Hearing truth from power? Organisation theory, school effectiveness and school improvement

School effectiveness and school improvement researchers have increasingly l ooked towards establishing some kind of synergy between their respective fi elds. However, most recent attempts to create such links have not sufficien tly addressed their different perspectives on organisational development an d change. School effectiveness research has tended to view organisational d evelopment in terms of structural change, while the school improvement fiel d has conversely placed an emphasis upon the cultural dimensions of organis ational change. This has resulted in a methodological and theoretical divid e that has proved difficult to resolve. This article argues that by incorpo rating the concept of 'power' into the analysis the two fields can be broug ht together more successfully. The article suggests that this 'third dimens ion' provides a bridge between structural and cultural analysis. It also hi ghlights some important research questions that arise out of this tripartit e relationship. The article concludes by suggesting that an analysis of pow er may provide the long awaited conceptual and theoretical fusion sought by both fields.