In all ways of American life, the last thirty years have witnessed the triumph of organization and bureaucracy and ouur public schools are no exception. Nothing has affected the role and status of the teacher more than the emergence within these vast oranizations, of the new managerial class that exists solely to keep the organizational machine running. This new class has gradually arrogated to itself all the real decision-making power. Decision-making in the schools has imperceptibly drifted out of the hands of the faculty and into those of managerial bureaucracy.
Traditional centers of faculty decision making have been bypassed while important decisions are made at the level of bureaucracy, which traditional facutly agencies are incapable of reaching effectively. Whenever a faculty clashes with the breaucracy, the faculty is bound to lose since it has no effecitve means of enforcing its judgement. In this way, faculties have gradually lost any significant voice in the academic decision-making process. Redefer's study found that unless personnel releases the potential of a staff to achieve the goals of education, it is neither efficient or effective in the education of students. He confirmed the fact that personnel policies are the primary determinant of good or poor relations between teachers and their administrators since most school boards have ignored staff relations and communications.
The new managerial class applies the principles of industrial management to the operation of the schools. This means that decisions affecting the life of the school as an academic community are not based on educational criteria but on management criteria such as planned program budgeting, because they are being made by managers and not educaters. The managerial bureaucracy views faculty as a group of employees like any other undr the authority and direction of management. Faculties have been slow to admit this to themselves prefe...