Karen Avery Case

Q1. From a systems perspective, what factors do you believe contributed to the marginal results obtained by the various subgroups within the task forces? Systems tend to replicate old solutions without producing new ones, in the absence of new ideas. The task force was made up of existing organizational actors who would qualify as such “old’ inputs. Q2. Identify and discuss instances of an aggregate mentality at work in this case.

Although the task force offered a variety of different solutions to remedy the issue, it fundamentally reflected a closed mentality given that it was unwilling to deviate from the conventional mode of instruction or solicit opinions from outside of the organization. Q3. Would Karen today describer her school or school system as relatively open or relatively closed? Why? Classify the new model as open or closed. Why? Karen would describe her new system as an open system. It encourages feedback from teachers, students, and parents.

Teachers are observed and offered new strategies to help students outside of their educational cluster using community resources outside of the school and parents are given a great deal of autonomy to select which approaches best help their children. Q4. Discuss the feedback mechanisms that exist in the new school model. Feedback mechanisms exist on a constant loop. Teachers get feedback on their performance from other teachers even while they are acting as mentors and giving feedback to their students.

Parents, by selecting different clusters and giving feedback, likewise contribute from the outside by guiding and also rewarding teachers who best suit student needs. The consistency of different feedback from all sides ensures that there will not be an imbalance of information solely coming from one source and prevents student education from experiencing a serious decline in quality due to complacency. Q5. Does the new school model appear to invite chaos or amplify variety? Discuss why.

Variety is clearly key in the new model as it is not simply feedback from educational professionals that is solicited but from multiple channels. Of course, such an abundance of feedback also potentially means that chaos can result if there is too much conflicting information, too frequently. Q6.

In what ways does the new school model apply the following systems concepts? The new model solicits new input-throughput-output by using new inputs in the form of student and parent feedback as well as shifting the throughput by altering the role of the teacher from disciplinarian to mentor, thus enhancing the output of student education. Synergy is generated through facilitating interactions between organizational actors (such as teachers being critiqued and conferring with parents).

Leading part and emergence is reflected in encouraging parts to have new strengths by interacting with the whole—guides within clusters are responsible for motivating success of the cluster as an entity. The prevalence of feedback ensures that the organization does not stagnate and the competitive nature of the clusters fighting to survive creates a state of dynamic homeostasis that is in constant motion yet stable.

Equifinality is reflected in the individualized approach of the clusters, all of which are intended to reach the end state of improving children’s education while negentropy, or the desire for stability will hopefully guard against entropic forces inherent in soliciting so much feedback of participants. Q7. Karen's group has proposed an extensive revision of the traditional approach to the operation of schools.

If her group is to function as a lead part of the school system in the effort to deal with its problems, what steps might it take to move the district toward.