School Turnaround and the Role of Organizational Consultants

• In Event: Complexity Within Approaches to School Turnaround

Abstract

Low-performing schools are attracting attention in many countries that are looking for ways to turn them around. According to the functional-structural approach, restructuring these schools’ organization is imperative, and an organizational consultant can help in this task. In this study, we investigated the perspectives of organizational consultants who were engaged in the turnaround process. The findings reveal that the OD practitioners describe their contributions mainly in psychological terms, seeing themselves as providing personal and emotional support to the principals, with minimal emphasis on restructuring the school’s organization. We conclude that school-specific knowledge and organizational tools can make OD practitioners more effective in the turnaround restructuring process.

Authors

• Heli Amossi, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

• Dorit Tubin, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev