It is generally accepted that Canadian universities are less stratified than their southern neighbours, a hypothesis popularized in the mid-2000s and verified by subsequent comparative empirical research. Through this piece, we revisit the Canadian "flatness" hypothesis, embracing a more sociological definition of status hierarchies and…

Human resource development (HRD) is no longer about simply acquiring the skills needed to perform a task and is now a tool which can shape society and the ways in which we interact with one another. At the forefront of this transition are new ways of imagining HRD, including critical human resource development (CHRD) and critical management…

This article investigates whether the level of academics' societal engagement (ASE) is higher or lower at universities with leading research university (LRU) status compared with institutions at lower status levels within vertically stratified systems. In a theory-based purposeful sampling, we studied the correlation of LRU-status and ASE in…

This article is a case study describing the University College of the North's (UCN) response to the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining pandemic planning and management processes at UCN from March 11, 2020, to September 30, 2021. UCN's planning processes evolved from a top-down approach led by administration to an approach that saw greater shared…

In this paper, I unpack how youth organizers became politicized activists through their engagement in the prefigurative practices of the fair trade movement. Prefiguration refers to the practices of a movement that are embedded in and reproduce their shared political visions; prefigurative politics allows social movement groups to embody their…

The development of the modern nation-state was an inherently centralising process. Education policy and the institutionalisation of mass public schooling played a key role in this process, facilitating industrialisation and the generation of mass loyalty toward the state. In almost all federal systems, however, education policy remained an…

This qualitative investigation of higher education institutional development addresses new universities that were former community colleges in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Stemming from an original study conducted nearly two decades earlier, this investigation's data were collected from the same institutions and from similar…

In this article, I share the story of "The Positive Energy Quilts," a collective environmental adult education art project on Vancouver Island, British Columbia that challenged the building of a power plant. I illustrate how this project creatively, poignantly, and stealthily drew out knowledge, and visual-counter narratives, challenged…

Interviews were conducted with the presidents and senior administrators of 20 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology located in the province of Ontario (Canada) to assess the relationship between organizational size and organizational structure. It was found that a relationship existed between the size variable and certain structural dimensions.…

This study examines the organizational structures of schools and school systems using six complementary but distinct perspectives--societal, intentional, structural, analytical, portrait, and narrative--in order to ascertain the appropriateness of structural revision in relation to changes in Canadian society. Following an examination of the…

The university as a system of formal authority is considered in the Canadian context. The structure of the 27 largest Canadian universities (ranked by operating income) is analyzed with reference to their organizational charts. It is assumed that the structure symbolizes an official style of authority and responsibility reflected by the number of…

This study examined the independent and conditional effects of organizational culture type and managerial strategy on the organizational effectiveness of higher education schools of business. A total of 333 deans and chairs of business schools in the United States and Canada completed a survey instrument that addressed variables related to…

Examines the use of influence diagrams to help understand political processes within organizations. This technique is illustrated through a case study of a new extended care facility connected to a hospital. (Author/IRT)

Basic elements of the higher education system are considered, along with variations across nations (the United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, Italy, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States, Poland, Yugoslavia, Mexico, and Thailand). Three basic elements of the organization of higher education system are identified:…

This document presents comparative data concerning staff utilization under educational systems operated by the State as opposed to those operated by school districts. The study reported here used as its samples the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia and the Australian States of Queensland and Victoria. Specifically, the study was…