We were talking, in one of my classes, about the upcoming dissolution of LinguaForum and absorption into LBridge. One of my students said she didn't like LBridge, so I asked her why. She mumbled something about "people say things," and so I interpreted, "rumors?" She and another student nodded.
"What rumors?" I asked. She sat up a little bit, and looked me in the eyes. Then she ticked off on her fingers, while speaking with a clearly enunciated English: "bad students, bad curriculum, bad teachers…" One. Two. Three strikes. You're out.
Wow. I was surprised. Both at the content of what she said, but also with the sudden confidence and classical rhetorical flair with which she spoke. This was serious. Nevertheless, I started laughing – I think it was because of the irony of the situation, which was impossible to communicate to my students. That fact is, after never getting much in the way of clarity from my colleagues, nor especially from the incoming new bosses, I was getting a remarkably straightforward declaration from such an unexpected source.
Is it wrong of me to want to give more credence to my students and their "rumors" than to my colleagues or bosses? Is it wrong for me to feel that this whole merger has been handled with a rather cavalier disregard for the staff and students here at LinguaForum? And is it wrong for me to feel that this cavalier attitude is, ultimately, a poor reflection on the character of my new bosses?
This in-class discussion happened Monday night. Then, yesterday, the main boss from ElBeuRitJi came by and said to me something to the effect that we needed to discuss paperwork for my new contract. As if my decision to stay were a done deal. This caused me some stirrings of annoyance and resentment, and I repeatedly parsed the very short exchange we had had, wondering if I had misunderstood. And it's possible I did misunderstand – no one's English here is flawless – but I don't think so.
Further, I still have been unable to shake the impression I got from the principal of the Hugok campus (which is where I will be working and therefore the person to whom I will be directly reporting) that I really wasn't wanted there – that I was being forced on him by his boss, and by the circumstances of the merger, against his own wishes. Nobody wants to work for a boss that doesn't want him around, right?
Really, am I being culturally naive? I have almost no doubt that I am! Yet that doesn't in any way change my gut feelings.
So, after having made the decision on Monday to postpone my decision on renewal for another month and take a "wait and see" attitude, I'm suddenly leaning very much away from the idea of renewing. I sent an email to the new boss last night, to try to make very clear that I hadn't yet consented to a renewal. And to that email, there has been no response… silence. Which has been par for the course with these new ElBeuRitJi people – they are remarkably bad at communicating.
If there is anything I learned during my years working in the corporate world, it's that new and incoming bosses who fail to communicate well are going to piss off both customers and staff. Transitions of this sort need to be handled with a great deal of sensitivity and a whole lot of clear communication, especially where there are to be notable changes in organization and strategy, which this merger situation clearly holds in spades.
It can be very easy for staff (teachers, in this case) and customers (students and parents, in this case) to be left feeling alienated and ignored, if communication isn't managed well. And I think that is exactly what's happening. Parents and students are fleeing, or else shrugging their shoulders resignedly and saying "I don't know." The teachers and staff here are all grumbling and acting pissed off, regardless of what decision they're taking. The mood in the hagwon has shifted from gray to black, and more than one person has been quietly muttering the word "arrogant" as a description of the new management, which is an indicator that I'm not completely off base in my feelings.
I'm thinking… maybe best for me to move on. So much for postponing my decision – I think I've made it.