AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

Organizational change for school development: a study of implementation of school-based decision-making groups

by Graham Brendon Dellar




Institution: Curtin University of Technology
Department: Education.
Year: 1990
Keywords: education, change theory, organisational theory, school policy.
Record ID: 1032002
Full text PDF: http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=15568&local_base=gen01-era02


Abstract

This study analyses, interprets and describes the dynamics of the change process occurring as members of three secondary school communities attempted to implement a Ministry of Education initiative involving the establishment of a school-based decision-making group.A review of literature on innovation and change, organization theory and school improvement is presented as a basis for the establishment of a conceptual framework for the study. Within this framework, implementation is viewed as the interaction of the innovation with the characteristics of each adopting school. These interactions are viewed as occurring within two change environments. The first, the general change environment, is shared by all schools under study. This environment reflects the broader economic, political and educational pressures prompting change. The second environment is specific to each school. It forms the immediate context within which the implementation process occurs. Before examining the specific nature of the implementation process within each school site, attention is given to the general change environment from which the innovation emerged. This is accompanied by an analysis of the evolutionary nature of the innovation itself as it underwent progressive clarification at Ministry of Education level.To assess the influence that specific environmental characteristics have on the implementation process, schools with markedly differing setting characteristics were selected for study. An instrument to assess school organizational climate was developed, (SOCQ) and then administered to twenty three secondary schools in the Perth metropolitan area. The resulting data were analysed and used to select three schools with distinctly different organizational climate characteristics for closer study of the implementation process.For each school, detailed portrayals of the implementation ++ events were distilled in order to capture the complexities of the change. Cross-case analysis of the casestudy data was then undertaken to draw out particular issues, events and interactions that appeared to be of importance in directing the implementation process within individual schools and across all three sites.The final chapter addresses the initial set of research questions and presents a series of findings and associated recommendations stemming from this study. Of the range of findings to emerge from the study three appear to be of critical importance for our understanding of the organizational change process. The first finding is that the implementation of a policy innovation is best viewed as a process of "interactive modification" That is, a process whereby the innovation prompts modifications to be made to the adopting system and where the adopting system prompts modifications to be made to the innovation in a complex and dynamic manner. This finding goes beyond the notion of of change as "adaptation" or "evolution" to suggest more dynamic and interrelated process of change occurring to both the innovation and the adopting system. The second…