Interesting Articles - Management Fads and tenure

Folks - I've come upon an interesting Internet listserve called Tomorrow's Professor.

http://sll.stanford.edu/projects/tomprof/newtomprof/postings.html

Two articles stand out:

1. Management Fads in Higher education - The article addresses the issue, why can't universities be run like businesses? It is based on a recent book by Robert Birnbaum
Article #378

2. Why Professors Have Tenure And Business People Don't
Article #106

You may not agree with what is said here - but I think you'll find these articles thought provoking.

Regards - Andy

 

Here is a brief excerpt

Folks - Here is a brief excerpt from the newsgroup that I was interested in. The full text is item 404 which will soon be published on the link above. Item 378 is just a review of the book. Note that Tomorrow's professor posted this with permission from the publisher:

"I have two dogs and three cats. The all have fur, four legs, and
tails. The physiology and biochemistry of both species are quite
similar, and they share much of their genetic structure. But they
behave differently. The dogs come when they are called, seek
affection and attention, and warn when strangers approach. The cats come when they feel like it and hide under the bed when strangers lurk. Why can't a cat be more like a dog? ...

So why can't a dog be more like a cat?

I think about dogs and cats whenever someone says, "Why can't a university be more like a business?" Most business leaders think that colleges and universities would become more efficient and productive by adopting business practices. Most faculty members believe on the contrary that their missions are so different that higher education has little to learn from business (Immerwahr, 1999).
It is not a new debate: "We have heard it all before: if we could
just run our universities as General Motors is managed, most of our educational programs would vanish" (Bailey, 1973, p. 8). Thinking that what is good for one kind of organization is good for another is like thinking what is good for dogs is also good for cats. Universities and businesses are different kinds of organizations....

Certainly institutions of higher education resemble businesses in
some ways. They both sell goods and services, higher personnel and secure other resources, compete for customers, and depend on external support. "So if it walks like a firm and it talks like a firm, isn't it a firm? The answer, pretty clearly, is No" (Winston, 1997, p. 33). Institutions of higher education (except in the proprietary sector) have no owners and cannot distribute profits, so there is less pressure to operate efficiently. They function in a "trust market," in which people do not know exactly what they are buying and may not discover its value for years. Their participants and managers tend to be motivated by idealism rather than profits. All "customers" are subsidized, the product is sold at less than the cost to produce it, and the value of the product is enhanced by the quality of the people
who purchase it. Compared to business firms, colleges and
universities have multiple and conflicting goals and intangible
outcomes. "Employees" may be more committed to professional groups outside the corporation than to their own managers, may think of themselves more as principals than agents, and may themselves have roles in management (including selection of the chief executive), as well as permanent appointments over which managers have no discretion (Winston, 1997; Brock and Harvey, 1993; Marks, 1998). One former college president, who subsequently served as a corporate CEO, characterized some of the differences between the reactive world of business and the reflective world of the university in this way: "Business leaders do not speak of constituencies to be wooed, appeased or won over, as do college presidents; higher education
leaders do not issue directives, orders, or edicts as do business
CEOs. In all my years in higher education, I never once heard a
dean, faculty member, or anyone else respond, 'Whatever you say, Chief'; in business it's common to hear it" (Iosue, 1997, p.10). ...