Complexity and change in Waldorf schools: a narrative study into perceptions of decision-making processes

Abstract

The objective of this article is to contribute to the debate about organizational changes in Waldorf schools by analysing narratives of decision-making processes in one Norwegian school. The present study departs from an organizational perspective to investigate perceptions of decision-making processes in Waldorf schools in Norway. Both educational policy reforms in Norway and internal perceptions of limitations of a once established decision-making model based on principles of professional authority and consensual decision-making raise a debate about organizational changes in Waldorf schools. I contribute to this debate by articulating a frame of reference on deriving complexity in organizations in a way that provides a conceptual framework to investigate decision-making processes. One way of grasping the temporal dimension of processes of change is to focus on narratives that people express about their experience in work environments. Such stories are important forms of communication and knowledge sharing in organizations. The findings here present a multi-layered process related to decision-making in which the logics of rationality, appropriateness and symbolism co-exist. The analysis of such multi-layered reality questions simplistic notions equating, on one hand flat decisional structures with democracy and participation, and on the other, the implementation of more hierarchical structures with control and exclusion.