Organizational Responses to Future Challenges

Organizational Responses to Future Challenges

Introduction

In modern society, education has become one of the most substantial areas of human activity. It employs more than billion students and almost 50 million teachers. In the last decade, the world is changing its attitude towards all forms of education. Education, especially higher education, considered as the leading factor for social and economic progress. The reason for this emphasis lies in understanding that the most important value and a core capital of modern society are the person capable of finding and developing new knowledge and acceptance of non-standard solutions. This paper dsicueex the governance and oganizational issues of higher education in light of the four principles as described by Birnbaum (1991). The paper also discusses the organizational responses to the changes analysing the Birnbaum's model of organizational functioning.

Organization and Governance

Birnbaum (1991) suggested the four basic principles of educational organization and governance. These principles are:

Shared Governance

Shared governance refers to the joint efforts in the internal operations of the educational institutions but this concept also categorizes various decisions as the realm of difference groups. This statement was jointly developed by the American Association of University Professors \, the American Council on Education (ACE), and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). This concept aims to respect the differences in size, history, and complexity of the American higher education. For instance, governance process at the liberal arts college is distinct in that the faculty is usually involved in governance. Governance Structure

The process of governance is complex and includes various layers. Every group differs in the responsibility of levels by the type of institution, and historical evolution. However there is no single approach of organization. Trustees and board are delegated authority by the university and college charters from the state legislature for decision making (Birnbaum,1988). They need to assemble with a quorum and oversee the broad responsibilities. Obviously, the budget situation in different universities differ mainly because of the difference schemes of financing, size and profiles of institutions, although in general, higher education due to a number of reasons is more expensive than other levels of education. Manage the budget deficit should be directed at minimizing the damage defining the elements of the educational process. In cases where the sizes of fiscal deficit are significant, administrators, universities have little choice and must go to crisis management. In other cases, where more leeway is broad, their situation can be improved strategic planning.

External Influences

Outside forces like state government, donors, alumni and accreditors affect the process of governance through persuasion, guidelines, funding, and policy. According to the principle of external influence, these other groups are significant to acknowledge, even if the influence is informal ad denied by the charter, statement or set of principles. Adapting the socio economic and political changes.

The education system must combine the production, development and dissemination of knowledge at the same time adapting to the socio-economic and political changes. Universities are in direct interaction with the surrounding environment of ...