RUNNING HEAD: GED 8504 TRSL B Educational platform

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TRSL B: Platform
GED 8504
Amy Hewett-Olatunde

The environment a learner is in has the potential of making significant life
changing impacts. The organizational theory that environment adopts influences the
learners quality of experience.
I have worked in a school that has changed tenfold over the years in order to keep
up with state and district mandates. I have seen initiatives introduced with vigor and
authority only to be swapped out every year with the newest research. Working in a
unique setting that is part of a district but operates differently based on the student
population allows my organization some flexibility. These two pulls make it difficult to
pinpoint one metaphor to describe the organizational theory in which I work. On one
hand, it is very mechanistic; on the other hand, it is organismic. There is a hierarchy, a
top-down approach from the superintendent to the teacher. However, in this machine,
there is room for flexibility to meet the needs of the learners we teach. Because of this
flexibility, I am able to develop my teaching practices based on who is sitting in front of
me, the level of English that they speak, and the modality of language that I am teaching.
So, for the purpose of choosing to remain optimistic, the pendulum will swing toward the
metaphor of organism.
The organismic open system of organization is evident in the cycles of input,
internal transformation, throughput, output, and feedback exchange (Morgan, p.41)
Within an open system, there is equifinality, and it is evident among our teaching staff
because in an open system there may be many different ways of arriving at the same
RUNNING HEAD: GED 8504 TRSL B Educational platform
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end (Morgan, 1998). Although we need our curriculum to align to the Common Core
Standards set by the Minnesota Department of Education, we do not have to adhere to a
set curriculum like the other high schools in the district. We can sculpt our lessons to the
changing needs of our students and ensure that they meet the standard before they move
up to the next level.
I also see equifinality as being connected to symbolic-interpretivism, which
focuses on interaction, negotiation, and each member making sense of his own
experience (Hatch, p. 46). This is present in many of the classrooms in my organization.
How do students make meaning of different situations whether they are academic, social,
or emotional? We are in a constant state of modifying our language so that the students
input is comprehensible. On a level deeper than discourse is interpretation and
perspective. This derives from human interaction and how meaning is made based on
how a subculture (individuals and groups) produce multiple meanings and interpret from
their own cultural contexts (Hatch, p. 43).
The symbolic interpretative organizational theory holds reflexive approaches as
one concept. As a reflective practitioner, I apply ethnographic methods and
organizational culture theories to myself. In doing so, I am able to observe myself as
others would observe me, thereby studying myself. What is the benefit of this?
Transformative and engaged pedagogy become primary forces in my teaching practices.
The methodologies behind these practices influence everything I do with my learners.
Mechanistic, organismic, and subjective-interpretivism are all driving forces in
my organization. Depending on the day, one theory is more prevalent than another, but
they rely on one another to make my organization work.
RUNNING HEAD: GED 8504 TRSL B Educational platform
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References
Hatch, M. J. (2006). A brief history of organization theory. Organization Theory:
Modern, Symbolic, and Postmodern Perspectives (pp. 25-57). Oxford University
Press.
Morgan, G. (1998). Images of organization: The executive edition. (Abridged edition).
Berrett-Koehler Publishers.