Applying Organizational Theory to Special Education Case Management

Overview & Synopsis

Administrators face multiple challenges in effectively managing special education programs and services. These challenges include communication failures between stakeholders, inconsistency in implementing policies, difficulty in collaborating with multiple personnel throughout a district, and inefficiencies in implementing special education services (DiPaola & Walther-Thomas, 2003). An analysis of organizational theory concepts highlights the unique challenges of managing both general and special education programs and services under one organizational structure (a professional bureaucracy) and offers an approach for moving toward another organizational structure (an adhocracy) that may be better suited for implementing the jointly collaborative and individualized nature of special education services and supports. A matrix organizational structure is a potential solution to help move special education case management at the school level more toward an adhocracy. This structure may help resolve some of the special education management challenges faced by administrators.