Multiunit school organization increases teacher participation in making decisions that directly affect them through decentralized decisionmaking -- a shift from individual to group decisions. A survey of teachers revealed that those in multiunit schools were more satisfied with their profession than were those in traditionally organized schools,…

This paper outlines a framework for analyzing existing quality initiatives and for planning and implementing new ones particularly designed for colleges in Great Britain in their new status as independent, incorporated entities. It is designed to assist colleges in managing quality and in using quality management as a means of institutional…

This essay reviews major trends in methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of organizations since the mid-sixties and espouses the political analysis of organizations, a position representing a middle ground between comparative structuralism and the loosely coupled systems approach. This position emphasizes micropolitics as well as…

The paper investigates the qualities which distinguish representative democracies from other forms of government, particularly direct democracies, dictatorships, and oligarchies. Representative democracy is based on the precept that political authority should be located in offices which are specified by a popularly ratified or accepted…

In contrast to a teacher-dominated literature classroom where authority rests with the one who has the power to grade, a classroom dedicated to cultivating the creative process breaks down the traditional hierarchies (such as theory and practice, text and reader, and organization and improvisation) and concentrates on the needs of the individual…

The Status Equalization Project had as one of its goals the elimination of systematic white dominance on intellectual tasks in desegregated classrooms. The field experiment described in this report was designed to test the effectiveness of the Multiple Abilities Curriculum and Expectation Training in equalizing race relationships in such settings.…

Four models are developed to provide a conceptual basis for a curvilinear relation between intelligence and an individual's influence over group members. The models deal with influence and percentile placement in intelligence, comprehension by potential followers, vulnerability to rival intellects, and correlation between mean group IQ and the…

Efforts to change the role of principals over the past 30 years typically reflect a leader-centrist perspective of schools illustrated by the metaphors of a marching band or the slightly less hierarchical classical orchestra. In these conceptual systems, policy (score) is generated (composed) by policymaking bodies (composers) with principals…

Eleven years after the end of the height of protest on college and university campuses, it is important to try to understand what the student protest movement was all about, how it came to be, how and why it ended, and what will happen next. Through intimate case studies of takeovers at various universities, the dynamics of that era are examined.…

A theoretical framework for mapping school political life is developed which distinguishes elite, bureaucratic, coalitional, and participant types of school political organizations. The framework provides tools for analyzing and comparing patterns of political behavior within and across school political behavior settings. Definitions and…

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATIONS MUST BE GOAL-ORIENTED. HIGH-LEVEL LEADERSHIP MUST DEFINE ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS AND CHANNEL ACTIVITIES TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS. STUDIES WERE MADE BY HUMRRO IN MILITARY LEADERSHIP AND SMALL GROUP EFFECTIVENESS. IT WAS FOUND THAT POTENTIAL SQUAD LEADERS, SELECTED FOR ABOVE-AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE AND…

The study presents the results of testing an original obersvation instrument designed to identify a power elite in multiple sessions of two eight-member adult discussion groups. Two questions guided the development of the study: (1) Can a power elite be identified in participation training groups? (2) Can an effective observation instrument with…

Data generated from three studies in twenty-two urban secondary schools indicate that the role of the secondary school administrator has been and is undergoing a steady attrition in terms of domain and scope of influence, sources of organizational power, and bases of authority to effectively lead a professionalized organization. One series of…

Educational attainments are seen as the link between the status attainments of one generation and those of the next. Most of the apparent opportunity inequalities are thought to reside in those processes leading to the social origins - educational attainment relationships -- that is, in families, in schools, or in both. The present investigation…

This personal report of classroom experiences at an urban commuter college relates the experiences of a teacher and a group of working-class students studying the book "Utopia," which is also the metaphor for the hoped-for learning experience. The book, illustrated by excerpts from student-submitted work, shows how pedagogical theory leads to…