Chen Schechter

Organizational Learning Mechanisms: The Meaning, Measure, and Implications for School Improvement

Purpose: In light of the excessively broad conceptions and nonobservable terms generally characterizing discussions of organizational learning, this study explores the notion of organizational learning in schools through the conceptual framework of organizational learning mechanisms (OLM) and develops a measure of OLM at the elementary school level. Research Design: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items are conducted to examine factorial validity. To test the criterion-related validity, the OLM scale is correlated to other established constructs. Findings: Based on information processing (management science perspective), the four-factor model of OLM in elementary schools is the best fit between the empirical results and the conceptual formulation. The four-factor model includes the following subscales: analyzing information, storing—retrieving—putting to use of information, receiving—disseminating information, and seeking information. Implications: This study strengthens the feasibility of the OLM framework, based on information processing, to provide a concrete description of organizational learning processes in schools. Using this instrument, schools can assess their own learning cycle, gauging their readiness and increasing their preparation for becoming learning organizations. This study may encourage researchers to explore whether OLM can serve as mediating variable between the system level and the classroom level.

Toward an Organizational Model of Change in Elementary Schools: The Contribution of Organizational Learning Mechanisms.

Purpose: This study explored a theoretical model that links teachers’ perceived uncertainty and teachers’ sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools. OLMs serve as a mediator construct. Research Design: For testing the primary theoretical model, 801 teachers from 61 elementary schools (33 urban and 28 suburban) in Israel’s largest district responded to the research instruments. The authors used structural equation modeling to determine whether OLMs mediate between teachers’ perceived uncertainty and their sense of collective efficacy. Findings: A significant model, which included direct and indirect effects of teachers’ perceived uncertainty on teachers’ sense of collective efficacy, emerged for the urban school context. Although OLMs (storing, retrieving, and putting to use of information) served as a prominent mediating variable in the urban school context, OLMs did not play a mediating role in the research model for the suburban school context. Conclusions: This study strengthens the feasibility of the OLMs framework, based on information processing, to provide a concrete description of organizational learning processes in schools. The study provides a deeper understanding of how OLMs can serve as a significant link between the dynamic school environment and teachers’ attitudes, which may ultimately improve teachers’ work and students’ learning.

Learning from Success as Leverage for School Learning: Lessons from a National Programme in Israel.

Collective learning from past school experiences (retrospective learning) has traditionally focused on failures and difficulties, depriving school personnel of learning opportunities embedded in their own past professional successes. In this article we present a national programme in Israel that aimed at fostering collective learning, stimulated by learning from successful practises in school life. Learning from success was systematized into both learning and documentation formats that structured the work and language of school personnel participating in the programme. Participants’ assessments with regard to the programme’s effects, as well as the impediments to this collective learning process, are presented. The article concludes with suggestions for further exploration regarding collective learning from successful practises and implications for school leaders.

Systems school leadership: exploring an emerging construct

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how effective school principals use systems thinking, aiming to present the systems school leadership (SSL) approach – an approach where principals lead schools through the systems thinking concept and procedures. Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 28 Israeli school principals, selected as outstanding leaders by recommendations from their superintendents and according to their schools’ achievements. The study employed semi-structured interviews as well as focus groups. Generating themes was an inductive process, grounded in the various perspectives articulated by participants. Findings – Data analysis generated four main characteristics of SSL: leading wholes; adopting a multidimensional view; influencing indirectly; and evaluating significance. Research limitations/implications – Further research that will explore to what extent and how often principals use systems thinking is required. In addition, replication in various educational contexts...

Exploring Organizational Learning Mechanisms in Special Education.

Purpose – The notion of organizational learning (OL) has reached the forefront of both school change discourse and academic inquiry. However, this notion has not yet undergone deliberate thinking and research within the special education domain. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the literature by empirically investigating OL through a structural concept – organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) – as embedded into the learning values (culture) of special education.Design/methodology/approach – A case study of three students functioning levels (low, intermediate, and high) in a special education school provided the context for studying OLMs and the learning values (culture) influencing their productivity.Findings – This paper supports the existence of and the capacity for systematic learning through institutionalized structures and procedures in a special education school. This paper also illuminates the effect of learning values (culture) on the effectiveness of OLMs in a special educa...

The Meaning and Measure of Organizational Learning Mechanisms in Secondary Schools

Purpose: Organizational learning has been conceptualized as a critical component for school effectiveness. This study explored organizational learning in schools through the conceptual framework of “organizational learning mechanisms” (OLMs) and developed a measure of OLMs at the secondary school level. Research Design: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items were conducted to examine factorial validity. To test the criterion-related validity, the OLM questionnaire was correlated to other constructs—teachers’ sense of collective efficacy and teachers’ organizational commitment, both of which have been used as independent variables to predict school productivity. Findings: A four-factor model of OLMs in secondary schools was the best fit between the empirical results and the conceptual formulation. The four-factor model included the following factors: disseminating, storing, and retrieving information; distributing information among students and parents; analyzing and interpreting information; and usage of online information. Implications: The present study encourages researchers to explore whether OLMs can serve as a mediating variable between the system level and the classroom level. Using this questionnaire, secondary schools can assess their own learning cycle, analyzing their practices of information processing.

Systems thinking among school middle leaders

Systems thinking is a holistic approach that puts the study of wholes before that of parts. This study explores systems thinking among school middle leaders – teachers who have management responsibility for a team of teachers or for an aspect of the school’s work. Interviews were held with 93 school coordinators, among them year heads, heads of departments, evaluation coordinators, instruction coordinators, and information and communications technology coordinators. Data analysis revealed that systems thinking among school middle leaders consists of four characteristics: (1) seeing wholes; (2) using a multidimensional view; (3) influencing indirectly; and (4) assessing significance. The findings of this study expand the existing knowledge on systems thinking in school leadership, discussing practical implications as well as further research avenues.

School principals as mediating agents in education reforms

ABSTRACT School principals may be seen as mediating agents, standing at the school doorstep, between the extra-school and intra-school worlds. The principals’ mediating role becomes more crucial during a time of education reform, which involves external demands on the one hand, and teachers’ resistance to these demands on the other. This study explores how principals mediate between the demands of a national reform policy and teachers’ attitudes and needs. In this qualitative study, 59 school principals were interviewed. Findings from the data analysis indicated that principals used two complementary mediation strategies: (1) mobilising the teachers towards the reform and (2) mobilising the reform towards the teachers. The mediating strategies used by principals are discussed, suggesting practical implications and further research avenues.

Making sense of school leaders’ sense-making:

Effective education reform depends on its successful realization by the school leadership carrying out the reform. School principals and middle leaders in the 21st century re-examine their traditional role so as to understand complexities and ambiguities characterizing their various responsibilities within the context of school reform. As critical change agents and system players, formal leaders interpret reform demands and translate them into school practices through a process of sense-making. Though sense-making is an ongoing process that school leaders undergo personally and collectively during policy reforms, little attention has been paid to the role principals and middle leaders perform as sense-makers. This literature review article explores sense-making in school leadership through a holistic approach. It demonstrates how sense-making is framed in both theoretical and empirical studies as well as suggests implications and avenues for future research.

From illusion to reality: schools as learning organizations

Purpose – The notion of organizational learning remains murky and difficult to comprehend, and it is rarely translated into sustained operational structures and processes in school reality. The purpose of this article is to lay out the mystifying concept of organizational learning and, then, to suggest an alternative framework for schools’ development as learning organizations.Design/methodology/approach – After discussing the profound confusion about what organizational learning is and its feasibility, the article presents the notion of organizational learning mechanisms as a possible framework for analyzing schools as learning organizations.Findings – The article presents limitations, implications, and avenues for future research regarding organizational learning mechanisms.Originality/value – The framework of organizational learning mechanisms may help schools develop processes, strategies, and structures that would enable them to learn and react effectively in uncertain and dynamic environments.