Reframing the university as an emergent organisation: implications for strategic management and leadership in higher education

CITATION

Tom Doyle & Malcolm Brady (2018) Reframing the university as an emergent organisation: implications for strategic management and leadership in higher education, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 40:4, 305-320, DOI:

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ABSTRACT
For the most part, the organisational forms that are currently
being adopted by higher education institutions are grounded in the
traditional corporate models of organisation that take a rational
approach to organisational change management. Underlying this
account is an assumption of organisational autonomy and the capacity
of designated leaders to direct such change processes. However, a case
is now being made for the consideration of alternative organisational
theories or models that offer a different perception on the
sources and patterns of organisational change in higher education.
These theories perceive organisations more as emergent entities in
which change is continuous, often unpredictable and arising mainly
from local interactions. The paper surveys the implications that acceptance
of the alternative paradigm might have for strategising and
change leadership in higher education institutions. It suggests that
the accommodation of these alterative paradigms of institutional
development in higher education may itself be an emergent process.


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