Organizational Behavior in Education:

Leadership and School Reform (The

Allyn & Bacon Educational Leadership
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 Contents vii

Chapter 6 The Human Dimension of Organization 157

Reconceptualizing the Nature of Organizations to Focus on
People 157
A New Paradigm of Organizational Theory 159
A Focus on People: The Rise of Qualitative Research
Methods 160
Educational Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems 161
Educational Organizations as Dual Systems 162
Building Human Capital 165
Human Resources as Assets 167
The Dark Side of Leadership 167
Human Resources Development 170
Developing Human Capital Through Positive Organizational
Culture 171
Five Basic Assumptions of Effective Schools 172
Voices From the Field: Curriculum and Professional
Development 175
Professional Development 176
Final Thoughts 177
Reflective Activities 179
Critical Incident: Turning Madison High Around 180
Suggested Reading 181
References 182

Chapter 7 Organizational Culture and Organizational Climate 184

Defining and Describing Organizational Culture and
Climate 184
The Importance of Organizational Culture 188
Organizational Culture and Organizational Climate Compared and
Contrasted 189
Organizational Culture 190
Levels of Culture 192
How Organizational Culture Is Created 193
How Organizational Climate Is Created 195
Describing and Assessing Organizational Culture in
Schools 199
Relationship Between Organizational Culture and Organizational
Effectiveness 200
Voices From the Field: Changing the Culture, Making the Grade:
Going From an F to Almost a B 203
viii Contents

Four Management Systems 205

Final Thoughts 207
Reflective Activities 208
Critical Incident: Two Schools—Two Different Cultures 209
Suggested Reading 210
References 211

Chapter 8 Organizational Change 213

Historical Context for Change 213
Historical Impact on Today’s Change Efforts 215
School Reform and Change 217
Power Relationships and School Restructuring 217
Aims of Educational Reform 219
The Tradition of Change in American Education 219
Natural Diffusion Processes 219
Planned, Managed Diffusion 221
Three Strategies of Planned Change 221
Empirical-Rational Strategies of Change 221
Power-Coercive Strategies of Change 225
Normative-Reeducative or Organizational Self-Renewal
Strategies 227
Voices From the Field: Changing the Mission and Culture to
Become a School of Choice 231
The Effectiveness of Organizational Development 240
Two Emerging Questions 241
Can the Schools Do It Alone? 242
Is School Reform Enough? 243
Final Thoughts 244
Reflective Activities 245
Critical Incident: The Man for the Job! 245
Suggested Reading 246
References 247

Chapter 9 Leadership 250

Adaptive Leadership 250
Leadership and Management 251
Power and Leadership 253
Leadership Different From Command 253
Power Defined 254
Two-Factor Leadership Theory Abandoned 256
 Contents ix

Leadership as a Relationship with Followers 257

Your Understanding of Human Nature Is Critical 259
Transformational Leadership 260
Transformational Leadership Compared and Contrasted with
Transactional Leadership 260
Moral Leadership 260
A Progression 261
A Process of Growth and Development Through Instructional
Leadership 261
Implementing Transformational and Moral Leadership 262
Distributed Leadership 262
Professional Learning Communities 263
Parent Involvement 264
Voices From the Field: Utilizing Effective School Research Through
Professional Learning Communities 266
Sustainable Leadership 268
Research on Sustainable Leader Behavior 271
Final Thoughts 273
Reflective Activities 275
Critical Incident: Leadership at North River Middle School 276
Suggested Reading 276
References 278

Chapter 10 Decision Making 280

Individual Versus Organizational Decision Making 282
Rationality in Decision Making 283
Rational Decision-Making Models 284
Limits on Rationality in Decision Making 286
The Gap Between Theory and Practice 286
Vroom and Yetton’s Five Leadership Styles 287
Seven Situation Issues 287
Decision-Process Flowchart 288
The Nature of Managerial and Administrative Work 290
How Administrators Think 291
The Influence of Organizational Culture on Decision Making 294
Closing the Gap Between Theory and Practice 295
Theory of Practice 295
Human Resources Development—A Theory of Decision
Making 296
x Contents

Participative Decision Making 297

Participative Decision Making and Empowerment 298
Participative or Democratic? 298
An Explicit Decision-Making Process 300
Who Identifies the Problem? 301
Emergent and Discrete Problems 301
Who Should Participate? 303
Desire of Individuals to Participate 303
Participation Requires High Level of Skills 304
Voices From the Field: Collaborative Decision Making 305
Paradigms for Collaborative Decision Making 306
School-Based Decision Making and the Total Teamwork System 308
Data-Based Decision Making and Total Quality Management 311
Final Thoughts 314
Reflective Activities 315
Critical Incident: Deciding How to Decide 316
Suggested Reading 316
References 317

Chapter 11 Conflict and Communications in Organizations 319

The Nature of Conflict in Organizations 319
Conflict Different From Attacks 320
Contemporary Views of Conflict 321
Effects of Organizational Conflict 321
The Criterion: Organizational Performance 322
The Dynamics of Organizational Conflict 324
Hostility 324
A Contingency View 325
A Process View of Conflict 325
A Structural View of Conflict 326
An Open-Systems View of Conflict 327
Approaches to Organizational Conflict 328
The Win-Lose Orientation to Conflict 329
A Contingency Approach to Conflict 330
Diagnosing Conflict 330
Dealing with Conflict 331
Dealing with Difficult Individuals 333
Dealing with Stress From Conflict 334
Final Thoughts 335
 Contents xi

Reflective Activities 336

Critical Incident: Conflict in the First-Grade Team 338
Suggested Reading 339
References 340

Chapter 12 School Reform 341

Market-Based School Reform 343
Origin of Market-Based Reforms 344
Economic Theory and School Reform 347
School Reform as Investment Opportunity 349
Current Status of Charter Schools 352
Vouchers 359
Successes of Market-Based Reforms 360
Privatization and Virtual Education in Higher Education 363
Standards-Based School Reform 364
Common Core State Standards 367
Assessing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) 371
The Condition of Education 372
The Achievement Gap 373
PISA and TIMSS 375
Summary Findings of EPI Study 375
Whole-School Reform 376
Increasing School Autonomy 376
Support for School Leaders 378
Research Support for CSR Models 378
Response to Intervention (RTI) 382
Voices From the Field: RTI Interventions in a Small Rural High
School 383
Teacher Education and School Reform 384
Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs 385
Federal Focus on Colleges of Education 386
A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education 386
Final Thoughts 387
Reflective Activities 388
Critical Incident: District Test Scores Decline Once Again 389
Suggested Reading 389
References 390
Glossary 396
Name Index 399
Subject Index 403
 PREFACE

NEW TO THIS EDITION

Four major goals of this new edition are the following:
1. We provide the reader with additional practical applications by adding “Voices From the
Field” in appropriate chapters.
2. We update the treatment of the subject of organizational behavior in schools so that it
includes new research and current trends.
3. We incorporate a better connection between organizational behavior, critical theory, and
critical race theory.
4. We integrate theory and practice throughout the text by discussion and expansion on ini-
tial concepts in succeeding chapters to provide additional depth of analysis and synthesis.
The following are the specific major changes to this 11th edition of Organizational Behavior
in Education:
• We have added “Voices From the Field” in appropriate chapters. We solicited examples
from practicing administrators to show how concepts are being applied in the schools
today. These “Voices” provide the reader with a connection between theory and practice as
well as help the reader critically apply “book knowledge” to organizational behavior.
• Although we briefly defined critical theory in the 10th edition in the chapter on leadership,
we have expanded the concept. We believe critical theory and critical race theory in educa-
tion have been elevated to major theories since their initial introduction in the mid-1990s.
We also believe it is important to focus on eliminating racism in schools and schooling
through a focus on CRT at all levels in the organization.
• The Critical Incidents introduced in the previous edition are being updated and moved
to the end of each chapter. Our reviewers felt that readers were not prepared to critically
analyze the Critical Incident until after they read the chapter, and we agree with our re-
viewers. After reading each chapter, a Critical Incident presents the reader with practical
issues based on the chapter content. The Critical Incident requires the reader to respond
to decision-making questions based on the facts presented and the reader’s own theory of
practice. This approach is important to the reader because (a) it develops understanding
of the practical application of the knowledge of organizational behavior to the practice of
leadership, and (b) it helps the reader to develop and internalize a personal commitment to
a practical and effective theory of practice.
• New charts and figures to support new and previously presented material have been added
in several chapters. This material helps the visual learner by presenting research findings in
easy-to-view displays. Several charts and figures were also removed as we and our review-
ers did not believe these were helpful.
• The book has been updated to make it more current in today’s fast-paced era of No Child
Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top (RTTT), accountability, and high-stakes testing.
New updated research and recent developments in the field have been added in most of
the book’s 12 chapters to replace older material. For example, we introduce the Common
Core State Standards along with a discussion of the two new assessment consortia: Smarter
Balanced Assessment Consortium and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College
xii
 Preface xiii

and Careers (PARCC). In addition, we maintained the classical research and theories that
have been the foundation of progress in educational leadership.
• Our reviewers provided us with many excellent ideas for additions and changes to this
edition. Here are a few of the major changes in addition to some of those listed above:
• We moved the chapter on motivation from the end of the book to its new location as
Chapter 5. We made this change because the theory and practice of motivation underlies
the implementation of good leadership.
• We added back to this edition in Chapter 3 a discussion of Mary Parker Follett’s contri-
bution to management theory.
• We have added to Chapter 8 some of the many contributions Michael Fullan has provided
on organizational change.
• The Marzano, Waters, and McNulty research on leadership has been included in the
discussion on leadership in Chapter 9.
• We added a discussion on data-based decision making to Chapter 10.
• Also, new to Chapter 10 is the presentation of Total Quality Management concepts to
assist in organizational decision making.
• The name and content of the chapter related to conflict in organizations (Chapter 11)
has been changed to reflect a better focus on the topic of communications: Conflict
and Communications in Organizations. In addition, we added a discussion on how
principals should deal with difficult teachers, using ideas from Todd Whitaker’s
work.
• Many of the Reflective Activities at the end of each chapter have been revised and updated.
These activities further challenge each student to develop and internalize personal com-
mitment to a defensible theory of practice in educational leadership. By studying this book
and completing the activities, the learner will develop a thoughtful and well-grounded
approach to the practice of leadership in any school setting.
The 11th edition also offers updated support to instructors via two supplements, a Test
Bank and PowerPoint® presentations. Both of these supplements can be downloaded at www
.pearsonhighered.com/educators. The supplements can be located within the Instructor’s
Resource Center, which you can access after a one-time registration.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to those individuals who assisted us with information and reviews of the
11th edition: Heather Duncan, University of Wyoming; Maria Hinojosa, Texas A&M University–
Commerce; Ricardo D. Rosa, University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth; and Rosemarye Taylor,
University of Central Florida. This group of reviewers was particularly thorough and provided
excellent guidance for revising this edition and future editions.
In addition, we want to acknowledge the following practicing administrators who add great
meaning to many of the chapters through their “Voices From the Field,” connecting the research,
theory, and concepts in this book to the “real world” of schooling:

• Peggy Aune, Principal, Manatee Middle School, Naples, Florida

• Scot Croner, K-12 Instructional Coordinator, Marion Community Schools, Marion,
Indiana
• James Gasparino, Principal, Pelican Marsh Elementary School, Naples, Florida
xiv Preface

• Kevin Gordon, former Principal, Gibbs High School, St. Petersburg, Florida; currently
Provost St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg, Florida
• Kendall Hendricks, Director of Finance, Brownsburg Community Schools Corporation,
Brownsburg, Indiana
• Rocky Killion, Superintendent, West Lafayette Community School Corporation, West
Lafayette, Indiana
• Brain Mangan, former Principal, Mariner High School, Cape Coral, Florida; currently
Principal East Lee County High School
• Jorge Nelson, former Head of School in Vienna, Austria; currently administrator for
Myanmar International School, Burma
• LaSonya Moore, Assistant Principal, Pinellas County Schools, Florida
• Steve Ritter, Principal, Lakeland High School, Deepwater, Missouri

Finally, and most importantly, we wish to thank Christopher Parfitt, a doctoral graduate student
and graduate assistant at Florida Gulf Coast University, for his research assistance, his help in
assuring our references were accurate, his help in editing and proofreading, and for his assistance
in revising the PowerPoint® slides.
R.G.O.
T.C.V.
 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP POLICY
STANDARDS FOR 2008
(Formerly Known as the ISLLC Standards)

The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards have been at the center
of Educational Leadership program reform for over a decade. In 2008, with support from the
Wallace Foundation, the standards were revised and are now called the Educational Leadership
Policy Standards. Originally, each of the six ISLLC standards included a list of knowledge,
skills, and dispositions (KSDs), totaling nearly 200 KSD indicators. About these indicators,
Joseph Murphy (2003), who was one of the primary authors of the ISLLC standards, wrote the
following:

[T]hese indicators are examples of important knowledge, practices, and beliefs, not a
full map. No effort was made to include everything or to deal with performances in
the myriad of leadership contexts. Leadership is a complex and context-dependent
activity. To attempt to envelope the concept with a definitive list of indicators is a
fool’s errand.

The authors of the ISLLC standards assumed that an entire university preparation pro-
gram, not any single course, should engender all knowledge, dispositions, and performances of
the ISLLC standards, but even then, programs were not to be evaluated based on these indicators
alone. In practice, however, the KSD indicators were used as standards themselves, which was
not the intent of the original ISLLC developers. In the revised standards document, the authors
state that “the very nature of listing examples of leadership indicators was unintentionally limit-
ing and negated other areas that could have been included in an exhaustive listing” (Council of
Chief State School Officers, 2008, p. 5). Therefore, the KSD indicators were abandoned in the
revised standards, and “functions” were added to define each standard and to assist administra-
tors in understanding the behaviors expected for each. The revised standards are purposely called
“policy standards” to help guide policy-level discussions related to educational leadership, rather
than direct practical applications.
The ISLLC standards provide the basis for evaluating university programs by the National
Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the National Policy Board for
Educational Administration (NPBEA). A brief history of the development of the ISLLC stand-
ards might help the reader understand the importance of these standards.
The NPBEA was formed in 1988 with membership from the following 10 national
associations:
• American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)
• American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
• Association of School Business Officials (ASBO)
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
• Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
• National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
• National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
• National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA)
xv
xvi Educational Leadership Policy Standards for 2008

• National School Boards Association (NSBA)

• University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA)
Later, ASBO dropped its membership in NPBEA and the National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education (NCATE) joined.
In 1994, the NPBEA formed the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC)
to develop standards for our profession. ISLLC was funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable
Trusts, and the process of developing the standards was managed by the Council of Chief State
School Officers (CCSSO) under the direction of Joseph Murphy and Neil Shipman. The NPBEA
adopted the ISLLC standards in 1996. The NPBEA then formed a working group from among
its membership to form the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC), which worked
to develop a set of standards for evaluating programs in educational leadership to be used by
NPBEA and NCATE.
There was considerable controversy surrounding the original ISLLC standards, which in-
cluded the following issues: (1) the standards did not provide a supporting research base; (2) no
weighting was given to the standards in terms of which standards (and the knowledge, disposi-
tions, and performances) were more likely to lead to higher student achievement; and (3) the
standards did not include or emphasize the importance of some critical areas, such as technol-
ogy. The NPBEA acknowledged some of these criticisms and in the summer of 2005 formed
a working group to begin a revision of the ISLLC standards. A 10-member steering commit-
tee was formed from nine of the member organizations (all except the National School Boards
Association). The NPBEA agreed that the standards would be revised under important assump-
tions, including the following:

• Revamping the ISLLC and the ELCC standards would be done at the same time.
• The ISLLC Standards for School Leaders need to be updated, not rewritten from scratch.
• The context in which both sets of standards are being revised has changed dramatically in
the past decade.
• NPBEA will own the copyright to the revised two sets of standards.
The plan was to present the final revision of the standards to the NPBEA for approval
in the spring of 2008, a goal that was achieved early because the new Educational Leadership
Policy Standards were approved in December 2007 by the NPBEA. The first of the criticisms
listed above was resolved in this revision. A research base was developed and each of the new
functions is directly connected to supporting research publications (National Policy Board for
Educational Administration, 2009). The resulting document was titled Educational Leadership
Policy Standards: ISLLC 2008.
Although we recognize that the ISLLC standards are not comprehensive of all aspects
of school leadership and that there has been significant critical discourse in the profession
about the standards, we also recognize that, as of 2008, 43 states adopted or adapted the ISLLC
standards as the basis for state certification in educational leadership and as the basis for
evaluating and approving university preparation programs (Council of Chief State School
Officers, 2008). Those states not adopting or modifying the ISLLC standards as their own have
standards with marked similarities to the ISLLC standards (Sanders & Simpson, 2005). In
view of their importance, therefore, we want to identify for you the ISLLC standards and their
accompanying functions that are significant aspects of this book. The tables on pages xx–xxii
are matrices of each ISLLC standard and indicate the functions that are contained in each
chapter. By looking at each standard table, you can see which chapters in our book contain
 Educational Leadership Policy Standards for 2008 xvii

related content. It is clear that some standards are covered more thoroughly than others. For
example, you can see from the table that Standard 4 has less related content than Standards 3
and 5. By scanning across the rows for the functions, you can determine which chapter con-
tains related material. We hope that this information is of value to students and professors
alike, and we welcome any feedback that might guide us in making this information more
useful in future editions.
 ISLLC Functions by Chapter
STANDARD 1: An education leader promotes the success of every student by facilitating the
development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared
and supported by all stakeholders.
Chapters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Functions
A. Collaboratively develop and implement a shared • • •
vision and mission
B. Collect and use data to identify goals, assess • • • • • •
organizational effectiveness, and promote
organizational learning
C. Create and implement plans to achieve goals • • • • • •
D. Promote continuous and sustainable improvement • • • • • • •
E. Monitor and evaluate progress and revise plans • • • •

STANDARD 2: An education leader promotes the success of every student by advocating, nurturing,
and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff
professional growth.
Chapters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Functions
A. Nurture and sustain a culture of collaboration, trust, • • • • • • • • •
learning, and high expectations
B. Create a comprehensive, rigorous, and coherent • • • • • •
curricular program
C. Create a personalized and motivating learning • • • • • • • •
environment for students
D. Supervise instruction • • •
E. Develop assessment and accountability systems to • • • • • • • •
monitor student progress
F. Develop the instructional and leadership capacity • • • • • •
of staff
G. Maximize time spent on quality instruction • • • • •
H. Promote the use of the most effective and • • • • • • • • •
appropriate technologies to support teaching
and learning
I. Monitor and evaluate the impact of the instructional • • • • •
program

xviii
 ISLLC Functions by Chapter xix

STANDARD 3: An education leader promotes the success of every student by ensuring management
of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

Chapters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Functions
A. Monitor and evaluate the management and • • • •
operational systems
B. Obtain, allocate, align, and efficiently utilize human, • • • •• •
fiscal, and technological resources
C. Promote and protect the welfare and safety of • •
students and staff
D. Develop the capacity for distributed leadership • • • • • • • • •
E. Ensure teacher and organizational time is focused to • • •
support quality instruction and student learning

STANDARD 4: An education leader promotes the success of every student by collaborating with
faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and
mobilizing community resources.
Chapters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Functions
A. Collect and analyze data and information pertinent • • • • • •
to the educational environment
B. Promote understanding, appreciation, and use of the • • • • • •
community’s diverse cultural, social, and intellectual
resources
C. Build and sustain positive relationships with families • • • • • • • •
and caregivers
D. Build and sustain productive relationships with • • • • •
community partners
xx ISLLC Functions by Chapter

STANDARD 5: An education leader promotes the success of every student by acting with
integrity and fairness, and in an ethical manner.

Chapters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Functions
A. Ensure a system of accountability for every student’s • • •
academic and social success
B. Model principles of self-awareness, reflective practice, • • • • • •
transparency, and ethical behavior
C. Safeguard the values of democracy, equity, and • •
diversity
D. Consider and evaluate the potential moral and legal • • • • •
consequences of decision making
E. Promote social justice and ensure that individual • • • • • •
student needs inform all aspects of schooling

STANDARD 6: An education leader promotes the success of every student by understanding,

responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

Chapters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Functions
A. Advocate for children, families, and caregivers • •
B. Act to influence local, district, state, and national • • • • • • •
decisions affecting student learning
C. Assess, analyze, and anticipate emerging trends and • • • • • •
initiatives in order to adapt leadership strategies
 NPBEA DISTRICT-LEVEL STANDARDS

New to national standards in 2011 were district level standards developed by the National
Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA). The document is entitled Educational
Leadership Program Recognition Standards: District Level (National Policy Board for Educational
Administration, 2011). These standards, based on the ISLLC standards, were designed prima-
rily for university preparation programs to receive national accreditation by the Educational
Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC). The major difference with the ISLLC standards is the
addition of Standard 7 related to internship programs. Due to their importance to preparation
programs, we list these standards below. Matrices (or crosswalks) mapping these district-level
standards to the ISLLC standards and comprehensive research support for each standard are
provided in the NPBEA document listed above. In addition, Canole and Young (2013) provided
an in-depth analysis of the ISLLC and ELCC standards in their report published by the Council
of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). In their report, Canole and Young provided the history
of the standards; the research base for the standards; and crosswalks of the ELCC standards to
not only the ISLLC standards but also to other national standards, such as InTASC teacher stand-
ards, NASSP, and NAESP standards. They also report their analysis of the Wallace Foundation
Principal Pipeline Initiative in which six districts adapted the ELCC standards to develop strong
principal preparation and succession programs (Charlotte-Mecklenburg in North Carolina;
Denver, Colorado; Gwinnett County in Georgia; Hillsborough County in Florida (Tampa area);
New York City; and Prince George’s County in Maryland).
To receive national recognition by the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC),
university preparation programs are evaluated on the Educational Leadership Program Recognition
Standards: District Level (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2011).

ELCC STANDARD 1.0:

A district level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student by
facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a shared district
vision of learning through the collection and use of data to identify district goals, assess organi-
zational effectiveness, and implement district plans to achieve district goals; promotion of con-
tinual and sustainable district improvement; and evaluation of district progress and revision of
district plans supported by district stakeholders.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 1.1: Candidates understand and can collaboratively develop, articulate, implement,
and steward a shared district vision of learning for a school district.
ELCC 1.2: Candidates understand and can collect and use data to identify district goals,
assess organizational effectiveness, and implement district plans to achieve district goals.
ELCC 1.3: Candidates understand and can promote continual and sustainable district im-
provement.
ELCC 1.4: Candidates understand and can evaluate district progress and revise district
plans supported by district stakeholders.

xxi
xxii NPBEA District-Level Standards

ELCC STANDARD 2.0:

A district-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every
student by sustaining a district culture conducive to collaboration, trust, and a personal-
ized learning environment with high expectations for students; creating and evaluating
a comprehensive, rigorous, and coherent curricular and instructional district program;
developing and supervising the instructional and leadership capacity across the district;
and promoting the most effective and appropriate technologies to support teaching and
learning within the district.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 2.1: Candidates understand and can advocate, nurture, and sustain a district culture
and instructional program conducive to student learning through collaboration, trust, and
a personalized learning environment with high expectations for students.
ELCC 2.2: Candidates understand and can create and evaluate a comprehensive, rigorous,
and coherent curricular and instructional district program.
ELCC 2.3: Candidates understand and can develop and supervise the instructional and
leadership capacity across the district.
ELCC 2.4: Candidates understand and can promote the most effective and appropriate
district technologies to support teaching and learning within the district.

ELCC STANDARD 3.0:

A district-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student by
ensuring the management of the district’s organization, operation, and resources through moni-
toring and evaluating district management and operational systems; efficiently using human,
fiscal, and technological resources within the district; promoting district-level policies and proce-
dures that protect the welfare and safety of students and staff across the district; developing dis-
trict capacity for distributed leadership; and ensuring that district time focuses on high-quality
instruction and student learning.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 3.1: Candidates understand and can monitor and evaluate district management and
operational systems.
ELCC 3.2: Candidates understand and can efficiently use human, fiscal, and technological
resources within the district.
ELCC 3.3: Candidates understand and can promote district-level policies and procedures
that protect the welfare and safety of students and staff across the district.
ELCC 3.4: Candidates understand and can develop district capacity for distributed
leadership.
ELCC 3.5: Candidates understand and can ensure that district time focuses on supporting
high-quality school instruction and student learning.

ELCC STANDARD 4.0:

A district-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student by
collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests
 NPBEA District-Level Standards xxiii

and needs, and mobilizing community resources for the district by collecting and analyzing
information pertinent to improvement of the district’s educational environment; promoting
an understanding, appreciation, and use of the community’s diverse cultural, social, and intel-
lectual resources throughout the district; building and sustaining positive district relationships
with families and caregivers; and cultivating productive district relationships with community
partners.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 4.1: Candidates understand and can collaborate with faculty and community mem-
bers by collecting and analyzing information pertinent to the improvement of the district’s
educational environment.
ELCC 4.2: Candidates understand and can mobilize community resources by promoting
understanding, appreciation, and use of the community’s diverse cultural, social, and in-
tellectual resources throughout the district.
ELCC 4.3: Candidates understand and can respond to community interests and needs by
building and sustaining positive district relationships with families and caregivers.
ELCC 4.4: Candidates understand and can respond to community interests and needs by
building and sustaining productive district relationships with community partners.

ELCC STANDARD 5.0:

A district-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student
by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner to ensure a district system of ac-
countability for every student’s academic and social success by modeling district principles of
self-awareness, reflective practice, transparency, and ethical behavior as related to their roles
within the district; safeguarding the values of democracy, equity, and diversity within the dis-
trict; evaluating the potential moral and legal consequences of decision-making in the district;
and promoting social justice within the district to ensure individual student needs inform all
aspects of schooling.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 5.1: Candidates understand and can act with integrity and fairness to ensure a dis-
trict system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success.
ELCC 5.2: Candidates understand and can model principles of self-awareness, reflective
practice, transparency, and ethical behavior as related to their roles within the district.
ELCC 5.3: Candidates understand and can safeguard the values of democracy, equity, and
diversity within the district.
ELCC 5.4: Candidates understand and can evaluate the potential moral and legal conse-
quences of decision making in the district.
ELCC 5.5: Candidates understand and can promote social justice within the district to en-
sure individual student needs inform all aspects of schooling.

ELCC STANDARD 6.0:

A district-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student by un-
derstanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural
context within the district through advocating for district students, families, and caregivers; acting to
xxiv NPBEA District-Level Standards

influence local, district, state, and national decisions affecting student learning; and anticipating and
assessing emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt district-level leadership strategies.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 6.1: Candidates understand and can advocate for district students, families, and
caregivers.
ELCC 6.2: Candidates understand and can act to influence local, district, state, and national
decisions affecting student learning in a district environment.
ELCC 6.3: Candidates understand and can anticipate and assess emerging trends and
initiatives in order to adapt district-level leadership strategies.

ELCC STANDARD 7.0:

A district-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student in
a substantial and sustained educational leadership internship experience that has district-based
field experiences and clinical practice within a district setting and is monitored by a qualified,
on-site mentor.
ELCC Standard Elements:
ELCC 7.1: Substantial Experience: The program provides significant field experiences
and clinical internship practice for candidates within a district environment to synthesize
and apply the content knowledge and develop professional skills identified in the other
Educational Leadership District-Level Program Standards through authentic, district-
based leadership experiences.
ELCC 7.2: Sustained Experience: Candidates are provided a six-month concentrated (9–12
hours per week) internship that includes field experiences within a district environment.
ELCC 7.3: Qualified On-site Mentor: An on-site district mentor who has demonstrated
successful experience as an educational leader at the district level and is selected collabora-
tively by the intern and program faculty with training by the supervising institution.

REFERENCES
Canole, M., & Young, M. (2013). Standards for educational leaders: An analysis. Washington, DC: CCSSO.
Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008, June). Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC 2008. As
Adopted by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration, Washington, DC: Council of Chief
State School Officers. Retrieved from http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2008/Educational_Leadership_
Policy_Standards_2008.pdf
Murphy, J. (2003, September). Reculturing educational leadership: The ISLLC standards ten years out. Paper
prepared for the National Policy Board for Educational Administration. Retrieved from www.npbea.
org/Resources/catalog.html
National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2011). Educational leadership program recognition
standards: District level. Alexandria, VA: NPBEA.
National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2009, June). Major projects. Retrieved from http://
www.npbea.org/projects.php
Sanders, N. M., & Simpson, J. (2005). State policy framework to develop highly qualified administrators.
Washington, DC: CCSSO.
 CHAPTER 1
Organizational and
Critical Theory

A
school is a world in which people live and work. Like any other social organization,
the world of the school has power, structure, logic, and values, which combine to exert
strong influence on the ways in which individuals perceive the world, interpret it, and
respond to it. In short, the behavior of people at work in an educational organization—individu-
ally as well as in a group—is not merely a reflection of their individual unique personalities but is
powerfully shaped and molded by the social norms and expectations of the culture that prevail in
the organization. This interplay between individuals and the social environment of their world at
work is a powerful agent in the creation of organizational behavior, the behavior of people in the
school organization. Those who want to be effective educational leaders must have a clear grasp
of the essentials of organizational behavior in deciding how to engage in the practice of leader-
ship. As you read this text, you should think about what you read, question it, challenge it, and
ask yourself—and discuss with other people—how it all fits into the practical realities of your
work, your experience, and your personal view of the world. By being a reflective practitioner,
this text will be much more useful to you both now and in the future.

SCHOOLS AS EDUCATIVE ORGANIZATIONS

Although U.S. schools have tended throughout their history to reflect the values and views of
industry, commerce, and the military, it is becoming increasingly clear that schools are in fact dis-
tinct, if not unique, kinds of organizations that differ in important ways from industrial, commer-
cial, governmental, or military organizations. Because schools are unique among organizations,
they require ways of thinking, styles of leadership, and approaches to administrative practice that
are especially suited to them.
The uniqueness of educational organizations resides in their educative mission. Many
organizations are created for the basic purpose of making money by manufacturing prod-
ucts, selling them, or providing for-profit ancillary services that support those activities.
Governments create a vast array of organizations that, collectively, are intended to provide
public order and security. The distinctive mission of the schools to educate requires organiza-
tions that, by their very nature, enhance the continuing growth and development of people
to become more fully functioning individuals. Such organizations must foster the learning,
personal growth, and development of all participants, including student as well as adults at work
in the school.

1
2 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory

Educative organizations seek to increase the personal and interpersonal competencies of

their participants, to develop the skills of the group in collaborating, to make hidden assumptions
explicit and to examine them for what they mean in terms of individual and group behavior, to
enact cooperative group behavior that is caring and supportive of others, to manage conflict
productively and without fear, and to share information and ideas fully. They place high value
on and support openness, trust, caring, and sharing; they always strive for consensus but support
and value those who think differently; and they prize human growth and development above all.
Effective educational leaders, then, strive for a vision of the school as one that seeks to be engaged
in a never-ending process of change and development, a “race without a finish line” (or kaizen,
as the Japanese call constant growth achieved through small incremental steps), rather than one
that seeks the big dramatic breakthrough, the mythical silver bullet, that will, supposedly, finally
make everything right.
The processes of becoming (McGregor, 1960)—of people growing and developing as
individuals and as group members, and of the organization doing so, too—combine to create the
essence of enduring vitality in organizational life, while academic outcomes are transient, ephem-
eral evidence that the processes are working. The conundrum of power is a major concern in the
environment of the educational organization: Hierarchy prevails. We have never found a sub-
stitute for hierarchy in organizational life, but there is much that we can ethically and honestly
do to share power and distribute it more equitably in efforts to minimize its deleterious effects
on the behavior of people in the organization. In the process, we can make the school a more
growth-enhancing environment, which is a very different concept of organization from what one
generally finds in industrial and business organizations, and it should be because the essential,
unique mission of schools is educative.

ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY
Discussion of different perspectives that may be used in thinking about organizations, bureau-
cratic and nonbureaucratic, is really discussion of organizational theory. Practicing educational
administrators are commonly skeptical of theory, often thinking of it as some ideal state or idle
notion—commonly associated with the pejorative term ivory tower. This attitude is often ration-
alized by those who work in schools by stating they must deal with the tough practicalities of
daily life in the “real world.” Far from being removed from daily life, however, theory is crucial
in shaping our everyday perception and understanding of commonplace events. School leaders
need to know about organizational theory so that they can think more clearly about making
better-informed choices in a world where things are characteristically ambiguous, uncertain,
unclear, or unknown.

Theory Defined and Described

Theory is not a guess or a hunch. Theory is systematically organized knowledge thought to explain
observed phenomena. Good theory is based on good research (we discuss research practices later
in this chapter). Just as we have theories about the causes of disease, the forces that make it pos-
sible for airplanes to fly, and the nature of the solar system, we also have theories about organiza-
tions and how they work. Just as there are theoretical reasons that underlie the fact that we know
we should wash our hands frequently, exercise regularly, and maintain a nutritionally sound diet,
there should be theoretical underpinnings to our understanding of schools as organizations and
how to make them more effective.
 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory 3

Theory is useful insofar as it provides a basis for thinking systematically about complex
problems, such as understanding the nature of educational organizations. It is useful because it
enables us to describe what is going on, explain it, predict future events under given circumstances,
and—essential to the professional practitioner—think about ways to exercise control over events.

Two Major Perspectives on Educational Organizations

Since the dawn of organizational studies in the twentieth century, people have generally elected
to conceptualize organizations in one of two ways. One way is traditional theory, usually called
bureaucratic, though it is often sardonically referred to by staunch critics of public schooling as
the factory model of organization. Whatever name is used, bureaucratic organization conjures in
one’s mind some well-worn stereotypes:

• The eighteenth-century army of Frederick the Great, with its characteristically robot like
regimentation, top-down authority, all controlled by extensive written detailed rules and
directives—the “book” by which the organization is run
• Franz Kafka’s famously vivid, indelible images that depict bureaucracy as a nightmarish,
maddeningly indecipherable, obtuse organization that creates bizarre unpredictable out-
comes in the name of sweet reason

Nevertheless, bureaucratic organization remains by far the most common theory of organization
worldwide. Indeed, to many people in the world, bureaucracy is the defining concept, the very
essence, of what an organization is. However, as time passed and the world changed, a second
way of understanding organizations arose.
The second way is the contemporary nonbureaucratic theory that developed in large
part from the constant growth and accelerating tempo of change in today’s world. The
present-day acceleration in the development of technology and changes in politics, economics,
and society have generally left rigid bureaucracies floundering and unresponsive. To thrive in
today’s rapidly changing world, schools must be nimble, adaptive to change, and constantly
evolving. These are the kinds of organizations that Peter Senge (1990) called learning organiza-
tions. They are not only adaptable to new challenges emerging in the world but are also adaptable
to the worldwide rise in expectations for increased democracy, personal freedom, individual
respect and dignity, and opportunities for self-fulfillment.

BUREAUCRATIC THEORY The bureaucratic approach tends to emphasize the following five
mechanisms in dealing with issues of controlling and coordinating the behavior of people in the
organization:

1. Maintain firm hierarchical control of authority and close supervision of those in the
lower ranks. The role of the administrator as inspector and evaluator is stressed in this
concept.
2. Establish and maintain adequate vertical communication. This practice helps to en-
sure that good information will be transmitted up the hierarchy to the decision makers,
and orders will be clearly and quickly transmitted down-the-line for implementation.
Because the decision makers must have accurate information concerning the operating
level in order to make high-quality decisions, the processing and communicating of in-
formation up-the-line is particularly important but often not especially effective. The use
4 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory

of computers to facilitate this communication is highly attractive to adherents of bureau-

cratic concepts.
3. Develop clear written rules and procedures to set standards and guide actions. These
include curriculum guides, policy handbooks, instructions, standard forms, duty rosters,
rules and regulations, and standard operating procedures.
4. Promulgate clear plans and schedules for participants to follow. These include teachers’
lesson plans, bell schedules, pull-out schedules, meeting schedules, budgets, lunch sched-
ules, special teacher schedules, bus schedules, and many others.
5. Add supervisory and administrative positions to the hierarchy of the organization
as necessary to meet problems that arise from changing conditions confronted by the
organization. For example, as school districts and schools grew in size, positions such as
assistant principal, chairperson, director, and coordinator appeared. As programs became
more complex, positions for specialists (director of special education, coordinator of sub-
stance abuse programs, school psychologist, compliance officer, and school social worker,
to name a few) appeared.

The widespread acceptance of these bureaucratic mechanisms as the preferred way for
exercising control and coordination in schools is illustrated by the reform movement that
emerged in 1983, when A Nation at Risk was published during the Reagan presidency. The
effectiveness of schools became a major theme in the political agenda on education and joined
the linked duo that had been inherited from the 1970s—equality and access. Although there had
been a steadily growing body of research literature on effective schools and what they were like,
a nearly unrelated reform movement suddenly erupted in 1983 that—in the popular press and
electronic media, at least—seized the center stage and strongly influenced numerous efforts to
improve the functioning of schools. This point is of interest to us here because it illustrates the
very strong conviction of many political leaders that bureaucratic methods are appropriate in
thinking about schools and how to improve them.
Clearly, there is a strong tendency for some educational reformers to keep in mind bureau-
cratic methods or some other set of assumptions about the nature of schools on which the logic
of their efforts pivots. Often those assumptions are the same as those underlying the traditional
factory, in which management decides what is to be done, directs the workers to do it, then
supervises them closely to be sure that the directives are followed in full. But as Doyle and Hartle
(1985) observed:

It simply doesn’t work that way. The impulse to reform the schools from the top
down is understandable: it is consistent with the history of management science. The
explicit model for such reform was the factory; Frederick Taylor’s scientific man-
agement revolution did for the schools the same thing that it did for business and
industry—created an environment whose principal characteristics were pyramidal
organization. . . . The teacher was the worker on the assembly line of education; the
student, the product; the superintendent, the chief executive officer; the school trus-
tees, the board of directors; and the taxpayer, the shareholder. (p. 24)

These beliefs seem to undergird the current reform strategy, as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Act of 2001 demonstrates. At the time of this writing, a year into President Barack Obama’s sec-
ond term, it seemed clear that this trend would continue. It also seemed clear, based on Race to
the Top (RTTT) foci, that the scope and power of the federal role in education policy would be
 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory 5

expanded on an unprecedented scale. Both NCLB and RTTT made extraordinary amounts of
funding available to the states from Washington, DC. But the money awarded by RTTT to some
states came with strict requirements, such as states must use common standards assessed by com-
mon assessments, and they must develop teacher and administrator accountability evaluation
systems, in part based on student test scores.
Also, at the time of this writing, we were still awaiting the revision of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA), delayed by the eruption of the overwhelming worldwide eco-
nomic downturn in 2008 and 2009. We expect the ESEA to be reauthorized sometime in 2014.
While it was recognized that the 2001 version of ESEA, which had been named the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001, had been a major breakthrough in the history of U.S. public education, it
had also given rise to significant problems. The outcome of the entire enterprise would unques-
tionably hinge on the extent to which the conviction of those with political power in Washington
and the state capitals would remain unshakable about the following:

1. That they have the best ideas about how to bring about improvement in school outcomes
in the classrooms of the 95,000 or so schools in the United States
2. That they have sufficient knowledge about the circumstances in the classrooms in those
school districts to make the judgments necessary to draw up action plans and legal man-
dates to implement the top-down organizational strategy in the belief that it is incontesta-
bly the most promising option available to bring about the desired changes that are sought
in the schools

The NCLB Act was—in the history of the Republic until that time—the boldest venture on the
part of the federal government to redirect the schooling of children throughout the land. By
2013, federal participation continued to escalate on an unprecedented scale. It will take more
time to see how well founded the beliefs so confidently held by politicians in Washington and in
the state capitals actually were. We will discuss NCLB later in this chapter and refer to it through-
out this book as it touches on many topics in the study of organizational behavior.

HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT THEORY As we have suggested, there is a very differ-

ent set of assumptions about the organizational characteristics of schools and the behavior of
teachers in their classrooms. It is a view that places the teacher foremost in creating instructional
change and therefore questions the wisdom of any change strategy that seeks to force change
upon the teacher arbitrarily and without his or her participation in the processes of deciding
what should be done. As we have seen, this is far from a new view of organization. But recent
failures of bureaucratic methods to rectify severe organizational difficulties—especially in the
corporate world—coupled with the emergence of newer organizational perspectives (such as
the power of organizational cultures to influence behavior) has brought newer, nonbureaucratic
concepts to the fore as a major way to think about organizational issues.
Bureaucratic organizations strive to create organizational cultures that place strong
emphasis on the primacy of the organization’s officially prescribed rules, and their enforcement, as
the central means of influencing individual participants to perform dependably in predictable
ways. Nonbureaucratic approaches, in contrast, emphasize developing a culture in the organiza-
tion that harnesses the conscious thinking of individual persons about what they are doing as
a means of involving their commitment, abilities, and energies in achieving the goals of the
organization. The central mechanism through which the nonbureaucratic organization exercises
coordination and control is the socialization of participants about the values and goals of the
6 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory

organization, rather than through written rules and close supervision. Through this intense so-
cialization, participants identify personally with the values and purposes of the organization and
are motivated to see the organization’s goals and needs as being closely congruent with their
own. Thus, the culture of the organization epitomizes not only what the organization stands for
and expects but also the core beliefs and aspirations of the individual participants themselves.
The culture of an organization makes clear what the organization stands for—its values, its
beliefs, its true (often as distinguished from its publicly stated) goals—and provides tangible
ways by which individuals in the organization may personally identify with that culture. The
culture of an organization is communicated through symbols: typically in the form of stories,
myths, legends, and rituals that establish, nourish, and keep alive the enduring values and beliefs
that give meaning to the organization and make clear how individuals become and continue to
be part of the saga of the organization as it develops through time.
In this view, close inspection and supervision are far from the only means of ensuring the
predictable performance of participants. Personal identification with and commitment to the
values of the organization’s culture can provide powerful motivation for dependable perform-
ance even under conditions of great uncertainty and stress. Consider, for example, what causes
an individual to join an organization, stay in it, and work toward that organization’s goals. For
principles of human resources development theory to work, leaders need to believe in a particu-
lar philosophy of human behavior in the organization. Douglas McGregor helps us understand
leader philosophy about people and the organization. His depiction of leader philosophy is called
Theory X and Theory Y (McGregor, 1960).

THEORY X AND THEORY Y Theory X rests on four assumptions that the administrator may
hold:

1. The average person inherently dislikes work and will avoid it whenever possible.
2. Because people dislike work, they must be supervised closely; they must be directed,
coerced, or threatened with punishment in order for them to put forth adequate effort
toward the achievement of organizational objectives.
3. The average worker will shirk responsibility and seek formal direction from those in charge.
4. Most workers value job security above other job-related factors and have little ambition.

Administrators who—tacitly or explicitly—think that these are basic facts of organizational life
will, of course, use them as a guide when dealing with employees in the organization.
Theory Y embraces very different assumptions about the nature of people at work:

1. If it is satisfying to them, employees will view work as natural and as acceptable as play.
2. People at work will exercise initiative, self-direction, and self-control on the job if they are
committed to the objectives of the organization.
3. The average person, under proper conditions, learns not only to accept responsibility on
the job but also to seek it.
4. The average employee values creativity—that is, the ability to make good decisions—and
seeks opportunities to be creative at work.

Administrators who—tacitly or explicitly—accept this explanation of the nature of human beings

at work could reasonably be expected to deal with subordinates in ways that are quite different
from those who hold Theory X views.
 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory 7

These theories are not something for you to accept or reject; they are merely a simple illustra-
tion of how theoretical views of the organization are actually used by practitioners of educational
administration in their work—a guide to rational decisions and actions on the firing line. Those of
us with administrative, management, or leadership responsibilities tend to believe that one of these
theoretic statements more accurately represents the nature of reality in the organization than the
other does. Leaders will generally act in ways that are harmonious with the theoretic statement that
they think is true. Those who tend to hold a Theory X view of people, for example, tend to believe
that motivation is basically a matter of the carrot and the stick; they tend to readily accept the neces-
sity for close, detailed supervision of subordinates, and they tend to accept the inevitability of the
need to exercise down-the-line decision making. Collegial approaches to organizational life tend to
be viewed as perhaps a nice ideal in the abstract but not very practical in the real world of schools.
As Chris Argyris (1971) put it, Theory X views give rise to Behavior Pattern A on the part
of leaders. This pattern of behavior may take one of two principal forms:

1. Behavior Pattern A, hard, is characterized by no-nonsense, strongly directive leadership,

tight controls, and close supervision.
2. Behavior Pattern A, soft, involves a good deal of persuading, “buying” compliance from subor-
dinates, benevolent paternalism, or so-called “good” (that is, manipulative) human relations.

In either case, Behavior Pattern A, whether acted out in its hard or its soft form, has the clear
intention of motivating, controlling, and managing in the classical sense. It is based on Theory X
assumptions about the nature of human beings at work.
Theory Y assumptions that leaders hold about people at work are very different. Theory Y
assumptions give rise to Behavior Pattern B on the part of the leader. This style is characterized
by commitment to mutually shared objectives, high levels of trust, mutual respect, and helping
people in the organization to get satisfaction from the work itself. Pattern B leadership may well
be demanding, explicit, and thoroughly realistic, but it is essentially collaborative. It is a pattern
of leader behavior that is intended to be more effective and productive than Pattern A because it
is thought to reflect a more accurate understanding of what people at work are really like.
In this discussion of the relationship between theory and understanding organizational
behavior in schools, it should be emphasized—as Argyris cautioned—that Behavior Pattern A,
soft, is often superficially mistaken for Behavior Pattern B. This ambiguity has caused consider-
able confusion among those trying to apply these theoretic ideas to schools:

Behavior associated with Theory Y assumptions is basically developmental. Here

supervisors focus on building identification of and commitment to worthwhile objec-
tives in the work context and upon building mutual trust and respect in the inter-
personal context. Success in the work and the interpersonal contexts are assumed
interdependent, with important satisfactions for individuals being achieved within the
context of accomplishing important work. (Siepert & Likert, 1973, p. 3)

But the Behavior Pattern A, soft, approach often used by supervisors to manipulate teachers
into compliance with what is basically highly directive management—in the guise of “good human
relations”—has done much in U.S. education to discredit the plausibility of Theory Y as applica-
ble to the real world of schools and school systems. Siepert and Likert concluded that “by treating
teachers in a kindly way it is assumed that they will become sufficiently satisfied and sufficiently
passive so that supervisors and administrators can run the school with little resistance” (p. 4).
8 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory

LIKERT’S FOUR SYSTEMS The practical usefulness of thinking in this way is illustrated by the
work of Rensis Likert. In more than 30 years of research in schools as well as in industrial organi-
zations, Likert identified a range of management styles, called Systems 1, 2, 3, and 4. The defini-
tions of each system are explained in terms of leader behavior and how others in the organization
are involved in decision-making processes: These systems range on a continuum from authori-
tarian leader behavior and no involvement by others in decision-making process in System 1,
to collaborative leadership and broad involvement by others in decision making in System 4.
Figure 1.1 defines each system and juxtaposes Likert’s four systems with McGregor’s Theory
X and Theory Y. Likert’s studies supported the hypothesis that the crucial variable that differ-
entiates more effective from less effective organizations is human behavior in the organization.
Blake and Mouton (1969) found that effective organizations involve individuals in important or-
ganizational decisions. They submitted that System 4 management is most effective and System
1 least effective. In examining extensive research on school organizations specifically, Gordon
Lippitt (1969) agreed with Blake and Mouton’s conclusions.
Both McGregor and Likert were basically concerned, not with being nice to people or mak-
ing work pleasant, but with understanding how to make organizations more effective, which is as
pressing a need in business and industry as it is in education. This general point of view is widely

THEORY X System 1 Management is seen as having no trust in subordinates.

a. Decision imposed—made at the top.
b. Subordinates motivated by fear, threats, punishment.
c. Control centered on top management.
d. Little superior—subordinate interaction.
e. People informally opposed to goal by management.
System 2 Management has condescending confidence and trust in
subordinates.
a. Subordinates seldom involved in decision making.
b. Rewards and punishment used to motivate.
c. Interaction used with condescension.
d. Fear and caution displayed by subordinates.
e. Control centered on top management but some delegation.
System 3 Management is seen as having substantial but not complete trust
in subordinates.
a. Subordinates make specific decisions at lower levels.
b. Communication flows up and down the hierarchy.
c. Rewards, occasional punishment, and some involvement are
used to motivate.
d. Moderate interaction and fair trust exist.
e. Control is delegated downward.
THEORY Y System 4 Management is seen as having complete trust and confidence in
subordinates.
a. Decision making is widely dispersed.
b. Communication flows up and down and laterally.
c. Motivation is by participation and rewards.
d. Extensive, friendly, superior—subordinate interaction exists.
e. High degree of confidence and trust exists.
f. Widespread responsibility for the control process exists.
FIGURE 1.1 Likert’s Management Systems Theory Related to McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory 9

and strongly supported by a vast amount of organizational research. Robert R. Blake’s and Jane
Srygley Mouton’s (1969) organizational research, Gordon Lippitt’s (1969) studies of organiza-
tional renewal, and Paul Berman’s and Milbrey McLaughlin’s (1978) extensive studies of change
in U.S. schools are only a few of the many early studies that supported the general theoretic posi-
tion that pioneers such as McGregor and Likert held.
Traditional classical organizational views (bureaucratic theory) would indicate the oppo-
site practices: tighten up rules and procedures, exercise stronger discipline and tougher man-
agement, and demand more work from subordinates. In the parlance of neoclassical theory
exemplified in NCLB, the focus is on teacher accountability, specified performance objectives,
and market-based approaches to reform. Yet much of the best research in organizational behav-
ior strongly suggests that this latter approach would be, at best, self-defeating. Throughout this
book, we present evidence to support this claim.
A word of caution is in order here. Bureaucratic and human resources perspectives have
been compared and contrasted as ideal cases for the purpose of clarifying and delineating the
very real, basic differences between them. In the real world of schools, of course, one rarely
encounters ideal cases, which is not to suggest that organizations cannot properly be classified as
being bureaucratic or nonbureaucratic. Indeed, they can be and often are. Nor does it mean that,
to be described as nonbureaucratic, an organization must be totally devoid of policies, regula-
tions, and standard operating procedures, or that to be described as bureaucratic, an organiza-
tion must be totally devoid of sensitivity to or respect for people. This fact is particularly true of
schools, which are bureaucratic in some ways and nonbureaucratic in some very important ways.
What it does suggest is that organizations may be properly described as relatively bureaucratic or
relatively nonbureaucratic. It also suggests that schools are undoubtedly far more organization-
ally complex than is generally understood.

CRITICAL THEORY
A group of educational academicians who subscribe to a type of social criticism known as criti-
cal theory (CT) have had a major impact on how we view organizations and leadership. These
theorists have been especially sensitive to and vociferous about shortcomings in the school hier-
archy, particularly traditional bureaucratic institutions with top-down authority and limited
allowances for typically marginalized groups to add their voices to organizational governance.
Critical theory holds that institutionalized oppression of groups of people in a society—
cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender groups—is often supported by the oppressed peoples them-
selves, who believe the system to be in their own best interests. This coercion, critical theorists
contend, is achieved by the manipulation of meaning by those in power to legitimate the values
and beliefs of the power elite: “In essence, the oppressed groups work to support the interest of
the dominant groups. By doing so, they consent to their own oppression” (Palmer & Maramba,
2011, p. 439). In that view, some critical theorists in the Marxian tradition would say—indeed
have said—that workers in capitalist societies are oppressed by the powerful capitalist class but
do not perceive it because, through control of the press, education, organized religion, and other
social institutions, those in power systematically induce workers to believe that the values and
beliefs of the capitalist class are legitimate and in the workers’ best interests.
Paulo Freire (1970) is often credited with bringing CT to education in his famous work
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in which he analyzed educational practices and their impact on the
poor and other marginalized groups. He contended that education should not treat children as
empty, passive vessels into which teachers implant knowledge, which he called banking; education
10 Chapter 1 • Organizational and Critical Theory

in his view should be problem-posing in which teachers and students engage in dialogue and stu-
dents are proactive learners in their own knowledge acquisition. These concepts gave rise to the
term critical pedagogy. In this way, he believed that education could mobilize social transforma-
tion. Freire was from Brazil, and although his work had an impact in the United States, CT was
firmly planted in the United States by the works of Michael Apple (1971, 1986) and Henry Giroux
(1983). Other notables in their field are Derek Bell (1992), Richard Delgado (1995), and Peter
McLauren (1998), among others. Often Jonathan Kozol (1991, 1995, 2005) is considered a critical
theorist for exposing the problems of poverty on children in U.S. schools, beginning with Savage
Inequalities in 1991; his research brought to light the effects of poverty on schools and children to
many in mainstream education circles. Kozol showed how students living in poverty were typi-
cally in schools with insufficient funding and fewer highly qualified teachers; this condition, Kozol
showed, hindered students’ ability to meet educational standards set by states and school districts.

Critical Race Theory

When CT is applied to race, and specifically in education to the achievement gap, it is also termed
Critical Race Theory (CRT), which is defined by Solórzano (1997) as scholarship and discourse
on race and racism in an attempt to eliminate racism and racial stereotypes from society, includ-
ing laws, social policy, and organizational cultures. Box 1.1 presents the tenets of CRT as defined
by DeCuir and Dixson (2004).
A major contributor in bringing CRT to education is Gloria Ladson-Billings who credited
others with its origins: “Our work owes an intellectual debt to both Carter G. Woodson and
W. E. B. DuBois, who, although marginalized by the mainstream academic community, used race
as a theoretical lens for assessing social inequality” (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995, p. 50). Ladson-

BOX 1.1
Tenets of CRT (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004)

1. Counter-storytelling—gives a voice to people of color as “a means of exposing and critiquing

normalized dialogues that perpetuate racial stereotypes” (p. 27).
2. The permanence of racism—racism exists and this fact suggests “that racist hierarchical
structures govern all political, economic, and social domains” (p. 27).
3. Whiteness as property—this stems from the historical view of Whites having exclusive privi-
leges, such that Whiteness is much like having a property right. For example, “tracking,
honors, and/or gifted programs and advanced placement courses are but the myriad ways
that schools have essentially been re-segregated” (p. 28).
4. Interest convergence—decisions by the majority power structure will favor people of color
only when it is also in the interest of the majority.
5. The critique of liberalism—”arguing that society should be colorblind ignores the fact that
inequity, inopportunity, and oppression are historical artifacts that will not easily be rem-
edied by ignoring race in the contemporary society. Moreover, adopting a colorblind ide-
ology does not eliminate the possibility that racism and racist acts will persist” (p. 29). In
addition, liberal ideology supports incremental change and “those most satisfied with incre-
mental change are those less likely to be directly affected by oppressive and marginalizing
conditions” (p. 29).
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 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN