The conventional wisdom of numerous practitioners and researchers suggests that on issues of structure and control the school can best be described and analyzed in the bureaucratic framework. However, the bureaucratic model fails to recognize the intervening character that the presence of professionalism has on the process of school governance.…

The author develops the notion of the modern educational bureaucracy, suggesting that the decisionmaking process of the school is controlled by two authority structures -- the administrators and the subordinates. The intent of this paper is to explore the interaction of these two sources of authority and to analyze the implications for the process…

This research is an effort to analyze the process of organizational change as it takes place within one segment of the public administration mechanism in Venezuela--The Ministry of Education. (Editor/RK)

This study was an attempt to document and analyze the national effort of Columbia, South America to resolve its educational problems by the process of organizational and administrative reform. (Author/RK)

This paper argues that there are at least two decision-making systems in the school: (1) the first reflects mainly school-wide affairs and lends itself to rational, centrally controlled procedures that restrict behaviors to conform with well-programmed events; and (2) the second reflects mainly classroom affairs and requires flexibility and…

The impingement of the colliding trends toward accountability and collective bargaining on formal administrative authority and informal teacher control within schools will result in a dual authority structure Argues this proposition through an analysis of existing control patterns and speculates on ramifications of the emerging structure. (Related…

This paper presents the findings of a field study designed to examine the management information system (MIS) of an urban school district to determine the role it plays in bringing about educational change in the classroom. The MIS as a type of "guidance system" for change is made up of three specific information loops and a control mechanism…

As Latin American nations marshall their rapidly growing human and material resources, they frequently encounter organizational infrastructures which are incapable of supporting the rapid process of modernization. Yet, these inadequate infrastructures persist over time, leaving behind unrecoverable losses. Attempts to understand the problems of…

This paper examines (1) attempts at educational reform in Venezuela and Colombia by means of decentralization, and (2) the impact of decentralization on two contrasting educational systems. In Venezuela, the national school system was highly centralized with even routine decisions being made in Caracas, which resulted in a rigid, unresponsive…

The educational development programs of Latin American nations have frequently floundered because of an inability to plan, organize, and execute decisions effectively and to deliver resources with precision and dispatch. This study documents and analyzes Colombia's effort to resolve this problem in its educational institution through the process…

This study examines the relationship between organizational structure and elements of three social system processes: (1) input and output boundary exchanges, (2) system production, and (3) use of facilities. The specific system processes are enrollment planning and student placement, curriculum continuity, and use of physical and social…

This paper represents the findings of a field study designed to examine the management information system of an urban school district to determine the role it plays in (1) bringing about educational change in the classroom, and (2) drawing the district into a closer balance of systems bond with those organizations that receive and depend on the…