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A Crisis of Identity: school merger and cultural transition
Author(s) -
Wallace Mike
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/0141192960220406
Subject(s) - organizational culture , identity (music) , politics , public relations , sociology , institution , power (physics) , perspective (graphical) , cultural identity , power structure , political science , pedagogy , social science , physics , acoustics , negotiation , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , law
This paper charts the transition in staff professional cultures and identities when three primary sector schools were merged, focusing on the cultural leadership activity of the headteacher of the single merged school before and after reorganisation. A combined cultural and political perspective is employed to analyse who has the power to shape the staff professional culture and identity. The impact of the headteacher's attempts to build a unified staff culture and corporate identity are interpreted through this perspective. Unintended consequences of the merger were two forms of ‘balkanisation’, or development of subcultures and separate identities in the merged institution: first, preservation of the pre‐merger culture of staff in the infant department and their primary identification as members of this department; and second, the emergence of the senior management team as a new group responsible for promoting a unified staff culture and new institutional identity but which, nevertheless, other staff perceived to distance them from the headteacher. Implications of the findings for policy‐makers responsible for reorganisation of schooling are outlined and the potential of the cultural and political perspective for understanding the process of organisational change is considered.