Title: Rebuilding Organizational Capacity in Turnaround Schools: Insights from the Corporate, Government, and Non-Profit Sector
Author: Murphy, Joseph; Meyers, Coby V.
Year: 2009
Publication Information: Educational Management Administration & Leadership, v37 n1 p9-27
ERIC number: EJ821830
Abstract: In this article, we provide a grounded narrative of capacity building in the turnaround equation by exploring the turnaround literature outside of education and applying it to troubled schools. Our analysis is based upon reviews of the following: (1) 14 comprehensive, historical volumes that examine the turnaround phenomenon; (2) 16 book-length analyses of turnaround in a single organization or a specific industry; (3) articles attending to theory building in this emerging area of scholarship; and (4) a plethora of empirical studies examining turnaround in a variety of different (noneducational) contexts. We organize findings on capacity building in turnarounds into the following broad categories: (1) rallying and mobilizing people (motivating people, building, morale, and communicating openly); (2) growing people (empowering people, building teams, and developing people); and (3) creating a productive culture. We close by teasing out important lessons from the turnaround literature in the noneducation sector to capacity building in troubled schools.
