New building, new expectations: The influence of structural change on organizational culture

A large, relatively suburban school district replaced an older junior high school with a new building that was designed architecturally to accommodate an organizational structure consistent with small learning communities and a collaborative work culture. The transition was made with the complete staff and faculty intact. This event represented a physical structural change for the faculty of the school from a traditional styled school-as-a-factory building to a modern building intended to facilitate a progressive model of education. The physical structural change provided the context of this case study to learn more about how individuals experience and perceive physical structural change as it relates to organizational culture, change, and socialization. In this case, the district's intentions were not perceived by the participants in the study and therefore, organizational cultural change was not realized by the district. However, learning how the participants experienced and perceived the physical structural change in this case provides insights for leadership to promote and influence cultural change.