Educational Leadership
Outline of Chapters 1 & 2:
Organizational Behavior in Education
by Robert G. Owens
Dr. T. Valesky
Owens’ Prospective
Chapter 1
 Why
study Organizational Behavior?
– Leadership is defined as “working with and
through other people to achieve organizational
goals” (Owens, p.2).
 Why
study the history of Organizational
Behavior?
 Why
study Theory?
History of Educational
Administration
 WOODROW WILSON:
1887 Essay “The Study
of Administration"
 FREDERICK TAYLOR: The "Father of Scientific
Management", who wrote The Principles of
Scientific Management (1911)
– FRANK AND LILLIAN GILBRETH: Time
and Motion Studies
 HENRI
FAYOL: General and Industrial
Management (1916)

MAX WEBER: The "Father of Bureaucracy"
Four Principles of Scientific
Management
Frederick Taylor: The Father of Scientific Management who was
influenced by Wilson’s essay.

1. Adopt scientific measurements to break jobs into series of small,
related tasks and develop a standard time for each task.

2. Use systematic methods for selecting workers and training them for
specific jobs.

3. Establish clear division of responsibility between management and
workers, where management sets goals, plans, and supervises, and the
workers execute the required tasks.

4. Establish a discipline where management sets the objectives and the
workers cooperate in achieving them.
Henri Fayol Defined Administration
in Terms of Five Functions



Fayol focused on the managers, not the worker as did
Taylor.
He was the first to separate administration from other
operations, like production.
He emphasized that the administrative process had the
following common elements (POCCC).
 1.
Planning
 2.
Organizing
 3.
Commanding (leading)
 4.
Coordinating
 5.
Controlling (evaluating)
Max Weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy
1. A division of labor and specific allocation of responsibility
based on functional specialization.
2. Exact hierarchical levels of graded authority.
3. A system of rules covering the rights and duties of
employees.
4. Written policies, rules, and regulations that guide behavior.
5. An impersonal, bureaucratic environment.
6. The development of longevity of administrative careers,
with selection and promotion based on technical
competence.
Others Who Promoted Classical
Organizational Theory



Ellwood Cubberly: supported the use of scientific
management schools. Most noted for promoting the
development of state funding for schools.
Fred Ayer: study of school superintendents' roles affected
what was taught in the universities (budgeting, heating,
janitorial services, record keeping, etc.)
Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick: developed ideas of
grouping elements by function, location; and developed
idea of formal organization chart for communication and
control; Administrative Process is POSDCoRB: Plan,
Organize, Staff, Direct, Coordinate,Report, and Budget.
Some Principles of Classical
Organizational Theory
1. Scalar principle: line V. staff (chain of command;
organizatioanl charts)
2. Unity of Command: receive orders from only one person
3. Exception Principle: delegate routine tasks and deal only
with exceptions
4. Span of Control: classical theory limited number of people
reporting to superior (3 to 12)
Tall v. Flat Organizational
Structures
Tall Organizations:
–
–
–
–
Longer chain of command and communication
Many layers of responsibility
Slow decision making
Smaller span of control, which encourages
more decision making and control
– at higher levels
Tall v. Flat (continued)
Flat Organizations:
–
–
–
–
Shorter chain of command and communication
Fewer layers of responsibility
Faster decision making
Larger span of control, which encourages
decision making at lower levels
Beginnings of Human Relations
Theory in Management
Mary Parker Follett modified classical organization theory:
 focusing on decision making at lower levels of the
organization;
 opening up communication horizontally;
 permitting a "situational" approach in which lower levels in
the organization could self-adjust to meet their needs;
 acknowledging that management is a dynamic process and
must respond to emerging situations;
 a focus on dealing with conflict by "integration": bring out
in open and seek a win-win situation.
Mary Parker Follett bridged the gap from classical
organization theory to further study and reflection that
resulted in the Human Relations Movement.
Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric-Illumination and Bank Wire Experiments
Follett’s work used knowledge learned from the Hawthorne
Plant’s studies.
Elton Mayo: Senior experimenter and writer for the National
Research Council (1923-26). Major results of the Western
Electric Hawthorne Plant studies:
 illumination had no effect on production
 any change in stimuli increased production
 human variability is important in the production process
 simple human interaction among workers increased
productivity (break periods)
Human Relations Concepts
The Hawthorne Experiments led to new
concepts in organizational behavior:




morale
group dynamics
motivation
democratic supervision personnel relations
Others of Importance to the
Human Relations Movement
1. Kurt Lewin: group decision making and
leadership studies
2. Jacob Moreno: sociometric analysis (sociograms)
3. Robert Bales: Interaction Analysis led to finding
that successful groups have someone who:
– keeps the group focused on accomplishing the
task (task orientation)
– focuses on maintaining productive human
relationships in the group (relations or
maintenance orientation)
Organizational Behavior Movement (combines
Classical Org. Theory with Human Relations-focusing more on structure, less on people)
 Organizational
behavior seeks to describe,
understand, and predict human behavior in the
environment of formal organizations. It
recognizes that both the internal, informal
organization (created by human interaction and
groups) and the formal organization affect one
another, and that management must seek
arrangements to maximize the effectiveness of
this interaction.
 The formal and informal organization cannot be
separated when studying organizations.
Three Significant Works Affected
Development of Organizational Behavior
1. Chester Barnard (VP NJ Bell): The Functions of the
Executive (1938).
2. Felix Rothlisberger and William Dickson: Management
and the Worker (1939).
All three of these men followed the Western Electric
Hawthorne Plant experiments. They focused on formal and
informal organization, stating that the informal could not
be ignored, and that the needs and aspirations of the
worker were important to effective management.
Three Works of Influence
(continued)
3. Herbert Simon: Administrative Behavior (1947).
– Also focused the importance of worker needs
and behavior, but highlighted also the
importance of decision making.
Human Resources Development (HRD) is
Basically Synonymous with Org. Behavior

HRD FOCUSES MORE ON PEOPLE AND LESS ON
STRUCTURE, WHICH CHARACTERIZES ITS
DIFFERENCES WITH ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR.
– Many ideas and individuals led to the concepts in
HRD, however, they are depicted best by Thomas
Sergiovanni and Robert Starratt in Supervision: Human
Perspectives (1971).
– The following diagram shows the philosophical
differences between Human Relations and Human
Resources theories:
Difference Between Human
Resources and Human Relations
Human Resources:
Example Action: Adopt Shared Decision Making Practices
Increases School Effectiveness
Increases Teacher Satisfaction
Difference Between Human Resources
and Human Relations (continued)
Human Relations:
Example Action: Adopt Shared Decision Making Practices
Increases Teacher Satisfaction
Increases School Effectiveness
Concepts That Led to Human
Resources Development
1. Qualitative or Ethnographic Research Methods (Chapter
10): permitted a rich account of what actually happens in
schools.
2. James Thompson : laid the foundation for new
organization theory. He suggested
A.Uncertainty leads to our inability to foresee problems,
no matter how structured we are; and
B. Concept of coupling (the way people relate):
Reciprocal (multiple dependent relationships),
Sequential (single dependent), and Pooled Coupling
(share resources but independent).
HRD Concepts (continued)
3. James March, Michael Cohen, and Johan Olson: Schools
are different they have:
– Organized Anarchies (goals are not specific nor clear;
technology is unclear; participation is fluid)
– Garbage Can Model of choice: problem and solutions
are in the can are only loosely connected to one
another. Similar to Charles Lindbloom’s “Science of
Muddling Through” and Simon’s early work of
accepting the first idea that solves the problem (called
satisficing)
HRD Concepts (continued)
4. Karl Weick (Chapter 3): Schools are loosely coupled and
bottom heavy.
5. John Meyer and Brian Rowan (Chapter 3) : Schools are
Dual Systems
– Loosely Coupled Systems: the technical core of
teaching is loosely connected to the Administration.
The Administration has indirect control only of
instruction through control of time (schedules); student
assignments; grouping (tracking; self contained;
departmental); and resources.
– Bureaucratic (tightly controlled) Systems: noninstructional activities, such as paychecks,
transportation, budgets, and others.
HRD Concepts (continued)
Organizational Culture: norms, values, and philosophy of an
organization and the people within it. The best way to
influence change in a school is to change the culture.
(many writers, beginning with Lewin, and including
Barnard, , Halpin and Croft, Servgiovanni, Tagiuri, Ouchi,
Peters, and many others).
Contingency Approaches: some organizations can use
classical organizational approaches, while others should be
less bureaucratic--focusing on the human relations side of
the worker--while others must balance both.
Douglas McGregor: Theory X & Y
 Everyone,
including Leaders, have a
philosophy of human nature that affects
one’s leadership behavior. One’s philosophy
has certain assumptions that can be
characterized generally into one of two
types:
– Theory X or Theory Y
 Define
these assumptions.
Chris Argyris: Pattern A & B
 Argyris
characterized Theory X and Y as
leading to certain types of leader behaviors:
– Pattern A--hard
– Pattern A--soft
– Pattern B
 What
each?
types of behaviors are identified in
Rensis Likert: 4 Management
Systems Theory
 His
research shows that human behavior in
organizations is the “crucial variable that
differentiates more effective from less
effective organizations” (p. 37).
 Each system is identified by behaviors in
decision-making, communications, amount
of interaction between leaders and
followers, how employees are motivated,
and the amount of autonomy and control.
General Systems Theory
 Organisms,
people, and organizations are
extremely complex systems for which
simple cause and effect logic does not
apply.
 Systems Theory “puts us on guard against
the strong tendency to ascribe phenomena
to a single causative factor” (p. 42).
Social Systems Theory
 Open
v. Closed Systems. Define in terms of
schools.
 The
linear model is far too simple for us to
use in understanding the complexity of a
system: (P. 43)
Inputs
Educ. Processes
Outputs
The Contextual Approach: The
Open System of an Organization

Example: School (subsystem), School District(system),
Community (suprasystem)
Interaction of the Individual (teachers,
students, etc.) in the System
Role Theory
 Role
theory can help us understand and
predict organizational behavior.
 Individuals have roles to perform, and how
one carries out the role is complex
depending on: ones interpretation of the
role; expectations of supervisor(s);
expectations of peers; school culture; and
others.
Definitions in Role Theory
 Role
Conflict: differing expectations
 Role Ambiguity:
unclear, vague role
definition
 Role
Set: one’s position among subgroups
Functional Roles in Groups
 Group Task
Roles: Focuses on the task.
Typically the designated leader has responsibility
for most, but everyone should contribute to these
– Seeking opinions from everyone in the group
– Keep the group focused on the task(s)
– Contributing information and opinion
– Evaluator/critic/devil’s advocate
– The recorder of the group’s work
Functional Roles in Groups
(continued)
 Group/Team
Building and Maintenance:
Focuses on group climate and harmonious
relationships
– harmonizing differences between ideas and
group members
– facilitating communication, e.g. encouraging
everyone to participate
– providing feedback
– setting high expectation of performance
Role Theory and Social Systems
Theory
 Jacob
Getzels and Egon Guba describe
organizations as Social Systems.
 Social Systems have two primary
components: the individual and the
institution, respectively, the idiographic and
nomothetic the dimensions.
– These are graphically depicted as:
Getzels and Guba Model
Getzels: B = f (R x P)
 The
amount of role prescription in
organizations will differ.
Social Systems Theory
 Motivation
ties directly into this theory.
 There must be an equilibrium between the
needs of the individual and the needs of the
organization.
 That is, the organization must focus on
accomplishing tasks and in providing
adequate rewards for effective participation.
 But this theory is not complete:
Add Structure and Technological
Resources for a Complete System
Contingency Theory
 How
the parts of the system in the System
Theory are organized should depend on the
unique needs of each organization.
 The Contingency Approach indicates that
there is no one best way to organize and
manage people, tasks, technology, and
structure.
 There are however, certain principles that
are more effective and must be understood.
This course focuses on these principles.