External Environments
Task Environmentgoal settinggoal achievementEffectivenessSurvival
Assumption: Organizations are productive systems; must exchange with environment for survival
External Environments
Institutional EnvironmentOriented toward legitimacy Institution is an agreed-upon set of rules
that carry meaning and determine action
Assumption: Schools have greater chance of survival when school structures mirror the norms, values, and ideologies institutionalized in society.
External Environments
Information Environment Information from external environment
impacts decision-makingSocial processes create similar perceptions
among groups of actors (hiring administrators with similar backgrounds, imitating programs from other schools, professional norms, governmental regulations, etc.)
Information Environment
Environmental uncertainty Inability to make accurate predictions
Preferred outcomesCourses of ActionStrategiesActual outcomes
Schools adapt by increasing environmental fit – new structures to deal with problem
Information Environment
Environmental uncertaintyDecentralizationFlattened-structureFlexibility in structural arrangements
Environmental Complexity
Information Decision Making
Information Environment
Innovation is positively related to environmental uncertainty
True for schools?
Differences for different types of school administrators?
Resource Environment
FiscalPersonnelInformation and knowledgeProducts and Services
Organizations both compete for and share environmental resources
Resource Environment
Competition – a zero-sum gameDependenceAs local sources of money are limited,
schools develop greater dependence on state monies. As result, state gains greater power over districts – e.g., curriculum standards and testing
Organizations lose autonomy when dependent on environment
Resource Environment
Cooperation In attempt to control resources, and avoid
being dependent, schools adjust (agency) or manage the environment.
Absorb uncertainty through interdependence (total or partial)
Schools form coalitions or use advisory groups
Resource Environment
The higher the interdependence, the less centralized the decision making processes and the more innovative the school
School
Joint Program
Decentralized Decision Making
InnovationComplexity
Information sharing
Resource Environment
Internal Coping StrategiesBufferingPlanning and ForecastingBoundary Spanning (detecting info and
representing organization to envir.)Adjusting internal operations (structural
contingency approach, Burns & Stalker)
Resource Environment
Interorganizational Coping StrategiesEstablish favorable linkages – coopt (bring
into decision making structure)Shaping environmental elements –
influence tactics, advocacy
School districts do not have to be passive
Institutional Environment
Rules and regulations (formal)Norms and values (informal)Shape or constrain behavior
Rather than being based on effectiveness, institutional perspective makes legitimacy pre-eminent
Institutional Environment
Organizations are rewarded for conforming to institutional rules, beliefs, and ideologies
Article by Rowan on external links
Institutional Environments
Rationalized mythsTrue because they are believedWidely held beliefs that cannot or typically
are not objectively tested.
Example – SAT or ACT tests tell us which students will be successful in college
Institutional Environments
From a task perspective, schools are particularly ineffective organizations.Uncertain technologies of instructionTend to be rewarded for conformity to
professional standards and legal requirements than for quality of outputs.
Institutional Environments
ConformityCoercive conformity (mandates) Imitative conformity (innovation)Normative conformity (socialization)
Institutional Environment
DiversityMany, diverse layers of institutional
environment in American schools
PrivateVocationalDay careAlternative
Institutional Environment
StabilityStandard operating proceduresStandard expectationsResource guaranteeBuffer from turbulenceSlow change
Consider this: Are market forces and systemic reform changing the institutional environment?
Institutional Environment
Downplays the role of agency
What do you think about the agency of schools or the individuals in them?
Institutional Environment
Strategies for dealing with Institutional EnvironmentsBuffering (Decoupling and Managing
Image)Boundary-Spanning (Conformity)Schools become more homogeneous and
gain legitimacy
Teacher’s Communities of Practice
Social relationships vs Institutional forces Independent variables
Communities of practice (learning and working with others)
Mathematics or science Experience
Dependent variables Competence (efficacy and responsibility to change
instruction, make more effective) Use of teaching practices aligned with
science/mathematics standards (NCTM, NCR)
Communities of Practice
Dependent variable: Competence
Mathematics:
Experience:
Communities of Practice:
The numbers are “effects.”
Communities of Practice
Dependent variable: Competence
Mathematics: -.11**
Experience: -.05**
Communities of Practice: .22***
The numbers are “effects.”