Reflects on being selected as the first female head of the English department. Discusses the selection process (done at a poker game), women's academic advancement, power, and job related responsibilities. (EL)

Argues against the notion that teachers lack vision, asserting instead that the educational power structure and the realities of teaching every day prevent teachers from being heard or from realizing their visions. Suggests that those urging more outspoken involvement in educational improvement from teachers are overly optimistic. (PGD)

Higher education is preoccupied with the business world--its notions of reality, accountability, and style. A look at what the business world is really like and what lessons it has for the success of educational practice are presented. (MLW)

Staff nurses' perceptions of the formation of hospital policy and their role in policy formation are examined, with the assumption that knowledge about and involvement in the policy-making process are indicative of staff nurse authority and influence. (Author/MLW)

Presents an impasse resolution model for resolving teacher union negotiation impasses. It motivates citizens to participate in the bargaining process and provides an incentive to unions and administrators that makes the risks of failing to reach an agreement too substantial to disregard. (MD)

Italy's approach to political decision making, increasingly a process of trying to reach collective agreement without changing anything, has paralyzed higher education and is moving it out of the mainstream of European higher education. (MSE)

The implications of the recently authorized regionalization of university administration in Spain, with the possibility of autonomous communities taking on wide responsibility for higher education and scientific and technical research, are explored. Concern is expressed for potential loss of efficiency and effectiveness. (MSE)

Two crucial factors in collegiate athletics are identified: revenues and the innate human compulsion to compete. All of the problems of college sports are seen as being related to financial pressures, with an inequity existing between revenue-generating and rule-setting institutions. (MLW)

Describes four major dimensions that distinguish ways that different state education agencies (SEAs) relate to school districts and offers a typology of SEAs based on these dimensions. Argues that only a few SEAs are capable of fostering substantial and widespread improvements. (CMG)

The political processes involved in an academic program evaluation are discussed. Data gathered from a program evaluation conducted at a small, public, liberal arts university in the Southeast were used in examining the explanatory power of the various theories and models. (Author/MLW)

Contemporary theories of organizations are assessed to determine whether their propositions and empirical findings can be directly applied to understand and explain voluntary associations. The inquiry is arranged under five types of characteristics: incentive systems and participant commitment, formal structures, leadership and authority,…

Examined similarity in the behavior tendencies of subordinates and their supervisors. Respondents were 66 department heads and branch managers in an Israeli banking organization. The overall pattern of results largely supported the applicability of Social Learning Theory to organizational modeling. (JAC)

Discusses the school social worker's conscious use of self in the daily political processes of the school system. The effective worker must identify influential people within and outside the school system and plan strategic interactions and responses to help students gain maximum benefit from their education. (JAC)

The limitations of the particular communicative situation in the foreign language classroom, in which students spend much of their time silent while the teacher speaks, need to be recognized before applying new teaching techniques. The profession must find new ways to promote the need, the desire, and the pleasure of communicating. (MSE)

The interplay of power, political behavior, and ethics has been the subject of many books and articles about business organizations, but little has been published about using power and political skills in ethical ways to lead whole-system change in school districts. This book does. Readers will learn about the context for change in school…