Friday, December 12, 2008

Public Health Leadership or Images of Schools

Public Health Leadership: Putting Principles into Practice

Author: Louis Rowitz

Public Health Leadership: Putting Principles Into Practice is the first book dedicated to the investigation of leadership in the public health arena. It goes beyond a description of what leadership is by serving as a "how—to" guide for successful public health leadership. This publication demonstrates what leadership is, who holds the tools of effective leadership, what public health challenges lie ahead, and how individuals can influence the future of this dynamic field. Case studies in each section illustrate the practical applications of the principles discussed.

Booknews

Rowitz (public health, U. Illinois, Chicago) demonstrates how the skills and tools used to build effective leadership in the business world can be adopted by public health professionals. Exercises, case studies, and discussion questions are incorporated into detailed chapters on theories and principles of leadership, applications to public health, leadership skills, and evaluation and research. Rowitz supplements the definition of leadership with practical skills, including communication, delegation, public speaking, media advocacy, and cultural sensitivity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



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Images of Schools: Structures and Roles in Organizational Behavior

Author: Samuel B Ed B Bacharach

The editors maintain that the current debate over school restructuring is essentially a debate over which strategy of organizing will achieve the best results. Organizational theory suggests that there are two primary mechanisms that may be used in organizing behavior within an organization: the organization as a whole, and the specific roles within the organization. Following this logic, the book is divided into two parts. The authors in part one present various answers to the question, "What must be organized in schools?" These answers include the decision-making process, external political forces around ideologies and policies, the promotion of creativity and innovation, and the best compromise between mechanistic and organic structures, among others. In part two, the authors examine how roles in schools can function as modes of organizing behavior. They present various possibilities for reorganization and improvement - specifically for the roles of teachers and administrators. The ideas include organizing and evaluating the role of teachers based, at least partially, on student outcomes; reorganizing according to the actual work a teacher does, organizing around clear goals and the provision of adequate resources; organizing the role of administrator to provide leadership to the rest of the people in the school; and using research findings to fit a specific individual to the role of administrator.



Table of Contents:
Preface
About the Contributors
Pt. IImages of Structure1
1School Organizations by Design - The Organizational Design of Schools11
2Schools as Decision-Making Arenas - Institutionalism and Strategic Decisions in Education43
3Schools as Learning Organizations - Against the Current: Organizational Learning in Schools71
4Schools as Cultural Arenas - Symbols and Symbolic Activity108
Pt. IIImages of Roles137
5Redesigning the Role of the Teacher - The Impacts of Mathematics and Computer Technology on the Core Assumptions and Practices of Teaching155
6Enabling Good Teaching Performance - Performance Management in Education201
7Assessing Teaching Performance - The Assessment of Teaching Based on Evidence of Student Learning239
8School Administrators as Boundary Spanners - Striking a Balance: Boundary Spanning and Environmental Management in Schools283
9School Administrators as Leaders - Research on School Leadership: The State of the Art315
10Fitting Leaders to School Organizations - Administrator Succession in School Organizations359
Pt. IIIConcluding Essay
11The Implicit Action Beneath Explicit Organizing Models390
Name Index398

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