This paper presents findings of a study that examined the efforts of one Dade County, Florida, high school to use site-based management/shared decision making (SBM/SDM) over a 7-year period. The study examined participants' beliefs about the distribution of authority, the nature of work, and conceptions of learning and compared those beliefs with the outcomes of the project. Data were collected through document analysis, observation, teacher surveys, and interviews with 38 individuals--council members, the principal and assistant principals, the guidance counselor, and district-level administrators. A conclusion is that restructuring requires a change in the organizational culture--a shift in the core beliefs and assumptions of an organization's members. Restructuring entails a shift to a flattened hierarchy, collaborative work patterns, and a view of learners as active constructors of knowledge. The high school's early successes and subsequent failures provide some lessons for districts and schools that plan to use SBM/SDM as a restructuring initiative: (1) clearly define new roles of participants at every level, including parents and students; (2) focus the principalship on the demonstration of facilitative leadership; (3) infuse the SBM philosophy throughout the district; (4) consider the process as a training ground for new facilitative leaders; (5) provide consistency over several years; (6) provide teachers with time and ongoing assistance; (7) build in a structural process for renewal; and (8) recognize the fine line between providing structure and encouraging participant ownership. Eight tables are included. The appendices contain survey results and figures of the restructuring model and organizational structure. (LMI)