Revisit of Week 2 Notes

I. Organizational Psychology is defined as the systematic study of dispositional (trait) and situational (contextual) variables that influence the actions or behaviors and experiences (thoughts and feelings) of the individual, as well as the group aggregation of such behaviors and experiences.

A. The literature on "schools as organizations" fall under a number of different areas:

1. Issues of macro level factors - organizational culture, technology, patterns of work, changing modes of organization - are often found in the sociological and educational literature

2. Educational literature also often involves classroom level processes (e.g., teacher efficacy, student motivation)

3. Psychological literature usually discuss group and individual level processes (e.g., social psychological processes such as stereotyping, prejudice, attribution, social identity)

II. What we actually "see" in schools everyday are local and concrete manifestations of larger processes, and we attempt to measure these larger processes through the study of climates.

A. It has been contended that individuals' responses to an environment are based on their judgments about the environment (Chavis & Wandersman, 1991). These judgments include perceptions of characteristics of the environment, satisfaction with the environment and problems in the environment.

B. The extent to which the individual views the environment as positive can be related to stress and/or arousal in the individual (Baum, Singer & Baum, 1981; Wandersman, Riddle, & Fancett, 1983). Organizational psychology research has indicated that there are significant relationships between individuals' perceptions of both physical and social structures and performance and satisfaction in the environment (e.g., Rohe, 1985; Weidemann & Anderson, 1985).

C. The climate of an environment has come to be conceptualized as a psychologically meaningful representation of an environment (Pargament et al., 1983). It is a construct which "intervenes between the setting and the individual" (p. 353).

D. The climate of an environment is a result of the setting and the individuals who make up the setting. The perceptions of individuals in the environment provide information about the setting and about the individuals describing the setting. In other words, the climate and the individual interact in a reciprocal manner, with each constantly influencing the other.

E. The study of climates is one way that researchers examine the impact of environment on individual outcomes.

1. The work of Halpin and Croft (1963) is one of the earliest examples of studying organizational climate.

2. Their model of organizational climate led to various models of school climate (e.g., Trickett & Moos, 1973, 1974; Licata, Willover, & Ellet, 1978).

3. These models attempt to describe and explain the "feelings" the school setting evokes in its members by describing structures, school composition, policies, and perceptions

I. Organizational Theory

A. Open systems model of organizations - a school is "a set of interrelated, interdependent, or interacting elements"

1. Organizations must adapt to changes in their environment if they are to survive

2. Biological metaphors are often used; organizations are compared to species or in terms of an ecosystem; concepts of death and birth common

B. Conceptualizing a school organizational environment is often difficult

1. The environment is often described as "everything outside the boundaries of an organization, even though the boundaries of an organization are often nebulous and poorly drawn" (Bolman & Deal, 1984, p.44)

2. Example 1: A survey of 92 administrators identified 752 different problems facing schools (Fris & Balderson, 1988). However, there was little consensus on what problems where most prevalent and important.

3. Example 2: 21 principals identify 907 issues of concern that covered 16 categories; most concerned operations internal to the school.

4. In effect, the school environment can be understood to mean anything that can affect the school, and it can be unclear where the boundaries of the school and 'outside' begin and end

II. Organizational functioning

A. Organizational theory (in general and in the context of schools) often is abstract and does not deal with real organizations and the problems they face.

1. What constitutes the functioning of an organization?

2. The complexity of the world makes it unlikely that any simple or straightforward understanding of events and circumstances can be obtained (Dror, 1986)

a. Example- Schools are subject to pressures to reduce spending, increase services, put more stress on academic performance, keep more students in school, decentralize authority, and meet regional/national standards

b. These pressures are inconsistent and interact with each other to produce even more complex patterns of demand and response (Vaill, 1989).

c. This "science of chaos" (Gleick, 1987) has made studying systems difficult, such that there is little predictability of macrolevel patterns from microlevel, and vice-versa.

B. Not only is world complex, but human ability to deal with complexity is highly restrained.

a. Cognitive and other psychological research has shown much about the ways people form judgements and make decisions, as well as the limits on our ability to do so.

b. Example: Kiesler & Sproull (1982) conclude that people tend to (1) overestimate the influence of immediate or visible causal agents - the obvious instead of the important - and (2) we are less able to see importance of subtle and long-term changes. People tend to (3) infer causality when events are linked, and (4) tend to give too much weight to what we have seen or been told most recently. Finally, we (4) are powerfully influenced by preconceptions and stereotypes.

C. How people make sense of the world also depends on the particular setting (March & Olsen, 1989)

a. What is regarded as credible, what is seen as acceptable or not, what communication patterns exist, what have been past practices, what myths and stories shape the way people think about their organization, what language is commonly used - all influence the way people think about the environment they inhabit.

D. Organizational functioning is interactive and affected by routine, values, other people and direct experience (McCall & Kaplan, 1985; studies of decision makers)

a. From the very large number of functions present at any time, people select those to act upon, and are more likely to act upon well understood processes and/or processes that have been in place for longer periods. Some influences on the likelihood to act are receiving instruction, owning the function, seeing possibility of influence, a history, meeting deadlines, and random chance.