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Organizational and Educational Change

The Life and Role of A Change Agent Group

Organizational and Educational Change

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Series: Series in Organization and Management.

Jean M. Bartunek, the 2001-2002 President of the Academy of Management, has written an excellent scholarly book on organizational and educational change. Using a joint insider/outsider approach, this book tells the story of a change agent group--a group of teachers--that was creating change in its organization setting, a Network of Independent Schools. The group's focus was on empowerment and professional development for teachers in the Network. The book describes virtually everything that happened in the group over its first seven years and summarizes what happened during its final two years. It explores the identity, work, and evolution of change agent groups in organizations, with particular emphasis on teachers and educational change. Through the book's extensive quotations and narrative account, the reader is enabled to enter into the world of the teacher group studied over the course of its nine-year history.

In addition, the book includes analysis of the underlying processes involved in the change, focusing on the change agent group's identity, its actions and relationships with stakeholders as they jointly evolved over time, and their impacts on the vitality of the change effort. It contributes a new understanding of fundamental processes involved in organizational change, especially when viewed from the perspective of change agents. In addition, the book provides practical implications for change agents, specifically change agents in schools. As such, this account will be useful for graduate students and researchers in organizational change, educational leadership, and professional development. It is a part of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates growing series in organization management.

Table of Contents

Contents: A. Brief, J. Walsh, Series Editors' Foreword. Preface. The Foundations for the Work. The Founders' Vision and Design for the NFDC. An Exciting and Sometimes Difficult Beginning. The NFDC Begins to Implement Its Initiatives. A Year of Challenges. Trembling on the Edge. Dispersing Energies. A Role for the NFDC. The Vision Dims. The Triangle Model of Change Agent Group Dynamics: Evolving Identity, Actions, and Stakeholder Relationships in a Change Agent Group Setting. D.R. Wood, Implications of the NFDC's Work for Educational Policy. The Story Ends.