Jean Madsen

Organizational Culture and Its Impact on African American Teachers

This article provides a descriptive analysis of how the organizational culture of schools and the cultural values that African American teachers bring into the school affect the professional experience of these teachers in schools where they are in the minority. The culture within an organization strongly influences how minorities will be treated by their European American counterparts. Because the majority establishes the work norms, there becomes a uniformity of rules and regulations with which people of color are expected to comply. Strong organizational cultures provide cues on how to behave and establish reinforcing expectations to influence organizational members.

Culturally relevant schools : creating positive workplace relationships and preventing intergroup differences

The authors provide teachers and school leaders concrete suggestions to address workplace relationships; to respond to intergroup conflict; to create positive exchanges among different ethnic groups of teachers; and to create a strategic process to address diversity issues.

‘Color‐blind’ and ‘color‐conscious’ leadership: A case study of desegregated suburban schools in the USA

Leadership and diversity are invariably connected, as US schools are under pressure to educate an increasingly diverse population. Creating an inclusive school requires school leaders to respond to any intergroup conflict that may occur among an ethnically‐diverse group of schools’ participants. The study on which this article is based examined European–American and African–American administrators’ responses to intergroup conflict arising from cultural incongruities in desegregated suburban US schools. The researchers employed intergroup theory to understand how both African–American and European–American school leaders perceived and negotiated sources of intergroup conflict and how this affected their potential for creating an inclusive school environment.

Implementing Diversity Plans: Principals’ Perception of Their Ability to Address Diversity in Their Schools

Traditionally schools in the past were mostly homogenous, but with demographic shifts, schools are becoming more ethnically diverse, disadvantaged, and multilingual. In contrast, the teaching population still reflects that outdated homogenous template: “predominantly white and female,” middle-class, and unilingual. This exploratory study examined administrators’ perceptions of their ability to implement a diversity plan. Principals were unable to articulate what “diversity” meant in terms of its strategic implementation; they saw no value in addressing their changing student demographics. Principals were ill prepared to lead on issues of diversity and were unable to address conflicts that often occur among diverse demographic groups. Principals had a sense of diversity awareness but lacked the efficacy to address diversity-related issues with teachers and parents.

Intergroup Differences and their Impact on African American Teachers

This article examines how intergroup differences within suburban desegregated schools affect the professional experiences of African American teachers. The culture within an organization strongly influences how European Americans will treat their minority counterparts. Because the majority establishes the work norms, a uniform set of rules and regulations by which people of color are expected to comply exists. Tensions of intergroup conflict become apparent among groups of teachers if only one or a few teachers of color are present in the entire school. Thus, African American teachers in these contexts are subjected to performance pressures, bear the burden of representing their race, and become role entrapped.

Introduction: Leadership and Diversity: Creating Inclusive Schools

The coeditors and the contributors would like to acknowledge various people who played an important role in putting together this special issue. First, we would like to thank Jennifer Barratt for her endless energy in editing multiple revisions. She was a wonderful organizer and kept us centered. Another person is Bill Ashworth, who willingly took on this project in addition to his other duties. He spent considerable time reading and rereading work and provided constructive feedback. We also would like to thank members of the Urban Advisory Group, who we asked to read articles and give us their feedback. In addition, we would like to thank Rosie Moody, Jason Walton, and James Guthrie for their support in asking us to put together this special issue. They were helpful in getting us information and provided a supportive environment for our work. Finally, we also would all like to thank our family members and friends, who put up with our long hours, provided support, and listened endlessly to our concerns. Requests for reprints should be sent to Jean A. Madsen, Educational Administration and Human Resource Development 4226 TAMU Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843. PEABODY JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 77(1), 1–6 Copyright

African American Teachers' Role in School Desegregation: At the Dawn of a New Millennium.

The purpose of this study was to determine African American teachers’ perceptions and experiences in schools where European American teachers and students are the majority. Five female African American teachers were interviewed for the purpose of understanding their perceptions and relationships with students and colleagues in this type of school setting. Data were compared to Cose’s “dozen demons” themes to support consistency in interpreting the participants’ responses to predominantly European American contexts. The intent was to provide a descriptive analysis of African American teachers’(a) ethnic identity and cultural orientation, (b) perceptions of the social and political contexts in which they are employed, and (c) value perspectives on their roles and responsibilities within the context of their employment. The authors concluded that African American teachers employed in schools where European American students and teachers are the majority need to be prepared with strategies for protecting themselves from potentially hostile colleagues and situations.

Critical Analysis of Accountability Policy in Alternative Schools: Implications for School Leaders.

Purpose – The expansion of alternative education, globally, has coincided with a shift towards greater accountability for ensuring educational access and opportunity, high academic standards and increased graduation rates. While studies suggest the pervasive influence of accountability may be redefining how school leaders provide meaningful learning experiences and facilitating high achievement, little is known about school leaders of alternative schools administering accountability polices. If there are inconsistencies between meaningful learning experiences for at‐risk students and performance‐based standards outcomes, this may suggest issues around equity and alternative schools that should be evaluated. Using a theoretical frame of policy implementation, specifically the authoritative design of policy and social constructs of compliance, this study aims to examine how alternative school leaders implement accountability policies.Design/methodology/approach – This cross‐case study employs a qualitative ...

Leadership Challenges in Addressing Changing Demographics in Schools

Principals who lead demographically diverse schools play an important role in changing the dynamics that often occur in these contexts. Consequently, principals must have the leadership skills to revolutionize teachers’ belief systems. Their energies are consumed with reshaping teachers’ instructional practices and focusing on improving student expectations. Teachers may oppose modification of their teaching practices due to fears of letting go of familiar ways of teaching. The inability to influence teachers will result in continual problems of low expectations, unfair discipline practices, and poor student performance.This study focused on (a) how principals perceived their leadership in responding to their schools’ changing demographics, and (b) the challenges they experienced in attempting to mediate across school groups. Administrators often questioned their leadership capacity in how to mediate racial differences that occurred in their schools as their student demographics changed. Findings revealed that European American leaders forwarded their responsibilities to the teachers of color, which resulted in ongoing tensions surrounding students of color. African American leaders fell into stereotypical roles, in which they were perceived as being hired to be the disciplinarian and having to prove their expertise on instructional and curriculum issues.

Exploring the relationship among human resource flexibility, organizational innovation and adaptability culture

Purpose Human resource (HR) flexibility is a firm-level capability that consists of employee skill flexibility, employee behavior flexibility, and HR practice flexibility. HR flexibility allows organizations to adapt and be responsive to changes in their environments. Findings from this paper indicate that if the organization is highly innovative and has flexible HR policies, then that influences organizational culture, risk-taking and experimentation within a firm. This paper has also revealed that process innovation mediates between adaptability culture and product innovation. It also revealed that managers should emphasize processes to improve efficiency for resource exploitation. The lessons learned from process innovation activities indicated that having a strong knowledge base assists a firm in developing innovative technology such as automation for manufacturing, handling and testing or simply smart manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were sent to employees at 23 Taiwanese companies in high-tech industries, where innovation is the key to their survival, and 293 valid surveys were collected. Structural equation modeling, (SEM) using IBM SPSS Amos, was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results fully support the hypotheses that HR flexibility positively influences adaptability culture and contributes to organizational innovation. Furthermore, it was found that adaptability culture has a direct impact on process innovation and an indirect impact on product innovation through process innovation. Originality/value The critical role of HR flexibility and adaptability culture on organizational innovation in the high-tech sector were highlighted. The importance of HR flexibility is emphasized to provide managerial hints to top managers.