Ben van der Hilst

organizational structure is a key factor in the management of the school, as it deter- mines the formal lines along which the school leader exercises his or her leadership. However, chapter 2 concludes with the remarkable observation that organizational structure receives virtually no attention in the literature on school leadership. The Organizational Structure of Schools A more detailed exploration of the or- ganizational structure of schools shows that it has undergone a radical change under the influence of the new public management. Schools have become larger and more complex organizations with several layers of management as a result. The board of supervisors has made its entry into the school; it has become part of the manage- ment. Teams are created within a school or within a part of a school. In addition, the support functions expand sharply, as they are necessary to support management in its tasks. As a consequence of decentralization, both management and their support functions have expanded considerably. However, it is striking that the producing part of the organization, the production system, hasn’t changed: it still consists of individ- ual teachers acting more or less independently from each other. There is a strong division of labor, which seems to have been strengthened in recent decades, possibly because the influences of the Taylorian thoughts characterizing new public manage- ment. However, having isolated difficult-to-reach teachers is regarded as an important obstacle in school development. Teachers may work together in educational program teams, expert teams (such as departments) or curriculum development teams, but these teams do not perform as a collective, and the collaboration that does exist is often non-committal. The educational program teams have become part of the man- agement system: the management is in contact with the individual teachers primarily through these teams. Yet, collaboration between teachers is an important form of professionalization. Furthermore, important objectives in today’s schools, such as broadening education, integration of skills and knowledge, as well as a more individu- alized learning path, all greatly benefit from a more intensive collaboration of teachers involved with the same student. Research Question In the ever-changing context, the leadership task has become more complex, whereas as a result of the devolution process stronger leadership by the school leader is required. Meanwhile, it remains difficult for the school leader to reach the individual teacher. This is sometimes referred to as a problem of cul- ture within education, but this study suggests that this is a structural problem: the organizational structure of schools shows several weak connections . This refers to connections along which influence intends to be achieved, yet this influence stag- nates or does not materialize at all. Chapter 3 identifies eleven such possible weak connections. Examples are the weak connection between the teachers in an edu- cational program team (there is non-committal collaboration), between team leader