The California Community College (CCC) system is the largest system of higher education in the United States, with 72 districts and 113 colleges. The CCC system exhibits statistics demonstrating success; however, as with any organization, trust, communication, and leadership play an essential role in creating stable and productive organizations.…

Scholarly community engagement in higher education historically focused on the 4-year university, as a result there is limited research on how community colleges engage with their communities. In 2006, The Carnegie Foundation established a new Elective Community Engagement classification for higher education institutions. Research on Carnegie…

This study examines the dynamics of collaborative work that promote leadership as an outcome of team processes. Through an in-depth exploration of a community college that developed an organizational model of shared leadership over a period of seven months, this study aims to contribute to our qualitative understanding of how a vision of shared…

The presence of a faculty union in a community college has a significant impact on its governance. This chapter offers recommendations for dealing with the challenges presented by collective bargaining in the postsecondary education environment.

The purpose of this study is to further the examination of involvement, perceptions, and experiences of faculty in shared governance, with an emphasis on the differences between men and women. Moreover, this study seeks to understand potential gender disparities in the experience of women faculty while involved in shared governance, with a focus…

Examined government legislation and institutional collective agreements between colleges and faculty in two countries, Canada and the United States, for impediments to shared governance in community colleges. Concluded that except in one legal jurisdiction, shared governance is either impeded legally or not supported by government legislation. (EV)

This document contains three papers which present information from various perspectives on aspects of shared governance at De Anza College, in Cupertino, California. First, "Shared Governance: The Next Generation," by John C. Lovas, provides a brief history of governance in the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, and suggests…

Although incivility and conflict have long plagued community colleges and other educational institutions, recent budget declines have made this situation more critical. In the past, those who disagreed could be bought off and organizations tended to hire layers of people to perform tasks that one person with a personal computer can perform today.…

The development of shared governance at Sierra College (SC) in California is chronicled in this report. The first sections of the report provide a chronology of team, board, and committee meetings and colloquia involved in the process of implementing shared governance at the college; present summaries of breakout group reports, evaluative…

In 1981, at the suggestion of the college president, Metro Community College (MCC) instituted a College Advisory System (CAS) to replace its cumbersome structure of 17 standing committees and numerous ad hoc committees. CAS is a voluntary, action-oriented, entirely open system, allowing for input from all sectors of the college community. It is…

In the California Community Colleges (CCC), authority is conditionally delegated to local college districts to approve new credit courses, articulate courses with other district colleges, and approve graduation requirements. This document details policies adopted by the CCC's Academic Senate regarding the scope, mechanisms, and conditions of that…

Until recently, corporations of all kinds, including educational institutions, were hierarchical structures. Today, the most successful private sector corporations are flexible collectives of teams and production units. To achieve this success, covenantal relationships, based on a shared commitment to ideas, values, goals, and management processes…

Four papers are presented in this research report. Cooke and Tannenbaum present the theoretical background, methodology, and results of a study exploring the relation of formal and informal participation to the distribution of control in community colleges. Data, collected from students, faculty, and administrators of five "formally participative"…