Schools Are Special Places
Are schools special places? Or are they just organizations that share most of the features and characteristics of all other organizations? I often ask teachers and administrators those questions. They begin by pointing out how schools are similar to other organizations. But as our conversation continues, their list of how schools are different begins to grow. Pretty soon most conclude that schools are indeed special places.
Let me give you an example. Recently I asked a group of teachers and administrators in Kansas City, Mo., to name familiar enterprises in their community. The Kansas City Royals, Hallmark Cards, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, General Motors, the local mass-transit authority, two banks, a hospital, several churches, a synagogue, a local department store, two other businesses, the Polish-American Mutual Aid Society, the Y.M.C.A., a volunteer women's group, a neighborhood association, a civic group, several social clubs, and even the family were mentioned. I then asked each person, representing an enterprise they had selected, to get into a line by standing next to two others who represented similar enterprises. After some reshuffling, they were arranged in a predictable order. Toward the left end of the line were such organizations as Hallmark Cards, General Motors, the bank, and so on. Then a large gap appeared in the line. To the right side of this gap were the church, social clubs, the volunteer group, the mutual-aid association, the family, and other social enterprises. At the far left was General Motors and at the far right was the family.
We stood in that line for some time talking about the principles of leadership that were needed to make the organizations to the left of the gap in the line work effectively. But when we tried to apply these same principles to the enterprises that were to the right of the gap, they didn't seem to fit very well. It was hard to put our finger on just what were the leadership principles that seem to guide what went on in the enterprises to the right, but it was clear...
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