Beyond Compliance: A Multi-Case Study Analysis of University Behavior and Policy Negotiation in Response to the Dear Colleague Letter on Campus Sexual Violence.

[摘要] This qualitative, multi-case study research examines the dynamic processes undertaken at three universities in their review and negotiation of policy and programming following newly imposed federal compliance requirements. Organizing review teams to interpret and respond to Title IX obligations set out in the highly contentious and ambiguous 2011 Dear Colleague Letter on campus sexual violence, these universities developed forward-thinking results that enhanced opportunity for the institution and its students. In doing so, the universities exceeded minimal compliance expectations by creating new organizational structures and protocols that influenced not only change on campus, but broader field developments and the construction of compliance. This study looks at the institutional processes that enabled such advances to occur. Organizational effectiveness necessitates that institutions draw on different design and intervention strategies to address a broad range of situations. In the context of the review process, institutional actors across multiple organizational positions played vital roles in the teams’ successes. Leadership was demonstrated at various levels across subject-matter experts. These leaders’ abilities to engage others in collective action and induce cooperation proved essential in overcoming tension, ambiguity, and pressure from different constituents to advance successful policy negotiations and arrive at substantive solutions. Participants did not perceive any one group or interest as dominating the negotiation process. Despite the increasingly legal environment in which universities operate, neither legalistic decision criteria nor any inherent or perceived authority from legal counsel was found to take priority over organizational, interpersonal, or social factors relevant to organizational decision making. By addressing the organizational dynamics and behavior underlying university responses to compliance obligations, this study advances greater understanding of the internal negotiation of process and strategy in explaining organizational adaptation in uncertain times. Such research is important because models and practices perceived as legitimate diffuse across fields and are adopted by other organizations, influencing normative standards and the courts’ interpretation of what good compliance entails. With changes to the university’s regulatory environment accelerating and pressure to comply with burgeoning legal obligations mounting, this research is necessary to better understand how universities’ responses to laws shape normative practices and the construction of compliance

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Organizational Behavior and Management

[关键词] Higher Education;Organizational Behavior and Management;Dear Colleague Letter on Campus Sexual Violence;Title IX Compliance;Socio-legal university environment;Legal ambiguity;Education;Social Sciences;Higher Education