"Fiscal" and other so-called "crises" in Australian universities are more fundamentally, it is argued in this article, crises of government decision and "governmentality". Using an illustrative "morality tale" drawn from their working knowledge of the Australian university sector, the authors take a…

In this article, an attitudinal perspective on organizational members' reactions to change is proposed and developed. By viewing change as an attitude object in this sense, a richer conceptualization of perceptions of change and reactions to change in terms of emotions, cognitions, and behaviors is achieved. The perspective also frames…

Purpose: In this paper it is held that a transformational learning organisation could be clearly distinguished from non-learning organisations. This paper seeks to establish whether or not this is actually the case. Design/methodology/approach: Case studies were developed for two organisations considering themselves to be learning organisations…

Purpose: The need to create and apply knowledge has contributed to the prescription of a learning organisation. However, there is no easy answer to what this concept means. Also a major criticism of the concept relates to the yet unclear connection between learning and performance. The purpose of this paper is to review the broad global literature…

Purpose: With significant change as an ongoing challenge, the development and use of a flexible change curriculum is identified as a success factor that will allow an organization to optimize the outcome from change transformations. Design/methodology/approach: After discussing significant change, this paper will contrast two organizations in…

How do political forces come together to influence merger forms and outcomes? This question is posed in a context of an analysis of the forms and outcomes of three "case studies" of mergers that took place in South Africa in the past decade. The theoretical stance, borne out by the data under review, places political actors at the centre…

This article examines the construction and experience of change agency within action research courses in preservice teacher education. Four preservice teachers' experiences of action research are analyzed, and tensions and challenges teacher educators and preservice teachers face as they attend to change processes in learning to teach are…

Metaphors are powerful in describing organizations (Morgan, 1986; 1998) and stories reveal the meaning of experiences (Kouzes & Posner, 1993). As an avid skier and school change leader, the author has drawn on her personal experiences and the literature to develop the idea of improving skiing as a metaphor for improving leadership, particularly…

Purpose: This paper presents routinized action theory as a way to examine the regular, habitual activities that occur in school organizations. Using this theoretical lens, school routines were analyzed in order to understand organizational stability and change. Design/methodology/approach: Using case study methods, three discrete cases are…

Purpose: To explore whether deliberate organisational change of a public sector organisation (a local municipality) would create an avenue for organisational learning. Design/methodology/approach: A case study was set up to study the means by which the organisational change towards a digital administration was to come about. The organisational…

As organizational change at community colleges becomes the norm, presidents leading these campuses play a heightened role in guiding successful initiatives. The research reported here investigated the relationship between leader cognition and power levers of two presidents as they framed change for campus members. These leaders' underlying…

Using interview-based "insider case study" research, this paper outlines why the University of Salford has adopted a Learning Technologies Strategy and examines the factors which are likely to lead to its successful implementation. External reasons for the adoption focused on the need to: respond to "increased Higher Education (HE)…

In the United States, the concept of youth-adult partnership remains innovative. The notion that youth and adults can collaborate on issues of importance runs counter to prevailing societal norms, public policies, structures and standards of practice. There is not much cultural or policy support for managers seeking to integrate youth-adult…

This paper reviews New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's education reform agenda, "Children first", in the light of organizational theory. I argue that this reform agenda reflects both coercive and mimetic isomorphism, as Bloomberg uses mayoral control to apply business concepts and practices to New York City's public school system.…

This paper examines institutional change in universities from the perspective of the notion of "boundaries". The paper asks: how can some of the most important regulatory and administrative changes in universities be understood in the framework of evolving boundaries? Two areas are studied empirically. First, the third mission of…