Speeches/Meeting Papers (150)

The prospects for managing the tension between accountability and improvement in further and higher education (FHE) were examined through a literature review and a 5-year ethnographic study of a change management project at a higher education college in Wales. Special attention was paid to the following challenges facing FHE: globalization; the impact of new technologies; and the rise of the corporate curriculum. The following lessons for change management and management practice were offered: (1) there is a difference between the planned outcomes of policy and those that emerge through implementation; (2) quality management becomes preoccupied with accountability; (3) there is no blueprint for quality management, and what is achievable should not be viewed from the standpoint of a "blank sheet"; (4) to respond to change effectively, leaders must be able to pose the "right " questions; and (5) to manage change effectively, institutional managers should assess the current and emerging climate o