How can we facilitate organizational change in museums that leads to the development of more inclusive practices and more diverse audiences? We present framework son inclusion and theories of change as a basis for discussion about how they might be applied to museums in general and specifically to participants’ own organizations. (Presented at American Alliance of Museums Conference 2015)

1. American Alliance of Museums: Atlanta
Aril 26, 2015
Changing Museums’
Social Value
CECILIA GARIBAY, Garibay Group, Chicago
CHRISTINE REICH, Museum of Science, Boston

2. Taking Action Toward Inclusion:
Examples

4. 4

5. Taking Action Toward Inclusion:
Case Study

6. Inspiration
“One of the most pervasive messages of my childhood was,
‘Not for you.’ That’s something that’s incredibly destructive for
the life of a child. Places like science museums can dispel
those messages more than almost any place else. I remember
my few visits to museums as just wonderful. I believe
everybody should have that experience. And I do mean
everybody.”– Betty Davidson, Ph.D.

7. Challenge
• Most science museums do not attend to inclusion of
people with disabilities, yet…
– Designs that promote inclusion exist
– Resources about inclusive practices exist
– Policies requiring inclusion exist
• What is lacking is an understanding of ways to
facilitate change in science museums

8. Questions
• What contexts and learning processes facilitate, sustain,
or detract from a science museum’s change toward more
inclusive practices?
• How do these learning processes and contexts influence
the kinds of change that do or do not take place?

9. Frameworks
Social model of
disability
What change is needed
Why change is needed
Organizational
learning
How change occurs

10. Multiple Case Study
• Individual cases and case-collection descriptions
(Stake, 2006)
– Three science museums where there is evidence of
sustained inclusive practices
Outdoor and Explore
Museum
Large Science
Museum
Urban Community
Museum

11. Data Collection
Focused observations with
people with disabilities
Observations of museum
activities
Staff interviews Document collection

12. Actions for Change
• Involve people with disabilities in their work
• Embed inclusive practices in the work and
regular communication
• Engage in on-going experimentation and
reflection about inclusive practices
• Promote inclusive practices as something that
benefits people with and without disabilities

13. What is the ultimate
goal of working toward
making informal
learning institutions
inclusive?

14. Perspective Influences Choices

15. Inclusion Paradigms
Assimilationist
Critical Theory
Cultural Anthropology
Equity in science education (Lee, 1995)

16. Goal: Enable groups to gain
entry into academic areas of
employment and institutions
Suggests equity is about
providing access to existing
fields and institutions
Assimilationist

17. Goal: Access to and full
participation while recognizing
and valuing different “ways of
knowing.”
Recognizes difference of
perspectives
Embraces multiple view
points and values
Cultural Anthropology

18. Goal: Develop equitable
power structures
Provides tools for those
marginalized to question and
use for own intentions.
Social change and
transformation
Critical Theory

19. Theories of change

20. Framing
• Focuses on change through public discourse
• Refers to the presence of certain themes, phrases, or
key words in discussions of issues
• For example, frames related to disability
– Medical
– Economic
– Sociopolitical/civil rights
• Implication: To change an organization, change how
inclusion is framed
(Gamson, 1998; Haller, Dorries, & Rahn, 2006;
Jeon & Haider-Markel, 2001)

21. Organizational learning
• Organizations are capable of learning
• Organizational learning is more than the sum of
individual learning
• Process is on-going and iterative
– Intentional experimentation
– Acquiring new employees
– Noticing what is happening in other organizations
– Member interactions
• Implications: Focus on changing knowledge,
interests, beliefs, and practices across individuals
(Argyris & Schon, 1995; Huber, 1991;
Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 2005)

22. Organizational fields
• Organizations within a field become similar to one
another over time
– Through political influence
– When organizations seek solutions to challenges
from within the field
– Through professionalization of the field
• Implication: To change an organization, change the
field
(DiMaggio, 1991; DiMaggio & Powell, 1983)

23. Contact Information
Christine Reich
Museum of Science, Boston
creich@mos.org
Cecilia Garibay
Garibay Group
cgaribay@garibaygroup.com

24. Select Resources
Change in museums
• Garibay, C. (2011). Responsive and Accessible: How Museums Are Using Research to Better Engage Diverse Cultural
Communities. ASTC Dimensions.
• Reich, C. (2012). Changing practices: Inclusion of people with disabilities in science museums.
Dimensions(November/December), 22-26.
• Roberts, L. (1997). From knowledge to narrative: Educators and the changing museum. Washington, DC: Smithsonian
Institution Press.
• Stein, J., Garibay, C., Wilson, K. (Fall 2008) Engaging immigrant audiences in museums. Journal of Museums and Social
Issues. Volume 3, Number 2.
Change and inclusion
• Ainscow, M., & Sandill, A. (2010). Developing inclusive education systems: The role of organisational cultures and
leadership. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(4), 401-416.
• Lee, O. (1999). Equity implications based on the conceptions of science achievement in major reform documents. Review
of Educational Research, 69(1), 83-115.
• Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice leadership.
Educational Administrational Quarterly, 43(2), 221-258.
Organizational Change
• Argyris, C., & Schon, D. (1995). Organizational learning II: Theory, method, and practice: Prentice Hall.
• Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science,
16(4), 409-421.
• Gamson, W. A., & Meyer, D. S. (1996). Framing political opportunity. In D. McAdam, J. D. McCarthy & M. N. Zald (Eds.),
Comparative perspectives on social movements: Political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings. New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
• DiMaggio, P. J. (1991). Constructing an organizational field as a professional project: US art museums, 1920-1940. In W.
W. Powell & P. J. DiMaggio (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 267-292). Chicago, IL: University
of Chicago Press.
• Ogawa, R. T., Loomis, M., & Crain, R. (2008). Institutional history of an interactive science center: The founding and
development of the Exploratorium. Science Education, 270-292.