Managing an incorporation at departmental level in the higher education sector: Discourse as a strategic resource

Receiving institutions (RIs) in the HE sector in South Africa are incorporating designated institutions, and new post-incorporation departments within these institutions are required to function as well-aligned and unified entities. The author reports on a specific academic manager's efforts in such a department at the University of the Free State. The head initiated joint materials design, which, he believed, would promote the sought-after unity among staff. An objection, often raised by staff at the incorporated institution (II), was that the receiving institution had `perpetrated a hostile take-over'. The case study shows how the head applied Hardy and Palmer's 1998 model, which entails a discursive approach to cycles of activity, performativity and connectivity. The author reports how staff members' `non-responses' were taken as cues for initiating new cycles. Retrievable evidence of receiving institution and incorporated institution staff's compliance, he argues, may serve as a resource for all stakeholders who may want to generate mutuallysupportive or contending narratives about departmental management processes. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 19 (2) 2006: pp.201-21