ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to review the use of organizational theories in the field of educational leadership and propose how organizational theories can inform leadership for integrated, high achieving schools and districts. To achieve this purpose, we first outline seven reasons why it is important for educational leaders and scholars, whose focus is to have integrated, equitable, and excellent schools, to be knowledgeable about organizational theories. Then, we explore the organizational theories that informed the field in the past. Next, we discuss the current status of organizational theory and behavior, first by examining texts used in leader preparation. We further examine the current status of organizational theory in the field by analyzing the conceptual frameworks that guided the last 13 years of empirical studies that focus on leadership, social justice, and equity and the theories generated from those studies. We note the theoretical gains and gaps and how this literature can inform organizational theory and behavior in leader preparation and scholarship. We then turn to the field of organizational sciences to examine the use of critically oriented theories to glean lessons for the educational leadership field.
