Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sru/ssewps/2016-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What is Happening to our Universities?

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Martin

    (SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Sussex, UK)

Abstract
In recent decades, many universities have been moving in the direction of a more hierarchical and centralised structure, with top-down planning and reduced local autonomy for departments. Yet the management literature over this period has stressed the numerous benefits of flatter organisational structures, decentralisation and local autonomy for sections or departments. What might explain this paradox? And why have academics remained strangely quiet about this, meekly accepting their fate? The paper critically examines the dangers of centralised top-down management, increasingly bureaucratic procedures, teaching to a prescribed formula, and research driven by assessment and performance targets, illustrating these with a number of specific examples. It discusses a number of possible driving forces of these worrying developments, and concludes by asking whether academics may be in danger of suffering the fate of the boiled frog.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Martin, 2016. "What is Happening to our Universities?," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-03, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sru:ssewps:2016-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/swps2016-03
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bulat Sanditov & Saurabh Arora, 2015. "Social network and private provision of public goods," Post-Print hal-01266463, HAL.
    2. Salter, Ammon J. & Martin, Ben R., 2001. "The economic benefits of publicly funded basic research: a critical review," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 509-532, March.
    3. Zheng, Wei & Yang, Baiyin & McLean, Gary N., 2010. "Linking organizational culture, structure, strategy, and organizational effectiveness: Mediating role of knowledge management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 763-771, July.
    4. Petersen, Alexander M. & Rotolo, Daniele & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2016. "A triple helix model of medical innovation: Supply, demand, and technological capabilities in terms of Medical Subject Headings," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 666-681.
    5. Gabriele Pellegrino, 2015. "Barriers to Innovation: Can Firm Age Help Lower Them?," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-33, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Bulat Sanditov & Saurabh Arora, 2015. "Social network and private provision of public goods," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01266463, HAL.
    7. Geraint Johnes & Jill Johnes (ed.), 2004. "International Handbook on the Economics of Education," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2847.
    8. Friedemann Polzin & Steve Sorrell & Colin Nolden, 2015. "Innovative Procurement Frameworks for Energy Performance Contracting in the UK Public Sector," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-31, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Gabrielle N. Samuel & Gemma E. Derrick, 2015. "Societal impact evaluation: Exploring evaluator perceptions of the characterization of impact under the REF2014," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 229-241.
    10. Iain McLean & Dirk Haubrich & Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero, 2007. "The Perils and Pitfalls of Performance Measurement: The CPA Regime for Local Authorities in England," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 111-118, April.
    11. Pertusa-Ortega, Eva M. & Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio & Claver-Cortés, Enrique, 2010. "Can formalization, complexity, and centralization influence knowledge performance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 310-320, March.
    12. repec:ieb:wpaper:2013/6/doc2015-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Bulat Sanditov & Saurabh Arora, 2015. "Social network and private provision of public goods," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-35, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    14. Ohid Yaqub, 2015. "Explaining Variation in Medical Innovation: The Case of Vaccines, and the HIV AIDS effort," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-34, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    15. Ben R Martin, 2011. "The Research Excellence Framework and the ‘impact agenda’: are we creating a Frankenstein monster?," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 247-254, September.
    16. Rafols, Ismael & Leydesdorff, Loet & O’Hare, Alice & Nightingale, Paul & Stirling, Andy, 2012. "How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research: A comparison between Innovation Studies and Business & Management," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 1262-1282.
    17. Gisela Di Meglio & Jorge Gallego & Andrés Maroto & Maria Savona, 2015. "Services in Developing Economies: A new chance for catching-up?," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-32, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    18. Matthew L. Wallace & Ismael Rafols, 2016. "Shaping the Agenda of a Grand Challenge: Institutional Mediation of Priorities in Avian Influenza Research," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-02, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nicola Grassano & Daniele Rotolo & Joshua Hutton & Frédérique Lang & Michael M. Hopkins, 2017. "Funding Data from Publication Acknowledgments: Coverage, Uses, and Limitations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(4), pages 999-1017, April.
    2. Bozeman, Barry & Youtie, Jan & Jung, Jiwon, 2020. "Robotic Bureaucracy and Administrative Burden: What Are the Effects of Universities’ Computer Automated Research Grants Management Systems?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    3. Mari Martiskainen, 2016. "The role of community leadership in the development of grassroots innovations," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-10, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Owen, Richard & Pansera, Mario & Macnaghten, Phil & Randles, Sally, 2021. "Organisational institutionalisation of responsible innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    5. Yuti Ariani Fatimah & Saurabh Arora, 2016. "Nonhumans in the Practice of Development: Material Agency and Friction in a Small-Scale Energy Program in Indonesia," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-04, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Keith A. Houghton & Nancy Bagranoff & Christine Jubb, 2021. "The Funding of Higher Education: An Empirical Examination of the Cost of Education in Business Schools," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(4), pages 780-809, December.
    7. Degl’Innocenti, Marta & Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2019. "The interconnections of academic research and universities’ “third mission”: Evidence from the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    8. Michele Meoli & Stefano Paleari & Silvio Vismara, 2019. "The governance of universities and the establishment of academic spin-offs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 485-504, February.
    9. Bäker, Agnes & Goodall, Amanda H., 2020. "Feline followers and “umbrella carriers”: Department Chairs’ influence on faculty job satisfaction and quit intentions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(4).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Petersen, Alexander M. & Rotolo, Daniele & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2016. "A triple helix model of medical innovation: Supply, demand, and technological capabilities in terms of Medical Subject Headings," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 666-681.
    2. Matthew L. Wallace & Ismael Rafols, 2016. "Shaping the Agenda of a Grand Challenge: Institutional Mediation of Priorities in Avian Influenza Research," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-02, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    3. Emily Cox, 2015. "Opening the Black Box of Energy Security: A Study of Conceptions of Electricity Security in the UK," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-37, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Yuti Ariani Fatimah & Saurabh Arora, 2016. "Nonhumans in the Practice of Development: Material Agency and Friction in a Small-Scale Energy Program in Indonesia," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-04, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    5. Ghulam Mustafa & Richard Glavee-Geo & Kjell Gronhaug & Hanan Saber Almazrouei, 2019. "Structural Impacts on Formation of Self-Efficacy and Its Performance Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Hoppmann, Joern, 2021. "Hand in hand to Nowhereland? How the resource dependence of research institutes influences their co-evolution with industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(2).
    7. Lutz Bornmann, 2013. "What is societal impact of research and how can it be assessed? a literature survey," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(2), pages 217-233, February.
    8. Nicola Grassano & Daniele Rotolo & Joshua Hutton & Frédérique Lang & Michael M. Hopkins, 2017. "Funding Data from Publication Acknowledgments: Coverage, Uses, and Limitations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(4), pages 999-1017, April.
    9. Yen, Chang-Hua & Teng, Hsiu-Yu, 2013. "The effect of centralization on organizational citizenship behavior and deviant workplace behavior in the hospitality industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 401-410.
    10. Mohammed Khalifa Abdelsalam & Ibrahim Mohammed Massoud Egdair & Halima Begum & Diara Md. Jadi & Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa & Omar Saad Saleh Abrika & A. S. A. Ferdous Alam, 2021. "The Key Organizational Factors in Healthcare Waste Management Practices of Libyan Public Hospitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    11. Salter, Ammon & Salandra, Rossella & Walker, James, 2017. "Exploring preferences for impact versus publications among UK business and management academics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1769-1782.
    12. Michael C. Calver & Maggie Lilith & Christopher R. Dickman, 2013. "A ‘perverse incentive’ from bibliometrics: could National Research Assessment Exercises (NRAEs) restrict literature availability for nature conservation?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 243-255, April.
    13. J. Britt Holbrook, 2017. "The future of the impact agenda depends on the revaluation of academic freedom," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-9, December.
    14. Schuitema, Geertje & D. Sintov, Nicole, 2017. "Should we quit our jobs? Challenges, barriers and recommendations for interdisciplinary energy research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 246-250.
    15. Ali, Murad & Park, Kichan, 2016. "The mediating role of an innovative culture in the relationship between absorptive capacity and technical and non-technical innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1669-1675.
    16. Lutz Bornmann & Werner Marx, 2014. "How should the societal impact of research be generated and measured? A proposal for a simple and practicable approach to allow interdisciplinary comparisons," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(1), pages 211-219, January.
    17. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Filippo Chiarello & Gualtiero Fantoni, 2021. "Impact for whom? Mapping the users of public research with lexicon-based text mining," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1745-1774, February.
    18. Bo Song & Yi Li & Liangjie Zhao, 2019. "Complementary Effect of Knowledge Management Strategy on Firm Performance: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Gaunand, A. & Hocdé, A. & Lemarié, S. & Matt, M. & Turckheim, E.de, 2015. "How does public agricultural research impact society? A characterization of various patterns," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 849-861.
    20. Cinzia Daraio, 2017. "A framework for the Assessment of Research and its impacts," DIAG Technical Reports 2017-04, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".

    More about this item

    Keywords

    universities; managerialism; bureaucracy; assessment; performance indicators; audit culture; boiled frog;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J29 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Other
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • L38 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Policy
    • M19 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Other
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sru:ssewps:2016-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: University of Sussex Business School Communications Team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/spessuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.