Clarifies the meaning of organizational decline by delimiting it from related constructs (turbulence, stagnation, and environmental decline). Investigates certain organizational attributes associated with turbulence and decline in 334 higher education institutions over a six-year period. Results suggest that organizational attributes associated…

Discusses the background and salient characteristics of Japan's educational reform movement. Until recently, Japan's formal education system was uniform, centrally controlled, and geared to developing character and cultural sensitivity. To counter uniformity, inflexibility, and an overly competitive examination system, schools are moving toward…

Using surveys of the professional staffs of 41 secondary schools, this study examines the relationship between two aspects of bureaucratic structure (centralization and formalization) and two sorts of alienation (from work and expressive relations). It then compares the results with similar studies of social studies of social welfare agencies. (JW)

The finding reported previously in this journal (EJ 265 763), that elementary schools conform more to the image of the rational bureaucracy while secondary schools fit that of the anarchy or loosely coupled system, is reinforced and extended using a large sample, more reliable measures, and more elaborate techniques. (Author)

Investigates how administrative complexity (in funding and personnel) of American public school districts varies, depending on the importance of local, state, and federal funding environments. Dependence on federal funding generates the most administrative intensity, while state funding generates the least administrative intensity. High local…

To examine the relationships between the external environment in which a high school exists and the internal structure of the school, a study compared selected resource variables in Connecticut communities and the internal organizational characteristics of the 25 high schools in those communities. The literature suggests external environmental…

In an application of contingency theory, data from 45 Arizona schools were analyzed to determine the relationships between three sets of independent variables (organizational structure, leadership style, and environmental characteristics) and the dependent variable (organizational effectiveness as perceived by principals and teachers). Contingency…

A conceptual framework is offered for understanding the role of program review in college, particularly a community college. Such a framework should account for the following institutional factors: purpose of the review, stakeholder involvement, leadership support for review, organizational communication, degree of organizational centralization,…

The centralized secondary center pattern of inter-school district cooperation is examined in this third of four case studies addressing access of rural students to vocational education. The report identifies essential features of this form of cooperation, details factors facilitating/impeding the operation/maintenance of the cooperative…