This paper argues that governance and institutional purpose are related, and that proposals to make governance more efficient by reducing or limiting the faculty role in shared governance are more likely to diminish institutional effectiveness. The rationalization of governance would not only reduce faculty trust and cooperation, delegitimize the…

All organizations can increase efficiency and quality, but academic institutions are unlikely to improve academic productivity by formulas, brute force, or threats of external intervention. Studies of two institutions suggest that several factors can make improved productivity possible. Ten ways to accomplish this are suggested. (Author/MSE)

A study is reported that found no significant relationship between unionization and changes in campus climate as described by faculty scores on the Institutional Functioning Inventory. Scores from 1980 are compared with those of a decade earlier for 18 unionized and 18 nonunionized campuses. (Author/MLW)

Calculating the productivity of a college or university is more complex than determining a machine's productivity. Sixteen rational, cultural, political, and cognitive constraints that influence institutional productivity are outlined and their mediation by institutional culture and history is noted. (MSE)

This discussion of faculty senates examines roles senates are presumed to and actually play in college governance within four organizational models: bureaucratic, collegial, political, or symbolic. It is concluded that any changes must be undertaken carefully so as not to disturb either manifest or latent organizational functions. (MSE)

The roles of academic senates in university organization are discussed. Three symbolic purposes that academic senates may fill are considered first: they may symbolize institutional membership in the higher education system, collective and individual faculty commitment to professional values, and joint faculty-administration acceptance of existing…

Catastrophe theory, a mathematical technique for studying discontinuous processes such as sudden and dramatic changes in the behavior of a system as a consequence of small changes in controlling factors, is discussed. The "cusp catastrophe" is used to create a three-dimensional model. (Author/MLW)

Academic senates remain an important feature of higher education governance even though they have been criticized as being ineffective. Senates are examined from the perspective of alternative organizational models, and it is suggested that the functions of the senate are best understood by considering colleges as symbolic systems. (Author/MLW)

The effectiveness of an academic leader in higher education may depend less on getting the community to follow the leader's vision and more on his/her influencing the community to face its problems. Effective leadership is informed more by judgment and experience than by science; if higher education persists in using business techniques, it will…

Ideas that may help college and university administrators develop a more coherent and integrated view of the institutions they inhabit and, therefore, be more effective as they work in them are presented. Suggestions are made to help them think in more complex ways about their work and improving their performance. Thoughts are based on ideas that…

Proposals to make governance "more efficient" by reducing or limiting the faculty role in shared governance are likely to diminish institutional effectiveness.

A guide to mutual gains bargaining (MGB) is presented for faculty union leaders and college administrators, as well as school systems. MGB is based on applied behavioral sciences concepts and the use of bargaining teams and emphasizes problem-solving and improving communications and campus relationships. Two different uses of the mutual gains…

Research suggests 10 principles for college presidents' success: making a good first impression; listening with respect, creating equilibrium for governance; avoiding simplistic thinking; deemphasizing bureaucracy and linear administrative strategies; emphasizing strong values; focusing on strengths; encouraging leadership in others;…

The evolution of collective bargaining in higher education and factors that lead academic bargaining from destructive conflict to cooperation are examined. Academic bargaining is viewed as a form of shared authority, but one with unusual institutional and organizational problems that may lead toward destructive, rather than constructive conflict.…