The only way you can connect an initiative to an individuals personal values is knowing what those personal values are. I am currious as to how social most school communities are both inside and outside of school? Do your buildings get together for social activities? In one school in which I taught, there were planned social events for not only the building but for the entire district as well. It was a school that was very progressive. With change in leadership, they no longer have such activities and to be real honest with you, the last few conversations I have had with some of my former colleagues there, they were very pessimistic concerning their own ability to meet today's demands in education. I could not believe it as they were tbe early adopters of new strategies while I was there. I want to point out that I was not the building principal there so I am not trying to imply that my presence or the fact that I left had anything to do with their change in attitude.
Power Of Relationships
I'd suggest this observation supports the authors' premise that social pressure can exert influence towards target behavior. Employees in a school apparently are going to come under the influence of social influence regardless if it's organized or not. In this example when the events were planned, the social influence was harnessed in some part towards organizational objectives. When the organized events stopped, the social networking didn't necessarily stop with it... it just became more unfocused. The employees exposed to both environments probably felt a loss, even if they weren't 100% on board with the planned events at the start. With nothing to fill the void, it would seem easy to become disgruntled, which could lead to school culture problems.
I hadn't thought about the social pressure exerted by these events, but you are right. I often felt obligated to attend even when it was not always easy to do so. I would agree that social peer pressure can be a powerful influence in adults as well as in children.
I know that getting together with others is a great stress reliever. I am a part of a graduate program at Iowa State and despite the fact that I could do without the pressures of some of the assignments, I always look forward to getting together with my cohort for class. Some of the time is social but really we talk shop most of the time we are out on the town together.
I really enjoy the staff in the district I am in and am very apprehensive about the move to a new school this upcoming week. I think this study group will help me with the transition.
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