Two general models for bringing about change--the structural model and the people model--are described. Team leadership and team building are seen as people-oriented approaches to change that also affect the structure of an organization. Both targets of change--people and structures--should be approached in tandem. (MLW)

Collaborators sparked by creative ideas and obsessed by a common task may not realize they're part of a "hot group"--a term coined by business professors Harold J. Leavitt and Jean Lipman-Blumen. Spawned by group decision making and employee empowerment, hot groups can flourish in education settings. They're typically small, short lived,…

Self-directed work teams need coaches, not managers. The process of turning middle managers into coaches involves sensitivity, negotiation, and training in adjusting to the new role. (SK)

Describes how an (industrial) organization's control system evolved in response to a managerial change from hierarchical, bureaucratic control to concertive control via self-management teams. The organization's members developed a system of value-based normative rules that controlled their actions more powerfully and completely than did the former…

Teachers at a central California high school operate the school according to a strict, progressive set of principles. The Anzar communication guidelines specify teachers' commitment to communicating well, collective ownership of problems and problem solving, tolerance of differing ideas, individual accountability, dedication to helping and…

Delegating decision making to those closest to implementation can result in better decisions, more support for improvement initiatives, and increased student performance. Shared decision making depends on capable school leadership, a professional community, instructional guidance mechanisms, knowledge and skills, information sharing, power, and…

In May 2004, a group of 25 teachers at Jenks High School in Oklahoma received an invitation to the Summer 2004 Advance. Although many organizations hold retreats for their employees, the administrators wanted to send a different message: we're not retreating; we're advancing! Like many states, Oklahoma suffered a school budget crisis during the…

This paper asserts that traditional leadership models are inappropriate for Catholic schools and offers a new paradigm based on transformational Christian leadership. Christian leadership is a function of the group that is not synonymous with position or authority. Everyone has the potential to be a leader. Such leadership is communal, generative…

In today's workplace, organizations are moving from top-down, hierarchical decision making to team decisions based on consensus. This guide offers advice on setting the stage for team consensus to grow and on establishing an environment that fosters consensus. Topics of the four sections, the components of full consensus, are: (1) "Purposeful…

This presentation introduces the methods of negotiation and mediation in transdisciplinary decision-making, and applies the methods specifically to the educational needs and placements of students with disabilities. Four stages of mediation are described: problem identification, generation of problem-solving options, evaluation of options, and…

This monograph discusses the characteristics, tasks, and benefits of interdisciplinary team organization in middle schools. Characteristics include teachers who share a common group of students, a common planning period, and adjacent classroom space. Team tasks are composed of scheduling, grouping students, identifying curriculum topics and…

One of the most visible and widespread of the current educational reforms is the attempt to decentralize authority to schools and to involve teachers and others in shared decision making. Often occurring together as site-based shared decision making (SBDM), this reform is turning out to be more difficult to implement than once thought. Few noted…

This practical guidebook is designed for managers and leaders who have responsibility for the creation and success of teams. First, a team is described as a workgroup whose members are dependent upon one another for the completion of a given task, and whose members possess different but complementary skill sets. A team manages its own work within…

This paper provides data from students in an educational administration class on use of teaming and collaboration to research educational problems. The instructor taught group dynamics and modeled the process of facilitating and developing collaboration in teams. Classes were offered in 3-1/2 hour sessions for 5 weeks. Various team-building…

Self-directed teams, in which the people who do the work are responsible for managing it, are changing the practices and structures of many organizations. Self-managing teams are based on trust and empowerment, on treating workers as responsible adults. (SK)