Distributed Leadership as Work Redesign: Retrofitting the Job Characteristics Model

Abstract

In this article, we revive work redesign theory, specifically Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model (JCM), to examine distributed leadership initiatives. Based on our early observations of six schools engaged in distributed leadership reform and a broad review of literature, including empirical tests of work redesign theory, we retrofit the JCM by: (1) adding more transition mechanisms to explain how changes in work could lead to the widespread performance of leadership functions; (2) accounting for distributed leadership reform as a group work redesign; and (3) enumerating relevant contextual variables that should impact the development, shape, and success of such reforms.

Acknowledgments

This article was supported by a grant from the Laboratory for Student Success at Temple University to Vanderbilt University and a separate grant from Vanderbilt University. Responsibility for the conclusions offered here rests entirely with the authors.

Notes

¹These three preconditions are: a culture of “collaboration, trust, professional learning and reciprocal accountability” (Copland, 2003a, p. 379); a shared belief in what problems the school faces; and sufficient expertise in the school to actualize improvement.

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