The prospects for managing the tension between accountability and improvement in further and higher education (FHE) were examined through a literature review and a 5-year ethnographic study of a change management project at a higher education college in Wales. Special attention was paid to the following challenges facing FHE: globalization; the impact of new technologies; and the rise of the corporate curriculum. The following lessons for change management and management practice were offered: (1) there is a difference between the planned outcomes of policy and those that emerge through implementation; (2) quality management becomes preoccupied with accountability; (3) there is no blueprint for quality management, and what is achievable should not be viewed from the standpoint of a "blank sheet"; (4) to respond to change effectively, leaders must be able to pose the "right" questions; and (5) to manage change effectively, institutional managers should assess the current and emerging climate of operation and be prepared to manage tensions. It was concluded that, although the tension between accountability and improvement may not be fully resolvable, acknowledgment of such tensions could make FHE managers better equipped to deal with the challenges they face as FHE enters the third millennium. (Contains 44 references.) (MN)