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This essay argues that it is time to revisit and reintegrate the contributions of organization theory to the understanding of educational organizations and leadership.

The arguments presented in this essay are predicated on the following assumptions: a collective recognition of the rich theoretical and conceptual contributions the field of organization has made to the understanding of educational organizations and leadership; a concern that the pragmatic press of the current reform movement – with its preoccupation with outcome measures – would discourage efforts to pursue a theoretical and conceptual understanding of educational organizations; and a recognized need to re‐articulate the utility of the frameworks and concepts provided by organizational theory literature to the larger research community.

As a defining venue for social interaction, the organization provides a context for understanding this interaction. Organizations exhibit tendencies that exist in various human groups and provide the context for a variety of basic social processes. The numerous activities witnessed in educational organizations – leading, teaching, learning, counseling, coaching, etc. – take place in an organizational context. One cannot discuss these activities without considering the context in which they occur.

The value of this essay lies in the message it seeks to convey: it is time to revisit and reconsider the important role and contributions of the organizational theory literature with regard to educational research and the larger educational enterprise.

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize the attributes of loose and tight coupling in educational organizations. In addition, it is aimed to determine whether this phenomenon has value and strategies to offer for the current educational administration and research.

Integrative literature review and content analysis, assisted by Atlas.ti software, were used as the methods of this paper. Review data included 32 articles from peer reviewed journals.

Conceptual framework of continuum of organizational couplings in educational organizations was generated. Elements of the framework include the features of coupling concepts within the continuum, components of couplings, contributory types of organizational couplings and the elements of leadership and change process with emerging strategies, as well as the element of cultural context. In this paper, elements of continuum of couplings and leadership will be emphasized.

Findings have practical implications for the management and leadership in educational organizations, and for the researchers in the field for future research purposes.

Findings have social implications for both teaching staff and administration in educational organizations, by highlighting the attributes of loose and tight coupling, and their connections with leadership, change process and cultural context.

The paper presents a distinctive synopsis of the educational administration literature, in the context of loose and tight coupling, with the time span of four decades.

The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships among governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and the organization and management of instruction in US public education, with the aim of raising issues for cross-national research among countries in which the involvement of non-governmental organizations is increasing.

The paper is structured in four parts: an historical analysis of the architecture and dynamics of US public education; an analysis of contemporary reform efforts seeking to improve quality and reduce inequities; an analysis of ways that legacy and reform dynamics manifest in two US public school districts; and a discussion of considerations for cross-national research.

In US public education, dependence on non-governmental organizations for instructional resources and services is anchored in deeply institutionalized social, political and economic values dating to the country’s founding and that continue to function as constraints on educational reform, such that new solutions always emerge in-and-from the same problematic conditions that they seek to redress. The consequence is that reform takes on an evolutionary (vs transformative) character.

The US case provides a foundation for framing issues for cross-national research comparing among macro-level educational infrastructures, patterns of instructional organization and classroom instruction.

Such research would move beyond reductionist approaches to cross-national research toward new approaches that examine how histories, legacy architectures, contemporary reforms and patterns of instructional organization and management interact to shape students’ day-to-day lives in classrooms.

The purpose of this paper is to present good practices of improving quality of educational services through use of innovative methods in order to involve staff in the processes of the organization’s management.

The study of teachers’ and management’s perception of quality initiatives is used as a basis for analyzing main causes of inhibition of the quality initiatives. The authors formulate the issue of a low efficiency of quality management systems (QMS) and make conclusions about why it is important to expand the “quality spirit” among teachers and managers and why it is necessary to implement quality management principles (such as a leadership and staff involvement) in educational organizations.

The innovation and project (IP) technique of training is proposed to solve the tasks of expanding the “quality spirit,” creating leadership and involving educational organization’s staff in the quality management processes. The paper contains description and examples of use of the IP technique in order to create efficient management systems on the basis of leadership and involvement of managers and other staff in the processes of quality management. The authors formulate principles of innovative training and evaluate the effects of its use in the projects aimed at improvement of QMS.

The paper presents the experience of usage of the main component of the technique – an innovative workshop – for development of the strategy of Pastukhov Academy, building a managing team and involving staff in quality assurance activities. The paper presents the practical value of the results achieved by the academy in the process of implementation of the IP technique for development of the managing team and their strategic self-identification, as well as for increasing the quality of educational services. The IP technique is used in the process of implementation of social responsibility standards.

The paper is valuable for educational organizations, which may use the IP technique that will result in providing a real effect on the QMS, improving the educational courses and a positive impact on improving the quality of life.

This article put forward two claims. First, it argues that, historically, the rationale for education has shifted from religious and national indoctrination to, in the more recent neoliberal period, human capital and the related notion of individual empowerment. Second, the article argues that the recent shift toward individual empowerment is reflected in international organizations’ (IOs) changing emphases in education. IOs’ educational agenda has undergone various changes since their early work in the 1960s: From the structural expansion of national education systems to the measurement of individual educational achievement through a focus on competencies and, most recently, individual psychosocial development.

Based on a content analysis of 60 documents from 38 IOs involved in international education networks between 1990 and 2015, this work identified an expanding field of IOs directing attention to the mental capabilities of a learner. The proliferated model of an individual actorhood reflected in these novel assessment designs will be presented and embedded in wider discussions about the cultural construction of the individual in contemporary world polity.

In this paper, which was presented at a Conference for Lecturers in Educational Administration held in Melbourne in August 1981, the author expands upon past criticisms of the phenomenological and Marxist perspectives, provides an extensive analysis of the concept of loose coupling and puts forward a philosophical alternative to the phenomenological and positivistic positions. The interplay of philosophical viewpoints with issues in theory, research and preparation in educational administration is emphasized.

The purpose of the current study is to explore the influence of knowledge management (KM) in education management organizations (EMOs) Schools of Pakistan. Knowledge plays a pivotal role in the development of an organization due to sharing and managing of knowledge within an organization. In an era of competitiveness, KM has become a significant factor for the sustainable development of educational organizations. Knowledge and KM has become a key element in various fields of knowledge including health, technologies, engineering, social sciences, natural science, business and education. Organizations can adopt KM to improve effectiveness and gain advantage over other organizations. Also, it helps them to make well calculated decisions for the benefit of the organization. KM leads to increase in efficacy, more work, better performance, enhancing staff’s competency through quality decisions.

The research study is descriptive type research by nature, and a qualitative approach was adopted for gathering data and within it the desk review was conducted. The data was analyzed through content analysis techniques. The secondary data was collected in this study. Therefore, the unit of analysis includes the government documents, published research articles and international agencies reports, journal articles, websites, e-books and internet resources, conference papers, case studies and the statistics available on KM in development of organizations in educational settings.

The findings of the study show that through KM the EMOs school can perform better and give outstanding results in terms of student’s achievements. Further, organizations can develop a system which helps them to take timely decisions for enhancing the image of school among all stakeholders including parents, community, teachers and society.

The present study can benefit educational organizations, stakeholders, policymakers, provincial and federal governments and society. This will contribute to the new body of knowledge in the domain of education for knowledge creation and sharing.

This study is conducted in the context of EMOs schools. So, this may be the first research study in this area. In this connection, the study has originality in the context of KM in educational organization in Pakistan.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of quality in higher education which reveals the current debates about accreditation or quality process standards as insufficient, and to propose an enhanced model for quality culture in educational organisations.

The conceptual framework is based on relevant research in the field of quality development for education, and integrates it with a series of previously published works related to quality methodologies, quality literacy and quality as a multidimensional concept. Quality is approached from an educational science perspective, and is understood as a relationship among all the participants and resources of an educational scenario.

The paper establishes the foundation for a comprehensive understanding and analysis of quality culture in organisations, focussing on higher education. While this understanding of quality as part of the organisational culture seems to gain more importance there is still a lack of fundamental research and conceptual understanding of the phenomenon in itself. Quality development in higher education is often limited to bureaucratic documentation, and disregards the development of quality as an organisation's holistic culture. However, there is a need to focus on promoting a quality culture which is enabling individual actors to continuously improve their educational practice.

The original value of the paper is to approach quality development in higher education from an organisation's cultural perspective. When the conceptual foundations for empirical research are worked out, the professionals can benefit by understanding the interrelated nature of educational quality and organisational culture in higher education institutions.

This paper proposes a new conception of school systems arising out of the collision of three forces: (1) a longstanding press to rationalize the technical work of schools in the service of educational excellence; (2) a growing democratic press to equitably engage community members in the process of defining educational excellence; which together are (3) heightening legacy uncertainties that pervade educational organizations. It then draws on paradox theory to explore how leaders might navigate the growing uncertainties that are central to the work of organizing for excellence and equity.

Integrating scholarship related to organizational institutionalism, paradox theory, learning sciences, social justice leadership and educational system building, this paper examines the changing organization of schools, the growing uncertainty facing educators and the implications for leaders and preparation programs.

This paper introduces two perspectives on how to navigate the growing uncertainty facing educators and educational leaders: one that centers on mitigating uncertainty, the other that prioritizes leveraging uncertainty. Both perspectives have affordances and limitations when considering the twin goals of educational excellence and equitable involvement in decision-making, and leaders should thus view uncertainty as a paradox—an interdependent, persistent, contradiction—that can never be fully resolved, but can be managed. A paradox perspective makes visible the complex work of effectively moving between mitigating and leveraging uncertainty, especially in a field where the latter garners more support and legitimacy.

This paper synthesizes recent educational and organizational scholarship to develop a new conception of educational organizations and a corresponding approach to educational leadership capable of navigating the growing complexity and uncertainty that pervades school systems.

This paper aims to identify the success factors of communities of practice (CoPs) that will improve knowledge creation (KC) in educational organizations. Today, educational organizations are faced with constant changes in their environment. These changes have forced organizations to view their human capital as knowledge capital to survive and thrive. CoPs can be one of the most important factors to achieve these goals, and it should be considered by educational organizations.

The present paper tries to identify the success factors of CoPs and examine the impact of the success factors of CoPs in KC. The research method is descriptive. The population of the research consists of students of Payame Noor University as a case study. A questionnaire based on experts’ opinion was designed and more than 35 articles were reviewed. Factor analysis was used to categorize and examine the correlation between success factors of CoPs and KC and, finally, the regression equation based on correlation’ result was formed.

The results showed six success factors: “organization”, “optimizing interactions”, “infrastructure”, “supporting tools”, “strategy and goals” and “organizational support”. These factors reflect the effective factors in educational organizations attempting to progress in KC should focus. Among these success factors, “strategy and goals” and “organization” have the highest effect on CoPs in this case.

The paper discusses how the success factors of CoPs improve KC in universities as educational organization and how an organization will benefit from these factors. It can help the development of guidelines for educational organizations to increase their community knowledge information. They can also apply the findings of this research to promote the scientific level of their related organizations through reinforcement of CoP practices. In this paper, the authors faced some problems to collect expert’s opinion and also gather the questionnaires.

This paper may have great value to researchers, as well as practitioners involved in knowledge-creation programs in organizations about CoPs and the knowledge-creation field. This research can establish guidelines for Payame Noor University Tehran-North as a case study using the right policies and make changes to the traditional structures of the university, improve and develop the knowledge-creation process and the formation of CoPs. This study can guide managers and, especially, the university managers to provide suitable base to shape COPs, help them emerge and enhance them effectively.