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Purpose While projects can generate highly relevant knowledge to inform operations and improve performance, organizations face the difficulty of retaining knowledge once a project ceases to exist. This study aims to examine how project work can lead to organizational learning and, in particular, how knowledge transfer and social learning practices shape project-to-organization learning in a setting where projects complement a traditional functional form of organization. Design/methodology/approach This case study examined a project for inclusive teacher training at a German university. Data were collected and analyzed following an ethnographic approach, including participatory observation, a focus group discussion and 14 interviews with project participants. Findings The findings support the idea that much of the learning that occurs within projects is tacit. In this study, tacit knowledge from the project was shared with the organization through social learning practices. These social learning practices had a larger impact on project-to-organization learning than knowledge transfer practices such as codification. Additionally, the findings suggest that when knowledge transfer and social learning practices are in conflict, project-to-organization learning will likely suffer. Originality/value This study contributes to existing literature by examining the relative importance of technical and social dimensions of project-to-organization learning and by focusing on universities as an example of organizations where projects operate alongside a traditional functional form. Practical implications suggest that to facilitate project-to-organization learning, universities may need to enact a combination of new practices, some designed to codify and transfer knowledge and others created to generate new interpretations and build common knowledge across organizational boundaries.

Purpose Organizational learning in higher education institutions depends upon the ability of managers and academics to maintain a flow of knowledge across the structural boundaries of the university. This paper aims to understand the boundary conditions that foster or impede the flow of knowledge during organizational change at a large public university. Design/methodology/approach Interview data were collected from 51 academics and 40 managers at the selected university. The analysis focused on two initiatives that managers sought to implement to improve organizational performance. Findings For one of these initiatives, managers engaged in knowledge transformation that enabled managers and academics to learn and collaborate across group boundaries. For the other initiative, managers relied on knowledge transfer practices, which failed to establish productive cross-boundary interactions to support organizational learning. Practical/implications When seeking to implement new initiatives to enhance institutional performance, university managers and academics can view organizational change as a learning process that involves creating and moving knowledge across organizational boundaries. Under conditions of change, the creation and movement of knowledge may require the development of new structures and the use of communications that have a high level of media richness. Originality/value This study provides one of the first empirical investigations of knowledge sharing dynamics during organizational change in a higher education setting.

This chapter provides a conceptual model that academic leaders can use to navigate the complex, and often contentious, organizational terrain of academic program development. The model includes concepts related to the institution's external environment, as well as internal organizational structures, cultures, and politics. Drawing from the literature in management, organizational studies, and higher education, this chapter explains how various organizational configurations lead to different assumptions and practices regarding data use and program development decisions. These assumptions and practices are illustrated through a case study of the development of online programs in a community college system.

The unique challenges of balancing teaching, research, and service in urban public universities are likely to affect faculty intentions to remain in or depart from these institutions. Findings from this national study of urban public university faculty suggest that institutional efforts to retain faculty should attend to the structural arrangements that affect job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

High rates of faculty turnover can be costly to the reputation of an institution and to the quality of instruction. Community colleges may expect high rates of faculty turnover as an aging workforce retires. Other sources of attrition, however, can be attributed to organizational characteristics and the structural properties of faculty work. This study examined non-retirement turnover intent in an urban community college. Specifically, the study utilized an expectancy theory framework to explore the relationship between turnover intent and faculty perceptions of autonomy, organizational support for innovation, and collegial communication. The study population included all full-time faculty members employed by an urban community college in the southeastern U.S. Survey responses from 66% (N = 149) of the invited population revealed that organizational support for innovation had the strongest effect on turnover intent. Faculty who reported higher levels of support for innovation were less likely to indicate ...

Catholic college and university presidents leadat the confluence of academic authenticity andreligious faith. They attempt to frame anddefine changing realities in institutions thathave become increasingly secular, and subjectedto many of the same problems common to highereducation in the public sector. Externalpressures, including recent efforts tostrengthen the Catholic identities of theseinstitutions, have added a measure ofcomplexity to leadership roles and challengedthe conflict management skills of institutionalexecutives. The purpose of this study was todevelop a profile of conflict managementbehaviors of US Catholic college and universitypresidents. The profile revealed four factorsthat were common to managing conflict with bothfaculty and trustees: avoidance, smoothing overdifferences, compromise, and collaboration. Abureaucratic forcing factor was linked tofaculty conflict, and a defensive assertivenessfactor emerged for conflict with trustees. Presidents seldom employed a bureaucraticforcing strategy with faculty, but defensiveassertiveness was the second most frequentlyadopted strategy in conflict with trustees. Collaboration was the most frequently usedstrategy for dealing with both faculty andtrustee conflict. Some differences in conflictmanagement approaches were noted in terms ofgender, lay-clergy status, years of experience,and institutional size.

Empowered teachers participate in critical decisions that directly affect teaching and learning. Empowering work environments may enhance professionalism, facilitate teacher leadership, improve the quality of work life, and enable effective implementation of school reform. Process‐based views of empowerment suggest associations between school organizational structures and teacher empowerment, while psychological perspectives on empowerment suggest potential relationships between the phenomenon and cognitive and affective outcomes. Empowerment is considered in terms of teams and teamwork in schools, and relationships between empowerment and commitment to the school are examined.

Teacher education interventions designed to help individuals acquire understandings and skills needed to work effectively with culturally diverse student populations may not have significant impact unless teachers as learners are willing to explore beyond the familiar comfort zone of the majority cultural status quo. The purpose of this study was to assess preservice teachers’ attitudes toward cultural diversity prior to their entry into multicultural education courses at an urban university. Respondents indicated strong support for implementing diversity issues in the classroom, and high levels of agreement with equity beliefs and the social value of diversity. They did not agree that assimilation to the dominant culture was a requisite for student success.

Trust is a significant factor in collective action. This article delineates the concept of trust in collective action in the self-managed school context. A composite case is provided to illustrate the valence of trust as a critical element in effective teamwork. A series of propositions implicit in the case is suggested in order to increase comprehension of the complex phenomenon of trust and suggest alternative directions for future inquiry.

Site‐based management depends on collaboration and teamwork among teachers, administrators, and parents. Collaborative decision making in educational systems is frequently characterized by conflict and disagreement, given differing perspectives and opinions among participants, and differing interests in the status quo. School principals, charged with facilitator roles in locally managed schools, are challenged to address resulting conflicts in ways that yield functional synergies and constructive outcomes which enable schools to respond to community needs. The purpose of this study is to develop a profile of preferred conflict management behaviors and strategies of a sample of principals in a large, urban school district who work in site‐based managed schools. Results reflect these principals’ preference for solution‐oriented conflict strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of the changing leadership responsibilities of principals in site‐based managed schools.

Recent legislative initiatives indicate that long-standing traditions of central- ized state control of higher education in Taiwan are being displaced by new arrangements emphasizing institutional autonomy. Autonomous institutions are assumed to be flexible and responsive, given their relative freedom from government control. Institutional autonomy is assumed to "trickle down" to organizational members, who are then empowered to devise unique solutions to solve particular problems. Asserted benefits of institutional autonomy may not accrue, however, where organizational members are unable to determine the structures and processes of their work. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between institutional autonomy and dimensions of faculty autonomy. Findings lend conditional support to the claim that faculty members work within the constraints of "regulated autonomy," where their individual behaviors are delimited by government and management.

The work of donor relations in nonprofit organizations is accomplished through communication. This article suggests a relationship between social skills abilities and effective organizational communication. High-level social skills may facilitate strong relationships with potential donors and enable development personnel to address institutional goals more effectively.

Researchers in the field of organizational theory have begun to adopt new analytical and methodological approaches that capitalize on the strengths of multiple social science paradigms. Rather than viewing paradigms as distinct and incommensurable domains, organizational researchers are beginning to use multiple paradigms in the same study to form their research questions, shape their methods, and ground their data analyses. These new forms of multi-paradigm inquiry may be particularly beneficial for developing the knowledge base in complex, multi-faceted research domains. Multi-paradigm inquiry, however, remains underutilized in higher education research. Our goal in this chapter is to familiarize higher education researchers with approaches to multi-paradigm inquiry that can readily be applied to the study of higher education organization and governance. First, we discuss paradigm use in the field of organizational theory and examine the influence of paradigms in higher education research. Second, we examine specific analytical and methodological approaches to multi-paradigm inquiry, which are now used by scholars in the field of organizational theory but are seldom used in studies of higher education. In order to foster more extensive use of multi-paradigm inquiry in the field of higher education, we identify directions for future multi-paradigm research on issues related to organization and governance. We conclude with an overview of the practical considerations associated with conducting multi-paradigm inquiry, as well as recommendations for researchers who seek to incorporate these techniques into their research repertories.