The effect of unpredictable resources on organizational performance in higher education was examined, along with whether some management strategies are more successful under conditions of relative predictability or unpredictability. Perceptions of administrators about institutional resources and performance were studied, along with the effects of…

Prior work on organizational effectiveness and strategic management is applied to assessing the strategy and effectiveness of higher education systems. It is suggested that like organizations, systems need to address three kinds of effectiveness: goal achievement, resource acquisition, and constituent satisfaction. Both organizations and systems…

An address to faculty and staff considers the question of how quality can be improved at the various levels of a college. The importance of a shared sense of purpose is emphasized. Three goals of postsecondary education are discussed: to produce desirable changes in people; to do so through means that are consistent with social values; and to…

The behaviors and subsequent situations of two sets of colleges that experienced severe financial difficulties in the mid-1970s were examined. One set made a dramatic recovery; the other set did not. The more resilient group pursued a combination of adaptive and interpretive strategies. (MLW)

A bibliography on strategic management is presented to assist both practitioners and researchers. Criteria for inclusion were as follows: (1) general in scope, providing introductory information on a variety of subtopics within strategic management; (2) indications that the work is becoming a classic (i.e., frequent citations by other authors);…