Managing the System of Higher Education: Competition or Collaboration?

The systems view of quality postulates that product or service quality comes as the result of interactions between various components that comprise a production process. In view of this, most problems in the organization, like an institution of higher education, can be attributed to the system. To be effective, any quality improvement initiative should address the needs of the higher educational system as a whole. It must balance the needs of the different functional areas in the college or university so that no single area operates in a vacuum since all areas are interrelated and interdependent. The efforts of all components of the higher educational system must be orchestrated or managed towards achieving its stated aim because, left to themselves, components tend to become selfish, competitive, independent profit centers. Pitting individuals or schools or departments against each other for resources is self-destructive to the institution because the individuals, schools, or departments involved will simply strive to maximize their own expected gain at the expense of the entire institution. Hence, it is abundantly clear that optimizing the aim of the college or university will require internal cooperation of all its components