Organizing change: A single case study exploring the perceptions of self-determination in high school employees during a building renovation

American public schools face critical employee shortages, driven largely by job dissatisfaction stemming from the unmet psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Factors such as working conditions, school climate, and organizational change, like building renovations, significantly affect staff satisfaction and retention. Mismanaged renovations disrupt employees’ sense of control, confidence, and social connections, exacerbating dissatisfaction and turnover. The purpose of this single case study was to explore employees’ perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness at a public high school in the southern United States during a large-scale building renovation. Using self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985), I conducted a single case study exploring the perceptions of employees at Compass High School (CHS, pseudonym), a public high school undergoing extensive building renovations. Participants were selected using purposeful criterion-based sampling with maximum variation and included five CHS employees, who met the inclusion criteria of having at least five years of experience in education and one year of employment at CHS prior to the start of the renovation. I recruited interested people through questionnaire responses and then intentionally selected participants to encourage variation. I collected data through a reflective questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and guided reflective journal prompts. The four findings of this study fell into four categories: autonomy, competence, relatedness, and organizational culture. Under autonomy, I found that employees perceived a top-down decision-making culture during the renovation of CHS, which they believed limited their autonomy. Under competence, I found that employees perceived an unpredictable and reactive nature during the renovation of CHS, which they believed undermined their competence. Under relatedness, I found that employees perceived both increases and decreases in their relatedness during the renovation of CHS. Finally, under organizational culture, I found that employees perceived an organizational culture that prioritized operational efficiency over staff well-being during the renovation of CHS. This study has implications for current and future K–12 employees, campus and district-level leadership teams, and facilities and operations management teams.