The School as a Social System

Educational Management & Leadership

What is an organizational theory? - A set of interrelated concepts, assumptions, and generalizations that systematically describes and explain regularities in behaviour in educational organizational. (Kerlinger, 1986). Generalizatio ns Concepts Assumptions

Elements of Theory

Guide research

Provide an explanation of how things generally work

Guide practice

Purpose of research

What is a hypothesis? - A conjectural statement that indicates a relationship between at least two concepts or variables.
Theory Concepts

Assumptions and Generalizations

Concepts

Variables

Hypotheses

Empirical testing

Principles FIGURE 1.1 THEORY-RESEARCH RELATION

A SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE
Early system analyses of the school viewed organizations as closed systems which means sealed off from the outside world. There are three competing systems perspective have emerged and continue, each with its share of advocates which are: Rational-systems Natural-systems Open-systems

Rational-Systems Models : Closed to Open -Views organizations as formal instruments designed to achieve specific organizational goals. -A set of actions is organized and implemented to achieve predetermined goals with maximum efficiency. -Rational systems were considered closed.

The Beginning A Rational & Closed Machine Model

Henri Foyal
Scienctific Management Time and motion studies
Functions of Administration Planning Organizing Commanding Coordinating Controlling Functions of Chief Executive Planning Organizing Staffing Directing Coordinating Reporting Budgeting

Federick Taylor

Luther Gulick

(A Contemporary View of Scientific Management)

Goals--Organizations exist to attain collective goals Division of Labor for efficiency Specialization for expertise Standardization for routine performance Formalization for uniformity and coordination Hierarchy for unity of command and coordination Span of Control for effective supervision Exception Principle to free superiors from routine Coordination for administrative effectiveness Formal Organization is the official blueprint of the structure that guarantees efficiency and effectiveness. The formal organization is the key to organizational effectiveness.

Natural-Systems Models : Closed to Open

Views organizations as more akin to organisms than machines. Its early roots in the human relations approach of the 1930s.

The Beginning A Natural & Closed Organic Model

Mary Parker Follett - Taylor antagonist - Human relation advocate Hawthorne studies - Illuminations studies -3 experiments - Elton & Fritz continued (1927-1932)

Informal organization -clique -norm -informal leaders

Contemporary Natural System (Human Resources View)

Survival--organizations are more than instruments for goal attainment; they are social groups that adapt and survive. Individuals are more important than the structure. Needs motivate performance more than role demands . Specialization can promote boredom and frustration. Formalization produces rigidity and rule fixation. Informal Norms not formal rules are critical to performance. Hierarchy is ineffective because it usually neglects talent. Span of Control is dysfunctional because it fosters close and authoritarian supervision. Informal Communication is more efficient and open than formal communication. Informal Organization--informal structures are more important than formal ones just as informal leaders are more influential than formal ones. The informal organization is the key to effectiveness.

OPEN SYSTEM: AN INTEGRATION

Open-systems model views organizations as not only influenced by environments but also dependent on them. At a general level, organizations are easily pictured as open systems.

Organizations take inputs from the environment, transform them, and produce outputs.

Social Science: Interdependence, Integration, and Contingencies

Max Weber Theory of Bureaucracy Chester Barnard Functions of the Executive Herbert Simon Administrative Behavior Talcott Parsons Social Systems Theory Interdependence is a fact of organizational life. All organizations are open systems whose parts interact and depend on each other and are dependent on their environments.

KEY PROPERTIES OF OPEN SYSTEMS

Inputs Transformation people, materials, and resources from the the process transforming inputs into something value by the system. Outputs Feedback the product of the transformation how the system communicates to its parts and environment Boudaries Environment Homeostatis Entropy systems are differentiated from their anything outside the system a steady state of equilibrium tendency for all systems for run down and die

Equifinality

same end can be achieved many ways

Environment

Inputs People Materials Finances

Transformation Process

Outputs Products Services

Feedback Open System with Feedback Loop

SOCIAL SYSTEMS MODEL: BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

Social systems are open systems. Social systems consists of interdependent parts, which interact

with each other and the environment.

Social systems are goal oriented. Social systems are peopled. Social systems have structure. Social systems are political. Social systems have cultures. Social systems have norms.

Social systems are conceptual and relative.

All formal organizations are social systems, but not all social systems are organizations.

KEY ELEMENTS OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

Structure: roles are expectations of positions that are arranged in hierarchy.

Individual: the individual is a key unit in any social system; regardless of position, people bring with them individual needs, beliefs, and a cognitive understandings of the job. Culture: represents the unwritten feeling part of the organizations: its shared values

Politics: informal power relations that develop spontaneously. Core: core of the teaching-learning process is the technical schools.

Environment: everything outside the organization; source of inputs. Outputs: students. Feedback: products of the organizations, e. g. educated

communication that monitors behavior.

Effectiveness: the congruence between expected and actual outcomes.

Environment

Transformation Process
Structural System (Bureaucratic Expectations)

Inputs

Cultural System (Shared Orientations)

Political System (Power Relations)

Outputs

Individual System (Cognition and Motivation)

Internal Elements of the System

W. K. Hoy 2003, 2008, 2011