Suggestions for administrators who wish to implement Japanese management techniques in higher education are offered. These techniques are more than establishing quality circles; instead they propose different value structures that link employees and the organization. The organizational structures that typically exist in higher education and the…

Whatever the past achievements of our schools, very few today bring about student learning even remotely up to the minimum requirements of a nation such as the United States; small improvements in the educational system will be of little consequence in light of the huge deficits and the country's increasing needs. Most of the large, complex plans…

The conditions that intensify conflict avoidance by the central administration in making strategic decisions, and the consequences of such avoidance for the management of college affairs, are discussed. The implication of an emerging decision-making style for adapting the organization to changing environments is also considered. Some of the…

Proposals for the adoption of programs to improve the quality of education frequently emphasize the importance of concentrating on the individual school building as the center of the change process. This emphasis has led to increasing support for moving the locus of decision making downward to bring about what is called "school based…

The government of the Netherlands is currently rethinking national educational policy on a broad basis, according to this report. In addition to preparing the way for a substantial restructuring of the educational system, from the pre-primary to adult education levels, this national policy overhaul has raised major issues regarding the purposes of…

Using examples of school change, this document discusses both Swedish experiences with local educational development and theories of schools and change. An introduction gives background information on Sweden's schools and its parlimentary activities on education. Section 2 reviews the history of local educational development, especially…

Empirical research pertaining to the relationship between external agencies' decisions and the implementation of these decisions suggests two conclusions. First, the implementors of change are likely to view externally initiated change with apprehension and resistance, and second, when external agencies initiate change, the result depends on…

This four-chapter survey of research on the incentives for "knowledge utilization"--defined as the adoption and use of new information, products, and practices in education-- focuses on incentives inside and outside of schools and on the need, in studying incentives, to take educators' perspectives, sensibilities, and aspirations into…

The impact of increasing federal regulation on American universities is discussed based on an informal survey of senior academic and administrative officials in 13 public and private universities. As government regulation is becoming more intensive and compliance more resource- and time-consuming, government is perceived as having little…

Knowledge, curricula, and goals are implicated in some way in practically every organizational feature of schools. This paper begins with classroom activities as the most microscopic structure of interest to students of schooling processes. It progresses from there to the various forms of structure found in classrooms, to school and community…

Study of three urban high schools revealed the following: (1) themes dominating principals' attitudes toward teacher involvement in decision making; (2) the influence of teachers on decision making; and (3) the paradox in principals' relations with faculty. Implications for faculty relations and school improvement are discussed. (BJV)

Criticizes, for programmatic and political reasons, two main recommendations of the Holmes Group report: (1) to transfer professional studies from the undergraduate level to the graduate level and (2) to deny undergraduate students the opportunity to major in education. Gives reasons why the Holmes proposals would not work in Indiana. (IW)

Those engaged in school restructuring can find direction in the philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, which has guided the operations of many American corporations. This paper provides an overview of Deming's Fourteen Points of Total Quality Management (TQM) and discusses their applications to education. To develop a successful TQM system, the school…

This essay attempts to demonstrate that age segregation and subject matter specialization are two important supports of the authority of teachers and the school's ability to control students. Therefore, efforts to change these organizational patterns without considering alternative means of establishing control are doomed to failure. (Author/SJL)

Discusses: (1) David Hawkins' theory that humans are equal, free, and rational; (2) the kinds of curricular, methodological, and administrative changes required by schools in order to bring about equality, freedom, and rationality; and (3) application of the findings to the Four M (multilingual, multicultural, multimodal, and multidimensional)…