“That's Against Your Contract?”: Exploring the Complexity of Collective Bargaining Tensions

February 2021

This case study offers an organizational perspective on the ways in which a collective bargaining agreement shaped the administrative functioning of schools within an urban district. The data demonstrate how rational choice assumptions failed to account for the everyday site interactions between principals and teachers. Using complexity theory as an analytic tool, the authors consider the interference of external pressures on a system defined by internal interdependence. Reforms that address the complexity of workplace conditions in K-12 contexts are offered.

Keywords

teachers’ unions, teacher contract, collective bargaining, complexity theory

Education level

K-12 Education

Topics

Staffing, Finance, and Operations