An evaluation of school administrators' and teachers' views on performance within the conceptual framework of De Gaulejac's "the malady of management"

De Gaulejac's concept of the "malady of management" argues that modern institutions have been reshaped by business-oriented principles of efficiency, competition, measurability, and results-orientation; thus, meaning in public spheres has narrowed to performance indicators. Under the influence of neoliberal policies and the new public management approach, a similar transformation is occurring in education, with the teaching profession increasingly defined through measurable outputs, standardized performance indicators, and visible activities. In this context, the research aims to evaluate school administrators' and teachers' views on performance within De Gaulejac's framework. A qualitative research design was adopted, and the study was conducted with 10 school administrators and 20 teachers working at preschool, elementary, middle, and high school levels in the central district of Kütahya. Data obtained from semi-structured interviews were analyzed using content analysis. The findings show that although participants associate performance with effort and development, professional competence in educational settings is increasingly tied to quantitative indicators and visible outcomes, obscuring pedagogical depth and leading to the disregard of educational labor and meaning. This trend aligns with De Gaulejac's critique of reducing performance to measurement, the pressure to appear successful, and superficiality. The results suggest that performance in education should be reconsidered holistically, prioritizing pedagogical depth, professional autonomy, and development.