ABSTRACT
The development of site-based management in education created a strong impetus for research into the management of educational organizations in areas such as human resources and finance since these topics had previously been unfamiliar to professional educators. Not surprisingly, the challenges presented by such new and extended areas of responsibility evoked concern amongst leaders and managers about the capabilities required in accounting for these issues perhaps, in some cases, at the expense of a full focus on the teaching and learning already established in their organizations. These new demands impacted most upon leaders and managers in schools following decentralization, and in colleges following incorporation. However, the possibility of a preoccupation with resource management at the expense of a full focus on teaching, learning and student outcomes has also been detected in higher education. For example, Johnson and Deem (2003) suggest that at institutional and individual levels some manager-academics may have shifted their focus to the organizational and resource implications of the student body as a whole, perhaps to the detriment of their understanding of student concerns.
