OD in North American Schools

📖 The Scoop

This report discusses the structural conditions under which organizational development (OD), as employed in the school systems of the United States and Canada, is more or less applicable to schools. The first section (chapters 1-6) reviews papers and books, concerning either OD in general or the ways in which the ideas of OD have been used in the field of education. Chapter 1 concerns OD in general, while chapter 2 consists largely of a review of the "state of the art" paper on OD in schools published by Fullan, Miles, and Taylor in 1980. In chapter 3, articles critical of OD are considered, and, in chapter 4, a selection of empirical studies of OD are examined. The activities developed by Richard Schmuck and Philip Runkel in Eugene, Oregon (the "Mecca" of school OD) are outlined in chapter 5. Chapter 6 consists of a review of the paper in which Schmuck discusses the future of school-based OD. Chapter 7 consists of commentary on the first six chapters, from which nine conclusions about school OD are derived. In chapter 8, the argument is presented that the effectiveness of OD is dependent on the control structure in which the school operates. This conclusion is the subject of a commentary in chapter 9 by Matthew Miles and Michael Fullan. A four-page bibliography concludes the report. (TE)

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