Bureaucracies and Networks: Organizational Transformations in an Australian Setting

Abstract

This study investigates the nature, functions and organizational transformations of network organizations with the case of the radical, unprecedented and innovative Australian National Schools Network (NSN) and its eventful experience from inception in 1993 until 2002 as it's the focus. The NSN was a watershed in the Australian education reform movement. The network was originally designed as a collaborative endeavor that included the Commonwealth government, State governments, Teachers' Unions, University Academics, participating schools and individuals. The NSN was a unique and unparalleled network organization since it had as its participants the key stakeholders of Australian Education. In its first three years, the NSN was making impressive progress, especially with the full support of its various stakeholders. However, with the change in the Commonwealth government in 1996, the NSN underwent a fundamental transformation. The theoretical foundations of the study assert that networks and community structures co-exist with a set of shared mores and beliefs. The study examined whether the component members of the NSN indeed shared common values and bases of affiliation-network processes, power dynamics and decision-making praxes. The study scrutinized the issues and challenges faced by the NSN amidst political dynamics that happen within and outside the network organization. The study also explored the incidence and influence of "champions" and "sponsors". In the course of the study, varied instances of paradoxes - complementary and contradictory beliefs and practices - were highlighted. The impact of the network on education policy-making is carefully reviewed, analyzed and critiqued.