Rodney T. Ogawa

Leadership as an Organizational Quality

In this article, leadership is conceptualized as an organizational quality. Adopting a perspective on organizations offered by institutional theory, the authors offer a view of leadership that builds on the following points: Leadership flows through the networks of roles that comprise organizations. The medium of leadership and the currency of leadership lie in the personal resources of people. And, leadership shapes the systems that produce patterns of interaction and the meanings that other participants attach to organizational events.

Leadership as an Organization-Wide Phenomena: Its Impact on School Performance

This article reports the results of a study guided by a conceptualization of leadership as an organizational quality. The study examines the relationship between the leadership exerted by principals, teachers, secretaries, and parents; four functions of effective organizations; and several measures of school effectiveness. The results of path analyses revealed the following: The total amount of leadership in schools was associated with two organizational functions, which in turn were associated with four measures of school performance. The leadership of principals and the leadership of groups of teachers were positively related to organizational latency, or commitment, which was positively associated with the perceived effectiveness of schools and negatively associated with teacher turnover. Finally, the leadership of parents was positively associated with student achievement, whereas the influence of secretaries was negatively associated with student achievement.

Professional-Patron Influence on Site-Based Governance Councils: A Confounding Case Study

Case studies of site-based governance councils in Salt Lake City, Utah, provided the basis for testing whether building-based councils with broad jurisdiction, formal policymaking authority, parity protections, and training provisions actually enable teachers and parents to exert substantial influence on school policy. Despite the existence of these highly favorable arrangements, teachers and parents did not wield significant influence on significant issues in these decision arenas. Other factors, notably the composition of the councils, the relative power and role orientations of principals and professionals, norms of propriety and civility, the nature of district oversight and support, a congenial culture, and stable environment intervened to transform policymaking bodies into auxiliary units, convert teacher-parent parity to principal-professional control, and maintain rather than alter the influence relationships typically and traditionally found in schools. The implications of this research for those who advocate site-based governance as a potent reform strategy are discussed.

Towards Rigor in Reviews of Multivocal Literatures: Applying the Exploratory Case Study Method

This article aims to stimulate discussion about the issue of rigor in conducting reviews of multivocal literatures. Multivocal literatures, which abound in the field of education, are comprised of all accessible writings on a common, often contemporary topic. The exploratory case study method is proposed as a means to engender rigor in reviews of such literatures. It is argued that it is appropriate to apply the concept of rigor to reviews of multivocal literatures and to use the exploratory case study method as a tool for thinking about procedures that could enhance rigor in such reviews. The article draws upon the authors’ experiences in conducting a review of the literature on school-based management to illustrate how the proposed procedures might be employed.

Organizational Leadership: The Case of the School Superintendent

Two dimensions of the leadership of educational organizations are explored: (1) the day to day behavior of superintendents and (2) the meanings superintendents attach to their work. The work stems from related studies by the authors. Two clusters of patterns emerged from this analysis. First, superintending is communicating. Second, superintendents are constrained by social and organizational structures and, yet, control a major part of their day-to-day work and exert an important organizational influence. Questions are raised concerning the adequacy of the dominant notions about leadership.

Organizing the Field Toimprove Research Oneducational Administration

In early discussions, the Task Force on Inquiry and Research in Educational Administra-tion considered the possibility that scholarship in the field might be improved by organiz-ing or coordinating the efforts of scholars. The purpose of this article is to examine this issue. The authors explain that researchers in educational administration already are organized in two ways. First, they tend to focus on common topics, although the focal top-ics shift rapidly. Second, researchers coordinate their work both formally and infor-mally. This might be taken to suggest that organizing is not an effective strategy for enhancing inquiry and research in our field because new knowledge typically is the prod-uct of individual scholars who consistently focus on one topic. The authors argue other-wise, explaining that researchers might focus on enduring conceptual problems while studying timely topics from the field. The authors also suggest that different collabora-tive structures may offer different advantages in encouraging and facilitating the research of individual scholars.

Teachers and Administrators: Elements of the Information Processing Repertoires of Schools

The purpose of this article is to theoretically examine the loose coupling that has been observed to exist between teachers and administrators. Using Weicks concept of organizing, it is argued that teacher and administrator roles are elements of the information processing repertoires of educational organizations. As such, they must remain sufficiently independent in order to process those inputs for which each is particularly well suited. This conceptualization is grounded in thefindings of a variety of studies on schooling, teaching, and educational administration.