Chapter-by-Chapter Notes and Teaching Suggestions CHAPTER 20. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: CHANGE AND LEADERSHIP IN ACTION CHAPTER 20 OVERVIEW Chapter 20 Summary ___________________________________________________ The chapter opens with a case—Robert F. Kennedy High School—depicting the many problems facing David King, the new principal of a deeply troubled urban high school. A school that opened with high hopes only a few years ago now finds itself mired in conflict and dissatisfaction.
King’s first meeting with his new administrative staff produces a blow-up in which a male housemaster physically threatens the chair of the English department.By the end of the case, the situation feels overwhelming. Is there hope? The authors follow the case with a hypothetical account of how the new principal might engage in a conscious effort to reframe the situation. For each frame, King asks himself two questions: 1. 2.
From this perspective, what’s going on at Kennedy High? What options does this frame suggest? As is usually true in real life, the outcome of the reframing process is not a miracle but greater clarity coupled with a richer and more comprehensive set of strategies for what to do.Chapter 20 Major Case Example ________________________________________ Robert F. Kennedy High School SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING CHAPTER 20 There are two complementary teaching emphases for this chapter: 1. 2.
Replay and critique of the reframing process described in the chapter. Application of the same process to other cases. Copyright ? 2003 by Joan V. Gallos and Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Company, 989 Market St. , San Francisco, CA 94103 All rights reserved.
No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, n any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. -1- Chapter-by-Chapter Notes and Teaching Suggestions Teaching methods appropriate for each approach are described in the sections that follow. Student exercises keyed to the approaches appear in “Student Exercises for Chapter 20,” beginning on page 2. Chapter 20: Replay and Critique of David King’s Reframing _______________ There is value in having students compare their own thinking about the RFK High case with the reframing process depicted for David King in the chapter.
One way to do this is to ask students to read the case, stop there, and engage in their own effort to reframe using the same questions David King used. (This can be done either individually or in groups. ) Once students have developed their own diagnoses, they can read the remainder of the chapter and compare their thinking with David King’s. Another option appears in Exercise 20. 1.
Chapter 20: Applying Reframing to Cases or Personal Experience_________ The chapter focuses on putting it all together: integrating everything learned about organizations and leadership into more comprehensive and powerful understanding and action.The reframing process illustrated in the chapter can be applied to almost any case or experience: students’ personal cases, published cases, films or fiction, or class experiences (role plays, experiential activities, team experiences, the course). Instructors can, for example, have students study a challenging case (multiple suggestions are offered elsewhere in this instructor’s guide) and then, either individually or in teams, reframe to develop both diagnoses and solutions. Individuals or groups will differ in what they see and what options they develop.
These differences can become the basis for lively and productive discussions while providing an important reminder that reframing is an art form—and every artist produces different work. STUDENT EXERCISES FOR CHAPTER 20 EXERCISE 20. 1 ________________________________________________________________ Focus: Replay and Critique of David King’s Reframing Lead a class discussion of each phase in King’s reframing process. For each frame, pose discussion questions like: 1. How did King arrive at his diagnosis? (That is, what thinking process did he go through? ) Copyright ? 2003 by Joan V.
Gallos and Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Company, 989 Market St. , San Francisco, CA 94103 All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. -2- Chapter-by-Chapter Notes and Teaching Suggestions Does his diagnosis make sense? Is it helpful? Are there other possibilities that King didn’t consider? 3. Are the strategies that he considers good ones? What else might he think about? 2.When King moves from diagnosis to action via his weekend phone calls, focus on some of the vignettes (such as King’s conversations with Chauncey Carver and Betsy Dula) and ask students questions like: 1.
2. What is King doing here—what frame or frames is he using? Is he doing the right thing? Should he do something else? This discussion can be supplemented with role plays. For example, some of King’s conversations (like the one with Smith about moving him out of a housemaster’s job) are described only very briefly. Ask one student to be King and another to be Smith, and have them role play the conversation.
The teaching notes for Chapter 16 (“Chapter 16: RFK High School Role Play”) provides instructions for doing a role play around a conversation between King and Carver that could be applied to any of the series of conversations described in the chapter. Copyright ? 2003 by Joan V. Gallos and Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Company, 989 Market St. , San Francisco, CA 94103 All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. -3-
