Performance and Paralysis: The Organizational Context of the American Research University

Alpert, D.

doi:10.2307/1981734

Cited by 65 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Being discipline-based, the university's academic departments often show more affinity to similar departments at other universities than to the departments in their own institution (Alpert 1985). Researchers first and foremost see themselves as belonging to a disciplinary community and often seek alliances, recognition and support in their disciplinary fieldthat is, among their peers.…”

Section: Stakeholder Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher education and its communities: Interconnections, interdependencies and a research agenda

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Universities everywhere are being forced to carefully reconsider their role in society and to evaluate the relationships with their various constituencies, stakeholders, and communities. In this article, stakeholder analysis is put forward as a tool to assist universities in classifying stakeholders and determining stakeholder salience. Increasingly universities are expected to assume a third mission and to engage in interactions with industrial and regional partners. While incentive schemes and government programmes try to encourage universities to reach out more to external communities, some important barriers to such linkages still remain. To fulfil their obligation towards being a socially accountable institution and to prevent mission overload, universities will have to carefully select their stakeholders and identify the 'right' degree of differentiation. For the university, thinking in terms of partnerships with key stakeholders has important implications for its governance and accountability arrangements. For the future of the universities we foresee a change towards networked governance and arrangements to ensure accountability along the lines of corporate social responsibility. In order to further explore some of these concepts and to empirically investigate the tendencies suggested here, this article proposes an ambitious research agenda for tackling the emerging issues of governance, stakeholder management and higher education's interaction with society.

show abstract

Section: Stakeholder Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher education and its communities: Interconnections, interdependencies and a research agenda

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These issues are typical of most academic computing systems (Alpert, 1985;El-Khawis, 1995;McClure & Lopata, 1996;Swartz & Orgill, 2001) and many other mid-sized and large organizations . Facing this scenario, MSU's chief information of cer (CIO) made the decision to revamp the computing infrastructure to take advantage of new client/server technology.…”

Section: The Research Setting: Mid-sized Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Issues in Information and Communication Technology-Enabled Organizational Change: Evidence From an Enterprise Systems Implementation

Sawyer¹,

Southwick²

2002

The Information Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article we highlight temporal effects in information and communication technology-enabled organizational change. Examples of temporal effects are explored in the context of one organization's efforts to implement an enterprise-wide information system. Temporality is presented as having two aspects, with the rst being the well-recognized, linear and measured clock time. The second aspect of time is that which is perceived-often as nonlinear-and socially de ned. We nd that temporal effects arise both in changes to the structure of work and in differences among groups in how time is perceived. Evidence suggests that both speci c characteristics of the implementation and of the enterprise systems' technologies further exacerbate these temporal effects. We conclude with suggestions for how to incorporate a temporally re ective perspective into analysis of technology-enabled organizational change and how a temporal perspective provides insight into both the social and technical aspects of the sociotechnical nature of enterprise systems.

show abstract

“…The former might emphasize the number of courses taught and student credit hours generated, whereas the latter might examine instructional approaches and student learning outcomes. Accountability often emphasizes local norms such as teaching and service more than national ones such as research and scholarship (Alpert, 1985). Measures of accountability are easier to develop than measures of impact or quality because the latter focus on more ephemeral goals (for example, student learning, impact of research) and contain implicit values.…”

Section: Outcomes Of Faculty Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ultimate faculty evaluation: Promotion and tenure decisions.

Fairweather

2002

New Drctns for Instit Rsrch

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this chapter I take the perspective of the former chair and current member of the College Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee (RPT) in the College of Education at Michigan State University (MSU). Based on this experience and many others (see Fairweather, 1996), I conclude that the faculty in our college draw inferences about what their institution, college, and department value the most by viewing the outcome of promotion and tenure decisions (and sometimes salaries and raises) more than by the ways that a college or institution chooses to measure performance and set RPT criteria. As Huber notes in Chapter Seven, "scholarship gains specific meaning less in rules and regulations than in deliberations about particular cases." Particularly important is the distinction between goal clarification and the measurement of performance, on the one hand, and assigning value to distinct aspects of a faculty member's performance in a RPT decision, on the other. The former assist an RPT committee in understanding what a faculty member accomplished; they do not help us decide how to value the different accomplishments nor do they tell us whether or not the overall record is sufficient to achieve promotion or tenure. Ultimately, RPT decisions rest on values and judgments, not on measurement or clear expectations. Missions and philosophy help shape an institutional culture; the translation of missions and philosophy into practice is what matters in RPT decisions. In this context, the preceding chapters inform personnel decisions primarily by defining and assessing the components of faculty work. Left unaddressed are the value judgments inherent in the process, which I explore in this chapter.

show abstract

Performance and Paralysis: The Organizational Context of the American Research University

Cited by 65 publications

References 0 publications

Higher education and its communities: Interconnections, interdependencies and a research agenda

Higher education and its communities: Interconnections, interdependencies and a research agenda

Temporal Issues in Information and Communication Technology-Enabled Organizational Change: Evidence From an Enterprise Systems Implementation

The ultimate faculty evaluation: Promotion and tenure decisions.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About