Coordinating work in Swedish schools

Abstract

Intra‐organizational coordination is studied almost exclusively using a case approach, with the implementation of one specific coordinating method and evaluation of the effects of that method. By contrast, this study explores the daily use of five coordinating strategies in 30 Swedish schools. Furthermore, the relationships between coordinating strategies and co‐ordination problems in the schools and burnout among teachers are investigated. The most important coordinating strategy was “professional consideration”, followed by “striving for goals”. “Mutual adjustment” was perceived as important to a few, and hardly any teachers judged “following routines” and “following the boss” as important. The results showed that “striving for goals” was related to less frequent coordination problems and lower levels of burnout than was “professional consideration”.

Citation

Jacobsson, C. and Pousette, A. (2001), "Coordinating work in Swedish schools", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 147-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230110386278