B. Rowan, "Organizational Structure and the institutional environment: the case of public schools", ASQ, 27 (1982), 259-79.

This paper asserts that public school structures arose from institutional norms. Organizational structures become isomorphic with norms, values, and technical lore institutionalized in society. Innovations in administrative services begin witha period of institution building. Then emergent services gain legitimacy and diffuses through school districts. Later a period of stabilization begines.

In school districts with harmonious relations among schools, government, regulatory agencies, innovations diffuse smoothly and are stable. In unbalanced situations innovations diffuse slowly and are unstable.

Educational innovations require supprt and endorsement from key agencies in the instituational environment to gain legitimacy (due to high technical uncertainty). Likewise, established norms that lose the support of the instituational environment are also abandoned as quickly.

Hypothesis

As institutional environments move toward balance, structures supported by such efforts are adopted at the local level. When they are not in balance, supported structures are not adopted.

Procedures

The study looked at histories of school health, school psychology, and school curriculum. Adoption of a specific innovation was noted when an appropriate job title appeared in district org charts.

In the health area, yearly medical inspections of children gain popularity in the 20's - 40's. As the spread of communicable diseases dropped in the 1950's, the need for yearly check-ups decreased. Thus the % of districts with relevant job titles dropped in the 60's & 70's (as the rational and support for this program unraveled).

In school psychology support and services grew from the 1930's.

In school curriculum there were three waves of growth in curriculum services.

Statistical analysis of the data showed support for both institutional and structural (size) explanations for service growth. Organizations were less likely to adopt school health structures later n the time period.

The key problem in future analyses is to measure "balance" in enviornmental fields. In this study they were inferred from historical sources.