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Organizational empowerment: A framework examining historical and systemic domains in school settings
Author(s) -
Gooden Adia,
Keys Christopher B.,
Back Lindsey,
McMahon Susan D.,
Morgan Michele
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.22476
Subject(s) - empowerment , construct (python library) , grounded theory , pedagogy , transition (genetics) , systemic therapy , psychology , domain (mathematical analysis) , sociology , social psychology , qualitative research , political science , social science , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , cancer , breast cancer , computer science , law , gene , programming language , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Organizational empowerment (OE) is a key construct in community psychology. We build on current understandings of OE by exploring history and systemic relationships as important aspects of OE. We conducted interviews with 20 school leaders from 16 schools that went through a district‐wide transition of students with disabilities into general education schools and asked these leaders about their preparation and service provision during this transition. We utilized a grounded theory approach to analyze the data, and two domains of OE emerged: historical and systemic, each with multiple dimensions. The historical domain refers to schools' functioning before the transition, and the systemic domain reflects interactions between schools and the School District Office for Students with Disabilities during the transition. We provide a nuanced understanding of these domains of organizational empowerment and their interaction, as well as implications for empowerment theory and practice.