External Environment of Schools Day 7 EAD 800 Summer 2004 Valbonne

External Environments Task Environment goal setting goal achievement Effectiveness Survival Assumption: Organizations are productive systems; must exchange with environment for survival

External Environments Institutional Environment Oriented 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 Task Environment Information Resource-Dependence

External Environments Information Environment Information from external environment impacts decision-making Social 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 outcomes Courses of Action Strategies Actual outcomes Schools adapt by increasing environmental fit – new structures to deal with problem

Information Environment Environmental uncertainty Decentralization Flattened-structure Flexibility in structural arrangements Environmental Complexity InformationDecision Making

Information Environment Innovation is positively related to environmental uncertainty True for schools? Differences for different types of school administrators?

Resource Environment Fiscal Personnel Information and knowledge Products and Services Organizations both compete for and share environmental resources

Resource Environment Competition – a zero-sum game Dependence As 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 Innovation Complexity Information sharing

Resource Environment Internal Coping Strategies Buffering Planning and Forecasting Boundary Spanning (detecting info and representing organization to envir.) Adjusting internal operations (structural contingency approach, Burns & Stalker)

Resource Environment Interorganizational Coping Strategies Establish 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 myths True because they are believed Widely 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 instruction Tend to be rewarded for conformity to professional standards and legal requirements than for quality of outputs.

Institutional Environments Conformity Coercive conformity (mandates) Imitative conformity (innovation) Normative conformity (socialization)

Institutional Environment Diversity Many, diverse layers of institutional environment in American schools Private Vocational Day care Alternative

Institutional Environment Stability Standard operating procedures Standard expectations Resource guarantee Buffer from turbulence Slow 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 Environments Buffering (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.”

Communities of Practice Dependent variable: Standards-based Pedagogy Mathematics: -.67*** Experience:-.02 Communities of Practice:.20***