Organizational Theory In Higher Education Essay

The second half of the assigned readings from our textbooks, American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century by authors Altbach, P., Gumport, P., and Berdahl, R. (2011) and Organizational Theory in Higher Education by Manning, K. (2012) have given greater knowledge and understanding of the American higher education issues and organizational theories. Altbach et al. (2011) stated, higher education institution have changed and adapted to new circumstances, with the most significant changes occurring in curriculum and diversity (p. 16). Organizational theory has been in used in education and other disciplines like sociology, psychology, and business among other disciplines for many years (Manning, 2012, p. 3). Manning (2012), goes on to present the following organizational theories in order of importance to higher education, …show more content…
Positioned on rules, roles, goals, policies, and giving structure to task, technology, and the environment of the institution. Relying on the authority, rules, and policies as the principal means of coordinating and organizing. The main intent is decision making and increasing efficiency in the higher education environment. This organizational theory is demonstrated with the factory or machine metaphor. This particular theory can often result in rigid rules and low employee morale, giving employees the impression they are nothing more than robotic machines there to produce. Leaders who embrace this type of practice control the activity of the institution by making the decisions, resolving conflicts, solving problems, and distributing rewards and penalties. Under this practice leaders feel the employees need to change to meet the needs of the institution. With this particular practice more emphasize needs to be placed on employee feelings, attitudes, and social atmosphere of the