South African higher education institutions as learning organisations : a leadership process model

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Reform is one of the most controversial elements in higher education and has thereforeattracted much attention from within the academic community and from outside. Thepresent higher education scene is characterised by demands for transformation andchange, not only in South Africa but in Africa and the developed countries as well. Thepressures and demands for change come from outside the field of higher education aswell as from within. Some countries have been involved in the process of change andtransformation for a period of over thirty years, while others have just embarked on theroute or still have to start the change process.The post-apartheid era has marked an era of profound change for South African highereducation institutions with concomitant legislation to ensure the change process. Ifeffective and successful transformation of higher education institutions and systems cantake place in South Africa with new models of transformation and the effectiveintegration of cultures and openness to change at all institutional levels, these modelscould be instructive not only to Africa but also to the rest of the world and to academiclife universally. However, the demands for change worldwide indicates not onlytowards new legislation but also towards flexible approaches and new forms ofinstitutional structures and leadership to accommodate the significant, rapid andfundamental changes taking place in higher education and the realisation thatinstitutions of the future will be different from those of the past and the present.In this study the influence of organisational models are used to establish a conceptualframework towards the development of learning organisations. The study reflects onhow these new types of organisations will influence higher education institutions asorganisations. It also considers what will be expected of higher education institutions tobecome learning organisations. Learning organisations have special qualities and highereducation institutions or teaching institutions do not automatically qualify as learningorganisations. The promise of the new millennium provides the higher educationcommunity with the opportunity to take stock of their position and to find out if theypossess the necessary skills and have the enabling structures to accommodate a newworld. Becoming a learning organisation involves more than a paradigm shift for highereducation institutions. It requires a revolution, a quantum leap towards individualrecognition and growth, leadership development and empowerment and institutionallearning. The Academic 'Process Leadership' Super structure provides the space,structure and process for higher education organisations to re-organise and re-createitself to fit the demands of a new world.An analysis of leadership, leadership development and institutional change in highereducation institutions brought to the fore that these institutions have not been effectivein providing programmes that develop leaders because they simply do not know what isnecessary for effective leadership development. Institutions do not have an in-depthunderstanding of leadership and they have not enculturated leadership development as acore aspect and activity in higher education institutions. There is grave concernregarding the development of 'soft' people skills. The qualitative research investigationinto the process of change towards learning organisations in higher educationinstitutions indicate that there are profound problems in the areas of leadership,leadership development, people management and satisfaction, knowledge managementand learning dynamics. These areas form the core aspects within the new structures, thatof learning organisations.The insights gained from the process analysis of five higher education institutionsindicate that the implementation of the academic leadership model as described in thestudy will provide individual leaders with the necessary leadership skills to fulfill theirroles in the recreated empowered institutions. This process of leadership development,as indicated in the study, could enable institutions to become learning organisations.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University