Engineers and planners are central players in creating the built environments and shaping natural ones that make up our communities. They can be a force for creating environments that are just and equitable, and by doing so advance the ideals of environmental justice. But, too often, these professionals are not empowered to create or seize…

This Problem of Practice study explored and synthesized the lived experiences of specialized project managers as they grappled with the challenges of aligning technical and people-centric change. For these individuals within a fast-growing organization in a complex and rapidly evolving higher-education marketplace change is mandatory and…

Background: Outward Bound New Zealand (OBNZ) was established in 1962, as part of an international network of outdoor education schools founded in the United Kingdom by Kurt Hahn, with the central values of empowering people to fulfill their potential, fostering compassion, and developing courage. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide…

The board of Fiserv (an investment management company) has already decided to close the business no matter what. Agile Financials has agreed to buyout Fiserv and retain part of the Fiserv staff if the purchase deal closes. However, if too many of Fiserv's clients left with their accounts or if the customer satisfaction index (CSI) continued to…

The research aim is to contribute to scholarly inquiry on best practices for institutional leaders in health care organizations who are leading improvement work. The goal is to investigate how a specific sustainable continuous improvement methodology--lean management (LM)--is experienced by leaders charged with implementing it to improve health…

Problems associated with managerialism are well established in Higher Education. Driven by pressures of funding cuts, league tables and the associated competitive environment, Higher Education followed other public sector bodies in adopting Lean Management principles. While there is scepticism about Lean Management because it is seen as an…

Little is known about how the complex notion of higher education quality is understood and (strategically) handled by a specific group of key university actors: directors of educational programmes. A framing analysis of in-depth interviews was conducted to explore how bachelor-programme directors in Dutch social science departments understand and…

This study analyzed the transformation of a departmental culture through a process of implementing a new mission statement. The revised departmental mission promoted positive practices and rituals that transformed faculty relationships and student learning. These positive and ethical practices were derived from social constructionist principles,…

The literature indicates that approximately 50% of those who seek a doctoral education complete the degree. Research indicates that persistence is one of the key issues that students struggle with and negatively impacts their ability to graduate. Other factors include the ability to maintain enrollment; topic selection; and ability to maintain a…

Organizational transformation takes time, energy, and patience. An active administrative unit, The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology (called simply, the Hub) engaged intentional change from its inception. The Hub aspires to help Michigan State University (MSU) "reinvent itself as a learning institution" by transforming…

This essay reports on an interview-based study of ten veteran WPAs, whose three decades of service spans neoliberalism's growing influence on universities. Our findings trace their enactment of social resilience, a dynamic, relational process that allowed them, even in the face of constraint, to act and to preserve key commitments.

Using a stratified random sample and real-time virtual focus group sessions, we evaluated the regional administrative model, addressing personnel supervision, program direction, financial management, and administrative leadership. We concluded that the regional administrative model remains a highly charged topic, there is no common understanding…

The dynamic and high-stakes nature of education and training requires reliance on evidence-based practices and policies to make decisions about technology adoption and implementation. In the report, "Science of Learning and Readiness (SoLaR) Recommendation Report: Science of Learning Practices for Distributed Online Environments"…

We are all part of different communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) that impact who it is possible for us to be and become. Through the process of self-study described in this paper, we seek to understand our personal experiences within a particular teacher education program, but also offer insight into the social and political complexities of…

The ability to think in terms of a system is critical to achieving common direction, alignment, and commitment in highly distributed health systems. In Canada, provincial and territorial ministries of health provide leadership on the direction of health reform while leadership to align system levels is determined by a far more distributed group of…