Surviving School Micropolitics: Strategies for Administrators

School Administrator, Dec, 1995 by Richard P. McAdams

The perennial gap between theory and practice in school administration has been impressively bridged in Surviving School Micropolitics: Strategies for Administrators, by Jane Clark Lindle, a professor at the University of Kentucky.

Lindle effectively employs theories from the study of micropolitics to address common problems confronting school administrators.

The author describes micropolitics as the study of the interactions of power, influence, authority, conflict, and collaboration within an individual school system and its school community. She draws upon conceptual models such as democratic principles, communication theory, incrementalism, market research, and storytelling as frameworks for analyzing dilemmas in curriculum, finance, public relations, supervision, and personnel administration.

Using a problem-based learning technique , Lindle explores perennially vexing issues in seven arenas of school administration. Each analysis includes the framing of the problem, a detailed description of the problem, a theoretical rationale for resolving the issue, and a list of resources for further study. A brief conclusion summarizes the theoretical and practical solutions to each dilemma.

The book's final chapter on personnel issue , specifically the dismissal of an incompetent teacher, offers a good marriage of theoretical insights and practical advice. Readers will find the problem-based learning approach leaves them well-equipped to generate effective solutions.

(Surviving School Micropolitics: Strategies for Administrators, by Jane Clark Lindle, Technomic Publishing Co., Box 3535, Lancaster, Pa. 17604, 1994, 165 pp., $35 hardcover)