Administrative team management is the best way to provide direction and leadership to an individualistic group of professionals such as educators. Some suggestions to make management teams run smoothly are: (1) use the team to gather facts; (2) make sure the team works with the people (teachers, parents, and business people) who may be affected by…

The influence of positivism and post-positivism in public education is critiqued. Post-positivism is identified with the movement extending from T. S. Kuhn (1962, 1970). Logical positivism is discussed as a paradigm based on the philosophy of Enlightenment, the age of reasoning, and the work of A. Compte. The critical theory of society, emerging…

A discussion of the importance of skeptical probing in educational administration considers fundmental philosophical concerns, issues in inquiry, several theoretical frameworks, sociology of knowledge perspectives, and implications for educational administration programs. Philosophy suggests the best source of knowledge in a field as diverse as…

The term "Community Relations" is descriptive of the way of life for a school administrator in a small district where administrators are closer to the public. Community relations is more than just a steady stream of news releases or articles published in the annual town report. Community relations is (1) the total effort that an…

The success of planning in the community college is linked less to the ability to develop new planning schema than to the development of an orientation toward planning and the time perspective required to analyze the past, supervise the present, and manage the future. Successful planning requires that the college administrator be able to…

Offers a systematic critical response to the values-oriented, nonpositivist conception of administration and philosophy of administration recently advanced by Christopher Hodgkinson. Argues that Hodgkinson's theory is much closer to the positivism espoused by H. A. Simon. An alternative, nonpositivist basis for values in administrative theory is…

Various concepts from "In Search of Excellence" are described in context of authors' personal styles. Discussions address thinking in terms of options, using statistics, learning value of corporate politics, a bias toward action, productivity through people, the "lean-machine" concept, staying close to client, entrepreneurship…

Volunteers have needs, abilities, and desires of their own. The skilled and caring extension agent will use management and supervision principles to fully use all of those needs and abilities. (LRA)

Discusses the need to incorporate a therapeutic ethos into the managerial role of librarians. Management research and theory is reviewed, the need for self-fulfillment at work is discussed, differences between leadership and management are suggested, and combining interpersonal management skills that will promote organizational goals while meeting…

A comparison of leadership theory and administrative theory will help to show whether there is a conflict for educational administrators between being a leader and being an administrator. Two definitions of leadership stress the importance of initiating activities within a group. In education, leadership necessitates decision-making within an…

Corporate administrative principles and practices are increasingly prevalent in colleges and universities and are causing conflict among constituencies, but they will always be balanced by traditional academic values. (MSE)

Change and continuity in university administration is discussed in the British university context. It is argued that while there is no ideal form of university management, change should be accompanied by a degree of continuity, particularly because the nature of university activity relies heavily on individuals of high academic quality functioning…

Kindergarten programs in public schools generally have an academic/ formal orientation or an intellectual/experiential orientation. This article highlights the fundamental differences between the two approaches by examining current curriculum, policy and staffing, and administrative practice regarding kindergarten. (IAH)

For beginning principals, delegation is an important skill and an effective way to learn about staff members. After defining the school's strengths and weaknesses, a principal can set concise, realistic goals and communicate them to the school community. A general blueprint for action (including communication, assessment, planning, and…

This paper explores the nature of the contribution that can be made to administrative theory by recent developments in the philosophy of science and the emerging new views of science: notably, the arguments of Richard Bates and Thomas Greenfield. These emerging views of science can sustain a science of administration that escapes their major…