Improving Workplace Interdepartmental Collaboration Through Organizational Learning, Transformational Leadership, and Meeting Science
Abstract
There is an education debt in the United States. Coaching and Learning Consulting (CLC), a pseudonym, strives to advance educational equity for all students, especially those from historically underserved populations, so that outcome disparities between demographic groups close. However, collaboration across departments at CLC is not optimal and does not foster cohesive work. Using an Improvement Science approach, this mixed methods study aimed to apply and learn from researched-based leadership behaviors that improve interdepartmental workplace collaboration. Two concurrent PDSA cycles implemented transformational leadership practices to facilitate more effective meetings so that employees would develop increased collective commitment, trust, and shared responsibility, leading to more optimal interdepartmental collaboration. As seen from participant surveys, formal observations, and researcher notes and reflections, team satisfaction and interdepartmental collaboration became more optimal as employees clarified their roles and responsibilities, collaborated on bi-weekly agendas, and engaged in problem-solving work together. Further, when employees integrated their work with the work of others across the team, and the overall project’s goals, productivity and satisfaction flourished. These learnings can be applied to school system departments to end the long-standing education debt in the United States.
Subject Area
Educational leadership|Education|Management|Organization Theory
Recommended Citation
Smith, Tiffany Alvarez, "Improving Workplace Interdepartmental Collaboration Through Organizational Learning, Transformational Leadership, and Meeting Science" (2024). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI31296149.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31296149
