Collegiality in the Organizational Work of Students and their Reflective Expressions of the School Values: An Ethnographic Study

Abstract

This study aims to describe collegiality in the organizational work of students and their expressions of the school's core values. Through a realist ethnographic approach to inquiry, It intends to generate a holistic portrait of that shared culture from the emic experiences of the eight (8) student leaders as participants of this study coming from a Marist School in the Philippines. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were utilized as data-gathering methods. Several themes emerged to characterize collegiality in the organization work of students: Establishing and Nurturing the ties; School Identity and Values Influencing their Relationship; Collegial-Interactions as Reflective of the School Values; and Instinctive Act of Sharing with the Work to Accomplish. The study provides a portrait of the student leaders of a Marist school on how they manifest collegial interaction in the organizational work and how school core values are expressed in their interactions. It is affirming that student leaders in this university manifest collegiality uniquely and positively by not only manifesting it on the work-level relationship but instead it develops into a more personalized level of relating and connecting with each other.