The Aim of the Study - The study aims at describing the organizational functioning
of certain South African Universities, mainly in terms of
a) The processes of goal formulation,
b) The structure of the universities, as well as the relationships
between the main structural components,
c) The nature of the communication and control processes in the
Universities.
By doing this the study could be of use in promoting a better
understanding of the university as an organization.
The Method of the Study - The first part of the study consist of an investigation of
the literature pertaining to:
a) The historical development of the university in the western
world with particular emphasis on structural aspects.
b) The theory of organizations.
c) Contemporary studies of universities, mainly in the USA and
Great Britain.
The second part of the study deals with the results of an empirical
investigation at nine South African universities. During
visits to these universities interviews were held with sixty-eight
individuals.
In the final part of the study the results of both the literature
study and the interviews were interpreted leading to a model
of the organizational functioning of these universities.
The Limitations of the Study - a) The study was limited in that only nine of the seventeen
universities in South Africa were included in the investigation.
This was done to ensure a sample of similar
institutions for the study.
b) The university can be studied from different perspectives.
This study concentrates on the university as an organization,
rather than on the perspectives of the university as
an institution or as a community.
c) The study limits itself to the main structural components
of the university, thus avoiding personal or interpersonal
aspects.
d) The study concentrates on the managerial level of the
functioning of the universities avoiding any detailed
involvement in aspects of instruction and research.
The Historical Development of the University -
The mediaeval university was modelled after the mediaeval
guilds, and the university thus became an organization controlled
by its members, particularly the masters or teachers.
The structure of the University of Paris, consisting of four
nations and four faculties, was complex, but it is noteworthy
that the elected officials of the University had little
executive authority and were only elected for short periods
at a time. This was not the case in Bologna where the students,
and not the teachers, were in control of the
university and where the elected officials had more executive
authority.
The development of colleges at particularly the Universities
of Oxford and Cambridge introduced, for the first time, a
structure whereby the daily lives of students were controlled
by the university.
This was probably the first of a series of additional functions
that the university took upon itself since the middle
ages. These additional functions, including in later centuries.
various aspects of research, student services and
community services, brought about a greater complexity in
the university but it was nevertheless still handled within
the basic structural arrangements of the mediaeval universities.
The new German universities of the nineteenth century introduced
research as an essential function of the university and
also introduced active involvement by the government in
university affairs. These developments also lead to a more
prominent position for the professor as the head of the
academic department.
The first South African universities grew from colleges that
were founded by public groups in the nineteenth century. The
first of those colleges came to be governed by a College
Council consisting of a majority of lay members, including
government representatives. Purely academic matters were
delegated to a Senate, consisting of the professors of the
College. This structure was eventually adopted by all South
African universities.
The Theory of Organizations and its application on Universities - The work of the early management thinkers like Fayol, Weber
and Taylor lead to the development of a school of thought about
management witch came to be known as the classical school. This
work has gained widespread acceptance, particularly because
of the "management' principles" that it developed.
The work of the behaviouralist school challenged the classical
school's incomplete view of particularly the human aspects of
organizations and thus lead to a more comprehensive view of
organizations.
During the sixties various systems based approaches to the
•Study of organizations were developed. The sociotechnical model,
based on the work of Homans and the Tavistock-group, and the
decision-based approach of the Carnegie-school formed a basis
from which the contingency theory of organizations evolved.
The contingency theory provides a useful approach to the study
of various organizations, particularly because it recognises
the differences that exist between organizations and also
because it allows the prediction of such differences. on the
basis of the various contingencies faced by organizations.
The work of Khandwalla (1977) is a useful compilation of the
contingency theory and the propositions of Khandwalla are
used to predict the characteristics of South African universities
on the basis of a description of these organizations and
their environments. Different sets of assumptions and predictions
were developed for both the academic activities of
the university and the non-academic support functions. These
predictions correlated well with the results •of the empirical
investigations.
Lastly the applicability of the organizations type, the
"professional beaurocracy" (Mintzberg, 1979), was also
evaluated in relation to these universities. This model
correlated well with some aspects but not with all.
Models of the University - Beaurocratic and Collegial Models: The two basic models of the university are the beaurocratic
and the collegial models. These• models are both incomplete
descriptions of South African universities. The beaurocratic
model ignores the important decision-making processes in universities
and the collegial model ignores the authority of the
different formal positions in the university structure.
Other Models: Rice (1970) outlines a model of the university largely based
on the concept of "process flow". This model reduces the
university to a rather mechanical structure, neglecting the
many complex interactions that form part of the functioning
of universities.
Verry and Davies (1976) use an econometric approach to describe
the university. This is useful in analyzing aspects
such as marginal costs but it is not useful for the purposes
of this study Baldridge (1971) developed a "political" model
of the university focusing on the processes of negotiating
and the role of interest groups. This is a useful model but
it places too much emphasis on crisis and conflict situations
and too little on the normal functioning of universities.
Richman and Farmer (1974) states that universities are mismanaged
due to a lack of clear goals and they propose goal
formulation as the basis for a proposed system of university
management. Cyert (1975) agrees with this reasoning and outlines
a process of evaluation based on this approach.
Clark (1977) described the university as a federation of
groups.-whilst the groups are often run on a collegial basis
the coordination between the groups is more often handled
on a beaurocratic basis.
Cohen and March (1974) found that the university was an
"organized anarchy", an organization in which departments
and other segments of the organization were almost autonomous.
Leadership was very weak and the organization as a whole aimless
and purposeless.
Two generalized Models: From the foregoing two generalized models of the university
were postulated. The first is called the "traditional model"
and this model stresses values such as individual autonomy
and collegial values. The second model is called the
"management model" and it stresses the necessity of clear
goals, evaluation of achievement and a •strong role for the
university management. The management model is of a
normative nature whilst the traditional model is more often
found in empirical studies of universities.
The Goals of Universities - The nature of an organization is largely determined by the
goals of that organization. The model of goal formulation
described by Cyert and March (1963) states that goals are not
determined only by the management of an organization but that
it should rather. be seen as the result of a negotiation process
involving numerous persons and groups both inside and outside
the organization.
Normative goals of the University - Various authors discussed the role of the university and
amongst them Newman (1858) is notable for his view that
universities should see their main task as the transmission,
of culture and the general education of men rather than
training for professions.
Another view is that universities should see their task firstly
as the quest and transmission of knowledge. This emphasis
on research has gained widespread acceptance as another basic
function of the university.
The function of training people, particularly for professions
in the community, has always been a part of the task of
universities. Particularly from the point of view of the
community this is an important task of the university.
The task of community service as a secondary function of
universities has also been firmly established.
It is shown that these views of the university are not necessary
complementary and that a clear formulation of aims based
on all these various views is difficult to achieve.
Commissions of Enquiry into universities in Britain, the
USA and South Africa all formulated aims of the university
in similar terms, indicating the wide and vague nature of
university goals.
The Empirical Investigation into goals - The questions asked during the interviews which formed part.
of this study were analyzed and it was shown that goals in a
university are formulated on different levels. Goals pertaining
to the area of research of individual academics were
established by individual academics. Goals pertaining to the
nature and content of courses were established by academic
departments with some control by faculties. The management
of the university thus had little direct involvement in the
formulation of goals pertaining to the basic university
functions. Their role was mostly on the level of the
allocation of resources.
THE STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES - The structure of the universities was reduced to the following
seven components:
1. The Council and its committees,
2. The Senate and its committees.
3. The Principals and Vice-Principals.
4. The. Academics.
5. The Administrative Staff.
6. The Students.
7. The Environment of the University.
Each of these components were analyzed in the literature and
various aspects were also dealt with during the interviews,
particularly by establishing the amount of agreement that
the respondents had with a list of twenty statements concerning
universities.
The Council and its committees - It was found that whilst the council had great legal powers in
running the university the style of the council, consisting
of a majority of lay members, was likely to be reactive. The
councils are often informed and guided by those members who
are employed by the universities and lay members have limited
influence.
The Senate and its committees - Many respondents found university senates to be clumsy and
ineffective bodies, mainly because they mostly consist of more
than 100 members. Various mechanisms have been employed to
streamline the functioning of senate but the overall
results does not indicate a clear picture.
The Principals and Vice-Principals - This component of the university is in a key position,
not only because of its roll in both the council and senate
but also because of its great influence in the allocation
of resources within the University. The authority of the
principals and vice-principals is however limited by the
large amount of autonomy enjoyed by academics. The style of
leadership that is appropriate to this component is that of
persuasion and academic leadership rather than that of directing
and controlling.
The Academics - It is shown that academics can, for many purposes, be regarded
as professionals but that there are also basic differences
between the traditional professions and the academic’s role
in a university. The academic department is the basic component
in the university structure. Because it handles both
the teaching and research functions without much outside,
interference it can be regarded as the essential part of the
university structure. The role •of the heads of departments
in South African universities follows the British pattern
in which the head is in a very strong position relative to
the staff and students in his department.
The Administrative Staff - The management of the administrative component of the university
can either be handled by a committee structure consisting
mainly of academics or the administration could be seen as a
component that should be managed in a beaurocratic manner.
These two styles are often found mixed in South African :
universities and this causes tension and leads to frustration
and inefficiency.
The Students - Despite various efforts to involve students to a larger extent
in the decision-making processes of the university the
actual role played by students is limited to sporadic inputs
in certain areas.
The Environment of the University - South African Universities are influenced by a great number
of institutions and individuals in the community. This
influence is brought to bear on practically all the components
of the university.
Control Processes at Universities - It is shown that universities are traditionally reluctant
to introduce effective control processes, including evaluation
and corrective procedures, in respect of academic
activities. The empirical study indicated that whilst most
respondents were agreeable to the basic principles of control
processes most of them also had serious reservations
to the practical implications of the introduction of such
measures.
Organizations such as universities are also ill equipped to
adopt themselves to changes in the demands made on them.
Rather than making basic changes in the organizational
structure new demands are normally met by establishing new
organizational units to handle these new responsibilities.
Conclusion.
When evaluating the results of the study against the "traditional"
and "management" models of the university it was
found that both the theoretical predictions and the empirical
investigation strongly supported the traditional model of
the university as the applicable one to South African universities.
The limited role of council, the large amount of
freedom that academics enjoy in teaching and research, the
subordinate role of administrative staff and the virtual
absence of control processes all support this view.
The very active and influential role of the principals
and vice-principals in the management of the university
and the importance of the environment to the university
does however indicate that important aspects of the
management model are also present in the universities. / Thesis (DBA)--PU vir CHO, 1982
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/10871 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | Geertsema, Simon |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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