ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that most theories and research on change processes concern the paradigm of deliberate or planned change. It examines the planned change research traditions that influence our perspective on total school development and organizational learning. When involved groups are able to engage in organizational learning, they will understand what school development entails in their own setting. Among the research traditions that are particularly relevant to our argument are organization development, effective schools, school improvement, and systems analysis. Effective schools studies have become increasingly methodologically sophisticated, using similar instruments in different national contexts, and increasingly using large-sample, longitudinal databases and hierarchical analytic techniques. Many leaders in schools—both teachers and administrators—have personal visions that never get translated into shared visions that galvanize their colleagues. The practice of shared vision involves the skills of unearthing shared pictures of the future that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance.
