Academic freedom and the protection of human research subjects are central tenets of American universities. Academic freedom protects the rights of tenured professors to conduct autonomous research; human subject protection ensures that research causes as minimal a risk as possible to study participants. Although the two principles are mutually…

Leadership in higher education is considered from the perspective of its symbolic dimensions. Results of a study of presidential perceptions of leadership are also examined in order to uncover the symbolic forms that leaders use to accomplish their goals. Organizational symbolism and interpretations of leadership are considered. Topics include:…

The author argues that leadership is a cultural construct embedded in symbolic processes. By culture, the author refers to the informal codes and shared assumptions of individuals who participate in an organization. An organization's members shape and are shaped by the symbols and rituals of the institution as well as the unique history from which…

The different conceptual approaches to organizational culture used in the last decade are discussed to provide clarity for cultural researchers in higher education. Emphasis is on the differences between functional and interpretive perspectives of organizational culture. The underlying assumptions, rationales, and methodological implications are…

Ethnography, which records and describes culturally significant behavior of a particular group, is suggested as a method for college self-evaluation. The potential and limitations of the method are outlined, and current uses in education are discussed. (MSE)

Twenty-seven key resources for understanding, researching, and managing organizational climates and cultures are cited and described. The articles, books, and monographs reflect a relatively recent wave of interest in culture as a tool for understanding organizational settings. (Author/MSE)

By analyzing ethnographic case studies, the ways that two colleges and one university conceive of and construct knowledge are examined. In contrast to assertions that disciplinary activity is the agent of knowledge production, it is argued that institutional contexts powerfully influence knowledge production and that knowledge is a cultural…

This guidebook argues that solutions to the many problems that internally plague academic institutions of higher education are best developed when administrators closely examine the values, beliefs, traditions, and histories that organizational members hold. Institutional evaluations should take place within a cultural context in which…

The implications for researchers and administrators are considered if the organizational environment is interpreted as "enacted." Objective and enacted environments are differentiated and the ways are suggested for how administrators might identify what they need to do and how they do it, given the socially constructed organization in which they…

This article suggests that a critical postmodern organizational perspective offers significant ways to assess an institution of higher education's effectiveness. The first part of the article outlines what is meant by "critical postmodernism" and then delineates a definition of multiculturalism in higher education based on the work of…

How different institutions conceive of and construct knowledge is examined by delineating how they enact their conception of knowledge through curriculum. The contention of Burton Clark and others that disciplinary activity is primarily responsible for fomenting knowledge production is argued. It is suggested that institutions have a more powerful…

Effective management of time is described from a cultural viewpoint, using examples from four case studies based on a one-year research project on college and university decision-making. Three dimensions of time in colleges and universities are important: formal/informal; historical; and seasonal/ceremonial. The environment, external…

Leadership is discussed from the perspective of post-secondary organizations as socially constructed and subjective entities. Six symbolic categories used by presidents are examined: metaphorical, physical, communicative, structural, personification, and ideational. Implications for administrators of understanding the symbolism of their leadership…

Four strategies that college leaders can use to encourage a sense of community are offered. The strategies, focusing on the campus culture, involve allowing conflict to be heard and examined, emphasizing cultural rather than managerial leadership, honoring differences, and creating awareness of differences in others. (MSE)

Heterosexism and homophobia, revealed by surveys to be common on university campuses, must be countered by positive, proactive administrative and faculty action, including statements of nondiscrimination, equal treatment, unequivocal response to acts and words of intolerance, and encouragement of research and curriculum on this and related issues.…