Continuous Improvement and Organizational Culture

The relationship between continuous improvement and organizational culture begins with the way that the people within the organization interact and collaborate. Strong interpersonal communication for the purpose of collaboratively managing systems promotes continuous improvement. Fullan (2010) asserted that whole-system reform will take place only if a majority of people are working on it together. The author further reported several elements of successful reform. Some of these elements are vigilance about distractors, building individual capacity, sharing data, and high standards. They each require a positive school climate to be carried out successfully. When an organization is able to change the school culture to support reform efforts, there is a greater chance of success (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, n.d.)

School leaders need to take into consideration consequences of the culture that they foster. For example, Schildkamp, Lai, and Earl suggested that a school culture of inquiry is required to support the vision of systems change into a data-driven school culture. Staff should be trained in the collection and management of data which in turn produces positive change in the instructional program. Personal dispositions about using data will impact the progress into a data-driven culture.

Fullan, M. (2010). All systems go: The change imperative for whole system reform. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin.

Schildkamp, Lai, & Earl, (2013). Data-based Decision Making in Education: Challenges and Opportunities. New York: Springer.

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (n.d.). Creating a context for change. Retrieved November 19, 2013, from http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues22.html