THE ORGANIZATIONAL INVENTORY MEETING: GAINING AND INTEGRATING ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITMENT

This paper reports on the history, rationale, procedures, and results of a 4‐day meeting of some 96 administrators from 2 large school systems, representing all levels of administration, down through and including the principals. The meeting described was part of a large‐scale Organization Development (OD) effort by the first writer which had the general purpose of beginning and sustaining organizational renewal processes in the entire system. Organization Development is a planned, organization‐wide effort that is managed from the top and designed to increase organization's “processes”, using behavioural science knowledge. The Organizational Inventory Meeting (OIM) was designed and conducted by three Organization Development consultants employed by the system. The meeting which was observed by the two authors of this paper, was largely that of the “Confrontation” type which has been used successfully with largely decentralized industries and businesses, but special adaptations were made to fit the school situation. This paper presents both case observations and results of the Organizational Inventory Meeting. It also summarizes and integrates the reactions of participants in terms of the dilemma between (i) the necessity for organizing and directing information in order to “rationalize” administrative functions and (ii) the necessity for obtaining and sharing complete and valid information critical to reaching decisions which demand creative and innovative solutions.