Leadership Academy 2003

Organizational AnalysisADMN 607

Dr. Sheila Tebbanotebbanos@schenectady.k12.ny.us

518-248-9915 (cell phone which works intermittently in the

Berkshires)Groups 5 and 6

Getting To Know YouGetting To Know YouThink about:

• Your best school experience•Your worst school experience

• Share your experiences in groups• Groups pick the best “best and worst”

to share with the whole class

Class Organization• Ground Rules• Breaks• Creature Comforts• Timeliness

You will be treated as practicing school administrators during your time in the Leadership Academy.

Vision, Leadership and Culture• Highland High School | 39055 25th St.

West | Palmdale | California | USA | 93551 • Structure• Data

• Vision/Mission• Leadership• Culture• http://www.highlandhs.org/wasc/hhs

-wasc0203-vision.htm

NYS Court Appeals decision on School Funding

• How does money influence the structure of an organization?

• Do we consider funding when we analyze effectiveness of an organization?

• http://www.newsday.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=ny-lifund0627&section=%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Flongisland

Organizational Culture: A Web Walk•http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~vsvede/culture.htm

Leading Change in Organizations The only

person who welcomes a change is a baby with a wet diaper. Unknown

School Culture Powerpoint

Based on the Work of Bolman and Deal

• www.bamaed.ua.edu/~pbauch/school~1.ppt

Institutional Readiness• Survey Activity

• How changeable is your school or organization?

Why use the tool? SWOT Analysis is a very

effective way of identifying your Strengths and

Weaknesses, and of examining the

Opportunities and Threats you face. Carrying out an

analysis using the SWOT framework helps

you to focus your activities into areas

where you are strong and where the greatest

opportunities lie.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

Threats Opportunities

Reframing OrganizationsReframing Organizationsby Lee Bolman and Terry by Lee Bolman and Terry

DealDealFour Frames

•Structural•Human Resource •Political •Symbolic

The Structuralists

• Goal primacy• Rational• Best Fit concept• Specialization

and division of labor

• Coordination and control

• Restructuring

Human Relations - assumptionsOrganizations exist

to serve peoplePeople and

organizations need each other

Poor fit between organization and people = one suffers

Good fit= both benefit

The Political Frame - assumptions

Organizations are coalitions

Enduring differences prevail

Who gets whatPower is the most

important resourceGoals emerge from

bargaining, negotiation and jockeying – not from strategic planning

Symbolic Frame - assumptionsMeaning

Activity and meaning are loosely coupled

Life is ambiguous and uncertain

Rationality is compromisedSymbols help avoid confusionEvents and processes are as

important for what they express as what they produce

Elements of the Symbolic Frame•Myth

•Metaphor•Ritual•Humor•Ceremony•Play

The chapter on motivating staff includes five R’s: recognition, relationships, resources, rewards, and rituals. Schmidt suggests using a staff roster to keep track of your recognitions in order to make sure no one is neglected. Recognition ideas include a “Many Thanks” form made available to parents for them to send to teachers.

Examining the FramesThese frames color how we look at organizationsin terms of planning, implementation, and evaluation a. structural frame - examine structural relationship

of formal roles within organizationb. b. human resource frame - tailors organization to

needs of employeesc. c. political frame - emphasizes fight over scarce

resources; conflict is to be expected and has to be managed

d. d. symbolic frame - argues that organizations are not rational; held together by rituals, ceremonies, and heroes

SWOT Analysis: LessonSWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues.

Once key issues have been identified, they feed into marketing objectives. It can be used in conjunction with other tools for audit and analysis, such as PEST analysis and Porter's Five-Forces analysis. It is a very popular tool with marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn. During the SWOT exercise, list factors in the relevant boxes. It's that simple.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors.

SWOT Analysis.doc

Strategic Planning Example - SWOT• http://www.mindtools

.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

• http://www.win.org/library/library_office/reports/stratplan/community-swot.html - From St. Charles County, Missouri

SWOT ANALYSIS: A MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR INITIATING NEW PROGRAMS IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS

• http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVTE/v12n1/Balamuralikrishna.html - handout

Organizational IncompetenceWhy do smart people do stupid

things?Organizations like to blame

individuals.If it is not individual stupidity,

is the answer organizational incompetence?

What is the definition of organizational incompetence?

In some schools, teachers hold low expectations and classroom routines bore children to death. School staff may complain bitterly and work to undermine eacher other. Parents may be overwhelmed by issues of economic and personal survival, and students may be more focused on drugs and life on the street than on books and classrooms.

People can become as attached to mediocrity, negative symbols, and harmful rituals as they can to positive heroes, symbols of achievement, or celebratory rituals. For some, negative meaning is better than no meaning at all. Deal and Peterson, Principal’s Role in Shaping School Culture, Wash., U.S. Ed. Dept., 1991.)

What do you do when the horse you are riding dies?

Defining Organizational Culture• Definitions range from simple to complex

• Commonly used to describe an organization’s traditional practices and modes of operating or its climate and general ambience.

• “I didn’t fit their culture. My style is assertive and theirs is laissez-faire.”

• “The culture of the school is terrible. They don’t get along and only look out for themselves.”

• Although this definition is not inappropriate, it isn’t totally correct.

Edgar ScheinThe deeper level of basic assumptions and

beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously, and that define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization’s view of itself and its environment. As these assumptions and beliefs permeate and entire organization, they become invisible; they become so accepted, so automatic and ingrained in the organization’s routine practices that they are automatically taught to its new members, by both precept and example, as the “correct way” to perceive, think and feel about problems. (Schein, 1992, p.12)

Lee Bolman Video

•http://classes.kumc.edu/son/nrsg748/BolmanVideo.htm

• http://www.ncrel.org/cscd/proflead.htm

North Central Regional Education Laboratory

Go to this site and complete the checklist. At the end, it will graph your responses. Base your responses on your current educational organization.

Happy Monday

Next Monday will be your

last day!

Writing Assignment• In your opinion, what was

principal Rodriguez’s biggest error in judgment?

• Briefly describe an experience you or a colleague had with a problem that fits in the structural or human resource frame

• One page

School Improvement Cycle• The school improvement cycle involves a team effort. Representatives from the

local communities and local schools, including individual administrators and teachers, engage in continuous cycles of improvement. It is a self-regulating cycle - the team decides for itself what its schools should be, how they should operate, and in what ways they should change and improve their approaches to teaching and learning. We envision the school improvement cycle working in the following way:

Reference: National Laboratory Network System. (1994). A Draft Design of a National Laboratory Network System. Port Ludlow, WA

A Framework for Continuous

Improvement• http://

www.ael.org/rel/quest/framewk.htm

Decision Making in a Learning Organization

Source: http://netsquirrel.com/pepperdine/edc634/km/school_as_lo.html

Change Resources Change Resources for Administratorsfor Administrators

http://www.twblearn. com/Resources/ catalog.htm

Symbol

Levels of Organizational Culture

1.Artifacts and creations• Physical space, myths and

stories, customs, rituals, ceremonies– How is the building decorated?– How are classrooms arranged?– How do people acknowledge one

another in the hall?– How are meetings run?

Values– More complex– “the way we do it”– Beliefs and mission– Written vs. practices

• Every child can learn• Respect for individual

differences

Basic Assumptions•Deepest level of culture are an

organizations assumptions.•Fundamental, underlying shared convictions that guide behavior and shape the way group members perceive, think and feel.

•Invisible and nearly invincible

The Culture of The Culture of ResistanceResistance• Like almost all other

complex traditional social organizations, the schools will accommodate in ways

that require little or no

change…The strength of the status quo – its underlying axioms, its pattern of power relationships, its sense of tradition and therefore what seems right, natural, and proper – almost automatically rules out options for change. Seymour Sarason (1990, p. 35)

Recognizing the face of resistance

Some common types of resistance encountered by staff developers:

Aggressive resistance. This is the easiest type to identify, because it's overt and no effort is made to disguise the refusal to change. For example, a colleague confronts a lead teacher with: "Under no circumstances will I participate in another cirriculum committee. Let someone else do the work."

Passive-aggressive resistance. In these cases, staff members appear willing to change, but change never materializes. It's common to hear people say, "I'll be glad to lend a hand as soon as I finish this paper work," or "I'll try to clear my schedule so I can attend the conference.“ Unfortunately, the paper work never ends, the calendar is never cleared, and "try" never becomes "will." Meanwhile, support for an initiative slowly erodes. Phantom obstacles are also common: For example, teachers may express interest in working with a university professor to explore new math teaching strategies, but then back away from change by claiming that "parents don't like us experimenting with the way we teach."

Passive resistance. This looks like wholehearted acceptance until action fails to take place. Staff members willingly discuss change, and may in fact seem enthusiastic, but never follow through. This is the most difficult form of resistance to detect because it's subtle and sounds supportive. All too often, staff developers hear exclamations of "sounds great," "count me in," "let's do it" in meetings, only to discover weeks later that action failed to materialize. -Monica Janas

•http://www.enc.org/professional/learn/change/resources/readings/document.shtm?input=ACQ-137031-7031

A Model of Change in Math and Science

Education•http://www.ncrel.org/mands/docs/5-10.htm

• Methodology, Tools, Consulting• http://www.buildingblocks

.org/research/

• Curriculum and Culture• http://www.buildingblocks.org/cfm

_User/pg_BuildingBlockHome.cfm?BuildingBlockID=1

Peter Senge – Learning Organizations

• Today and in the future, the organizations that will truly excel will be the ones that discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization. Learning organizations are fundamentally different from traditional authoritarian "controlling organizations.“ Senge, The Fifth Discipline

Components of a Learning Organization

1. Systems thinking--Senge attests that we must look at the patterns that connect the larger system. Systems thinkers cure headaches by removing the cause, rather than simply ingesting aspirin. They pay careful attention to how different tasks and functions interact. Systems thinkers believe that by examining these patterns of interplay, we can better pinpoint the important issues.

Personal mastery --Senge stresses the significance of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, focusing our energies, developing patience, and seeing reality objectively.

Shared vision--Senge defines this discipline as the "picture of the future." A shared vision is intuitive and instinctive; it's not something that's learned by rote. A shared vision is also a collective experience--it's the cumulative total of each participant's personal vision.

Team learning -- Senge's fourth discipline states that any group's collective IQ will always be much higher than an individual's IQ. The only way to begin building group IQ is to open the channels of communication within the group and start talking to one another.

Mental models -- Senge defines mental models as the deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, and even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world. Since how we act is based on our impressions of our surrounding environment, it's imperative that we recognize and re-evaluate our mental models and preconceived assumptions.

• Senge's five components of a learning organization are all interrelated. Personal mastery, shared vision, team learning, and mental models make up the foundation of the organization. And systems thinking is the cement that holds it all together. In order for the learning organization to work, each of the five disciplines must be developed simultaneously and integrated with one another.

Peter Senge 11 Laws of the Fifth Discipline

1. Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions.

2. The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back.

3. Behavior grows better before it grows worse.

4. The easy way out usually leads back in.

5. The cure can be worse than the disease.

6. Faster is slower.

7. Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space.

8. Small changes can produce big results--but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious.

9. You can have your cake and eat it too--but not all at once.

10. Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants.

11. There is no blame.

Parable of the Boiled Frog• How does the parable

relate to your school organization? Has our ability to survive been compromised by gradual change? How do schools compare to the auto industry in the 80’s and 90’s? Does education have the strength to pull itself out of the hot water?

Why do we want a learning community?

•A LC gives organizations the possibilities to discover who they are, where they want to go, and define the quality of life they wish to pursue.

http://www.naesp.org/llc.pdf

Leading Learning Communities

NAESP Standards for What Principals Should Know and Be Able to

Do

102 pages

School Learning Organization Examples

• http://www.byramhills.org/• http://lvillage.wdm.k12.ia.us/lt/lrc/

hp.nsf/HomePages/omotanil#s2• http://www.themanager.org/

Knowledgebase/Management/Learning.htm

• http://schools.shorelineschools.org/shorecrest/counseling/self_study/default.html

Learning Organization Information

Excellent Website from Petterdine Univ.

•Research Implementation•Resources Schools as LC’s•Online Book Theory

http://netsquirrel.com/pepperdine/edc634/km/index.html

• http://www.css.edu/users/dswenson/web/SYSTEM.HTM

This page contains links and articles on systems theory, solution-focused problem solving, self-organizing processes, dissipative structures, knowledge construction, chaos theory, paradigm shift, and related change concepts and practices. Grab on to your mind set...this is gonna stretch it!

•http://www.css.edu/users/dswenson/web/GROUP.HTM

Organizational Theory• http://www.funderstanding.com/

org_theory.cfm

School ChangeSchool Change•Institutional Readiness

–The capacity to adopt and implement an innovation is crucial to its success in innovating. Evans (1996)

Do conditions exist in the school setting to permit it to tackle its problems?

Key Factors that shape the organizational setting of a

school• Organizational Framework – – Teachers social status, nature of the work, structure of the

profession

• Politics– Trust, consensus, autonomy

• History– School’s previous experience with inovation

• Stress– Level of demand on the school in comparison to its strengths;

isolation

• Finances– School’s ability to underwrite the feform

• Culture– Supportiveness of the school’s underlying ethos and shared

assumptions

Challenge to Challenge to InnovationInnovation Turnover and

reassignment of personnel are among the greatest hazards to innovation.

•What do you think?

http://www.nsdc.org/educatorindex.htm

What is Your

Professional

Development IQ

An on-line survey

New Teacher Diary – Middle Web

•http://www.middleweb.com/mw/msdiaries/01-02wklydiaries/MR01.html

In the movie Strange Fruit, you experienced the powerful message that can be shared with a song. What song exemplifies you at this leadership academy? Why?

Teacher Led Schools•http://comnet.org/cpsr/readings/readindex.htm

Could be a final project group.