Leadership and governance for improvement: how schools manage external demands

Abstract

The extent to which organizations are able to improve their performance depends on more than their internal characteristics, improvement depends on the relationship between the organization and the many other groups, organizations and institutions in the surrounding environment. By strategically managing their relationship with these other entities, leaders of organizations like schools can get access to information, resources and expertize and develop networks of connections that help them create coherent approaches to improvement that advance their organizational goals. In this article, we provide an introduction and overview to this critical topic by discussing the theoretical background that helps to explain why managing demands is so important for organizational development; outlining some key strategies leaders of schools, districts, and other educational organizations can use to manage external demands; and sharing a series of examples to explain the role that managing demands can play in school improvement efforts at the school, municipal, and district level.