Leading at the Confluence of Tradition and Globalization: The Challenge of Change in Thai Schools

Abstract This paper will use a review methodology to explore the theoretical and empirical basis for understanding differences in the management of change among principals operating in two different cultural contexts: Thailand and the United States. The paper will first present a summary of the knowledge base underlying change management in North American schools. In the second part of the paper we explore the theoretical and empirical basis for understanding how principals manage change in Thai schools. The significance of the paper lies in two areas. First, we seek to contribute to the nascent literature on the cross-cultural dimensions of educational leadership. Second, the paper fills a gap by beginning to explicate the nature of change leadership in modern Thai schools.