There are major themes of emergence theory: (1) Contrary to the instrumentally rational view in which thought, gives rise to, and orients action, it is action that precedes conscious thought. Thus, organizational action, like all other forms of human ...
There are major themes of emergence theory: (1) Contrary to the instrumentally rational view in which thought, gives rise to, and orients action, it is action that precedes conscious thought. Thus, organizational action, like all other forms of human action, is most appropriately conceived as a process of retrospective sense making, that is, of understanding what we have done after we have done it. (2) Social purposes emerge from social processes. processes, therefore, are not mainly instrumental means for the attainment of pregiven purposes ; rather, social processes are chiefly important insofar as they generate rather than achieve social purposes. (3) Change is more natural than stability in organizations. The chief problem for people in organizations is identify and remove the blockages to change, not try to create chance. (4) Organizations and organizing are logically, as well as historically, prior to politics. A trully democratic theory of politics can only be derived from a humane theory of organizing. (5) Responsible administrative action is fundamentally a matter of self-awareness, rather than one of assuring institutionally or objectively correct action. (6) Theorizing is a valuable means for facilitating self-aware action, both individually and organizationally. Organizing and theorizing entail essentially similar process in that both are sense-making activities enabling self-aware action.
In educational administration, the impotance of democratic and responsible administration is suggested by the idea - concensus and self-awareness- of emergence theory. And the development of new educational administration theories which are not based by instrumental rationality is needed.