ABSTRACT
One of the key tasks of management is managing external relations, that is, acting as the interface between the organization and the ‘outside world’. Schools have, until recently, been somewhat ‘closed’ organizations, relatively unaccountable to parents or their communities, or to society at large. The Conservative reforms of the 1980s and 1990s have made schools more accountable and more permeable to outside influences. Schools must now respond to parents, governors, LEA officers, Ofsted, the local community, local employers and colleges and to the students themselves. This makes the task of management hugely complex, as there are now many stakeholders who have rights and responsibilities vis-à-vis schools.
