A Meeting of the Minds, So To Speak. The Organizational Socialization of Clinical Faculty.

A study was done of the social processes accompanying the integration of a program in educational administration into tr,e clinical faculty of an education department at the University of Utah. The study examined the conflict and ambiguity that accompany change as well as the clash of professional culture between educational practice and the academy. Over 5 months, data were gathered that included unstructured observations conducted during academic faculty meetings, clinical faculty orientation and training sessions, academic and clinical faculty meetings, documents from the department of educational administration, and interviews. Data analysis followed established standards of rigor for qualitative research. The analysis also resulted in a modification of the framework with which the study started as academic department culture differed from field or practitioner orientation. Data seemed to support the findings that the department is experiencing pressures from a critical mass of newcomers, that socialization remains in the early stages, that contradictory definitions of isolation and autonomy remain strong, that research and publication hold different values for clinical and academic members, that all faculty value creativity, and that clinical faculty express greater conflict over the meaning of expertise. Included are 33 references. (JB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** A MEETING OF THE MINDS, SO TO SPEAK THE ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION OF CLINICAL FACULTY' "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Ann Weaver HartTO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC). " Ann Weaver Hart Kerrie Naylor University of Utah OS. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION 04fice o EducaonaI Rematch end Weevil/non! EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O Thm dOCument hal been reproducod as r*esned from Ihe oilman or organdshon It cs.u:. 9er Inehng Inca champs hut been mad 10 unprove reproducIlon oughly Poirds ol 'novo( OM(1101%M.IIKI In IhISC/Ocumini do nol nteceaSilnly reofeednt Othaal OERI oodion or pokcy I Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, 1992, San Francisco, CA. 111 Ls4,i 4itu.iid.t A MEETING OF THE MINDS, SO TO SPEAK THE ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION OF CLINICAL FACULTY' Ann Weaver Hart Kerrie Naylor University of Utah Like other professional fields, educational administration seeks to improve its preservice and advanced professional education programs in universities by utilizing expert and thoughtful practitioners as clinical faculty. This functional goal poses challenges when experienced school leaders must be integrated into an academic faculty of edt 'ational administration at a research university. The process juxtaposes two complex and powerful professional cultures (educational practice and the academy) side-by-side and throws each faculty member into a new work context fraught with the conflict and ambiguity that often accompany change. The purpose of this paper is to examine the social processes accompanying this kind of change. The organizational culture of a university department making its mark through research and theory differ markedly from the organizational cultures of districts and governmental agencies in which school leaders routinely work. Fundamental assumptions like the nature of proof and the requirements of evidence to establish proof divide academic faculty from the world practice. The assumptions, values, and norms of clinical and academic faculty thus come sharply into contact, sometimes into conflict. Academic and clinical faculty are experienced, confident professionals whose work values have been molded by their education and professional training. Both have years of successful work experience. The interaction patterns and reward structures dominating universities shape the activities academic faculty pursue, while the demands and rewards of practice shape the professional values and assumptions of clinical faculty. The ultimate success of an advanced degree program like the ' Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, 1992, San Francisco, CA. 1 one described in this paper here requires that some new equilibrium be reached that draws on the strengths of each major organizational environment to create a new form of organization while preserving a Department's position in the research university. This paper examines the processes, content, and early outcomes of faculty interaction in a reconceptualized EdD degree program in educational administration at the University of Utah. We use organizational socialization theory and research to frame the analysis and examine the impacts of a new organizational configuration on new members (clinical faculty), existing members (academic faculty), and the department (the organization). Other papers examine the personnel motivation (Pounder, 1992), transaction costs (Galvin & Ogawa, 1992), and ethical issues (Newell & Sperry, 1992) surrounding this type of major reform. Background and Framework Program description,_ setting, and subjects The paper applies organizational socialization as a theoretical framework (Jones, 1986; Turner, 1988; Van Maanen & Schein, 1979) to the analysis of the integration of practicing administrators into the role of clinical faculty. Because we conceptualized organizational socialization as an interactive process (Blau, 1967; Turner, 1990), we studied the reciprocal influence of the academic department and clinical faculty. This study of reciprocal influence is part of a three year evaluation study of a revised EdD program in a department of educational administration. The revised program focuses on the advanced education of people to work in administrative positions in education organizations. Based on a model of professional inquiry in which knowledge in the core domains of instruction, organization, leadership, and ethics is applied to specific problems of practice, the degree program substantially alters the requirements of the EdD (See ERIC document # EA 023 607). The faculty based its rationale for the revised EdD on a series of recommendations (National Policy Board, 1990) for reforming educational administration preparation programs