Examines the relationship between management and leadership for school administrators in the United States and in Singapore. In both places, administrators were asked to write accounts of challenging leadership incidents. Analyses of cognitive patterns indicate that national boundaries make a difference, and the patterns for managerial and…

Linking activities between knowledge production and actual practices in schools need to be guided by understanding of how educational organizations work. Educational organizations evidence unique organizational patterns, including diffuse goals, weak connections between activities and outcomes, political vulnerability, and working conditions that…

Designed to explain how principals can shape school culture, this book first discusses current pressures for school reform and the different perspectives on school operations reflected in these reforms. Competing reform strategies are described, specifically, the human resources approach and the structural, political, free market, and school…

This paper, which is part of the work of the Stanford University Environment for Teaching Program, discusses problems that are repeatedly found in the literature on formative evaluation, with emphasis on the special difficulties of conducting formative evaluation in schools. It defines the requirements of effective formative evaluation as (1) a…

Using information gathered in 1973 and again in 1975, this study examined the relationship between instructional configurations, on the one hand, and organizational factors at three levels (district, school, and classroom), on the other hand. Data for the study were gathered from questionnaires and interviews with superintendents in 34 San…

This paper provides an analysis of alternative schools that may help understand their problems and kindle future interest, together with guidelines as to how these schools might be more effectively organized. Two case studies are provided to illustrate the importance of authority patterns in these schools. (AM)

This case study explores the use of survey feedback--an organizational development technique--in an educational field setting. A version of survey feedback was used with an alternative high school to assist the staff in defining problems and in developing and implementing change strategies. Based on a perspective that focuses attention on the…

A brief introduction to organizational theory and organizational development for educational administrators is provided in this document. The first section contrasts individualistic and organizational approaches to educational problems. It is intended to give administrators two distinct perspectives for viewing day-to-day events. The second…

This book shows how educators can become more versatile managers and more artistic leaders. In part 1, chapter 1 shows why reframing--the use of multiple lenses--is vital to effective leadership and management. It introduces the four basic lenses for organizational analysis--the structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frames--and show…

This report builds a case for survey feedback as a useful method of assisting schools to respond actively, rather than passively, to uncertainty and complexity in the school environment. The main argument is that passive responses, such as defensiveness and buffering, reduce educational effectiveness. Planning, an active response, creates…