The general aim of this book is to provide a focussed discussion on decentralization and school-based management. In part 1, chapter 1, some problems, anticipations, and a recommendation concerning decentralization are presented. In part 2, chapters 2 through 6 review literature about the structural view of organizations, rationality and…

A policy system design that can benefit from the dynamics of small group behavior without suffering from the adverse effects associated with group thinking, in which the members of small groups acquire a concurrence seeking tendency, is comprised of three subsystem functions: (1) a sub-system normative function which requires that small groups be…

Highlights of a conference--"Designing Diversity '75," the Second National Conference on Open Learning and Nontraditional Study. Reviews the ideas, options, and trends that emerged, focusing on serving adult learners through technology-based learning systems. (Author/MLF)

Surveys developments in higher education in the United Kingdom since the publication of the government's 'White Paper' in December 1972. Considers: (1) reorganization of public higher education, (2) extent of student demand, (3) increase in enrollment of women, and (4) financial problems caused by inflation. (Editor/PG)

To determine the first things that a new principal does during the first few months on the job, an intensive case study was conducted of 12 first-time high school principals in Florida, Virginia, Missouri, and Colorado. Each beginning principal was assigned a research team member who conducted on-site visits, reviewed documentation regarding the…

Restructuring schools implies not only different organizational structures and different ways of operating, but different underlying assumptions. Restructuring schools would include changes in human relationships, changes in incentive structures, changes in how people work and relate to one another, and changes in some of the assumptions made…

On the approach of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the American Sociological Association (ASA), readily available, official records were utilized to write its history. The product does not detail a history of sociology in the United States; it deals with a history of an organization facing, over time, a series of problems. There is a…

This personal account of a central office administrator's involvement in the Riverside (California) Unified School District's decentralization effort discusses the problems facing the rapidly growing district in the early 1960's, kinds of interventions required to break out of old attitudes toward schooling and school administration, and some…

Companies should think about women because women represent half the human resources available to them. Actually, the most productive response companies can make to women's presence in the workplace is the full assimilation of women into all areas and at all levels of corporate operations. Achieving full assimilation will require time, however.…

The focus of this document is on innovation and change in university professional education. During a four-year period from 1981-1985, the professional education college of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, initiated and implemented a major change process which was based on organizational leadership theory. This project is used as a case study…

Rapid technological development, rising standards of living, and greater pressures of consumerism and consumer expectations have caused shorter product life cycles. Future organizational success will depend on organizations' abilities to respond to the changing opportunities and threats in the marketplace. As companies and products move through…

Describes results of turning to management consulting by Oakland Community College in Bloomfield Hills, Illinois. From an expensive, overstaffed custodial/maintenance department and inadequate work scheduling and supervision, Oakland went to a streamlined operation with procedures and manpower requirements optimized through use of a sophisticated…

The Los Alamitos School District, a poorer than average elementary district in southern California, has made a near complete transition from a traditional to a nongraded, team-teaching program with individualized instruction in reading and language arts. The results have been startlingly good. Describes how the district made the transition.…

The High School Self-Renewal Program is a multiphase program designed to facilitate individual school improvement. In this document the various stages of the Renewal process, as adopted by Bay Ridge High School, New York, are outlined. Both cabinet level and school level processes are described. The cabinet level entry stage was characterized by…