EDU 5419 – Advanced Study Organizational Theory Summer 2005
Professor Frank Smith, Ph.D.
Text:
Reframing Organizations :
Artistry, Choice, and Leadership
(Paperback)
by Lee G. Bolman, Terrence E. Deal
Classics of Organization
Theory
by Jay M. Shafritz, J. Steven Ott, Yong Suk Jang
Course Description per Graduate Bulletin, St. John’s University, 2004 – 2006
The second course in theoretical perspectives closely considers a small number of theories to give practitioners access to the research literature of the field and to frame questions as researchable questions.
Assignments:
Frederick Winslow Taylor – The Principles of Scientific
A Comparative Analysis: Northeast High School and Central Park East Secondary School
Class notes:
Cultural Symbolic Framework: Chapter II – Literature Review
Class notes: June 17- 19, 24 – 26, 2008
Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames
Source: Bolman and Deal, Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership, 3rd Edition, pp. 306-07
Process |
Structural Frame |
Human Resources Frame |
Political Frame |
Cultural/Symbolic Frame |
Strategic Planning |
Creating Strategies to set objectives and coordinate resources |
Gatherings to promote participation |
Arena to air conflict and realign power |
Ritual to signal responsibility, produce symbols, negotiate meanings |
Decision Making |
Rational sequence to produce right decisions |
Open process to produce commitment |
Opportunity to gain or exercise power |
Ritual to confirm values, and create opportunities for bonding |
Reorganization |
Realign roles and responsibilities to fit tasks and environment |
Maintain a balance between human needs and formal roles |
Redistribute power and form new coalitions |
Maintain an image of accountability and responsiveness; negotiate new social order |
Evaluating |
Way to distribute reward or penalties and control performance |
Process for helping individuals grow and improve |
Opportunity to exercise power |
Occasion to play roles in shared drama |
Approaching Conflict |
Maintain organizational goals by having authorities resolve conflict |
Develop relationships by having individuals confront conflict |
Develop power by bargaining, forcing or manipulating others to win |
Develop shared values and use conflict to negotiate meaning |
Goal Setting |
Keep organization headed in the right direction |
Keep people involved and communication open |
Provide opportunity for individuals and groups to make interests known |
Develop symbols and shared values |
Communication |
Transmit facts and information |
Exchange information, needs and feelings |
Influence or manipulate others; strategic |
Tell stories |
Meetings |
Formal occasions for making decisions |
Informal occasions for involvement, sharing, feelings |
Competitive occasions to win points |
Sacred occasions to celebrate and transform the culture |
Motivation |
Economic incentives |
Growth and self-actualization |
Coercion, manipulation and seduction |
Symbols and celebrations |
Class Reflections:
This class examined the cultural and symbolic frameworks of organizations. The frames included:
· Structural
· Human Resources
· Cultural
· Political
A research paper structured in dissertation chapters, researching the design of the school and trying to understand the frame that best captured the organization of the school. This course and the exercises we participated in clearly revealed the types of frameworks and models that people and systems function in. In the two videos in was apparent by the attitudes of both the students and the people in leadership positions that the constructivist approach yields much more success.