Johnson, Jr., Bob L. (1997). An organizational analysis of multiple perspectives of effective teaching: Implications for teacher evaluation policy. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education 11(1): 69-87.

The purpose of the study reported here is two-fold: 1) to determine how people in various roles within the school system think about the task of the school's technical core--teaching; and, 2) to determine if differences of perception exist across these roles. As the core task of the school, teaching is explored using a theoretical framework which focuses attention on the subjective and interpretive nature of teaching. Dornbusch and Scott's (1975) notion of "task conception" is used as the integrating theme. Kouzes and Mico's (1979) domain theory is used to define the roles examined. According to this theory, variations in task conceptions across organizational levels are to be expected since each level is guided by its own set of governing principles, success measures, structural arrangements, and work technologies. The data generated in this study is based on a series of 63 interviews with school board members, principals, and teachers. Analysis suggests that various conceptions of teaching do exist across the three levels examined. Construction and comparison of task profiles across roles suggests that principals and teachers conceive of "effective" teaching in terms of process, but board members tend to see the same task in terms of person and product. The presence of such competing conceptions raises questions regarding the authority structure within the school. Specifically, which conception of effective teaching will dominate the evaluation and policy-making processes?