This paper attempts to develop a conceptual framework for describing the school as an organization. In the first chapter, after a review of organizational theory and research on the school, it is concluded that the school organization as a whole can be described in terms of bureaucracy and professionalism. In the second chapter, two basic assumptions are defended. The first is that the school is (and must be) a hierarchical organization and the second is that the school is (and must be) an organization characterized at all levels by structural conflict. The third chapter presents preliminary concepts for describing the complex school organization. It looks at the school as a coercive, professional, and bureaucratic organization. The last chapter outlines the rationalist approach, an organizational theory of the school that encompasses the conceptual framework already described. The concept of shared control is then used to shed more light on the theoretical model. (Author/JM)