Educational Alternatives, Volume 12, 2014

Abstract: Rapid and externally imposed institutional changes cause conflict and stagnation within educational organisations. The tension arises from conflicts between the newly introduced institutional framework, which imposes change, and the old one, which takes the form of an informal framework and resists changes that disturb the institutional order established with much effort. The informal framework creates difficulties for operating within the new framework and the state of collision between two competing institutional frameworks prevents institutions from continuing to develop. However, the formality of the newly-introduced framework can override the informal framework, because it opens the possibility for individuals to act within the institutional order, provided that they consolidate and follow a new set of formal rules and procedures. Working within the conflict state and analysing it can help identify weak points in the procedure that could not be identified during the establishment of the new institutional framework.