ABSTRACT

This chapter looks at the decision-making, administrative structure, and culture of colleges and universities. It then sets forth comparison and contrast with their counterpart business and industrial corporations. Decision-making in higher education is best understood by providing a guide to the structure and ground rules associated with the distinctive "shared governance" model usually associated with colleges and universities. Concerns about academic governance have been generated by an escalation of questions about the efficacy of "shared governance". This is the distinctive model in which a complex academic organization, ranging from a liberal arts college to a multi-purpose research university, can respect and includes various constituencies of faculty, students, alumni, donors, and staff. The chapter also focuses on the place of management fads in higher education governance. A particular and important case study on this note is the case of "Creative Disruption". Finally, the chapter details about each of the major participants and constituencies.