Living on the Edge of Chaos: Leading Schools into Global Age

Citation

Narasimhan, K. (2002), "Living on the Edge of Chaos: Leading Schools into Global Age", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 346-347. https://doi.org/10.1108/msq.2002.12.5.346.1

Educational institutions around the world are facing similar problems: diversifying student population, increasing numbers while resources are diminishing, and a demand for accountability resulting in bureaucratic measures such as increased testing and record keeping, and the publication league tables, etc. The authors, with over 70 years of experience among them in teaching, research and administration in education, demonstrate how schools can survive as social enterprises by adapting to the continuously changing environment.

The book comprises 15 chapters grouped into four parts. Part 1 with four chapters deals with “Shifting paradigms of schooling”. “The new mental dance for guiding change” is the subject of Part 2, and is covered in four chapters. Part 3 also contains four chapters and deals with “Tools to facilitate new prototypes of schooling”. The final part, comprising three chapters, presents findings from a 28‐school research study of change, as well as stories from their experiences to further stimulate the reader’s thinking.

In Chapter 1, dealing with “Preparing schools for the age of globalization”, many of the paradoxes faced by management are examined and many features, such as national and inter‐continental linkages of “world‐class schools”, are identified. “A mechanical view of change” based on bureaucratic system of work forms the topic of Chapter 2, and it is shown how this view is similar to the static machine laws of Newtonian physics. In Chapter 3, attention is turned to “An organic view of change” grounded in open‐systems theory. The chapter concludes with a set of six principles for organizational growth by concentrating on the system’s quality. How to live in times of rapid change and deal with contradictions and ambiguity is covered in Chapter 4 entitled “An emergent view of change”. The chapter concludes with ten principles that enable the system to survive.

In Part 2, mental models are offered to guide change in complex situations involving paradoxes and power shifts. Six dynamic behaviors found in natural systems are presented in Chapter 5, entitled “Living on the edge of chaos: a new theory for organizational change”. Attention is turned to examining issues involved in power relationships, in Chapter 6. The authors conclude:

Our society hungers for more democratic and open systems of work around principles of shared power and democratic ideals (p. 116).

In Chapter 7, the metaphor of power river is introduced to illustrate the power relationship under different situations from traditional control‐oriented patterns to those that facilitate enhancing success for all students. Also shown is how to move from power over to power to, and then to power with and power through in an attempt to solve collectively organization‐wide problems and meet community goals. Chapter 8 is entitled “The quantum world of strategic thinking” in which the authors explore a new nonlinear and complex systems’ approach for organization learning based on six strategic Rs:

1. (1)

   responsiveness;

2. (2)

   renewal;

3. (3)

   relationships;

4. (4)

   relevance;

5. (5)

   reframing; and

6. (6)

   releasing.

In the four chapters of Part 3, practical tools are provided for guiding an organization to adapt to changing conditions through benchmarking, case studies and team learning. In Chapter 9, the authors discuss the value of information in linking results‐based accountability, performance evaluation, and improving continuously by benchmarking. They also examine what benchmarking is and is not, the different types of benchmarking, and the differences between qualitative and quantitative benchmarking. In the following chapter, the Education Quality Benchmark System (EQBS) is explored in detail. This is a system developed by the authors, in 1993, comprising 48 outcome standards in seven performance areas, to assist schools to attempt to become learning organizations. They have presented their research studies’ findings on the effect of work culture on student outcomes. They emphasize that the EQBS is intended to be used to develop systems for continual improvement and not for judging and ranking schools.

In Chapter 11 entitled “The strategic dance of life”, a systematic approach based on a five‐step case study technique is provided to guide institutions to become responsive systems. They briefly discuss how to design the case study, collect information, analyze and interpret data, and answer what was learned and its implications for next steps in transforming the organization; and provide an example. “Developing work teams as learning communities” is the topic of Chapter 12 in which a team version of the EQBS is provided that can be used as developing temporary and permanent teams, as well as networks and partnerships with other schools.

In the final part, the authors present findings from a 28‐school research study of change from fragmentation to integrated work cultures. Teachers’ perspectives are presented in Chapter 13, principals’ perspectives of teacher involvement patterns in “High‐ and low‐involvement cultures” are explored in Chapter 14. The core of Chapter 15 is the themes and patterns of the principals’ voice in the study and the strategies used by them to stimulate and sustain the change process. Practical examples of six strategies used by the principals in becoming visionary/emergence leaders in transforming their schools are given.

The structure of the chapters clearly indicate that they have been written by different authors; some end with a summary of the chapter, some with conclusions and some have neither a summary nor a conclusion. However, every part commences with a brief introduction and a summary of what is covered in each of the chapters in it. There is a comprehensive (241) list of references in an excellent bibliography. Though the book is based on studies of 28 K‐12 schools in the USA, the ideas contained in the book are relevant to not only to schools but also educational establishments the world over.