Academic Units in a Complex, Changing World

As clocks struck midnight on the 31st December 2009 announcing the dawn of a new decade, amidst the jubilation of a new beginning we paused momentarily to re?ect on the decade that had just past. It was a dif?cult era for many people and organisations. Many were affected by war, terrorism, famine, ?re and tsunamis. First-world citizens enjoyed opportunities to relax in a technologically driven n- vana. People on streets, trains and planes from London, Tokyo to New York sported the white ear buds of iPhones as de rigueur adornments. The pace and intensity of our lives now seems to run at warp speed, we rush from appointment to appoi- ment swigging vitamin-enhanced mineral water obsessing about ?uctuations in our body mass index and the Dow Jones index in equal measure. Yet as individuals we can choose to accept or reject some of these changes. Those with suf?cient ma- rial resources can cocoon themselves in high-security fortress homes or relocate to safer, more tranquil environs, or even redesign themselves with the aid of Botox and a skilled plastic surgeon. Yet some organisations do not have the luxury of volition, they cannot choose whether to accept or reject the affects of environmental changes. A type of organisation that has found itself situated in environments that are increasingly complex and turbulent are academic units (departments, schools and faculties) in many publicly funded universities around the globe.

It explores the fabric of academic units efforts to deal with change with close attention to detail Develops new conceptual frameworks on academic units adaptation and resistance to changing environments Offers university executives, heads of academic units and faculty practical suggestions for dealing with environmental challenges

Klappentext
This book uses case studies of academic units from Australian public universities to explore the reasons why those units respond in different ways to similar contemporary challenges. The 'academic units'departments, schools and facultiesin the world's public universities may be their own administrative fiefdoms, but the wider environment within which they operate is both complex and dynamic. In fact, today's academic landscape is barely recognizable from what it was like two decades ago. The globalization of higher education markets for students, faculty and research funding has expanded the challenges and opportunities for academic units beyond the boundaries of nation states. However, academic units must also deal with the diverse needs and expectations of national and local stakeholders, as well as operate within government regulatory and policy frameworks. In addition, they are required to adhere to policy and operational directives from institutional executives and consider the often-competing needs and expectations of other stakeholders such as faculty, students, employers, funding bodies and professional associations. As public funding slowly evaporates some university faculties have embraced the imperative to be more business-oriented. Others have shrunk from congress with Mammon. The milieu of tertiary education is having to adapt to fresh trends in this domain, such as the advocacy of marketization, entrepreneurialism and corporatization, the three pillars of so-called 'new public management'. With its case studies from different academic disciplines and types of university, this book asks some key questions: Why do some units adapt to environmental challenges and others resist change? How and why do academic units adopt different modes and processes of adaptation or resistance? Along with its new conceptual framework for the wider context, the text makes an important contribution to scholarship on leading and managing change inuniversities, while at the same time offering those in academic leadership positions relevant advice and practical suggestions to guide their units through these complex challenges. Where other academic studies have examined the university as an institution in its entirety, this focused study compares the decision-making on a lower rung of the administrative ladder.

Inhalt
The Framework.- Complex, Turbulent Exogenous Environments.- Research Design and Methods.- to the Empirical Findings.- The Case Studies.- Defenders.- Prospectors.- Analysers.- Reactors/Resistants.- Conceptual and Practical Reflections.- Discussion and Conclusions.- Exploring Conceptual and Practical Implications of This Work.- Current and Emerging Challenges.