The study was conducted in a major United States city which was under a court order to desegregate its schools. The school district responded by establishing a series of magnet schools. This method was designed to bring whites voluntarily into movement for desegregation. Three middle schools were studied to assess the relationship between teachers and principals as the administrators worked to get teachers to follow school innovations. Ethnographic methods were shown to be important in examining aspects of this relationship. The studies indicated that a bureaucratic or rational model of organization has currency among organizational theorists as well as legislators, the public, and educational administrators. Subordinates responded to commands passed down the hierarchy of educational organizations with considerable independence when innovative programs were being implemented. The ways in which ethnographic studies have been important in showing the manner in which actual practice in organizations differs from the rational model are illustrated. (DWH)