Talk as the Work: The Accomplishment of School Administration

An earlier version of this paper, under the same title, was presented at the annual conference of the Australian Communication Association, Sydney, 1981. The text that appears below is an extensive revision of the original. I should like to thank the threeASQ reviewers as well as my friends and colleagues Tom Greenfield, Alec McHoul, John Hunt, Philip Greenway, Alan Rice, Robin Small, Helen Praetz, Ray McCulloch, and Michael Norman for their helpful criticisms and advice during the writing of this article Thanks are also extended to Cath Henderson and Bev Schneider for typing the manuscript.