Situating Academic Culture and Structure Within the Policy Process of Academic Reorganization

This study’s purpose was to gain an understanding of how academic culture and structure are positioned within the policy process of academic reorganization. The growing practice of academic reorganization at colleges and universities in the United States often involves the dismantling of traditional academic departments, the organization of faculty as communities of scholars within disciplines, and the resultant reduction in faculty serving as department chairs. \ud The results of content analysis of documents associated with academic restructuring at three institutions revealed that academic structure was perceived as an obstacle to the achievement of each institution’s respective goals. Thus, restructuring was undertaken as a solution to a problem and as a tactic to achieve an institutional strategy. The results suggest that some faculty and administrators share the belief that academic structure may be less of an obstacle to institutional goals than organizational culture, and that institutional goals could likely be achieved without significant changes to the academic structure if attention is paid to issues of culture. Most often, the problematic issues associated with culture have to do with the perception of inequality of levels of respect among the disciplines. \ud Themes that emerged from the content analysis and the application of a theoretical model of policy process include: (1) the portrayal of academic culture and structure as hindrances to institutional goals, and the resultant degradation of faculty governance and advocacy; (2) the value placed on actions described as the corporatization of the university in the quest to enhance revenue generation and academic reputation; and (3) the opening of a policy window for academic restructuring vis-à-vis actions by the respective institution’s Boards of Trustees.\u