Authority-task problems are organizational problems created by inconsistencies between the task process system and both the authority system and the formal hierarchy of offices. A new theory is used to develop a model that predicts how an administrator responds to an authority-task problem. (Author/IRT)

Reports the relationship between the teachers' participation in organizational decision-making and the perceived influence attributed to their administrative superiors, the principal and the superintendent. (Author)

When one engages in organizational diagnosis, it has been suggested that greater understanding of the organization can come through: (1) an identification of all the channels conveying material and information, and (2) a description of the means by which this communication influences the behavior of the organization. A networks/system approach is…

The group that is properly set-up and operating can save hours of group time. Once the group members know and trust one another it is necessary to identify the specific group tasks that need to be accomplished and to establish ground rules such as kind of meeting, meeting arrangements, expectations of members, and requirements for membership in…

Multiunit school organization increases teacher participation in making decisions that directly affect them through decentralized decisionmaking -- a shift from individual to group decisions. A survey of teachers revealed that those in multiunit schools were more satisfied with their profession than were those in traditionally organized schools,…

This essay reviews major trends in methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of organizations since the mid-sixties and espouses the political analysis of organizations, a position representing a middle ground between comparative structuralism and the loosely coupled systems approach. This position emphasizes micropolitics as well as…