Blazing New Trails - Connexions

334 CRITICAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION LEADERSHIP PREPARATION
recoverable" (p. 250). Businesses also differ in context and situations that lead to turnaround.
Harrigan (1988) stated, "There [is] no single road to success" (p. 133). In business, strong
competent leadership is necessary for the turnaround process. Baden-Fuller and Stopford
(1992) found that the leader is critically important both in jump starting the initial change and
in acting as teacher during the ensuing steps.
Harker (2001) also examined organizational decline and proposed a turnaround
strategy based on healthy change on turnaround processes of the Australian heavy engineering
industry. He identified the conditions of decline and subsequent turnaround. He claimed that
some turnarounds appear to have engaged in the process of market manipulation in order to be
competitive and survive, but these quick turnaround strategies were influenced by the factors
that caused the decline and may have addressed the wrong problem. This strategy consisted of
doing new things for publicity and show. Rather, Harker (2001) recommended a process
called "retrenchment," but this process had to be coupled with management of external
stakeholders and internal climate and culture. This process required an in-depth examination
of culture and climate, and then undergoing substantial change throughout the organization in
physical appearance, process and staff (Harker, 2001). From the business sector, Pfeffer and
Sutton (2000) in their book, The Knowing-Doing Gap, stated that learning from universitybased
degree programs would only get the leader so far and that this kind of knowledge
acquisition was only an illusion of knowledge; further, there is a loosely coupled relationship
between knowing what to do and the ability to act on that knowledge. Simply studying the
knowledge and skills is not enough, and sometimes no matter what training the employees
attend, nothing will happen. Pfeffer and Sutton (2000) stressed that employees must watch
someone implement a new strategy based on knowledge, work alongside them, and then
perform the new skill under the watchful eye of a trainer. Turning knowledge into action is
imperative for business success including the business of education. Borrowing from the
business sector, the proposed model recognizes the importance of establishing a culture of
change, ensuring stakeholder buy in, and collaborative practices.
Public Sector Turnarounds
Public sector performance is currently a significant issue for management practice and
policy, and especially the turnaround of those organizations delivering less than acceptable
results. Garvin and Roberto (2005) described an impressive turnaround at a world-renowned
teaching hospital by implementing a four stage persuasion campaign and eliminating
dysfunctional roles. The steps were setting the stage for acceptance; framing the turnaround;
managing the mood; and preventing backsliding. The elimination of dysfunctional roles can
be accomplished by directly addressing these routines: (a) a culture of no; (b) the dog and
pony show must go on; (c) the grass is always greener; (d) after the meeting ends, debate
begins; (e) tinker and fine-tune without making a final decision; (f) this too shall pass. Prior
leaders have declared crisis, but nothing happens in these lackadaisical climates with
dysfunctional roles (Garvin & Roberto, 2005).
Theories of organizational failure and turnaround have derived largely from the
business sector and require adaptation to the public sector service. The performance of public
organizations is more complex to measure, is related to institutional norms, and the idea of
'failure' is problematic. Turning around an organization comes down to leadership capability,
and when that is absent, organizations fail to self-initiate turnaround. In this situation,
authoritative external intervention is necessary; the strategies need to be concerned with