Organizational and Educational Change
Lawrence Erlbaum | 2002-07-01 | ISBN: 0805834095 | 312 pages | PDF | 16,5 MB
Jean M. Bartunek, the 2001-2002 President of the Academy of Management, has written an excellent scholarly book on organizational and educational change. Using a joint insider/outsider approach, this book tells the story of a change agent group--a group of teachers--that was creating change in its organization setting, a Network of Independent Schools. The group's focus was on empowerment and professional development for teachers in the Network. The book describes virtually everything that happened in the group over its first seven years and summarizes what happened during its final two years. It explores the identity, work, and evolution of change agent groups in organizations, with particular emphasis on teachers and educational change. Through the book's extensive quotations and narrative account, the reader is enabled to enter into the world of the teacher group studied over the course of its nine-year history.
In addition, the book includes analysis of the underlying processes involved in the change, focusing on the change agent group's identity, its actions and relationships with stakeholders as they jointly evolved over time, and their impacts on the vitality of the change effort. It contributes a new understanding of fundamental processes involved in organizational change, especially when viewed from the perspective of change agents. In addition, the book provides practical implications for change agents, specifically change agents in schools. As such, this account will be useful for graduate students and researchers in organizational change, educational leadership, and professional development. It is a part of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates growing series in organization management.
Organizational change initiatives are frequently led by small groups of organization members. In Quality of Work Life and similar organizational involvement initiatives, for example, task forces composed of managers and hourly employees have typically led the change initiative (Moch &
Bartunek, 1990). In schools, small leadership teams help create professional communities and school improvement initiatives (Scribner, Cockrell, Cockrell, & Valentine, 1999). Organizational transformation efforts are typically led by groups of top managers (Nutt & Backoff, 1997). Organizational task forces play a leadership role in reengineering efforts (Hammer & Champy, 1994). In shared governance initiatives in hospitals, groups of nurses typically lead the change project (Rousseau & Tijoriwala, 1999). Small groups lead diversity initiatives in organizations (Alderfer, Tucker, Alderfer, & Tucker, 1988; Friedman, 1996).
Small pilot groups typically lead organizational learning initiatives (Roth & Kleiner, 2000; Senge et al., 1999). Small groups of organization members even lead large group interventions
(Bunker & Alban, 1996). Small groups that initiate and lead organizational change efforts are often in existence for several years, including rotation and replacement of their membership.
The experiences of groups of organizational members leading change efforts, especially groups that endure over several years, have received almost no scholarly attention. Rather, attention typically is paid primarily to the overall outcomes of change efforts, without specific attention to the change agents. This is problematic. Change agent groups' understandings of the
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