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However, empirical evidence of the existence of collegium, particulary in schools. tends
to be sketchy and incomplete. A major weakness of this perspective is the assumption
that decisions are reached by consensus. As Baldridge et al. (1978, pp. 33-4) point out,
the harmony bias of collegial models underestimates the potential for conflict: ‘The
collegial model…fails to deal adequately with the problem of conflict…[it] neglects the
prolonged battles that precede consensus and the fact that the consensus actually
represents the prevalence of one group over another.’

The centrality of power and conflict in educational decision making is recog-
nized fully by the political models. These approaches acknowledge the prevalence of
group decision making but claim that the process is characterized by conflict. Interest
groups jockey for advantage within institutions and there is extensive bargaining and
negotiation before the conflict is resolved, usually on the basis of the relative power of
the participants. Perhaps the most influential writer on political theories in education
is the New York professor J.V. Baldridge, and an extract from his seminal work on the
political model is included as Chapter 6 of this volume.

Political models have received considerable attention in Britain and there
have been several articles on their application to schools. The British Educational
Management and Administration Society (BEMAS) devoted its 1981 conference to
‘the politics of educational improvement’ and a subsequent volume of the Soci-
ety’s journal was dedicated to micropolitics, a term sometimes preferred by British
writers. Eric Hoyle (1986) prepared one of the keynote papers for the BEMAS conference
and he subsequently expanded on his ideas in a book entitled The Polities of School
Management. An extract from this work appears as Chapter 7 in the present volume.

One of the most trenchant critics of bureaucratic models is the Canadian writer
Thomas Greenfield. He rejects the concept of the institution as a concrete reality and
argues that individuals have a subjective perception of the organization. In this view
events have different meanings for the various participants in schools and colleges.
Subjective theories also challenge the primacy of organizational structure, preferring to
emphasize process and behaviour. Gray (1982) claims that ‘structure cannot be imposed
on an organization, it can only derive from what people do’. Greenfield also dismisses
the notion of organizations as goal-seeking entities, arguing that it is individuals who
have purposes rather than institutions. Greenfield’s ideas are enunciated in the article
which forms Chapter 8 of this book.