Teacher types, workplace controls, and the organization of schools

The theory of workplace control in American high schools presented in this article is based on the assumption that the school workplace contains potent systems that control the everyday work attitudes and conduct of teachers. The theory posits the formation of teacher types, each comprising distinctive attitudes toward work and behavior, as the link between control systems and the way teachers conduct their work. Four control systems and corresponding modal teacher types are described. These systems are treated as consequences of variation in the size of a faculty and the power of a school's clientele. Data from interviews and observations in 13 high schools of widely varying size and client power show that teacher-type orientations, once formed, have substantial transsituational stability. A further HLM analysis of data from teachers' responses to a questionnaire provides partial support for the theory.