The course culminates in a 10-page paper that analyzes an organization – outside of the student’s own organization – through the lens of Schein. To focus the final field-based project, students should analyze and make meaning of the enduring challenges of professional practice that have been experienced by members of the subject organization using Schein’s multiple organizational artifacts/beliefs and values/assumptions. Videos, pictures and relevant interviews are encouraged.
Through the final field-based project, each student will become a more skilled and informed reader of organizational settings and become more awake to how people in particular work contexts (like schools and community-based organizations) make meaning of and shape the organizations in which they work. Consider: What is the most pressing problem or problems of practice undermining the effectiveness of the subject organization?
In the final field-based project, students will use new artifacts/beliefs and values/assumptions to ask better questions and to see enduring problems of practice in the subject organization much more clearly. Students will formally and informally observe the subject organization, review its mission, purpose, goals, values, and any policy documents to see what is revealed. Students may also want to talk with administrators and teachers, or students and their parents, or people who work in or seek the help of the subject organization to understand organizational issues from other people’s perspectives. In sum, students will seek a better sense of the primary values and commitments shaping the subject organization work setting by examining the dominant artifacts/beliefs and values/assumptions shaping the policies and normative practices of the people within it. (10 pages)
Consider: Who is the subject organization serving well? Who struggles to be well-served in the subject organization? What policies and practices promote opportunity and, given what is observed, what ought to be reconsidered? In the written paper for the final field-based project, students should portray an enduring problem of practice – which means a problem that is very difficult to solve and keeps surfacing again and again in the subject organization. For example, students might consider identifying the unique problem of a group or groups of people within the subject organization whose needs are not being adequately addressed or understood. Consider: How might the student as a leader of the subject organization approach working with others to better shape the systems, values, beliefs, policies and practices within the subject organization?
The paper for the final field-based project should be divided into three distinct sections:
Section 1: Portrayal of Culture – Provide a brief overview of the subject organization, including its size and the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic status of the people the subject organization serves. In describing culture, be sure to view aspects of culture that are most relevant to the problem/s of practice addressed in this paper. Also, be sure to portray the dominant culture, subculture/s and counter cultures observed in the subject organization whenever it is relevant for understanding this context and the particular problem/s of practice the student will be focusing on in the paper.
Section 2: Organizational Analysis through the Lens of Schein (and other readings assigned in the course) – With all of Schein’s artifacts/beliefs and values/assumptions in mind, students should informally observe the work setting of the subject organization. Students may also informally talk with people and observe the corridors, classrooms, offices and lunchrooms of the subject organization to get a better sense of how this workplace is structured and with what effects. Students may want to interview or talk informally with people who work there to understand what they appreciate in the subject organization, together with what concerns them. Students should pay attention to the issues/problems that arise frequently. Also, if accessible, consider looking at the subject organization’s data to better inform the student’s thinking about the nature of these problems/issues. In this section, the student should clearly articulate enduring problem/s of practice and why each one is particularly problematic. Then, using Schein’s perspectives, analyze each identified problem of practice using multiple perspectives to frame and reframe each problem/issue. Also, consider, what is likely producing each problem or concern and how that was determined (e.g., evidence). Again, students are to explicitly use Schein’s relevant theories from artifacts/beliefs and values/assumptions to achieve deeper understanding of the problem/s of practice identified. Through this section, students will demonstrate an understanding of the subject organization and an ability to frame and reframe specific problems of practice. Through this analysis, students will shed greater light on the systems, policies and everyday practices that may be contributing to each problem/issue identified.
Section 3: Rethinking Organizational Structures, Policies and Strategies – Students are to assume that they are the newly appointed Principal or Executive Director of the subject organization. Based on what was learned during the course, the student will clearly identify how, as a leader, the student would begin to address the problem(s)/issue(s) identified. Consider: How would the student/leader work with others to inspire and shape change in this work setting? What would be the student/leader’s priorities and why? How would the student/leader go about getting others to work with you? This section of the paper is the action plan and should be clearly based on good organizational theory, including relevant citations from Schein and other relevant required course readings.
Demonstrated Competencies: Students will be able to: (i) analyze how dominant images of organization systems and behaviors shape our ways of interpreting problems of practice in organizations; (ii) identify cultures, subcultures and counter-cultures in organizations; (iii) understand why different people experience organizational systems, policies and procedures differently; (iv) identify the artifacts/beliefs and values/assumptions driving organizations through the organization’s structure, mission, goals, values, practices and written policies; (v) demonstrate competencies for assessing how current systems and processes enhance or undermine organizational mission, values and goals; (vi) demonstrate competencies in reading and assessing an organizational context using multiple perspectives for framing and understanding organizational problems; and (vii) demonstrate the ability to identify the systems, policies and practices that undermine educational opportunity and equity in work settings.
