Chapter 1

The School as a
Social System

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

Chapter 1: The School as a Social System
What is Organizational Theory?
A set of interrelated concepts, assumptions, and generalizations that describes and explains patterns
of behavior in organizations.

Elements of Theory:
Concepts
Generalizations
Assumptions

Purposes of Theory:
Provide an explanation of how things generally work.
Guide research
Guide practice
Hypotheses:
Conjectural statements that explain relationships.
Use to test theories.
Guide research

Scientific Knowledge:
Propositions supported by systematic research.

Purpose of Science: To test theory and to provide reliable explanation.

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011
 Theory

Assumptions
Concepts And Concepts
Generalizations

Variables Hypotheses Empirical

Testing

Principles

Figure 1.1: Theory-Research Relation (ãHoy 2007)

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

 Historical Development of
Theory and Thought in Administration
I. Rational-Systems Perspective: A Machine Model
Scientific Management (The Beginning) Rational-Systems Perspective
(A Contemporary View of Scientific Management)
Frederick Taylor-Scientific Management
•Time and Motion Studies •Goals--Organizations exist to attain collective goals
•Standardization •Division of Labor for efficiency
•Exception Principle •Specialization for expertise
•Division of Labor •Standardization for routine performance
•Span of Control •Formalization for uniformity and coordination
•Hierarchy for unity of command and coordination
•Span of Control for effective supervision
Henri Fayol-Functions of Administration •Exception Principle to free superiors from routine
•Planning •Coordination for administrative effectiveness
•Organizing •Formal Organization is the official blueprint of the
•Commanding structure that guarantees efficiency and
•Coordinating effectiveness. The formal organization is the
•Controlling key to organizational effectiveness.

Luther Gulick--Functions of the Executive

•POSDCoRB

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

II. Natural-Systems Perspective: An Organic Model

Human Relations (The Beginning) Contemporary Natural System (Human Resources View)

Mary Parker Follett •Survival--organizations are more than instruments for goal
Taylor antagonist and attainment; they are social groups that adapt and survive.
human relations advocate •Individuals are more important than the structure.
•Needs motivate performance more than role demands .
Hawthorne Studies •Specialization can promote boredom and frustration.
•Illumination Studies--three studies •Formalization produces rigidity and rule fixation.
•Elton Mayo--more studies(1927-32) •Informal Norms not formal rules are critical to performance.
•Hawthorne Effect •Hierarchy is ineffective because it usually neglects talent.
•Span of Control is dysfunctional because it fosters close and
Informal Organization authoritarian supervision.
•Norms •Informal Communication is more efficient and open than
•Grapevine formal communication.
•Informal leaders •Informal Organization--informal structures are more
•Cliques important than formal ones just as informal leaders are more
influential than formal ones. The informal organization is the
Informal Norms key to effectiveness.
“No squealing”
“No rate busting”
“No chiseling”
“Be a regular guy”

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

 II. Open-systems Perspective: An Integration

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.

Integration is central to an open-systems perspective.

Integration of goals and needs Behavior is a function of structure and needs.

Integration of rational and natural elements
Integration of tight and loose couplings
Integration of planned and unplanned activities
Integration of formal and informal.
All organization have both rational and natural aspects.
Organizations need both tight and loose couplings.
Politics pervades organizational life.
Organizations have two interactive faces:
Formal & Informal.

Contingency Theory
Effectiveness is contingent upon matching There is no one best way to organize, motivate,
the situation with the appropriate technique. decide, lead, or communicate-- “it depends.”

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

 Historical Development of
Theory and Thought in Administration

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

 Key Properties of Open Systems

Inputs --people, materials, and resources from the outside

Transformation -- the process transforming inputs into something of value by
the system.
Outputs -- the byproduct of the transformation.
Feedback -- how the system communicates to its parts and the
environment.
Boundaries -- systems are differentiated from their environments.
Environment -- is anything outside the system.
Homeostatis --a steady state of equilibrium
Entropy --the tendency for all systems for run down and die.
Equifinality --the same end can be achieved many ways.

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

Open System with Feedback Loops

Environment

Inputs Outputs
Throughput
People [Transformation] Performance
Materials Products
Finances Services

Feedback

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

Social Systems Model: Key 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.

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

Key Elements of the School as a Social System
Schools are social systems with the following key parts:
Structure: roles are expectations of positions that are arranged in a 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: the teaching-learning process is the technical core of schools.

Environment: everything outside the organization; source of inputs.

Outputs: the products of the organizations, e. g. educated students.

Feedback: communication that monitors behavior.

Effectiveness: the congruence between expected and actual outcomes.

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011
Internal Elements of the System
Environment

Transformation Process

Structural System
(Bureaucratic Expectations)

Cultural System Political System

Inputs (Shared Orientations) (Power Relations) Outputs

Individual System
(Cognition and Motivation)

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

Social System Model for Schools
Environment

Inputs Transformation Process Outputs

Environmental Structural System
constraints Achievement
(Bureaucratic Expectations)
Human and Job satisfaction
capital resources
Absenteeism
Mission and Cultural Political
board policy System System Dropout rate
(Shared (Power
Materials and Orientations) Relations) Overall quality
methods

Individual System
(Cognition and Motivation)
Discrepancy between
Actual and Expected
Performance

W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011

 The Triadic Relations of
Theory, Practice, and Research

Theory, research, and practice are in a dynamic relationship.

Each set of relationships is reciprocal: theory guides practice, but

practice reinforces, refines, or disconfirms theory; theory guides

research, but research creates and refines theory; and research

guides practice, but practice directs research.

T

R P
W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011
 Practical Imperatives
1. Seek and test good explanations in your administrative practice:
Be both reflective and guided by evidence.
2. Be prepared for both rational and irrational behavior in schools:
Both abound.
3. Cultivate informal relations to solve formal problems:
The informal organization is a source of ingenious ideas.
4. Use multiple perspectives to frame school challenges:
Framing the problem is often the key to its solution.
5. Engage informal leaders in problem solving:
Cooperation between the formal and the informal is a key to success.
6. Be politically astute as you represent the school and its students:
Politics is a fact of school life.
7. Encourage both stability and spontaneity as appropriate:
Both are essential to good schools.
8. Be responsive to the community: The school is an open system.
9. Cultivate expertise as the basis for solving problems:
Knowledge should be the basis of decision making.
10. Harness administration to the facilitation of sound teaching and learning:
Teaching and learning is what schools are about.
W. K. Hoy © 2003, 2008, 2011