing 

The planning is ineffective until you organize the things. It is all about achieving the predetermined goal by bringing together the physical, financial, and other accessible assets according to the plan. As the plan was to expand the sales, taking into account the planning and you would decide how to assign the resources according to the planning. In the example of a marketing campaign, once the planning team has analyzed and passed the plan to you, now you have to assign it to the marketing manager to implement with the budget it needs. You would also make sure that the promotion team has access to the client data it needs. In the meanwhile, you would ask the manager of the promotion campaign that how much he can cut its costs by allowing him to choose the best possible resources to implement (Lewis, 2006).

Staffing 

Although staffing has significant importance in the responsibilities of the management, it is generally ignored by the management. Organizing and staffing are very well connected, as both functions concentrate on making sure that the resources are coordinated. Staffing is the appropriate selection of the employees according to the needs of the job. It focuses that the organization has the perfect individuals in the correct positions, and the authoritative structure isn't prevented by need or abundance of faculty. You would basically be looking critically at all the activities in front of you and figuring out who ought to do what and on the off chance that you have the correct labor to accomplish the goals somebody needs (Wiebe, Berry & Kim, 2008).  

Directing

Directing is the fourth function of management. It is considered as the most influential function of management. By continuously directing and monitoring the activities, the managers keep things on track to increase productivity and save the wastage of resources. It not only makes sure that organization of the workers but also guarantees that they can play out the assignments through an assortment of means. Directing persistently, keep an eye out that the profitability is expanding relentlessly and goals are getting closer. At the point when this function plunges further inside human affiliation, making the executive convince, bestow and move their staff. At this stage, you are meeting and interfacing with your laborers to find how the endeavors are going. You would speak with them about the new advancement battle, get their contribution to stretch out, and move them to persuade in creating new thoughts. This capacity is about the regular relationship between the organization and the staff (Barbato, 2000).

Coordinating 

Although everyone is doing his/her job with perfection, still the objectives cannot be achieved if there is no co-ordination between them. The coordination keeps all of them on track. It is the unification, incorporation, synchronization of the endeavors of the team. Co-ordination generally cannot be seen, but it integrates the other functions of the management. As indicated by Mooney and Relay, "It is the precise course of action of collective endeavors to keep the people on tracking order to achieve the shared objectives ."In view of Charles Worth, It is the mix of a few sections into sequences that the management may develop the understanding between the system by co-ordination through its fundamental elements of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Co-ordination infect is certainly not a different function of the management but to develop the congruity between people endeavors towards the accomplishment of key objectives is the main goal of the management. So the coordination is not a separate function, but it inherits and implicit all the functions of management (Bornstein & Lansford, 2010).

Controlling

Controlling is the most important function of management that plays a role to integrate and work properly the other management functions as per requirements. As Theo Hayman has put it, controlling is "the way toward checking whether legitimate advancement is being made towards the goals and objectives and acts if vital to address any deviation". In our example of increasing the sales up to 10%, the controlling function controls the variables that are if not controlled, will seriously harm the targets. As the controller, you would separate the techniques you put forward and see whether they are improving your business records. The adequacy of the headway fight will be studied and evaluated. If it is found that the value decreases being wasteful during the system, you should truly consider swapping the things at an arrangement, diminish the reduction, or thoughtlessly end the discount campaign all around as wasteful (Youngblade, 2003). 

Reporting 

Providing the right data at the right time to the managers for their decision-making is reporting. The reporting is the provision of correct information and just that information which they require for their choices when they need it, and in such a structure which helps to enhance their understanding and animates their activity. The reporting is always done to the management, which is called internal or management reporting (Stobart, 2008).

In organizations, the business owners, managers, the companies need correct information to make decisions for the day-to-day business planning. This information is being provided to them by reporting. Reporting is a means of communication within the organization. To expound on existing issues that impact undertakings of the business, to offer information to accomplice about the step-by-step running of the business. It is in like manner away to work out modalities of dealing with current issue that faces the business, for example, pictures issues. The report gives assistance in invigorating the information about progressions, and attainable plans, and status (Prince,

2004).

Budgeting 

Budgeting is the spending plan of your financial resources. The budget is the plan of how the financial resources will be used. This plan enables the management, whether they are really in a position to take the initiative before really starting working on it. They are in a position to decide whether they can achieve the goals under their financial limitations or not. It is basically offsetting your expenditures and income. And seeing this, they can adjust their plan accordingly. The organizations don't understand that they are spending more than they are acquiring; they gradually sink into obligation consistently. Right, when you make your first spending course of action, start to utilize it, and get a decent vibe for how it can keep your records on the track, you may need to graph your spending plan or spending plan for a half year to a year not far-evacuated. By doing this, you can, without a great deal of doing you can without a doubt understand the future conditions of employment and pay. You would then have the option to scan for ways to deal with an attempt to oust the highs and lows in your assets so things can be dynamically sensible and awesome (Fautch, 2015).

Research Methodology

This study was descriptive in nature, and a cross-sectional survey method was used to collect the data from the respondents. The data was collected only for one time within a specific period of time, and the same questionnaire was distributed to all the individuals. The present study was about the management practices and their impact on student achievement in AJ&K. 70 principals and 140 coordinators of the government colleges of Mirpur Division were the population of this study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample. Fifty principals (23 male and 27 female) and 100 coordinators (46 male and 54 female) were selected randomly as a sample. A self-developed questionnaire based on five-point Likert scale was used to collect the data. It was constructed in accordance with the POSDCORB model formulated by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick in their 1937 paper on administrative management theory. There were seven management practices, and five statements were made for each practice; hence there were 35 statements in total. The instrument was validated by three experts in the field of education and one expert from Management Sciences. For the purpose of pilot testing, data were collected from 10 Principals and 20 coordinators who were not part of the sample. On the basis of the results of pilot testing, the reliability of the instrument was checked by using Cranach's Alpha statistical technique. The coefficient of reliability for POSDCORB was 0.84 and for academic achievement was 0.79. For data collection purposes, the research made the Google form and then distributed/shared the link to respondents. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate Mean and Standard deviation, and an independent sample t-test was used to compare the management practices of male and female principals and coordinators. 

Results Table 1. Comparison of Planning between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

College	N	Mean	SD	Df	T	P
Boys	23	21.26	3.471	68	50.879	.000
Girls	27	21.17	3.559

N=50

 




With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the planning of boys' and girls' colleges was found. Table 1 describes that there was a significant difference between the planning of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 21.26, SD=3.471 scores of girls N=27, M= 21.17, SD= 3.559. t= (68) 50.879 and p=.000 < 0.05

Table 2. Comparison of Organizing between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

College	N	Mean	SD	Df	T	P
Boys	23	20.58	3.127	68	54.673	.012
Girls	27	20.46	3.009

N=50

 




With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the Organizing of boys' and girls' colleges was found. Table 2 describes that there was a significant difference between the organizing of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 20.58, SD=, 3.127 scores girls N=27, M= 20.46, SD= 3.009. t= (68) 54.673 and p=.012< 0.05.

Table 3. Comparison of Staffing between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

Boys	23	19.43	3.406	68	47.395	.000
Girls	27	21.16	3.530

N=50

 




With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the staffing of boys' and girls colleges was found. Table 3 describes that there was no significant difference between the staffing of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 19.43, SD=, 3.406 scores of girls N=27, M= 21.16, SD= 3.230. t= (68) 47.395 and p=.000< 0.05

Table 4. Comparison of Directing between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

Boys	23	19.28	3.289	68	48.676	.012
Girls	27	21.22	3.486

N=50

 




With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the directing of boys and girls colleges was found. Table 4 describes that there was a significant difference between the directing of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 19.258, SD=, 3.289 scores of girls N=27, M= 21.22, SD= 3.486. t= (68) 48.676 and p=.012> 0.05.

Table 5. Comparison of Coordinating between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

College	N	Mean	SD	Df	T	p
Boys	23	20.39	3.112	68	54.434	.000
Girls	27	21.00	3.373

N=50

 


With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the directing of boys and girls colleges was found. Table 5 describes that there was a significant difference between the coordinating of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 20.39, SD=, 3.112 scores of girls N=27, M= 21.00, SD= 3373. t= (68) 54.434 and p=.000 < 0.05

Table 6. Comparison of Reporting between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

College	N	Mean	SD	Df	T	p
Boys	23	17.20	3.222	68	49.218	.014
Girls	27	18.21	3.748

N=50

 




With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the directing of boys and girls colleges was found. Table 6 describes that there was no significant difference between the reporting of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 17.20, SD=, 3.222 scores of girls N=27, M= 18.21, SD= 3.748. t= (68) 49.218 and p=.014> 0.05.

Table 7. Comparison of Budgeting between Boys Colleges and Girls Colleges

College	N	Mean	SD	Df	T	P
Boys	23	21.19	3.405	68	47.281	.031
Girls	27	20.04	3.054

N=50

 


With the help of an independent sample t-test, the difference between the directing of boys and girls colleges was found. Table 7 describes that there was a significance difference between the budgeting of boys and girls colleges the scores of boys; N= 23, M= 21.19, SD=, 3.405 scores of girls N=27, M= 20.04, SD= 3.054 t= (68) 47.281 and p=.031>0.05

Discussion

In Azad Kashmir, various models of educational management are in use. This study was conducted to compare the management practices of male and female principals. It was found that male principals and coordinators are better in the planning of different programs than female principals and coordinators. The conclusions of the current study is similar to the conclusions of the study  conducted by Johnson (2000). The result of their research study indicates that male principals were more effective in planning the things as compared to female principals, which is similar to the current study. It was also found in the current research that female principals and coordinators are performing better in directing the staff as compared to male principals and coordinators. The same results were found in the study conducted by Ericsson (2006) while researching at the post-secondary level in the USA. He found that female coordinators were better in giving the directions to the staff as compared to male coordinators. 

Conclusions

On the basis of findings following conclusions were drawn:

1. It is concluded that male principals and coordinators are better in the planning of different programs than female principals and coordinators. 

2. It is also concluded that  male  principals and coordinators are more effective in organizing the different programs as compare to female principals and coordinators  

3. It is concluded that female principals and coordinators are better in hiring the staff than male principals and coordinators 

4. It is concluded that female principals and coordinators are performing better in directing the staff as compare to male principals and coordinators  

5. It is concluded that female  principals and coordinators are more effective in coordinating the staff than female principals and coordinators 

6. It is further concluded that female principals and coordinators are performing well in reporting the staff than male principals and coordinators 

7. It is also concluded that  male  principals and coordinators are better in preparing the budget of the college as compare to female principals and coordinators 

Recommendations

On the basis of conclusions the following recommendations and policy were proposed:

1. It is recommended that male principals and coordinators may be trained regarding staffing, directing, coordinating and reporting

2. It is also recommended that female principals and coordinators  may be trained in terms of planning, organizing and budgeting

3. It is also recommended that the present study only examined the achievements of students. Therefore, further studies may be carried out to investigate the usefulness of management practices upon students and teachers behavior.

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