| This qualitative study used participatory action research to investigate the school characteristics needed to create a learning organization and to prepare all administrators and teachers to engage in implementing the concept of a learning organization in order to comply with the educational reform mandates as stipulated in the National Education Act B.E. 2542 (1999).; Participants consisted of 19 administrators and 68 teachers in Chiangmai Commercial College (CCC), where the study took place. Open-ended questionnaires and focus group techniques were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data from open-ended questionnaires, while open coding and a concept map were use to analyze participants' responses from the focus group discussions. The researcher found the following: (1) Administrators and teachers at CCC understood and were prepared to implement the educational reform mandates stipulated in the National Education Act B.E. 2542 (1999). They also identified activities that administrators and teachers might use to respond to the mandates. (2) Administrators and teachers suggested eight conditions needed for the school to be a learning organization: (a) leadership in the school, (b) the school structure, (c) the school culture, (d) school members, (e) the school's vision, mission, and goals, (f) the decision-making process, (g) the communication and interaction process, and (h) school facilities and resources. The study also identified strategies for three specific groups of people to include them in the implementation process: (a) strategies required for administrators, (b) strategies required for teachers, and (c) strategies required for both administrators and teachers.; The study found certain organizational characteristics of the CCC organization that either matched or did not match the concept of a learning organization. Aspects of Thai culture that the school might use in creating a learning organization were also addressed. |
