Research into the School as an Organization. III: Organizational Development in Schools or Developing the School as an Organization?

Wallin, E. & Berg, G. 1983: Research into the School as an Organization. III: Organization Development in Schools or Developing the School as an Organization? Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 27, 35‐47. A distinction is drawn between organization development in schools (OD) and developing schools as organizations (DO). The first term refers to work to bring about change in accordance with a specific (systems‐oriented) organization theory approach. The second term covers development work which is based on a rationalistic view of the school as an organization and which takes account of the specific characteristics of school organization. The authors argue that a real development of the school can only take place if the strategy of change applied has DO rather than OD as its point of departure.