The organizational-development approach argues that major educational innovations require changes in the culture of the school or college. This book demonstrates how strategies based on organizational development (OD) can bring about constructive organizational change in work settings. OD is based on the following assumptions: (1) Groups differ…

Most organizational development (OD) projects in schools are never reported in the literature. This paper discusses benefits, outcomes, and success factors disclosed by the first large-scale quantitative survey of OD in schoools conducted by Fullan, Miles, and Taylor in 1978. The paper also explores other relevant studies published through early…

The purpose of this study was to assess any changes in cognitions and attitudes in relation to Organizational Development (OD) goals and procedures that may have occurred among the 65 participants who attended an initial training event. The goals of this event were to establish widespread understanding and favorable attitudes about organization…

Consultation in organization development offers methods for encouraging staff members to collaborate humanistically in solving their own problems. (Author)

Among the primary social pressures on schools to change are the demands for individualization, relevance, accountability, educational technology, and humanizing relationships. These five pressures challenge the educational administrator and offer categories in which to plan professional development activities. The adaptive school is an avenue for…

In this publication, the authors suggest that the findings reported are sufficiently well supported by evidence to act as useful guides, even if tentatively. The central purpose of the program was to develop a theory and technology for structural and cultural change within the public schools. The program deliberately emphasized both formative and…

Organizational Development (OD) projects assist schools in clarifying communication, establishing clear goals, solving conflicts, improving meetings, and making decisions. (Author)

This paper proposes viewing students as full-fledged organizational members who participate in school planning, problem-solving, and decision-making about school curriculum, grading policies, teacher evaluation procedures, budget, and the like. Three tested strategies are described that help students increase their understanding of how the school…

School districts have attempted to integrate their efforts at school improvement with concepts and techniques of organization development. Some of them have approached the problem of continuous change with the help of an internal cadre of peers who offer organization development services to their school districts. The following school districts…

One of the original premises of the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA) was that the ideal school organization manifests self renewal and adaptability. This conception of organization has been sharpened through the years by the Oakland, California, branch of the DTA. In this paper, the aspects of self renewal and adaptability…

A meta-goal of organization development is that of helping participants establish appreciation for and skill in using objective data about themselves. The prominent method for soliciting and sharing such data has been survey feedback. An Organizational Development (OD) consultant should have at least three skills in order to use survey feedback…

When school psychologists adopt an organization development perspective they are acting on a cluster of related concepts: (1) that because schools are social organizations, school effectiveness depends on the school's organizational culture; (2) that attempts to institute educational reforms only work when the reforms and the school culture mesh;…

Although written primarily for organizational specialists in school districts, this book is also addressed to school administrators, departments of education, students of educational administration, teachers, and organizational researchers. It is intended to help establish the organizational climates that nurture personal fulfillment and to create…

This book describes two different strategies of organization development consultation and analyzes their application in six elementary schools that were attempting to adopt differentiated staffing and multiunit structure. In two schools, the entire staff received a week or organization development consultation before attempting any structural…

This text has been written primarily as a handbook for organizational specialists in school districts, for those learning to become organizational specialists, and for teachers of organizational specialists. For the most part, each chapter and each major section has been organized to be understood and used independently from the rest of the book.…