Towards post-managerialism in higher education: The case study of management change at the University of The Witwatersrand 1999-2004

[摘要] Managerialism and collegiality are employed in this thesis as constructs throughwhich to make sense of the changing nature of management in a South Africanuniversity. The rise and dominance of the managerialism discourse is examinedwith respect to organisational change and restructuring. As principally aqualitative research project, a single case study of the University of theWitwatersrand (Wits) is investigated using interviews, documentary analysis andfocus group discussions as the main sources of data from 2001 to 2004. The studyis exploratory and strives to establish how and why management has changed. Itdoes so by investigating the underpinning changes in the organisational regimeand the different levels of management; the role of the Senior Executive Team,the changing nature of the deanship and the head of school position as aconsequence of the merger of departments and the creation of a school structure.Although management in higher education is recognised as having existed for aslong as the establishments themselves, the thesis is concerned with the changes inpower and authority of academic leaders, the struggle with their 'lived’ tensionbetween academic leadership or collegiality and managerialism and theimplications of this for academic practice. The thesis illustrates that changes inmanagement at Wits demonstrate efforts towards an era of post-managerialism, inthis specific case best described as 'contrived collegial managerialism’. Theconcept of 'contrived collegial managerialism’ refers to how the domination ofmanagerial practices from above has altered collegial relations from below. Thishas resulted in the weakening of academic leadership with profound implicationsfor academic work and practice. Only through strengthened academic leadershipat the different levels of university management and primarily school anddisciplinary levels, can the university survive the indignities of the increasingcorporatisation of its strategies, processes and management practices whichconstrain the opportunities for meaningful engagement and development ofintellectual projects. It is only at disciplinary level, through strengthening theposition of heads of department as academic leaders, that collegial relations can be developed and pressure towards upward accountability structures counteracted.Without this, the university risks being consumed by corporate practices at theexpense of its unique quality and contribution to society, academic andintellectual advancement.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand