Page 36 - ทฤษฎีและแนวปฏิบัติในการบริหารการศึกษา หน่วยที่ 1

1-26

The belief that there may be many different interpretations of events was tested
by an important piece of research in a comprehensive school in a London suburb. Ron
Best and his colleagues examined the nature of pastoral care in ‘Rivendell’, compar-
ing practice with the ‘conventional wisdom’ of the school as a caring institution. The
researchers identify five different perspectives on pastoral care, thus lending some
empirical support to the strictures of the subjective theorists. Best et al. (1983) reported
their research in a book entitled Education and Care. An extract from this work is
included as Chapter 9 of the present volume.

Another criticism levelled at bureaucratic models is that they assume that or-
ganizations are stable and predictable with clear goals. Ambiguity models, by contrast,
stress the uncertainty and complexity of institutional life. These ideas are associated
with a group of theorists from the USA. One of them describes the jumbled reality in
many organizations:

Theories of choice underestimate the confusion and complexity surrounding actual

decision making. Many things are happening at once; technologies are changing

and poorly understood; alliances, preferences, and perceptions and changing;

problems, solutions, opportunities, ideas, people, and outcomes are mixed together

in a way that makes their interpretation uncertain and their connections unclear.

(March, 1982)

The most important of the ambiguity theories is the garbage can model devel-
oped by Michael Cohen and James March. These authors claim that educational institu-
tions are characterized by uncertain goals, unclear technology and fluid participation in
decision making. They are also subject to changing demands from their environments.
An extract from their innovative book, Leadership and Ambiguity (1986), is included
as Chapter 10 of this volume.

An alternative way of conceptualizing organizational ambiguity is the loose
coupling metaphor discussed by Karl Weick. Loose coupling is taken to indicate that
coupled events are responsive but that each event retains its own identity. Thus
school or college departments may respond to other units within the institution but still
preserve their separation from such groups. Weick’s article froms Chapter 11 of this
book.