Friday 21 October 2011

Organisational Theory - Innovation

Michael Fullan’s (1999) chapter on change presents eight change lessons on page 18. These only have power in combination, as he explains at the end of the comprehensive explanation of each change lesson. This chapter is from an electronic book that was available for seven days. Photos of each page are on my iPad.
Fullan’s (2001) publication is also photographed on my iPad. Chapter 2 is entitled Moral Purpose. It focuses on the most important attribute of an authentic leader: character. An egoist person is self-centred and an altruistic person has unselfish motives. Effective leaders are driven by a ‘making-a-difference’ sense of purpose.
Fullan’s third chapter outlines six leadership styles, which have been identified by Goleman. The fourth chapter describes those who bring their soul to school, as is the case with very dedicated leaders. The display intellectual brilliance and emotional intelligence.
Chapter five focuses on knowledge building and chapter six explains what happens when change occurs. It is inevitable that there will be differences of opinions, but leaders need to guide people through the differences.
Sergiovanni (2000) outlines six change forces. The first three generally result in changes in school structure. The second three are tightly connected to the mediating variables and are more likely to result in deep changes. His ‘unconditional view’ and ‘constrained view’ compares selfish behaviour by principals with responsible behaviour.
Rod Gibbs (2003) stresses the importance of collaboration and flexibilty. In the education world, the word collaboration is my favourite. Two heads will always be better than one. Students my ignore their teacher’s advice regarding research, but they can’t ignore the teacher-librarian repeating and reinforcing the same advice that their teacher has given them.
Gibbs refers to the real-life collaboration that occurred at his school, Barnier Public School. James Henri (1999) is quoted as saying that teacher-librarians can impact on learning outcomes. A positive relationship between the teacher-librarian and the principal results in information literacy. If the relationship works towards common goals and a shared vision, it creates commitment, purpose and direction.
Gibbs’ vision statement contains eight excellent points. Libraries need to play a vital role in supporting and building on classroom programs. Collaborative teaching means linking classroom programs with the development of information literacy through team teaching and the inclusion of higher order thinking skills and deep understanding and knowledge. The final paragraph of this chapter is very inspiring.

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